Further upthread I had theorized that Ben wasn't Dean's son, because he were the angels and demons would have been watching his every move from the instant he was born. Theresa suggested that

Unless mixing with Lisa's blood offset the convergence of bloodlines of John and Mary. Maybe this kid didn't get the special vessel gene.

which made me wonder, so I went looking. The transcript for "The Song Remains the Same" isn't on the Super Wiki yet so I sat down with my DVR and this is what found in the episode:

Michael: You're my true vessel, but not my only one.
Dean: What's that supposed to mean?
Michael: It's a bloodline.
Dean: A bloodline?
Michael: Stretching back to Cain and Abel. It's in your blood, your father's blood, your family's blood.

This implies to me that potential vessel-hood falls all along the Winchester family tree -- John's great-grandfather, John's sons (for instance, Adam if he were still alive), and Ben, if he were Dean's or if Sam got any girls pregnant during wild drunken parties at Stanford the child born from that encounter.

Do you think he was saying there was another Winchester out there? I wonder if it could be a cousin or something.

My read on it is that maybe any of the Winchester line -- or that line descended from Cain and Abel -- could have worked, but like Gabriel said, the reason Sam and Dean are the *true* vessels is because they're brothers, because they're mirroring the conflict between Michael and Lucifer. Destiny, or whatever, arranged it so that they're the ones who are going to play out the battle best emotionally, I guess?

The kid I'm most interested in is Jessie, right now. That's a gun that better reappear in the third act.

I'm a bad fan. Who's Jessie?

Ohhhh...he was the antichrist or something, wasn't he? That kid.

Yeah, him! Superhero!kid who took himself off wherever.

I just clicked on some promo pics for next week's episode and got massively spoiled. Dang it.

Tries desperately to forget. On another note, I'd love Jessie to come back. For that matter I love it when anyone comes back. I want the Wendigo siblings to put in an appearance, or Lucas and his mom, or any number of awesome female cops...

This implies to me that potential vessel-hood falls all along the Winchester family tree [...]

I'm not discounting Sam as a vessel for Michael either, demon blood taint or not. If, as an angel, Lucifer can ride him, so can Michael.

I was thinking about this again

Michael: It's a bloodline.

Dean: A bloodline?

Michael: Stretching back to Cain and Abel. It's in your blood, your father's blood, your family's blood.

and okay, it occurred to me... Now, I Know that Kripke and his stable of writers haven't followed any theology canonically, but if the bloodline stretches back to Cain and Abel, then it (whatever it is - midichlorians?) is in every human being on the planet, not only the Winchesters.

But then we know Michael was questionable in his interpretation of what we poor mortals know of theology (Really? He "raised" Lucifer? Made him eat his vegetables and tucked him into bed and held his hand as he walked him to choir practice? Or whatever the angelic equivalent is.)

So I guess we're going to have to go along with Amy's interpretation of Gabriel's interpretation of the situation:

the reason Sam and Dean are the *true* vessels is because they're brothers, because they're mirroring the conflict between Michael and Lucifer. Destiny, or whatever, arranged it so that they're the ones who are going to play out the battle best emotionally, I guess?

midichlorians?)

BWAH. It's as good as anything show is telling us.

I like Amy's version too.

Well, it's the only way it makes sense to me, but it doesn't mean I'm right.

I would like it to be Thursday now, too. Although I don't know why -- with no breaks till the end, the season's going to be over before we know it, and then will come the Pain of Hiatus.