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Initial Overview:

Sam & Dean are used as bait for John. Proves John's point (I GUESS). Staying separate from SamDean is in the boys' best interest. It took demonic intervention for them to understand this message.

Notes:

(Unsure what this is referring to, but it's funny) Holy shit... is this fucking play about us?

Meg is back and better than ever. Dean follows Sam to talk to her & expects an introduction like some kind of posessive boyfriend. Meg is openly rude to him, brings up argument they had during Scarecrow, Dean does not like that she knows anything about them. Upset Sam felt he could talk to Meg but not him. Wonder why that could be.

Random coincidence? Doesn't happen to us! Sam is a little pervy stalker creep ♥

Meg talks to Azazel. Strange familial overtones. Meg is frequently reprimanded (again, see 1.11) but takes it in stride.

Weird overtly sexual overtones whenever Dean asks Sam about Meg. "Sammy's got a thing for the bad girl." Yes Dean all of his girlfriends do look like you ♥

They don't realize it's a trap. Gun loading scene.

Sam would go back to school (which contradicts what he said in 1.06, which is interesting-- consistent with this weird little back and forth he does over John's mythos. Because this "case" is ostensibly connected to them, I wonder if that's what triggered expression of this gradual shift. Or Eric forgot that he said that. Either one could be true, maybe even both at once. This is how it goes with Supernatural). Imagines an end to John's SRQ.Suicidal revenge quest. Dean sees this as a threat to their relationship, abandoning him/the Family again. Terrified of this possiblity & DESPERATE for things to be the way they were before Sam went to college. Wants to rebuild the family unit. Sam does not-- still holds a desire for normalcy, potentially elevated by his recent discovery of his powers. He initially rejects them out of fear, but his fears of becoming a monster have yet to reach full fruition.

They don't think John's gonna come for them. Meg says he lets his guard down around them-- news to the boys. Dean idolates John.

Meg sexually assaults Sam.

John is here. Silhouetted like demon in E1. Dean apologizes to John first of all for falling into the trap as bait. Genuinely teared up when he did that. What do you MEAN. Dean will forever be a disappointment :( They say yes sir in unison which I found very cute. Speaks to the militant nature of their upbringing. "Dad, you don't have to worry about us" = protection is isolation. Father knows best.

They find their way out of being attacked by shadows by Sam bathing them in light. Let's all kill ourselves I guess

Dean agrees with John -- big surprise -- but Sam gets to hear it from the mouth of God. Dean yet again is the mouthpiece/soldier but is unable to get Sam to agree with John's gospel because it's coming from Dean.

Dean's belief in God

• Suffering is God's perogative
• Bad things happen for a reason
• The note I have says "Good & Bad things happen to Good people → nothing matters," but I think that this speaks more to the exclusive hypocrisy that colors us all and how it expresses itself in SamDean. We all have those exceptions that apply to only us-- I can be really horrible and cruel about myself, but as soon as those things might apply to another person, I don't believe a single word of those ideas. As this applies to Dean, he will never be Good enough for Good things to happen to him, therefore he must not be Good at all. Or something to that effect. More notes on this later.
• Dean's belief in John is his belief in God, which is why it's really interesting that he doesn't believe in God to begin with. As I transcribe this page from my notes I'm about to watch 2.13, which is a very religiously dense episode, and I think that will inform my take here alongside 1.12. Essentially: What John says is gospel, have faith in the word, and faith is obedience is love. I also have to bite the bullet here and admit that this, response from God, is a very, very, very prominent theme across all of Kripke's work, most recently in the Boys, where Homelander's ascension to godhood relies on the fact that he would be a God that would answer. But I digress.