I vaguely recall someone promising that both Dean and Sam would end up safely in Heaven after the big showdown, so if that can be trusted saying yes to possession by Lucifer might not mean anything negative for Sam's soul (given he's doing it for noble reasons). Assuming that Michael wins and he gets vaporized along with Lucifer, anyway.

It just occurred to me that even if their plan to re-cage Lucifer somehow succeeds, it's not necessarily all wrapped up in a bow. Michael still wants the big predestined confrontation too, and would still be in charge of the heavenly forces and free to start everything rolling toward that same conclusion all over again.

saying yes to possession by Lucifer might not mean anything negative for Sam's soul (given he's doing it for noble reasons)

It does seem to be the equivalent of a soldier throwing himself on top of a grenade to save the guys around him, doesn't it?

As for the Michael issue, unless they (Team Free Will, that is) still have one of the angel-killing knives and can use it on whatever vessel is housing Michael, then you're right. He'll still be out there making plans. At which point I guess it's up to the God of this particular universe to finally make an appearance and take a stand.

So you think Michael would free Lucifer or work against caging him just so he can have the big fight?

The angels did have to take mostly a back seat and let demons and humans set him free the first time--what would it take to get him out again?

On that note, would the seals be reset? Would it be automatic, would season 6 be the brothers traveling the world and creating new seals?

There were three hundred odd seals, right, of which 66 had to be broken? Maybe they'll just break the next 66, and then the next, until they run out of seals.

Or, please, let's be done with Lucifer as of this week. Only the first 66 seals count. One time dealio only.

Which randomly reminds me--is John the only person we've heard call Dean Deano? When did he do that? Or am I getting fanon confused again?

Doesn't Demian call him Dashing El Deano over on the TWoP recaps?

Hmm, don't recall on the surplus of seals. But that sounds like a plan, just use the leftovers, I'm good.

Doesn't Demian call him Dashing El Deano over on the TWoP recaps?

I've never liked Demian's comments in thread about the show enough to actually try his recaps. I just see him called "Deano" a lot in Weechester fic, and I was wondering if that was to balance "Sammy" out, or because it had happened onscreen at some point. Man, I wish there were a complete searchable transcript repository. Supernaturalwiki has only Meg calling him that, but I don't think it has all the transcripts.

If it's only Meg, having John call him that in fic is icky.

Which reminds me too, that I have ire that Sam let Ruby call him Sammy. Just wrong.

Ah, I remembered wrong about the seal count. From wikipedia:

Holding Lucifer at bay are over 600 mystical seals, only 66 of which have to be broken for him to be released.

However, the transcript in supernaturalwiki says Anna says there are 6,000. I think that's a typo, since other entries on that site agree with 600.

Okay, so God reconstituted Castiel in the Jimmy vessel who may or may not still contain Jimmy. We are pretty sure that Jimmy is gone, however because of MBV, he could still be in there. Got it.

I vaguely recall someone promising that both Dean and Sam would end up safely in Heaven after the big showdown

That was Joshua right? I took that as a promise up to the date, but not covering anything they might do in the future. They don't have a blank cheque and allowing Lucifer in might be a no-no.

I took the "craving of his vessel" as "cravings of a human form" over Jimmy's personal cravings.

I did too at the time. I didn't consider it might mean Jimmy was still around.