Finished!
Just finished the season finale and wow, I am nervous all over again about how they get out of that graveyard!!
But what really hit me hard again was that Dean chose not to shoot Jack even though Jack was fully accepting that he should die for his mistakes, and Dean made his choice without Sam saying anything. And then when Chuck offered to bring Mary back if Dean shoots Jack, that just got Dean in 'I won't be screwed with' mode. And then Chuck killed Jack anyway, dammit!
Watching the season in one fell swoop, I found it interesting that it was set up to make Michael the big bad for the season and then halfway through Michael's taken care of and suddenly Jack is the inadvertent big bad. I think Jack's character development over the last 2 seasons was really well done and Alex Calvert played him perfectly to make us feel for him doing wrong without meaning to. And in a way his behavior--doing the wrong thing while trying to do the right thing--is the same path that both Sam and Dean have taken trips down over the years, so that made me especially empathetic toward him.
Rewatching the scenes with Chuck, I wonder just how much free will the boys have had all along. I know that is supposed to be one of the arcs of this season...my feeling is that Chuck keeps putting hurdles in their path but how they get over or around them is something he sits back and watches. And maybe throws another bump if they are going in a way he doesn't care for, but that they have still worked around it with free will.
At least that's what I hope.
October 10 can't come soon enough!!!