I'm getting a lot of "Sam's being ungrateful to Dean" on my flist and dash and other places. What I see when Sam says, "You want to work together? We work. You want us to be brothers?" And gives a tiny shake of the head. "Those are my terms."
I'm not getting that he wants to not be Dean's family, or his brother. But he wants a new role in Dean's life beside the incompetent "big giant baby", as Crowley called him, who has to be "taken care of". Who has to walk a step behind, get left at the motel when Dean roars off angry to find a bar, who doesn't get a say--or doesn't get listened to when he does say something.
Sam's not always right. But when he is, Dean historically ignores it. Dean doesn't really *see* Sam as an an autonomous adult. He's still making decisions for Sam like it's his job, his place, his duty, and his right.
And making decisions for Sam, and sometimes for Dean, is Sam's job. So, Sam wants a renegotiated contract. And I think that's fair. I think that's a good thing, and I really hope that's what's going to happen.
On the meta side, they both just look so tired, so bored, so *done* with Supernatural. It's so ironic that they put everything they could into the show in the Ostroff years, and sweated being canceled, or not being renewed, all that time. Now, when they're done and they'd probably like to say goodbye, the network CEO *loves* the show and doesn't want to end it. They're professionals, and they show up, hit their marks, say their lines. But there are no depths in their characters left to plumb. No discoveries to make. And from where I sit, any affection, any enjoyment the characters had of being in each other's company is just reduced to habit and duty.
Someone said earlier today, "It's a different show, now." And I think that's true. There won't be any recapture of the glory days, no matter how many ways Carver, et al, try to serve it up.