Awesome, awesome, awesome. The 18th episode of the 4th season of Supernatural gets the mix absolutely right, for me. It has comedy. It has horror. It has angels and demons. It makes reference to muppets and classic rock; to sex and to the apocalypse. What more could you ask for? How about a guided tour of the underpinings of the show’s literary techniques, coupled with self-referential self-depricating humor? Okay, it has that, too.

The title of the episode, “The Monster at the End of This Book,” serves as a clear indicator of the episode’s subject, as it should. The title refers to a Sesame Street Little Golden Book, starring lovable, furry old Grover. In that classic, Grover warns the reader away from the end of the book, attempting in vain to prevent the reader from turning page after page to prevent the revelation of a monster at the book’s end. As it turns out, the monster at the end of the book is Grover himself. That’s basically this episode of Supernatural, in a nutshell. The episode tracks Sam and Dean’s efforts to avoid/confront the demon Lilith.

The episode begins with Sam and Dean, posing as Agents DeYoung and Shaw, interviewing the clerk of a comic book store. Their line of questions quickly leads the clerk to suspect that Sam and Dean are LARPing. The clerk assesses their LARPing to be hardcore, as their role playing is based upon an obscure series of books, called “Supernatural,” by an author named Carver Edlund (a mashup of two of Supernatural’s writers’ names: Jeremy Carver and Ben Edlund), that had an underground cult following but that never sold a lot of copies. This is approximately where I started smiling, and I don’t think I stopped until the episode was over. The clerk locates one of the books – the first in the series. The book’s blurb is a plot summary about a ghostly woman in white – the subject of the Pilot episode of Supernatural. Back at their motel room, Sam and Dean are amazed at how the books track their lives. The books’ titles mirror the episode titles for Season One. There’s a great moment where Sam and Dean shake their heads at the idea of there being “Sam Girls” and “Dean Girls” and slash fans. Sam reads a quote from a fansite poster named Simpatico, and I half-suspect that it’s a real quote from a real fan site. The series of books ends with Dean going to Hell, as the series had almost zero circulation and the publisher went bankrupt.

Sam and Dean decide that it is time to visit the publisher and to track down Carver Edlund. They convince the publisher of their sincerity by revealing an encyclopedic knowledge of Sam and Dean Trivia, and they further bond by displaying their tattoos. The publisher is convinced to reveal Carver Edlund’s real name and address. He is Chuck Shurley, a writer living in a ramshackle house. Sam and Dean pay him a visit. While at first he dismisses them as fans, he is convinced by Dean referring to himself as a Winchester, as their surname was never mentioned in the books or told to anyone. Convinced that his characters have come to life, Chuck reaches the conclusion that he must be a god. A cruel, cruel, capricious god. He apologizes for killing off Sam’s girlfriend for the sake of literary symmetry, and for the lackluster Ghost Ship episode: “Horror is one thing, but to have to live through bad writing!” Considering that Chuck is being confronted by his characters, he takes the whole thing relatively in stride. He gives Sam and Dean his current work in progress and they use it to learn about the coming day.

Chuck warns that Lilith will be coming for Sam that very night, and that Sam will succumb to fiery demonic passion. Sam and Dean also read about a minivan accident, a broken window on the Metallicar, and some pink flower bandaids on Dean’s face. With the knowledge that a confrontation with Lilith is imminent, Dean suggests running. Initially, they try to do so. However, the only way out of town – a bridge – is out and they are turned back at the town’s border and forced to stay the night. Dean decides that if they must stay, they should use Chuck’s draft as a guide for what not to do, in order to stay off the path and therefore avoid Lilith. The draft says they will fight, Sam will research, Dean will have a bacon cheeseburger. So they determine not to do so. And then they do. Fate cannot be averted. They hole up at the Toreador Motel, because the book says they stay at the Red Motel. Shortly thereafter, several of the neon letters in the hotel’s sign short out to reveal they are at the Red Motel, after all. Dean warns Sam against doing any research, and as a precaution he takes his laptop from him. He then drives off, only to be struck by a minivan while stopping a thief from breaking into the Metallicar. He wakes up to see the star earrings of the minivan driver, and to find pink flower bandaids on his face courtesy of the driver’s daughter.

Meanwhile, back at the hotel, Chuck and Sam meet. Sam asks Chuck if Chuck knows about Ruby and the drinking of the demon blood. Chuck admits that he does, but that he did not write it into the book because he feared it would make Sam too unsympathetic. “Sucking blood? You gotta know that’s wrong.” Sam admits that it scares him, but it is a compulsion and he feels that he has no choice if it helps him to stop the apocalypse. He admits that while stopping the apocalypse may technically be Dean’s job, Sam knows that Dean is not up to it and so Sam feels he must carry the weight. Chuck confirms that the story seems to be headed in the direction of everything resting on Sam’s shoulders.

Following the minivan accident, Dean confronts Chuck. He manhandles him, demanding to know how Chuck knows what he knows. Castiel appears from nowhere to warn Dean that Chuck must be protected, as he is a Prophet of the Lord. Chuck is incredulous. “Writing yourself into your own story is one thing, but writing yourself into the story as a prophet is like M. Night-level douchiness.” This is particularly ironic, of course, as the Supernatural scribes have indeed written themselves into this episode as Chuck, the prophet. It’s this level of self-awareness that makes the episode especially enjoyable. Castiel confirms that Chuck is a mouthpiece for the word of God, and that his books will come to be known as the Winchester Gospel. Further, what Chuck has written cannot be unwritten. As he has seen it, so it shall come to pass. Nevertheless, Dean still tries to convince Sam to leave. He still has not learned his lesson and is still trying to buck destiny.

Leaving is not to be, however, as Sam wants to stick around and challenge Lilith. With no other options, Dean prays. Castiel appears and congratulates Dean for his sign of faith. He explains to Dean that there is nothing that can be done to interfere with Chuck’s prophecy, but he hints that Dean can utilize Chuck tactically, as Chuck has a guardian archangel. Archangels, Castiel says, are heaven’s most terrifying weapon. If a prophet is in the same room as a demon, then the most fearsome wrath of heaven will rain down. I love it when a plan comes together. Dean takes the hint from Castiel and he forceably enlists Chuck’s aid.

At the motel, Lilith appears to Sam. She easily avoids the devil’s trap Sam has concealed under a rug, and she is unaffected by Sam’s demonic force mojo powers. Because Sam is immune to Lilith, too, they are at a stalemate. Lilith offers a deal. She explains that she has learned that she is not to survive the apocalypse. She’s going to die before the good stuff starts. She’d like to call the whole thing off and to go back to a simpler time, a time before she had to deal with angels. She tells Sam that she will agree to stand down – to stop breaking seals and to avert the apocalypse – and all she wants as a consolation prize is Sam and Dean’s heads on stakes. Will Sam agree to self-sacrifice in order to save the world? Lilith suggests the deal must be sealed with sex, and Sam appears to consent. Once on the bed, however, he tries to take Lilith out with Ruby’s knife. Chuck and Dean arrive in the midst of Sam’s struggle with Lilith. For reasons undetermined, Dean warns Lilith that Cuck is a prophet and that an archangel is about to appear. It would seem that Dean could just have remained silent, to let the archangel appear and kill Lilith once and for all. Maybe he was concerned about collateral damage, or about the archangel killing the dental hygienist whose body Lilith was possessing? In any event, Dean warns Lilith and she has time to flee before the archangel appears.

The situation resolved, back in the Metallicar Sam explains to Dean that he never considered the deal with Lilith because he knew that Lilith would find a way out of it. He saw that Lilith is running scared, and that this is a good sign. He will find a way to make sure she doesn’t survive the apocalypse.

I think it’s somewhat of an open question whether Lilith is the monster at the end of this episode. If Lillith is the monster then the episode is not as carefully crafted a self-referential work as it at first seems to be. For the episode to truly work, the monster at the end of the episode should be Sam and Dean. Are they? It would certainly explain the final scene, between Zacharia and the Prophet Chuck. Chuck startles awake from a disturbing dream to find Zacharia in his room with him. Zacharia asks Chuck, “Did you see it?” Chuck, obviously distraught by his vision, asks “Is it true? Is all that really going to happen? I have to warn Sam and Dean!” It’s a disturbing conversation with the viewer left to wonder what great and terrible things the writers have in store for the Winchesters and the world. Tellingly, Zacharia cautions Chuck against warning Sam and Dean. He says, “I wouldn’t advise it. People shouldn’t know too much about their own destiny. You try… and I’ll stop you.” So Sam and Dean have a destiny that the angels want them to know cannot be avoided, and which involves stopping the breaking of the seals and averting the apocalypse, but beyond that they shouldn’t know more. Whatever it is, it involves a future so terrible that, contemplating it, Chuck is only stopped from killing himself by Zacharia’s threat that he would just be resurrected. At the end of the Sesame Street version of the story, Grover is left relieved and embarrassed that there was really nothing to fear, after all. Something tells me that fate is not going to be quite so kind to Sam and Dean when we reach the last page of the Winchester Gospel.

My rating? You guessed it – 5 out of 5 Metallicars.