5.22 Instant Thoughts
First off - I have never felt so relieved to hear Chuck’s voice in my life. His interludes into the history and the significance of the Impala were sweet blessed relief to the constant sense of impending doom and the stress of watching the finale. Those little vignettes on the Impala were when I felt like I could breathe. I am beginning to think that when I am experiencing such physical symptoms (thudding heart, feeling of tightness in the chest and the beginnings of an almighty emotional overload stress head ache) that perhaps some TV show has maybe got its claws into one just a little more deep than is healthy. That finale made my face hurt. ..I think I would be in bed with all the curtains drawn and a veritable plethora of headache meds swallowed if it weren’t for those brief (and utterly light hearted in comparison) forays into Impala back story.
In a way I’m glad I’m a part of the fandom - because there were moments in this episode where I could detach from all the stress and angst and just think about all the fangirls (and fanboys no doubt) out there and what their instant reaction to certain events might have been. This was the perfect distraction for me from my own emotional distress. When Lucifer exploded Cas all I thought was Fuck! the Misha/Cas girls are gonna break the internets with the rioting and then when Bobby was killed I was Jesus Christ I hope Kripke has good personal security.
I think the hardest part for me to bear was the Lucifer laying into Dean part. What Dean was saying was absolutely slaying me with the pain. Here the guy is being beaten bloody, his face one huge haematoma of mashed pulp and he’s letting Sam know he’s always gonna be with him. Whoever wrote that scene is a psychological manipulator of the most deviant kind. The kind that probably writes ads for health insurance using personal stories of cancer. Yeah - that kind of evil. I was sucha puddle of relieved goo when Cas came back and fixed him. Looking at Jensen’s face like that really made me wince and cringe on his behalf.
As an aside I was so impressed with Jared’s acting in this. It was such a heavy episode for him and there was not a single teeny tiny millisecond of any of his scenes where I felt he’d missed it. There was so much to laud in this. Some perfect line deliveries that I’m gonna have to rewatch and enjoy again. Friggin’ awesome. I hope he got a lot of personal and professional satisfaction out of watching the job he did.
I loved how this episode did not, for one beat, let up with the intensity of the sense of series finale. Not season finale but series. From go to woah it was all about the last five years and the story of Sam and Dean. The feeling of this is the end was so well constructed that even though I knew there is a Season 6 it felt like a five year long story had ended. Chuck was right - endings are the biggest pain in the ass there is in terms of story writing and for all the reasons he gave to us. At a number of moments within Chuck’s scenes I sat there and thought with a wry smile that Chuck is totally Eric Kripke talking to those fans who’ve watched every single episode of this show.
I did predict in my last post here in my journal that Sam would pop straight back up out of the cage - and he did! Sans the smouldering of course and possibly Himself had a fair bit to do with this but it really was because it was Sam FUCKING Winchester folks and that boy is special. Himself doesn’t intervene for just any hero who saves the world. He does for Sam FUCKING Winchester though.
I did seriously spend the last five minutes of this episode having minor heart palpitations that the whole thing was going to end on a cliff hanger. Once again Eric never does things the easy way or the less traumatic way. Somehow Eric has a cliff hanger without having a cliff hanger. I’m not sure that there will ever be another show that manages the balance of keeping your average viewer happy and your hardcore fans just as enthralled (and yes ‘enraged at times’ also works here). This episode ended with just enough loose threads to keep your usual run of the mill type viewers (ie viewers who haven’t watched every single episode obsessively multiple times over) interested in tuning in next season. The only rope I wanna know about is how many episodes till they fix the boys and give us back Sam and Dean. I guess I’m not really taking the whole Lisa/Apple pie life thing seriously. I like the attempt at trying to get me all angst ridden over the boys being apart but I’ve been there done that and got the t shirt that says “Sam and Dean can last less than two whole episodes apart EVER”. And I’m fine with all that. When I say I like the attempt I like it because it’s a simple attempt - it doesn’t leave me wringing my hands concerned for the boys. Maybe Kripke thinks he’s done that to us enough this season and is cutting us a break. I’d be surprised at any of fandom buying the Lisa/Apple pie distraction as a serious attempt to split the boys up. I’m purely speculating here (as I haven’t waded through my 380 skip flist yet) but I can imagine there might be some offended souls out there who are a little insulted by the simplicity of it all. As if we’d buy it. I have an affinity to the ostrich in this respect - the fact that it is so flimsy and clearly lacking in substance makes it perfectly easy to dismiss. I admit I am looking forward to the reunion once Dean spirals into self destruct without his Sammy though. This is all Eric's influence talking now.
I’m really fascinated by the Impala story in all this though. For so long it has been such a huge symbol in Sam and Dean’s lives that it has always felt like that it should be treated with the same sort of significance as any Winchester family member. I loved the way Chuck wrote about it and can’t wait to listen and watch all that over again. I can feel that more consideration of the Impala’s role in Sam gaining hold over Lucifer is going to be happening soon. Any kind of glimpses into the boys’ childhoods and growing up just make me flail in delight especially when I consider all the fodder for my favourite writers in the fandom. *Does the Snoopy happy dance*
This was a fitting and so very satisfying finale for me, I could probably be accused of lacking critical thought on the clearly OOC behaviour of Dean at the end but to me it’s just not important enough. There was too much to squee about to allow that to intrude on all the happy heart-warming gratitude I felt for the show. A letter for Eric:
Dear Eric
Thankyou for:
1) Not leaving Sammy in the pit
2) For not leaving Bobby with his neck snapped and dead
3) For not leaving Castiel exploded
4) For not making Dean kill Sam
5) For not letting Lucifer kill Dean
6) Getting Chuck to tell us The Story of Sam and Dean and The Impala
Best of luck for your future endeavours, may they all revolve around Supernatural forever.
Love Me