Sam being focussed on his goals is Sam being an adult. I'm not so sure he'd see it as looking after his own self-interest. I don't see a lot of benefit to Sam in the path he's chosen.
Hmmm, I’m not sure I’d agree with that. With regard to his leaving for Stanford (which was the context within which I used the term) I’m not sure we can assume his motives were entirely altruistic unless we theorise that he went there for the purpose of doing pro bono work for the downtrodden masses or because he thought John and Dean would be better off without him. I think it’s much more likely that 18-year-old Sam went to college because that’s what he wanted to do – and, as I said above, whether or not he saw it as such, there’s nothing wrong with that.
As to his present motive... well, we really don’t know what it is. The revenge scenario makes little sense because it wasn’t Lilith who wrecked Sam’s life and it wasn’t Sam that she sent to Hell, so what’s he getting revenge for? We have the possibility that he’s deluding himself that if he kills Lilith and stops her destroying the Seals then everything will be OK and no other Demon will rise to take her place, but for all we know at the moment Ruby may have convinced him that the only way to ensure peace is for him to embrace his Demon side and rule with her in Hell.
With regard to Dean - yes he is holding Sam back but, whilst he’s certainly not going about it in a very constructive way (you’d think he’d know Sam better by now), until we know the truth about Ruby, the Powers and Sam’s endgame we won’t know whether he’s right to try. I do take issue, though, with Sam’s accusations that Dean’s perpetually wallowing in the Hell stuff. If Sam didn’t want to hear about it, why did he ask?
Hell, I just want to be able to like both brothers – and just at the moment I can see great potential for not liking either of them very much.
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Hmmm, I’m not sure I’d agree with that. With regard to his leaving for Stanford (which was the context within which I used the term) I’m not sure we can assume his motives were entirely altruistic unless we theorise that he went there for the purpose of doing pro bono work for the downtrodden masses or because he thought John and Dean would be better off without him. I think it’s much more likely that 18-year-old Sam went to college because that’s what he wanted to do – and, as I said above, whether or not he saw it as such, there’s nothing wrong with that.
As to his present motive... well, we really don’t know what it is. The revenge scenario makes little sense because it wasn’t Lilith who wrecked Sam’s life and it wasn’t Sam that she sent to Hell, so what’s he getting revenge for? We have the possibility that he’s deluding himself that if he kills Lilith and stops her destroying the Seals then everything will be OK and no other Demon will rise to take her place, but for all we know at the moment Ruby may have convinced him that the only way to ensure peace is for him to embrace his Demon side and rule with her in Hell.
With regard to Dean - yes he is holding Sam back but, whilst he’s certainly not going about it in a very constructive way (you’d think he’d know Sam better by now), until we know the truth about Ruby, the Powers and Sam’s endgame we won’t know whether he’s right to try. I do take issue, though, with Sam’s accusations that Dean’s perpetually wallowing in the Hell stuff. If Sam didn’t want to hear about it, why did he ask?
Hell, I just want to be able to like both brothers – and just at the moment I can see great potential for not liking either of them very much.