The Winchester Family Business

I hope, it´s ok to post this here... because uhm.. yeah.. HUGE wall of text incoming...
I didn´t want to take up three comment pages on TVOvermind to post it ;)
I hope, I´ll be forgiven.

Well, what DO we know?

a) Something is not right with Sam´s "living situation" this past year.
Indicator 1) Amelia watching him leave, without a word or a gesture.
Indicator 2) Shadowy figure watching from the outside
Indicator 3) Sam leaving, as he did, when he did, going right to Rufus cabin, where Dean was. WITHOUT having gotten Dean's messages.
Indicator 4) The overly saturated tone of some of the memories (not all of them)

I´m going with mental breakdown here. And the angels intervening to keep him from something stupid. Like killing himself.
Getting Dean back was absolutely out of question. Not knowing, where he is, with the logical thing being, he is dead, in heaven and finally at rest, drinking with Ash, Jo, Bobby and so on.

So, if he can´t bring Dean back, what´s the logical choice? Go there.

OR! It might just as well have been Crowley, standing outside, watching him. He surely followed them to Kevin. And Crowley knew, where Dean was. He knew from the moment, Dean and Cas vanished. And most likely he knew, chances were good, he would be back. It´s Dean after all and he doesn´t underestimate him, as he likes to point out.

But that doesn´t explain Sam leaving, when he did and going where he did.

Or the colours, that were chosen to depict the Amelia scenes.
I think, Amelia is real, they hooked up, but not as the big love, but more for comfort. Which still doesn´t exclude angels meddling in bringing them together and pushing Sam into the right direction. (which brings me to a very brief b) Who is THEM, that told Benny about the portal?)
The moment, Sam took the dog, that is the pivotal turning point from everything, that came after they killed Dick. That is the one moment, where he found a resemblance of stability again. A job, he stayed in a place for more than a few nights, settled in a litte.
The phrase, that comes to my mind here is "grounded"
And all because of a dog, which he was forced to take in by a cranky verterinarian.
But still, with Amelias drinking? And the way they parted? the colors?
I think, Sam is just sugar coating alot, because he frankly can´t deal.

I don´t think, the play with Sam's perception has something to do with Dean altering something.
I think that´s choice and mental problems on Sam's part.
If he truly understands, how far down he went, in my opinion, he isn´t telling Dean, to protect him. Contrary to Dean, Sam sees and understands very well, what Dean can handle right now. And that isn´t much and nothing complicated.
Sam being in trouble? The nightmare of Dean's brother's mental state still not over?
Very much complicated.
What Dean isn´t seeing, or getting, is Sam´s atypical behaviour.
Up until 8.06 he took everything Dean threw his way, without so much as a blink of an eye. Any bit of protest, that has been muttered was half hearted and he´s basically just trodding along, doing whatever Dean wants. That is not even remotely normal.
Sam "I´m angry all the time" Winchester?
Only after Benny appeared in the picture, did he get a little of his fire back. But even that was a) a panic attack and b) after Dean laid the blame for almost EVERYTHING on him. Alot of things, Sam wasn´t responsible for. Being soulless? Teaming up with Samuel WHILE souless? uhm.. no? That wasn´t Sam? And Dean knows that.
What is funny, is the way, Dean blamed him for not trying to get him back and at the same time blaming him for the things, he did that last time, he DID try to get him back.


As for the tablets... I wont go there yet. It might be alot of things. Do they want to close the gates of hell? Or do they want to keep the Winchesters from closing them?
I mean, you only need to get Michael out of the cage and start Apocalypse 2.0 at another time, when Sam and Dean are out of the picture.
Or (*gasp*) do they perhaps want to help them, but are standing back, so as not to trigger Dean's "get the f%&* out of my face" response?

Chuck? Chuck is the Metatron!
Scribe and Scribe. An Archangel, who is second only to God?
He might easily fool other angels.
I´m only slightly fangirling here....

Now I´m only hoping, they will bring back Gabriel.... after all, Cas was brought back, after helping the humans. So why not the only Archangel, that is actually on the side of the humans?
And Adam. Would they really close the gates of hell, with their baby brother still locked inside? I hope not. I so absolutely hope not.

BTW. is it just me, or is that dog way too well behaved? No dog behaves like that. NONE!
Amelia may be real, but the dog? Definately either an Angel or Demon plant.

OK. So I was doing some episode analysis on another site. And in rereading/editing I started thinking about some parallels... And it's led me to some spec. I thought I'd share here since it's a spec thread... albeit possibly a dead thread. So - I'm doing a copy/paste thing of my own post but from another site. I hope that's OK.

Here goes:

Sorry but... in rereading and seeing various parallels...

Sam doesn't trust Benny because Dean's not "sharing". Dean's hurt Sam ditched him "for a girl" but if Sam made it plain Amelia felt like family... if he "shared" that... well, Dean's all about family. He might be much less upset [or maybe more understanding - this does create a different reason to be upset]. Benny's been on two different vamp cases kind of like a hunter, even though he has expressed no desire to hunt. And now he's on the move and has a particular skill set. Is he on his way to becoming a hunter? And was the first thing that pulled him in, the desire to seek revenge over a lost love (like John, Sam... and perhaps Bobby too?) Is this season going to wind up being all about creating replacement hunters for Sam & Dean or something? "All this over a girl, Gabriel?" Don was in the military, like John... and also like Jake, the bestest Sam-alternative for YED. Is Don going to get sucked into hunting because of Amelia's former association with Sam???? And Don & Benny will be the next John and Bobby or something???

OMG - and rereading THAT... Don/Jo(h)n... Benny/Bobby? Seriously?!

Yep - yep - yep... which makes this SPN's version of the myths where the only way you can leave the underworld is if find someone to replace you. It might even fit my wacky "alternate interpretations" of certain scenes. In this case I'm thinking specifically of my interpretation of the "We'll cross that bridge..." exchange. Yep... no man left behind... Except Sam doesn't think every man will be crossing the rainbow bridge... or he doesn't think Dean should be talking about it... or something... I don't have the hunter-speak decoding manual (LOL).

Editing to add...
Spec is funny. I wonder if a young subsection of Psychology is devoted to it? Every once in a while you get excited about an epiphany and have to share. Then you feel guilty because what if it *is* correct? Then it's almost like a spoiler. And then... you are relieved when you poke holes in your own theory. And then you start the process all over again (ROTFLOL). This can't really be about replacing Dean/Bobby/Benny and Sam/Jo(h)n/Don because there's no way the writers would do that story and make the names that similar. It'd be like me looking for my racestaffer replacement and picking someone named raceworker. Too weird. So something else is up. But I do think Benny & Don are shoutouts to Bobby & John. And I do think the Team settled on Carencro, LA because it sounds like Karen/Charon + Crow. Remember when Death "passed Bobby a note" through his wife, Karen? Did you ever really believe Bobby told the truth, the whole truth, and nothing but the truth about what Karen said? I never did.

Editing AGAIN to add... well, Dean is also reminiscent of Don, as is Dad. So does Don represent John, Dad, or Dean? Or could it be an amalgam on purpose? Both John and Dean have played Dad to Sam.

In Sam's flashbacks, Sam bows out to make room for Don's return. In Dean's, Cas bows out leaving Dean to escape with Benny/Bobby...

I still think these "flashbacks" are instructions or negotiations or something. It's possible there can only be a trio in the Winchester "family." Mary, John and Dean... Fine. Add Sam... no, Mary's gotta go. John, Dean and Sam.... Fine. Add Bobby and John's gotta go. Dean, Sam and Bobby... Fine. Add Cas and someone's gotta go... OK, bye-bye Sam (S5). Sam comes back... Cas goes. Cas comes back... Bobby goes... And now somehow -> Per Dean's flashbacks, if we add Benny then Cas has gotta go but per Sam's flashbacks, if we add Don, Sam's gotta go... or... something... {squint}