I don’t know why I ever entertained the thought that Supernatural might go out without all kinds of emotions and reactions, since the show has always inspired those in its fans – so why should its last few episodes be any different? The week before’s episode (Despair) brought intense and varied reactions and saw the loss of Castiel; this past week’s episode was very different but it somehow managed to engender varied reactions again. We didn’t lose any of the remaining three major players, however, and I’m still shocked about that. I had convinced myself, in an attempt to somehow prepare myself for the anguish, that either Sam or Dean or both were going to die in 15.19. I was so on edge I could barely think of anything else on Thursday (which makes work challenging) and I had my box of tissues and glass of wine at the ready. Slice of pie too, and fuzzy blankie, just in case. Not that any of that is going to be all that helpful next week, probably. But I was so convinced that we were losing at least one of them, that I spent most of the episode hyperventilating and hypervigilant, just waiting for the other shoe to drop.
And then…. it didn’t.
Until the moment the credits rolled, I was half hiding my face behind my hands certain that something horrible was going to happen and take all the good feelings away. I sat there in shock for a good few minutes after, probably muttering out loud “is that… it?”
It was also confusing because this penultimate episode (forgive me, but everyone in this fandom is using that word because it holds special meaning to us and how often do you get to use it properly?) – anyway, this penultimate episode felt so much like the end. Like the series finale, not just the season finale. There were lots of “let’s just leave it right here, okay?” posts on Thursday night. This fandom does not get to have feel-good endings. It just doesn’t happen. Not as a season finale, that’s for sure. We’ve been so conditioned to tragedy befalling us if we let our guard down, I think there was a collective “HUH?” from all over the world when this episode ended and Sam and Dean were still alive – and Jack was… Well, Jack. But also, for all intents and purposes, God.
The writers of this episode are not fandom favorites, which also made me nervous. They’re known for episodes that have so much going on, it makes your head spin, and this episode wasn’t an exception to that. There were things that made me scratch my head, but they also managed to tie up a ridiculous number of loose ends in a relatively satisfying way, so I’m not going to quibble too much. Maybe I just desperately needed something that felt like a happy ending, because I’m willing to just let myself feel good about this one. There is only one more episode left, and I want to hang onto any good feelings I can find about my favorite show EVER, for five days longer.
Special kudos for the amazing music in this episode, which really enhanced the story and made me feel more than I might have. Christopher Lennertz and Jay Gruska have knocked it out of the park so many times for so many years, making Supernatural so much more powerful and emotional than it would have been without their talent and how much they care about the show. I’m so appreciative. This episode was Lennertz; the series finale will be Gruska.
How many boxes of tissues will I need when the Winchester family theme plays for the last time? I don’t think there are enough in the universe.
The episode picks up pretty much where ‘Despair’ left off, Sam and Jack realizing the world is empty as we see scenes of empty streets in cities all over the world, mournful music playing that makes the scene so much more cinematic than it would have been otherwise.
Dean drives up to join them, finding a shell-shocked Sam and Jack.
Sam: I couldn’t save anybody…
Jack: (looking stricken already) Where’s Cas?
Dean: He saved me. Cas is gone. Jack, I’m sorry.
Dean still looks in shock, barely able to meet Jack’s eyes, his jacket still bearing Castiel’s bloody handprint.
Jack gasps, heartbroken. Sam looks even more shocked and guilt-stricken than before. He calls people, getting only cell phone answer messages. That little detail seemed so real, like exactly what any of us would do, unable to believe that everyone is really gone.
The three walk down the deserted street, mournful eerie music playing, into a deserted diner with the beer tap still running, like the best apocalypse fanfic. (With a little homage to Jensen’s Family Business Beer Co)
The diner itself is called “Sammy’s” and it resulted in some amusing tweets about bringing all the boys to the yard, because fandom knows how to have fun even in the midst of an apocalypse.
Jack calls to Castiel, but gets no response. As he walks dejectedly by some plants and trees, they wither and die as he passes.
Sam can’t shake his guilt.
Sam: I did this. We didn’t give Chuck what he wanted, we tried to rewrite him and the whole world paid the price…
Dean and Jack disagree, and Jack is the one who speaks the message that will always be inextricably linked with this show for me.
Jack: You can’t just give up.
Always Keep Fighting.
The Winchesters do seem to give up, though. They meet up with Chuck and tell him he’s won, that they’ll give him what he wants.
Sam: We’re giving up.
Dean: I’ll kill Sam, he’ll kill me. We’ll kill each other. But first, you have to put it back – the people, the birds, Cas. You gotta bring him back.
They are willing, both of them, to sacrifice themselves to save the world – as they have always been.
Chuck really is sadistic, though. He doesn’t find that story ending as compelling as he thought, deciding to leave the Winchesters and Jack wandering through a deserted world, dealing with their overwhelming guilt.
Chuck: Knowing it’s this way because you wouldn’t take a knee.
It’s the weekend, so I’m sitting down to process everything that happened last week on Supernatural and in the Supernatural fandom (before the next promo trailer hits us and renders all of is incapable of coherent thought for a while). This is installment 3 of my series of articles designed to try to experience fully (and document) every bit of this show’s final filming and airing. I’ve watched Supernatural for fifteen years, and been madly in love with it for fourteen of those years (it took me a while to fall, but when I did, I fell hard!) I’ve documented that love and the show itself in six books and countless interviews and articles – but these articles are a little bit different. These are the last months in which Supernatural and its iconic characters still exist – and the last months in which the SPNFamily interacts in the way it has for fifteen years. I want to remember – and celebrate – the way it is now, and I want to cherish every single moment.
Spoilers ahead but only to the extent that’s been on social media already. I’m keeping speculation to a minimum so far!
Last week Supernatural filmed the rest of its penultimate episode (Inherit the Earth, 15.19) and on Friday they began filming the first day of the LAST episode – the series finale, Carry On. The cast and crew, hard at work in Vancouver filming the final two episodes, have been wonderfully generous in sharing some of their experience with us, so it’s been another week of almost constant Supernatural content. Which is glorious! That’s one of the things I’m going to miss the most – being able to hop on twitter and see post and post after post about the show I love.
I’m assuming the actors who are there took last weekend for themselves, to prioritize their emotional and physical health – and no doubt supported each other in dealing with the upcoming end of the show – as they’re hopefully doing right now as well. As they returned to filming last Monday, Donald Painchaud from the Sound Department shared a photo of a small group of fans showing their appreciation for 15 years of the show. (Due to pandemic concerns, fans were asked to stay well away from filming, and from all accounts it seems like most did that).
They filmed some of the penultimate episode (15.19) in Cloverdale, at an iconic looking gas station that Jerry Wanek and his brilliant team constructed just for Supernatural. Its name is a shout out to director John Showalter, as the show pays homage to those who have made it special in its last few opportunities to do so. Paul Orazietti, of the Cloverdale Business Association, posted some beautiful photos of the construction – and deconstruction – of the gas station, along with Baby waiting for her close up. I’ve been privileged to watch the ingenious crew of Supernatural at work as they put up sets and take them down, amazed every time at how they work like a well oiled machine and all get along so well. I swear there will never be a cast and crew like this one ever again, together 15 years and like family.
Photos @Paradeguy
Alex Calvert posted a photo from that location with the message “the end has no end,” leaving fans both perplexed and hopeful.
I desperately want to believe you, Alex!
Jared Padalecki’s tweet that day was not quite as optimistic – and turned out to be prescient, because by the end of last week there were MANY tears as the show wrapped its penultimate episode and began filming of its final episode ever, the series finale of Supernatural.
Excuse me as I go grab a tissue from my very depleted box.
Also last week, Misha, Jared and Jensen joined most of their fellow cast members in posting their support of Samantha Smith in her fight against breast cancer, modeling the Rise tee shirts from Stands charity campaign. We’re all sending so many good wishes your way, Samantha!
Misha’s was fancy – angel wings and all! You can buy a T shirt and donate at shopstands.com.
It’s Sunday afternoon, and I’m missing Supernatural.
We all count on the things we’re passionate about to get us through the rough times in our lives. Our favorite shows and characters and books and bands inspire us to keep going, to never give up, even when things look bleak around us. Immersing ourselves in the things we love provides a much-needed temporary escape from the stressors of our lives, so we can let down our constantly-on-the-alert defenses and just spend time with some beloved characters or people. Spending time with our favorites – whether watching a favorite television show or enjoying the familiar songs of a favorite band – gives us the same chemical reaction in our brains as sitting down to dinner with our closest friends and family. That’s one of the many things that makes fandom healthy and beneficial.
I find myself wishing I could immerse myself in Supernatural right now, because these are tough times. For fifteen years, the show has been my go-to when I’m anxious or sad or dealing with a lot of stress, and right now we have a lot of that. I’ve grown used to hopping online at those moments, and being swept away by episode discussions and speculation and news and new photos of cast or episode promos or PR content in articles and videos. I’m spoiled by that, and have been for a very long time. When there was a hiatus (hellatus) it was temporary and we knew when it would end, and fandom stepped up and increased their fan-generated content to compensate. While that still happens, and I’m still in awe of and grateful for fannish creativity, it’s not as much as it was in the past, when there was so much being created it was impossible to keep up with it all.
The show stopped production due to the Coronavirus after one day of filming on its penultimate episode back in March, right after the last (and only, I think) convention of 2020 in Las Vegas. It hasn’t been safe to resume filming since then, which I think the entire fandom is 100% on board with, but it means that both cast and fans are in limbo, not knowing how or when the show will return – or how it will be able to wrap up. There was an announcement that the last seven episodes were slated to be aired in the fall – a sort of last ‘mini season’ continuing and finishing up Season 15. But no one really knows when it will be safe to resume filming or how – and where – that might happen. So Supernatural is not on the air, and that’s difficult. (Of course, if it had ended when it was intended back in May, it wouldn’t be on the air either, so at least we have something to look forward to). The pandemic has also changed the landscape for Supernatural fans and actors, who are accustomed to conventions at least once a month and sometimes more. Whether it was your one and only con that you were so looking forward to, or you’re a vendor who’s used to being ‘on the road’ and constantly at conventions, or you enjoy the photos, tweets and videos that fans post at every con, it seems very quiet in the SPNFamily without them. Fans miss seeing the cast at cons, and also miss seeing each other. The actors miss each other too.
I am looking forward to virtual Comic Con in a few weeks, but not as much as I was looking forward to my annual pilgrimage to San Diego, with all the insanity it entails and all the adventures with friends. Even if Comic Con wasn’t virtual, this would have been the first year that Supernatural didn’t have a panel and a press roundtable where we could all hear for the first time the scoop on the new season. I miss that! I am, on the other hand, so grateful to all the actors and fans who have put themselves out there in some way virtually during the pandemic, from Stage Its to virtual cocktails, from inspiring zoom video townhalls that have taught me so much to hilarious podcasts, and even a few fan-organized and Wizard World online cons. I did a virtual panel for Comic Con At Home with some of the Supernatural actors that’s coming up on the 26th, and I’ve had fun talking about the show in podcasts and video interviews for the new book ‘There’ll Be Peace When You Are Done: Actors and Fans Celebrate the Legacy of Supernatural’. When we busted our butts to get the book out for May, we thought it was because the show was ending then. Turns out we just really needed an inspiring book to get through this unprecedented time we’re living in!
Still, I miss my Show, and it’s hard not knowing how and when it will be back to wrap up. CW president Mark Pedowitz said in TV Insider back in May that “Everybody — the studio, the executive producers, Jared, Jensen, and Misha — all want to end 15 years the right way. So it is important that these two episodes that they will be shooting be done the way they hoped to do them and we will just wait it out. We are very much attached to this.” They’ll rearrange the schedule if they need to, Pedowicz said, adding that they planned to resume airing in fall 2020.
I take alot of solace in what Mr. Pedowicz said. Nobody knows whether that is more up in the air now that the spread and impact of the virus has gotten worse in many areas and there are travel restrictions in place. The uncertainty, for fans, is not just when will they finish it – but how. Will it be the same if they can’t film in Vancouver in the studios they have been in all this time? Will their long-time crew, who are like family to the actors, still be able to be with them? Will there be restrictions about what they can film, or how close they can be to each other? Will we lose out on some of the hugs we’ve been counting on – and needing badly? (Yes, these are the things that keep me up at night…)
Nobody knows. I’m pretty sure the fandom whole-heartedly puts the safety of the cast and crew before any consideration of what the series finale will be like. But that doesn’t mean it’s not a valid worry – for both actors and fans. We are all invested in this show, and after 15 years, we are all invested in having an ending that’s gratifying and meaningful and feels like what the fictional characters we love deserve. I know how much the actors care – they wrote about it in ‘There’ll Be Peace When You Are Done’ and have talked about it many times. I know how much fans care too. We want the show to be able to have the ending its creators intended, and for the cast and crew who have given so much of themselves for so long to feel like their characters got the ending they deserved.
A few days ago, an interview with long-time Supernatural director and producer John Showalter ran in the Quad City Times. “It’s really heartbreaking that the show is ending this way,” Showalter said. “We’re not going to get to do a big finale because of COVID-19.” It’s not clear what he meant and not a reason to panic – it could have been a reference to pandemic filming restrictions, timing changes, even the inability to have that epic wrap party that I’m sure they were all so looking forward to (and we were looking forward to the photos!) But there’s a lot of worry going around right now, for everyone involved with the show.
Like so many things in the time of this pandemic, it’s a complicated decision of when to resume filming and how. There are new projects and employment waiting for many people involved that bring a pressure to get back to work and there’s also the desire to film the last episodes the way they were intended; pressures that may be at odds. Of course we’re all anxious about that and we’re all understandably eager to have the show back on our screens. I miss it! However, I think we’ve learned a few things from this Show we’ve loved so long and so hard. Back in Season 1, when John Winchester said that ‘killing this demon comes before everything’, a very young but already wise Sam Winchester stood up to his father and disagreed.
“No sir. Not before everything.”
As often happens, the SPNFamily pulls their inspiration from the show itself. It’s lives that are most important. And on that, I think we all agree with Sam.
So stay safe out there, SPNFamily. Fingers crossed that, when the time is right, Supernatural can (safely) pull off one more miracle.
-Lynn
You can read the actors’ and fans’ personal thoughts
I’ve watched every Season finale except for Season 1 live when it aired – I love watching it live with so many other fans, because it’s always a time of great anticipation. This year it was overshadowed a bit by the CW Upfronts being the same day, which for Supernatural fans meant lots of great footage of Jared, Jensen and Misha but also the confirmation that the Supernatural spinoff Wayward Sisters was indeed not picked up. Nevertheless, in spite of their disappointment, the entire cast of the spinoff took to twitter to show their support for the show that brought their characters to life. The fact that the Wayward Sisters characters were included in the Road So Far recap seems to suggest that there were lots of people who, like me, thought the spinoff was going forward. Seeing them in the season recap just made me more emotional – and believe me, I was already there.
Thursday also kicked off Wizard World Philly, where I had several Supernatural panels, so that meant I got to watch the finale with my friend Alana King (@_KingBooks_). Alana does Supernatural reaction videos after most episodes, so we decided to film one during the finale. Let’s just say that I never realized how…. dramatic…I am while watching Supernatural. (This is probably a surprise only to me.) But hey, this was the season finale after all! I think I can be forgiven.
Alana set up the video camera and we settled in on my couch to watch, both of us bouncing with that unique mix of anticipation and abject terror that Supernatural finales always bring. We and pretty much the entire fandom were a little bit spoiled in that we knew that Jensen Ackles was going to be playing a different character by the end of this episode. When that was first announced (for some reason I can’t fathom because WOW would it have been nice to be shocked and surprised by that reveal), speculation was mostly that Dean would be the archangel Michael. After all, Dean is “the Michael sword”, his perfect vessel. In Season 5, he repeatedly refused to allow Michael to possess him, but perhaps AU!Michael would find a way? Then there were some articles that insinuated that no, it wouldn’t be Michael, it would someone we hadn’t seen for a long time. So Alana and I went into the episode with a lot of “OMG who is it gonna be??”
The first notes of Carry On Wayward Son always make me emotional, but this time we began with a bit of Winchester history instead – and then Rowena in the backseat of the Impala.
Rowena: Boring… Is there music?
Carry On Wayward Son begins to play and Alana and I turned to each other grinning. What an awesome beginning! Well played, Show!
‘Let The Good Times Roll’ was penned by showrunner Andrew Dabb, as per tradition, and directed by showrunner Bob Singer. Once the episode itself begins, Sam is explaining the state of the non-AU world to some of the new inhabitants, using an old school pin board and sounding very smart indeed. Once he’s finished his recap, Bobby scoffs.
Bobby: The ice caps are melting, a movie where a girl goes all the way with a fish wins Best Picture, and that damn fool idjit from the Apprentice is president? And you call where we come from apocalypse world?
Alana and I laughed and then felt a bit depressed because wow, Bobby, good point. (Except the movie, but maybe that’s just us)
Sam gets a call from Dean, who just says “Hey Sammy, got something” and then Sam, Dean, Cas and Jack are…hunting? I was totally confused. There was no sense that there had been a time jump so I didn’t know if they thought Lucifer was in that cabin or what the hell they were doing. There’s a bunch of werewolves hanging out there and honestly they don’t seem to be hurting anyone and one even makes the exact same joke that Dean just did about Kardashian preferences and I keep thinking about Garth as the foursome swoops in and kills them all. I mean, I know, werewolves, but….anyway, that was a weird scene.
Me: I guess they’re teaching Jack to hunt? Saving people, hunting things, the family business?
Alana: (shrugs – aka I got nothin’)
Back at the bunker, Dean and Sam have a hallway conversation about Jack’s progress.
Dean: The kid did great. Hey, you remember when you asked if we could stop it? All the evil in the world? If we could really change things? Well, maybe with Jack, we can.
Sam: Maybe you’re right. But then what will we do?
Dean: (holding up his beer) This. A whole lot of this. But on a beach somewhere, you know? Can you imagine? You, me, Cas, toes in the sand, couple of them little umbrella drinks. Matching Hawaiian shirts, obviously. Some hula girls.
[I wondered if that was partly an ad lib, since for the Supernatural convention in Hawaii earlier this year, Jensen did in fact buy him, Jared and Misha matching Hawaiian shirts…]
Sam: You, talking about retiring? You?
Dean: If I knew the world was safe? Hell, yeah. And you know why? ‘Cause we freakin’ earned it, man.
Sam: I’ll drink to that.
It sort of breaks my heart to hear Dean allowing himself a little bit of hope that they might finally get the upper hand. Because this is Supernatural, so you know that hope is about to be horribly shattered.
Dean hears a sound from Jack’s room and goes in to investigate, waking Jack from a nightmare.
Jack: I’m sorry.
Dean: You don’t have to apologize. I have ‘em too, all the time.
Jack: What do you see?
Dean: Depends…mostly people I couldn’t save.
Oh Dean. He is always so tormented by his failures, and has such a hard time remembering all the good he’s done in the world, all the people he HAS saved.
Dean sits down on the edge of the bed and is so gentle with Jack, reassuring him that he is strong but that everyone makes mistakes and no one is perfect.
Dean: But we can get better. Every day, we can get better. I don’t know what you went through over there, I know it was bad. But we’ll figure out a way to deal with it. Together. You’re family, kid. And we look after our own.
I think it’s rather brilliant how the Show has managed to give the Winchesters and Cas a son, which is not something I anticipated. But all three of them have come to love Jack and to think of him as a son, as family. I loved this glimpse of Dean as a parent figure, because it’s always been such an integral part of him. He raised Sam, was mother and father as well as brother – and it’s clear that has been a defining part of his identity. Having the chance to do that with Jack is something I think Dean takes to naturally – once he finally decided that Jack was not going to go darkside. I love Jack’s quiet nod as he accepts what Dean says as genuine. Alexander Calvert was superb in this episode – but more on that later.
At some point in here, we went to commercial and I muted the television, only to quickly umute it when Alana and I noticed who was on screen.
Alana and me: GIL MCKINNEY!!!
Cap by fangirlingjess
A+ product placement, CW.
And back to our Show. Mary and Bobby are strolling through a rainy Vancouver woods that does not look at all like Kansas, but their conversation is kinda adorable. Ketch is apparently off doing his Ketch thing (and Mary seems to have gotten past her awful history with Ketch, oddly), and Rowena and Charlie are roadtripping.
Bobby: Ginger trouble.
It’s clear now that indeed there has been a time jump, because the AU people are “settling in”. Bobby included. He looks kinda shyly over at Mary.
Bobby: I like it here…
There’s a bit of flirtation going on between Mary and Bobby, which is…interesting. I’m not opposed to it, though I wonder what Jeffrey Dean Morgan will have to say about it when he finally returns to the show for the last episode (no, I have no idea if this will happen, I just like to believe it).
Their romantic interlude is spoiled by a trail of blood on the ground, because this is, after all, Supernatural – and no one gets to be happy for more than 0.5 seconds.
It’s Maggie from the tunnels (who half of fandom didn’t remember and thought it was a brand new character).
Jack clearly feels responsible and guilty as they ask a friend of Maggie’s what happened, trying to figure out how she was killed. Turns out there was a boy named Nate from the convenience store who Maggie had a crush on and snuck out to meet the night before…
Anddddddddddd poof! Jack is gone.
Uh oh.
Me: Oh no, he’s going after Nate.
Sure enough, Jack finds hapless convenience store clerk Nate and pins him up against the wall.
Me: Wait, how do we know that’s even Nate? What if that’s not Nate?? What does it say on his name tag? OMG I think it says George! That’s not Nate, it’s George!
Alana: (deadpans) It’s Nate.
Me: Oh.
Cas, Sam and Dean show up (very quickly so the convenience store must be in the bunker’s backyard, which is handy for beer runs) and try to stop Jack. Jack tosses poor Cas off like he’s not even there and ignores Sam and Dean. So Dean pulls out his gun, and shoots him.
Me and Alana: What the hell, Dean??
Sam: (silently): Same.
Jack: (dropping Nate) You shot me!
Dean: To get your attention.
Remind me never to ignore Dean Winchester. (Like that is even the remotest of remote possibilities, says everyone who has ever met me)
Jack is distraught and feels even more like everything he does is wrong. He runs out of the store. Cas tries to follow, but Dean holds him back and tells him to let Jack go.
Poor Jack wanders the nearby woods in anguish.
Jack: I keep hurting people…
He’s so angry with himself, so frustrated and feeling so guilty, that he erupts in self hatred, punching himself as he asks over and over, “why do you keep hurting people??”
It was so heartbreaking I had to grab Alana and cry out “Jack OMG Jack” repeatedly. Poor Alana.
Luckily we are both big Jack fans, so we pretty much got upset together. Once again, Alex Calvert absolutely killed it in this scene – he made it 100% believable that Jack was feeling all those emotions and was overwhelmed by them. It’s exactly what people do when they have no way to deal with self hatred, and it’s horrible to watch.
Back in the convenience store, an ear splitting sound paralyzes Sam, Dean and Cas. And ME! Alana and I had the volume turned up to about 80 on my television so we could hear it on the video, and that meant that our ears were in almost as much pain as the characters onscreen. Ouch!
Dean grabs Sam and the three of them run outside just as the windows of the store blow out. Michael makes a grand entrance, leaving Sam and Cas on the ground.
Uh, Cas, you’ve got a little glass right there…just sayin…
Dean runs behind the car and throws open the Impala’s trunk and quickly lights a holy oil bomb and throws it at Michael, giving them time to get in the car.
Dean: Run!
Me: Run faster!!
They get away as Michael stands behind a line of holy oil that’s about ten yards long.
Me and Alana: Um, how come he couldn’t just walk around it?
No time to conjecture, because Lucifer has also come through the rift and appears to Jack. Jack is understandably confused, since Sam told him that Lucifer was dead (which I’m sure he assumed was the truth).
Lucifer: Sam’s a big fat liar, and a bad person. And freakishly tall, so…
He tells Jack that Sam left him behind, which clearly disturbs Jack. Then he goes on to pretty much tell Jack everything he wants to hear, the way any master manipulator would. You need me…we’re not human… we can escape our past and our sins and start over…
Of course that’s seductive for Jack – he is desperate for a do over, so he can make up for his perceived wrongs and failings. Lucifer plays on that, and also on Jack’s youth and naivete.
Jack: What do we do?
Lucifer: We leave… explore the stars, the planets, the galaxies…
Jack: Like Star Wars?
Me and Alana: Jaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaack!!
Lucifer: (taking advantage of every opportunity) Want a light saber? A Wookie?
He calls Jack affectionate nicknames like ‘buddy’ or ‘kiddo’, again playing on his longing for his father’s love – a universal thing that seems to persist even when people know that their parent is unable to give it.
And Lucifer does it – he wins Jack over. But first, Jack wants his dad to bring back poor dead Maggie. Lucifer is reluctant. He says it’s not a good idea, that people sometimes come back…different.
Jack: Sam didn’t.
Lucifer: Well, Sam has always been different….
Me and Alana: Damn right!
Sam proves that his “different” is awesome by being smart enough to ask Maggie more about her attack. He’s so gentle as he’s questioning her, so empathic. Both Winchesters, in this episode, are a mix of totally badass when they need to be and strikingly gentle with others who are hurting. Sam knows how disconcerting it is to be dead one minute and then alive again the next, and his conversation with Maggie reflects that understanding. And because of that, Maggie does share what she remembers.
Maggie: I didn’t see his face…but I saw his eyes…
Me and Alana: Lucifer!
The boys try all avenues to figure out where Lucifer is, including “putting Jody on it” – another reminder that the Wayward Sisters characters are staying prominent in the Supernatural universe – and Cas attempting to get information from Angel Radio, which apparently is just static. Not helpful.
There really is never a dull moment in this episode, because Michael (who woke up and walked around that line of holy fire) breaks down the door of the bunker without much trouble. Perhaps he let himself pause behind the holy fire because he knew that he could just stroll into the bunker anyway?
Michael seems to be the kind of guy who likes to put on a show (is it something with archangels?), because Asmodeus got into the bunker too but much more quietly. Michael not only blasts the door open and flashes all the lights, but he theatrically floats down to the floor instead of using the stairs. Christian Keyes can totally pull off dramatic and makes Michael a figure of some majesty (and some fear), which I really appreciate. Inexplicably, Sam and Dean start shooting at him and Cas tries to angel blade him – both of which they had to know weren’t going to do a damn thing. I guess it felt better than just standing there though.
I loved the small moment when Sam tells Mary to run and take Maggie out of there, and Mary looks at him incredulously.
Mary: What?! No!
Me to Alana: Yes! Good response, Mary! I like that she didn’t want to leave her boys behind.
Michael, again going with the theatricality, physically beats up Sam, Dean and Cas even though I’m sure he could have killed them all instantly. With Cas and Sam incapacitated, Michael picks Dean up by the neck and begins to slowly choke him to death, telling Dean that he should be honored to be the first soul that Michael has taken in this new world.
Michael: I could’ve done this quick, but I wanted to enjoy it.
Dean, almost unable to speak, nevertheless chokes out a typical Dean response.
Dean: As Shakespeare once said, eat me, Dickbag!
Oh Dean, I do love you. Defiant til the end. And kudos to Andrew Dabb for putting in that line of explanation, so I didn’t have to wonder why Michael was conveniently dragging it out long enough for something to intervene.
Meanwhile, Smart!Sam is trying desperately to save his brother’s life as Dean is slowly asphyxiated. On his knees and barely able to speak, Sam prays to Jack, telling him, “we need you.”
Jack and Lucifer are having a bonding time looking at the stars, with Lucifer already making some missteps talking about how he’s planning some “improvements” to the world, when Jack hears Sam’s prayer.
Boom! He’s back in the bunker, eyes glowing, hand raised and facing Michael.
Jack: You hurt my friends…my family…
And just like that, Jack takes Michael down.
Me and Alana: Whoa, Jack can do that??
Lucifer (watching from safely behind Jack): Whoa.
Whoa
Michael falls to the floor, yelling at Lucifer: We had a deal!
Jack immediately starts to realize that the lovely father-son bonding story that Lucifer spun for him may not be quite true. He demands to know what Michael meant, and Dean and Sam fill in the blanks, telling Jack that Lucifer killed Maggie and what he plans for humanity. Lucifer of course denies it, trying to pull Jack back to his side, but Jack has way more power than any of us suspected. He stretches out his hand toward Lucifer, and as Lucifer’s eyes turn into glowy starbursts (very cool, VFX wizards!), Jack demands that Lucifer tell him the truth.
And he does! Lucifer confesses that he killed Maggie.
Lucifer:… So I crushed her skull with my bare hands, and it was warm and wet… and I liked it…
Jack is horrified.
Jack: You’re not my father, you’re a monster!
Lucifer, realizing that his ploy has failed, breaks into a ROAR of pure rage. He knows he’s lost and he is probably also realizing that Jack is so much more powerful than him that he wouldn’t have had the upper hand for long.
And in that moment, we see once again the true face of the devil.
The show chose to portray Lucifer as an almost likable character at some points in this season. At times, I’ve complained about that, questioning whether a redemption arc was coming and very much opposing that. In a recent episode, Lucifer seemed truly hurt in his conversation with Gabriel, so much so that a tear slipped out – and Gabriel was no longer there, so it wasn’t even a ploy. I’m still a little confused about that. I felt like my emotions were being manipulated at the time, and I didn’t know what to make of it or what to expect from the rest of Lucifer’s arc this season.
Now that it’s all played out, I think I’m going to give Show the benefit of the doubt and say that it was brilliantly done. There’s a thing that psychologists recognize called ‘parallel process’, which means that sometimes the things that are challenging your client in their lives start playing out similarly in the therapy relationship. I feel like that’s sort of what happened here. Lucifer, the master of all master manipulators, lured me in at the same time as he lured Jack in. I started to doubt whether all of him was evil, or if at his core he was a wounded being who despite the horrible things he’d done (because I could never put those aside), genuinely wanted a relationship with his son. I started to doubt, and of course that’s exactly how a master manipulator gets under your skin.
The beauty of Lucifer’s arc playing out that way is that in this episode, when Lucifer shows his true nature and his true colors once again, I felt a small version of that same sense of betrayal and foolishness and fury that Jack felt. It feels horrible to be played, to be fooled. To let yourself start to believe in someone’s good intentions and then to find out that they were just using you all along. In this episode, as Jack learns the awful truth about his father, my own emotions about that betrayal made witnessing Jack’s pain all the more powerful. So kudos to Mark Pellegrino and to the writers for taking me on that unwanted journey, because even when it’s unpleasant, that’s good storytelling.
Once Lucifer gives up the pretense of wanting to be the good guy, he returns to the sadistic, cold, cruel being that he was when we first met him. I was horrified by how he treated Jack, how quickly he turned on a dime and showed absolutely no remorse. Not even a lingering ambivalence when it came to his son, which I couldn’t help but see as the same as the coldhearted rejection of so many parents of abandoned or abused children. I literally sat there with my hand over my mouth in horror. And again, as much as I hated that feeling, that is good story telling. I CARE about Jack, so it was excruciating seeing his father turn on him.
Lucifer: I tried with you… I told you what you wanted to hear, man. We could’ve been better gods than Dad.
Lucifer denigrates humans, and Jack protests that he too is part human.
Lucifer practically spits the next insult at him: You’re too much like your mother.
It’s so clear what he’s doing, how he’s already labeled Jack as “other” so he can destroy him. So that any real affection he did have for Jack is eradicated. It was so painful to hear, because for Jack, who is struggling with his identity development and figuring out who he is, his own father just rejected him as an unworthy, unlovable, worthless person. It happens in real life too, and it’s no less heartbreaking.
Lucifer makes the rejection explicit. And devastating.
Lucifer: I don’t want you, I just need your power.
Me: OMG, Jack!
He slices Jack’s throat and steals his grace, leaving Jack weak and helpless.
Sam, who really does love Jack as a son, leaps forward to try to save him.
Sam: Jack!
Dean: Sammy!
Cas tries to intervene, and is thrown to the floor.
Lucifer, Jack and Sam disappear, leaving Dean yelling “Sammy!” again, to no avail. He looks devastated.
Me: OMG what just happened?!
Dean: What just happened?!
Me: That’s exactly what I just said!
Michael (crumpled on the floor): The devil won.
Archangels are the shiftiest most manipulative dicks ever, because I think Michael knows just how to goad Dean into doing something he might regret.
Michael: Lucifer has all the power now. He’ll kill the boy – and your brother. This is the end…of everything.
Anyone who knows Dean Winchester even a little bit knows that is the thing to say to get Dean to do whatever it takes to stop that outcome. Sam is in mortal danger, and Dean has proved again and again that he will go to the ends of the earth to save his brother. Jack, who Dean considers family, is in danger. And to top it off, the whole world will probably be ending. How can he NOT do something?
Dean looks anguished, and Jensen Ackles shows us every moment of his agonizing decision. When he turns his gaze to Michael, you can see Dean’s resolve – and his heartbreak.
Dean: What if you had your sword?
Me: OMGGGGGGGGGGGGGGGGGGGGGGGGGGGGGGGGGGGGG
Castiel: Dean, no!
Michael is the only one who looks suddenly a lot less hopeless. He regards Dean like he’s looking at the thing he wants most in life.
Michael: Oh I know what you are.
Of course he does! He probably knew all along.
We get a flashback to Season 5, Zachariah and then Gabriel telling Dean that he is the Michael Sword – that Sam and Dean were always meant to be the perfect vessels for Lucifer and Michael.
I usually don’t like flashbacks because I remember the show too well, but in this case, I thought the flashback really worked to emphasize the gravity of this decision. Dean refused so many times, for so long, and now he feels he has no choice. It was also a wonderful feeling of the show circling back around and remembering its own past, which was powerful – it made it all seem like a destiny that you can’t outrun, and that felt BIG.
Cas again begs Dean not to do it, but Dean whirls around, his expression desperate.
Dean: Lucifer has Sam! He has Jack! Cas, I don’t have a choice.
He tells Michael this is a one time deal, and that he’s in charge.
Me and Alana: This isn’t gonna end well…
I think everyone knew that, but I also thought that it was totally in character for Dean to make that decision in that moment, and for him to at least try to make it on his terms.
Meanwhile, in a beautiful church (which is where epic things often go down in Supernatural) Lucifer flings poor Sam around, punching him ruthlessly and leaving him helpless on the floor. There are alot of caps of this moment floating around for some reason…
Cap bestjaredpics
Lucifer drops a weak and helpless Jack right on the stone floor without a thought, so carelessly it made my blood run cold, then punches Jack just as brutally as he did Sam – with his fists and with his words.
Lucifer (with disdain): I can make more kids…
Sam tries to intervene, and Lucifer scoffs at him.
Lucifer: Daddy Sam coming to the rescue.
Alana (screaming from my couch): He’s more of a dad than you ever were!!
The dialogue in this episode, I swear – OUCH. Kudos Andrew Dabb, it really cut.
Archangels all seem to share that love of drama and theatricality, and more than a little dash of sadism and hubris, because Lucifer also does not opt for a quick death for Sam or for Jack (who he may want alive to keep drinking from…) Instead he tosses an archangel blade onto the floor between them and sets up a mini Hunger Games contest, telling them if one of them kills the other, he’ll give the survivor a chance to stop him from remaking (ie destroying) the world.
This scene was so well done and so tense that Alana and I screamed through most of it, clutching each other and yelling NO NO NO NO NO and various other exclamations as Jack and Sam faced each other. Sam finally picked up the blade, which made me terrified that Sam was just going to kill himself so Jack could live.
Me: NO NO NO Sam, what are you thinking? What is he thinking? OMG Sam, what are you thinking?? Use your words!!
(Yes, I unfortunately know just what I started babbling because alas, it’s all on Alana’s youtube episode reaction video…)
Sam hands the blade to Jack.
Sam: Kill me. You can stop him, Jack.
Close up because I have a thing for Sam’s strong arms…
Jack looks horrified – so do Alana and I.
Jack: No, I can’t beat him. But you can.
Now Alana and I are screaming NO NO NO NO JACK WHAT ARE YOU DOING NOOOOOO!
Jack looks at Sam, his face heartbreakingly sincere and open, full of emotion (because Alex Calvert effing rocks)
Jack: I love you. I love all of you.
And with that, he stabs himself with the archangel blade.
Me and Alana: NOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOO!
I would have preferred something other than “I love you” – it would have been more powerful if it conveyed that sense in another way. One of the things I loved about Supernatural from day one is that Sam and Dean never had to use those words to show each other how they felt. Bitch-Jerk is a million times more powerful than “I love you” and a lot more in character, and it didn’t seem entirely organic when Jack said it either. I don’t think Cas needed to say it out loud either when he thought he was dying – they know. That’s what makes it so emotional. I wish they would use both those three words and the “family” designation more sparingly to preserve the impact, but maybe that’s just me.
As Jack tries to impale himself with excruciating slowness, the church is lit up in a flash of blinding light, and Jack pauses with the blade only a little in. They all shield their eyes, and across the room, we are all open mouthed at what we see.
Michael!Dean appears, and slowly and majestically his black wings unfurl behind him. It was such a gorgeous shot, Dean’s familiar bow legs juxtaposed with those angelic wings. Jensen plays it perfectly, right down to the roll of his shoulders as the wings slowly unfurl.
Sam: Dean?
Dean: Hiya Sammy.
And so we know that it is in fact Dean.
Then we get an epic fight scene with Rob Hayter’s always amazing fight choreography. Show tackled a huge undertaking by having the fight occur not only on the floor of the church but near the ceiling, which was strikingly high up. I can’t imagine how much work that was for both Ackles and Pellegrino, who had to be in harnesses and wires and still remember their fight choreography – or for the crew who had to film it and make it look believable. I appreciate that they wanted to make it epic, and it was, though I have to admit that wire work often throws me out of the moment. I mean, we do know that Ackles and Pellegrino can’t fly, so obviously we know there’s wire work happening, but I was distracted by the mechanics of it. I would have preferred that same epic fight on the ground, but I guess it makes sense that archangels don’t feel earthbound.
The backdrop of the beautiful stained glass windows and the arched roof of the church made this a truly spectacular scene, so kudos to all the set dec and VFX and many many crew who made it look like it did.
Lucifer, with the help of Jack’s grace, gets the upper hand and I really wasn’t sure how it was going to go for a while there, which I did enjoy. His sadism once again lets him take it slowly to savor the moment as he punches Michael/Dean repeatedly. Dean is near unconscious, his head lolling backwards, when Sam picks up the archangel blade and calls to his brother.
Sam: Dean!
Even near death, Dean hears his brother call his name and that Winchester ability to be in sync, honed over all those decades of fighting together, kicks in. Dean’s hand finds the blade Sam has tossed up into the air and wraps around it just as his eyes are starting to glow white.
Dean!
He plunges the blade into Lucifer.
Lucifer drops Dean, who falls to the floor, and Alana and I watched open mouthed as Lucifer flames out – literally. Flames shoot from his eyes and mouth and his wings start to burn. Again, so many VFX kudos! He crashes to the floor, the outline of his singed wings spread out behind him.
Me and Alana: OMG
Sam and Dean share a moment of unbridled joy and relief – they effing did it. They killed Lucifer.
Dean: Holy crap.
Sam (grinning): You did it.
Dean: (starting to smile too): No. No we did it. We did it.
They grin helplessly at each other, Sam nearly doubling over and laughing with the sheer power of the relief he’s feeling. Jared Padalecki has taken us right along with him portraying Sam’s trauma at the hands of Lucifer and his resulting PTSD, his struggle to cope with and survive it, his empathy for others who have also been traumatized, and finally his tremendous relief at vanquishing his abuser and securing a sense of safety for himself. His acting has never been more nuanced or more powerful than in telling this part of Sam’s story, and I’m so grateful. It made this moment incredibly powerful.
Let me pause a second to say that Dean’s line correcting Sam to emphasize that they did this together was very important – to Sam, I’m sure, but to the fandom. The story of Sam and Lucifer goes way back, and is the main reason most of us could never have been on board with a redemption arc for Lucifer. The damage he did to Sam, the cruelty with which he tormented him and broke him, was too much, too horrible. So many of us wanted to see Sam have this win – to see Sam finally best his abuser and end it. On the other hand, I’m very aware that Dean was traumatized by the extent of his brother’s trauma, and thus holds a special hatred for Lucifer and a burning desire to see Sam’s abuse avenged and to know that Sam no longer feels vulnerable with Lucifer still in the world. Dean, I don’t think, has ever forgiven himself for not being able to keep Sam from plunging into the Cage with Lucifer – for not being able to keep him safe. So for both brothers, killing Lucifer was a monumental victory. They did it TOGETHER. And for me, that made it even more satisfying.
I am also happy with the way this played out because it allowed the full circle of Dean becoming Michael that they averted in Season 5, but it also made Sam just as integral a part of the victory over Lucifer as Dean. I’m going to assume that the reason the entire world wasn’t obliterated in the process once Michael and Lucifer finally had it out had something to do with Lucifer not being in his proper vessel (Sam). Otherwise that whole terror over their showdown having to be averted or else apocalypse now doesn’t make much sense.
I’m not sure exactly what Jack is feeling, because the rollercoaster of emotions he’s been on in the last few hours is…well, I have no idea what it is actually, because WHOA. But he’s still standing, and he’s with the Winchesters, so that’s good.
Alana and I were grinning at each other too, and we all savored that 0.5 seconds of happiness for… well, 0.5 seconds.
Joyous moment comes to an end as Dean doubles over.
Sam: Dean?
Dean: (anguished) We had a deal!
He straightens, and Sam knows immediately. We all know – because somehow Ackles looks not at all like Dean suddenly.
Sam: Michael.
Michael!Dean: Thanks for the suit.
You know what broke me? The way Sam hangs his head as he realizes his brother is gone. To go from that moment of joy to this devastation in such a short amount of time must be … again, I don’t even know. It reminded me of the end of Season 7, when Dean disappeared and Sam had no idea how to get him back. I felt Sam’s heartbreak then, and I felt it again now.
In some ways, I feel like Season 13 was a season of the Show trying to fix some blunders of the past. The killing off of Bobby and Charlie were arguably significant miscalculations of fandom’s affection for those characters, and the AU seems to have afforded a way to bring them back to this world (in AU versions, admittedly, but those versions seem to be getting more and more like the original versions every day). Sam moving heaven and earth to find his brother would make up for the hit-a-dog-and-shack-up-with-Amelia story line that neither Jared Padalecki nor most fans enjoyed. This time Sam has Cas and Jack with him, so hopefully that means he won’t hit a dog and stop looking – that was perhaps my least favorite story line ever because of course Sam would look for Dean.
Which brings us to Season 7 and Dean lost in a different kind of way – inside Michael.
Back at the bunker, Mary and Bobby return to find a devastated Castiel. That close up on Misha Collins’ face as he sits there faced with the knowledge that of course Michael will not keep his side of the bargain, and that Dean is lost to him, was so well done – it hurt to see the pain in his eyes. Cas turned his back on Heaven back in Season 5, it was so important to him that Dean not say yes to Michael. This must be a terrible blow, although I suspect there’s also a part of Castiel that understands why Dean did it. Jack is like a son to him too, after all.
We end with Michael suited up all Peaky Blinders style strolling down a city street. I almost expected something from Saturday Night Fever to play, but instead we get Michael!Dean looking around in wonder at this big world full of possibility – which does not bode well for humanity. Or Dean.
I wish they had ended there, with Michael!Dean looking around curiously. It was so obvious to everyone that Michael was 100% in control, and we didn’t need any further evidence.
As cool as the blue glowy eyes are, I didn’t need to see them. And why we got a close up, then a freeze frame, then a zoom in on the freeze frame, I don’t know. Alana, film maker that she is, immediately was like ‘What the hell?!’
I’m not gonna go on about it, because it was one small thing, but I wish we could have left it out and not diluted the impact of the possession with that last shot.
Freeze frame!
So that’s the set up for Season 14. Jensen Ackles has said that he had some input into the wardrobe for Michael!Dean, so I can’t help but think that Ackles’ love for Peaky Blinders was influential – and that the actor is probably loving the opportunity to dress up and stretch his acting muscles by playing a different character. On the other hand, nobody loves playing a character as much as Ackles loves playing Dean, so I think he would miss it if the Michael!Dean story line goes on too long. I’m in agreement that the Demon!Dean story line ended way too soon (as are Jared and Jensen), but that was an exploration of Dean and his psyche – he was still Dean. If Michael is in complete control, that means Dean isn’t really on our screens for a while, and I wouldn’t want that to be the case for too long. I’d love to see Dean’s battle to take back control, though, so I hope we’ll see that – and that would mean we’d get some of both Dean and Michael.
We don’t honestly have a clear idea of what Michael even wants, other than the typical villainous “I’ll make over this world and it will be better than it ever was” which invariably means the opposite, and I think he mentioned something about “purifying” which is never EVER a good thing. I mean, he’s clearly not a nice guy, having tortured Mary and Jack and countless others – but I’m not sure what his plan is. For now, he just seems to want to wear stylish clothes and enjoy a world that doesn’t look quite so apocalyptic.
I’m also looking forward to seeing Sam look for Dean this time (unlike Season 8), and to seeing what lengths Sam and Cas and Jack will go to in order to get him back. We’ll get more exploration of Sam and Castiel’s relationship, and also of Castiel’s bond with Jack. All those things are good, but I will probably be longing for them to be reunited with Dean too. I guess that brings me right back to the power of parallel process, doesn’t it?
I am so grateful that Supernatural is still on the air and still telling stories that I’m invested in – I feel incredibly lucky that this is the Show I fell for so many years ago. A big thank you to the amazing hard-working cast and crew who bring the show to life week after week, year after year.
Stocking up on tissues now for Season 14. Who’s with me?
Caps by @kayb625, who has been a rockstar all season grabbing screencaps of all those moments that make this show so special. Much love and gratitude!
