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I'm guessing Sam cowering behind the desk was his version of not wanting to kill the dangerous infected person, rather than being afraid. I'm also guessing the promised "reset back to season 1" is Dean wanting to kill everything and Sam wanting to save everything. Which would be fine if it made sense. But surely they didn't lose their minds altogether. As in: 1. Yes, it's good to want to help people/find a cure. But you, Sam, are not a doctor. There are no doctors left alive in the hospital, and no one around who can help those people who are about to kill you and everyone else in their path. 2. The infected people are about to self-destruct anyway, long before they can be cured, or probably even studied. But even so, they would have to be contained long enough for someone to study them. 3. Not shooting them isn't saving them. Remember the Croatoan virus? The Jefferson Starships? Sometimes you have to kill the monsters who are trying to kill you right now and try to save the others later. And Sam's line: "there's always a cure. You just have to want to find it" made me want to throw something at the TV. Because of course modern medicine has no interest in curing all the normal everyday diseases and should spend their time working on brand-new supernatural ones. Having said that, there were some things that might lead to good storylines in the future, but I really wish they'd go back to good writing instead of just tossing out ideas and then never following up on them or making them actually make sense.

OK, I was thinking of multiple weeks in a row with no warning, rather than just once in a while for a special, but point taken, and thanks to SueB and FlickChick for reminding me that yes, SPN is expendable in the eyes of the network but at least they keep renewing it. I was just having a bad couple of days and lost my temper with the CW. *sigh*

Well, I've been watching Supernatural since season 4, so I can't say what went on before that. But I never remember them taking the show off entirely for the summer...a week or two here or there, when there's something special like the Olympics or an award show, but not *replaced*. Or am I wrong? I assume they're trying to tap the built-in audience for the new show, but it's not like they're comparable in any way, shape or form, and, if that's the case, judging from the description (no, I don't intend to turn it on even out of curiosity) it seems like they have a *very* low opinion of the SPN fanbase. My question(s) (in case anyone knows): was this announced anywhere? Did they say how many eps the new show will be? I know Supernatural starts with new episodes in October, but will reruns return in September some time so we can catch up/remind ourselves of the end of season 10?

Did I miss something? There's some idiotic reality show on instead of Supernatural for the whole month of August? (That's as far as my TV listings go...) I didn't see any warnings or hints anywhere, and the only information I can find online is that the CW ordered eps of the new show for the summer back in February, with schedule to be determined later. But EVERY DAMN WEDNESDAY? (I know season 10 wasn't my favorite, but I'm about to go into withdrawal, so pardon my hyperventilation...) How did I miss this? Or is it only in Colorado?

And this is *my* bitterness...because yes, Sam has been told multiple times and by multiple people that he's wrong, and he still goes ahead and does it, and...HE'S WRONG. My complaint here is that Sam apparently *never learns.* He doesn't take anyone else's opinion into consideration, doesn't compromise, doesn't rethink, just goes ahead and does what he thinks is right...and yes, maybe it does make more sense than the others, but well-thought-out still doesn't necessarily mean right. (I once read a 19th-century medical text that was trying to explain why/how people caught tetanus, all without the idea of bacteria. It was very well-thought out, well-reasoned, completely logical and completely wrong, just because they were missing that one little piece of information.) So to me, if every time Sam's actions turn out to be wrong, then maybe he should think that maybe he's missing some piece of information. Then, the next time three or four people tell him not to do something, he should stop and rethink his plans. Or at least discuss it with them and come up with a compromise. He's supposed to be the smart one, after all. So if you want to blame the writers for something, it's not for always making him the fall guy (though that's the outcome) but for making him so inflexible and unwilling to listen to others that he just does what he wants, no matter what the consequences. For never learning from his past mistakes. Now as to consequences: yes, Dean took on the Mark without asking the consequences, but (and I had to go to the SPN Wiki transcript to get this) Cain told him: "But you have to know with the mark comes a great burden. Some would call it a great cost." Nowhere in there does it imply that he would become a danger to others, or that the burden would impact anyone but himself. So, yes, he was stupid not to ask what exactly that meant, but I can see where he would think that the burden was his (alone) to bear. To me at least, that's not the same as everyone telling Sam how evil the Book was and having him ignore them. And they may have been not completely specific, but there were enough warnings to make Sam want to at least consider the consequences himself. Check the Wiki transcript of "Book of the Damned." Now, I don't mean to start the "Sam is always wrong and Dean is always right" (or vice versa) fight up again. I think they've *both* been incredibly stupid and stubborn many, many times over the years, and have *both* been excoriated by fans for their wrongdoings (and honestly, judging by the comments and anger on both sides, they're about equal in the blame/fault game.) But I'd just rather point at the writers for constantly making the boys take one small step forward in growth and then 5 or 6 giant steps backwards every time.

Sorry if I misuse the quotes--I'm new to this forum and haven't quite figured out how things work. Not that I disagree (completely), but you're using the "end justifies the means" excuse that Sam used over and over again, especially in seasons 3 and 4 (ie, being willing to kill Nancy the virgin in Jus in Bello or Bobby in Mystery Spot or working with Ruby at all), and which is the same thing he's saying here, about using the Book and Rowena. I didn't like it then and I'm very disappointed that Sam is still using it now, after everything that's happened in the last 6 or 7 years. Especially when everyone keeps pointing out what a bad idea it is, how dangerous it is, and how dark spells come with a heavy price. Dean's reason for killing the kid here (I think) was the same one he had in killing Amy: his belief (even if mistaken) that evil will always come through, and it's better to kill them *before* they do something (else) horrible. As Rammfan pointed out, there have been too many times that they let someone go and regretted it (even Sam, who had always tried to give "monsters" the chance at first, gave into that, by killing Dean's Amazon daughter and by refusing to give Benny any "benefit of the doubt" at all.) I actually think here Dean thought he was *saving* the kid from becoming a monster, or at least saving the world from him. It was cold, yes, but it wasn't mindless. He honestly did think about it, which might actually make it worse. And as several people here said, he'd better have some damn good redemption coming up, even though I'm sure he won't be forgiving himself. Honestly, I still haven't forgiven Sam for The Purge speech. That, to me, was the cruelest thing I've ever heard a character say on this show. (Not the part about not saving him, which I know wasn't meant the way it sounded; rather, when Sam told him flat out that he had never saved anyone or done anything good, that everything he'd ever done was for selfish reasons, and that he didn't want to be brothers any more. That basically negated Dean's whole sense of self and his only source of self-worth.) And he's still never told Dean that he forgave him ("I lied" just isn't the same somehow.) But I will admit that Dean's comment to Sam tonight was unexpected and painfully cruel. I'm chalking it up to the anger that's been building up since he found out about the Book, and mostly the influence of the MoC, which seems to release the inhibitions, especially between brain and mouth. Remember the horrible things DemonDean gleefully said to Sam when he was tied up in the bunker. I don't think this was specifically designed to make Sam bleed; it was just Dean saying what he felt without filters, and in too much pain to care about its effect.

Just have to throw my two cents in here to everyone who is so upset about how Dean has done the unforgivable; that he crossed the line by murdering an innocent human... Does anyone here remember the poor nurse way back in 4.22 that Sam kidnapped and murdered just so he could drink her blood? AFAIK, *no one* (including Dean, Sam, Bobby or even Ruby) ever mentioned her again. Maybe Sam never told Dean? I know it was handwaved by the writers because, well, Sam was not himself, but was under the influence of some uncontrollable evil...hey, does that sound familiar? I'm not trying to whitewash either action, just point out that yes, it has been done before and yes, it has been forgiven, or at least, apparently forgotten. Frankly, I'm more curious to see if anyone is going to recognize that Dean has actually just murdered a surrogate-Sam: the too-smart oddball member of a dangerous family who wanted nothing more than to get away from his family, be normal, and not go into the family business, but was supposedly tainted by "bad blood" that would eventually turn him into a monster...