Not disagreeing with most of you in the thread, but as much as I like the brotherly bond, I would love for the writing in the series to be such that as a viewer, I could believe that either brother could survive without the other. They've been through dark dark shit. It would be nice if I could feel that they could continue on without being permanently broken.

It would be nice if I could feel that they could continue on without being permanently broken.

I'm just mesmerised by the dysfunction that ties them together. It's a large part of the draw for me. I suppose healing them of it could be part of the series resolution, but I'm really torn about the idea of a happy ending for them. They might deserve it, but I don't even know what it looks like.

I mean, at this point, they can't really live across town from each other. They might not seem to enjoy each other's company as much as they have, but that's not what dysfunction is about. Or love.

Somehow, it would break a part of my SPN-loving heart if one of them could walk contentedly away from the other. I don't even like typing it. Feh.

I think they were permanently broken before we met them. Maybe not Sam since he seemed to be adjusting to life at college and had friends. Somehow I have a feeling though that Sam's normal life would have come crashing down even if Dean hadn't ask him to find "dad" or Jessica hadn't died.

I really buy it, too. Or I should say the writers have sold me on that dysfunction. These aren't just brothers with little other family whose parents are dead. These are boys (okay, men) who have been to the darkest of the dark sides, and keep crawling back. They have the weight of the world on their shoulders, all the damn time, and they've screwed it up more than once.

No one -- no one -- is ever going to get them, not really. And they're so far past normal, I don't think either of them want it, or even can picture it for themselves. And if that means sharing a house if they ever get off the road, I think they'd both be happy for the chance to do it.

It did strike me yesterday that John Winchester, and thus the boys, might have been one of the most hardcore of the hunters. Every other hunter we've seen has at least some kind of home base.

I have a feeling though that Sam's normal life would have come crashing down

Him lying to Jessica would have to bite him in the ass at some point. He has an entire life he can't talk to the woman he loves about. Something's gotta give.

they've screwed it up more than once

And they've crawled back to each other, despite that. I mean, they each know the apocalypse-precipitating, just-plain-stupid stuff the other one has done, and they keep dealing. They keep risking it all for each other, and even when they can't laugh about it, or get drunk in a bar together, they gravitate back to each other, to keep each other human.

What does fixing that entail? John broke them so long ago, and they just kept breaking themselves into smaller pieces after he was done.

I don't think there is any fixing that, now. And I think the love they have for each other is really strong and *good* in its own fucked up way, not just, "We're all we have left."

not just, "We're all we have left."

I picture it more of a "we're the only species of our kind left" rather than we're the only family left.

And no, they can't be fixed. They couldn't be fixed before Sam saw Dean killed every day for six months (or whatever time) and before Dean spent Forty years being literally pulled apart piece by piece daily in Hell.

I guess that is wrong. Dean only spent thirty years being pulled into pieces. The next ten years, he was doing it to others. No fixing.

I think the love they have for each other is really strong and *good* in its own fucked up way, not just, "We're all we have left."

I think they're tight in a spiral where they can only be what each of them has left. Even with Cas and Bobby (is he still there?) on their side, they're locked into a tight dyad that puts up strong walls against other people.

So while the core bond between them I think is good, the idea that Sam wouldn't let Bobby in at all (although Ruby might take some of the blame, I still think it's his Dean monomania that drove the whole thing) to help him with his pain is a big deal. After all, Sam is the one that can live without his brother--but he can't live with himself or another human without his brother.

After all, Sam is the one that can live without his brother--but he can't live with himself or another human without his brother.

Great observation! I didn't think about that when wondering which one of them could survive the other. Sam can do it but --it's a scary Sam.

Future Dean can do it too, and is equally scary.

I don't think I want this show to resolve itself happily, unless the definition of happy is still extremely broken and dysfunctional.