SPN 5.22: Swan Song
This morning I rewatched the finale without a roommate hovering over my shoulder, wondering when this crap was going to be over so we could watch one of his Manly Mechanic Man Shows. (You know, the kind where they customize cars or poke sticks at snakes or maybe build bridges across hundred-foot chasms with nothing but duct tape.)
On rewatch, I got something in my eye. And then I got something in my other eye.
And y'all. I've got something in my heart.
First, the bitching:
Nothing makes the cheese and melodrama on this show more excruciating than watching it in the presence of people who are not already ridiculously invested in these characters. Plinky piano music and emotional anvils dropped via low-flying voiceover are more than a little embarrassing when Pat is sitting next to me.
"It's not usually like this," I said while Lucifer and Michael conspicuously failed to clash like titans, choosing instead to glare and bitch about how Daddy was so unfair. "Usually there's a lot more gruesome death and one-liners and shotguns."
"I didn't say anything," Pat said mildly.
"I don't know why there are no shotguns in this one," I mumbled apologetically, just as Lucifer started restating an ancient theological problem in the most whiny and juvenile possible way, as if he'd just thought of it himself.
Further ranty bitching, in no particular order. Skip if you prefer your squee unharshed:
Jesus Christ, Kripke, your five year apocalyptic drama all hinges on a fucking yellow crayon speech? And YOU are God in this scenario? By the way, what happened to that Antichrist kid Jesse? Was he important at all, or were you wasting our time with that episode? And why the fuck don't you have the balls to kill off your beloved male characters? Why does Bobby get his goddamn legs back and oh forget all about his silly little deal with Crowley? Are there just no lasting consequences for that old bastard whatsoever? And are we seriously supposed to still be rooting for main characters who hang up human beings to bleed out like pigs? And why couldn't you have actually developed Lisa's character before you tossed her into your finale? And why is Dean's only function here to get his ass beat? God damn your lame-ass voiceover! And GOD DAMN YOU AND YOUR FUCKING YELLOW CRAYON!
On a rewatch, here's what I loved:
But what really gets me about this episode is the way it ends for Dean. On the one hand, I yearn for him to have that safe, warm place to come home to, where somebody opens her arms without hesitation. I loved Lisa when we met her, still do, and I was thrilled to see her again. But the way he comes back to her is so screwed up. He doesn't know this woman at all - he's here because he promised Sam, because he has nowhere else to go, because he's in too much pain to do anything else. She'll never know the half of what he's been through, and it's not like a traumatized, depressed, borderline alcoholic drifter is going to make a fantastic role model for her kid, you know? It's just a mess.
But I think it's a promising mess. Imagine if Dean does get attached to someone who might eventually make him happy. Wouldn't it be novel and interesting for the Winchesters to have a shot at that sort of thing again, after years of "It ends bloody or it ends sad"? Imagine if season six plays on the tension between home life and hunting, between stability and the road. "What would you rather have, Dean, peace or freedom?"
Imagine if Lisa becomes a fleshed-out character with her own motivations: grateful to Dean for her life and her son's, trying to help him and to understand, but dealing with her own conflicts and misgivings. Imagine if Dean and Ben form an actual bond, and we get to see daddy!Dean or something like him.
Or perhaps we'll get a scene out of "The Hurt Locker," where Dean stares at rows and rows of cereal, considers the banality of low-stakes living, and goes back to defusing bombs hunting monsters by the end of 6.01. Because these writers do seem to love dangling plot threads in front of us and then yanking them away.
Either way, it's been a long time since I've been so keen to know...
OMG AND THEN WHAT HAPPENS?
On rewatch, I got something in my eye. And then I got something in my other eye.
And y'all. I've got something in my heart.
First, the bitching:
Nothing makes the cheese and melodrama on this show more excruciating than watching it in the presence of people who are not already ridiculously invested in these characters. Plinky piano music and emotional anvils dropped via low-flying voiceover are more than a little embarrassing when Pat is sitting next to me.
"It's not usually like this," I said while Lucifer and Michael conspicuously failed to clash like titans, choosing instead to glare and bitch about how Daddy was so unfair. "Usually there's a lot more gruesome death and one-liners and shotguns."
"I didn't say anything," Pat said mildly.
"I don't know why there are no shotguns in this one," I mumbled apologetically, just as Lucifer started restating an ancient theological problem in the most whiny and juvenile possible way, as if he'd just thought of it himself.
Further ranty bitching, in no particular order. Skip if you prefer your squee unharshed:
Jesus Christ, Kripke, your five year apocalyptic drama all hinges on a fucking yellow crayon speech? And YOU are God in this scenario? By the way, what happened to that Antichrist kid Jesse? Was he important at all, or were you wasting our time with that episode? And why the fuck don't you have the balls to kill off your beloved male characters? Why does Bobby get his goddamn legs back and oh forget all about his silly little deal with Crowley? Are there just no lasting consequences for that old bastard whatsoever? And are we seriously supposed to still be rooting for main characters who hang up human beings to bleed out like pigs? And why couldn't you have actually developed Lisa's character before you tossed her into your finale? And why is Dean's only function here to get his ass beat? God damn your lame-ass voiceover! And GOD DAMN YOU AND YOUR FUCKING YELLOW CRAYON!
On a rewatch, here's what I loved:
- "Oh. I'm supposed to lie."
- "Hey, assbutt!"
"Assbutt?"
- Dean Winchester's balls of fucking steel, blasting his music, sauntering up to Satan and the Archangel Michael, and saying, "'Sup, bitches?"
Also, Dean's incredible strength, first in telling Sam - and meaning it this time, down to his bones - that Sam's a grown-ass man whose life is his own to lay down. Then in going to Stull Cemetery, not to die with his brother, not to save him, not to determine his fate in any way - just to be there, loving him. To make sure he doesn't die alone. Oh, Dean.
- Sam Winchester's balls of fucking steel. Full stop.
- Castiel going splodey. I didn't think Kripke would dare. Of course, then he came back later new and improved, so maybe no points for daring?
- Dean telling Cas he's coming for God next.
- Jensen Ackles about broke my damn heart, standing on a stranger's doorstep and asking to be taken in. The motherly way she wraps him up - "Shh, shh, it's all right" - and the way his face just crumples into her neck...
- The Kerouac reference in the Impala's origin story. Sal Moriarty. Nice.
- "...they were never, in fact, homeless."
- Sam's appearance under the streetlight was chilling and exhilarating in all the best possible ways.
But what really gets me about this episode is the way it ends for Dean. On the one hand, I yearn for him to have that safe, warm place to come home to, where somebody opens her arms without hesitation. I loved Lisa when we met her, still do, and I was thrilled to see her again. But the way he comes back to her is so screwed up. He doesn't know this woman at all - he's here because he promised Sam, because he has nowhere else to go, because he's in too much pain to do anything else. She'll never know the half of what he's been through, and it's not like a traumatized, depressed, borderline alcoholic drifter is going to make a fantastic role model for her kid, you know? It's just a mess.
But I think it's a promising mess. Imagine if Dean does get attached to someone who might eventually make him happy. Wouldn't it be novel and interesting for the Winchesters to have a shot at that sort of thing again, after years of "It ends bloody or it ends sad"? Imagine if season six plays on the tension between home life and hunting, between stability and the road. "What would you rather have, Dean, peace or freedom?"
Imagine if Lisa becomes a fleshed-out character with her own motivations: grateful to Dean for her life and her son's, trying to help him and to understand, but dealing with her own conflicts and misgivings. Imagine if Dean and Ben form an actual bond, and we get to see daddy!Dean or something like him.
Or perhaps we'll get a scene out of "The Hurt Locker," where Dean stares at rows and rows of cereal, considers the banality of low-stakes living, and goes back to defusing bombs hunting monsters by the end of 6.01. Because these writers do seem to love dangling plot threads in front of us and then yanking them away.
Either way, it's been a long time since I've been so keen to know...
OMG AND THEN WHAT HAPPENS?