Re: Supernatural 8x2 "What's Up, Tiger Mommy?" Spoiler discussion thr
I am sure that Sam doesn't have his abilities any more, even though the show went to great lengths to make them something that even death couldn't separate from him (the act not the being), based on the show Angels, and demons can't remove them, and they are tied to Sam's physical body not his soul. And even returned after his body was killed.
As for use against the Leviathans, it wouldn't work. In general Sam's ability only directly works against demons. But he literally could use those abilities to control a demon (like Ava) to do actually damage to others.
But when he when they were going against Crowley to get Sam's soul, there was no one better way to do so then Sam. As up to that point, Castiel had not been able to take out a powerful demon, just normal every day ones, as witnessed by the difficulty he had with Allistar compared to Sam who we know with enough blood can destroy or torture to get his way with any demon, even the most powerful ones.
So instead of dealing with a character that has abilities with a distinct downside (the huge withdrawal issue, and the fear over the dame to his soul), and limited to only impact one type of Supernatural beings, the show amped up the abilities of Castiel far beyond what they had previously been (remember when he could only take one demon and only a normal one at a time in season 4) and one whose abilities work on all other supernatural beings except one.
Stupid.
But I know the writers don't now want Sam to have those abilities, but I hate the fact that they never, once address it.
I might quibble about the olor Crowley's demon form. But something so key to the character actually should be explained especially as both in season 6 when working for Crowley, and at the end of season 7 start of 8 with Crowley as an adversary, it really treats the show more like Charmed then a series show.
In the episode where they confront Crowley to free Sam soul in the middle or so of season 6, there should have been dialogue telling us that "souless" Sam tried and no longer had access to those abilities (as he wouldn't have worried about the moral issue). Then we could simply explain it away as God (who has in very rare occasions interceded (like restoring Castiel twice) and removing the demonic taint from him when his body was brought back from the Pit by Castiel.
There has only been one scene that made me question if Sam still did have his powers and that was when Lisa and Ben were kidnapped and Dean was torturing a demon, and Sam offered to take over for him. Sam had never before been shown to torture, he certainly isn't a master with a decade of experience like Den was. The only way Sam has been successful in torturing a demon was with his own abilities.
Addressed, takes very little time, important data, and done by a one of the two beings probably powerful enough to do so. Though with God's giving them the choice of how they screw up the universe, would God remove those abilities, or let Sam strive to use his own judgment?
And I hate Charm, and I hate the show to take the easy way out.