I feel they've been too sloppy about Sam's past year. I don't remember having this level of discomfiture at this point in last season.

Comparing then and now I feel now has more emotional potential (though Cas has paid off more than Sam so far, and that's not right) than I was feeling in early S7, and I'm okay with knowing just the beginning of the big bad last year (I'm in that really populous territory of enjoying a corporate threat from another dimension) as well as feeling we're at the start of a quest without a proper big bad (I feel uncomfortable deeming Crowley or Naomi that so far).

We knew pretty early on that the Leviathans were up to something no good that would result in the death of many humans. Right now, Naomi isn't up to anything other than Winchester stalking (which we'd all do given a chance--be honest) and Crowley is in defensive mode. Closing off Hell is an admirable motive, but I don't feel we're positioned for much action now. They were kicking back to hear more about Leviathan much of last season, and I think that bothered people--they should make sure we're not back in the MOTW-while-we-wait this season as well. Although I didn't mind it that much last year, I don't want to see it again.

I just bumped into this on tumblr--the OP deleted it, and the first person who quoted it deleted their reblog. This [link] is as close to it as I could get from my dash:

okay i’m just going to enter the sea of wank for a second but i have literally never seen a fandom so phobic about having more than two characters present.

can you really think of any tv show that has only two characters and is able to survive eight seasons? supporting characters, guest stars, all of these add to the overall narrative and help make it so that the interaction between the two leads isn’t stagnant - moreover, they provide a chance for the protagonists to grow and reveal different sides of themselves - ultimately making them more interesting to watch.

castle and beckett have ryan and esposito

sherlock and john have mrs. hudson and lestrade

buffy had xander and willow and giles and etc etc

why can’t sam and dean have castiel and jody and so on?

having them around doesn’t make it so that the story isn’t about sam and dean-

it makes it so that the story of sam and dean evolves.

The reblogger's addition was an image of "sassy black woman" (read heavyset and wagging her finger) with the words "Y'all motherfuckers need Jesus". Not sure how to interpret...

Know why you need notes on IO9? So you can make sure you don't talk to this guy:

I've hated the Winchester's and their pissy "I'm mad at you and will withhold critical information" shtick since season 3. I think they're a both morons and insanely self-unaware. BUT--I love everything else about the show. Most of all Castiel. So, I've resigned myself to hating the central protagonists and making snide Dean/Sam fiction jokes. But Supernatural keeps rewarding me for staying with it (Garth and Benny are the most recent reinforcements). *sigh* Carry on, my idiot sons...

ever again.

Seriously made me shudder.

Fine, I'm the only one here. So be it.

IO9 does not really have a recap this week, which I find irritating, given they recap TVD and Arrow and everything else, but someone did sit down and retype a whole bunch of the S7 Companion here: [link]

Yay?

Finally got a chance to watch. I liked! I even liked Cas putting (badly) his tv-watching skills to work. I even liked Amelia as a person. And I just went and rewatched the opening of the season premiere and it totally fits that Sam is exiting her life to make room for her presumed-dead husband. (Doesn't explain the creepy watcher as he leaves, though, unless Don is a creepy dude).

Loved Dean starting out dickish but actually pushing Cas to be forthcoming about what he's going through. And I loved that, since Dean was unable to respond to Cas' confession (and that might possibly been a saved-by-the-bell moment) but Sam was inadvertantly able to get through to Cas. I even liked Naomi a little more (not an AT fan--not a hater either, she just doesn't excite me).

And oh, the lighting in the alley outside the bank at the end was gorgeous, more please?

or that Good Omens ripoff kid that I'd fervently hoped we'd never see or hear from again.

I liked that kid. Not totally fitting in this world, but I liked him a bunch.

Who was watching the house (RoboSam?)?

I am thinking "real" Sam watching a dream or nervous breakdown Sam. It's the only thing that explains the annoying filter. Okay, and some of the story. But that filter bugs me.

I did think it was weird he said the car was John's, but I guess they had to save the lost brother reveal for the very end.

It is John's car to me. And also Dean's car over strength of miles logged and the time travel to encourage John to buy it. But for their whole lives, it was John's car. Dean inherited it before John died but it was an heirloom, a hand-me-down. Something Dean owns now that was Dad's. That Impala is fucking complicated.

okay i’m just going to enter the sea of wank for a second but i have literally never seen a fandom so phobic about having more than two characters present.

It's absolutely against this person's statement but I would watch the Sam and Dean show forever. I don't hate that characters are added or that *gasp* wimmens might be included. I tend to like them. But I am in it for the Sam and Dean Dysfunction Show. I'm a twisted person for it, but its factual.

I'm just catching up from last week and I'm confused about the Amelia storyline. It seems like a lot of time spent on flashbacks just to show that Sam had a relationship that ended when her husband came back - there has to be more, right? If the purpose is to show that Sam chose "normal" this time that he lost Dean(as opposed to what he became in Mystery Spot), it seems that could have been made clear in a flashback or two in the first few episodes. Are there clues that the relationship is not what it seemed than I've missed?

I am sceptical that John ever displayed the level of attachment to the Impala that Dean does. No doubt he took great care of her (Dead Man's Blood), but I doubt he named her and big-ell loved her and threatened to kill people over her and spoke lovingly to her. Or, you know, referred to the car as a her, okay--maybe that one.

Fanon has Dean getting her at 17 or 18, but it's been about ten years at least (I'm counting the two extra almost years, even though the writers might not), and that's a large portion of Sam's alert life.

However, the conversation he was having with Mr. Pond had specific points to mention John and to mention Dean, so from a meta POV, it makes sense.

I am sceptical that John ever displayed the level of attachment to the Impala that Dean does. No doubt he took great care of her

Oh, I don't think he loved her like she was a living-ish part of their lives. That was pretty much all Dean. In my head canon.

Fanon has Dean getting her at 17 or 18, but it's been about ten years at least

I think fanon is wrong. Dean's been 23 (right?) and still explaining hunting on his own and he's using the car but we don't know a strict anything.

I still want the Impala to be happy and at home.

Dean's been 23 (right?) and still explaining hunting on his own and he's using the car but we don't know a strict anything.

Since the car wasn't one of the things he had to explain (unlike the hunting, salt shells, etc), my conclusion was that it was in the same hands as when Sam had left. Getting Dad's Impala seems, within the context of all we've seen of these characters, to be absolutely worth commenting on.

But even if not, the series has spanned ~10 years. Even if Dean hadn't gotten iPod-ripping out and car-apologising in the meanwhile, it would seem reasonable for a decade to transfer ownership.