#so that's an option. befriend my friend jess who has curly hair and doesn't smile often even when happy.

[kerryweaverlesbian]

My general fix would be to either drop the dreamy filter entirely as soon as Dom returns, or have it drop from around Sam's flashbacks after he leaves her (like, recolour that goofy one where she's in a garden for a picnic with the saturation up so high it looks like the grass is glowing* to normal, miserable supernatural colours, zoom out to show how crappy their yard actually is and have cars going past, show them both getting way past drunk together - make her a functional alcoholic!). Show how unreal their relationship actually was.

*

I think a big part of their relationship being so strange is that Sam actually never truly confides in her, and as you say, never talks about her again. From what I remember, Sam doesn't properly talk about Dean with her (even saying the impala was his dad's) and he certainly never brings up the supernatural (a habit for him with his long term girlfriends). In a competent tv show (LOL) Sam would have learned from this - opened up to Dean about her and why he cares about her (which would he nice to know...sometimes you can tell as well as show...) which might prompt Dean to open up about Benny OR he doesn't and then Sam's betrayal over Dean using Amelia to keep him away from Benny has higher emotional stakes.

I do actually like that she came back and Sam didn't (<- enjoyer of misery), since the theme of the beginning of the season is Sam absolving himself of responsibility (not looking for kevin. Not looking for dean. Hit a dog and tries to leave it at the vets - it IS silly for Amelia to force the dog on him, but I think her interior, irrational motivation was "I feel so fucking abandoned by my dead husband, even when he was alive, this dog is symbolic of me, I am going to make SOMEONE look after him even if they're not in the position to do so". I expect the vet nurse after that was like 🤨.) So him doing this to even Amelia makes sense.

But aside from making their relationship more plot important, I think making her world juuust a little bigger would help too. It can be around the edges of the flashbacks we already have.

Have her interact with and dismiss a friend, and the friend expresses concern that she's not answering calls and isn't being herself and she invited a random guy to come live with her. And she shuts the door, and gives Sam a weak smile, and Sam offers her a glass of wine. They should encourage bad habits in each other!

And, sure, they had her dad say something similar, but this is the "kill your dad" show, so him being overprotective reads as just fulfilling a trope rather than "genuinely, something is wrong".

Have a scene of her all smiley saying she quit her job at the vets to focus on herself, with a termination notice prominently open under her hand, which Sam clearly notices and doesn't comment on. On the nose, but maybe an empty prescription for depression medication. Have Sam wake up from a nightmare and she's already up getting them both a glass of water because she never got to sleep. Have Sam watch her through the window and she's listlessly staring at the wall in grey colours until he comes in and the dreamy filter clicks on and she's reading and smiling softly.

I like that Amelia has a pretty flat affect. I like that she's not perky and makes Sam put a lot of work into befriending her. I like an angry, demanding woman 🤷‍♂️I also think it actually works really well that they don't quiiite perfectly fit together chemistry-wise, because the story as I read it is that they're clinging to the idea of each other and the idea of a relationship. I do think they have chemistry, they're just also awkward because they haven't had to be People for a while, rather than a pile of hard feelings.

I feel like I could take Sam's s8 domestic life more seriously if Sam and Amelia had any sort of chemistry together but instead every scene with them is so cringey and hard to watch. Which is weird!!! Considering how well Sam's dynamic with all his other love interests have been (Jess, Sarah, Madison, Ruby, Eileen, and Rowena). They're all incredibly different and interesting people and Amelia was like wet cardboard in comparison