Dean waits beside a bridge, and up pulls a crappy gold Lincoln Continental with Oklahoma license plates. Guess who? You see!!! Dean didn't want to send Sam away both times. He did it out of overinflated sense of duty. He realizes this whole sacrificing his family for the sake of the world ends the world! Zack ain't so bad after all. Dean did learn the right lesson.
 
Sam gets out of the crappy vehicle and he and Dean approach each other. No hugs, just awkwardness. Sam especially looks nervous, so its obvious he has no idea what Dean wants. He's especially nervous when Dean pulls out the demon killing ginsu and holds it for a few seconds. He then lunges forward with it and gets Sam straight in the heart. Sam falls backward in stunned disbelief before the lights go out. Psych! I know you saw the episode first. No, Dean hands it to Sam. "You're serious, you want back in. You should hang onto this. I’m sure you’re rusty."

Sam takes the knife with some apprehension. Dean says he’s sorry. “I don’t know whatever I need to be, but I was wrong.” Sam wants to know what made him change his mind. You were Lucifer! No, Dean gives him the "long story" line, which is network television speak for we don't have time for this, budget you know, so it becomes an off camera conversation while driving through America's heartland. “The point is, maybe we are each other’s Achilles heel, they’ll find a way to use us against each other I don’t know, I just know we’re all we’ve got. More than that, we keep each other human.”

“Thank you, really, thank you.” Sam might be grateful, but he's quite subdued. He actually looks really depressed. I wonder after Dean's rebuff if he holed up in a cheap motel or something and downed a pint of HaagenDazs. Or Jack Daniels. Or both. Sam promises he won't let Dean down and Dean knows he won't. “You are the second best hunter on the planet." Aww Dean, you softie. Sam manages somehow to crack a small smile over that. He wants to know what they do now. Dean sets the tone for what's coming. "We make our own future." The ending line goes to Sam. "I guess we have no choice."



So, with that string of nice heavy episodes, we're back to something light next week with brothers reunited. It's very much needed, since the brain trust of Kripke, Gamble, Carver, and Edlund just blew my psyche to smithereens. Thanks guys!