Spoilers.

Supernatural Official Site

The Time: Thursdays, 9:00 PM, The CW

The Show:

Sam
and Dean Winchester are two brothers who roam the back roads of America
in a 1967 Chevy Impala hunting evil.  At first they fought all
of the usual: vampires, ghosts, werewolves and the like, but in recent
yeas they’ve found themselves more and more dealing with the literal
forces
of Hell as a demon war has been brewing for centuries, with the
Winchesters playing pivotal roles.  Now, through the
machinations of both demons and angels alike, Lucifer has been set free
to walk the Earth.  Sam and Dean find themselves caught
between the angels and demons, but they may be the only two people who
stand between humanity and the Apocalypse.

The Stars:

– Jared Padalecki – Sam Winchester
– Jensen Ackles – Dean Winchester
– Jim Beaver – Bobby
– Misha Collins – Castiel
– Kurt Fuller – Zachariah
– Rob Benedict – Chuck Surley
– Rachel Miner – Meg

The Episode: “The End”

Dean is transported five years into the future by Zachariah so he can see the consequences of his refusal to become Michael’s vessel.  The Apocalypse has played out in the form of the Croatoan Virus, the demon plague which turns people into savages that are controlled by Lucifer.  2009 Dean meets 2014 Dean, who has become the hardest of hard asses, and 2014 Castiel, who has become not only a love hippie guru type, but something else altogether.  And 2009 Dean gets his first glimpse of Lucifer in his brand new shiny Sam suit.

The Lowdown:

Good episode, with a fun element or two and some continuing solid work by Jensen Ackles.  If there’s any doubt that this is now essentially his show, it should be dispelled by his work in this episode, playing dueling Dean roles, present and future.  The future is not a nice place, populated by “Croats” or the infected human populace, with only small enclaves of human survivors.  Dean is the leader of one and the years haven’t been kind to him.  Future Dean has had to become the hardest of assholes in order for him and his people to survive. 

Lucifer has won and the angels have given up and abandoned Earth to its fate, except for Castiel.  Cas has become the antithesis of what he was: a freewheeling, free-loving orgy guy and ardent user of various chemical distractions.  And oh yeah, a mortal.  Apparently when the angels left, so did his “mojo.”   But he’s still angel enough to realize that the other Dean is from the past and fills him in on the various goings on of the last five years.

The last hope for Dean, Cas and the other humans is recovering the only item on Earth that has a chance of killing Lucifer: the Colt.  Aside from that, Dean is shocked to the levels that his future self has sunk (will sink to) and is presented a grim truth by 2014 Dean: Sam said Yes.  The Big Yes.  And the world went to crap from there.  2014 Dean will sacrifice anyone and anything in order to stop Lucifer, and Dean can’t believe what he will become.  Furthermore, Dean is told by Lucifer that no matter what Dean does, they will always end up at the final reckoning that 2009 Dean and Sam now find themselves.  This forces Dean to make some choices that he otherwise wouldn’t have, including reconnecting with Sam.  Some interesting facts revealed and good interplay between Ackles and Jared Padalecki this episode, both as Dean and Lucifer and as Dean and Sam.

This is the third time Dean has gotten zapped into a different or alternate time period by the angels and each story has been good in its own way.  I would have thought that this episode would complete Supernatural’s “Back to the Future” trilogy and that the show probably wouldn’t rely upon time skips anymore.  Nor should it as it’s an element that’s worked well, but shouldn’t be abused.  I do know, however, that there will be at least one more episode where we meet another incarnation of Dean.  And let’s just say he might be macking on the retirement home hotties. 

Ayyway, the highlights of this installment are Ackles aforementioned carrying of the episode and especially Misha Collins’ Castiel going native.  I really like Collins as an addition to the show and look for more good things from him in future episodes.  He’s almost become the third Winchester to me. 

 8.0 out of 10