The fourth season premiere, "Lazarus Rising," begins four months after the third season finale. Dean awakes to find himself buried and manages to dig himself out. He then breaks into a nearby gas station where he gets some water, food and cash. Before leaving the store, Dean sees the television and radio flicker on, with static, and a powerful whine that shatters all of the glass and hurts Dean's ears. Dean calls Sam, but finds his number disconnected. He calls Bobby, who hangs up on him, so he hot-wires a parked car and goes to Bobby's house. A fight ensues until Dean is able to prove to Bobby that it is really him. Dean and Bobby track down Sam in a town right near where Dean was buried—he's in a hotel with a woman, but he claims he did nothing to bring Dean back and is in town because he is searching for a demon. The woman acts puzzled by all of this and leaves, while Dean tells Sam he remembers nothing from Hell.
The Winchesters track down whatever force ripped Dean from Hell. By the end of the episode, it is revealed that an angel named Castiel pulled Dean from Hell on God's command; Castiel tells Dean that God has work for him. The woman in Sam's room, it turns out, is Ruby in a new body, and Sam had lied to Dean when he told him that he didn't know where Ruby was and that he wasn't using his demonic powers. Dean, in turn, was lying to Sam about Hell; in the episode "Wishful Thinking," Dean confesses that he does remember every second of Hell.
In the next episode "Are You There, God? It's Me, Dean Winchester," in the course of fighting off ghosts, Dean is told by Castiel of Lilith's plan to break the 66 seals and free Lucifer.
In "In the Beginning," Dean is transported back in time to Lawrence, Kansas in 1973. There, he meets younger versions of his father and mother, as well as his maternal grandfather Samuel and maternal grandmother Deanna (for whom he is named), and learns of a connection between Azazel and Mary. A causal loop is revealed in that the time-traveling Dean, by trying to stop Azazel in the past and change his future, actually made the demon aware of his family in the first place, setting in motion the events leading to the death of his parents, the corruption of his brother, and the life he tried to change, therefore setting up a predestination paradox. (However, it is implied by Castiel that the events would have happened anyway without him being there as they were already destined.) Upon returning to the present, Dean is informed by Castiel that Sam is "going down a very dark road" and that, if Dean doesn't stop him, the angels will.
Dean follows Castiel's directions and witnesses Sam using his powers to exorcise a demon, also learning of Ruby's return. He conveys the warning of the angels to Sam. After he and Sam stop a rugaru in Missouri, Sam decides to stop using his powers, which seems to satisfy Dean.
In "Heaven and Hell," Dean reveals to Sam what happened to him in Hell: Time flows differently there, so four months on Earth was forty years in Hell. During that time, he was put on the rack and "cut, carved, and torn" apart until there was nothing left of him, only to be made whole again just so the demons could start over on him. Dean reveals that, at the end of every day, the demon Alastair would offer to take him off the rack if Dean would put souls on it and torture them. Dean resisted for thirty years, but eventually gave in and spent a ten years torturing people in Hell to escape being tortured himself. In "Family Remains", Dean confesses to Sam that he enjoyed torturing souls, as he finally had the chance to dish out the same pain that he'd endured for the past thirty years.
Later on in the season, an episode titled "After School Special" aired with flashbacks of a teenage Dean and a pre-teen Sam while they are going to a high school. In this episode, we learn that Dean was as promiscuous as ever when he was younger. The girl he was then dating told him that he acted cool when, in reality, he was a little boy who played with people's feelings to make himself feel better. Dean, clearly stung, from then on hated the school.
In "Death Takes a Holiday," Dean meets up again with the reaper Tessa, who wakens his memories of their previous encounter with a kiss; Dean confesses that there has been a "hole" in him since that time and realizes that it is related to her. Soon after, Tessa is taken by Alastair in his quest to break another of the 66 seals; breaking the current seal involves killing reapers. The boys ask their psychic friend Pamela Barnes to help them leave their bodies so that they may find the kidnapped reapers. Once they have, they are captured, but Sam is able to break them out and Tessa is able to continue reaping souls. However, before Dean is able to return to his body, Alastair corners him, only to be captured by the angels; Castiel then appears and informs Dean that they have won this seal. As Dean awakes in his body, Pamela is dying from the injuries she obtained during a fight with a demon, while the boys were "out." Pamela also 'saw' what Sam did to the Demons that tried to kill her. This worried Sam because Pamela became blind whilst trying to catch a glimpse of Castiel in his true form when they were looking for who pulled Dean out of Hell.
In the next episode "On the Head of a Pin," Dean is pressed into service by Castiel and Uriel, who need him to torture Alastair for information on who is killing angels, since Dean was his "student" in Hell. Dean refuses at first, but eventually agrees. However, he only succeeds in getting Alastair to reveal that Dean himself was the first seal to break, by virtue of giving in and torturing souls in Hell. ("The first seal shall be broken when a righteous man sheds blood in Hell. As he breaks, so shall it break.") The distraction is enough for Alastair to free himself, the Devil's Trap set up by Castiel having been eroded by a leaking pipe. Alastair nearly kills Dean and then comes close to sending Castiel back to Heaven, but Sam, having grown stronger in his demonic abilities, arrives and uses his powers to torture Alastair in to revealing he does not know who is killing the angels; Sam kills Alastair shortly after. Later, as Dean recovers in the hospital, Castiel informs him about Uriel's betrayal; Uriel had been killing angels who did not join his cause to free Lucifer from Hell. Castiel also confirms Alastair's claim that Dean was the first seal, but adds that, because of this, Dean is the only man capable of averting the Apocalypse. However, Dean does not believe he is up to such a task and tells Castiel to find someone else as tears run down his face.
To put Dean back on the right path, Zachariah, Castiel's superior, re-writes Dean and Sam's memories to remove their knowledge of supernatural creatures, making them believe they are average people working regular jobs, and drops them in a haunted building. After the brothers proceed to defeat the ghost behind the hauntings, Zachariah (who posed as Dean's boss) restores Dean's memories to show him that hunting is in his blood. This renews Dean's resolve.
In the episode "The Monster At The End of This Book," it is revealed that Dean is aware that Sam used his demonic powers to kill Alastair, but neither Castiel nor Dean know how Sam is getting stronger. In "The Rapture," Dean witnesses Sam drink the blood of a demon he is about to kill. Later, in the Impala, Sam tells Dean to get it over and yell at him for drinking demon blood when Sam gets a request from Bobby to head to his house. Once there, Dean and Bobby trick Sam and lock him in the demon-proof panic room for his own safety as he detoxes from the demon blood.
While Sam is going through painful withdrawal symptoms from the demon blood, Dean asks Castiel for help. He takes an oath to serve God and the angels if it would mean that Sam wouldn't have to kill Lilith, to which Castiel says "If that gives you comfort." Sam escapes the panic room after Castiel releases him, and Dean tracks him down to a hotel, despite Sam's efforts to shake him. They argue over whether or not Ruby is corrupting Sam, if Dean is supposed to stop the Apocalypse, and if Sam is turning into a monster. The argument leads to a fight that Sam wins. Dean yells at Sam by saying, "If you walk out that door, don't you ever come back" -- the same ultimatum John gave Sam when he left for college years before, resulting in Sam's four-year estrangement from his father—after which Sam leaves the room.
In the fourth season finale "Lucifer Rising," the angels take Dean to a "safe" room, and Zachariah explains that they are preparing for the Apocalypse and will allow the final seal to be broken. They want Sam to kill Lilith; her death will break the final seal holding Lucifer, after which Dean will kill Lucifer and bring Paradise to Earth. Dean, shocked and horrified that the angels would allow the Apocalypse, asks Castiel for help; together they escape and meet the prophet Chuck Shirley to see where the final seal will be broken. As Castiel holds back the Archangels that start to descend, he sends Dean to Ilchester, Maryland to stop Sam from killing Lilith. Ruby prevents Dean from interfering and, after the final seal is broken, reveals that she has been working to free Lucifer the entire time. Dean manages to get to the two and then stabs Ruby to death with Sam's help. The season ends with a portal opening for Lucifer while Dean and Sam can only watch.
The Winchesters track down whatever force ripped Dean from Hell. By the end of the episode, it is revealed that an angel named Castiel pulled Dean from Hell on God's command; Castiel tells Dean that God has work for him. The woman in Sam's room, it turns out, is Ruby in a new body, and Sam had lied to Dean when he told him that he didn't know where Ruby was and that he wasn't using his demonic powers. Dean, in turn, was lying to Sam about Hell; in the episode "Wishful Thinking," Dean confesses that he does remember every second of Hell.
In the next episode "Are You There, God? It's Me, Dean Winchester," in the course of fighting off ghosts, Dean is told by Castiel of Lilith's plan to break the 66 seals and free Lucifer.
In "In the Beginning," Dean is transported back in time to Lawrence, Kansas in 1973. There, he meets younger versions of his father and mother, as well as his maternal grandfather Samuel and maternal grandmother Deanna (for whom he is named), and learns of a connection between Azazel and Mary. A causal loop is revealed in that the time-traveling Dean, by trying to stop Azazel in the past and change his future, actually made the demon aware of his family in the first place, setting in motion the events leading to the death of his parents, the corruption of his brother, and the life he tried to change, therefore setting up a predestination paradox. (However, it is implied by Castiel that the events would have happened anyway without him being there as they were already destined.) Upon returning to the present, Dean is informed by Castiel that Sam is "going down a very dark road" and that, if Dean doesn't stop him, the angels will.
Dean follows Castiel's directions and witnesses Sam using his powers to exorcise a demon, also learning of Ruby's return. He conveys the warning of the angels to Sam. After he and Sam stop a rugaru in Missouri, Sam decides to stop using his powers, which seems to satisfy Dean.
In "Heaven and Hell," Dean reveals to Sam what happened to him in Hell: Time flows differently there, so four months on Earth was forty years in Hell. During that time, he was put on the rack and "cut, carved, and torn" apart until there was nothing left of him, only to be made whole again just so the demons could start over on him. Dean reveals that, at the end of every day, the demon Alastair would offer to take him off the rack if Dean would put souls on it and torture them. Dean resisted for thirty years, but eventually gave in and spent a ten years torturing people in Hell to escape being tortured himself. In "Family Remains", Dean confesses to Sam that he enjoyed torturing souls, as he finally had the chance to dish out the same pain that he'd endured for the past thirty years.
Later on in the season, an episode titled "After School Special" aired with flashbacks of a teenage Dean and a pre-teen Sam while they are going to a high school. In this episode, we learn that Dean was as promiscuous as ever when he was younger. The girl he was then dating told him that he acted cool when, in reality, he was a little boy who played with people's feelings to make himself feel better. Dean, clearly stung, from then on hated the school.
In "Death Takes a Holiday," Dean meets up again with the reaper Tessa, who wakens his memories of their previous encounter with a kiss; Dean confesses that there has been a "hole" in him since that time and realizes that it is related to her. Soon after, Tessa is taken by Alastair in his quest to break another of the 66 seals; breaking the current seal involves killing reapers. The boys ask their psychic friend Pamela Barnes to help them leave their bodies so that they may find the kidnapped reapers. Once they have, they are captured, but Sam is able to break them out and Tessa is able to continue reaping souls. However, before Dean is able to return to his body, Alastair corners him, only to be captured by the angels; Castiel then appears and informs Dean that they have won this seal. As Dean awakes in his body, Pamela is dying from the injuries she obtained during a fight with a demon, while the boys were "out." Pamela also 'saw' what Sam did to the Demons that tried to kill her. This worried Sam because Pamela became blind whilst trying to catch a glimpse of Castiel in his true form when they were looking for who pulled Dean out of Hell.
In the next episode "On the Head of a Pin," Dean is pressed into service by Castiel and Uriel, who need him to torture Alastair for information on who is killing angels, since Dean was his "student" in Hell. Dean refuses at first, but eventually agrees. However, he only succeeds in getting Alastair to reveal that Dean himself was the first seal to break, by virtue of giving in and torturing souls in Hell. ("The first seal shall be broken when a righteous man sheds blood in Hell. As he breaks, so shall it break.") The distraction is enough for Alastair to free himself, the Devil's Trap set up by Castiel having been eroded by a leaking pipe. Alastair nearly kills Dean and then comes close to sending Castiel back to Heaven, but Sam, having grown stronger in his demonic abilities, arrives and uses his powers to torture Alastair in to revealing he does not know who is killing the angels; Sam kills Alastair shortly after. Later, as Dean recovers in the hospital, Castiel informs him about Uriel's betrayal; Uriel had been killing angels who did not join his cause to free Lucifer from Hell. Castiel also confirms Alastair's claim that Dean was the first seal, but adds that, because of this, Dean is the only man capable of averting the Apocalypse. However, Dean does not believe he is up to such a task and tells Castiel to find someone else as tears run down his face.
To put Dean back on the right path, Zachariah, Castiel's superior, re-writes Dean and Sam's memories to remove their knowledge of supernatural creatures, making them believe they are average people working regular jobs, and drops them in a haunted building. After the brothers proceed to defeat the ghost behind the hauntings, Zachariah (who posed as Dean's boss) restores Dean's memories to show him that hunting is in his blood. This renews Dean's resolve.
In the episode "The Monster At The End of This Book," it is revealed that Dean is aware that Sam used his demonic powers to kill Alastair, but neither Castiel nor Dean know how Sam is getting stronger. In "The Rapture," Dean witnesses Sam drink the blood of a demon he is about to kill. Later, in the Impala, Sam tells Dean to get it over and yell at him for drinking demon blood when Sam gets a request from Bobby to head to his house. Once there, Dean and Bobby trick Sam and lock him in the demon-proof panic room for his own safety as he detoxes from the demon blood.
While Sam is going through painful withdrawal symptoms from the demon blood, Dean asks Castiel for help. He takes an oath to serve God and the angels if it would mean that Sam wouldn't have to kill Lilith, to which Castiel says "If that gives you comfort." Sam escapes the panic room after Castiel releases him, and Dean tracks him down to a hotel, despite Sam's efforts to shake him. They argue over whether or not Ruby is corrupting Sam, if Dean is supposed to stop the Apocalypse, and if Sam is turning into a monster. The argument leads to a fight that Sam wins. Dean yells at Sam by saying, "If you walk out that door, don't you ever come back" -- the same ultimatum John gave Sam when he left for college years before, resulting in Sam's four-year estrangement from his father—after which Sam leaves the room.
In the fourth season finale "Lucifer Rising," the angels take Dean to a "safe" room, and Zachariah explains that they are preparing for the Apocalypse and will allow the final seal to be broken. They want Sam to kill Lilith; her death will break the final seal holding Lucifer, after which Dean will kill Lucifer and bring Paradise to Earth. Dean, shocked and horrified that the angels would allow the Apocalypse, asks Castiel for help; together they escape and meet the prophet Chuck Shirley to see where the final seal will be broken. As Castiel holds back the Archangels that start to descend, he sends Dean to Ilchester, Maryland to stop Sam from killing Lilith. Ruby prevents Dean from interfering and, after the final seal is broken, reveals that she has been working to free Lucifer the entire time. Dean manages to get to the two and then stabs Ruby to death with Sam's help. The season ends with a portal opening for Lucifer while Dean and Sam can only watch.
