Oh, c'mon, you knew we'd be coming back to this one. I basically all but completely guaranteed it eight months ago.
As almost always now - spoilers below the cut for things I may not yet have covered in my Supernatural reviews. You've been warned.
Last time, after denying Sam a reset of the timeline at the end of Mystery Spot, The Trickster/Gabriel decided to reset everything anyway and learned that... he couldn't. Sam began walking down a dark road with Ruby as in the Prime Timeline and it seemed like all would be lost... or would it? Let's read on.
As we know from last time, Gabriel was unable to reset the timeline that he started in Mystery Spot, meaning that Dean Winchester was dead and in Hell as per his deal with Lilith. No bueno! In this timeline, Ruby (still in her Katie Cassidy body) has been tutoring Sam on how to use his demonic abilities, complete with demon blood drinking to power up. He's also progressed further in this timeline than the previous, being more willing to go further given the six months he spent tossing his moral compass aside to hunt down the Trickster.
The Trickster, or rather Gabriel, has been skulking around trying to find information on what's going on. His powers are intact, it just seems that something is blocking him from resetting the timeline, and he knows of very few things that can do that. He interrogates demons, but they can only tell him that Hell is being besieged... by angels.
He soon learns why by tuning into angel radio: Dean Winchester has been rescued from Hell. Gabriel rushes to try and beat the other angels to him only to find that, as in the prime timeline, a surprisingly fresh Dean has already pulled himself free. He tails Dean for most of the episode in secret, so we largely get the same events we did in the actual episode with the exception of dealing with Ruby (much like in the later Metamorphosis, she and Dean would tussle but she'd ultimately live due to Sam's insistence). Castiel arrives at the end and confirms what Gabriel fears - the Apocalypse has begun. The archangel knows that someone had to be accelerating the plan and he has a fear he knows who's really behind it...
Thus, for his part, Gabriel decides to do the most outrageous thing he can think of - infiltrating Heaven to find out what's going on. He returns home to find Michael and Raphael are less than pleased with his disappearing act and reveal that, yes, they took advantage of his little trick and advanced their plans to bring about the Apocalypse. Just when the deception is revealed, they capture Gabriel and throw him into Heaven's prison (as seen in later seasons of the show). It seems that they've forgotten in the... however long that he's been gone... that you can't trick a Trickster and Gabriel reveals his own twist - he was never in the prison. As the archangels attempt to mobilize Heaven against him, Gabriel has already left the building... for the second time, no less!
Despite warning them about the Seals and the angels trying to get them to open, Gabriel plays it close to the vest about the final plans for Sam and Dean regarding them being vessels for Lucifer and Michael, respectively. Basically, he's taking the approach of not bringing that up until they need to know it, which he hopes that they won't. More or less, they have to set up conditions where he can kill either Michael or Raphael or both. If they can do that, then they can reset the loop back to that Tuesday. He projects the image of two Enochian sigils into Sam's head - one for protection and one in order to call him, then leaves before he's discovered.
Ruby doesn't remotely trust Gabriel. When Dean comes back, after dealing with the knowledge of Sam's abilities and learning the truth, he doesn't either. However, Dean in particular is even more wary of Castiel and the other angels. Plus, if they reset the timeline, then they can use their foreknowledge of the events that have happened since in order to keep the Apocalypse from happening in the first place. Basically put, the timeline gets reset, they kill Lilith, and Dean doesn't go to Hell and then boom! No Apocalypse! Or, at least, that's the working theory.
Getting either Michael or Raphael into conditions where Gabriel could easily kill them, however, isn't so easy. With him out and powerful enough to kill either of them, they're on high alert. For the time being, the boys decide to continue playing their roles and circumvent the angels where they can. During this time, Dean builds a bit more of a rapport with Castiel, which becomes even more crushing when we go into the events of I Know What You Did Last Summer and Heaven and Hell, where Anna Milton becomes involved in affairs and the boys find themselves actively at odds with Castiel and Uriel.
Everything goes pretty much as broadcast up until the ending fight. Anna gets her grace and seemingly disappears in an explosion of light... and is met by Gabriel in the ether after. He explains the situation to her and reconstructs her body for her to inhabit as a way to sweeten the pot. Soon enough, Gabriel has brought Anna into Team Reset.
The rest of the season goes pretty much as broadcast. Anna intercedes to save Castiel during On the Head of a Pin and kills Uriel being a particular important part. The events of The Rapture go the same, with Castiel getting the Heaven brainwashing to keep him from spilling the beans early to Sam and Dean. However, when Anna confronts him during When the Levee Breaks and Castiel jumps her with a swat team to take her back to Heaven... Gabriel arrives and smites all of them, defending Anna and telling Castiel that it's time for them to talk. They manage to convince him of what's happening and how Gabriel's mistake has allowed for all of this to happen. Despite his conditioning, Castiel has grown close to the Winchesters (particularly Dean) and agrees to help.
By the time of Lucifer Rising, Dean gets snatched up by Zachariah and Sam and Ruby are on a crash course to take down Lilith. The three angels split up, Castiel and Anna not only managing to save Dean but actually kill Zachariah in the process while Gabriel goes to stop Sam and Ruby. Unfortunately, the latter half of this was anticipated by Raphael, who arrives and battles his brother. The archangels' brawl holds Gabriel off just long enough for Sam to kill Lilith and break the final seal. Dean arrives with Anna and Castiel in time to kill Ruby as in the prime timeline, but they are too late. Alas, too late...
Lilith is dead... and Lucifer is rising...
...and that's where we're ending off for this look into this timeline. Thought things went a little too close to how events already played out? Well, that's going to take a hard turn in Part 3, just you wait. And unfortunately, wait you will, as that's a long ways off... by the time of this writing, I haven't even finished Season 4 in my reviews! Don't worry, loyal readers! One day, the Trickster Timeline will continue!
Be there!
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