I am unspoiled and want to stay that way. I tried un-leaping through that church window the boys went out of and just can’t seem to do it. I don’t want to be frustrated by the oddities or afraid that the show has forgotten the boys are stronger together. I don’t want their disconnect to be because either one is a dick. They aren’t!! So I’ll make my assumptions and spend the season feeling privileged to be watching an embodiment of Sam’s and Dean’s collective issues mixing it up to bring Dean fully out of hell.

Given the season…..

  • Sam is up to something with Ruby that means lying to Dean
  • Ruby’s earned the Anna-angel seal of approval (or tolerance if we go by Uriel); angels follow Dean’s orders
  • Blindness results when attempting to look at an angel – preventing seeing the truth of their form
  • Repeated messages to Dean: “It’s not your fault”  “You are not alone”  “It’ll get better”
  • Repeated references: “This is crazy” “This isn’t real”
  • Sleep scenes galore – Dean especially, but also Sam and Bobby (and even case of the week players)
  • Repeated side of the road Impala chat confessions (to the point to excess? – who would have believed there was such a point? – one wonders if there’s an episode writer’s checklist for including this and the sleep thing… )
  • near canonization of incestuous images
  • Sam is acting increasingly Dean-like; Dean is Sammy-esque: The behavioral boundaries between the boys are at an all time low while the emotional discord is escalating — it’s increasingly difficult to tell where one starts and the other stops as illustrated by the monsters of the week (I used to assume the metamorphosis monster meant Sam, but not anymore!)
  • SYMBOLIC (cheesily so at times – Titanic hand!) story elements
  • reuse of scenes, settings, and set elements; odd transitions and time and location shifts

Given the Supernatural universe….

  • the cases of the week have always related to or illuminated some aspect of the Winchesters’ journey
  • created, false, and shifting realities – “It’ll feel real, sugar” – are possible
  • several means for communicating beyond the norm have been established
  • the Winchesters are each other’s weak spot AND they are stronger working together

Given my beliefs….

  • Dean’s deal for Sam was born of desperation and inevitable. It was wrong and admirable at the same time.
  • Sam’s intentions ARE good ones. They are ones I will understand. The desperate choices he’s making will be just as  wrong and as inevitable as Dean’s, however.
  • I refuse to accept that Sam saying he’s better than Dean or that Dean ‘wanting’ Sam dead trump their years of love and investment in each other.
  • I refuse to believe the show suddenly got sloppy about editing to no purpose.
  • I choose to take the lederhosen, glowing amulets of grace, and dorky headbands (ETC!) as over the top clues that the brothers are not in the same reality we saw in season one and two.

Given the givens….

I’ll choose to interpret the story to allow for loving both boys.  Right now, to me, that means some variation of Sam using his powers to bring Dean out of hell, the two of them contributing (with varying degrees of awareness and control) to the story we’ve been watching as Dean heals, and Dean getting closer to realizing it. Unless the show makes me, I will not anticipate a blow out between the boys that doesn’t resolve itself with the two of them on the same side covering each other’s backs. I will continue mental gymnastics as needed to avoid the idea of either an Evil Sam or an Evil Dean.

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