Missed opportunities are rife under the Carver regime, sadly, I'm infuriated more and more by his constant disregard to some things in the past and glorification of others. One minute I see a character that's learnt from experience and the next regressed to the Pilot episode and I feel like my head's on a swivel trying to keep up. Basically I loathe the brother distrust, anger and separation as the main thrust of drama these days, especially when compared to all those missed opportunities, many of which you've pointed out.

I don't have a problem with the brothers at odds at times, their approaches have always been somewhat in opposition, a push and pull for a change, but I felt that we'd got well past some of their old arguments and it was time for them to move forward together. I have really disliked Carver's Dean in many, many episodes and I'm floundering to enjoy the show when that happens.

Hate to say it, or place blame, but his writing stable has severely lacked imagination and has fallen back on fan favourite cliches and rehashing stunning scenes from previous seasons pretty poorly. If you're going to homage those past moments then bring something new to the table and I honestly wish they'd all stay the hell away from fandom and stop trying to play the fandom games. It's ugly and getting worse.