I wondered if parenting was the issue. Not that I think he did anything wrong. I think West is pretty self-confident and capable for his age, and that's all due to his parents. Also, way to eat, kiddo.

Okay, "Debriel" is my new most loathed portmanteau.

I think we should hate the ship too...

Actually, while it makes much less sense than Dean/Castiel, I've always thought Dean/Gabriel makes way more sense than Sam/Gabriel.

How much angel/angel is there? I'm guessing that most of the action involves a Winchester, but I've wondered about Gabriel/Balthazar as a side pairing, AU or canon.

Damn. I'm completely caught up on Supernatural and now I'm sad that I don't have anymore new ones.

I watched it in an incredibly weird order. I'd seen part of season one, but then dropped it (I think because of the time period). Then I saw a lot of Season 7 because we QC the Blu Rays and DVDs where I work. So I went back and started recording them all on TiVo which started around season 3, worked my way up to Season 8. Looped back around to picked up 1 and 2. So I just watched All Hell Breaks Loose.

Are you also not wanting the boys to increase their skills over time? I don't understand what you want instead.

I certainly don't mind them approaching hunts in a more thought-out manner and strategic manner. However, I remember when solo, non-special demons did things like endanger an entire airliner or shatter a concrete foundation with a punch, and vampires were so powerful and dangerous that they had to resort to using the Colt against them. Now Sam and Dean routinely outfight them physically, and I'm not getting the impression that they're supposed to have suddenly gained super powers. It's each new type of creature being nerfed as the series progresses that doesn't sit well with me.

Didn't Sam kill a vampire with his bare hands the second time out? And what gives you the impression that a demon couldn't jeopardise a whole airplane anymore? Just because they can hold out for 90 to 120 seconds of hand to hand? The main difference between now and then with Phantom Traveller is that the exorcism is memorised. The main difference between now and then with Dead Man's Blood is that they haven't gotten held hostage by vampires like that (am I missing something?) anymore.

There isn't a "superpower" show out there that doesn't give their protagonists varying levels of strengths, as well as their antagonists, but those two examples don't paint a huge now and then difference for me. Gordon's head came off really fucking easily. I'm assuming vampires have looser spines than we do, or something, if you can decapitate them with muscle and barbed wire, but that was established a long time ago.

Back then, though, I recall a lot of speculation that Sam actually was manifesting super powers of the psychic kids variety - there was a lot of WTF over him pinching Gordon's head off with wire like he was made out of Silly Putty, and the show never really explained just how that sort of thing was possible. I think the stunt coordinator forgot he wasn't working on Buffy the Vampire Slayer for that one.

I seem to recall at least through Season 4, demons tossing the Winchesters around like rag dolls and only being taken down by surprise with Ruby's knife or use of non-physical tactics. Now Sam and Dean punch them out and they react like normal people, not things with superhuman strength that can shrug off their host bodies being shot or stabbed.

I wasn't one of the people thinking Sam was super-powered, but regardless--that's in canon, so I'm not sure what they do to vampires now that is out of proportion to that.

The problem they have with the demons is that people are getting right back up from things they shouldn't, so now you can't tell the difference. I don't think it's that Sam and Dean are doing anything particularly noteworthy other than not going down. When you get tossed against a wall like that, there's an intermission for humans. Supposably.

As far as I get the demon fights--there's no way to end a demon fight without an exorcism or a special weapon, but they only overwhelm Sam and Dean when Sam and Dean need to be captured (for Meg or Crowley usually--maybe they're like Leviathan and work better with direction?) and every other time the boys make it to a weapon or an incantation "in time".

It's ridiculously sloppy, but I think they backed themselves into the position of having demons being the front line grunts, and the fights needing to last more than 20 seconds. I think it makes sense that an angel sword can kill them (although I'd have been just as fine if they couldn't--specific magic, after all--the demon knife doesn't hurt angels), but why are we just learning this now? There was a point where those things were a dime a dozen--they could have been doublefisting all this time.

Also, not sure about the Colt and what it took to make it fire again. Is it impossible to make another one? Why? Did it take magic the first time? Science? Ingredients?

But those arsenal/constitution issues aren't balanced to give the fight scenes they need to have as the action backbone of the show. The justification is inconsistent--not Buffy inconsistent, but getting there.

I think it makes sense that an angel sword can kill them (although I'd have been just as fine if they couldn't--specific magic, after all--the demon knife doesn't hurt angels), but why are we just learning this now?

Angels and even Meg have used those blades against demons before, so I don't get why they had to announce for the audience at home that they work against demons now. We've known that since Season 4, haven't we?

They announced it for me, so I'm grateful. I remember Meg having one in Sam's hospital room when Kevin shows up, but I don't remember who she used it against. I remember her using it against hellhounds when she lifted it from Cas. But I only remember Cas fighting demons by using his hands.

Can you tell me what I should go look up for an example?