Review

Dean is having nightmares involving hell hounds running him down, which isn't surprising as he has thirty hours till hell can claim him unless the Winchester Bros can pull something out in the bottom of the ninth. Bobby comes to the party with a spell to locate Lilith, who of course has the contract for Dean's soul. The Winchesters are heading for New Harmony, Indiana, but first Sam summons Ruby - against Dean's express wishes. Dean gets the upper hand on the Demon and claims her knife, leaving Ruby in a demon trap.

Team Winchester arrive at their destination to find Lilith is terrorising a suburban family and has a cul de sac under demonic lockdown. They go in, using every trick they know, to confront a demonic force even stronger than Yellow Eyes, but things are not going to work out quite how they imagined. Sam has more power than formerly thought, Rugby throws in with the Boys, and Dean is facing his worst nightmare.

[Editor's Note: Huge spoilers ahead, if you haven't seen the episode then we forgive you going AWOL on reading this review]

Before getting into the episode proper one thing I think is worth noting is Dean is seeing the true faces of demons now that he is "hell's bitch", in the immortal words of Bobby. Okay that was pretty cool, though in a fit of saving some cash or not overly frightening the tween chick fans the audience don't get to see what Dean sees except for one exception. Dean sees Sam in a sort of state of flux between being human and demonic, something clearly being inserted in preparation for season four. Good effect there, they have used it previously, but also notably the effect has been used in any number of movies in the genre. But still mark that one down in your Supernatural playbook for season four.

The whole season has been gearing toward Dean's appointment with the hell hounds and I got to say it was somewhat disappointing. In an opening prologue scene we get to see things from the hound POV, a sort of grainy black and white, which I was pretty cool with, but that's it for demonic dog effects. As I say disappointing considering what they could have done and the real internet buzz they could have gleaned from delivering a kick arse dog design. Unfortunately hell hounds are going to be invisible to the audience. On the bright side of the doggy tag we get a half decent rendition of hell in the final scene. Not quite what I expected, decor by Pinhead, but real effective and I was rocking out to the design.

Approval of the final episode of the season, delivered the requirements and setup the anticipation for next season

Also real cool this episode was Lilith who as portrayed is going to be a real handful for what's left of team Winchester in season four, though notably Sam might have the gas to motor there. Lilith is on "shore leave", I assume this means she is taking time out of her busy schedule for some R&R, and has chosen to victimise a suburban family in a sort of reverse domestic violence thing, Lilith generally possesses young girls. In one striking scene Lilith has been upstairs "playing" with the family pet, and arrives downstairs at the kitchen table drenched in blood. Clearly our girl is going to be a job of work to deal with, Bobby and Sam are going to have their hands full there, I still am not trusting Ruby, once a demon and all.

While the episode, being the season finale, was focused on Dean's doggy playtime, there was still room to throw on a good show that had me high fiving strangers in the corridor of my apartment building. Pity I rushed out of my apartment without putting any clothes on really. Lilith is kick arse, finally an antagonist who is truly unremorsefully evil, with a nasty sort of black humour going down for her. Team Winchester are pretty much out matched by this demon, and we're still in the opening stages of Lilith's rise to power. I'm really looking forward to her return in season four and further tea party shenanigans.

Guess the final thing I want to say about the episode is that there was no last minute reprieve for Dean, as I half expected would go down. The season delivered on the premise and I'm left wondering how they can turn things around next season, Supernatural for sure is not going to rage on without Dean Winchester. Maybe the Dude is taking a sabbatical to do some movies or something? It's going to be a few months before we dial into season four, promises to keep in other episode guides, so the anticipation for the first couple of episodes it's going to be through the roof.

In terms of mullet rock, the unofficial theme song "Carry on My Wayward Son" by Kansas gets some more airplay in the episode prologue, and in a good choice Bon Jovi's "Wanted Dead or Alive" captures the mood of the episode at one stage. I'm nodding my head in approval; two tracks are value for money in my book of Impala repair tricks.

The episode managed 3 million viewers in North America on original broadcast, which while disappointing still managed to keep things from circling the sink. All season it's been a battle to keep the average audience above 3 million, so while there was a burst in figures for the cliff hanger it wasn't nearly as big as the previous two seasons.

Excellent episode, say what you want about Supernatural but the show sure does throw on a decent final statement, that had me grooving from opening scene to closing credits. For sure there's a requirement for viewers to have followed the overall story for at least the current season but then I've got no time for sometime viewers who aren't keeping up with the story. Full recommendation to anyone who has been rocking out to version 3 of the Winchester epic, bring on season four, things are going to get real intense from here.