At this point, I feel like their main relationship arc has been almost successfully completed.
Oh, that makes me so sad. I'm usually an independent!boys kinda fan, but for some reason, that just pings to me in the most terrible way. Not because I think you're wrong, at least, not where the writers are concerned, but because it explains so well the general lack of dynamic writing that we've seen for Sam and Dean recently.
It shouldn't be that way. Sam and Dean had their conflicts in S1-S3 but they were mainly on each others sides. The spark in their relationship didn't come from the conflict, anyway. It came from the mutual protectiveness and the genuine affection between them. Even in S4, when the tension took whole new meaning, that affection and protectiveness still felt in play to me. S1 had the conflict over John and S2 had the conflict over monsters and S3 had the conflict over whether Sam should trust Ruby or even try to break Dean's deal at all, but at the same time, those conflicts could have been removed and an interesting relationship left in effect.
S7 doesn't have that interesting relationship anymore. There's no conflict either to keep things spiced up.
I want more side characters, I love the side characters, and I think that there could have been some really fantastic exploration of Sam and Dean through side characters and still can be - exploration of Dean through Cas and exploration of Sam through Kevin, that sort of thing - but that shouldn't be a replacement for exploring Sam and Dean in light of each other.
Re: Extended TV Guide spoilers
At this point, I feel like their main relationship arc has been almost successfully completed.
Oh, that makes me so sad. I'm usually an independent!boys kinda fan, but for some reason, that just pings to me in the most terrible way. Not because I think you're wrong, at least, not where the writers are concerned, but because it explains so well the general lack of dynamic writing that we've seen for Sam and Dean recently.
It shouldn't be that way. Sam and Dean had their conflicts in S1-S3 but they were mainly on each others sides. The spark in their relationship didn't come from the conflict, anyway. It came from the mutual protectiveness and the genuine affection between them. Even in S4, when the tension took whole new meaning, that affection and protectiveness still felt in play to me. S1 had the conflict over John and S2 had the conflict over monsters and S3 had the conflict over whether Sam should trust Ruby or even try to break Dean's deal at all, but at the same time, those conflicts could have been removed and an interesting relationship left in effect.
S7 doesn't have that interesting relationship anymore. There's no conflict either to keep things spiced up.
I want more side characters, I love the side characters, and I think that there could have been some really fantastic exploration of Sam and Dean through side characters and still can be - exploration of Dean through Cas and exploration of Sam through Kevin, that sort of thing - but that shouldn't be a replacement for exploring Sam and Dean in light of each other.