Yeeahhhh, I don't really get this, either. I'm assuming it's at least in part to show the lengths Sam was willing to go to save his brother, but it seems pretty un-Sam. Maybe they think a guy like Sam wouldn't be interesting to watch if they didn't make him 'go bad' all the time? Because he's so fundamentally good. Not that Dean isn't, but Dean is always colorful, if nothing else, whereas Sam's naturally straight-and-narrow.

I'm sick of Show taking Sam that direction, too, but this episode sucked SOOO much less than I expected, with SO much more resolution between Sam and Dean than I had reason to ever believe would be forthcoming, that I considered it a win for latter-era Show. :-}