SPN 4.04
Raw meat-eating = something I'd like to never see again.
Other than that, I liked the ep; not brilliant, but certainly solid. I agree with a lot of posts that the MotW was dull, and since its purpose was more thematic than plot-driven, it didn't advance much beyond what we already knew re: Sam.
So let's talk about Sam. Oh, Sam. The thing is, I'm pretty much on Sam's side of this debate. He has a power planted by a demon, he's using that power for good by exorcising demons and freeing their hosts, and he's basing his choices on moral judgment. I'm not seeing a lot of wrong there. If you take Dean's view, evil exists outside humanity, and all we have to do to avoid doing evil is to not be evil supernatural creatures ourselves. That's a fairly easy way out of an ethical question central to what it means to be human. We all have the capacity for evil, we all have to exercise moral judgment in our actions, so what Sam's going through isn't particularly unique, just unfamiliar.
(On the other hand, Dean could be saying that any kind of power will eventually corrupt: that it's not Sam's powers that make him non-human and therefore evil, but by using those non-human powers Sam risks his own humanity by operating outside it. I have a harder time buying this, because I can't see Dean ever refusing a weapon that would give him a more-than-human advantage. He's pretty fond of both the Colt and the demon-killing knife, and he doesn't question the morality of using those tools. So my bet is that the argument Dean's putting forward is that the evil here is in Sam's being, not just in his abilities.)
I think Sam believes his ep-ending declaration that he'll no longer use those powers, which means he's now questioning his own moral judgment. And if he can't trust himself, he's going to make a lot of stupid decisions. He's also going to be very emo about his newfound belief that he's essentially an evil creature :). Taken from that light, it's a pretty horrible thing for Dean to do--I know Dean thinks he's right, and of course he's just looking out for Sam (and it doesn't help that Castiel is throwing threats around, either). But he's undermining all of Sam's confidence in himself, and I don't anticipate rosy results from that.
But from a narrative perspective, I *love* this direction. Both of them are being forced to put aside their beliefs and judgments to follow along what someone else is telling them, and I think they're both being led astray. I know the storyline is essentially what we had in S2, but it feels different, too--maybe they just needed that earlier groundwork to get them to the point where they don't entirely trust one another.
In short: Dean needs to stop listening to his boyfriend Castiel, and Sam needs to stop listening to his boyfriend Dean. It would help if they did actually trust each other, but I gotta say, I see big yawning cracks there.