Sam's power may not have come back completely, but he surely turned Lilith back without breaking a sweat. Surprised them *both* ... but that's a re-emergence of the "powers" in my view.

This leads to one of the big questions for next season; what is the extent of Sam's power and what will be the trigger that brings him into his own, if it wasn't Dean's death? Because it seemed to me that Sam responded to Lilith's attack on himself, not on Dean ... a reflexive reaction, not even a defensive one.

The attendant questions are:

How will Sam get the knowledge and training to use his power to defeat Lilith and either bring Dean back, or get Lilith to (which is where I'm pretty sure we're going next season)?

And now that Ruby is incapacitated or utterly gone, will Bobby be his "guide" (which I would LOVE to see)?

And will next season's opener jump back into the story immediately where we left off? (I hope so.)

I don't think Sam's power is buried any longer ... it is definitely awake and we saw him use it. The full extent of what he can do, how he learns to control it, and how he chooses to use it, are all that remain in question.

IMHO. ;-)