1. Nearly every third episode involves an alternate universe now.
3. Oh no, not the Colt again.
4. Thanks, show – you keep reminding us of the differences between humans and the others – otherwise we would have forgotten by now how our Wimpy Hero Dean is a human, too. He needs sleep? Princess.
5. Gotcha! Sam’s the first to call Dean, and HE TELLS HIM EVERYTHING directly, and DOESN’T HIDE ANYTHING. He’s done his homework. He won’t lie anymore. Bravo. Just why don’t we hear their full conversation?
6. Note: he calls Dean at about five in the morning – (a) it’s urgent; (b) they are that familiar. And Dean won’t hang up, even if Sam completely ignores his need for sleep.
7. And where’s Sam driving? To Dean’s motel in Kansas City
8. Sam was “expecting a fight” when they broke up, now he’s expecting “a little panic” – hell, so are we. Dean, why do you have to be so goddamn cold? Are you sleep-sedated, so that the horror of the situation fails to dawn on you yet? Come on, your brother has just told you he had been harassed by the Devil, are you gonna let the bastard get away with it? Don’t be a coward. Are you seriously gonna leave him alone to deal with his stalker?
S: Hey, Dean.
D: Hey, Sam.
S: Dean, I had Lucifer come to my bed yesterday while I was sleeping.
D: Were you drunk?
S: Dean… He said he wanted me.
D: Really?
S: I kissed him…
D: You did what?
S: I thought it was Jessica.
D: Relax, dude, it was just one of your drunken nightmares.
S: Dean, I need your help. Come on, are you under ghost sickness again?
D: Who, me? Sammy, Lucifer’s not a ghost. We’re gonna need much more than rock salt.
S: Dean…
D: Is he at least handsome, the Devil?
S: Dean!
D: All right, I’m coming.
9. They are both dangerous for each other now.
10. Good thing is, it feels like Dean now acknowledges Sam’s ability to withstand the evil on his own. Like, lets him go. Like, boy, you’re old enough to make your own life.
11. Dean’s obvious insight (him realizing the angels or demons will find ways to use them against each other) happens so undramatically casually, matter-of-factly.
12.”Whatever we’ve got between us – love, family…” You said it, boy.
13. Dean pushes Sam away for the second time in a very little while. Meeaan of you, Dean.
15. By now the show has already introduced so much “mythology” of its own that it can tap into it freely and develop plots and move the story arc forward merely quoting and referring to its back stories. Here it is “Croatoan”.
16. This ain’t Kansas
17. Gothic symbolics galore – ex. a creepy child with a broken mirror playing in the ruins.
18. This 2014 cityscape looks like a scary painting, not reality.
19. Dean is so wary and jaded of “earth-shattering” revelations and discoveries that he doesn’t even freak out when Zachariah materialises on the passenger seat of his car. Dean, you do remember this angel wanted to harm you the last time you met, aren’t you a wee bit afraid?
20. So, Enochian seals can be hacked.
21. Zachariah obviously knows by now what a difficult, awkward cuss this Dean Winchester is. You can’t threaten him, neither can you sweet-talk him into saying “yes”. The angelic matchmaker has to rack his brains really hard figuring out how to soft-soap Dean into Michael’s arms.
22. Zachariah’s shtick seems to be teaching people object lessons while transferring them into an AU. And this time he doesn’t even try to hide his aims from Dean – all this 2014 dystopia he creates only to persuade him.
23. Another monster who was good at object lessons is the Trickster, by the way.
24. Base camp # 2 since 5.02.
25. How many Double Deans have we seen so far? “Skin”. “In My Time Of Dying”. “Dream a Little Dream Of Me”. Now.
26. Though it’s only 5 years between Deans, they are completely different people. Mad skills, Mr. Ackles.
27. Dean of 2014 doesn’t trust himself. Nice parallel with 2009-Super Suspicious Dean. Like, a logical development.
28. Wait, this state in ruins is not an anarchy, but a republic still, with a working President et al?
29. “Tell me something only you and I know”. Ha ha, now everybody knows your secret, guys. Rhonda Hurley, whoever you are, all slash girls owe you a hug. Thanks to your vivid sexual fantasy, the picture of 19-year old Dean in pink panties is now adorning the mind walls of thousands! Clever show is getting more and more brazen and inventive with its “homoerotic subtext”. So, Dean, “Sam wears women’s underwear”, eh? And where did that bra from “Mystery Spot” really come from? Sam, next time Dean teases you with sissy remarks, just be proud and tell him who the real girl is.
D: Sam Winchester wears make-up. Sam…
S: Dean Winchester wears panties.
D: What?
S: Pink, satiny panties.
D: How do you know?
S: I’m a mind reader.
30. Dean is the survivor’s fearless leader in 2014 – Zachariah’s flattery knows no bounds.
31. All people who used to be stronger than Dean in 2009 (Castiel, Chuck) are reduced to miserable figures in 2014.
32. Is it Zachariah’s revenge to have turned Castiel into a seedy, drug-obsessed fake guru with next-to-no angelic powers left?
33. Also, it may be the second time only in over a year that we see Castiel in clothes other than his beige trench coat.
34. Castiel’s “life happened” – cf. “Sex And Violence”. Thy writers seem to love this rejoinder.
35. “I want you to see our brother”. “We weren’t there?” – Future Dean spent five years chasing after the Colt and not talking to his brother. Wow. Present Dean is mostly overwhelmed by this fact. And – shock – when he encounters Future Dean, he only asks him about Sam a few minutes into their conversation, not immediately.
36. Dean of 2014 obviously knows Sam’s representing Lucifer and he what, is ready to kill his brother, and believes this magic Colt would be enough to shoot the Devil? Hmm. Cruel.
37. He’s also willing to sacrifice his “men” (and women, too). Future Dean is an extreme rendition/extension of Present Dean’s natural assets.
38. This episode shows how one small decision (i.e. Dean not wanting Sam back in, not talking to him for years as a result) can, literally, change the course of history.
39. Future Dean pleads Present Dean to say “yes” to Michael, then sees a firm unwillingness in the latter’s eyes, and realizes he won’t. Looks like even in this Zachariah-induced future fantasy, the participants can have a degree of independence in what they say and think – if Future Dean had been driven by Zachariah all along, he wouldn’t have shared his prophetical guess (“But you won’t”) with Present Dean.
40. So, Future Dean’s men get to fight the Croatoan-infected army of people in this abandoned mental asylum building, while Present Dean gets to talk to Lucifer in this backyard garden. Nice distribution.
41. It’s a rose garden (note that it’s the back garden of a mental asylum – like, the whole world is going crazy around this one peaceful spot that remains). It’s like a piece of Eden
42. When Dean and Lucifer meet, you immediately see how different the worlds they belong to are. Dean, decidedly uncouth, in his rough clothes, his face distressed, and a calm Lucifer in his brilliant white suit and sheer beauty. Like the War in the previous episode, he doesn’t even have to lift a finger to send the world around him into a chaotic battle.
43. Lucifer kills Future Dean, pressing his neck to the ground with his foot, it’s like the reverse of religious pictures where Michael (or whoever) kills the Serpent (=the Devil) with a spear. Cf. an upside-down crucifixion image of Sam from “When The Levee Breaks”.
44. Dean’s first words to Lucifer are emphatic “Well, go ahead. Kill me now” – he immediately realises the impossibility of his mission. Even Future Dean, who’s turned into a ruthless “dick” can’t gather up enough cruelty and forget about his brotherhood to shoot Lucifer when the time comes, so what do you want from the Present Dean?
45. He can’t politely exorcise Lucifer away from Sam’s body – Lucifer’s an angel, and he asked his permission to entry, but when he did enter, he only leaves when he pleases. Wake me up before you go go. You can’t destroy the content without harming the shell.
46. Jared, I told you about playing Christ, but, hell, (a) you make the Devil a highly likeable character; (b) whenever I’m gonna read anything involving Lucifer from now on, I’d surely think of your rendition, man.
48. There’s an almost humorous moment here: when Dean calls Lucifer an “ugly… piece of supernatural crap”, Lucifer frowns as if in disbelief – and, hell, we too – whatever it is, Dean, but he’s definitely not ugly.
49. Why can’t Lucifer kill Present Dean too? The only person who’s of any danger to him? He could have done it easily, but he won’t. Why? Is it because he loves him a challenge? He likes fair play? He doesn’t want an easy triumph? He’s got a big ego, for sure. Maybe he’s just terribly alone and wants somebody, friend or foe, to watch him win, so that he could indulge in his competitor’s humiliation and grief. At one point, Lucifer turns his back on Dean to contemplate the rose – he’s not scared, he knows Dean won’t harm him.
50. Wait, so when did Sam say “yes” to Lucifer in this alternate reality? And if it was a long time ago, then why didn’t Lucifer start his destruction work immediately, drama queen? Why wait for Dean? Though… who destroyed this town to bits?
52. Zachariah taught Dean a good lesson indeed, but his goals went completely wrong. He thought Dean would learn to say “yes”, while all Dean learnt was how inhuman he could become. His greatest impression was not the apocalyptic state of the world in the future his stubbornness has probably caused, but his own moral degradation. That one phone call can breed such disaster. A very butterfly effect. To think Zachariah put so much craft into the preparation of this lesson – and all in vain. No wonder the angel loses his patience when Dean again says “no”, and goes all monsterish on him, screaming Dean is his.
53. Brave Dean. No, seriously. With no time or knife and door around to cut his vein and draw the sigil on it, no weapon at all to fight Zachariah, he still refuses to obey his order.
54. Castiel’s divine intervention. So we learn Castiel does not only transport himself to where Dean is, but can also transport Dean to where he is. Without the two-fingers shtick. And he obviously knows he’s just saved Dean from big violence, but never even mentions it, so Dean’s “Don’t ever change”, and his hand on Castiel’s shoulder feel like a mutual recognition, a silent “thank you” a scared-but-hiding-it Dean is too shy to tell.
55. Then Dean immediately goes to phone Sam and ask him to come back, baby. How sad we never heard this conversation.
Castiel: Dean. Where are you going?
Dean: To make a phone call I should have done in the first place.
Castiel (broods): I’ve just saved his life again, and he takes it for granted. It’s Sam Sam Sam all over again…
56. Dean says “no” because he knows that if he says “yes”, no matter if he will become cruel and inhuman or not, he’ll still have to fight against his brother. Moreover, Michael would repress his consciousness and act the way he wants – and Michael may destroy Lucifer, without caring about Sam – Sam’s not his brother, why should he? Whereas if Dean remains himself, he may have to fight Lucifer, too (he says “I’ll find a way to kill you”) but at least he’ll be in his own mind and recognise the difference between Lucifer and Sam.
57. Boys, you’re back together again. Bravo. If anything, Zachariah unwitingly let Dean see what can happen if they stay apart. “Maybe they’ll find a way to use us against each other” – Dean now has to choose between the two hard options – either they stay apart and both grow inhuman or stay together, keep worrying about each other, argue and fight no end – but the second choice still fares better, because “we keep each other human”. Being by each other’s side is the only way Dean can prevent Sam from saying his “yes” and keep himself from becoming a killing machine. “We make our own future”. He declares their independence from now on. It’s only together that they can make this future real.
58. Dean never tells Sam what he had seen in 2014. He now knows he can change the future, so why alarm the boy?
59. Dean, I’ll say it again, you finally see you shouldn’t separate? Do you? You do. Congratulations. Say “yes” to Sam, not Michael.
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