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'''[[Recap/{{Supernatural}} Recap]] of ''Series/{{Supernatural}}'''''\\
'''Season 5, Episode 4'''

!The End

->'''Dean:''' Well if it isn't the Ghost of Christmas Screw You.

Written by Ben Edlund.

Directed by Steve Boyum.

Air Date: October 1, 2009.

After getting a phone call from Sam informing him that Sam is the vessel of Lucifer, Dean wakes in a post-Apocalyptic future where he's been sent by Zachariah to show him what will happen if he continues to refuse Michael. The Croatoan virus has turned most of the population into mindless zombies, and Dean's future self is the leader of a refugee camp, caring about nothing but killing the Devil in revenge for Sam, who is now only Lucifer's meat suit. Future-Dean takes his past self on a suicide run against Lucifer, armed with the Colt, and ends up dead. Upon returning to his present, Dean still refuses to be a vessel and instead calls Sam to rejoin him in hunting.

!!Body count
For this episode = EverybodyLives.

For the series so far = At least 326 humans (of which 5 were witches), 39 demons, 28 ghosts, 11 vampires, 6 changelings, 4 angels, 3 gods, 3 shapeshifters, 3 zombies, 2 ghouls, 2 werewolves, 2 dogs, 1 crocotta, 1 djinn, 1 rakshasa, 1 rawhead, 1 reaper, 1 rugaru, 1 shtriga, 1 siren, and 1 wendigo.

!Tropes

* AchillesHeel: {{Discussed}} when Dean tells Sam that they are each other's weakness, and they are stronger when they're apart as they are always being used against each other.
* AfterTheEnd: Dean wakes up in the future where ''so much'' has been destroyed!
* AintTooProudToBeg: Future!Dean to his past self. "I'm begging you...say 'Yes'."
* BadassBoast: Subverted; Dean swears that he will find a way to kill Lucifer, but Lucifer turns it around on him -- he knows [[TheDeterminator Dean]] won't surrender to Michael or kill Sam, [[YouCantFightFate so they'll end up right where they are now]].
* BadassInANiceSuit: Lucifer wears a pristine white suit and shows zero fear of Dean. In fact, he clearly has mild affection for him on behalf of his vessel.
* BadFuture: Oh, dear Heaven, is it. Dean gets a sneak peek of five years into the future where he meets a [[JadeColoredGlasses jaded]] {{Jerkass}} [[FutureMeScaresMe version of himself]], a [[TheStoner strung-out]] and [[ReallyGetsAround oversexed]] Castiel, and Lucifer [[GrandTheftMe wearing his brother]] to the prom. The [[TheVirus Croatoan virus]] has ravaged the planet, the angels have thrown up their hands and left, and [[TakeThat Sarah Palin]] [[ArsonMurderAndJaywalking is president]].
* BattleDiscretionShot
** Dean finds Bobby's wheelchair shot full of bloody holes.
** After waking from being knocked unconscious by Future!Dean, Dean sees muzzle flashes inside the AbandonedHospital where Cas and the others are being sacrificed for a distraction. He rushes to help, only to find his future self already pinned under Lucifer's foot.
* BeardOfSorrow: Future!Cas has grown one of these.
* BigBad: Zachariah sends Dean five years into the future in order to show him what will happen if he continues to say no to Michael. There's also the future version of [[{{Satan}} Lucifer]], who has launched a genocidal campaign against humanity.
* BigDamnHeroes: Zachariah is about to give Dean another nasty lesson when Castiel zaps Dean to his location.
* BoringButPractical: [[DoomSayer Christian fundamentalist street preachers]] have been recruited in the search for Sam and Dean.
* BorrowedCatchphrase / CurseCutShort: Zachariah starts to say, "Son of a--" when Dean disappears from under his nose.
* BottomlessBladder: Pointedly averted when Cas forgets that his current allies are not angels and expects this trope from Dean. Dean says that he's human and tells Cas he needs four hours so that he can eat and sleep.
* BrokenAesop: An InUniverse version. The lesson Dean takes away is not that he should let Michael possess him, but that Sam [[MoralityPet keeps him human]] and he needs to hook back up with his brother.
* BrokenAngel: Castiel states in so many words that he's "not an angel anymore". He's also a junkie, an alcoholic, and running a cult of the enlightenment-through-sex variety.
* BroughtDownToNormal: Castiel’s powers faded when all the angels left Earth. Feeling useless without them, Castiel has [[DrowningMySorrows retreated into sex and drugs.]]
* CallBack: [[Recap/SupernaturalS02E09Croatoan The Croatoan virus]] returns.
* ChekhovsGun:
** Dean brushes past a street preacher outside his hotel. Turns out the angels have recruited them as spies.
** The knowledge that Sam "said yes" in Detroit becomes a useful clue later in the season.
* CowerPower: Dean hides behind Chuck when an ActionGirl goes to thump him for cheating on her.
* CrackingUp: Future!Castiel does a somewhat sensual body stretch, to loosen up for the impending orgy.
* CrapsackWorld: Not exactly a surprise, given the show's usual {{Angst}} level.
* CrouchingMoronHiddenBadass: Despite initially appearing to be, and seeing himself as, a FutureLoser, Future!Cas is pretty clearly Dean's second-in-command at camp, as the one tasked with organising Future!Dean's planned offensive against Lucifer, 'getting the grunts on the road', and seems to be filling that role quite effectively.
* CryLaughing: Future!Castiel has this reaction when Dean asks him to use his angel powers to return him to 2009.
* DespairSpeech: Future!Castiel's "I'm hapless, hopeless" speech to Dean.
* DisproportionateRetribution: Or so [[SympathyForTheDevil Lucifer would have us believe]], when he claims he was cast into Hell for refusing to accept that HumansAreSuperior. He left out the bit about creating demons just to spite his father's work.
* DramaticThunder: A clap of thunder punctuates pretty much every word Lucifer says.
* TheEndIsNigh: Justified with the street preacher who sees Dean and tips off the angels as to his whereabouts, as the angels have told him and other street preachers about the upcoming Apocalypse.
* ExactWords: After agreeing to give Dean his four hours sleep, Castiel says, "I'll wait here then." When he rescues Dean four hours later, we see he's standing in the exact same position by the side of the road.
* FaceRevealingTurn: Dean finds a young girl crying [[EmpathyDollShot next to her doll]]. When he goes to comfort her, she tries to slash him with a piece of glass, revealing she's infected.
* ForcedToWatch: Future!Dean insists that Past!Dean accompany him on the raid to kill Sam!Lucifer, so he will be motivated to say "Yes" to Michael.
* FutureBadass: Sorta, although present-Dean is a badass already. Maybe it's more like "future even-more-badass-through-being-a-heartless-JerkAss".
* FutureLoser: Having lost all of his powers when the angels skedaddled, Castiel refers to himself as all but useless and appears to spend the majority of his time either drunk, high, or indulging in orgies. Dean is extremely relieved to see the powerful and confident version of Castiel when he returns to the past.
* FutureMeScaresMe
-->'''Dean:''' Oh, so we're--we're torturing again? No, that's good. Classy.
* GetItOverWith: Dean arrives just in time to see Lucifer-in-Sam's body casually snap future!Dean's neck. [[DespairEventHorizon Realizing all is lost]], Dean tells Lucifer to go ahead and kill him. Lucifer quips, "Don't you think that would be a little...redundant?"
* TheHedonist:
** "It's the end, baby! Might as well bang some gongs before the lights go out."
** Future!Dean is still TheCasanova, as Dean finds out when he barely misses a punch-and-GroinAttack meant for his future self.
* HairpinLockpick: Dean pulls a nail out of the floor and uses it to pick the lock of his handcuffs.
* HowTheMightyHaveFallen: Even with a BadassNormal like Dean as an example, Future!Castiel can't accept the loss of his power, and tries drowning his emptiness in sex and drugs.
-->'''Dean:''' So you're human now? Welcome to the club.
-->'''Future!Cas:''' Thank you. But I used to be a member of a much better club.
* HumansAreBastards: Lucifer gives a MotiveRant over how Earth is God's last and greatest creation--and then he made humans to fill it. Lucifer was cast out of Heaven when God told him to love humans more than Him.
-->"Look at what six billion of you have done to this thing. And how many of you blame me for it."
** Dean retorts with a ShutUpHannibal speech.
-->"You're not fooling me with this SympathyForTheDevil crap...You're the same thing, only bigger. The same brand of cockroach I've been squashing my whole life. An ugly, evil, belly-to-the-ground, [[TitleDrop supernatural]] piece of crap. The only difference between them and you is the size of your ego."
* InconvenientSummons: Inverted when Castiel teleports Dean away from Zachariah.
* ItsALongStory: Dean (not) filling in Sam on the episode's events.
* ItsQuietTooQuiet: The hot zone should be swarming with 'Croats', which means TrapIsTheOnlyOption.
* JacobMarleyWarning: Played with in that future!Dean actually begs Dean to say yes to being Michael's vessel in the past... then bitterly points out that Dean won't, because ''he'' didn't.
* KnockoutPunch[=/=]SmashToBlack: When future!Dean punches Dean out so he can go ahead with his [[WhatTheHellHero friend-sacrificing plan]] to kill Lucifer.
* LittleNo: After seeing the BadFuture, Dean's response to Zachariah once more asking him to become Michael's vessel is an [[DoNotTauntCthulhu overly casual "Nah."]]
* MaybeMagicMaybeMundane: Technically subverted. There was debate among fans whether the BadFuture in this episode was real or was all an elaborate illusion. The episode's commentary, and Creator/KurtFuller in ''The Official Companion'', claim it was indeed real.
* MyFriendsAndZoidberg: Inverted when Dean gives a WhatTheHellHero for betraying his friends, and [[TrueCompanions Cas]].
* MythologyGag: ''Route 666'' was a fictional movie in the episode ''[[Recap/SupernaturalS02E18HollywoodBabylon Hollywood Babylon]]'', itself a MythologyGag to the [[Recap/SupernaturalS01E13RouteSixSixSix episode of that name]].
* NeckSnap: Lucifer steps on future!Dean's neck and casually breaks it.
* NewspaperDating: Dean reads the date on a government warning sign. Later Zachariah turns up to read the newspaper to him, just fill Dean in on what a CrapsackWorld he's caused.
* NobodyPoops: Averted; Chuck informs Dean they're almost out of toilet paper.
* NumberOfTheBeast: A cinema is advertising NOW SHOWING: ROUTE 666.
* ObligatoryJoke
-->'''Future!Dean:''' Why shouldn't I [[DeadlyEuphemism gank you]] right now?
-->'''Dean:''' Because...you'd only be hurting yourself?
-->'''Future!Dean:''' Very funny.
* OhCrap
** Dean's exact words when he sees CROATOAN written on a wall, and a bunch of infected humans appear.
** Sam has a subdued one when Dean takes out a knife at the end, no doubt thinking Dean is going to kill him after all.
* OnlyElectricSheepAreCheap: Invest in toilet paper. It's worth more than gold.
* OtherMeAnnoysMe: The humorless Future!Dean and his past self. Future!Cas however quite likes him.
* PercussivePrevention: When Present!Dean makes it clear he's not going to let Future!Dean feed his friends into a meat grinder as bait to get his last shot at killing Lucifer, Future!Dean knocks Present!Dean out there and then.
* RebelRelaxation: Future!Cas has his feet up on the table during Future!Dean's MissionBriefing.
* RelativeButton: An InvokedTrope by Zachariah, arguing that if Dean becomes Michael's vessel now, they can strike at Lucifer before he has the chance to take over Sam.
* {{Retcon}}: The Croatoan virus is portrayed differently than in [[Recap/SupernaturalS02E09Croatoan "Croatoan"]], with infectees behaving like classic apocalypse movie zombies, whereas in the prior episode they retained their intelligence and self-awareness and it worked more like BrainwashedAndCrazy.
* RevengeBeforeReason: Future!Dean is willing to use all of his friends, even Cas, as bait just to make sure he gets a shot at the Devil.
* SarcasmMode: Future!Cas always refers to Future!Dean as "[[WesternAnimation/RockyAndBullwinkle Fearless Leader]]".
* SenselessSacrifice: Future!Cas and his allies sacrifice themselves to get Future!Dean to Lucifer, only to have Dean fail.
* SeriousBusiness: Cas on the cellphone.
-->'''Castiel:''' ''This isn't funny, Dean! The voice says I'm almost out of minutes!''
* ShoutOut
** Dean quotes from ''Film/TheGodfather Part III'' regarding Sam's TenMinuteRetirement. "Every time I try to get out, they pull me back in."
** When Zachariah first appears, Dean says, "I thought I smelled your stink on this ''Franchise/BackToTheFuture'' crap." And on seeing Zachariah back in 2009. "Oh, well, if it isn't the [[Literature/AChristmasCarol Ghost of Christmas]] Screw You."
** " I got a camp full of twitchy trauma survivors out there with an apocalypse hanging over their head. The last thing they need to see is a version of ''Film/{{The Parent Trap|1961}}''!"
** Lucifer shows up in a white suit much like ''{{Film/Constantine}}''.
* SingleTear: Dean faced with Sam!Lucifer.
* SeenItAll: Dean's response to Sam informing him that he's Lucifer's intended vessel. Actually seeing it in the future however is a different matter.
* SonOfAnApe: Lucifer condemns humans as "hairless apes" that are "flawed...murderous".
* SoundtrackDissonance: Drunken soldiers gun down infectees to "Do You Love Me?"
* ShootTheDog: Future!Dean is all about this.
* SpotTheImposter: Dean tells Future-Dean about a very confidential moment involving wearing ladies' underwear.
* TheStoner
-->'''Dean:''' Cas, are you high?
-->'''Future Cas:''' Usually.
* StoppedClock: The change from present to future is marked by a smashed clock in Dean's hotel room.
* TakeThat: Against UsefulNotes/SarahPalin. It takes this CrapsackWorld for her to be president of the USA.
* TemptingFate: Zachariah says he's never letting Dean go, just before Castiel helps Dean escape.
* TenMinuteRetirement: Sam now wants them to hook up again, determined to avoid the fate Lucifer has for him.
* ThatPoorCar: Dean is shocked at the sight of the Impala lying neglected at the camp.
* ThereIsNoCure: Future!Dean mentions that the [[HatePlague Croatoan Virus]] is incurable.
* TookALevelInJerkass: When Dean realizes that his future self intends to sacrifice his friends as TheBait, he says, "Man, there is something broken in you."
* TheTragicRose: Lucifer's confrontation with Dean takes place in a rose garden.
* TrustPassword: Dean wore women's underwear once and enjoyed it.
* TotalPartyKill: Although we only see future!Dean die, it's assumed that Cas and the rest were slaughtered by the demons, giving that that was future!Dean's ''plan''.
* UrbanRuins: Dean has a vision of the world upon Satan's rise to power that includes cities turned to ruin.
* VillainInAWhiteSuit: Lucifer-in-Sam is dressed in a smart white suit. It adds to the creep factor.
* VillainsNeverLie: Dean accuses Zachariah of trying to deceive him with a phony BadFuture. Zachariah assures Dean this isn't the case, but whether that's true is a matter of fan debate.
* TheVirus: [[Recap/SupernaturalS02E09Croatoan The Croatoan virus]] has returned and is now planet-wide and devastating the remains of humanity.
* WakingUpElsewhere: Or else-when; Dean goes to sleep in his hotel room and wakes up in the same room, only now it's now a burnt and looted wreck.
* WeUsedToBeFriends: Future!Dean regards the powerless and hedonistic Future!Cas with barely concealed disdain, while Future!Cas responds with sardonic criticism.
* WeWantOurJerkBack: Dean's response to stick-up-his-ass-Castiel after he teleports Dean out JustInTime is to [[FriendshipMoment put a hand on his shoulder]] and say, "Don't ever change."
* WeWillMeetAgain, Dean. [[Recap/SupernaturalS05E10AbandonAllHope Soon.]]
* WhamLine
--> '''Future Dean:''' Sam didn't die in Detroit. He said "yes".
* WhatTheHellHero: Dean gives it to his future self for being willing to lie to his friends and send them to their deaths, just to get at Lucifer. Future!Dean just [[PercussivePrevention knocks him out]] and goes ahead with it.
* WomanScorned: Dean barely dodges a punch in the face and a knee in the groin from Rachael.
* WouldHurtAChild: Dean punches an infected child who attacks him with a shard of glass.
* YouCanAlwaysTellALiar: Dean realizes that Future!Dean is lying to his soldiers, because he's using the same expressions ''he'' rehearsed in the mirror to become a ConsummateLiar.
* YouCantFightFate: Lucifer gives Dean a lecture about "whatever you do, no matter what details you change, we will always end up here". Dean responds with "ScrewDestiny", but it's unclear till ''much'' later how that works out.
* ZombieApocalypse: The Croatoan virus turns people into fast zombies of the "infected with rage" variety.
* ZombieInfectee: Future!Dean does a sudden BoomHeadshot on a member of his team he claims has been infected. As Dean couldn't see anything wrong with the man, he naturally starts to wonder if the strain is getting to his future self.