I am generally a huuuuuuge fan of subtextual Dean H/C but S7 was RAMPING UP TO SOMETHING DAMN IT, DAMN YOU PURGATORY. XP Though I've since reconciled this with myself because as much as I feel huge blowout emotional disasters can be cathartic and wonderful (and um, in less sensitive terms, aesthetically pleasing when it's fictional), I don't hold to the idea that they "need" to happen, or that that's the only way (or even the most common way, realistically speaking) hurt/trauma/etc. plays out. Ironically, I think it was Dean H/C fandom itself that soured the notion for me in the first place, because the--frankly, militantly held--idea that there was one essentialized endpoint, one prognosis, one model for narrativizing damage--which uh, nope, no, nein.

I'm curious about your S8 Dean H/C subtext thoughts, though! I've spun my Dean H/C gloss for the season, but I think it hinges more on absence than actual presence, even at the level of subtext. Mostly I felt like Dean basically just half-assed his way through the whole year (not that he didn't in S7, but the underpinnings in that case were very different to me). So much of S8 for me was like, Dean be chillin', I be ignoring him and partying with Sam and Cas instead, and then everyone be going home happy! Except Dean, who dgaf anyway.