She's simply the road not taken, and it's very Dean, imo, to try and save specific people, to spare them hurt. I also think it's a way for him to say out loud what he maybe can't say to Sam right now.

She's also a means to communicate what he's thinking to the audience. Otherwise, we'd have no insight into what's going on in his head.

See, I think you can use the shorthand in a way that makes sense, but this felt like a stretch. I can see where they were going, but this went Step 3 Profit.

Lead up to what, though? Here's the thing--I don't think Lisa is Dean's true love. I don't think he can settle down with her at the end of the series for true happiness, not without some extra work on the part of the writers.

Lead up in showing that he does, in fact, actually still think the what if about them two years later. Hell, a mention to the "shrink" in Sam Interrupted would have worked.

So, her being in his dream back in episode mumble-mumble isn't enough to show that she is on his mind and where he goes in his head when he needs that safe place? I think that was just as shocking to him as the confrontation with his demon self at the end of the dream.

I think Lisa was a chosen because she comes with Ben. Dean has a compulsive caretaker personality. If it's not Sam he's watching out for, then he's going to find a way to channel that need elsewhere even when he's despondent.

This episode left me feeling hurty for Sam. When he stood there staring at Dean drive off (in the Impala, no noble leaving it behind) he looked so sad.

I really like the parallel between this season and last -- last time Sam was determined he was the only one who could do the work, and charged off to do it alone. This time it's Dean. I think Dean is less determined than resigned, but the parallel still works for me.

Ooh I like this too. Dean's "saying yes" is Sam's blood addiction.

last time Sam was determined he was the only one who could do the work, and charged off to do it alone. This time it's Dean

Yikes. I need Sam to get there in time, though.

Looks like, from the trailer, that at least Cas gets to him.

And whups the living tar out of him.

I'm going to have to track down Sam/Cas codas for this week.

No, not really, as his dream episode was pre-Hell and not long after he found her and Ben, and all journeys into his dream head post-Hell (all one of them) have been silent, peaceful isolation.

I really, to be sold on it as something he still held close enough in his brain that he'd make arrangements and find her after making his decision to say yes, needed a post-Hell indication. So in Sam, Interrupted, he could have said "There's a kid out there I still half-think could be mine." or something. It felt inorganic and clunky and again, previouslies are not plotting. (I recognize they probably didn't even think about it until after SI was out there, but still. Even so, there were probably ways to do things in episode so it felt organic. If someone else had written it. Carver, I think, could have done it.)

They had the perfect opportunity a frickin' week ago if that one day of hanging around with his pint-sized doppelganger was such a transformative experience for Dean that it redefined his concept of happily-ever-after.

I thought the previouslies were hella clunky, but I don't think the reveal of her as his might've been is. The previouslies make it look like it's something that was bigger than it was. I like the idea that it was small, but it's all he has.

On another note, I loved Cas in this episode. He didn't feel shoe-horned into the episode at all.

Bender!Cas was so great, and I loved the quiet hangover scene with Dean. His bitterly muttered "I'm an Angel of the Lord" to the preacher & his "poor example of [an angel]" comments were painful.

His bitterly muttered "I'm an Angel of the Lord"

You think he's tired of saying that?