But I worry about Dean--did Sam or Castiel hear what the Reaper told him about being empty inside?

I think Castiel was still out of it, but it's hard to say with Sam -- we don't know when he actually came into the room.

I wonder how much Sam's craving is for the actual demon blood, and how much of it is metaphorical, him simply wanting that power again (remember his conversation with War?). I am a little confused, though, because I thought we/show determined that the blood was a placebo, not really the source of his power.

Reaper? I meant Horseman. Edited thusly. I have Tessa on the brain right now. I keep thinking of him almost giving up to her, and that emptiness now.

I'm seeing discussion that it's supposed to be that he has no soul, but that's very literal. I'll have to rewatch, but it wasn't my takeaway. Mine was that he was hollowed out by everything he was going through, and he wanted nothing. A whole lot of nothing.

With Sam, I guess he ties the power to the demon blood (his?) so tightly that he's never been able to access it without drinking. But I'm surprised that they haven't made an effort to work out how to get past that. It's huge. Even if the bloody nose of mental overextertion was worrying.

That was way too close to Dean saying yes for comfort, but I don't think Dean's going to say yes unless somehow that keeps Sam out of trouble.

I wasn't that surprised that Famine told Dean he was dead inside. Dean was in Hell for awhile so I suspect in order to survive that, he had to become harder than he was. How can he be dead inside and be able to be Michael's vessel? That's the only question I have. What is the status of Dean's soul?

BTW, Cupid was really sweet. :-)

I need to rewatch -- JA's expressions while Famine was hissing at him were so pained, so revealing. ARGH. BOYS.

Yeah, I can't imagine Dean literally doesn't have his soul. For one, I can't see how that would work with Michael wanting him -- and I can't imagine Castiel would have brought him back at all if hell had truly destroyed it/him.

I think what hit me the hardest was a) Dean pleading, when he's said again and again he believes God is gone, and b) Sam pleading for DEAN.

For all the funny (and the ewww), this episode was really gutting.

I'm not sure I understand why Famine was so looking forward to the soul that Sam ended up stealing (in the brief case), when he had just "eaten" everyone in the restaurant.

So much ewwww in this episode, I'm not sure about a rewatch, at least any time soon. With the long break, I'm sure I shall - using the FF on my Tivo.

The briefcase moment was very Pulp Fiction.

I think they said something about needing to "harvest" the souls? But yeah, that was annoyingly unclear.

I can't wait to rewatch this one, actually. It's definitely my favourite of the recent eps--good brother interaction, with the communication and the lack of communication and the concern and the horror and the despair, good Castiel time, and just plain nastiness.

I guess there's a hierarchy to the tastiness of what Famine consumes? Having driven those people right over the edge of insanity made their souls extra-primo? But, yeah, he did do it to the diner. And then eating demons was at the other end of desirability.

Crossroads Blues was this morning, which is extra super painful now, knowing what Dean did when Sammy died.

It also gives me a stupid little happy that Dean knew all about Robert Johnson, music as well as legend -- he's not all mullet rock all the time!

he's not all mullet rock all the time!

Plus Cliff and Marley psueds last night, which made me giggle.

I only got halfway through Crossroads Blues, but the hellhounds are so painful to watch, with Dean and Jo's deaths.

I did a lot of friendsfriends trawling last night for episode response, and damn if people don't seem to be talking a lot about it. Between it and last week, even people who'd kinda fallen away from the show seem to be paying a little more attention. I wonder if they can sustain that in the back run of episodes after the hiatus.

It's all about the pain and the mytharc, man. And from looking at the promo for the next ep, there will at least be pain.

I'm seeing discussion that it's supposed to be that he has no soul, but that's very literal. I'll have to rewatch, but it wasn't my takeaway. Mine was that he was hollowed out by everything he was going through, and he wanted nothing. A whole lot of nothing.

My take, too.