Supernatural (TV series)/Recap/S05/E04 The End

Season 5, Episode 4:

The End
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. 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.

Tropes
"Dean: Oh, so we're torturing again? No, that's good. Classy."
 * Bad Future: Oh dear Heaven is it.
 * Broken Angel: 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.
 * Crapsack World: Not exactly a surprise. Although given the show's usual Angst level, it's more like "Crapsack Turned Up to Eleven World".
 * Future Badass: Sorta, although present-Dean is a badass already. Maybe it's more like "future even-more-badass-through-being-a-heartless-Jerkass".
 * Future Me Scares Me


 * The Hedonist: "It's the end, baby! Might as well bang some gongs before the lights go out."
 * Revenge Before Reason: Future-Dean is willing to use all of his friends, including Cas, as bait just to make sure he get a shot at the Devil.
 * Total Party Kill
 * Uncanny Valley: Lucifer-in-Sam doesn't quite seem to know how to work his face, which is some pretty good acting on Jared Padalecki's part.
 * You Can't Fight Fate: Lucifer gives Dean a lecture about "whatever you do, no matter what details you change, we will always end up here". Dean responds with "Screw Destiny", but it's unclear till much later how that works out.
 * Zombie Apocalypse: The Croatoan virus turns people into fast zombies of the "infected with rage" variety.