I don't know about being tired of the hunting life, though. I mean, Dean does love hunting, a lot of the time. I don't know whether he'd know what to do with himself if her weren't hunting. It's just the last couple years which have been tough.

No, you're right. He gets a kick out of killing the bad things. But I think that he does need mentors to give him an approving nod from time to time, and now that John's gone (*hands out hankie*) there are only really people like Bobby who join forces temporarily before going back to their own hunts. I got the impression that he and John were a team for much of the time before John went missing, and that maybe he cruised on the strategy a bit more back then.

The dynamic with Sam is different. It works, but he can't ever have a bad day and drop back to being sidekick rather than an equal for a couple of hours.

And as for the fandom, urgh. I never go near it. This is one show that I treat as lightweight horror fluff than I never analyse or pursue any further than my friends list.