All Hell

Just a second while I gush: my show, my show, my show, ohhh, my show.I'm so glad I get another season to watch you.

I think I can pull myself together now and write something a little more cohesive.

Beginning at the beginning: the opening- that just owned me. I started tearing up when Wayward Son started to play. It is totally my unofficial theme song for SN (it's even on my playlist as that), and this confirmed that even more.

SN never fails to amaze me at how they can work in little threads that don't initially seem to mean anything, but end up tying together by the end. They were certainly able to do that in this episode. One example, Molly (in Roadkill) disappears in a flash of white light at the end which we had not really seen in the past. At the time this didn't seem to be anything other than an art choice, but now Papa Winchester left in a flash of white light. It brings back a question that they've been loosely playing with this season, too: is there something besides hell?

I also love the parallelism between the two brothers. Sam going overboard killing Jake reminded me so strongly of Dean doing the same in Bloodlust with the vampire. Then there were Bobby's words to Dean about him and his dad being so in a rush to throw themselves to hell that recalled Dean's speech to Sam about the same thing last year. (Not to mention the fact that Dean's prediction about having to be the one to bury them both almost came true!) I also loved how at the end Dean paralleled Sam from the pilot. When he says "We have work to do" though, he says it with a smile instead of Sam's hard set tone. This is our first heartfelt real!world smile from Dean in quite a few episodes. He is genuinely happy to have their work to get back to.

I knew that there was going to be some mention of Dean's words that "What is dead should stay dead." The fact that it came from the YED, was incredible. He obviously had the ability to read minds (also evidenced by the things he said to Dean at the end of last year). It makes me wonder how much this is playing on Dean's mind. It didn't stop him from making the deal to bring Sammy back, but how much is it going to weigh on him that neither of them should be alive?

We got so much broken, self lothing Dean in this episode. I loved that he tried to crack a joke when Bobby called him on it, but could barely bring himself to do it. We also got lots of perplexed Sam. He knew something was up immediately. I'm glad he figured out what had happened and confronted Dean about it honestly.

No major life or death cliff hanger, but this episode gives us oh so many implications for next year (and maybe beyond). The YED is gone. Their father is gone. That chapter of their life is closed (or is it?). I think next season's mytharc will be much simpler for the writers to implement. The second half of this season, I think they had trouble figuring out how to effectively keep a consistent tone for the boys dealing with Sam going "evil." They knew they couldn't just keep having Sam say "kill me, I'm going to go evil" all the time, but just let it drop off the radar most of the time when they didn't. Next year though, I see all of the monster of the week episodes being caused by the release of the demons from the Devil's Gate - instant tie-in to the mytharc, more like the "we're searching for our dad" arc first season.

I don't think we're done with the possibility of evil!Sammy though. The YEDs comment about Dean not knowing whether what he has brought back is fully Sam is important. Is he fully Sam? I think he most certainly is, but I think Dean will be given reason at some point to have doubts about this. I also think Sam is going to have issues dealing with his powers next year. He would have the ability to control demons if he let himself. He could use that power to make it easier for him and Dean to destroy them. The stakes would be high though. Would he be able to remain himself or would even attempting to channel these powers make it impossible for him not to become evil? I love evil!Sam, so I hope we get to see him again.

This season, we had Dean keeping secrets from Sam. Next season, I think it's going to be all about the secrets Sam is keeping from Dean. He hasn't told his brother yet about what happened to Ava. He hasn't told him about the extent of the powers the special!kids were given, how they got them, or the fact that there are multiple generations of them (though, we all knew that after last season's finale, didn't we?). He also didn't tell him about the YED showing him what happened when their mother died. With the exception of the extent of his powers and maybe the revelation/question about his mother, I don't think any of these will weigh too heavily on Sam, unlike the secret Dean was carrying about Sam this year.

There's one last small thing I don't think we've seen the last of: I think something might be up with Ellen. They made a big point of showing Bobby test her with the holy water. That works for most demons, but it was established last year that that doesn't work on the more powerful ones like the YED. She's the only one who got out of the Roadhouse alive, and I wonder if that isn't because she had something to do with it in the first place. Will Ellen prove to be the next nemesis for our boys?

On top of all this, Sam and Dean have to figure out a way to keep both of themselves alive in light of the crossroads deal that Dean made. If they can't, I think season 4 will be set in hell.......and hell will look a lot like Wisconsin. Oh, and we can't forget that they are fugitives and can't save anyone, much less themselves, if they get caught again!

To sum up: All four J's (Jensen, Jared, Jim, Jeffery) thoroughly rocked this episode. I can't wait until September.