This is a nice review, and I wish I agreed with everything you've said, but, unfortunately, there's a lot of dialogue that was said, and not said, that I think hurt this episode, and, to me, it doesn't quite come off the way I think it was intended. (I hope my comments below aren't too negative or you find them offensive)
I wish the writers allowed Sam to acknowledge what he did last season, how he let Dean down, how he understands why Dean doesn't have faith in him. Dean has some valid reasons to not have faith in Sam, it's not like he's making this up. I just wish Sam would verbally admit that.
I also had problems with the "rot" line - rotting has a negative connotation, so it made it seem like the show was trying to convey that Dean was wrong to try and detox Sam. Detoxing a junkie is what the junkie generally needs to stop taking whatever he's taking that's causing him to harm himself and others, and Sam was harming himself and definitely harming others.
I did have an issue with Bobby, he seems to treat the brothers so differently, his way of "motivating" Dean is to yell and belittle him, meanwhile Bobby has never yelled or said anything about what Sam did last year. In fact, the show even had Bobby apologize to Sam when DemonBobby was mean to Sam. Dean, however, when trying to motivate Bobby in the 'Case of Dean Winchester' ep, was calm and didn't yell or belittle Bobby, even though Bobby did something stupid in that episode.
I guess I have a problem with the idea that violence/yelling/belittling = love.
I dislike the fact that Dean apologized again, as I've seen written elsewhere: 'Dean's apologizing again...it must be Thursday.' As I stated above, we still haven't had a discussion addressing Sam's statements and actions with regard to Dean from last season. So, I wonder if the show thinks that all is now okey dokey and will be swept under the rug?
With all that being said, I didn't hate the episode, there were definitely some things I liked about it.
I agree that it was nice to see Sam admit that his habit of running away was wrong.
I thought the Zachariah-Dean scenes were great. Fuller and Ackles went toe-to-toe and they both did a great job. It was a great death scene.
I enjoyed the "real" Adam.
And I agree, Jensen killed me.
I have to say that I will miss Kurt Fuller, I think he added a lot to the quality of the show, it's always good to have outstanding guest stars. (Oh, how I miss Henrickson.)
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I wish the writers allowed Sam to acknowledge what he did last season, how he let Dean down, how he understands why Dean doesn't have faith in him. Dean has some valid reasons to not have faith in Sam, it's not like he's making this up. I just wish Sam would verbally admit that.
I also had problems with the "rot" line - rotting has a negative connotation, so it made it seem like the show was trying to convey that Dean was wrong to try and detox Sam. Detoxing a junkie is what the junkie generally needs to stop taking whatever he's taking that's causing him to harm himself and others, and Sam was harming himself and definitely harming others.
I did have an issue with Bobby, he seems to treat the brothers so differently, his way of "motivating" Dean is to yell and belittle him, meanwhile Bobby has never yelled or said anything about what Sam did last year. In fact, the show even had Bobby apologize to Sam when DemonBobby was mean to Sam. Dean, however, when trying to motivate Bobby in the 'Case of Dean Winchester' ep, was calm and didn't yell or belittle Bobby, even though Bobby did something stupid in that episode.
I guess I have a problem with the idea that violence/yelling/belittling = love.
I dislike the fact that Dean apologized again, as I've seen written elsewhere: 'Dean's apologizing again...it must be Thursday.' As I stated above, we still haven't had a discussion addressing Sam's statements and actions with regard to Dean from last season. So, I wonder if the show thinks that all is now okey dokey and will be swept under the rug?
With all that being said, I didn't hate the episode, there were definitely some things I liked about it.
I agree that it was nice to see Sam admit that his habit of running away was wrong.
I thought the Zachariah-Dean scenes were great. Fuller and Ackles went toe-to-toe and they both did a great job. It was a great death scene.
I enjoyed the "real" Adam.
And I agree, Jensen killed me.
I have to say that I will miss Kurt Fuller, I think he added a lot to the quality of the show, it's always good to have outstanding guest stars. (Oh, how I miss Henrickson.)