Maybe I'm just struggling with Jared's acting in that scene. Maybe it is "True" Sam but that line just failed on every level for me both writing wise and acting wise and it's now caused me to rethink PostGadreel Sam on every level. I've noticed little things here and there that didn't seem like "True Sam" for me…

Oh interesting notion. I like that.

I thought S1 and S2 Sam and even post Soulless Sam s6 were fairly consistent Sam characterizations even if the writing was squirelly. Heck even demon blood drinking AddictSam was Sam for me. The only times I didn't think Sam was Sam was when he was Samifer, MegSam, ZekeSam and Gadreel Sam. I thought those were…

Why not? He could always fall back on Stevie Nicks is hot or something. Dean has layers.

We've seen pissed off and over it RegularSam in past seasons and I just did not get that from Jared at all here. If this is RegularSam then IMO Jared has lost the ability to play him the way he used to.

Eh, I bought it. Dean loves his old vinyl. I have no trouble believing Fleetwood Mac falls into his music wheelhouse.

I just am partial to Kashmir :)

Wouldn't it be better to show a re-run then instead of mucking with the continuity?

Same here

As long as we avoid Stairway to Heaven because that would be too cliched

I don't think Dean views Crowley as a bromance partner. I think they are simply using each other for their common purpose. I didn't think Dean was defending him as much as just saying "gotta do what I gotta do to get what I need to get done, done".

I thought Cas didn't take all the grace because he thought it would kill Sam? Or am I confusing that with something else?

I would think they could have find out via another ghost haunting another place. It was certainly convenient that it was Kevin, but I thought it was awkwardly handled. It just didn't really work for me as I guess they intended. And it didn't really have much emotional resonance for me either.

Does anyone think Sam is not wholeSam? I mean he's not been the same since Gadreel and at times I swear he has hints of Gadreel. Could it be that Gadreel is still poking around in there? I dunno, maybe it's Jared's performance but he sure doesn't seem like he's Original Recipe Sam or even Soulless Sam. It's weird…

I wonder if since renewal wasn't 100% they were holding it in their backpocket? Maybe now they know it's official for 10th season, they can start writing to incorporate more of that and build some kind of arc around it and tie to Dean's mark.

I can understand that viewpoint. I never hated s4 as much as many did. I loved the Jasmine arc even if I didn't like how it came to fruition.

As terrible as it sounds I would absolutely hate it if Dean ever stopped hunting and wanted to co-exist with monsters. IMO Dean has to die fighting monsters. I would absolutely hate for them to have that kind of ending.

I hope that somehow during the actual series finale, they blow some budget for Zeppelin. I would kill to see Dean and Sam in the Impala driving on the road to Hell rocking out to Kashmir.

I surely don't understand why they switch the order of episodes, especially in a show that is as serialized as this one. It really fucks up continuity. So annoying.

Indeed. Angel has to be in the top 5 most successful spinoffs.