raloria

After watching the promo for this week's episode for the umpteenth time, I noticed a few things and my constantly curious brain got to working. This is just pure speculation on my part (though in a few instances I've got photographic proof to back me up) and basically it's my thinky brain gone wild. ;)

I got a little curious about some of the dialog that Sam says. He makes the same statement twice, but the circumstances are different.

This first line is said to Dean in a quiet scene. It looks like another one of those "brothers sitting on their motel room beds, having a heart-to-heart moment" type of scene. Sam is calm, but determined.

Sam: You're not gonna go to hell. I'm not gonna to let you.

The second time he says it the brothers are obviously having a more heated argument. Sam's desperate and it seems (to me anyway) that Dean's probably reached his end. He's given up. Time to just meet his fate head on and be done with it, but Sam's going to keep fighting for his brother's life until the end.

Sam: I'm not gonna let you go to hell, Dean!
Dean: Yes you are!

I think that Dean physically pushing Sam away is very telling. *sniffs* Oh, boys....I hate to see you fight.

The video of the promo from YouTube. Courtesy of yimmajazzi.

Now for the real, in-depth analysis part.

It's natural to assume the shots of Dean running are him probably running from the hellhounds before his death. But a closer look shows this might not be so.

1. This is the zoom in on Dean's eye. He's already dead at this point. Note the blood splatters, particularly the two under his eye.

2. A question: Why have a zoom in on Dean's eye? My theory...Dean's dead and we're going to be shown where his soul now is....in hell.

3. The zoom in finishes.

4. We immediately cut to a shot of Dean running through some woods in the daylight. Note the clothing: a t-shirt, an overshirt, and then a jacket.

5. Now we see Dean running in close-up. We get a good view of his clothes here. It looks like a green t-shirt, his blue denim overshirt, and a jacket.

6. Once Dean falls, it looks darker. It might be night, but it's really hard to tell. There's still a bright light on him. Note the same 3 layers of clothing.

7. In this CU there's still a bright light source. Moonlight perhaps?

8. This is the most telling shot of all and it's barely visible in the promo. It only flashes on the screen for a few frames. It's a shot of Dean on a wooden floor, his face splattered with blood...looking very dead. Note the open mouth, which matches the way we see him with Sam in the final shot.

9. The shot in the woods continues and this time we get a better view of Dean's face. It looks quite red with blood to me.

10. The final shot, with Sam holding Dean is inside (some kind of house I would guess). They're not outside. Note the wood floor as seen in shot #8 and the similar blood splatters under his eye that we see in shot #1. Also, his clothing looks a little different here than in the "running through woods" shots, which again would point to them happening in two different places.

So, my theory? Dean dies in a house somewhere (wooden floor) and the zoom in on his eye after his death is going to show us Dean in hell, being chased in some woods by...something. Whatever it is, catches and viciously attacks him.

So I'm wondering if it will be Lilith herself who actually kills Dean and not the hellhounds. Because usually the hellhounds drag the person away, body and all. That's what happened to the doctor in "Crossroad Blues". However, it didn't happen to Robert Johnson in the same episode. He appeared to die with his body left behind. So maybe there's different circumstances as to when the body is dragged down to hell and when it isn't.

There's my 10 cents-worth. Any other theories out there? Agree with me? Disagree with me? I'd love to hear what you think. :)