Thoughts on SPN 7.23
Oh, Supernatural.
SPOILERS under the cut.
7.23: Survival of the Fittest
1. Again, I am struck by how this finale could've benefited from being spread over a two-parter. There was a lot of interesting, cool stuff in here, and none of it was allowed to have any impact before moving onto the next big plot device. If it were upto me I'd have gladly lopped off something like, say, Party On, Garth so that this could happen.
2. Carry On, My Wayward Son! The delight that hearing that song filled me with, I can't even. \o/ The montage was curiously edited, though, and as a dampener, there wasn't a single mention of Sam's hallucinations or of Hallucifer in the 2 minute long recap. Just goes to show how relevant that storyline was, eh? No wonder they dropped it like a hot potato after 7.17. Tch, do you ever think Sam and Dean went to hell and stuff? Y'know, experience stuff and fight monsters unique to them? Nah, doesn't seem like it.
2.5. Yes, I am still bitter. WHAT OF IT.
3. Oh, hey, Crowley! You are still awesome, but I'm starting to get a little tired of you. And the contract! Haha. That bit was so cartoony, I swear.
3.5. Crowley with his double-crossing and his ~*sekrit planz*~. The real competition in this episode was between Dick Roman and Crowley, both of them using the tools at their disposal to outsmart each other. Crowley, with the Winchesters and Castiel, and Dick with his Leviathan cronies and a corporate empire at his disposal. Obviously, Crowley won. Obviously. ;)
3.65. Seriously, though, I loved it--first, the wrangling over the contract, with Dick going over it keenly, then Crowley betraying him by giving his actual blood to the Winchesters, then Dick cloning himself, then Crowley being one step ahead by insisting that Castiel go with the Winchesters so that he'd be able to point out the "real fake Dick Roman"... very nice.
(Also--"you can take Canada". Really? How long did he expect Canada to last for the demons? There're hardly any people there. *ducks projectiles*)
((also, also--no mention of the rest of the world. that proves it. in spn, america IS the world. canada is this fringe planet, and everything else is an amorphous pool of cool legends that they can adapt and distort.))
4. The scene with Polly was mighty uncomfortable. I was torn being a little horrified and laughing at the "wonder additive" that targets only thin people. Specifically, those "with low body mass, vertically challenged, hemophiliacs, and IQ more than 150". My my--being real fussy with your food, aren't you.
5. So Bobby is gone. "Yes, good, please just go" was my response. What purpose did that serve, Show? The old "what's dead should stay dead" shtick? The Winchesters are never going to learn that lesson. How else could we have wrung out seven seasons, with at least one more waiting?
5.5. No, seriously. Let's review what ghost!Bobby's done. Nothing that the Winchesters couldn't have done themselves--he existed purely to exposit and squeeze out some personal drama when the season seemed to be ending on a very droll note. I suppose you could draw some vague parallels between ghost!Bobby's journey and the Winchester Way (and he did go with a lesson on It's Not About Revenge, Guys), but still. Like I've said before, it just gave this terrible, terrible impression that Sam and Dean literally cannot think for themselves or function without Bobby to hold their hands. It was also terribly inconsistent with Show's ghost mythos (so Bobby's so attached to the flask that he can't leave the car when Sam and Dean go into a grocery store, but he can flash in and out of a mansion a good half a mile away? And why didn't he immediately flash into the flask once the maid he was possessing touched the iron?), and just--why, Show. Why.
6. Meh, new!Castiel's become boring already.
7. Seven points in, and we get our first mention of Sam and Dean. Like a lot of the recent episodes, this one was pretty sparse when it came to the Winchesters, as well. And please note, when I say "sparse," I do NOT mean screen-time. I mean presence of the emotional kind, the dramatic kind. For instance, say in 4.16: On the head of a pin, Sam had, what, ten minutes of screen time? And he owned those ten minutes. Unforgettable. That's the kind of stuff I'm talking about.
7.5. ... I don't really have anything else to add. Sam and Dean didn't have any meaningful interactions. Sam did say "Shut up" to Dean at one point, though, which felt strangely satisfying.
8. How magnificent is Sam. Seriously, s7 should be subtitled, "wherein Sam Winchester is blindingly magnificent". Why am I not at all surprised that it was Sam that rushed to reason with Bobby? And the first to forgive him? Because Sam has been one big bucket of Forgiveness this season, and, repeat after me: MAGNIFICENT.
9. "I can detect a tone of forgiveness in your voice". Aw, Dean and Castiel are starting to make up! Or something. I wish Sam and Castiel had talked. I think Castiel could've reaped more inspiration from his shared experiences with Sam. But hey. He was "[Dean's] boyfriend first." Or whatever. The Hell-experiences don't matter to the plot, remember?
10. I literally whooped and cheered when the Impala showed up. YAY! And then that tapered into a confused "eh?" when they crashed the Impala literally five seconds afterwards, and Meg climbed out. It was a nice diversion and everything, but even so. I miss Sam and Dean driving her to the sound of cool rock music.
11. HOKAY the ending. Not sure why Castiel should get dragged into Purgatory with Dean, seeing that it was Dean that killed Dick, but Castiel did hold his head back while Dean skewered Dick through the throat, so.
11.25. Castiel is a fully-powered angel--it is possible that he could've gotten out of there on his own, and that he could've easily zapped Dean out of there, too. After all, here is the guy who pulled Dean out of hell and Sam out of the frickin Cage (something I still find highly suspect, btw). Purgatory ought to be easy, right?
11.29. I also wonder how killing Dick is going to solve anything. The systems are well in place; there are several Dick clones going about who are just as capable and just as cognisant; there's a whole board of the most powerful Leviathans to contend with. A lot of work remains to be done.
11.3. Also, I'm curious about Show's version of Purgatory. They've done some pretty cool things with their conceptualisations of Heaven and Hell. I wonder if it'd be anything like the version of Purgatory I wrote way, way back during early s6. I stuck Sam and Ruby in there, not Dean and Cas, but yeah.
11.5. It's such an interesting place to leave us, though. Dean and Castiel in Purgatory, Meg and Kevin in Crowley's hands, Bobby gone permanently, Sam aaaalllll alone to round up and kill the rest of the Leviathans (without even Lucifer for company!). I'm more excited about the fanfic that this ending will inspire during the hiatus than what Show will do with it in s8. Much more excited. Also, Sam on his own? Is a dangerous, exciting, self-destructive BAMF. Mmm, yesssssssss. \o/
12. Let's see, now: at the end of s1 (more like the s2 premiere, but it's almost the same thing), John goes to Hell. At the end of s3, Dean goes to Hell. At the end of s5, Sam goes to Hell. And now, at the end of s7, Dean goes to Purgatory. So if there's at all a s9 (oh god, the very thought sends a strange sort of dread down my spine), will it end with Sam going to Purgatory/Hell?
12.5. After all, Hell is the Winchesters' preferred vacation spot. They ought to have a memorial Down There for them, or something.
13. So. s7 in summary? Started off really, really well, reached its climax way, way too soon, and then was limp till the end.
13.5. Look. Show started the dick jokes, okay?