Wayward Sons
I'm still ruminating over the Supernatural finale. I talked about the end of the series previously, here and here. Massive spoilers if you haven't seen 15.18, 15.19, and 15.20.
[Spoiler (click to open)]I've about decided there was a bit of "Choose Your Own Ending" at play in the final three episodes. 15.18 was the big Destiel love confession, 15.19 wrapped up this season's Winchesters vs. God plot, and 15.20 was... the writers going back to an oft used idea that one brother dies and the other carries on. It's just this time, death actually stuck. Just pick the bits and pieces you like, and you're set, just ignore the rest. Which is what fandom excels at.
I personally was okay with 15.19 being The End instead of just the "season finale". You just can't really one up yourself over defeating God, and it would work as the series finale as well. Like many, I wondered exactly what the actual series finale would be, since all the big stuff was done. Seems to be the writers went back to basics with a good old-fashioned hunt that goes wrong and Dean dies after getting pushed back onto a piece of rebar. It's practically a trope on this show that one of them dies and the other will bring him back (or at least try), but this time, death stuck.
Dean goes to New and Improved Heaven(tm), where he's greeted by Bobby Singer (not AU!Bobby). Bobby explains that Jack redid the rules in Heaven, with Castiel helping, to make it what heaven should always have been. Instead of reliving your Greatest Hits, you get to have a happy new chapter in the afterlife, which includes Baby being in Heaven as well (she's earned it). Here's where things really break down for me. Back in 15.19, Dean was ready to make a deal with Chuck to get Cas back, but he didn't ask God!Jack to bring him back, which bothered me while watching, but I figured it would be done by the finale. In 15.20, it's confirmed that God!Jack got Cas out of The Empty, but we don't see either one of them. We don't see anyone except Bobby, though we're told John and Mary Winchester have a place just down the road, and Rufus is there too.
Meanwhile, we see a montage of Sam as he goes on with his life, which includes a wife (I guess they were married, and I'm guessing it was Eileen), and a son named Dean. He eventually dies of old age with his son telling him it's okay to leave, just like he told Dean it was okay to leave.
I wonder how much COVID affected things? The final two episodes were written, but not filmed, before the shutdown and I think even the one before that was affected a bit. There were just so many missing faces, and in 15.20 it was really obvious. Not just with Dean being in New and Improved Heaven(tm) and only seeing Bobby and Baby, but even Sam's life is relatively solo. We didn't see Eileen before Chuck snapped her away, but I'm assuming God!Jack returned her because Donna (who was snapped right in front of Sam) is later named dropped as being alive and well. We don't see Eileen as Sam's wife, just a vague woman on the porch as Sam and his son play catch who's never named.
I understand the problems COVID caused making it difficult to do cameos, but they can't even name drop Eileen? I often felt like the stuff I wanted to see was happening just off the screen. We got a little bit of Sam grieving before he apparently went on another hunt. But how about seeing some other reactions to the news, such as Donna or Jody, even if it was on the phone? Instead of having some random cop from Austin calling (btw, the area code shown on Dean's Other Other Phone was correct, and both actors are living in that area now from what I understand) and saying Donna told him to call Sam, why not have Donna make the call and learn the news about Dean? We see Son!Dean has an anti-possession tattoo on his arm. So did Sam (and Eileen?) teach him the family business, or did Sam get him the tattoo for safety, or was he mimicking his dad's cool tattoo?
I really thought for a hot minute that we'd see Castiel in New and Improved Heaven(tm), because it was perfectly set up to be able to go there, even if they didn't deal with the love declaration onscreen. Going with the basics of what they had, why not have Dean eventually seeing Castiel and then Sam, before Jack does his adorable little "hello" wave at them, welcoming them to their new afterlife together? I know there's a group of fans who want to focus only on the brothers for various reasons, but for me, I'm a Found Family fan to the end.
I was amused that New and Improved Heaven(tm)'s timeline also seems to work in Jeremy Bearimys, like in The Good Place.
Come to think ot it, I wish the show had taken a page out of The Good Place's scripts. Imagine Team Free Will, along with friends and family, in New and Improved Heaven(tm) that works like The Good Place. They get to spend their infinite afterlife being happy and working out their issues (so many issues), before going on to a new plane of existance. Just this once, Winchesters, everybody lives!
Overall, I enjoyed the show for 15 seasons, and thought the final season was good. It's just that the ending was sad, and if it's going to be sad, then I want a good cry out of it, and I was totally dry eyed. In comparison to The Good Place yet again; that finale left me wrecked and totally okay with it. I think it may be because Supernatural has yanked us back and forth so many times that I kept expecting some sort of Big Reveal and there was none. Lots of inconsistencies that seemed to depend on who was writing, instead of having some greater meaning. So many missing pieces in the finale that were much more interesting to me than what was left on the screen.
I read an article about this was the end of an era, going on to detail things that are common now and weren't 15 years ago and vice versa, as well as shows that have come and gone, to really push how much things have changed. I mentioned previously that I don't think we'll see shows last this long again. Broadcast and cable are too impatient to let shows grow, while streaming tends to do much shorter seasons that don't go beyond the 3 - 5 season range. I wonder how long it will take before there's some sort of reboot, and will Jensen and Jared have some sort of role in it? Perhaps one as John and the other as Bobby? Or maybe an extra chuckle by casting them as the current vessels of Michael and Lucifer? Tune in next time.
[Spoiler (click to open)]I've about decided there was a bit of "Choose Your Own Ending" at play in the final three episodes. 15.18 was the big Destiel love confession, 15.19 wrapped up this season's Winchesters vs. God plot, and 15.20 was... the writers going back to an oft used idea that one brother dies and the other carries on. It's just this time, death actually stuck. Just pick the bits and pieces you like, and you're set, just ignore the rest. Which is what fandom excels at.
I personally was okay with 15.19 being The End instead of just the "season finale". You just can't really one up yourself over defeating God, and it would work as the series finale as well. Like many, I wondered exactly what the actual series finale would be, since all the big stuff was done. Seems to be the writers went back to basics with a good old-fashioned hunt that goes wrong and Dean dies after getting pushed back onto a piece of rebar. It's practically a trope on this show that one of them dies and the other will bring him back (or at least try), but this time, death stuck.
Dean goes to New and Improved Heaven(tm), where he's greeted by Bobby Singer (not AU!Bobby). Bobby explains that Jack redid the rules in Heaven, with Castiel helping, to make it what heaven should always have been. Instead of reliving your Greatest Hits, you get to have a happy new chapter in the afterlife, which includes Baby being in Heaven as well (she's earned it). Here's where things really break down for me. Back in 15.19, Dean was ready to make a deal with Chuck to get Cas back, but he didn't ask God!Jack to bring him back, which bothered me while watching, but I figured it would be done by the finale. In 15.20, it's confirmed that God!Jack got Cas out of The Empty, but we don't see either one of them. We don't see anyone except Bobby, though we're told John and Mary Winchester have a place just down the road, and Rufus is there too.
Meanwhile, we see a montage of Sam as he goes on with his life, which includes a wife (I guess they were married, and I'm guessing it was Eileen), and a son named Dean. He eventually dies of old age with his son telling him it's okay to leave, just like he told Dean it was okay to leave.
I wonder how much COVID affected things? The final two episodes were written, but not filmed, before the shutdown and I think even the one before that was affected a bit. There were just so many missing faces, and in 15.20 it was really obvious. Not just with Dean being in New and Improved Heaven(tm) and only seeing Bobby and Baby, but even Sam's life is relatively solo. We didn't see Eileen before Chuck snapped her away, but I'm assuming God!Jack returned her because Donna (who was snapped right in front of Sam) is later named dropped as being alive and well. We don't see Eileen as Sam's wife, just a vague woman on the porch as Sam and his son play catch who's never named.
I understand the problems COVID caused making it difficult to do cameos, but they can't even name drop Eileen? I often felt like the stuff I wanted to see was happening just off the screen. We got a little bit of Sam grieving before he apparently went on another hunt. But how about seeing some other reactions to the news, such as Donna or Jody, even if it was on the phone? Instead of having some random cop from Austin calling (btw, the area code shown on Dean's Other Other Phone was correct, and both actors are living in that area now from what I understand) and saying Donna told him to call Sam, why not have Donna make the call and learn the news about Dean? We see Son!Dean has an anti-possession tattoo on his arm. So did Sam (and Eileen?) teach him the family business, or did Sam get him the tattoo for safety, or was he mimicking his dad's cool tattoo?
I really thought for a hot minute that we'd see Castiel in New and Improved Heaven(tm), because it was perfectly set up to be able to go there, even if they didn't deal with the love declaration onscreen. Going with the basics of what they had, why not have Dean eventually seeing Castiel and then Sam, before Jack does his adorable little "hello" wave at them, welcoming them to their new afterlife together? I know there's a group of fans who want to focus only on the brothers for various reasons, but for me, I'm a Found Family fan to the end.
I was amused that New and Improved Heaven(tm)'s timeline also seems to work in Jeremy Bearimys, like in The Good Place.
Click to viewCome to think ot it, I wish the show had taken a page out of The Good Place's scripts. Imagine Team Free Will, along with friends and family, in New and Improved Heaven(tm) that works like The Good Place. They get to spend their infinite afterlife being happy and working out their issues (so many issues), before going on to a new plane of existance. Just this once, Winchesters, everybody lives!
Overall, I enjoyed the show for 15 seasons, and thought the final season was good. It's just that the ending was sad, and if it's going to be sad, then I want a good cry out of it, and I was totally dry eyed. In comparison to The Good Place yet again; that finale left me wrecked and totally okay with it. I think it may be because Supernatural has yanked us back and forth so many times that I kept expecting some sort of Big Reveal and there was none. Lots of inconsistencies that seemed to depend on who was writing, instead of having some greater meaning. So many missing pieces in the finale that were much more interesting to me than what was left on the screen.
I read an article about this was the end of an era, going on to detail things that are common now and weren't 15 years ago and vice versa, as well as shows that have come and gone, to really push how much things have changed. I mentioned previously that I don't think we'll see shows last this long again. Broadcast and cable are too impatient to let shows grow, while streaming tends to do much shorter seasons that don't go beyond the 3 - 5 season range. I wonder how long it will take before there's some sort of reboot, and will Jensen and Jared have some sort of role in it? Perhaps one as John and the other as Bobby? Or maybe an extra chuckle by casting them as the current vessels of Michael and Lucifer? Tune in next time.