Initial reaction 11.23: I'm so glad the world is ending.

[caranfindel]

Before we start: This is for you, my friends. Thanks for being here with me.


ALL THE HUGS.

I haven't read any of your reactions yet. I know some of you will love it and some of you will hate it. I did mine Tumblr for some gifs though, because DAMN, CERTAIN PARTS OF THIS EPISODE NEED TO BE VIEWED IN MOTION.

So let's get started!

THEN: Ah, you know the drill. Let's talk about what didn't show up in the "then." No Eileen, no Dean despondently looking down at his brother's "corpse," no talk of retirement. So none of that is going to be important to this episode. Also absent: any mention that Sam is the only one who can fight Amara, and Dean's incapable of harming her. Instead, we're reminded that she chose Dean. Thanks for the heads-up, Show.

NOW!

We start right where we ended last week, with Cas apparently de-Lucifered and Chuck mortally wounded. Dean instructs Sam to check on Chuck, which I think is sweet because he doesn't want him to have to check on Lucifer. But actually I'm sure they did it this way just so Dean can get the reveal that Cas is Cas again. I do like the way his face changes from distrustful to amazed.


You mean we don't have to put up with your awful Lucifer imitation any more? Thank Chuck!

Chuck can feel "my spark, my light fading," and he knows only Amara can save him, but obviously she won't. Obviously. Why would she do that?

Rowena shows up to take them outside, where they're all bathed in the flattering light of what turns out to be the dying sun. This is how the world's going to end, then. Chuck zaps them back to the bunker, because he can still do that, even when he's mortally wounded. (Why do I mention this? No reason.) And now that the world's ending, Dean reasonably decides there's nothing left to do but get drunk. Unreasonably, he goes for beer instead of whiskey. That's gonna take a lot longer, Dean, and who knows how much time you have left?


You could at least drink it outside where you'd look so pretty. Just sayin'.

We then cut inexplicably to London, where a posh young woman is delivered by a driver to an expensive house. OH, GOOD. I WAS HOPING WE'D GET AN ENTIRELY NEW CHARACTER RIGHT AT THE END. I LOVE IT WHEN THAT HAPPENS. She watches the news about the sun's loss of energy, and then gets a phone call ordering her to go somewhere and do something. Oh, and it turns out she's a Woman of Letters and she has a whole wall dedicated to you-know-who. She kisses her son goodbye and finds that her (housekeeper? assistant? nanny?) has packed her bag with a very familiar-looking gun.



Or maybe she's just a fan. Maybe that's her fanfic inspiration board. Maybe the gun that looks like Dean's is a cosplay thing.

In the bunker, Rowena continues sucking up to Chuck, who appreciates her company despite Crowley's warnings. Dean has aggressively given up and takes Cas on a beer run. Sam thinks they need to come up with a plan B and says "anything" is better than sitting around waiting to die. Be careful what you ask for, Sammy. You might get it. Chuck explains that even if they lock Amara up, the balance between light and dark will be destroyed when he dies, and the world will end anyway. So Sam decides if they can't cage her again, they need to kill her. "Bingo," says Crowley. Why? I don't know. Does it mean "Yay, I knew Sam would come up with something" or "Dammit, I knew these Winchesters weren't going to let me die in peace?" Or something else?

It doesn't matter, because I'm too distracted by joy at the return of Impala!Cam. I love this thing. I don't know why everyone looks so good on Impala!Cam, but they do. And I just love watching J2 actually drive. Cas puts on his hairshirt over the whole Lucifer thing and Dean tells him it was the right thing to do, that he really stepped up, rather than telling him it was fucking stupid because that's what Dean does, he forgives people. (HA HA HA SEE THAT'S A JOKE BECAUSE IT'S SO NOT TRUE.) Dean also semi-apologizes for taking him for granted, because that's another thing he does, he recognizes his faults and apologizes for them. (OH MY GOD I'M SO FUNNY.) He thanks Cas for always being there for them and tells him he's their brother. (BE CAREFUL, CAS, THAT'S NOT NECESSARILY A GOOD THING.) Then he gets a phone call from Sam and whips the car into a u-turn, much to my delight.


You're not gonna tell Sam about all this apologizing and crap, right? I don't want him to get his hopes up.

Back at the bunker, Dean is astonished that they're planning to kill Amara, and asks Chuck if he's okay with it. Chuck's not really enthused about killing his sister but recognizes that they have no other choice. He reveals that they might be able to kill her with the light of 10,000 suns. In his weakened state, unfortunately, he cannot "God them up," as Dean suggests. Cas suggests the use of souls, which are sources of energy, with each soul being as powerful as 100 suns. Oh, god, they're going to make me do math. Okay, so they need about 100 souls. Rowena says she can build a bomb with enough souls, so Cas says he'll go to Heaven to gather some. Crowley will see what souls he can scrounge up in Hell. And Dean and Sam are off to Waverly Hills Sanatorium, which is a real place in Kentucky that housed tuberculosis patients and is allegedly one of the most haunted locations on earth. Where better to harvest ghosts?

Cut to a ridiculously fake garden, complete with astroturf. An old woman is walking, with old gnarled hands, but when the camera pans up, we see it's Amara. Have her hands always looked this old? She notices some dead flowers, and then looks at her hands in fear or confusion. Are her hands aging as the sun dies? What the hell is going on here?



Seriously, what?

Later, she's going to talk to an older woman who bitches about her family but says no matter how much they piss you off, you have to love them, because they're family. Amara looks thoughtful and OH WAIT WHUT. IS THAT WHERE WE'RE GOING WITH THIS. TELL ME THAT'S NOT WHERE WE'RE GOING WITH THIS.

Let's forget about that and join the Winchesters. Rowena provided a trap and a magic word to capture the souls, and this is a typical ghost hunt, right down to Sam being choked. But the sanatorium scenes are lovely, they get a bunch of souls, and Dean's imitation of Rowena's accent is pretty cute. And more importantly, Billie the awesome reaper is there to watch the guys leave.




To be honest, I only threw that last one in there because the other two didn't show the bowlegs. We needed to see the bowlegs.

Team Godchester regroups at the bunker, where Cas informs them Heaven has declined to participate. They've decided to die with dignity. And Crowley's souls have been stolen by his former minions. What ever will they do, with their slightly less than 100 souls? Oh, never fear. Billie the awesome reaper shows up in the bunker, flirting with Crowley (rawr) and pointing out that reapers have access to a lot of souls. There's a very pretty sequence where she sucks thousands of souls out of the veil, which I guess means souls are still hanging out in the veil. Have they been there all this time, or is this just the people who died since Heaven heard God was dying and locked the door?


It needs more of a breeze blowing Sam's hair around, but it's still quite nice.

Billie gives the souls to Rowena, reminds the Winchesters she's still going to reap them, bids a flirty farewell to Crowley (WHAT THE HELL IS GOING ON THERE, I LIKE IT A LOT) and sees herself out. And Sam's all, cool, we've got the bomb, now we just have to find Amara and save the world and everything's going to be rainbows and unicorns (oh, Sam). But Cas says they need someone with a "personal connection" to get close to Amara, and all eyes turn to Dean. Sam swallows nervously, Dean asks how he smuggles the bomb, and Rowena says "You won't carry the bomb. You'll be the bomb." Oh, crap.



And these are Dean and Sam's reactions when they realize he's going to have to die to do this.

You know what? There's another being in this room with a personal connection to Amara. Someone who's already dying. Just saying. But fine. Rowena tells Dean how to trigger the bomb and painfully zaps it inside his chest and Chuck just watches, sadly. Come on, Chuck. She tells Dean he's got about an hour before he becomes a time bomb.

Meanwhile, Posh British Lady is stepping out of a private jet and requesting that she be driven to Lebanon, Kansas. I assume she didn't land in Kansas. Because if you land at an airport in Kansas, you don't say "take me to Kansas." She must have landed in Nebraska. That must be the closest airport. Or maybe she's nowhere near Kansas. Maybe it's going to be a long drive. (I KNOW. IT DOESN'T MATTER TO ANYONE. CARRY ON.)

THE CEMETERY SCENE. Oh god. If I get nothing else out of this episode, I get this scene. At this point, I remember that I actually have been lightly spoiled, because I saw a BTS (apparently) pic of the guys hugging in a cemetery. And here we are.

The boys are standing next to each other, and Sam tells Dean he doesn't have to do this, and Dean says "of course I do." Then we get a wider shot and we see they are standing at their mother's grave. (Which means they're in Greenville, Illinois, for what it's worth.) There are some kind of petals gently raining down on them and the whole thing is just beautiful. Sam kisses his fingertips and touches the tombstone, and I collapse on the floor, weeping.



You're killing me.

Dean heads over to the rest of Team Godchester and asks again if Chuck is cool with his sister being killed, and Chuck again says no, but there's no other choice. Dean and Cas hug, and Cas volunteers to go with him. Dean refuses, but asks him to watch out for Sam and make sure he doesn't do anything stupid. He then announces his funeral wishes, and says he wants his ashes spread here, but Dean, if you blow up with the power of 10,000 suns, you're ashes are going to be spread all over that fake garden.


You're killing me!

Then he goes to give his keys to Sam and Sam is looking away and biting his lip and shaking his head and all those things you do when you're fighting off tears and trying to pretend something awful isn't happening and Dean obliquely tells Sam he loves him and then they hug and oh, god, Sam buries his head in Dean's shoulder and desperately clutches at him and I just. I can't.

Come on, you know the drill. No chick flick moments, come on.
Yeah, you love chick flicks.
Yeah, you're right, I do. Come here.






YOU'RE KILLING ME.

You know what? We need to see that in motion.



I'M DEAD.

(Honestly, this scene didn't carry the same emotional weight as similar scenes in Swan Song and The Executioner's Song until that hug.)

Then Chuck snaps his fingers - because he can still zap you anywhere he wants to - and Dean is in the Garden of Plastic Eden. The rest of Team Godchester breaks into a closed pub called the Lazy Shag and waits to see what happens.

Dean offers himself to Amara, saying he doesn't want to just sit around and watch everyone die, so he's ready to end it all. But she can tell he's carrying a bomb. She points out that he's never been able to hurt her, so what makes him think he can do it now? Which isn't true. He did try very hard to stab her once, and the fact that the blade shattered had nothing to do with him being unwilling. But anyway. She says she's not the one causing the sun to die; it's going because God's power is fading. And how is that not her fault? She complains again that he betrayed her and locked her up for years, and sent Dean to execute her. Dean tells her that Chuck actually doesn't want her dead at all, because she's family. All of the destruction and nothingness is what she wanted, not him. She says no, she doesn't really want it, she just wanted to hurt him. And Dean's all, yeah, revenge feels good at first, but haven't you been watching this season? Didn't Eileen, and Reece/Sully, teach you that revenge doesn't fix anything? Her tells her that he and Sam have had fights, but they always "make it right," because they're family. When everything goes to crap, that's all you've got - family. And you know, you're supposed to forgive family for locking you away for millenia, or tricking you into hosting an angel, or whatever. You just do. And he thinks it's pretty obvious she really just needs her brother.

Back at the Lazy Shag, as someone on the jukebox sings "Don't let the sun catch you crying" (hee), Chuck looks like everything's going to crap. Sam's trying to get him to hang in there without coming out and saying "we need you to stay alive just long enough for Dean to kill himself and take your sister out in the process."


Come on, Chuck. You can stay alive for that face.

I wonder what would happen if he outlived her? Would an unbearable light take over all of creation? Would they all die anyway? Sam goes to get him a glass of water, but when he comes back, Chuck is gone. He's been zapped to the Garden of Plastic Eden. Amara tells him she was jealous and hurt but now she sees that everything he created is beautiful and she doesn't want him to die so she heals him and then the sun is fixed. At the Lazy Shag, the remains of Team Godchester go outside and look at the fresh happy sun and two of them are shocked and delighted, while two of them are kind of relieved but also mourning.


Awesome, your brother's dead!

Chuck removes the bomb from Dean and tells him earth will be fine, because it's got him and Sam. Hell, that's enough for me. Amara tells Dean "You gave me what I needed most. I want to do the same for you." Then she and Chuck smoke out together and well. Okay.

As the completely normal sun sets, we find ourselves in the bunker, looking at a MoL key box and a hand with blood dripping off the fingers. Huh. Sam and Cas come down the stairs, and look! It's Posh British Woman! She activates an angel banishing sigil and sends Cas away, then pulls a gun on Sam and introduces herself as Toni Bevel, MoL London Chapter. She's been sent to take Sam in, on account of the damage he's caused - archangels (what?), leviathan (you're blaming Sam?), the Darkness (well, yeah, that one). She asks where Dean is and poor Sam has to tell her he's dead, and then he goes from nervous to oh yeah my brother's dead and I don't give a shit any more.


YOU'RE KILLING ME!!!!

He does the finger-pointy thing and comes toward her. "Put the gun down. You and I both know you're not gonna pull the trigger." But she does. We hear the clink of a bullet casing hitting the floor, but not the thump of a Winchester hitting the floor. So, we know he's not dead, because he's Sam Fucking Winchester. But was he even shot, or was that a warning shot across the bow? I guess we'll find out in October.



But he pointed at you! That always works!

Cut to Dean, struggling through some bushes in the darkness, because Chuck couldn't bother to zap him back to the bunker. (At some point I'm sure Dean prayed to Cas and said "I'm alive, can you guys come pick me up" and Cas said "oh crap, I'm hallucinating Dean because I miss him so much." And he also lost his phone. Yep. I'm sure that happened.) He hears a woman's voice calling for help, and when he finally gets to her, it's... Mary?

WELL, THAT WAS UNEXPECTED. Kudos to the show for not spoiling it in the credits.

SO. Like I said earlier, I know some of you loved this and some of you hated it. It was a mixed bag for me. Earlier in the season I had ridiculously high expectations, but the last few episodes forced me to bring them down a little bit. I thought the worst-case scenario was going to be that Chuck and Lucifer would defeat Amara while Sam and Dean just watched. It didn't occur to me that Amara might just decide not to be a bad guy after all. I'm not particularly thrilled with that. I mean, yeah, it goes with the theme of family being everything, and if they hadn't tried to make her the Horror to end all Horrors it would have worked. But I feel like this season ended with a whimper when it deserved a bang. However, we got some very nice brotherly moments, so it wasn't a total loss. And I think there's some potential in the set-up for next season - I like the guys having more human enemies instead of, you know, god-level stuff.

(I don't know what to think about the return of Mary Winchester. If it's really Mary, as a person, then I don't like it at all.)

And obviously I've got to stop yammering on about the foreshadowing, since I got all of that wrong. It turns out all we were supposed to remember was that family trumps everything, revenge isn't worth it, and there's a UK branch of the MoL.

Anyway, What did you think? And, um, no spoilers for s12 in the comments, please. ;-)

Now let's see that hug one more time...

Comments

[fannishliss.livejournal.com]

I was SO THRILLED by the resolution between Chuck and Amara. I honestly never thought they'd have the nerve to let it happen, for darkness and light to reconcile. Take that, Dualism!!! \o/

I'm also kind of psyched that a prim British Lady of Letters has come out of the woodwork. I never bought that idea that every "chapterhouse" the whole world over was taken out.

I was seriously glad the soul bomb didn't work, because, wow, that would be some necromantic, black magic, bad mojo. Those are actual human souls you know. o_O

End of season bodycount:
Metatron: Dead. Yay!
Lucifer: gone, possibly dead. Also yay?
Rowena: back. Yay!!!
Crowley: Still snarking. Yay!!!!
Cas: his old self again. YAY!
bomb full of souls -- sleeping in heavenly chuck??
Billie -- a new reaper on the scene, taking names, extra yay.
MARY WINCHESTER -- EXTRA SUPER ALL THE YAY!!
Both Chuck and Amara: on vacay. Yay!
Dean: alive!
Sam: not explicitly dead!

So I'm pretty well satisfied. :D

[vyperdd.livejournal.com]

LOL to all your bodycount comments but ROTFLMAO to this one in particular:

Sam: not explicitly dead!

[tabaqui]

Heeeeee!
I love your glee. I am made gleeful by your glee. And your bodycount is a mirror for mine, even though i thought Metatron redeemed himself at the end, there, and i was feeling pretty mellow toward him. I thought Mr. Armstrong did an *amazing* job of making us like him (or at least sympathize with him) in the last couple eps.

So - YAYAYAY! :)

[caranfindel.livejournal.com]

Yes. Still not a big fan of Metatron, all things considered, but DAMN Curtis did a good job.

[caranfindel.livejournal.com]

I'm not actually convinced the soul bomb would have destroyed those souls. Maybe just the light of all of them being released at once would undo the Darkness.

[casey679.livejournal.com]

After 11x22 I had very low expectations. This was a significant step up for me.

So Cas is back. Yay? (Okay, I did like "I didn't know dogs had breakfast". It's still not badass angel-of-god Cas, but it's better than we got for most of this season.) Except... Lucifer's not dead, y'all. "Amara ripped him from my body." "To where?" "I don't know." I don't know how to feel about this. Before 11x22, I would have been happy. But I will die happy if I never see Lucifer-the-bratty-teenage-son ever again. EVER. AGAIN.

Overall, the Dean/Cas moments felt weirdly forced, but mostly because he didn't show that level of concern and apology to Sam at points where it felt like he probably should have. But then again again, he did basically kill himself trying to save Sam earlier in the season and found out that Sam had kept the amulet all those years, so... it's possible you don't need words after that. ("You love chick flick moments..." SNIFFFLE)

And oh, man, was it just me or was the car conversation between Cas and Dean dripping with hilariously heavy-handed bros-not-baes dialogue, like they felt they had to hammer home a point that "make-Dean-bisexual-so-he-and-Cas-can-kiss" proponents weren't getting. It felt like...



(And as a grumpy old queer activist, let me state for the record, that's not queerbaiting, it's like, the opposite of queerbaiting. Seriously. It's like the eleventeenth time the dialogue has made it clear there's nothing between them romantically.)

I was amazed with the antipathy I felt toward British lady. It was the same instinctive dislike I felt toward Bela Talbot. I'm inclined to believe that I just don't want the fucking British interfering in my American show, which makes no sense, especially since I'm fine with Scottish devils and (more grudgingly) Scottish witches. Oh, sure, it would have been nice if they had laid, I don't know, ANY groundwork for her at ANY time in the season before this, so it didn't feel quite so much like they pulled it out of their asses. But... the reality is that they probably did pull them out of their asses when they got renewed, though, which kind of blows but also isn't entirely their fault seeing how long it took the CW to announce their renewals.

That said, I'm down with the Men of Letters Europe branch. I would be down with European Steins showing up, too. It's more than time for supernatural shit to go global. But I hate the blame on Sam and Dean (I guess technically you could blame the leviathans on them working for Castiel and Crowley, but fuck that noise no). I hate the fact that God calls them his chosen and literally leaves the world in their hands and the next thing that happens is Sam getting blamed for shit. Again. I hated their disdain for hunters, I hated the fact that for 10 seasons they have apparently done jack-fucking-all to fix anything while Dean and Sam went to hell and lost everyone they ever cared about. If you want me to like them, like, at all, you've got your work cut out for you, writers.

But if you want them to be the villains, yeah, okay, I hate them already. Good job on that.

[casey679.livejournal.com]

But though I may dislike British lady's character, I am going to grudgingly give the writers full props this season. Fan have been asking for Supernatural to have more female characters, and by god, we got 'em. Rowena's expanded role, Billie, Amara, Eileen, Mildred, more Donna and Jody, Claire, Alexiswhatever, and now MOL lady whose name I didn't bother to get (and RIP tiny angry demon, you are still missed)... and of course Mary. Female representation and diversity is up a lot this season and that's good. I don't have to like all the characters to appreciate that they're there.

The ending between Chuck and Amara? No huge showdown, but it was okay to me. Supernatural has always been about choosing family, right or wrong. It makes the whole connection between Dean and Amara more interesting. They thought it was romantic, but it wasn't. It was the desire to not be alone on a core level, and losing his mother has always been Dean's pivotal emotional devastation, so being drawn to a female-god figure makes more sense that romance. And Amara wanted companionship and love that she wasn't getting from Chuck.

It's also an interesting contrast between Crowley and Rowena, with her statement about how love makes you weak. I hope this doesn't lead to any more alliances between them. She can be delightful when she's on her own, but I still loathe her when teamed up by Crowley.

Ultimately, they didn't kill Dean, and in fact he saved the day by being the opposite of MoC!Dean, so that's a big positive in my book. And the oh-no cliffhanger is about Sam, which is also likely a positive in my book provided we don't get a few episodes in Season 12 where's he's just missing. And I'm actually okay with Mary being back - ok, yeah, let's see how they react to having a hunter mom and let's see Sam actually get to have a mother (and let her be badass, she was raised a hunter) - but for god's sake, get her something different to wear. That nightgown is so 1983.

(ETA: One other main quibble on the writers and all the loose ends they wrapped up: God's off on vacation with Amara and Michael is presumably out of the cage and apparently fuck Adam, no one cares what happened to him.)

[caranfindel.livejournal.com]

Overall, the Dean/Cas moments felt weirdly forced, but mostly because he didn't show that level of concern and apology to Sam at points where it felt like he probably should have.

Yeah, but that's never going to happen. I think Dean has forgotten what happened in the church and has reverted back to "Sam knows how I feel" as his default setting.

(And as a grumpy old queer activist, let me state for the record, that's not queerbaiting, it's like, the opposite of queerbaiting. Seriously. It's like the eleventeenth time the dialogue has made it clear there's nothing between them romantically.)

I'm sure the people who think Destiel is canon will figure out how to twist that to suit their purposes. :-)

[percysowner.livejournal.com]

I can't quite dismiss the foreshadowing. This was Carver's mytharc until he decided to go for Frequency, then Dabb took over for the last few episodes. I think Dabb looked at this mytharc decided it was completely unworkable, whatever the intended ending, and then scrambled to basically clear the decks of Amara and God forever.

I'm one who didn't much like this. I hated Cas getting yet another free pass for doing something stupid and destructive. I hated Sam getting blamed for everything that has gone wrong. Note, I think the Archangels thing was actually releasing Lucifer and penning up both Lucifer and Michael. I'm sure Sam isn't dead, or if he is, they'll get him back pretty quickly, since there have been no announcements that Jared is leaving and if either of the Js go, the show ends.

I don't know how I feel about Mary, because I just don't know enough right now. Will she stick around and be another hunter? Will she stick around and be the next big bad? Will she ever say anything to Sam? I am annoyed that Sam gets blamed and shot and Dean, who took the stupid Mark in the first place gets rewarded?

I did like seeing the sparks between Billie and Crowley. I liked Crowley's snarking. I think he said finally, because he saw that the only solution to the universe ending was to kill Amara but he wasn't going to say anything because none of them would listen to him. Now to be honest I'm still on the Crowley is more than he looks band wagon. For a while I wanted him to be God. Now I'm hoping he's a not dead Gabriel. I'm sure he won't be, but I so want him to be more.

What I don't want next season. Dean, Cas, Mary, Crowley and Rowena having adventures while we flash to Sam locked in a closet/jail/interrogation room being a Samsel in distress waiting to be rescued. I'd also like the blaming of Sam to come to an end, but I suspect that is not in the cards.

ETA: Really God! Before you left on your honeymoon you couldn't unlock the frickin Veil? Or release Michael and Adam from the Cage? Yes, Michael is gaga, but maybe letting him out and telling the angels to treat him well might help? Has there ever been a more screwed character than Adam? Killed by ghouls because he was John's son. Talked into saying yes to Michael, stuck in a Cage with Michael and Lucifer for just about forever and forgotten by everyone. Michael isn't much better. Maybe he wasn't God's favorite, but still leaving him alone and insane?

[caranfindel.livejournal.com]

I think Dabb looked at this mytharc decided it was completely unworkable, whatever the intended ending, and then scrambled to basically clear the decks of Amara and God forever.

Maybe so!

ETA: Really God! Before you left on your honeymoon you couldn't unlock the frickin Veil? Or release Michael and Adam from the Cage? Yes, Michael is gaga, but maybe letting him out and telling the angels to treat him well might help? Has there ever been a more screwed character than Adam? Killed by ghouls because he was John's son. Talked into saying yes to Michael, stuck in a Cage with Michael and Lucifer for just about forever and forgotten by everyone. Michael isn't much better. Maybe he wasn't God's favorite, but still leaving him alone and insane?

He couldn't even bother to send Dean back to the bunker, or to the Lazy Shag. Why would he bother to open the cage? God's apparently a thoughtless asshole.

[anactoria.livejournal.com]

I wasn't a fan of the last few episodes, and I normally find finales a bit of a let-down, so I was really pleasantly surprised by how much I liked this. Having the big boss fight take place in the penultimate episode and the actual resolution come about much more gently was a nice change of pace. And nobody died! I loved how Dean's story came full circle from First Born here, and Sam clinging so desperately to his optimism... in fact, I pretty much loved everyone in this episode. (Well, Chuck's still a dick, but he was too busy wilting to annoy me much.) I've always liked the idea of Amara as something more neutral than evil, so I appreciated that she actually didn't end up as the Biggest Ever Bad who Must Be Destroyed. I think I'll actually miss her -- but I also appreciated that they've taken all the God-level players off the board for now. I expect we'll see them again when the show ends, but until then, I'm fine with lowering the cosmic stakes a little.

Also: NO MORE CASIFER! *happy dance*

[caranfindel.livejournal.com]

but I also appreciated that they've taken all the God-level players off the board for now. I expect we'll see them again when the show ends, but until then, I'm fine with lowering the cosmic stakes a little.

Yes, I like that too.

[cuddyclothes.livejournal.com]

I hated this finale. Hands-down hated it. It managed to crap on so much history. And Amara goes from "I'm going to destroy everything and take Dean inside me!" to "I just wanted your wuv, brother! Dean, it's been fun, kthanxbai".

This review was, as always, wonderful. The brotherly moments left me cold for some reason. I wish Sam had walked halfway down the stairs and sat on a step. In S9 when Dean died, Sam cleaned the body, got drunk, and then stared at Dean's body, crying. Now he's just kinda...bummed?

I think I might be done, because I give no fucks about next season.

[caranfindel.livejournal.com]

I actually think the reaction to Dean's death made sense. Both boys behave differently after a planned death for a cause (see Swan Song) compared to watching the other murdered for no reason (see All Hell Breaks Loose).

[fanspired]

> OH, GOOD. I WAS HOPING WE'D GET AN ENTIRELY NEW CHARACTER RIGHT AT THE END. I LOVE IT WHEN THAT HAPPENS.

Do you remember the good old days when the next season’s plot evolved naturally out of the events of the previous season, instead of being pulled from the arse of people who don’t even think about the next season until they’re about to start filming it!

> Dean's imitation of Rowena's accent is pretty cute.

Dean’s cute Scottish accent is actually Welsh. I knew you yanks would need that joke explaining to you ;) The Lazy Shag is a British joke, too. Seems to be a lot of it about. Did you hear the one about the pommy bitch who walked in a bunker . . . ?

> There's a very pretty sequence where she sucks thousands of souls out of the veil, which I guess means souls are still hanging out in the veil.

And that whole bit in last episode where Chuck promoted Kevin out of the veil was so we could rest assured they weren’t using Kevin’s soul for the bomb. Blowing up everyone else’s soul is perfectly OK, of course.

> There are some kind of petals gently raining down on them

Pretty sure if Jensen had known there was a petal on his hair in the big hug scene he’s have demanded a retake.

> She's been sent to take Sam in, on account of the damage he's caused - archangels (what?), leviathan (you're blaming Sam?),

Well, in fairness, this is the same woman whose sources told her that Sam Winchester was wanted for murder and his eyes are (just) blue. Her intel isn’t entirely accurate.

> this season ended with a whimper when it deserved a bang

My feelings exactly except, technically, it did end with a bang . . . well, almost. Quick question: we do know Jared has signed his contract for next season, do we? Negotiation tactics anyone?

Jared: Come on guys, my name’s first on the credits. I should be getting at least as much as Jensen.
Suit: Yeah? Well, Misha’ll sit in the passenger seat for a sixteenth of what we pay Jensen, and Dean did say he was a brother.
Jared: Listen, I’m on record as saying the show can’t last forever, and I did that MacDonald’s commercial so I’ll be all right for a while. But we all know if you write Sam out without even showing him die the fans will kill you with the death of a thousand screams. Go ahead and try it, but I’ve got one word for you: *cough* Castle *cough*.

[ladykorana.livejournal.com]

I thought Dean was trying to do a bad Irish accent, lol.

Also I'm guessing the Show forgot Charlie's soul was one of the ones in the veil, since she died after Kevin. Whoops, guess hers was expendable. Good thing they didn't set the bomb off, huh?

[fanspired]

I've been checking the transcript and he used words that were Scottish, Welsh and Cockney. The accent sounded predominantly Welsh but Irish might have been in there as well. It seems most of the British Isles were broadly represented :P

[caranfindel.livejournal.com]

Suit: Yeah? Well, Misha’ll sit in the passenger seat for a sixteenth of what we pay Jensen, and Dean did say he was a brother.

OH CRAP THAT WHOLE SCENE WAS SETTING US UP FOR THIS.

LOL

[madebyme-x.livejournal.com]

\o/ for spoiler free watching (and yes, I think I did see a photo of the boys in a cemetery, but I'd forgotten about it unit now and I'm pretty sure it doesn't count!)

I think I too had high expectation for the myth arc this year, and while I didn't hate it, having this many myth arc eps at the end of the season just didn't quite work for me.The idea was massive and impressive, but maybe too big for our little show. I actually liked how they tied it up though, it felt in line with the shows core values of family. I know what you mean about it feeling a little flat, but there were plenty of beautiful scenes to watch (and Billie, just like us, just loves to watch those boys leave, and I can't blame her!)

Overall this was a strong season, so many wonderful episodes all in a row, and now I'm looking forward to a summer full of theories, ideas, fic and art about what we saw in the last few minutes!!! (Did Toni miss? Did Sam get zapped away in the nick of time? Is Mary back temporarily or for good? Will we see John too?)

Thank you for all of your reactions, they're always a joy to read :)

[caranfindel.livejournal.com]

Thanks for being here!

[alleysweeper.livejournal.com]

Have her [Amara's] hands always looked this old? She notices some dead flowers, and then looks at her hands in fear or confusion. Are her hands aging as the sun dies? What the hell is going on here?

For starters, Amara has always had man-hands. But that's beside the point. When we first see her in this garden, she is running her hands over the flowers as she passes, only to look back and see that they've died due to her touch. The rest of the garden is still in bloom. This is why she's looking at her hands in such a strange manner.

Which brings me to the reason for my comment. Amara's been nothing but a soul-sucking destroyer in contrast to God the creator. Until the Garden scene, she seemed in control of what she destroyed but not once had she shown any sign of being able to create anything. So, how did she gift Dean with Mary?

Also, on a side note, I believe British Lady was using the collective You while speaking to Sam. I think she was there to bring both brothers in. She did ask about Dean's whereabouts, after all.

Alley

ps: are speculations about season 12 considered spoilers?

[percysowner.livejournal.com]

Also, on a side note, I believe British Lady was using the collective You while speaking to Sam. I think she was there to bring both brothers in. She did ask about Dean's whereabouts, after all.

I've seen that interpretation elsewhere. Whether or not she did intend the collective you, the actual speech is given to only Sam. After seasons of only Sam being blamed for the Apocalypse and "betraying" Dean and releasing the Darkness, this is simply another instance where the blame is stated only to Sam. It is also done in an episode where Cas is totally absolved of doing anything wrong by releasing Lucifer, in fact he is praised for it. If the show wanted to clarify that she was blaming both Sam and Dean, it was easy. "We have been watching you Winchesters for years". But it was left deliberately without any other descriptor that would state it was both Winchesters, not just Sam. As for asking where Dean was, if they have been watching for years, they know that Dean will do anything to protect Sam and the question could just as easily have been asked to determine if she had to fight Dean to get Sam out of the bunker.

[alleysweeper.livejournal.com]

If she had a wall devoted solely to Sam, I'd be inclined to agree with you. But it was a Winchester wall, evenly divided between Dean and Sam - with a bit of Castiel thrown in. Since neither brother was focused upon, I felt it was implied both were either needed for their skills - being clearly labeled as Hunters on the wall - or were in a some serious trouble.

Also, with no knowledge of the fix-it plan - or it's consequences - it was kind of obvious to me British Lady expected all three to return to the Bunker together. She was prepared to banish Castiel on sight (I'm not sure he's in the 'outfield' rather than confined somewhere by a MoL spell) and confront both Winchesters together. Unfortunately, only Sam was left to take the brunt of her arrogant, Hunter-hating speech for both of them.

[caranfindel.livejournal.com]

For starters, Amara has always had man-hands. But that's beside the point. When we first see her in this garden, she is running her hands over the flowers as she passes, only to look back and see that they've died due to her touch. The rest of the garden is still in bloom. This is why she's looking at her hands in such a strange manner.

Ah, thanks!

Which brings me to the reason for my comment. Amara's been nothing but a soul-sucking destroyer in contrast to God the creator. Until the Garden scene, she seemed in control of what she destroyed but not once had she shown any sign of being able to create anything. So, how did she gift Dean with Mary?

That is a very good question.

Also, on a side note, I believe British Lady was using the collective You while speaking to Sam. I think she was there to bring both brothers in. She did ask about Dean's whereabouts, after all.

I agree. It's a shame English doesn't have a plural version of "you" (if only they'd thought to make Posh British Lady from the American south instead, and she could have said "We've been watching y'all"), but that wasn't a Wall of Sam she was looking at. They've been following both of them.

ps: are speculations about season 12 considered spoilers?

Absolutely not, as long as they aren't based on fact (i.e., "since we know Jim Beaver signed a contract for S12, I think a lot of dead characters will come back to life."*) Pure speculation is very welcome.

*Completely made up

[catnthecradle.livejournal.com]

I loved the resolution of Chuck & Amara, I thought it was great that they had the big fight scene last episode and this one was more devoted to the emotional. We had the bro moment between Dean & Cas, the lovely goodbye scenes with both Sam & Cas, and the confirmation that family is the most important thing in the Supernatural Universe with Chuck & Amara reconnecting. Not to mention Amara deciding that what Dean 'needed most' was his mother (I think we know why we had that scene of Amara finding the photo of Dean & Mary last episode)

It wasn't til I read all the complaints about Sam taking all the blame that it even occurred to me that the British MOLs were just after Sam, I thought the British Lady of Letters came to bring both boys in, and even after I rewatched the scene I still think that they wanted both boys.

Speculation and fears about season 12 -
1/ I'm hoping that the first 2 to 3 episodes but NO MORE will be Dean, Cas & Mary figuring out where Sam is and going to London to rescue him, meanwhile Sam is defending his and Dean's actions over the last several years. (Please don't let it become a clip-show)
2/ Is Lucifer free in the world? Been there, done that, don't want a repeat.
3/ With Amara being Darkness rather than Light how did she gift Dean with Mary? Could Mary have come back WRONG?

The hiatus fic deluge has begun. . .

[ladyjane]

. . .I found an incredible Dean-finds-Mary-in-the-woods story that works so well, I could see it as the opening scene for Season 12. (Yeah, right. I'm not delusional enough to think it'll be half as good as this fic.) The only flaw is that, thanks to Posh WoL, there's no Sam in it.

Still, we neeeedssss this. The Thing with Feathers That Perches in the Soul