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.

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

Yep. Last week involved fingers in the ears too.

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.

Oh yeah, with Lisa Blount jumping through the mirror and then slowly fading into darkness as the light from the gateway flickers and goes out...

There's a similar depiction of damnation in Mimi Rogers' final scene in The Rapture

Oh yeah, with Lisa Blount jumping through the mirror and then slowly fading into darkness as the light from the gateway flickers and goes out...

Yup. That.

brrrr.

Questions:

Was Lillith possessing Ruby the first instance we've seen of a demon possessing another demon? And post-possession, is Ruby still a demon the way she was before?

If Dean was seeing demons' true faces, was his "hallucination" of Sam's face at the beginning of the ep really a reveal of a demon within Sam struggling to come to the forefront?

I'm choosing to think Sam's stretchy-face is a hallucination brought on by the nearness of the hellhounds--it's always been an accompaniment to their approach before. I don't think it signaled Sam was a demon when Dean saw it.

Ruby was possessing the (and keeping alive the probably dead) body of a young woman. My understanding is that Lillith ousted Ruby-demon's "spirit" and sent her far, far away, while Lillith possessed the mortal body.

I'm assumming that Ruby has reverted to the form she had while she was in hell, before she escaped the open gate a year ago and took possession of the hot blond body. She has also probably been sent back to hell, but time will tell on that one.

Also, on rewatch: the cruiser the guys were hiding after Dean killed the demon-ridden cop had numbers painted on the roof. It was car 54.

It was car 54.

Hah! I saw that, but it didn't ping me until just now. Funny!

It was car 54.

Nice.