They both looked resigned to me.

I agree. But they didn't seem resigned to *doom* either. There was a little nostalgia there, as they looked at each other. No matter how much things change, they're always going to have all that history together, two kid who had nothing but each other.

If Sam and Dean got 8 years on, even without an angel intermittently on their side, and they weren't a lot better at doing their jobs, then I would find the show less compelling.

They don't say "Christo" anymore, they just get a headstart on an exorcism into the phone (that is so fucking funny to me--I'm still laughing), and Dean gets a smug old "But you forget my boyfriend..." look when Kevin tells him something is hard--which is why we must have such a cruelly broken angel, because the show where he's powered up and hangs out with his only friends--that's also less compelling, because they really wouldn't need to do much more than supply the "people skills" while he neutron bombed evil out, town by town.

The things that were hard, for me, should change, otherwise it's just them and the same challenges, and then I'm bored. Especially since I'm not interested in them outgrowing their need for each other or the job, so there's a cap on how healthy is interesting--no hunter therapists, please.

I keep fading back to that scene with Brady in the alley, when Dean says they're what the monsters in the night need to be afraid of. I think of the cute boys from the pilot, and then hear Crowley's fit about continually underestimating them, and I have the warm fuzzies. Dean threatened to kill hsi grandfather, and Sam actually did it...I love the contrast and I love what stays the same. It's very successful for me on that front, but I'm not trying to convince, just to explain.

I've been staying less spoilt this year--last year I was ep guides ahead two or more episodes, which was fine, because they're pretty careful with what's revealed in trailers and blurbs, versus the punch of the episode. But I thought I was in a space that had pictures from next week's trailer and I saw photos and a name from a few episodes on. And no picture...there's a frame in the preview where Dean is wearing an askew crown, and it's so beautiful...but now I know a thing I must post in spoilers.

The actress's voice wasn't helping anything, but the things they think are cute I think are icky. Her finishing his sentences? I'd have left the room. Her "I don't love my husband so it's okay if I cheat on him, but please don't make this hard on me" schtick. No. I'm just pretending it was Sarah Blake the whole time, and I'll close my eyes (and ears) during the upcoming previouslies where they try and tug my heartstrings about his choice.

But since he didn't just not choose her, since I felt he chose to not quit soon period, I don't feel the same resignation or sadness.

Well, I've generally liked the women the show has paired the Winchesters up with (even Cassie, bless her poor wooden actress' heart) or, in Ruby's case, enjoyed the storyline while loving to hate the character. But my immediate reaction to Amelia was "UGH! Kill it with fire!" and I have not warmed up to her with successive appearances on Kotex Cam.

Sam's entire storyline this year has been made of fail as far as I'm concerned, and I don't think it had to be—having a sympathetic love interest like Sarah or Madison would have done wonders, as would framing his abdication of his responsibilities as sincerely thinking Dean was dead and being too grief-stricken to forge on alone. As opposed to "oh well, Dean's elsewhere, now I can live the life of an aimless drifter like I always yearned to do!" But the show has squandered any sympathy Sam has earned from me since the end of Season 5.

I'm taking the bad with the good though: Dean's storyline has been more compelling than in the last few years and gives Jensen plenty of opportunities to shine, the use of Cas has been note perfect, Benny and the Trans are successful cast additions that reverse the trend of claustrophobic narrowing focus on the brothers alone, and I've been happy with several of the standalone cases.

Here's one of those musings (no spoilers) on why the whole thing may have been a dream so far: [link] I don't watch the show to that level of detail, and I might be frustrated, depending. I'm not swayed, just watching.

Thanks, Matt. Now I have an Elton John "Benny and the Trans" earworm.

Oh, curse you.

I think we're being shown they are really the Epic (platonic) Love Story of Sam and Dean.

Love! Thank you, Cass.

Well, it was Sera who coined the term "Epic love story of Sam and Dean" so I am hoping I keep getting what I signed up for.

Seeing them together without a clear expiration date is my Winchester dream.

Which I feel is currently true, and will no doubt be stomped on a time (or five) before the season's out, since it's the well they go to first for pain.

I would love for the last line of the show to be, "We have work to do." Big grins, trunk slams, the end.