Dark Side of the Moon

Dark Side Of The Moon is the 16th episode of Season 5. It aired on April 1st, 2010.

Synopsis
Ambushed by angry hunters, Sam and Dean are shot and killed and sent to Heaven. Castiel warns Dean that Zachariah is looking for them in Heaven so they need to lay low while searching for an angel named Joshua who can help them since he talks directly to God. While searching for Joshua, the brothers run into some old friends and family members.

Summary
In their motel room, Sam and Dean awaken to find themselves at gunpoint. Dean recognizes them as the hunters Roy and Walt, both of whom were out for Sam's blood for starting the Apocalypse. Before the brothers can explain themselves, Walt shoots Sam. Roy is hesitant to shoot Dean, believing that it was right to kill Sam but Dean was innocent. Walt warned that Dean had made them and they had just killed his brother, therefore they didn't want Dean Winchester hunting them down. Dean fearlessly tells them to shoot him, but warns them, "When I come back, I'ma be pissed." Roy hesitates, so Walt shoots him dead.

Dean awakens again, this time alone in the Impala. Confused and disoriented, he finds himself reliving a pleasant experience from his teenage years with a younger Sam. Thereafter he returns to his car, where Castiel manages to contact him over the radio. Informing him that he and his brother were killed (and offhandedly offering his condolences) and are now in Heaven, Castiel tells Dean to follow the Axis Mundi to locate his brother.

After finding his brother having Thanksgiving Dinner with strangers, Dean fills Sam in on the situation. The two come to the conclusion that Heaven is the perpetual reliving of pleasant experiences and memories from life.

A sudden rumbling accompanied by a searchlight takes the brothers by surprise and they hide. Once it is gone again, Dean contacts Castiel, this time over a television set. Castiel tells them the rumbling light is Zachariah and to avoid him at all costs because he intends to send them back to Earth. Although Sam and Dean do not see that as a bad thing, Castiel explains that since they are in Heaven, they have the perfect opportunity to find out where God can be found. He tells them about the angel Joshua and how rumors say that God often contacts and speaks with him. He sends the boys on a mission to find The Garden and Joshua and learn whatever they can about God's whereabouts.

Following the Axis Mundi, the brothers find themselves weaving in and out of each other's treasured memories of life. As Sam watches on, Dean relives a memory in which he comforted his mother about marital issues with John. Next, the boys find themselves in a trailer that Sam stayed in for two weeks when he ran away from his father and brother; Dean comments that those two weeks were some of the worst in his own life.

From there the brothers arrive outside a house that Dean doesn't at first recognize, as it was not his memory. Sam dismisses the house and urges that they press forward, which only helps Dean remember where they are. He realizes they are in Sam's memory of the night he "ditched [Dean and John] for Stanford". He comes undone and tells his younger brother that the night he left for Stanford was a horrible memory for him. Sam tries to explain that the reason he held it as a good memory was not because he was rid of Dean, but because he finally got out from under their father's tyrannical heel. Dean rebuffs the response as hollow and notes that all of his own treasured memories centered around being with his family members while Sam's were centered around their absence.

Their argument is cut short when the searchlight from before comes down directly on them. They make a run for the woods near the house as Zachariah strolls leisurely after them. As the brothers take cover behind a log, Zachariah tells them that they can't hide from angels in Heaven and he only wants to send them back to Earth. He then adds that that part will come after some quality torture that will leave them begging to say "yes". Just when it seems Zachariah has them, a man in a Luchador mask tells them to follow him into a small shed in the woods.

The inside of the shed is revealed to be The Roadhouse, the Heaven of none other than Ash. Over some beers, Ash tells the brothers this isn't their first visit with him since his death and concludes the Angels must have "windexed their brains" each time they were revived. He also describes Heaven more thoroughly, explaining that everyone has their own Heaven, apart from soul-mates, likening it to Disney's Magic Kingdom "without all the Anti-Semitism". This means that Heaven is actually more like 100 billion Heavens all crammed into one place, so the angels wouldn't find them for a while (which was why he was wearing the mask when he rescued them). He tells them that normally, each person is bound to their respective Heaven, but being a master genius well-versed in string-theory, he'd found a way to visit other Heavens and their dwellers including the writer of the Kama Sutra, whose Heaven he describes as "sweaty and confusing", Albert Einstein, Johnny Cash, and Andre the Giant. This leads the brothers to ask if he'd found Ellen or Jo; the news of their deaths leaves him shaken.

After telling them he's been on the lookout for their parents but hasn't found them yet, he says he did find someone else who wants to see them: Pamela Barnes.

As Ash devises a route to get the brothers directly to the Garden and Joshua, Pam talks with Dean privately at another table. She smacks him upside the head for getting her killed and goes on to tell him that Heaven is a blast. She asks him to seriously consider if saying "yes" to Michael would be as bad as it seems, because while, yes, lots of people would die in the crossfire, the majority of them would come to Heaven. Dean tells her that while Heaven does feel real, he knows it's not, and he prefers the real thing.

Ash nails down some coordinates and after saying their goodbyes, the boys continue their mission. They find themselves back in their childhood home and Mary appears, asking Dean if he had a nightmare. When he dismisses her as another memory, she demands he not turn away from her, proving that she isn't. She goes on to describe disturbing details about her death and Dean's worthlessness. Zachariah appears as his cohorts seize the brothers from behind. In a vulgar display, he kisses "Mary's" neck and makes lewd, sexual innuendos about their time together.

After ending the illusion, Zachariah loses his cool. He unloads on the brothers about how they are making his life Hell because he "couldn't even close on a couple of flannel-wearing maggots", and what an embarrassment they have been for him. He informs them bitterly that he is a fouler enemy to have than Lucifer -- because while Lucifer is strong, he himself is petty.

As the torture is about to begin in full, an angel appears behind them and says he needs to speak with the brothers. Zachariah makes threats but finds himself intimidated when he hears that the orders came from the Boss.

Dean and Sam are left with the angel, whom they correctly deduce to be Joshua. In the following conversation, Joshua relays the following from God: "Back off." He knows the apocalypse has begun, He knows what the angels are doing...and He doesn't feel it's His problem -- He's finished. When the brothers express their disbelief and disgust with His inaction, Joshua angrily reminds them that it was God who put them on the plane when Lucifer rose, God who brought back Castiel, God who gave them Salvation in Heaven despite their crimes, and that it was the most He'd done for anyone in a very long time. Joshua apologizes that he doesn't have better news for Dean and adds that he has been rooting for Team Free-Will from the Garden. He brings the conversation to a close by telling them they can't kill Lucifer and to give up trying to find God, because magic amulet or not, He won't be found. The angel apologizes again for dealing them this cutting blow and sends them back to Earth with their memories intact.

Back in the motel room, Dean calls Cass and (off-screen) they tell him God's message. Disheartened, Castiel curses his Father, returns Dean's necklace and vanishes, ignoring Sam's pleas that he wait. Sam tells his brother they'll find another way as Dean drops the amulet in the trash can and walks out the door.

Major Characters

 * Dean Winchester
 * Sam Winchester
 * Castiel
 * Zachariah

Minor Characters

 * Mary Winchester
 * Pamela Barnes
 * Ash
 * Joshua
 * Roy
 * Walt

Continuity

 * Zachariah's continuing descent into madness becomes more apparent in this episode.
 * It is solidly confirmed that it was God who put Sam and Dean on the plane, detoxed Sam of demon blood, and resurrected Castiel.

Featured Supernatural Being

 * Angels

Featured Music
"Knockin' On Heaven's Door" by Bob Dylan

"Brain Damage" by Pink Floyd

Quotes
"Sam: That... was the road?""Dean: I guess. Pretty trippy, right.""Sam: Yeah. More trippy... Um, apparently, you 'Wuv Hugs.'""Dean: Shut up." "Zachariah: Wow. Running from angels... On foot... In heaven. With out-of-the-box thinking like that, I'm surprised you guys haven't stopped the apocalypse already." "Zachariah: Guys, come on. You can run. But you can't run."

Trivia

 * Both Pamela Barnes and Ash, as well as Mary Winchester (but as a memory), make an appearance in this episode, in Heaven.
 * Ash tells the brothers that Heaven is comprised of roughly 100 billion individual Heavens. Considering that the number of humans that lived and died since 50,000 BC is estimated to be ≈106.5 billion, that puts roughly 5% of the total human population in Hell. This means that, in the Supernatural Universe, religion is not a deciding factor for afterlife destinations. Or since Ash said "But Like 100,000 Heavens" it's also possible that he was using the number to represent not roughly 100,000 but an impossibly large number of Heavens, and not exactly 100,000.
 * The episode title could be a reference to the Pink Floyd album of the same name.