I totally called this season ending with Dean dead. Cause Kripke loves him some cliffhangers.

I was mildly surprised to see they actually showed us Hell, although it seemed a bit OTT.

Seemed clear that Sam fought off Lilith, at least a little. Which, once he realizes that, is going to burn: because he didn't summon up that power, whatever it was, until it was too late to save Dean.

Poor Sam. He was pretty fucked up this episode, and will continue to be for some time, I think.

Also, if that wasn't JP's real voice, he did a great job on singing VERY BADLY. Heee.

I thought I was going to hurt myself laughing at the Bon Jovi bit.

I totally called this season ending with Dean dead. Cause Kripke loves him some cliffhangers.

Yeah, that was obvious, but it still didn't lessen the impact, for me. I didn't think we'd actually see him in hell this ep though.

Jilli, I'm pretty certain you did hurt yourself laughing. There wasn't any other excuse for that gargled choke mixed in with the laughter.

I wish they hadn't shown Hell; the imagination is always stronger than any visualization. It wasn't bad though but I would rather have just heard Dean's pleas against the encroaching blackness of his pupil. FWIW, the silent black void that served as Hell in John Carpenter's Prince of Darkness is still the scariest damn depiction I can remember.

Yeah, the imagined Hell is always more effective than the pictured.

Someone on my flist has posited that Dean is either in Purgatory or Limbo, rather than actual hell. The anteroom, as it were. The vestibule, the Green Room, from which he may be more easily retrieved than from Actual Hell.

Yeah, that vision of Hell was kind of...lame. And sort of topographically nonsensical. I knew they had to give us something more than just "Dean's dead" because everyone expected that part, and it's not really a cliffhanger, per se, since you know Dean is not going to be dead forever, and thus you have to tease the why and the how of bringing him back next season.

The Bon Jovi singalong was great.

That little girl they got was really good and very creepy and now she is going to traumatize her parents for years.

Showing Dean in Hell ruined the end of the episode for me.

I think we'll see Ruby again - in a different meat suit (possibly) - which would be one of my wishes for season 4. However, it is totally possible that "Ruby" in Katie Cassidy's body could be back because - wasn't the human dead anyway? Could she be more dead? I mean, the Ruby demon could reinhabit that body, right?

Showing Dean in Hell ruined the end of the episode for me.

This is where hiding behind the laptop at the first sght of blood comes in Handy. For me, the show ended with Dean calling out for Sam, with no visuals.

whoa. you must have spent the better part of the season behind your laptop then.

fwiw i'm still a little bit broken about last night. i'm kind of feeling like a whole show marathon.