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I liked it because my interest is Sam and Dean. I appreciated that they found a way to trick Michael and Chuck; even if Jack was the one who defeated Chuck, they thought of the plan and they gave Jack a chance by putting their bodies on the line (like they’ve always done) and getting back up again and again. Then them heading off together in the Impala while a montage of their past plays – yeah, I’m a sucker for that sort of thing. However, it does make me worried about next week because this seemed like an ending.
At first, I wasn’t crazy about the choice of “Get Together” – maybe a little hokey – but in the light of the pressures of the pandemic and politics, I liked the hopeful, wholesome message. (And I am thrilled they didn’t play “Imagine.”)
I also liked the many parallels to Swan Song: Michael and Lucifer facing off, Michael as Adam, a powerful supernatural being mercilessly beating a human who can’t fight back but can keep hanging in there, the Impala was present, the montage of images from the past, and the emphasis on being free at the end. (Cas told an angry, bitter Dean that he got what he wanted – freedom – in Swan Song, and here, Dean said they were finally free.
// At first, I wasn’t crazy about the choice of “Get Together” – maybe a little hokey – but in the light of the pressures of the pandemic and politics, I liked the hopeful, wholesome message. //
Yes, I think it worked. and yikes, yes, thank God they didn’t use “Imagine.”
Actually, I’m not sure that there is that much to discuss. Rather perfunctory, rather underwhelming which is understandable given all ongoing insanity. It ended with just Sam and Dean at the end on the road which is how it began, Jack became the new god which is what we expected else why keep him around so long. Everyone did their job, professionally. My favorite part was at the very end when I think they broke character for a bit and you saw JA comforting JP as it should be, but this was not “Swan Dive” or “Sacrifice “ which is my personal favorite. According to their comments this episode was the season finale and next week will be the series finale. That is expected to be two hours long (including several commercials for the new and improved “Walker”). I’m waiting for that
My favorite part was at the very end when I think they broke character for a bit and you saw JA comforting JP
Yeah, nothing really hit for me either until they were leaning against the table at the end, when suddenly I had a sense of scope that – you’re right, it probably had more to do with the actors and the whole Supernatural experience than it did with anything I just watched.
I liked Hi-Bye Bettie against my will – I knew we were in for a bunch of plot twists and dramatic flashbacks and exposition anyway, and she felt like such a perfect avatar for it all, I was almost fond. I also found a depopulated Earth pretty eerie, spent a lot of time calculating how long they could get by, wondering how long they would want to. Was irked that Amara didn’t make herself felt at all – that’s going to bug me for a while, probably more than anything else, and it’s a wide field of niggles. Unsure the protocol for the restorations? Again it seemed dependent on a solipsistic bull’s eye understanding of the world – Winchesters, people the Winchesters care about, everybody else. Sucks to be in that middle ring? Also don’t really care; I’ve had enough of resurrections for now.
The brothers driving off together felt pretty final, and it’s a finality I can live with, which – I’m with Aslan here – makes me dread next week.
// I liked Hi-Bye Bettie against my will //
lol I liked her too. I loved the random-ness of her outfit.
// Was irked that Amara didn’t make herself felt at all – that’s going to bug me for a while, probably more than anything else, //
It bugs me so much.
I genuinely (because i am a creature of constant faith and hope) thought there would be some change to Chuck, some compromised attitude, something to show that Amara still existed. She just vanished without a trace! I can’t believe how that arc, that character ended!! W T everloving F???
Tho I am getting some pleasure in imagining Amara and Jack in conversation, trying to understand, well, anything.
// My favorite part was at the very end when I think they broke character for a bit and you saw JA comforting JP as it should be, //
I felt this too. Very emotional.
// According to their comments this episode was the season finale and next week will be the series finale. //
Interesting, yeah. I’m curious to see it. I didn’t realize it was going to be two hours long!
Sorry. Swan Song not Swan Dive. i hate autocorrect.
I did enjoy the final few minutes with Sam & Dean and the montage. I loved Sam’s and Dean’s defiance in the face of being beaten by Chuck. Those cocky, blood spattered grins were great! The rest felt like a cartoon or a retread of a ton of tired TV tropes. About what I’d expect from a BuckLemming script. This show and Sam & Dean deserve so much better. Then again I suppose this applies to all of the Dabb years – such dreck!
yeah, pretty underwhelming.
I guess my main beef is all the ground lost over the last couple of years … and how boring I find Chuck, and how … boring and weirdly hostile I find Chuck’s whole storytelling thing. It just never worked for me.
If you’re trying to stay in a good mood, you should skip this.
The last eps I watched were the fairy woman in the bunker and the one where they went back to a motel to help their childhood friends. After those, I just lost interest. They were just not what I expected so close to the end of the show — I expected to be riveted as the story of the Winchesters wound down. I skipped the next two (Unity and Despair), but I may go back and catch Despair, to see if the infamous Cas and Dean scene affects me – whether it makes me laugh or tear up.
I decided to check this penultimate episode, just because, but I actually nodded off right about when Lucifer showed up. Oh, great, it’s Luciferzzzzzzzz. The rest of the scenes with Jack, Chuck, Michael just washed over me with nothing sticking. I roused for some reason as the show was ending, so I saw the ending montage, which gave my heart a little squeeze of joy for what used to be. Prayer circle for the series finale.
// but I may go back and catch Despair, to see if the infamous Cas and Dean scene affects me – whether it makes me laugh or tear up. //
I need to re-watch. I think it was rather ridiculous – considering the four years that Cas and Dean have barely had anything to do with each other. The ultimate pandering. But then again, I’m not the audience for that particular ship. HOWEVER – as a stand-alone scene (and that’s the problem – none of this hangs together) – I thought it was interesting. I just … what is the message? Cas declares what is his unrequited love for Dean – and then is promptly destroyed. Like … for real?
But JA, in particular, played the HELL out of it. It’s JA at his best – just standing there and receiving all this emotion and information and trying to process it.
It’s just more evidence IMO of Dabb not knowing how to build a proper ARC.
I agree completely that it’s all indicative of terrible Andrew Dabb. The laughable “I love you,” which I wish certain people would at least acknowledge is something platonic man-friends can say to each other if that’s their thing. It’s never, ever been Dean’s thing. Hasn’t been Cas’s either, which is why the PANDERING light stayed burning during the scene. But Misha is milking it for all he’s worth on social media, and fandom just eats it up. And BELIEVES him.
I’m terrified for next week. I cried during the montage at the end to “Running On Empty,” and I can feel the melancholy approaching from here!
I expected S&D to laugh at Jack’s “I’m in every drop of rain” lines. And was astonished when they didn’t. That was a straight line? With Chuck dead and not writing the story, how do the writers dodge the blame for that crap? And a whole lotta monologuing, with no guitar solo payoff. A whole, whole lotta monologuing. But having Chuck let Dean find a dog, and then snap the dog off into wherever, that was a nice bit of showing how petty he was.
I’m with Waiting for Aslan and Debbie about enjoying Sam and Dean’s defiance. That was great. I was cringing when bones were broken! The mountain lake where the confrontation was filmed was beautiful. The fifties car back in town, and the town in general, were beautiful. Not the same as the darkness of early seasons, but I liked having something good to look at. It did seem odd to film the usual “Sam and Dean sharing a beer at the end” scene in the bunker, rather than on Baby’s hood.
I liked that the roadside dinner they stopped at was “Tod Buz Route 66.” And that they rode off in Baby.
I thought that drop of rain line was going to be quoting a song or that it was being done facetiously! That it was done to be earnest surprised me.
So the two writers that wrote the episode last night have never been my favorite writers. When I saw that the season finale was in their hands, I went into the episode with really low expectations.
The episode was certainly not without its flaws…quite a few of them actually. The season has pretty much disjointedly plodded along this whole time and then suddenly everything is rushed along and wrapped up in a tidy bow with an out of left field plan that wasn’t even revealed until it was done?
Established canon was again rewritten to suit storyline. (Chuck pulling Lucifer out of The Empty when it had previously been established that he had no sway whatsoever there. Lucifer killing the new Death (eyeroll) with a finger snap when it had been established that only the scythe could kill Death)
The very fact that I had to even see Lucifer back on my screen again made me want to throw something at my television.
However, even after all of the flaws, I still enjoyed last nights episode a heck of a lot more than the one the previous week. The stakes involved characters that I care deeply about and I was able to watch it from the perspective of caring about Sam and Dean instead of just finding enjoyable acting moments that I could comment about.
Dean going all soft over the dog made my heart melt and when Chucknos poofed him away I felt so angry. (I feel like Sam should have been a bit more enthusiastic over the dog. He’s always been the one established that liked dogs!)
Sam and Dean being beaten down and rising again and again was so accurately them and I loved it. Chuck whimpering, broken and pleading on the ground was also extremely satisfying and I thought a more fitting end than just outright killing him.
Jack being established as the new God? I didn’t actually love that, but the entire season has pretty much been a neon sign pointing in that direction so I was expecting it and felt pretty ambivilant about it. I did like the character of Jack and I felt like Alexander Calvert had a lot more potential than they ever gave him the opportunity to do. I feel like we got a small taste of that when he played Belphegor.
I LOVED the ending and that entire montage. That right there made the entire episode for me.
I’m now a bit on the nervous side for next week. This episode actually gave me my perfect Supernatural ending. Sam and Dean together and Baby roaring down the road. I didn’t care if was on earth or in heaven, that is how I always wanted the final shot of the show to end. Now that they’ve given us that in this episode, what the heck are they going to do to us in the next one??
// Established canon was again rewritten to suit storyline. (Chuck pulling Lucifer out of The Empty when it had previously been established that he had no sway whatsoever there. Lucifer killing the new Death (eyeroll) with a finger snap when it had been established that only the scythe could kill Death) //
It’s so IRRITATING when they do this.
// I was able to watch it from the perspective of caring about Sam and Dean instead of just finding enjoyable acting moments that I could comment about. //
Yes, I had a similar reaction. Especially them leaning against the table in the bunker. although – jesus Lord do I have to do everything around here?? – they should have been leaning against the Impala – although that would have ruined the shot of all those damn NAMES etched into the table – which … I mean, it’s like a page in a yearbook now. God forbid Sam and Dean should have ANYTHING to themselves.
// (I feel like Sam should have been a bit more enthusiastic over the dog. He’s always been the one established that liked dogs!) //
Yes! I “went off” on the dog thing in my comment below. It seems like a nitpick but it’s really not. If you picked up on it, and I picked up on it, then other devoted fans picked up on it … it’s subtle, but the show always was really SUBTLE about these things – the brothers’ differing reactions to food, to home, to cleaning, to dogs, to relationships, to pop culture – these are complex things and they were very well thought out in early seasons, with little links of continuity connecting it all up – giving complexity to the characters.
so. Yeah. More should have been made of the dog that looped us back to all of the DOG content on the series – and there’s been quite a bit.
// Now that they’ve given us that in this episode, what the heck are they going to do to us in the next one??
//
I know. I have a feeling Eileen is going to suddenly emerge. I could be way off. I hope I am. I wonder if they’ll “just” work a case, like normal. anti-climactic?
I don’t trust Dabb at all. lol
//I have a feeling Eileen is going to suddenly emerge.//
Cassie. It’s gonna be Cassie.
I predict she will descend from the skies in a giant teapot.
If I was in charge, Melanie the Mentalist would suddenly show up at the bunker, freaked out, and needing a drink. That’s my fanfic for the ending.
Hahahaha, y’all KILL me!
Oh god, yes please to Melanie!
Hi everyone,
I actually slogged through season 15 to catch up. And this is the ep I finally see in real time with everyone else?
(Rant follows, YMMV. Skip until “/rant” if you’re happy with it. I don’t want to spoil your enjoyment.)
What a weightless fart of an episode: Reunite, mope, convenient leftover characters, double/triple cross, herbs+fire+lake=God?, fist fight (Really!? FFS!!), power mcguffin boy, convenient consequenceless win, montage of better eps/characters, bottle clink, Baby and credits.
Edited to add after reading some of the other comments: I admit I was too grrr about the episode to be able to appreciate the genuine JA & JP feels in the epilogue. And the dog, who was an adorable fridged love object, kinda like Cas [last week’s ep rant redacted – except to say that Cas’s love confession was only orgasmic if you had a decade or more of fanfic foreplay blue balls].
IMO: The writing of this episode was emptier than the abandoned street scenes. [Where all the cars were neatly parked in the abandoned cities, except for one crashed car in the small town they just happened to walk through. Because Chuck is such a neat freak?]
Also: Why would anyone want to evoke Infinity War or The Leftovers when their own work is so so so sooooo inferior with nothing to add? Borrowing other works to lend weight to your own when there’s such a mismatch of theme and stakes will only highlight the poverty of yours. Earlier in the season, at least SPN was using its own previous better works to highlight the current state of meh – that was slightly less embarrassing, right?
It didn’t have to be this way! Even with the pandemic, there could have been scenes of them trying to grapple with the enormity of what just happened. It could have been a bottle ep with them trying to take stock of who they’ve become, what they could have done differently, the people they’ve lost along the way… the guilt, the grief, the regrets, the trauma, lashing out, imploding, imploring … JA and JP could have carried that off and it could have been awesome (if the writing allowed – which it wouldn’t because Dabb and BuckLemming). Even just a conversation or a single moment of conflicted but real connection between these guys before the final “battle” [fist fight?! really!?] would give us something to lose…
[Example: One of my favorite moments of the entire series was just the exchange of expressions on the faces of JA and Jim Beaver at the end of season 2 when Bobby realized Dean had made a Deal to bring Sam back. For me, an entire foundational (and mutual) relationship with a deep past and a significant future blossomed into existence from just 10 seconds of watching their faces. Bobby’s anguished realizations and Dean’s still-raw teary bravado + scared/proud little boy waiting for judgement… I still get teary. Before that, Bobby was an entertaining supporting character. After that, there was never any doubt that he was family. What I’m getting at is that you don’t need a lot of time to build these things, you just have to have some space and circumstances to allow for something to happen between good actors. Ten seconds. That’s not too much to ask, right?]
There could have been a build to the stakes of the episode (and season (and series)) instead of plot to plot to plot to happy snap ending.
I am actually angry at the waste right now. Dabb’s lack of imagination and understanding is pissing me off personally. [I’m writing this off and on during work because I have to get it off my chest.]
Even after Dabb’s destruction of SPN over seasons 13 & 14, “Carry On My Wayward Son” still gave me goosebumps whenever I heard it over the “ROAD SO FAR” recap of the season finales. I don’t know if that will work for me next week. If time allows, I think I’ll have to rewatch some non-Dabb eps to work up enough nostalgia to be able to hear the song without getting numb or disgusted.
/rant.
I’m curious to see if I hit “Post Comment” before I get more distance from this initial reaction.
Thank you, Sheila for this welcoming space. Sorry for the coulda, shoulda, woulda rant above.
Positives about the episode: Dog was cute. JA and JP were fine. I liked their bloody defiant smiles, too – so long as I separated it from the show choosing to do yet another fist fight against a supernatural being (wtf). I saw a clip of their ending beer scene that impacted me way more separated from the rest of the episode. (Dialogue was still nonsensical garbage, though, IMO.) The memory lane montage of previous good-to-great episodes & characters was nice. (Even if it reinforced my disdain for the current showrunners.)
It’s possible that, like Michelle, I would have loved Chuck’s onscreen ignominious ending – except I think he’s the showrunner’s avatar for the audience and not the show’s writers. Before Dabb got a hold of him, Chuck was the self-deprecating mostly well-meaning creator (and show writer stand-in) who dropped by every once in a while. But with Dabb, it’s not Chuck’s torture-y writing that made him the bad guy, it’s his entitlement as a fan that made him toxic. When that thought clicked into place, I figured that this whole season was Dabb shitting contempt on the fans that dared to criticize him.
I don’t know if Dabb realizes that by doing so, he is also self-pwning – the writer or god who is incapable of understanding or loving humanity in all its flaws is just an entitled asshole.
Pat, may I join your prayer circle for the finale? I would like to find hope somehow. [Still angry at the waste of it all.]
// herbs+fire+lake=God? //
ha!! and yeah, I know – FIST FIGHT with God. Oh Supernatural never change.
// except to say that Cas’s love confession was only orgasmic if you had a decade or more of fanfic foreplay blue balls //
okay you are killing me. I’m cackling.
// Why would anyone want to evoke Infinity War or The Leftovers when their own work is so so so sooooo inferior with nothing to add? //
Having just watched The Leftovers, I flashed on it as well and thought, “oooh, maybe … don’t?”
// It could have been a bottle ep with them trying to take stock of who they’ve become, what they could have done differently, the people they’ve lost along the way… the guilt, the grief, the regrets, the trauma, lashing out, imploding, imploring //
I know. It’s so painful that this aspect of the show – so central to why we all love it – just doesn’t exist anymore.
I absolutely love your callback to and description of that moment between Bobby and Dean. I got goosebumps. Yes, you are so right! In gifted sensitive hands, it doesn’t take much – you just have to care about the characters above all else – plot is meaningless if it doesn’t AFFECT the characters – and that’s what should be driving the whole thing. Dean’s deal then launches Season 3 – and into Season 4 – it was an endless supply of inspiration because it was character-based. and they had their cake and ate it too. You had your plot but you had character too.
// If time allows, I think I’ll have to rewatch some non-Dabb eps to work up enough nostalgia to be able to hear the song without getting numb or disgusted. //
It’s been really painful to witness what has been done, what has been lost.
// except I think he’s the showrunner’s avatar for the audience and not the show’s writers. //
Interesting – I said something along those lines above. There was something about his resentment that struck me – again – as hostile – like we were being blamed for not swallowing the “deconstruction” of our beloved show. Or something. I might be being paranoid. Chuck as storyteller not only never worked for me – I think it was extremely damaging to the show – not just now – but to our conception of the past. It literally destroys our understanding of the preceding 14 seasons. The BALLS on Dabb to do that. I mean, at first it was taking Chuck – an entertaining little character – and turning him into God – which then forced us to re-think Chuck (like, I don’t want to – making him God does NOTHING to early seasons except … ruin Chuck as a character). So Chuck as storyteller removed Sam and Dean’s special-ness, agency – it ruins the whole show. I have to literally remove this entire idea in order to enjoy earlier seasons. I’m sure once I have more distance, Dabb’s era will just seem like the horrifying anomaly that it is – but for now, I’m really hurt by what he did to the show – he wasn’t content to just put his mark on the show in the seasons he ran – he wanted to impact the whole series, make us re-think the whole thing. Fuck him.
// I don’t know if Dabb realizes that by doing so, he is also self-pwning – the writer or god who is incapable of understanding or loving humanity in all its flaws is just an entitled asshole. //
I know! and how along the way Chuck admits the scripts he’s writing sucks. I mean … what was Dabb THINKING.
I’m too sick of Chuck to care about anything either way. It’s been so fun having a BORED “Big Bad” for three straight years. Honest to God, sometimes I try to imagine being new to the show and watching one of these episodes – would i go back and even check out the pilot?
People are talking a lot about the montage as they drive – the main thing I thought was – flashing back to the earlier seasons just highlights the discrepancy in style, and how GREAT it looked back then and how boring it looks now. They can barely place images side by side – it seems like it’s from different shows.
The montage that moved me was all the empty streets – and then the streets filling back up again. It actually brought me to tears. The only part of the episode that did, and that was mainly because it reflected to me how much I miss my life right now, and how much I miss my people, my family.
But that’s neither here nor there.
There’s something tender and fragile to me about JA and JP in these last two eps – maybe especially since this one – because I know the backstage story of them coming back from months of quarantine – Both of them are very open actors, but they seem particularly open now.
I am still mad about “MW” being scratched on the table, and now all the other names – okay, okay … but it seems now that all of them are gone except for Sam and Dean so perhaps that table is an epitaph (for everyone but Sam and Dean).
Calvert is so good! He had some howlers of lines there – and he just plays it straight and simply. No pushing. I hope he is very proud of the job he has done with a difficult and often thankless part.
So good to see Jake Abel. Although the black-and-white “here is what just happened” flashback was … well, you know. These people don’t know how to tell stories anymore. It is truly bizarre.
You know what I really liked about the new Death? Her outfit. I loved the weird-ness of her outfit – which actually was way more interesting to me than Billie’s very generic “badass” look. Billie was so great in her first appearance in the hospital – but has been so boring ever since. Getting rid of an eccentric character like the original Death and replacing it with a generic non-character like Billie is classic Dabb. sigh. anyway. The fact that Death wore a green twirly pleated skirt was pleasing!
The dog … see, this is the subtlety that they keep missing. The “dog” theme in the series is well-established. Dean never liked dogs, particularly after being torn to bits by hellhounds. He was turned INTO a dog (lol) which may have increased his antipathy. He was pissed about Sam putting the dog in the car. Sam was the dog person – Sam loved Bones. Bones replaced Dean when Sam ran away!
So … I loved Dean’s reaction to the dog … but .. there was like no memory of this long ongoing “dog” thing in the show in Sam’s reaction – or in the way Dean put the dog in the car – like, no reaction from Sam like “now we can have a dog in the car” or … “wow – this looks like Bones – ” I don’t know. SOMEthing. These little bits throughout the years ARE the “easter eggs” – that are just lying there to be picked up – and instead we get AU-Bobby as an “easter egg” – and what the hell kind of Easter egg is that? It wouldn’t have to be a huge “dog” moment – just a sense that “dogs” have had resonance in the past –
Instead … nothing. It was a good moment, but it didn’t have in it a memory of all of these other dog moments throughout the series.
It’s a little thing, but stuff like this is consistently disappointing.
I’ll read all your comments now.
I guess I’m still irritated that they got rid of Amara – an interesting character with high stakes – and kept Chuck – a bored sociopath who … hates the story as written? so is he Dabb? Or is he supposed to be us out here, hating Dabb’s work? Like, is Chuck a jab at us?
Chuck as storyteller has felt hostile from the jump. Member Metatron? Metatron was the scribe – we’ve already BEEN down this road, but it was a better road. Dabb is just re-hashing old pathways, and doing it in a more boring way.
I’m being harsh.
JA and JP both seem very very emotional and it’s making me emotional just LOOKING at them.
Sheila, I’m very interested in your take on Dean’s facial expression as Jack walked away at the end and disappeared. I’ve read comments on social media and other places that he looked solemn and serious because he was sad that Jack was leaving and he was going to miss him. I think he was feeling those things, but I honestly felt like Dean was also disappointed and a little pissed in that moment. Back in season 11….before they completely butchered Chuck’s character to be a narcissistic puppet master….Dean confronted him on his absence, and the fact that all this bad stuff was happening and Chuck had basically just abandoned everybody.
Chuck then basically spouted off the same kind of answer that Jack did in the finale (I need to be hands off because humanity has to grow without me. They have you and Sam so I don’t need to be around….etc. (That is not any kind of direct quote. It’s been a long time since I’ve watched that episode….amusingly enough written by the same writers who wrote this one….but I’m pretty sure that was the spirit of how that conversation went)
Dean accused Jack of bailing and Jack pretty much gave him the same pat answer that Chuck gave prior. Dean wasn’t satisfied with Chuck’s answer and I don’t personally believe he was satisfied with Jack’s answer either. I think Jensen was brilliantly conveying that, mixed in with the sadness as Jack walked away. Your thoughts?
Michelle – hmmm I’ll have to go back and watch. My main memory of the moment is that Sam and Dean were rather … subdued. It was a quiet moment, rather than a big emotional moment.
And, in general, what I feel that JA has been playing in the last couple of eps is … ambivalence – which is SO fascinating and why I love him. Nobody plays “ambivalence” like him, and ambivalence is literally what Dabb doesn’t want anymore – Dabb doesn’t understand ambivalence. He pretends to, and tries to write it in – but everything is so CLEAR. It’s like Dean suddenly playing Words with Friends with Mary … Dean’s ambivalence about things IS difficult for writers who don’t get it, and to really really push it – the way they did in Season 9 – the way they did in Season 2! – or Season 6 – Season 8 – I mean, ambivalence thy name is Dean – you really really have to know what you’re doing as a writer to write FOR that ambivalence.
That being said: Dabb et al are clearly not “writing for” ambivalence right now and the series is getting down to the wire. But JA is STILL playing everything ambivalently. The scene with Cas was filled with ambivalence. Now the haters will “read” homophobia into that – sigh – ignoring the bazillion other times in the history of the series when Dean does not know what he feels, and can’t really BE with what he feels, and so tries to NOT feel what he feels, and etc.
So I’m getting a deeply ambivalent vibe from him which is kind of interesting – and feels like it’s going against the general vibe. That’s been one of the big “missings” for me in recent seasons – no real room for ambivalence. Sam doesn’t have that much ambivalence – or, he’s actually able to BE with his own contradictions better – which is why it was always so fascinating to watch Sam have to deal with his big brother’s either/or ambivalence – which Dean couldn’t even ADMIT to.
But you make interesting points here and I’ll go back and watch.
// Dean wasn’t satisfied with Chuck’s answer and I don’t personally believe he was satisfied with Jack’s answer either. I think Jensen was brilliantly conveying that, mixed in with the sadness as Jack walked away. //
It’s certainly the more interesting choice, isn’t it!!
instead we get AU-Bobby as an “easter egg” – and what the hell kind of Easter egg is that? It wouldn’t have to be a huge “dog” moment – just a sense that “dogs” have had resonance in the past –
haha, au Bobby is no easter egg at all. The dog thing I think is striking because, as you say, the only dogs featured on the show are connected to Sam but also because it’s a (hilariously ott) moment of sadism from Chuck that is structural support for Dean’s episode arc. I found the episode to be a two-parter sardined into one, but fine, mostly, if kinda….cheesy in a graceless, tacky way. But where it was fine was mostly in Dean’s arc. There’s something actually going on with Dean this episode: the unspoken undercurrent of Cas’s death and the driving need to escape from Chuck’s toybox. Escape achieved, it was the culmination of his season-long arc, which he helpfully articulated for us a couple of episodes ago. Excellent. Dean and Freedom and The Job and Controlling Fathers. I get that, even if the other side of the coin, God as fan-writer, remains a mess. I feel that.
I just wish, as always, that I could say the same for Sam. My response to the episode was really quite mild, I think, in comparison to some of what’s here and what I’ve seen. To be honest it exceeded my low expectations. But it’s frustrating to close out 15 years without much to say for Sam. There were two things I think this episode that were meant to be “going on” with him: his guilt at failing to Save Everyone, stemming from the losses last week and his long-dormant pseudo-status as Big Chief Inspirational Speaker. This was mentioned a couple of times (I actually did love that night confrontation with Chuck which featured a prime Dean glance at Sam), and resolved, I guess, when all the happy heartland children were reanimated. I don’t know if I’d call it an arc, or something that landed, resonated, felt characterful and specific. These last years have reeded a thin and forgotten story over those early years of Sam desperately saving the innocent and monstrous, avatars for himself and this wasn’t enough to make it real again.
There was also his little monster Jack, who then became Dean’s son for the purposes of the story. He’s now a God that Sam could pray to but it still feels like there are many chapters missing there, if they wanted that to be a Thing that was Going On for Sam.
And, at the end, Sam clinked bottles with Dean and echoed Dean’s theme: that they were free. Sam has his own relationship with the concept. He ran away. He came back. He was caged. Sometimes, he was too free. But I guess he’s not relevant to that part of the story.
I am glad they’re free, and I’m excessively glad they’re lingeringly, homoerotically clinking what the kids these days call “bottles” and driving around together. I agree with most of the niggles pointed out here even if I’m not too niggled by them. A strangely unimpactful and forgettable episode. Most memorable for: Pellegrino’s surprise! face; many risible moments like the dog, the interminable punching, and Jack’s raindrops speech; excellence in the art of atrocious flashbacking and awkward montaging; and a few moments of deep emotion from J2. If I were to wish for more, I would wish for a saturation of feeling and a sense of closure over time that I think would have come if there’d been more attention paid to what’s going on with Sam. Maybe that’s the last episode. Fingers crossed for the landing!
And, at the end, Sam clinked bottles with Dean and echoed Dean’s theme: that they were free. Sam has his own relationship with the concept. He ran away. He came back. He was caged. Sometimes, he was too free. But I guess he’s not relevant to that part of the story.
I always love reading your take. I can’t even begin to grapple with most of what you’ve said, though, because I can’t believe/deal with Sam right now, Sam over the past four episodes, Sam over the last four seasons – it’s all a vortex of rage for me. Maybe tomorrow or in a few days or weeks the pieces can all be laid out and assembled into some kind of shape. Maybe there are some treasures in there that I’ve missed. Maybe tomorrow will be revelatory. Regardless, I’ll be looking forward to what you find to take away from it.
Really, right now I’m stuck on Sam’s willingness/desire to die; Sam’s choice to live; Sam’s shame at his choice to live – all s13 – Sam’s longstanding belief that he owes the universe his death; Sam’s identification with Jack and the whole powers-lucifer-destiny; Sam refusing to see justice in Jack’s (Sam’s?) sacrifice; dogs as freedom, as abdication, as choosing to live, as choosing not to live, and Sam doesn’t even care anymore; Sam’s Maggies and Jacks and Claires and altworlders and Charlie-the-Fly as attempts at identity and boundaries and Self, all half-hearted, all abandoned, Sam subsumed into Dean by this story as wholly as Amara was into Chuck and now Jack. They’re in harmony.
(Cas: You consumed your sister?
Dean: Wait, is that a thing?)
It’s a lot of rage.
// I just wish, as always, that I could say the same for Sam. //
Jessie, yeah, this is the thing. Sam has been just lost. For years now, really. I’m sure there will be some defenders who will trot out all that has happened – but it hasn’t stuck for me, it hasn’t been an ARC, not really. There were interesting possibilities with Jack – his feelings for Jack – his projections – but they didn’t dig into it – Sam as weirdo with demon blood – how did that inform his reaction to Jack? I mean, two or three lines over two or three years does NOT constitute a proper arc, I’m SORRY.
// long-dormant pseudo-status as Big Chief Inspirational Speaker. //
lol Member that shitshow at the end of Season 12, I think – where they suddenly decided that Sam needed to learn how to be a “leader” and he was all anxious and Dean was like “You’ve got this little brother.” wtf?? Totally FAKE character arc.
// I actually did love that night confrontation with Chuck which featured a prime Dean glance at Sam //
I’m gonna have to go back and look for that. And for Dean’s whole vibe in that scene with Jack which Michelle mentioned below.
// These last years have reeded a thin and forgotten story over those early years of Sam desperately saving the innocent and monstrous, avatars for himself and this wasn’t enough to make it real again. //
I know. It’s THERE, but not really THERE. It’s almost like an accidental Arc – they don’t pay attention to it for episodes on end – so there’s no sustainability there. I always go back to the whole Ruby-long-con arc – and Sam’s demon-blood-treachery – and how long they stretched that out, the patience they showed, how interested they were in the METAPHOR behind the actual – i.e. okay, so there’s demon blood – that’s one thing – but BEHIND it was his sense of rage at being so over-controlled by his father and brother. Kinda like Dean’s Mark of Cain becoming a metaphor for addiction. They used to be so good at sustaining things like this!
// He’s now a God that Sam could pray to but it still feels like there are many chapters missing there, if they wanted that to be a Thing that was Going On for Sam. //
yeah. They just dont’ know how to sustain arcs – particularly character arcs. I mean, look at the shoddy way they put together the Wayward thing – it was so cliched, so un-complex – but to them it FEELS complex. It’s cursory-complex: “okay, so each character has to have an issue …” You know? It’s not REAL complexity, messy complexity.
// If I were to wish for more, I would wish for a saturation of feeling and a sense of closure over time that I think would have come if there’d been more attention paid to what’s going on with Sam. //
I love how you put this.
I think I wrote years ago in one of my re-caps that Sam is really the key to the whole thing. Dean is the show-stopper, but when Sam falls apart – the whole SHOW falls apart (in a good way). Keeping Sam in crisis – to whatever degree – is what kept the show on track – for years – if you think about it. Dean’s crises were always more obvious – impulsive – Sam’s were existential, and called into question the whole entire “family business” aspect of it. Like, he questioned the bell jar, he got OUT of the bell jar … Also, when Sam falls apart, Dean moves heaven and earth – literally – to fix Sam, save Sam. That dynamic IS the show. So when Sam is just a calm dude reading a book and eating a salad … I’m sorry, you’ve got nothing.
And so the tension within Sam has been completely absent. Now he’s a nervous guy putting on a tie for a date with Eileen? Teenagers are writing this thing, I swear.
I’m behind, I just watched this episode and still have not gotten to the finale finale, as I have been dreading the whole thing.
I’m in agreement with everyone’s thoughts on the weakness of this episode, and I agree about the whole dog thing, and the complete collapse of Sam as a character that matters to the show.
I have actually never liked Sam, I’ve always been a Dean girl, as Sheila says above he’s the show stopper. But I acknowledge that there isn’t much of a show if there’s no Sam. I think the writers let the Dean/Cas relationship get out of hand, and it sucked all the air out of the room. I mean, as Jessie says above;
“There’s something actually going on with Dean this episode: the unspoken undercurrent of Cas’s death and the driving need to escape from Chuck’s toybox.”
But shouldn’t this be true for both brothers? I mean where was Sam’s concern for Eileen? Why is Sam not making a desperate phone call to Eileen when Jack snaps everyone back into existence? How are the brothers calmly having a beer at the end and Sam is not rushing into the arms of Eileen???? But Dean makes us think of Cas, the entire THING of Dean & Cas makes us think of Cas, I mean hell Dean HAD a line to Chuck, “You are going to bring back Cas!” so clearly Dean is thinking of Cas, as Sheila says we always know what his crisis is, but what was Sam’s crisis here? Why does he not demand the return of his beloved?
I mean, as much as I love the whole Dean/Cas thing, it created a monster imbalance in the relationships on screen, and at no point have they been able to rectify this imbalance, Sam has just been flailing aimlessly with a pained face for like 4 seasons now!
I am honestly terrified of what they will out in a two hour episode!
I just realized that I’m also mad that we got so little emotional prep for them not killing Chuck. I mean, we all knew they weren’t going to kill him, but am I meant to believe that Dean only thinks he’s not an angry murder bot b/c of what Cas said one friggin’ episode ago? And what about Sam? What’s his motivation to let Chuck live? He’s actually a pretty big murder bot himself, why did we get to this huge moment without more angst or something over “do we let the creator of the universe live or not? Even though he’s a huge duck that we have had basically a petty dispute with this whole season.” Oops maybe I know why.
shit season with a bunch of people that i dont care about.
kill them all and give me ONLY sam and dean for dabbs head sake.
im tired of jack, CASTIEL, AU freaks, chuck and the rest KILL EM !!!!
go back to the roots with sam and dean and im good :*
Sir, this is an Arby’s.
If this is an Arby’s then where are my waffle fries.
all the waffle fries have been eaten by a bunch of people we don’t care about.
Can I interest you in a salad instead?
hahahahahaha
lol
Hi, it’s taken me a bit of time to come back and try to resolve my take on the whole ending of Supernatural. I am so thankful to have Sheila’s forum here to return to and wallow in what was, and what might have been. And I love all the comments and appreciate all you commenters, that I almost feel I know. I particularly mourn the loss of a meaningful arc for Sam, that should’ve built on the complexity, and the waste of it all, and am so glad I have you guys to articulate and feel the frustration. But I am here for the end, and it is such a comfort to know we have the early seasons (and Shelia’s reviews of them!) to fall back on when we need them.
//wallow in what was, and what might have been. //
And what is and what should never be
I am extremely confused by Castiel’s declaration? (So is Dean, maybe?) Extremely.
Asmodeus was in the final montage but no Benny?! Blah
Still made me cry though – 15 years of their lives.
Going in for the final episode
Someone hold me – or send me a dog
I hope you got through it okay Lyrie!! You can have my dog (please)!
Jessie, I’m not ok! But I’m ok. But I’ll take some cuddling time with the dog, thank you.
Dean looked extremely confused.
It made me a little embarrassed for everyone involved!
So… I hope it’s been enough time that I’m not summoning anti-cunts to your site, Sheila, but I would really like to know what people thought about Castiel’s last scene.
If you’re going to go for it, GO FOR IT, you cowards! Have him say “I’m in love with you”. I’m sorry but I just don’t see clearly that he’s talking about romantic love – and it’s not that I don’t want to see it – I just don’t. Was there a consensus amongst Destiel people? Were they happy with it? I imagine that for the people who, for years, saw a confirmation of that pairing everywhere, of course that’s all they could see, but the others? I find it incredibly disappointing. It’s done in a way that can – maybe – validate them, but still assuage the people who reject the idea. It’s pretty weak. And seems to come out of nowhere? I didn’t know the full extent of it but I knew something like that was coming, and still I couldn’t see much leading to it.
And I wonder how much of that is Misha Collins, and his relationship to the fans, honestly. He seems to think it’s fantastic that Castiel got to make a declaration of gay love, as if he or the show did an amazing thing. But the fact that I had to google it to find the actor’s version for a confirmation of whether that’s what I was supposed to see tells me it’s not a great success. And I think he means well but it’s naïve and misguided – and quite condescending.
The scene was just hard to watch, because on the one hand I found Jensen’s reaction fascinating and beautiful – react and leave things open enough for interpretation – but it didn’t make sense to me story wise. I get some of the emotion because Castiel is saying goodbye but as much as I tried I can’t see the romantic aspect other than an undercurrent among many other things, and still it looks more to me like the actor indulging in his own feelings about the end of the show than anything else. And not considering anything else than what I was seeing on screen, Dean has a hard time understanding he is loved – any kind of love – so in that instance, I’m not sure he can comprehend the romantic aspect? I mean, he’s not dumb, and I’m not either, I heard “I want something I can’t have” (or whatever), and that’s the only thing that makes me go “huh?”, so yeah “what are you talking about, man?” I can imagine that guy is going to keep wondering about that – or avoid doing that – but I can’t believe he thinks “man, Castiel was in love with me.” Did not buy it.
Not the end of the world, and frankly in my opinion it’s neither the Sinful Terrible Queerbaiting nor the Great Advocacy Win — just a story told pretty badly – which makes me sad and leaves me super confused, because I don’t think the people behind the wheel knew what they wanted either and I feel like Crowley yelling “pick a bloody side.”
// I’m not summoning anti-cunts to your site, //
lol!!!!
I don’t think we’re ever fully safe from the anti-cunts.
// It’s done in a way that can – maybe – validate them, but still assuage the people who reject the idea. It’s pretty weak. //
I felt the same way. The way it was done felt like it was pandering. and if it was so earth-shattering a revelation then Dean seemed pretty un-changed by it – no mention of it in the following episode, right? No, “wait, what did he say to me?” etc.
If I recall correctly – there was a sense of triumph in the Destiel fans after that episode – which then crashed and burned when Castiel wasn’t in the final episode – the final episode that centralized Sam and Dean as the only relationship that mattered. The Destiel fans felt betrayed. I think a lot of people felt “betrayed” by the final episode – I didn’t at all – I felt “betrayed” by the 4 years leading UP to the final episode.
//and still it looks more to me like the actor indulging in his own feelings about the end of the show than anything else. //
I think that’s a really good point.
For me, one of the main problems is that Castiel had been a loose appendage for YEARS – he barely had scenes with ‘the boys’ half the time – he had his own show going on, beside theirs – his own plots, his own concerns – the shit that bored us to tears – so … any momentum this “relationship” might have achieved was long in the past. MAYBE in Season 5 or 6 such a declaration would have made sense. And how many terrible choices did Castiel make – breaking Sam’s brain, etc.? And so all of the speeches Dean was given in the Dabb years – “you’re family, Cas” etc. – just sounded so hollow. Nothing was encouraged, there was no subtext, relationships weren’t continued – you got no sense of a continuum – so these random “you’re our brother, Cas” or whatever started to feel like they came from out of nowhere. Cas’ weak “declaration” came after four straight seasons of almost no direct engagement with Sam or Dean. So … it was pandering. and the fans lapped it up. But then were furious two episodes later because Castiel wasn’t greeting Dean with open arms in Heaven.
Oh, it’s all a muddle!
// Not the end of the world, and frankly in my opinion it’s neither the Sinful Terrible Queerbaiting nor the Great Advocacy Win — just a story told pretty badly – which makes me sad and leaves me super confused, because I don’t think the people behind the wheel knew what they wanted either and I feel like Crowley yelling “pick a bloody side.” //
I think this is very astute and I totally agree.
//Castiel had been a loose appendage//
Ew – hahahaaaa
Yes to everything you detail explaining how that relationship had pretty much ceased to exist and was completely artificial – it makes their final scene really hard to believe.
//If I recall correctly – there was a sense of triumph in the Destiel fans after that episode – which then crashed and burned when Castiel wasn’t in the final episode//
Wow. After I got intrigued by posts on tumblr and started watching, I didn’t go back to tumblr and never engaged with the fandom, because I couldn’t find much that I related to – I’m not saying it wasn’t there, but it must have been drowned in the Destiel, Wincest, John is evil, Dean is my bae noise, I guess.
I can’t imagine there weren’t some Destiel people who were deeply disappointed by the whole debacle rather than by Castiel’s absence in the finale – which, until you mentioned the possibility of him being in heaven, I didn’t even see how he would be in. But I supposed the other people were very loud.
I had left twitter for a while and reopened an account very recently, I don’t interact with anyone, I just follow some stuff. I started following some SPN related account because the algorithm knew – there’s an account that only posts the same screencap of Mystery Spot Sam yelling “It’s Wednesday” every Wednesday. It’s my favourite. I follow mostly just screencap stuff – and when I see what other posts twitter suggests to me, oooh boy, I won’t engage. Why are people fighting? About that show? Today’s thing was that someone apparently said that middle aged women shouldn’t be in the fandom, so middle-aged women in the fandom are feeling very attacked. Who gives a shit what some teenager thinks? Why even react? It’s so bizarre.
//Dean seemed pretty un-changed by it – no mention of it in the following episode, right? No, “wait, what did he say to me?” etc.//
I thought at the beginning of the following episode, he kinda says something with his face, even if it’s not in the script. At the beginning of the scene, he looks sad and I see confusion and maybe shame/guilt? He can’t make eye contact with Sam and Jack for a little while, and I thought that was very interesting. I read it as being related to Castiel’s goodbye, but it’s very much open to interpretation.
Anyway, that will probably be the last time I think about it – just filing it under “failures to never revisit”