Rewatching 5-4 The End
Thank you everyone for your participation in the poll this week! I can tell this is a favorite episode of many. I've thought a bit about why I like it so much. Some are very superficial - having to do with how good the boys look - my GAWWWWD! *headdesk* Some are angst (the feelings for Dean and Sam ... rubs heart) Some are having to do with the humor and (literal) comic relief. Most importantly though, THIS is an episode that changes destiny ... Where Dean realizes AGAIN that the only way they are going to have a hope of beating it is to stick together. No matter if the angels and demons are going to use it against them. Zach tries to teach Dean a lesson which totally backfires on him. And just as I enjoyed It's a Terrible Life for the lesson Dean learns there, so I also enjoy this ep for the lesson Dean learns. All the above together make this episode an awesome episode for me.
MUSIC LINK
"Do You Love Me" by The Contours (plays when Dean watches the shooting)
We start the episode with Dean finding a motel for the night. As he goes in he passes a man preaching to passersby - whom we learn later is a Jehovah's Witness. We have a funny little conversation here but think nothing of it until we realize that he recognizes Dean from the Angel "WANTEDs".
RELIGIOUS MAN:Excuse me, friend, but have you taken time out to think about God's plan for you?
DEAN:Too friggin' much, pal.
As Dean gets to his room, he gets a call from Cas. Cas is by the side of a noisy road with lots of long-distance trucks honking by. He somehow gets across to Dean the rumours that the demons have the colt somewhere on Earth. (And I'm reminded of another future episode where Becky tells them who has it <3) Dean doesn't believe the demons would just keep something like that instead of destroying it but Cas wants him to come with him so Dean tells Cas to pick him up after his four hours of sleep. And we have that lovely scene that we saw in our 200th ep.
CASTIEL:This isn't funny, Dean. The voice says I'm almost out of minutes.
DEAN:Okay, all right. I'm-I'm telling you, Cas, the mooks have melted down the gun by now.
CASTIEL:Well, I hear differently. And if it's true and if you are still set on the insane task of killing the devil, this is how we do it.
DEAN:Okay. Where do we start?
CASTIEL:Where are you now?
DEAN:Kansas City. Century Hotel, room 113.
CASTIEL:I'll be there immediately.
DEAN:Whoa, whoa, whoa, whoa. No, no, come on, man. I just drove like sixteen hours straight, okay? I'm human. And there's stuff I got to do.
DEAN:Okay, so, you can pop in tomorrow morning.
Dean is trying to get his four hours when this time Sam calls him. I am assuming that Sam just woke up after his disturbing visit from Lucifer? And is in the car in an attempt to just get the hell out of there before Lucifer finds him. He wants to find Lucifer - and not for revenge like before - for redemption. Dean though is not optimistic. He really doesn't believe they can change destiny. He's lost hope. But it's not like he wants to give in to the angels and just fight Lucifer with Michael either. It sounds from his talk here that he just wants to avoid it as long as he can. Which reminds me of his speech in the recent ep a bit.
DEAN:Look, Sam-it doesn't matter-whatever we do. I mean, it turns out that you and me, we're the, uh, the fire and the oil of the Armageddon. You know, on that basis alone, we should just pick a hemisphere. Stay away from each other for good.
SAM:Dean, it does not have to be like this. We can fight it.
DEAN:Yeah, you're right. We can. But not together.
Because whatever we have between us-love, family, whatever it is-they are always gonna use it against us. And you know that. Yeah, we're better off apart. We got a better chance of dodging Lucifer and Michael and this whole damn thing, if we just go our own ways.
Does it also remind you of John in Season 1? Insisting that he wants to do the demon hunt on his own because the demons will use his family against him? And even Sam in Season 9 - telling Dean that everything bad that's happened to them is because they are family? Dean's words here pain me in the way Sam's do there. It is definitely fatalistic. And we can't blame him after not being able to stop Sam last season.
Then, suddenly Dean wakes up in 2014. 5 years into the future. On a bed without a mattress, in a ruined city with the movie billboard telling that it's showing Route 666 :P
He takes a walk outside and runs into a little girl playing with shards of glass next to a big teddy in the middle of the street.
This image and whole CROATOAN infested city scene is the most amazing scene ever. Crazed "people" chasing Dean down the street, then army coming into shoot them all, "Do You Love ME" blaring from their speakers, Dean somehow avoiding a bullet and getting away through the fence, noticing the Kansas City notice with the year 2014 on it. I have not watched much of Walking Dead but it seems to me that they've been able to take the awesomeness of one show and made it their own completely here. It also reminds me of Back to the Future 2 when Marty goes to the future and his town is just dark and sad and under Biff's cruel dictatorship.
Anyway, Dean finds a car that still runs and speeds out of town to try to figure out what is going on when Zach pops in for a talk. I love how Dean is so used to these angels popping in that his reaction is the same as it was for Anna or Cas.
ZACHARIAH:Three days, Dean. Three days to see where this course of action takes you.
DEAN:What's that supposed to mean?
ZACHARIAH:It means that your choices have consequences. This is what happens to the world if you continue to say "no" to Michael. Have a little look-see.
And the Zach disappears as Angels do, and Dean is left to find out things for himself.
I want to take some time here to talk about my little head cannon about Destiny again in the world of Supernatural. Destiny, you could say, is how things are bound to happen because of the predictable way in which the Earth goes round. How nature is bound to act in certain situations. There are bound to be many possible deviations because where humans are involved, nothing is completely predictable. Let's say though that the angels are above all of this. We know they are really huge beings in the heavens. Maybe they can see the whole line at once instead of just seeing the line progressing. Like the aliens in Vonnegut's Slaughterhouse 5 (remember that from The Monster at the End of This Book? I actually read it :P) The angels can freely see the past and also these many possible futures. They are positive of what will happen because they have seen the many variations and know what parts of each variation are the same. We see this a bit inThe Monster at the End of this Book and In the Beginning. However much Dean tries to deviate from the future or change the past, he can only change the little details because what he changes is not vital to the course of the future.
Do you recognize these lines from somewhere? :D They are similar to the lines that Doc writes for Marty when they discuss the future having changed in Back to the Future 2. I've added thin lines to show that the timeline allows for deviations but the end result is the same - as the angels say.
BUT, if one knows the crutial point of deviation, that special point that allows the line to go off of on a tangent, then it is possible to change the future. In Back to the Future, the future is changed because Doc takes Marty to the future, where Marty secretly decides to take home the future Sports Almanac to try to make a quick buck (and this ends up in the hands of Biff).
In Supernatural, this can happen if the angels or prophet/God intervenes. Zach stops Chuck from telling Dean what was going to happen at the end of TMATEOTB so that the future would stay the way that Zach wants it to. From this we know that if Chuck had told Dean, there would have been a real possibility that the future would have been completely different.
Angels can also intervene and change destiny themselves. Take for instance the phone message from Dean in Lucifer Rising, or even Anna going back to kill the Winchesters in a later episode - this really would have changed the future, which is why Michael fixed things up to stay the way he wanted them to be. Because they can see the future and know the deviation points, they know which point to manipulate in order to change the future. And they can do it because they are above the line. Their actions are not accounted for in the equation. Lucifer also knew about Sam's role in armagedon even before he was born - just as the other angels did. He also is able to look at the past and future as a whole and make preparations accordingly, which is why he sent Azazel to "find the boy" and why the boy had to kill Lillith in that room at that specific time. Whether Sam hated Lucifer or not, he would have very likely been convinced somehow - worn down by Lucifer until he said yes ("if you die, I'll just bring you back to life") - if he had been in that room without Dean and had not been saved by God/Chuck.
I actually think that Cas sending Dean to Sam and Chuck plucking them from that room screwed up the future so much that Dean ends up refusing to say yes to Michael (but not enough to stop Sam). Obviously, before Lucifer rising, they were operating under the premise/destiny that both boys would say yes. So something went wrong, aye? and it must have been at that crutial point. This change in destiny completely blew away the possibility of paradise on Earth. Zach and the other angels saw this. They scurryed to find a point again where they could change Dean's mind. They figured that if they show Dean this future, where Sam was taken over by Lucifer, he must say yes. ( Here again the decision by the angels to send Dean back in The Beginning is explained.)
What Zach doesn't realize is that by letting Dean take the Sports Almanac back to the past i.e., showing Dean the future, Dean is able to figure out his mistake, make a different choice and change the course of history enough to avoid Armagedon without saying yes.
I will note that there are people out there who believe that this future that Dean visited was made up by Zach. Does that really make sense? Considering this obsession by the writers with the movie BttF and all of what Dean, Zach and Lucifer say and do? To me it doesn't. Even if one of the actors said it at a con, I'd still stick to my own cannon.
Let's get back to the story.
When Dean gets to Bobby's, he finds signs of struggle and a turned over wheelchair with a bloody bullet hole in it. We get the idea that Bobby is dead. But Dean knows where Bobby kept his journal, so he goes over to the fire place and gets it out. There he finds a picture of Bobby with Cas and other fighters at Camp Chitaqua.
When he gets there, he finds the Impala in a car dump. As he is lamenting his baby, End!Dean comes up from behind and knocks him out.
Gotta take a moment here to say how brilliant Jensen's performance is here. We can tell how different, how hardened End!Dean is just by a glance. I think Jensen could have pulled it off even with the same clothes on. I noticed a scruff on End!Dean though that I did not notice on present!Dean. Is that possible to do? Maybe grow the scruff for the End!Dean parts, then shave and do the present!Dean parts? End!Dean is definitely HOT.
Anyway, Dean wakes to find himself cuffed to some kind of ladder in a cabin and End!Dean sitting in front of him.
DEAN:What the hell?
End!DEAN:I should be asking that question, don't you think? In fact, why don't you give me one good reason why I shouldn't gank you right here and now?
DEAN:Because you'd only be hurting yourself.
End!DEAN:Very funny.
one of my favorite comic relief scenes here:
End!DEAN:Okay. If you're me, then tell me something only I would know.
End!Dean is so ready to say yes to Michael at this point, and tries to get Zach's whereabouts from present!Dean when present!Dean tells him how he came to be there. As they are talking Dean asks End!Dean about Sam and End!Dean tells them that "Sam didn't make it." Making Dean think that Sam is dead.
DEAN:You weren't with him?
End!DEAN:No. No, me and Sam, we haven't talked in-hell, five years.
DEAN:We never tried to find him?
End!DEAN:We had other people to worry about.
He then decides to go out on "an errand" to get the colt and leaves Dean cuffed to the bar.
End!Dean may have been better off letting Dean out of the cuffs. Dean may have stayed inside if he'd been freed. But as it is, he finds a nail lose in the wooden floor, takes a few slivers out of the wood to give him some room to manuver, and somehow gets the nail out with his finger tips. This reminds me of the scene in Benders. Dean is nothing but resourceful!
Once he gets out, the first person he sees is Chuck. And I guess I have to stop and talk about Chuck for a bit since I am operating under the premise that he is God. So one of the things people had a problem with maybe is why is Chuck there at all, if he is God? He disappeared at the end of Season 5 so he could have done that sooner. It's actually interesting to contemplate... is he even a prophet here? But as God, he can pretty much be anything he wants to be. He can leave everything up to the characters. Maybe he has thrown his lot in with them completely since Lucifer Rising, just as Cas has, and just wants to be there to see it through. I can't really see his appearance changing Dean's decision in any way.
He is adorable though and I love how Dean hides behind him to get away from Risa.
Another humorous moment. When Dean finds Cas, he finds out that "Life" has happened to him.
He's high on amphetamines all the time and is content to "bang a few gongs before the lights go out" as he tells Dean later. Dean is shocked and dismayed by the change in Cas and later, by the change in himself. Which is probably one of the reasons that he decides to call Sam at the end.
While Cas and Dean are talking, End!Dean comes home ...
and Dean sees him kill a soldier in cold blood. He acts rashly and goes out to try to stop End!Dean and we have another funny scene. (Well, I think it's funny :P)
End!DEAN: I'm not gonna lie to you. Me and him-It's a pretty messed-up situation we got going.
They go back to the cabin and End!Dean shares some whiskey with Dean as he tells him what his mission had been - laying the hard earned colt on the table.
This is very interesting when we consider that Cas had just been talking about getting the colt with Dean in the present, and how it was the only way to kill Lucifer. We also know that Dean and Sam find the colt much earlier when they are together - maybe Becky would not have called them to the conference if Sam had been MIA?
End!Dean calls a meeting with the people he trusts the most(?) which includes Risa (snickers) and Cas and present!Dean. And we have some more comic relief.
I love how Cas laughs here. Cas also likes the old Dean better <3
End!Dean decides they are going to kill Lucifer tonight.
After the meeting, Dean asks End!Dean why he wanted to take Dean with him.End!Dean also tells Dean that he wants him to see something - he wants Dean to see Samifer. That Sam had said yes to Lucifer in Detroit (where he also says yes in the new future...) and that Dean needed to see what was going to happen if he did not say yes to Michael. Dean asks why Sam said yes to Lucifer.
End!DEAN:Wish I knew. But now we don't have a choice. It's in him, and it's not getting out. And we've got to kill him, Dean. And you need to see it-the whole damn thing, how bad it gets-so you can do it different.
DEAN:What do you mean?
End!DEAN:Zach said he was gonna bring you back, right? To oh-nine?
DEAN:Yeah.
End!DEAN:Well, when you get back home-you say 'yes'. You hear me? Say 'yes' to Michael.
DEAN:That's crazy. If I let him in, then Michael fights the devil. The battle's gonna torch half the planet.
End!DEAN:Look around you, man. Half the planet's better than no planet, which is what we have now. If I could do it over again, I'd say 'yes' in a heartbeat.
DEAN:So why don't you?
End!DEAN:I've tried! I've shouted 'yes' till I was blue in the face! The angels aren't listening! They just-left-gave up! It's too late for me, but for you-
DEAN:Oh, no. There's got to be another way.
End!DEAN:Yeah, that's what I thought. I was cocky. Never actually thought I'd lose. But I was wrong. Dean. I was wrong. I'm begging you. Say yes.
.... But you won't. 'Cause I didn't. Because that's just not us, is it?
Maybe at this point End!Dean knows that he is not going to succeed. That Lucifer is going to win. That's why it doesn't really matter that he is going to sacrifice his friends.
We have a lovely shot of the two Deans and the entourage walking down the main street. But the streets are deserted (no zombies, no croats :P) and they come to the building where Lucifer should be hiding without a scratch. Dean tells everyone that they are going in through the front and present!Dean gets all the bad feels from this. First of all, he is sure it's a trap, and secondly, he knows End!Dean is hiding something because he just knows that face! So he takes End!Dean aside and asks for an explanation. End!Dean finally tells him what he is planning...
And Dean realizes how much he has changed. Changed into something he never wanted to be. Something of a monster. Not caring for his friends - even Cas, who gave up his wings for him. He tries to stop End!Dean but End!Dean knocks him out.
When Dean wakes, everyone is gone. The soldiers and Cas are in the building fighting their way to nowhere and when Dean walks in the back way, he sees End!Dean's neck under Samifer's foot, then hears the crack of his neck as he is killed ever so easily. Samifer didn't really have to do that did he. He just had to twist his fingers to kill End!Dean the easy way. But he does this on purpose, and it reminds me of Swan Song and how Lucifer punches Dean to a pulp. WHY? So that Sam could feel himself kill his brother. Ohhhhh... the heartache.... And whether it is because the colt doesn't work or End!Dean is just not able to kill Sam, there is no Baby to help End!Dean bring Sam back either.
I will stop again to comment on what an exceptional job Jared does on Lucifer. Just as Jensen is able to show the hardened Dean so completely, so Jared is able to show Lucifer as this crazy egotistical monster. Every time he smiles condescendingly with pity I can feel the bile that Dean talks about. But I guess the most important thing that Samifer says here is this part -
LUCIFER: I get what the other angels see in you. Goodbye. We'll meet again soon.
DEAN:You better kill me now. Or I swear, I will find a way to kill you. And I won't stop.
LUCIFER:I know you won't. I know you won't say yes to Michael, either. And I know you won't kill Sam. Whatever you do, you will always end up here. Whatever choices you make, whatever details you alter, we will always end up here.
I cannot say for sure what emotions are making Dean cry here but I think he could be crying from shock and pain - most of all from the fact that he had taken over Sam. Seeing Lucifer in Sam's body I think shocked him in to the realization that this was not the future he wanted for either of them or for the world. Staying apart was only going to change both of them into monsters. It gives him the determination to do things differently so this doesn't happen. He is also sure that Lucifer is right. He cannot say yes to Michael, nor can he kill Sam. As Samifer disappears, Zach appears and takes Dean back to the present.
And Zach thinks finally Dean has learned his lesson. He knows that he will never win against Lucifer without Michael. He knows that he will end up dead and Lucifer ruling the world. What else could Dean possibly need to decide to say yes?!
DEAN:How do I know that this whole thing isn't one of your tricks? Huh? Some angel hocus-pocus?
ZACHARIAH:The time for tricks is over. Give yourself to Michael. Say yes and we can strike. Before Lucifer gets to Sam. Before billions die.
If anyone still has any thoughts about Zach making this all up... *shrugs*
ZACHARIAH:The time for tricks is over. Give yourself to Michael. Say yes and we can strike. Before Lucifer gets to Sam. Before billions die.
DEAN:Nah.
ZACHARIAH'Nah'? You telling me you haven't learned your lesson?
And just as we think Zach is going to start torturing Dean again, Cas zaps him away for his appointment *loves Cas*
Dean sees Cas as he is meant to be:
And I love that adorable face Cas makes.
And Dean is off to pick up Sam.
DEAN:Look, man, I'm sorry. I don't know. I'm...whatever I need to be. But I was, uh-wrong.
SAM:What made you change your mind?
DEAN:Long story. The point is...maybe we are each other's Achilles heel. Maybe they'll find a way to use us against each other, I don't know. I just know we're all we've got. More than that. We keep each other human.
SAM:So, what do we do now?
DEAN:We make our own future.
SAM:Guess we have no choice.
MUSIC LINK
"Do You Love Me" by The Contours (plays when Dean watches the shooting)
We start the episode with Dean finding a motel for the night. As he goes in he passes a man preaching to passersby - whom we learn later is a Jehovah's Witness. We have a funny little conversation here but think nothing of it until we realize that he recognizes Dean from the Angel "WANTEDs".
RELIGIOUS MAN:Excuse me, friend, but have you taken time out to think about God's plan for you?
DEAN:Too friggin' much, pal.
As Dean gets to his room, he gets a call from Cas. Cas is by the side of a noisy road with lots of long-distance trucks honking by. He somehow gets across to Dean the rumours that the demons have the colt somewhere on Earth. (And I'm reminded of another future episode where Becky tells them who has it <3) Dean doesn't believe the demons would just keep something like that instead of destroying it but Cas wants him to come with him so Dean tells Cas to pick him up after his four hours of sleep. And we have that lovely scene that we saw in our 200th ep.
CASTIEL:This isn't funny, Dean. The voice says I'm almost out of minutes.
DEAN:Okay, all right. I'm-I'm telling you, Cas, the mooks have melted down the gun by now.
CASTIEL:Well, I hear differently. And if it's true and if you are still set on the insane task of killing the devil, this is how we do it.
DEAN:Okay. Where do we start?
CASTIEL:Where are you now?
DEAN:Kansas City. Century Hotel, room 113.
CASTIEL:I'll be there immediately.
DEAN:Whoa, whoa, whoa, whoa. No, no, come on, man. I just drove like sixteen hours straight, okay? I'm human. And there's stuff I got to do.
DEAN:Okay, so, you can pop in tomorrow morning.
Dean is trying to get his four hours when this time Sam calls him. I am assuming that Sam just woke up after his disturbing visit from Lucifer? And is in the car in an attempt to just get the hell out of there before Lucifer finds him. He wants to find Lucifer - and not for revenge like before - for redemption. Dean though is not optimistic. He really doesn't believe they can change destiny. He's lost hope. But it's not like he wants to give in to the angels and just fight Lucifer with Michael either. It sounds from his talk here that he just wants to avoid it as long as he can. Which reminds me of his speech in the recent ep a bit.
DEAN:Look, Sam-it doesn't matter-whatever we do. I mean, it turns out that you and me, we're the, uh, the fire and the oil of the Armageddon. You know, on that basis alone, we should just pick a hemisphere. Stay away from each other for good.
SAM:Dean, it does not have to be like this. We can fight it.
DEAN:Yeah, you're right. We can. But not together.
Because whatever we have between us-love, family, whatever it is-they are always gonna use it against us. And you know that. Yeah, we're better off apart. We got a better chance of dodging Lucifer and Michael and this whole damn thing, if we just go our own ways.
Does it also remind you of John in Season 1? Insisting that he wants to do the demon hunt on his own because the demons will use his family against him? And even Sam in Season 9 - telling Dean that everything bad that's happened to them is because they are family? Dean's words here pain me in the way Sam's do there. It is definitely fatalistic. And we can't blame him after not being able to stop Sam last season.
Then, suddenly Dean wakes up in 2014. 5 years into the future. On a bed without a mattress, in a ruined city with the movie billboard telling that it's showing Route 666 :P
He takes a walk outside and runs into a little girl playing with shards of glass next to a big teddy in the middle of the street.
This image and whole CROATOAN infested city scene is the most amazing scene ever. Crazed "people" chasing Dean down the street, then army coming into shoot them all, "Do You Love ME" blaring from their speakers, Dean somehow avoiding a bullet and getting away through the fence, noticing the Kansas City notice with the year 2014 on it. I have not watched much of Walking Dead but it seems to me that they've been able to take the awesomeness of one show and made it their own completely here. It also reminds me of Back to the Future 2 when Marty goes to the future and his town is just dark and sad and under Biff's cruel dictatorship.
Anyway, Dean finds a car that still runs and speeds out of town to try to figure out what is going on when Zach pops in for a talk. I love how Dean is so used to these angels popping in that his reaction is the same as it was for Anna or Cas.
ZACHARIAH:Three days, Dean. Three days to see where this course of action takes you.
DEAN:What's that supposed to mean?
ZACHARIAH:It means that your choices have consequences. This is what happens to the world if you continue to say "no" to Michael. Have a little look-see.
And the Zach disappears as Angels do, and Dean is left to find out things for himself.
I want to take some time here to talk about my little head cannon about Destiny again in the world of Supernatural. Destiny, you could say, is how things are bound to happen because of the predictable way in which the Earth goes round. How nature is bound to act in certain situations. There are bound to be many possible deviations because where humans are involved, nothing is completely predictable. Let's say though that the angels are above all of this. We know they are really huge beings in the heavens. Maybe they can see the whole line at once instead of just seeing the line progressing. Like the aliens in Vonnegut's Slaughterhouse 5 (remember that from The Monster at the End of This Book? I actually read it :P) The angels can freely see the past and also these many possible futures. They are positive of what will happen because they have seen the many variations and know what parts of each variation are the same. We see this a bit inThe Monster at the End of this Book and In the Beginning. However much Dean tries to deviate from the future or change the past, he can only change the little details because what he changes is not vital to the course of the future.
Do you recognize these lines from somewhere? :D They are similar to the lines that Doc writes for Marty when they discuss the future having changed in Back to the Future 2. I've added thin lines to show that the timeline allows for deviations but the end result is the same - as the angels say.
BUT, if one knows the crutial point of deviation, that special point that allows the line to go off of on a tangent, then it is possible to change the future. In Back to the Future, the future is changed because Doc takes Marty to the future, where Marty secretly decides to take home the future Sports Almanac to try to make a quick buck (and this ends up in the hands of Biff).
In Supernatural, this can happen if the angels or prophet/God intervenes. Zach stops Chuck from telling Dean what was going to happen at the end of TMATEOTB so that the future would stay the way that Zach wants it to. From this we know that if Chuck had told Dean, there would have been a real possibility that the future would have been completely different.
Angels can also intervene and change destiny themselves. Take for instance the phone message from Dean in Lucifer Rising, or even Anna going back to kill the Winchesters in a later episode - this really would have changed the future, which is why Michael fixed things up to stay the way he wanted them to be. Because they can see the future and know the deviation points, they know which point to manipulate in order to change the future. And they can do it because they are above the line. Their actions are not accounted for in the equation. Lucifer also knew about Sam's role in armagedon even before he was born - just as the other angels did. He also is able to look at the past and future as a whole and make preparations accordingly, which is why he sent Azazel to "find the boy" and why the boy had to kill Lillith in that room at that specific time. Whether Sam hated Lucifer or not, he would have very likely been convinced somehow - worn down by Lucifer until he said yes ("if you die, I'll just bring you back to life") - if he had been in that room without Dean and had not been saved by God/Chuck.
I actually think that Cas sending Dean to Sam and Chuck plucking them from that room screwed up the future so much that Dean ends up refusing to say yes to Michael (but not enough to stop Sam). Obviously, before Lucifer rising, they were operating under the premise/destiny that both boys would say yes. So something went wrong, aye? and it must have been at that crutial point. This change in destiny completely blew away the possibility of paradise on Earth. Zach and the other angels saw this. They scurryed to find a point again where they could change Dean's mind. They figured that if they show Dean this future, where Sam was taken over by Lucifer, he must say yes. ( Here again the decision by the angels to send Dean back in The Beginning is explained.)
What Zach doesn't realize is that by letting Dean take the Sports Almanac back to the past i.e., showing Dean the future, Dean is able to figure out his mistake, make a different choice and change the course of history enough to avoid Armagedon without saying yes.
I will note that there are people out there who believe that this future that Dean visited was made up by Zach. Does that really make sense? Considering this obsession by the writers with the movie BttF and all of what Dean, Zach and Lucifer say and do? To me it doesn't. Even if one of the actors said it at a con, I'd still stick to my own cannon.
Let's get back to the story.
When Dean gets to Bobby's, he finds signs of struggle and a turned over wheelchair with a bloody bullet hole in it. We get the idea that Bobby is dead. But Dean knows where Bobby kept his journal, so he goes over to the fire place and gets it out. There he finds a picture of Bobby with Cas and other fighters at Camp Chitaqua.
When he gets there, he finds the Impala in a car dump. As he is lamenting his baby, End!Dean comes up from behind and knocks him out.
Gotta take a moment here to say how brilliant Jensen's performance is here. We can tell how different, how hardened End!Dean is just by a glance. I think Jensen could have pulled it off even with the same clothes on. I noticed a scruff on End!Dean though that I did not notice on present!Dean. Is that possible to do? Maybe grow the scruff for the End!Dean parts, then shave and do the present!Dean parts? End!Dean is definitely HOT.
Anyway, Dean wakes to find himself cuffed to some kind of ladder in a cabin and End!Dean sitting in front of him.
DEAN:What the hell?
End!DEAN:I should be asking that question, don't you think? In fact, why don't you give me one good reason why I shouldn't gank you right here and now?
DEAN:Because you'd only be hurting yourself.
End!DEAN:Very funny.
one of my favorite comic relief scenes here:
End!DEAN:Okay. If you're me, then tell me something only I would know.
End!Dean is so ready to say yes to Michael at this point, and tries to get Zach's whereabouts from present!Dean when present!Dean tells him how he came to be there. As they are talking Dean asks End!Dean about Sam and End!Dean tells them that "Sam didn't make it." Making Dean think that Sam is dead.
DEAN:You weren't with him?
End!DEAN:No. No, me and Sam, we haven't talked in-hell, five years.
DEAN:We never tried to find him?
End!DEAN:We had other people to worry about.
He then decides to go out on "an errand" to get the colt and leaves Dean cuffed to the bar.
End!Dean may have been better off letting Dean out of the cuffs. Dean may have stayed inside if he'd been freed. But as it is, he finds a nail lose in the wooden floor, takes a few slivers out of the wood to give him some room to manuver, and somehow gets the nail out with his finger tips. This reminds me of the scene in Benders. Dean is nothing but resourceful!
Once he gets out, the first person he sees is Chuck. And I guess I have to stop and talk about Chuck for a bit since I am operating under the premise that he is God. So one of the things people had a problem with maybe is why is Chuck there at all, if he is God? He disappeared at the end of Season 5 so he could have done that sooner. It's actually interesting to contemplate... is he even a prophet here? But as God, he can pretty much be anything he wants to be. He can leave everything up to the characters. Maybe he has thrown his lot in with them completely since Lucifer Rising, just as Cas has, and just wants to be there to see it through. I can't really see his appearance changing Dean's decision in any way.
He is adorable though and I love how Dean hides behind him to get away from Risa.
Another humorous moment. When Dean finds Cas, he finds out that "Life" has happened to him.
He's high on amphetamines all the time and is content to "bang a few gongs before the lights go out" as he tells Dean later. Dean is shocked and dismayed by the change in Cas and later, by the change in himself. Which is probably one of the reasons that he decides to call Sam at the end.
While Cas and Dean are talking, End!Dean comes home ...
and Dean sees him kill a soldier in cold blood. He acts rashly and goes out to try to stop End!Dean and we have another funny scene. (Well, I think it's funny :P)
End!DEAN: I'm not gonna lie to you. Me and him-It's a pretty messed-up situation we got going.
They go back to the cabin and End!Dean shares some whiskey with Dean as he tells him what his mission had been - laying the hard earned colt on the table.
This is very interesting when we consider that Cas had just been talking about getting the colt with Dean in the present, and how it was the only way to kill Lucifer. We also know that Dean and Sam find the colt much earlier when they are together - maybe Becky would not have called them to the conference if Sam had been MIA?
End!Dean calls a meeting with the people he trusts the most(?) which includes Risa (snickers) and Cas and present!Dean. And we have some more comic relief.
I love how Cas laughs here. Cas also likes the old Dean better <3
End!Dean decides they are going to kill Lucifer tonight.
After the meeting, Dean asks End!Dean why he wanted to take Dean with him.End!Dean also tells Dean that he wants him to see something - he wants Dean to see Samifer. That Sam had said yes to Lucifer in Detroit (where he also says yes in the new future...) and that Dean needed to see what was going to happen if he did not say yes to Michael. Dean asks why Sam said yes to Lucifer.
End!DEAN:Wish I knew. But now we don't have a choice. It's in him, and it's not getting out. And we've got to kill him, Dean. And you need to see it-the whole damn thing, how bad it gets-so you can do it different.
DEAN:What do you mean?
End!DEAN:Zach said he was gonna bring you back, right? To oh-nine?
DEAN:Yeah.
End!DEAN:Well, when you get back home-you say 'yes'. You hear me? Say 'yes' to Michael.
DEAN:That's crazy. If I let him in, then Michael fights the devil. The battle's gonna torch half the planet.
End!DEAN:Look around you, man. Half the planet's better than no planet, which is what we have now. If I could do it over again, I'd say 'yes' in a heartbeat.
DEAN:So why don't you?
End!DEAN:I've tried! I've shouted 'yes' till I was blue in the face! The angels aren't listening! They just-left-gave up! It's too late for me, but for you-
DEAN:Oh, no. There's got to be another way.
End!DEAN:Yeah, that's what I thought. I was cocky. Never actually thought I'd lose. But I was wrong. Dean. I was wrong. I'm begging you. Say yes.
.... But you won't. 'Cause I didn't. Because that's just not us, is it?
Maybe at this point End!Dean knows that he is not going to succeed. That Lucifer is going to win. That's why it doesn't really matter that he is going to sacrifice his friends.
We have a lovely shot of the two Deans and the entourage walking down the main street. But the streets are deserted (no zombies, no croats :P) and they come to the building where Lucifer should be hiding without a scratch. Dean tells everyone that they are going in through the front and present!Dean gets all the bad feels from this. First of all, he is sure it's a trap, and secondly, he knows End!Dean is hiding something because he just knows that face! So he takes End!Dean aside and asks for an explanation. End!Dean finally tells him what he is planning...
And Dean realizes how much he has changed. Changed into something he never wanted to be. Something of a monster. Not caring for his friends - even Cas, who gave up his wings for him. He tries to stop End!Dean but End!Dean knocks him out.
When Dean wakes, everyone is gone. The soldiers and Cas are in the building fighting their way to nowhere and when Dean walks in the back way, he sees End!Dean's neck under Samifer's foot, then hears the crack of his neck as he is killed ever so easily. Samifer didn't really have to do that did he. He just had to twist his fingers to kill End!Dean the easy way. But he does this on purpose, and it reminds me of Swan Song and how Lucifer punches Dean to a pulp. WHY? So that Sam could feel himself kill his brother. Ohhhhh... the heartache.... And whether it is because the colt doesn't work or End!Dean is just not able to kill Sam, there is no Baby to help End!Dean bring Sam back either.
I will stop again to comment on what an exceptional job Jared does on Lucifer. Just as Jensen is able to show the hardened Dean so completely, so Jared is able to show Lucifer as this crazy egotistical monster. Every time he smiles condescendingly with pity I can feel the bile that Dean talks about. But I guess the most important thing that Samifer says here is this part -
LUCIFER: I get what the other angels see in you. Goodbye. We'll meet again soon.
DEAN:You better kill me now. Or I swear, I will find a way to kill you. And I won't stop.
LUCIFER:I know you won't. I know you won't say yes to Michael, either. And I know you won't kill Sam. Whatever you do, you will always end up here. Whatever choices you make, whatever details you alter, we will always end up here.
I cannot say for sure what emotions are making Dean cry here but I think he could be crying from shock and pain - most of all from the fact that he had taken over Sam. Seeing Lucifer in Sam's body I think shocked him in to the realization that this was not the future he wanted for either of them or for the world. Staying apart was only going to change both of them into monsters. It gives him the determination to do things differently so this doesn't happen. He is also sure that Lucifer is right. He cannot say yes to Michael, nor can he kill Sam. As Samifer disappears, Zach appears and takes Dean back to the present.
And Zach thinks finally Dean has learned his lesson. He knows that he will never win against Lucifer without Michael. He knows that he will end up dead and Lucifer ruling the world. What else could Dean possibly need to decide to say yes?!
DEAN:How do I know that this whole thing isn't one of your tricks? Huh? Some angel hocus-pocus?
ZACHARIAH:The time for tricks is over. Give yourself to Michael. Say yes and we can strike. Before Lucifer gets to Sam. Before billions die.
If anyone still has any thoughts about Zach making this all up... *shrugs*
ZACHARIAH:The time for tricks is over. Give yourself to Michael. Say yes and we can strike. Before Lucifer gets to Sam. Before billions die.
DEAN:Nah.
ZACHARIAH'Nah'? You telling me you haven't learned your lesson?
And just as we think Zach is going to start torturing Dean again, Cas zaps him away for his appointment *loves Cas*
Dean sees Cas as he is meant to be:
And I love that adorable face Cas makes.
And Dean is off to pick up Sam.
DEAN:Look, man, I'm sorry. I don't know. I'm...whatever I need to be. But I was, uh-wrong.
SAM:What made you change your mind?
DEAN:Long story. The point is...maybe we are each other's Achilles heel. Maybe they'll find a way to use us against each other, I don't know. I just know we're all we've got. More than that. We keep each other human.
SAM:So, what do we do now?
DEAN:We make our own future.
SAM:Guess we have no choice.