Apparently whatever Ruby did to it is just as good as the original bullets. Some things are able to survive being stabbed by her knife (it didn't even seem to bother Castiel), but Lucifer said only 5 beings in creation can withstand the Colt.

Is there some reason that Castiel and other angels can't home in on objects Sam & Dean habitually keep near them? I get that they themselves are blinvisible, but they tend not to range too far from the Impala, for example.

Okay, it's not just me missing things WRT the gun, then. Good.

So being shot with the gun disrupts the demon-ness, but doesn't kill the demon unless it's a kill shot for the host. But they always shoot to kill unless it's their dad.

And same with the knife--Bobby's the only non-kill with it, and it kills the demons, right?

Sam's demon-juicing powers--he can exorcise, but he can also kill. When he stabs the demon in MBV and drinks their blood, what happens to their demony souls? Does he kill them? Exorcise them? How many demons does he actually kill rather than exorcise (other than Lillith and his food)?

Matt, I guess we've never seen them hone in on movable stuff. Just people and locations.

I guess I assumed demons don't have souls? Which is why when Sam kills them, or the knife or Colt kills them, they're really truly dead -- not just on their way back to hell, where they could surface again.

I think I'm confused about how you're using "kill" and "exorcise" there, too.

And what do you mean, Bobby's the only non-kill with the knife? The knife won't kill a human unless it's intended to, whereas if you stab a demon with the knife, it hits the demon inside, or something, no matter whether it would kill the human host.

When you stab and kill a demon with the knife, it's not coming back. But when you exorcise one, it can come back in another shell. That's my distinction.

By demony souls I meant the black cloud. When Meg was exorcised, she could come back. When Sam yanked the black clouds out in MBV, I assumed they were on their way back to hell (and therefore not deaddead), but then Famine ate them. I've been assuming that's what he's done to most of the demons he's encountered.

However, I thought that what he did to Lillith was permanent, that she's not chilling in the underworld waiting for a do-over. Same with Alastair.

Same with everyone that's been shot with the Colt. They're gone and done for.

As for the knife, they always go for the kill. If scoring is enough to get the demon out, why don't they just do that? Even with Bobby it took a pretty big strike.

Okay, that's my take, too. I think this is what confused me:

When he stabs the demon in MBV and drinks their blood, what happens to their demony souls? Does he kill them? Exorcise them?

Because that whole scene was confusing to me. I didn't understand why Famine wanted some fancy soul in a briefcase when he seemed perfectly happy to eat the souls fresh right there in the diner.

So when Sam yanked them back out of Famine, to kill Famine ... I have no idea what happened to them then.

I don't think Sam has killed as many demons as simply exorcised them, which Ruby was teaching him to do. He did kill a lot of the hosts early on, though, albeit accidentally.

I think with the knife, I always thought once you saw that electric crackle, the demon was dying, even if it wasn't necessarily a mortal wound. But I could be wrong. I don't pay that much attention to the intricacies of the fight scenes.

I didn't understand why Famine wanted some fancy soul in a briefcase when he seemed perfectly happy to eat the souls fresh right there in the diner.

No, that didn't make sense. Unless it was a ripened soul, now that I'm fanwanking it. You know, had a proper addiction it had given into and killed itself, as opposed to just going overboard.

I can did that human souls are tastier than eating his demon cohorts, but you're right--that wasn't well explained.

I don't think Sam has killed as many demons as simply exorcised them

But he did (and was training to) kill Lilith, right? And what did he do to Alastair?

But he did (and was training to) kill Lilith, right? And what did he do to Alastair?

Um. He did kill Lilith. Alistair would require a rewatch.

It's just weird that Lilith is the only demon he's killed. All that training seems completely irrelevant.

I'm on the overthink train, aren't I? Back on the fun train, as John Rogers would instruct.

I thought he killed Alastair as well, but then I thought Alastair had been killed previously by Anna going Chernobyl and that turned out to be just banishment in the wake of his human host getting disintegrated.

My impression has been that when the black clouds sink into the ground burning or the host shows that flickering lit-from-within effect, the demon is being destroyed rather than just cast out.

when the black clouds sink into the ground burning

But isn't that what they show after an exorcism? And we know, from Meg, that that isn't destruction.

Or is the burning effect something I'm missing?

The host flickering with the knife and the gun I get.

I'm trying to remember visually what Lilith's demise looked like. I know he killed her because it's been said seventy kajillion times, but I don't recall what we actually saw.

Youtube ahoy!

Whohoa. Bad boy Sammy. He does definitely kill Alastair. No expulsion of black clouds--instead, just like Lilith, he goes all glowy skeleton. In fact, that's where he announces he can kill demons, when Alastair dares him to send him back to Hell. So I guess everything before has been less than that.