There’s always been a loner aspect to Supernatural‘s Dean Winchester, through his martyrdom and warrior attitude, through his “I am meant to hunt and whether I like it or not it’s my duty.” Self-afflicted solitude, in that no one could ever understand what Dean’s life was like or what he was going through. He led the battles and bore the burden, no matter what it took … but he didn’t do it alone. Being a self-induced loner and being alone are two very different things.

When aloneness was focused on as a theme in Supernatural, it’s historically been Sam that was the one left alone. His mother left him in his crib, Jessica left him through the same tragic means, Dean went to Hell and left Sam to fend for himself, Sam was alone in the Hell cage with Lucifer while Dean lived a loving life with Lisa and Ben. Heck, Sam was even left alone from his very self, when his soul was taken away from him.

In Supernatural season 8, it’s Dean who’s getting left alone. Dean was left alone in Purgatory — Castiel ran away from him, Sam didn’t look for him and essentially ran away from the entire hunting life, to fall in love with a dog and a vet, much like Dean did with Lisa and Ben. John’s long gone, Bobby’s gone (for the moment, I’m not convinced yet), Kevin and his mom left because they don’t feel safe with Dean and even Sam is still planning on leaving the hunting life.

In “What’s Up, Tiger Mommy?” Dean is starting to get it. He was sarcastically angry with Sam in the season 8 premiere, and I’m not sure anyone really understood exactly why. It felt true to Dean’s character, yet it didn’t at the same time. After seeing how Castiel ran away to leave Dean alone in Purgatory, it’s a bit easier for us — and probably Dean himself — to understand why he was so angry with Sam.

Dean’s never really been alone before. He’s either had Bobby to fall back on, Sam to take care of, Lisa and Ben to be with or Castiel to back him up. Even in Hell, he had a trainer, mentor, torturing partner, what have you. From what we’ve seen of Purgatory, Dean was left by everyone who has always been there for him in some way.

And it’s really a wonderful thing for all parties involved. Jensen Ackles and Jared Padalecki get to take their characters places they’ve never been before. Instead of playing the same characters week after week, these lucky actors have the opportunity to stretch themselves and dig deep to find new aspects of their characters that wouldn’t have been revealed had Dean not been abandoned and had Sam been alone yet again. I don’t have to even point out what a score this is for the viewers.

This is all going to play a greater part in Dean’s bonding with Benny the vampire, seemingly the only soul in Purgatory who had Dean’s back. This relationship could be mined in so many great ways that I can hardly wait to see what Jeremy Carver does with this little nugget. Season 8 — new aspects of our leads’ personalities to explore, a delightfully sketchy new secondary character, brand new character interplay and dynamics to naturally build upon the already-laid foundations. A recipe for success if I’ve ever seen one.

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Supernatural‘s season 8 started off on the right foot, thanks to a strong episode written by the new showrunner, Jeremy Carver. I went into the premiere with no expectations for awesomeness, just hoping that a great set-up would occur. I never dreamed I’d get a powerful episode and the promise for a great season; so far, so good, Mr. Carver.

The best thing Carver did was to focus on the characters. I didn’t realize how much I’d missed them until I saw this episode and realized that I had been missing them far longer than just one summer. Carver’s gone back to the heart of this show and it feels amazing. Since a whole year had gone by, he seized the perfect opportunity to showcase how both Dean and Sam had changed in that year, based on what had happened to them. We have a changed Sam. A year later, a normal life, no hunting and a love interest, and he’s not the same Sam we left at the end of season 7. He’s lighter, grounded and has a real sense of clarity about him.

Dean remains his damaged self, but with a new hint of something stronger. Season 7’s Dean could have broken at any time. This Dean, after a year of war in purgatory, seems better off for it, if that’s possible. He’s stayed true to himself, though, in the way he’s hard on Sam, to the point of being hypocritical. When Sam was in a Hell-box with Lucifer, Dean made a happy life with Lisa. Why is it not OK for Sam to have a love life when he thought Dean was dead? If the positions were switched, Dean implied that he would have looked for Sam,  even though that’s not what they agreed upon. Liz isn’t sure this piece of the premiere is ringing true for her. She thinks that “Sam would’ve lied and said he looked for Dean, even if he didn’t, because he’d know how it would sound to Dean.”

Wow, I love what they’ve done with Kevin. He’s still Kevin, but less naive, using his smarts to outsmart the King of Hell — now that’s some forward progress. An likes “the fresh addition of Kevin” and noted that the title of this episode, “We Need to Talk About Kevin,” is also a novel and a film “about a mother’s increasingly out of control serial killer child. Is that foreshadowing? And for which character?”

Keith was thrilled “to see Crowley appear so early in the season, because that’s a good indication that we’ll be seeing more of him.” And we can all agree that more Crowley is a fine, fine thing. He also liked Kevin one-upping Crowley; Crowley standing in the field with goats, realizing he was duped by the new prophet, was just a hint that we’ll be seeing Crowley seeking revenge, more so than just snapping Kevin’s girlfriend’s neck.

Liz mentioned that Carver shouldn’t cater to fandom, but in the premiere, he found the balance between being true to the characters and tossing a few nuggets to the fans. We’ve got the Impala back (and Dean’s comments about it smelling like dog), Sam’s back on his laptop, researching, just like the old days (which is such a good move — we know Sam’s more naive than Dean and always will be, but he is smart). I think adding Benny, another potentially strong secondary character, is also for the fans. Carver knows how we love the ever-waning sidekicks of the Supernatural universe; from Ash, Jo and Ellen to Bobby, Chuck and Castiel — why wouldn’t he add a vibrant new pal to the fold? An thinks that Benny will “clearly get out of control, despite Dean’s best intentions,” but I’m OK with that. Sam and Dean have aligned themselves with the likes of Ruby and Meg, so I’m all for another shady sidekick.

Carver hit every note in his first episode as Supernatural‘s new showrunner. Dare I say I’m giddy to discover what the rest of the season has in store?

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