Episode Report Card Tippi Blevins: C+ | 74 USERS: A YOU GRADE IT Deviled Red Herring
By Tippi Blevins | Season 8 | Episode 23 | Aired on 05.15.2013
Sam is still all het up to finish the last trial. "Look at him," he says, pointing at Crowley. "Look how close we are!" At the very least, they're this close to having someone they can watch Girls with! "Other people will die if I don't finish this," Sam says. While it's nice to see a change from the Sam "It's Not My Responsibility" Winchester of earlier this season, I'm still not entirely sure how we got to this. Sam makes a face like he really needs to sneeze but is trying to hold it back. "Think about what we know," Dean reasons with him. "Pulling souls from Hell, curing demons -- hell, ganking a hellhound! We have enough knowledge on our side to turn the tide here, but I can't do it without you." He's talking like they're going to start spending eight hours per demon curing them, when they couldn't be bothered to spend eight minutes exorcising them from their meatsuits. Anyway, this turns out not to be a convincing argument for a Sam. "You can barely do it with me! I mean, you think I screw up everything I try, you think I need a chaperone!" Dean tries to explain that's not what he meant, but Sam's epic butthurt will not be assuaged. "You know what I confessed in there? What my biggest sin was? It was how many times I'd let you down."
Dean's eyes widen, but he shouldn't be shocked for long because Sam's feelings of personal failure are about to take an outward turn. "What happens when you've decided I can't be trusted again?" Sam asks. Note that it's not, "What happens when I do something untrustworthy again?" It's not about Sam's actions, but about how Dean "decides" to respond to them. "I mean, who you gonna turn to next time instead of me? Another angel? Another vampire?" Sam is just pouring snot and tears at this point. It's almost as horrific as that hands-and-feet crucifix. "Do you have any idea what it feels like to watch your brother--" Dean cuts him off, telling him that none of it is true. "I know I've said some junk that set you back on your heels, but Sammy, come on. I killed Benny to save you! I'm willing to let this bastard --" He gestures at Crowley. "--and all the sons of bitches that killed Mom walk because of you! Don't you dare think that there isn't anything past or present I wouldn't put in front of you!"
Sam thinks about this for a long time and then, despite the Demon Tablet arc of this entire season and the Hell Gate Trials arc for the last ten episodes, he stands down. "Just let it go," Dean tells him. Sam says he doesn't know how. "It's in me," he sobs. Dean wraps Sam's wounded hand in a bandana and tells him, "We'll figure it out, just like we always do." They'll figure it out for half a season and then, at the last second, do something else. With the magical healing powers of one of Dean Winchester's patented Full-Body Manly Hugs, the sizzling glow in Sam's arms begins to dissipate. Sam nearly laughs with relief. That's when some kind of seizure hits him and he stumbles down the church's front steps. Dean is so freaked out that he ditches the diminutive and calls out to Castiel by his full name.