Plot

With the Apocalypse looming, Sam and Dean realize they are out of options and make heart-breaking decisions that will change their lives forever.

The Road So Far

Honestly, if you don't know what's going on at this point...in the words of Flavor Flav, I can't do nuttin' for ya, man. Well, that's not true...read a few of the previous synopses, and crank up the Kansas while you're doing it. Carry on, my wayward son! Time to take on the devil.

NOW

As wholesome music swells in the background Chuck Shurley, our favorite genre novelist-slash-prophet, narrates the story of a car. Specifically, the 100 millionth GM vehicle to roll off the line at the plant in Janesville, WI., on April 21, 1967. Stock film of the event plays as Chuck describes it -- it's a blue, two-door Caprice. That earned a big ceremony, he said, while another car that rolled off the factory line three days later, a 1967 Chevrolet Impala, didn't earn much notice.

But it should have, Chuck tells us, because this Impala "turned out to be the most important object in pretty much the whole universe." Chuck relays its provenance -- that it was first owned by Sal Moriarty, an alcoholic with two ex-wives and three blocked arteries. After Sal died, the Impala ended up at Rainbow Motors in Lawrence, KS, where a young Marine (John Winchester) bought it on impulse-- on the advice of a friend .

"That's where this story begins," Chuck narrates in voiceover, pausing from his typing to take off his glasses. "And here's where it ends."

Sam and Dean are in Bobby's salvage yard with the Impala, kicking back with a beer, and Dean with some trepidation tells Sam he's "in." Sam sits up and asks Dean if that means he's going to let him say yes, and Dean corrects him.

"You're a grown...an overgrown man," Dean says. "If this is what you want, I'll back your play...Not going to lie to you though -- this goes against every fiber I got. The truth is, watching out for you has kind of been my job. More than that, it's kind of who I am. But you're not that kid anymore, Sam. And I can't keep treating you like one. Maybe I've gotta grow up a little too.

"I don't know if we've got a snowball's chance," Dean adds, "but I do know that if anybody can do it, it's you."

Sam looks genuinely touched and thanks him. Dean asks one more time if this is really want he wants. Sam inhales deeply and shrugs. "I let him out. I've gotta put him back in."

Dean takes a sip of his beer. "OK. That's it, then." And the bloody title card rolls.

Cut to an abandoned house, where Dean, Bobby, Sam and Cas have bled several gallons of blood from two demons. "All the go juice Sammy can drink," Dean says. Bobby shows Dean several options for omens, but only one sticks out, a rather innocuous sign in Detroit: In a five block radius downtown, there was a temperature drop of 20 degrees.

"That's the one," Dean tells him. Sam looks grim but worried, and they head in the Impala to Detroit.

At night, Cas is snoring in the back seat and Dean jokes, "Aw, ain't he a little angel."

Sam looks at him and says joylessly, "Angels don't sleep."

Dean soberly tells Sam that he has a bad feeling about what they're about to do, driving to the very place Lucifer told Sam he would say "yes." Sam just hopes Lucifer doesn't know anything about the rings, then tells Dean he needs to talk to him about something.

He checks with Dean to make sure he understands that if he goes into the cage, that he's not coming back. "Yeah, I'm aware," Dean says flatly.

Sam makes him promise not to try to bring him back. Dean protests at first --"your Hell is going to make my tour look like Graceland!" -- but Sam cuts him off. He makes Dean promise that if it all goes right, that he'll let him go. Dean asks what he's supposed to do.

"You go find Lisa," Sam answers. "You pray to God she's dumb enough to take you in, you have barbecues and go to football games. You go live some normal, apple pie life, Dean. Promise me!" Dean stares at the dark road and doesn't say anything.

Detroit, Michigan

Bobby scopes out a building and reports back to Dean -- two dozen demons inside. They have the spot. Dean walks back to Sam, who 's standing by the truck looking scared out of his wits. Bobby steps up to Sam and gently whispers, "See you around, kid."

"See you around," Sam says back, and they hug tightly. Bobby fights back tears and tells Sam that once Lucifer gets in to fight him tooth and nail. "Don't give an inch," he says.

"Yes sir," Sam replies. He then steps up to a deflated Cas and tells him to take care of Bobby and Dean. "That's not possible," Cas says sadly.

Sam rolls his eyes. "Then humor me."

"Oh, I'm supposed to lie?" Cas says, then puts on a fake smile. "Sure. We'll be fine."

Sam turns to Dean, who has the trunk open and the lids off of the four gallons of blood. Sam stares at it. "You mind not watching this?" Dean gives him privacy.

Minutes after, Sam is all hopped up on demon blood and struts to the door, announcing himself to the Devil's minions. Two in black suits come out.

Dean grins. "Hey guys. Is your father home?"

They roughly grab him and Dean, taking them into a dim room where Lucifer waits, staring out of a window. "Hey guys, so nice of you to drop in. "

The scene cuts back to Chuck typing his story. As old family movies of Sam and Dean play, Chuck explains that the Impala has all the things that other cars have, "and a few things they don't," he adds, as we see hands open the false bottom of the trunk to reveal the Winchesters' weapons cache.

"But none of that stuff is important. This is the stuff that's important," Chuck narrates, as we see young Sam cram an Army man into the backseat ashtray. Chuck says it's still stuck there, as are the Legos that a young Dean shoved into the vents, that still rattle to this day when the heat comes on.

"These are the things that make the car theirs. Really theirs," Chuck narrates, as we see the car destroyed by a semi. He explained that when Dean rebuilt it, he made sure to restore those items to their rightful place, "because it's the blemishes that make her beautiful."

Back in Detroit, Lucifer breathes on a window pane and makes it ice over, then traces a pitchfork in it. "The devil doesn't know or care what kind of car the boys drive," Chuck finishes, as Lucifer muses that contrary to popular belief, he runs cold, not hot.

Sam cuts to the chase, telekinetically destroying the demons behind him for emphasis. He wants to say yes, he tells the Devil. He tells Lucifer that he'll give him a free ride, but when it's all over, Dean lives, he lives, and he brings their parents back. Then Lucifer drops a bomb on Sam and Dean: He knows the real reason they're there. He knows they have the rings, and he knows their plan.

"A wrestling match inside your noggin -- I like the idea. Just one round. No tricks. You win, you jump in the hole. I win...well, then I win. What do you say, Sam? A field of gold against your soul says I'm better than you."

Sam thinks about it for a moment, then says it doesn't change anything. Dean tries to stop him, but Sam says, "Yes." The room fills with light for a moment, and when the light returns to normal, Nick has disappeared and Sam is unconscious.

Dean hastily pulls out the rings and throws them onto a wall. He says an incantation, and a portal opens. At that moment, Sam wakes up. He seems to have control of his body. Dean gently escorts him over to the hole and tells him to jump in. At first it looks like Sam is going to comply, but he turns around with an evil smile on his face. He tells Dean he was just messing with him, that Sam's long gone.

Lucifer, now in Sam, says another incantation and the portal closes. He pull the rings off of the wall, contemplates them for a moment, then pockets them. "I told you -- this would always happen in Detroit."

Sam vanishes, leaving Dean completely distraught.

Lucifer reappears in a room full of people standing stock still. He tells Sam he can feel him scratching away inside, and tells him he's going to take the gag off, just for kicks. He walks over to a mirror, and in the reflection, we see the real Sam. He swears to the Devil that he's going to rip him apart from the inside out. But Lucifer calmly explains to him that he's not the real villain. In fact, Lucifer tells him, he's more family to Sam than Dean or John or Mary ever were. Lucifer tells him that he knows that Sam is feeling exhilarated, although Sam angrily denies this.

Then Lucifer turns around and explains who the people in the room are -- his teacher, his friend Doug, his prom date Rachel, all the people in his life who have been close to him. Azazel's gang, watching him since he was a kid, jerking him around like a dog on a leash.

"I know how you feel about them. Me too. So what do you say we blow off a little steam?" Lucifer tells Sam in his reflection. Sam looks angry and afraid.

Bobby, Dean and Cas are watching the news on TV monitors in a store window -- earthquakes and natural disasters around the world. It's starting. Dean asks Cas what he suggests they do.

"I suggest we imbibe copious quantities of alcohol, and wait for the inevitable blastwave," Cas says.

"Well, thank you, Bukowski," Dean says, then asks Cas how they stop it.

"We don't," Cas says, explaining that Michael will meet Lucifer on the chosen battlefield, and that will be that. Dean refuses to give up, and turns to Bobby. But the old hunter is crying.

"There was never much hope to begin with," he says. "I don't know what else to do."

Lucifer now sits in a ring of dead demons, his hands bloody. He looks at a horrified Sam in the mirror. "So..are we having fun yet?"

Chuck resumes his narration as we see shots of Sam and Dean driving along in the Impala. He says that in between jobs Sam and Dean would sometimes get a day, a week if they were lucky, to themselves. They passed the time making money, mostly hustling people at pool. But often they enjoyed their freedom -- one time driving a thousand miles for an Ozzy show; another, two days to see a Jayhawks game. At night, when it was clear, they would park the car and stare at the stars for hours, without saying a word.

"It never occurred to them..that, sure they never had a roof and four walls. But they were never, in fact, homeless," Chuck says. The phone rings, and Chuck answers with a smile.

"Mistress Magda," he coos.

"Uh, no Chuck," Dean replies. Chuck stammers and makes up a story about Mistress Magda, and updates Dean about Becky, saying it didn't really work out. Dean tells Chuck that Sam said yes, and Chuck says he knows -- he saw it. He asks Chuck where the title fight is going down -- and it's tomorrow, high noon, at a place called Stull Cemetery.

Dean recognizes the name -- it's a graveyard outside of Lawrence. "It all has to end where it started, I guess," Chuck says. Dean asks Chuck if he knows what's going to happen next, and he says no, that he doesn't know yet. Bobby walks up and warns Dean not to do anything stupid. Cas tells him that he can't stop it now on the battlefield, that the only thing Dean is going to see is Michael killing his brother.

"Well, I ain't gonna let him die alone," Dean says, getting in the car and driving away.

Cut to Stull Cemetery in Lawrence, Kansas. Lucifer, in Sam's body, waits for something, and then it appears -- Michael, in Adam's body. Michael asks if Lucifer is ready, and he replies yes. But then Lucifer asks why they have to do this. Michael says he has no choice, after what Lucifer did. Lucifer insists it's not his fault. He argues that God made him, which means that God needed the Devil.

Lucifer observes that they're going to kill each other as one of God's tests, and he doesn't understand the point. He tells Michael that they should just walk off the chess board. Michael thinks about it for a moment, then says he can't do it. He says he's a good son, and he has his orders. He says he won't rebel.

Michael calls Lucifer a monster, and tells him that he has to kill him.

"If that's the way it's gotta be," Lucifer says, "then I'd like to see you try." They begin circling one another, until they're interrupted by the rumble of the Impala's engine.

Dean slides a tape of Def Leppard's "Rock of Ages" into the deck and turns it up as he slowly drives into the graveyard. (That must have really pleased God -- or if not God, then Ormagoden.) He steps out of the car and greets both of them.

"Howdy boys," Dean says. "Sorry, am I interrupting something?"

Michael tells him he's no longer a part of this. But Dean informs Lucifer that he's not talking to him, he's talking to Sam. Michael stalks up to Dean and looks like he's about to smite him for his insolence when...

"Hey. Ass butt!"

They all turn around, to see Cas with Bobby. Cas is holding a bottle filled with holy oil and a lit rag and hits Michael with it, incinerating him. He tells Dean that he's bought him five minutes to talk to Sam.

Lucifer, furious, turns on Castiel. "Castiel. Did you just Molotov my brother with holy oil?"

Cas smiles nervously. "Uhhh....no?"

Lucifer tells him that nobody gets to do something like that to Michael but him. He snaps his fingers, and Castiel explodes in a bloody mist.

Dean tries to talk to Sam, but Lucifer says he's through playing nice for Sam's sake. He grabs Dean and throws him into the windshield. His skull's impact makes a spiderweb of cracks.

Bobby pulls out the Colt and shoots Lucifer with it, but that only annoys Lucifer. He looks at the hole in Sam's chest, then with a twist of his fingers, Bobby's neck snaps. Both Cas and Bobby are now dead.

Dean again tries to talk to Sam, and Lucifer says that Sam is in there, and he's going to make sure he feels it as he breaks every one of Dean's bones. He holds Dean down and thrashes him until his teeth are broken and his eye is swollen shut. Dean keeps on telling Sam that's it's OK, that he's there. Lucifer pulls back his fist to deliver the coup de grace -- but then the sunlight glints off of the Impala's windshield and his pupil contracts. That when he sees it -- the Army man Sam shoved into the backseat ashtray.

This triggers a flood of brotherly memories from childhood to that moment, ending with Dean hugging Sam, for the last time.

His fist unclenches, and Sam retakes control of his body. He tells Dean it's going to be OK, that he has Lucifer under control. Sam pulls the rings out of his pocket and throws them onto the ground. He says an incantation, and the portal opens up.

Dean takes one last look at his brother as Sam moves to the portal. But Michael returns and tells Sam to step away from it, that fighting Lucifer is his destiny. Sam sadly looks at Dean, then puts his arms up in a good old fashioned Jesus Christ pose and falls backward. Michael moves forward and tries to pull Sam back, but Sam grabs him instead, and he and Michael (in Adam's body) plunge into the darkness.

The hole closes and the rings glow for a moment, then go cold. Dean sits alone, in shock.

He kneels, broken, as if he's praying. Then behind him, Castiel appears.

"Cas...you're alive?" Dean says.

"I'm better than that," Cas answers, then touches Dean on the forehead and heals him. Dean asks Castiel if he's God. Cas tells him it's a nice compliment...but no, although he believes God brought him back, new and improved.

Cas crosses to Bobby and resurrects him, healed legs and all. It's unclear if his soul is still in hock, however.

Speaking of which...we now return to Chuck Shurley, who observes that endings are hard. "You try to tie up every loose end, but you never can. The fans are always going to bitch, there's always going to be holes. And since it's the ending, it's all supposed to add up to something. I'm telling you, it's a raging pain in the ass."

Dean and Cas are on the road, and Dean asks what Cas is going to do now. He says he's going to return to Heaven, which must be in total anarchy with Michael gone, and restore order. Like a sheriff, Dean observes. Cas says he doesn't know what God wants, or if he'll even return, but it seems like the right thing to do.

Dean growls to Cas that if he does see God, "tell him I'm coming for him next."

Cas points out that God helped, probably more than he realized. Dean retorts that he doesn't seen his grand prize, that all he got was his brother in a hole.

"You got what you asked for, Dean," Cas said. "No paradise. No Hell. Just more of the same. I mean it, Dean. What would you rather have -- peace, or freedom?" Cas vanishes.

Chuck resumes his narration and says that this is the last Dean and Bobby will see of each other for a long time. He says that Dean doesn't want Cas to save him, that every fiber of him wants to bring Sam back. But he can't, because he made a promise.

We see Dean knock on Lisa Braeden's door. She answers and he tells her that he'll take her up on that offer of a beer if she'll have him. He's on the verge of tears, and she takes him in her arms and tells him to let it all out. Dean finally cries.

"So, what's it all add up to?" Chuck asks. He says that it's hard to say, but he thinks this was a test for Sam and Dean, and that they did all right. That after all of it -- angels, demons, devils, destiny and God himself -- they made their own choice: They chose family.

"And well...isn't that kind of the whole point?" Chuck says. He types, "THE END." And at this point we notice that Chuck, who is sipping his whiskey, is dressed entirely in white. Wait a minute...

"No doubt, endings are hard," he narrates in voiceover. "But then again, nothing ever really ends, does it?" Chuck finishes his whiskey and smiles, satisfied. Then he vanishes. So...is Chuck... God?!

Much later, Dean is sitting with Lisa and her son at her table, eating dinner. She asks again if he's okay. He takes a swig of booze and says, "Yeah, I'm good." But he's clearly preoccupied.

Outside the streetlight in front of Lisa's house suddenly cuts out. A thunderclap sounds in the distance.

Standing at the foot of the streetlamp, watching Lisa and Dean through the window...is Sam.

Or is it?