Egads, where do I start?

If this were the very last episode of the series ever, I would be deleting fic off my hard drive, packing my zines to sell at MediaWest's orphan zine table, and turning in my DVDs to Disc Replay right now. Fortunately, I know that Jared has a contract for season 6 so I don't have to worry about Sam burning in hell while Dean lives happily ever after. Not that I begrudge Dean a happily ever after; it's the Sam burning in hell for eternity that's the deal-breaker. I signed on for a show about two brothers. Either they go out together, or they survive together. Hear that, Sera? Plus, I would've been pissed if Sam went off to the pit forever without a hug from his brother and one final bitch/jerk. I mean geez, Dean, what else does Sam have to do to earn your forgiveness?

Even if this episode wasn't Sam & Dean's swan song, it was Kripke's, so it makes sense that the episode would be narrated by Kripke's avatar, Chuck the Prophet. Or should I say God? Why not? Kripke is the show's Creator. Although if God really were slumming on earth, I'd like to think He was doing more than writing pulp novels in His underwear.

It was nice to see Sam take full responsibility for setting Lucifer free by sacrificing himself to lock Lucifer back up again. Not that I enjoy seeing Sam sacrifice himself. Oh, you know what I mean. I also liked that Sam went into the plan scared and not cocky. At least not until he drank a couple of gallons of demon blood, which reinforced my suspicion that a lot (but not all) of Sam's attitude last season was the demon blood talking. He was always a different person on it than he was off of it.

Having it all end in (well, just outside of) Lawrence was a nice touch. There's an urban legend about a gateway to hell in Stull Cemetery. Remember when Supernatural was a show about urban legends? From being born into the right bloodline in Lawrence, to being fed demon blood as a baby, to having significant figures in his life (right down to his prom date!) turn out to be demons who have been manipulating him his whole life, poor Sam didn't stand a chance. In a way, the brothers split the difference between free will and destiny with Sam playing out his destiny (with a twist) while Dean exorcised his free will and made the angels and demons play out their game without him.

Now we know why Dean and Sam not splitting up after the phone call in "The End" made all the difference. I'm sure Sam had the genius idea to let himself be possessed and force Lucifer into the pit while he was on his own, but without Dean and the Impala there to give him that extra boost, he was never able to wrest control back from Lucifer. The Impala helped save the world! Somebody give it its spotlights back!

I couldn't believe it when Lucifer pulled Michael into the pit with him. You know why? Because at winchestmidwest this year when we were all trying to guess how the show would end, one of the guesses was that God would lock Lucifer and Michael up together to hug it out. We were kidding! Poor Adam. He should just stay really far away from the supernatural. It never ends well for him.

I'm glad Bobby didn't stay dead, not only because I like Bobby, but because Sam would never have gotten over the guilt of killing him. As it is, what's going to happen now that Sam is back? Is it really just Sam, or is he still possessed? I know the apocalypse storyline was supposed to be put to bed tonight, but why did the streetlights flicker when Sam showed up? And even if it is just Sam, how can he tear Dean away from the life he's making with Lisa and Ben?

Speaking of, I'm not sure how I feel about that. I've never been a fan of Lisa and Ben, and I've never felt that Dean was as important to them as they were to him. I'm not sure what to make of her reaction to him tonight. Up until now, Dean was just a wild weekend a decade ago, but now she's acting like she was just waiting for him to come back all this time. Yet, I do want Dean to have his happy ending, so I'm conflicted. Is it evil of me that I don't want them to play a big part of next season? I don't want them to die or anything, but I was kind of hoping for Sam and Dean to work on rebuilding their relationship, not for Dean and Lisa to work on rebuilding theirs, and there's no way Sam would want to come between them.

You want to know something stupid? I didn't cry at all during the episode, but I've been crying most of the time I was writing this.

Here's hoping Sera knocks it out of the park next season.