Supernatural Season 3: Surely Lilith should have known about Sam’s destiny

In the Supernatural Season 3 finale, Lilith attempts to kill Sam Winchester. While it fails and Lucifer’s cage could be opened, surely Lilith should have known she couldn’t kill the younger Winchester brother.

For those who are reading the recaps as they first start the season, I will warn you that there are spoilers for Supernatural Season 4 in this. I know there are some who want to keep the season as spoiler-free as possible, so just a word of caution.

Supernatural Season 3 finale had a bit of a plot hole. After the hellhounds dragged Dean to Hell, Lilith attempted to kill Sam. Fortunately, this ended with Sam surviving her white blast and he could fulfill his destiny need: to kill Lilith and break the final seal.

However, surely Lilith should have known that Sam couldn’t be killed. She wasn’t the world’s dumbest demon. She and Ruby had a plan and she was willing to see it through. Raising Lucifer meant that she had to die. Her death was the final seal to break. Would she have really started breaking the seals without knowing everything?

Did Sam have to kill her?

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One thing I can’t remember (I’m only just starting my Season 4 rewatch, so people can correct me here) is whether Sam was the one that had to kill Lilith. If it was, then Lilith was short-sighted in trying to kill Sam in “No Rest for the Wicked.”

However, maybe it was just her death that was the final seal. If that was the case, surely Ruby could have done those honors. It seems to me that it had to be Sam, as the last survivor of Azazel’s “Special Children.”

This is where the plot hole comes into play. Fortunately, Sam couldn’t be killed. But why was Lilith trying to kill him in the first place? She must have known Sam was needed and she must have known she couldn’t kill him in New Harmony. There was genuine shock on the face when she realized Sam wasn’t dead, which suggests she didn’t quite think everything through.

Now had she just laughed and gone, leaving Sam grieving, it would have made more sense. She could have even led Sam into some sort of false sense of security. Make it look like she wanted to kill him but decided against it at the final minute; let him live with the grief of losing Dean.

I’m sure the writer’s strike had a lot to do with this Supernatural Season 3 plotline. There were considerations of developing Sam’s powers in the third person but there wasn’t time to develop that story in the end with a shortened season. So, maybe that’s why this potential need for Sam to be the one to break the final seal was also overlooked.

Did you feel like Lilith overlooked something important? Should she have known Sam was needed to break the final seal? Share your thoughts in the comments below.

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