Jared Padalecki and Jensen Ackles arrive at the airport

The slam of the door echoed in my mind, even though it had been a few minutes, while I just lay there, on the floor. I could feel a piece of jagged glass digging slightly into my back and rolled slightly to release the pressure. My head was banging harder than it had done in a long time; I had driven for hours and then been beaten up by mo own brother. Well worth the journey, said the sarcastic, bitter voice in my head. I knew I should get up, should get out of the room before room service called and I had to think of an excuse of why not to pay, or find a phony credit card...but I couldn’t....

Season 4 was, in my opinion, the most horrifying season of the series so far, not in terms of plot or grotesqueness, but in terms of the story. Sam and Dean were not the Sam and Dean I’d come to know and love over the course of three seasons. Dean, newly raised out of hell, could do nothing but feel sorry for himself for breaking in hell under Alistair’s torture. He lost a lot of his jocularity and drove himself to the edge of exhaustion to try to make himself forget the unforgettable.

Sam, of course, was the worst. Driven by a very literal bloodlust and a desire for revenge, he forgot everything...