In the final two episodes of Supernatural‘s 12th season — airing back-to-back on Thursday — Sam and Dean face off against two major foes: the British Men of Letters and Lucifer. And even though the episodes are standalone stories, showrunner Andrew Dabb sees the two-hour slot as an opportunity. “We’re wrapping a lot of things up and certain plot lines will be ended this season — some forever and some temporarily — but also, that allows us to build up steam going into season 13,” Dabb says. “Coming out of the finale, people will have a pretty good idea of where things are going.”

When it comes to Supernatural, most finales can fall into one of two categories: Something that very directly affects the Winchesters (Dean becomes a demon; one of them ends up in hell) or something that affects, well, the entire world (the angels are falling; the Darkness is released). When season 12 ends, Dabb hopes they’ve created a finale that’s a bit of both. “There are some things that happen that impact strongly and directly on the boys, while at the same time, we are starting a new chapter in the show, [though] not in a way of erasing what’s come before,” Dabb says. “I think it’s something that will be a natural progression of what we’ve done but also cool and different and hopefully give us a lot of energy going into season 13.”

But what is happening in the finale isn’t the only draw. There’s also the matter of how it’s happening. Like some of the best episodes before it, this one will get a little meta. “Finales, by definition, can’t go too crazy,” Dabb says. “But I will say this: It’s by far the most meta finale we’ve ever done. There are some twists coming that we’ve never done before.”