Season 8 Finale - Review by Likiel
[Warning: Spoilers Season 8 finale and Erm... I went a little crazy with the gifs... hum.]
- · Oh Sam, AKA “In order to love you must forgive”.
I just had to start with him. God, Jared did an outstanding job with Sam all this season and during that finale scene, THAT scene, that” how-do-I-stop-loving-you-when-you-hurt-me-so-much-brother?”- scene.
I'm gonna be honest, y’all who read my review and follow my work know that I love Sam and Dean equally, and so much. You know that the only thing I love more than Sam or Dean, it’s SamandDean, the entity, the embodiment of my motto “Two brothers, one soul”
You know I was pretty heart-broken when we were coldly told that Sam didn’t look for his brother while he was down in purgatory. You know that while I love both boys I’m not blind or obvious to their fault and that this one pretty much hits every nail I’ve got.
You know that while I love Sam, I couldn’t understand this.
But this last scene? Damn, it was like the light finally showed after months of darkness. Actually I was stunned I didn’t realize it sooner, that I somehow, in my anger and disappointment towards Sam, forgot who he is, and how he feels.
From the moment they learned about the trials, episode after episode, we watched Sam boosting Dean with pep-talks and long declarations about how he saw “the light at the end of the tunnel” and how Dean should to. We watched Sam wishing that Dean would want to live because they would succeed in their mission of closing the gates of hell forever, they would succeed and be alive to celebrate. We watched Sam believed that, we watched Dean believed that Sam believed that, and then, we started to believe Sam.
And this is part of why it hurt for Dean and for us to hear Sam respond “So?” Somehow petulantly and more than desperately to Dean’s warning of his near death.
Oh Sam, did you even believe of half the cheering crap you gave your brother when he was down and depressed? You want Dean to want to live but do you yourself? It’s not ok for Dean to go on that self-sacrificing crap and off himself to save the world (meaning you) but it’s all fine for you? Jesus Sammy…
Still, at that moment of the episode, I didn’t fully get it, I was tick like that, too busy fighting back the tears in my eyes and hoping that Sam would make the right decision (which was of course abandoning the trials, no matter the cost people, Sam is more important.)
And then my heart broke and I finally, finally understood Sam Winchester version season 8. For the first time in a long time, I could say that everything about him was crystal clear, past and present.
During all this season, they made him so… unapologic. They made him so stoic and defensive almost aloof, really, about taking the year off, about being with a married woman, about not looking for Dean, about Dean’s anger and hurt towards him… the only thing Sam seemed to be passionate about were the things Dean, and well, a lot of us, were pissed at him for: Amelia, be reluctant to go back to the hunt (which a lot of us read as being reluctant to go back to his brother), his murderous feelings towards Benny who was really a sweetheart with fangs…
But in truth, Sam never really moved on like he wanted Dean to do, did he? He was never untouchable, never cold, never not feeling, wasn’t he?
He was devastated to see how much his choices had hurt his brother. He was beyond hurt when Dean told him that Benny had been a better brother to him that Sam ever was. He was angry at Dean for never letting him forget how he failed him by not looking for him. He was crestfallen that again, Dean seemed to turn to someone else for trust.
And that gave us that fucking beautiful heart-wrenching scene, that left me speechless and sobbing as much as Sam.
I understood.
I understood that Sam didn’t look for Dean because he actually believed that Dean would be better off without him, with Castiel, no matter where.
I understood that Sam was deep bones terrified that he would screw things up even worst that they were by looking for his brother, after all we all remember what happened when he went on a quest to avenge Dean.
I understood that Sam believed that someone like him, someone “not clean” enough couldn’t even fathom to go on “quest like that”.
I understood that Sam had never stop loving his brother and I felt a huge shame and guilt at the thought that I wasn’t sure of it because of the whole beginning of this season.
In order to love, you must forgive.
So I understood and I forgave.
Sam didn’t look for Dean when Dean was in purgatory.
So?
· Oh Dean AKA “We will figure it out, just like we always do”
First, fucking kudos to Jensen for his play. The intonations, the expressions, everything was perfect, a beautiful echo to Jared’s outstanding play.
Second, Dean. This is why Dean is the perfect big-brother for Sam. At that moment, that very moment when Sam poured down all the hurt and the bitterness he had kept down inside and hide for dear life, when he fucking cried and his voice broke (and God, I was wailing in front of my screen you guys) Dean really needed to open the hell up and find the right words or Sam was going to off himself by curing Crowley.
And Dean did. He did find the right words, the one that needed to be said. Who needs the words “I love you” when you hear this? This is better.
This, right here is a huge step between the brothers, especially after all the crap they went through with Amelia (never could stand her) and Benny (I love him), but what Dean is saying here is also (and more importantly) about Castiel, who screwed things up far worthier than anybody and yeah, like Dean said “always thought he was doing the right thing” but never, ever listen to anyone who told him to think again.
Oh, I can hear Sam!girls already arguing that while Dean’s words are indeed nice and all that, it doesn’t totally made up for the way big brother had put down Sammy verbally for ditching him to play house with a chick and I know that all the Dean!girls out there will defend big brother by saying that Sam’s self-doubts and self-hatred doesn’t erase his faults.
And yeah, you are both right and wrong. Just like Sam and Dean, humans, full of flaws, of mistakes and of love and devotion. They screwed up, they were right and they were wrong. The only thing that counts is that they are still together and alive. As far as I’m concerned this ending is a happy one.
“How do I stop?” Sam asked.
That’s a good question. How do you stop a quest that had you purified when you being the boy “with the demon blood” all your life? How do you stop something that had you slowing dying when you don’t really want to live anyway? How do you stop every little thought that tell you that the world and your brother would be better off with you sacrificing yourself, again.
Man, when it comes down to it, how do you stop breathing? How do you stop loving Dean?
You don’t, you can’t, and you find a way to live with it, Sam. You and Dean will figure it out. Just like you both always do.
So let it go.
For that bit “Don’t you dare think that there is anything, past or present, that I would put in front of you”. Ok he said “past or present” not “future” but come on! Do you really expect him to say that? Using this to say Dean is not devoted to Sam is beyond stupid and ridiculous. What if he has children? Do you expect him to put them after Sam? Do you really thing Sam would even want him to do that?
Glad you see my point. Moving on.
· Oh Crowley AKA “I DESERVED TO BE LOVED! ... What?”
Mark did an incredible job, seriously! Just… bravo man.
If Crowley hadn't kill Sarah last episode, I would have feel a hell of more pity for him, especially when he realized he was at Dean’s and Sam’s mercy, at Bobby’s place (how poetic)
Man, the expression on his face was priceless, really, how does a king manage to look like a lost little boy (with a beard) is beyond me.
I was so pissed at him for trying (and failing, please, tell me he failed) to kill Jodie that I actually wanted him to suffered a little.
Which didn’t stop me for chuckling when he bite Sam’s arm but, oh well.
I gotta say, I’m kind of a little (okay, a lot) curious about Crowley’s past (human) life and also about his meatsuit.
What do we know about Fergus? His momma was a witch, his son hated his guts and he is Scottish to the bones (no pun intended). But that’s all and if Sam’s hard works managed to changed anything at all, I would love for season nine (God, it feels good to write this, season nine…) to feature a conflicted Crowley, not human, of course, still demon, still bastard, but more grumpy and angsty and less evil.
I want him to feel. He wants to be love. Let him have it.
Where do you start to look for forgiveness? Hey Sammy, this one is for you too: Inside of yourself. Forgive yourself.
- · Angels are falling through the sky like shooting stars. But I never made a wish.
So. Metatron. Well, I gotta say, I never saw that one coming, because after the whole creepy librarian-coward thing, I was sure he was kind of good. Clumsy and socially awkward, but good.
You know it’s actually funny, because I never had a good feeling about the character Metatron, but that was because I’ve read “His Dark Materials” and he was a bad guy in it. When SPN was gonna use that particular character I had doubts. Then “The Great Escapist” happened and I was convinced he was kind of like Raphael only less attractive and more geek.
When he came up with the sudden will of closing the gates of heaven… yeah, I find it shady and his explanation of how it was supposed to help the big family that angels was… well, it was crappy at best, but still, I would have never thought Metatron, the secretary of God, would be so angry and hurt by Daddy’s departure that he was up to cast all of the angels that send him running from his home, on earth, leaving heaven a desolate and empty place and doing something that only God was supposed to have rights to do since Lucifer.
The end of this season, all of the angels falling from the sky and leaving trails of fire behind them… it was in the same time beautiful and horrifying. It was also strangely heartbreaking, because what happened to Lucifer, the way he had told it to Dean, the way he had uttered those words “God had Michael cast me into hell” like millenaries hadn’t being able to calm his agony, well… I wouldn’t wish it on the angels. Even if there are dicks. And God, I don’t wish them on earth, I don’t.
Now, let’s talk (briefly) about Castiel. Y’all who are used to read me know that I don’t really fancy him, for a lot of reasons that would be too long to list here. But damn, you would have thought he knew better by now. You would have thought he would listen to Dean and not get on his high fucking white horse and “save heaven” again, just like last time, when he “save heaven” by killing hundreds and hundreds of angels, or when he declared himself God after swallowing thousands of thousands of souls letting the leviathans out or when he broke Sam’s wall or when he let Sam out of the… erm. Sorry, I’m stopping right here.
Point is, Castiel screwed up a lot, but contrary to Sam, he doesn’t learn from his mistakes, if anything he makes bigger mistakes afterwards. He said he was looking for redemption but all he managed was to gain grief and mistrust by everyone. At the end, the sky is falling and while tricked by Metatron like a big great dummy, this is still Castiel’s doing.
I don’t think Castiel is going to get his grace’s back until he truly deserve it. But after everything, I’ll be surprised if he wants it back.
Finally, and to conclude that review I’m going to say that while I hated the beginning of Season 8 because of the whole Amelia plot (which I hope is truly dead) there was great happiness too, like Kevin and Charlie. I loved Benny completely, he was the most honest character of this show, no hidden agendas, no false feelings, and he was raw, trustworthy and kind of cuddly. He was a true friend to Dean and would have been a great friend to Sam if only the occasion would have been given. I loved to see Bobby again. I loved Abbadon, long live the queen, Crowley, start worrying.
I loved the return of SamandDean, and the honest and loving conversations they had, like when Sam said to Dean that he was “a genius, the best hunter he ever known” or when Dean confessed to Sam that him living old, "surrounded by kids and grandkids" was his very “happy ending”
And most of all I loved the finale that (for me) truly made up for the fact that great leads like the purgatory-plot or the closing-the-gates-of-hell-plot had been abandoned. I wasn’t expecting that kind of cliffhanger.
Thanks for the writers who gave us more hugs this season, it was a joy we (and the boys) needed.
Feel free to tell me what you thought of the finale and this review ^^
Kiss,
Erin.