caffienekitty (![[personal profile]](https://www.dreamwidth.org/img/silk/identity/user.png)
caffienekitty) wrote2010-05-22 01:52 pm
caffienekitty) wrote2010-05-22 01:52 pm
Entry tags:
Picspam Reaction: Supernatural 5.22
Late and random and still rushed, but here's my scrambled thoughts on the finale, and related musings. May be edited later. Not dial-up friendly.
Contains: Capslock. Emoticons. Profanity. Blithering. As-it-happens reaction and speculation. Talking to the people in my TV. Retroactive constructive critisism. Spec for the future.
You GUYS. OMG.
Spoiler and Theorizing Timeline (seperate entry)
New mantra time.
Whatever Kripke breaks, Sera and the gang can fix.
Bring it on.
Picspam Reaction, with speculation and randomness for Supernatural 5.22 - "Swan Song"
[Random Statement I feel the need to make: I do these reaction posts first and foremost to work through what I think about an episode. It's why I avoid the 'net or talking about an episode with anyone else before posting a reaction; so I can cement my own opinion before reading others'. As a result, I suspect this reaction will be wildly different than large portions of fandom. But I don't care. This is a positive reaction, because that's the reaction I had to the episode. If your reaction was not positive, I'm sorry, and your reaction is just as valid as mine or anyone else's. I'm not going to try to argue anyone out of their opinion, please don't try to argue me out of mine. :-) ]
If you have a problem with positivity and squee as a reaction to this episode, this is not the reaction post for you. Fair warning.
I have got the biggest, goofiest goddamn grin anyone ever saw on right now.
DUDE. MY ZEN IS FULFILLED. O.O (Sort of. Mostly! Yeah!)
I think I might cry. Again. Some more.
Oh crap, I was so lost in squee I forgot to stop recording and now have ten minutes of Seinfeld on my SPN tape. :-P
Right. On with the squee! \o/
-"The Road So Far." \o/
-Hi Lisa! Hi Death! Oooo. Hey... Maybe Dean can make a deal with Death to bring back dead people! And if no one dies tonight, maybe Ellen and Jo! \o/
-"Don't you cry no more." *bu-dum-CH* *wibbles*
-EEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEE! HOLY CRAP IMPALA LOVE!!! OMG!!! \o/
[Sal was the original owner's name. HA! I see what you did there Show.] EEEEEE! CAR!! \o/ ...uh oh.
-(Wow is Sam ever huge. He's dwarfing the damn car.)
-To continue the sudden angst interrupted by the notable largeness of Sam; OH CRAP, FICWRITER'S RIGHT, KRIPKE'S GONNA KILL THE CAR!!! AGAIN!! O.O
-"I'm in." Oh crap. Whaddaya mean, Dean?
-"It's not on me to let you do anything." Awwww. And free will. It's a two-way street. *nods* Except DON'T NOT RESIST, DEAN! Sam needs your resistance to fight. I think, anyway.
-Overgrown. Hee! ^.^
-"It goes against every fibre I got." LISTEN TO YOUR FIBRE, DEAN! FIBRE IS GOOD FOR YOU!!
-Family theeeeeeme! *flappy hands*
[...Why is Dean drinking Adam's favourite beer? You'd think if they were about to head out on a suicide mission, they'd at least get their favourite beer. Maybe the store was out. And out of ice too, since there was no ice in that cooler. Now that's freaking depressing. End of the world, suicide mission, and stuck drinking warm second-choice beer. Aw.]
-OOO! OOO!!! LOOK! BOBBY'S CAR!!! THE ONE WITH THE RUSTY TOP!!! IT'S STILL INTACT! IS HE DRIVING IT AGAIN NOW THAT HE CAN WALK??? *flails*
-Um. Eeek. O.O Oof. Blood-draining. Well, pragmatism, I guess. This is the apocalypse they are trying to stop, not a cross-town bus. Also, given the way demons treat their hosts, those people were already dead. And, given that this is probably the exact wrong thing to do and what Lucifer has wanted Sam to do all along, I'm surprised he hasn't been sending an endless parade of tantalizingly bleeding demons past Sam the whole time, to get him to fall off the wagon. Well, except he doesn't know where Sam is because of the rib-graffiti. Maybe just issue a standing order to all demons under his command to bleed if they see Sam Winchester? Heh. Yeah, that wouldn't be a popular order. All that aside, these three guys in Bobby's basement, bleeding demons dry as though they were slaughtered hogs... probably the single most disturbing thing I've seen on this show.
-[Although I must say, considering the average adult human only contains 4 or 5 litres (1 to 1.3 gallons) of blood and those are 4 litre (1 gallon) jugs, and I think there were only two demons drained, they were damned efficient at it. Even if they're all only 3/4 full, that's still 12 litres of blood. Hm. I guess the other 2+ litres must be straight demon juice. *nods* Hm. Wonder if there's a lab thing where they could just extract the demon part. Like... demon dialysis or something. *ponders*]
-Yeah, Dean's just thrilled with this plan.
-Yoda. Hee. *pats Bobby*
-Stunt demons. *snerk*
-"You okay?" That would be a resounding 'fuck no' I believe.
-Motown. Hunh. Who knew Lucifer liked R&B. o.O
-Detroit. Yes. Go where Lucifer says you're going to go. It's not a trap at all. Really. *facepalm* NO ONE IS PARANOID ENOUGH IN THIS SHOW!
-Awwww Sam's face! Aw.
-Castiel sleeping in the back seat of the Impala! And snoring! *shrieks and deafens self* OW! I've gotta stop doing that.
-"Angels don't sleep." Aw. Awwwwww. *flails* [Sleeping angels also don't cap well.]
-"We've just gotta hope he doesn't know about the rings." Oh come on, Sam, Big L totally knows about the rings. Even if Sam and Dean getting the rings wasn't some weird plan of Lucifer's all along, they're taking out his heavy-artillery henchthings to get them. He has to have noticed.
-...triple lindy? What the hell's a triple lindy? [Ah. Who knew the gate to Hell had a diving board, let alone three? o.O]
-"You know I'm not coming back." and "You gotta promise not to try to bring me back." Suuure. Have you even met your brother, Sam? In this case puppy-dog eyes will absolutely not help you.
-"What am I supposed to do?" Ooo. This speech is a parallel of the one from Dean at the end of 3.16. Very close. Ooo. Except instead of telling Dean to keep fighting, Sam's telling Dean to get out of it, settle down and be safe. There's meta in that. *babbles randomly about parallel construction and hero cycles*
-No promise was actually made there by Dean. Noted. A variation on Dean's theme again though, thank you soundtrack people.
-Executive producers (since we will be looking for someone else's name to scream "Damn you, [FITB]!" next season) include Sera Gamble, Ben Edlund, Phil Sgriccia, McG... wow. Loads. Personally, I plan on subbing in Sera for Kripke, if that wasn't already obvious. I suspect a few others might sneak into damning range once in a while though.
-Hug time now? I know I could use one.
-BOBBY HUGS!!! \o/
-Teleplay by Eric Kripke and Story by a different Eric? [Eric 'Giz' Gewirtz. Hm. Directed and wrote some Star Wars video games. So very random. Maybe we're getting a video game tie-in?] O.o Wow. That's really unexpected. Directed by Steve Boyum. Spotlight thief, perpetrator of the ravaged Impala hulk in "The End"....OH CRAP THE IMPALA'S TOTALLY GONNA DIE!!!
-And now Bobby is making me wibble.
-"Take care of these guys, okay?"/"That's not possible." Castiel, still rockin' the obtuseness. The pained look, though. Aw, Castiel.
-"Oh, I'm supposed to lie!" BWAH! Never ever ever change, Castiel.
[And as we can see, since misplacing his angelic powers, Castiel has taken up piracy. *smishes![[livejournal.com profile]](https://www.dreamwidth.org/img/external/lj-userinfo.gif)
kroki_refur in absentia*]
-Hug your brother, Dean. Hug your brother, dammit! HUUUUUUUG! Crap!
-Wow. That's a whole lot of blood. Hope Sam didn't fill up on beer. O.O And it's really liquid still, too. Hm. Are demons an anti-coagulant? Must be. Next thing you know, instead of standard blood thinners, physicians will be prescribing demonic possession. Although admittedly the side-effects are rather nastier than existing treatments. *nods*
-"Do you mind not watching this?" Hm. No one watched Sam drink the blood. Did he actually drink it? Ooo... I dunno whether that'd be a good or bad thing. Not drinking blood is a good thing, yeah, but... hm. Does he think he has the power to do it without the blood, and is this really the time to be testing that out? o.O
-"Is your father home?" Hee.
-Commercials. What if Sam did fake drinking? Seriously, that much blood and not even a dribble on his clothes? That smear on his mouth could have been misdirection. Also, this is a total setup by Lucifer. And Dean supporting Sam's saying yes won't help him fight Lucifer for control. Fight it Dean. It's the only way Sam will fight it.
-More Impala! I love this!malevolent73, CAN YOU BELIEVE HOW AWESOME THIS IS???!!! \o/
Wee!chester stuff! Army men! Legos! CARVING THEIR INITIALS UNDER THE SEAT UNDERPADDING. Awwwww. It's like a whole bunch of last-minute wee!chester story prompts! And Dean making sure all of that stuff got put back when he rebuilt the Impala!!! his is like the canonization of every wee!chesters-in-the-car fic ever! Hee! Would have been nice if any of that stuff had been mentioned elsewhere in the series, but whatever. Retconning through fic is always possible. EEEEE!!! *handwaves in a flaily manner*
-"We get our parents back." Ooo. Oooo... there's a hell of a last-minute rider clause. o.O
-"...I have no idea what you're talking about." *facepalm* Still not getting the hang of lying there, Sam?
-Yep, see he knows about the rings. Duh. Like I said, his major henchthings are disappearing off his tactical grid, and they were carrying the components to make a key to the only jail cell that can hold him? Not hard to do the math there. Even if it wasn't all a trick to get Sam into range and saying yes in the first place.
-Yeah. These are their 'we're screwed' faces.
-"A fiddle of gold against your soul says I'm better than you." HELL YES, GOLDEN FIDDLE!!! Hee! Sorry. I have wanted for a very long time, if I could do vids, to make a vid to 'Devil Went Down to Georgia' surrounding John and the boys VS YED. It's on my![[livejournal.com profile]](https://www.dreamwidth.org/img/external/lj-community.gif)
spn_summergen request list. OMG Yay for song reference! \o/
-Dean and his broken little 'Sam, no' Gaaaaaah.
-Sam said "Yes." Three times. There's meta in that. Possibly with a hint of Shakespeare. *nods*
-Wall! OOOO!!! Latination! Portal!!! \o/ I have a real weakness for portals. Also, it makes a hell of a lot more sense that the portal can be opened anywhere with the correct key, rather than having to haul Lucifer's ass to anabandoned nunnery possibly still smoking pit in Maryland. *glee*
-[Although it would have been really cool and tactically wise, (maybe) if they had slapped theport-key, sorry, portal key right onto Lucifer-in-Nick's chest, opened the portal on him and sucked him into Hell through himself. Then they'd have been free to fight their way out of a stronghold full of high-level demons, which would be cake, and then they could go for cold beer they actually like. See, this is why Sam and Dean should have played RPGs. *nods* Although Lucifer probably has a kick-ass dodge and block roll and would have caught it. Ooo. And then Sam and Dean could have activated it verbally and sucked Lucifer into the cage via his own hand! Hee. Figuratively and literally. But I guess that would have fried the budget and not been sufficiently angsty. Or not have worked at all. Maybe it only works when deployed on an inanimate object or one that's permanently connected to the earth in some way. Yeah, that must be it. Logical. Otherwise, Kripke would not have been able to resist the chance of having someone get sucked inside out. *nods*]
-Oh boys. Although given we're less than halfway through the episode, I'd be shocked if Lucifer isn't just faking being Sam here. But still. Oh boys.
-Yeah, too late. Sam's change-
Guh. I mean he looks like a different... More... uh. Mmm. Sorry. Evil looks good on Sam. *shrug*
-Oh Deeean.
-Eeek. Since the Horsemen's rings aren't being used as a key, are they gonna be used as brass knuckles? *winces anticipatorily*
-"I told you this would always happen in Detroit." Wait... he said that to Dean in the future. He remembers the future. Angelic memory is non-entropic. Very cool, makes sense in an entity that can time travel and very good to know. Although I think the Trickster (I know, he's Gabriel, *handwaves*) implied that back in 'Hammer of the Gods', right? [Can't find it.]
-Also interesting is that Dean has been wearing the leather coat for all of this. What do you think,irismay42?
-And Lucifer-in-Sam is gone and has the rings and Sam. OH DEAN! *wibble* It's one thing to sacrifice Sam to save the world. It's another thing to sacrifice Sam and completely screw the world to boot.
Oh Deeeeeeeeeeeeeean.
-DUDE! EVIL!SAM!
-Okay, mirrors work. I have a weakness for black room staging (I blame theatre and Babylon 5) and was hoping to see some for the inevitable Sam vs Lucifer conversations, but mirrors work. They work rather well actually, as if I recall correctly, there are more than a few mirror metas out there and the fans responsible for those are probably dancing with glee now.
-Wow. Padalecki. Dude. Your acting skills have gotten seriously kick-ass. O.o [And I second this in retrospect because not once during either watching did I have a single doubt about there being two completely seperate and distinct personalities interacting there. Well done.]
-*sits quietly stunned by the awesome*
-*reminds self to blink*
-"MFEO" Eh? What the hell's that? Mother-F-ing... Ehhhhh... Oooo.... I have no idea. It's distracting me from the awesome. *bats away* [Made for each other, sayeth Google. Seriously, that's an acronym now? I feel decrepit. :-p]
-Foster care. *grins broadly* I think I'll claim victory on my very old meta for that statement and leave it at that. Really wish I'd posted any of that post-season 1 AU tag 'verse. Anyway, \o/.
-"All those times you ran away." And the teen!chester bunnies keep on coming. Again, more overt mention of this earlier in the series would have been cool, but fic is for retconning, among many many other things. *handwaves*
-Azazel's gang of watchdogs! OMG I WAS RIGHT ABOUT THE WATCHERS!!! MAX MILLER'S STEP-MOM WAS TOTALLY ONE OF THOSE!!!! Yay, another theory I'm claiming proven!! \o/ Hey, hasn't Sam's prom date been mentioned before? [Heh. WIAWSNB, Wish-Verse. Dean stole Sam's prom date. HA!]
-"Whaddaya say you and I blow off a little steam?" Oh crap. Don't do it, Sam!
Mirror Sam's face being split by image frame and secondary shadowed Sam face in the broken mirror and epic chiaroscuro and the only visible half in both being Sam's left (classically 'sinister') side FTMASSIVEFREAKINGW. \o/ *epic film studies squee*
-"I suggest we imbibe copious quantities of alcohol." \o/
-Oh Castiel. Oh Bobby. And Dean's support network is gone. Not dead, just without hope, given up.
-Aw Sammy. You let him make you take Dark-Side points, dude. He owns you now. And now we also all see why Sam's rage was so important to Lucifer, right? So Sam could be tempted into doing this and as a result hamstring his own chances of overpowering Lucifer's possession by sapping Sam's will with guilt and shame. Tactically smart and very well-played by Lucifer. But nasty. Because, y'know, Lucifer. *nods*
-Commercials: Well, shit. Okay, L-in-Sam has the Key, right? All Sam needs to do is win the fight for control and he can open the cage himself. And the means to win that fight for control will come from Dean. *nods*
-Holy crap commercials have NEVER BEEN SO GODDAMN LONG!!!
-More Impala backstory!! And previous season montage! \o/
-This is new. Watching the stars. Oh. Aw.
That could have been sprinkled around earlier seasons too. Post-case discussions, etc. But whatever. Aw.
-Ah yes, THAT shot Dream a Little Dream. BOYUM. I know you took the spotlights, Boyum! I'm watching you!! The car better make it out of this season with all her parts intact! *shakes fist of irkedness*
-"They were never homeless." YES! THANK YOU! I LOVE THE CAR LOVE AND IT'S MAKING ME VERY SCARED FOR THE IMPALA NOW!! O.O
-Hey, Chuck has the same cheap-ass portable phone as I do! *feels kinship*
-Aw, no more Becky. He respected her too much. Suuure. Also, heh. I see what you did there, Kripke. XD
-"A place called Stull Cemetary." STULL!!! OMFG FUCKING STULL! IT'S BEEN SO DAMN LONG I FORGOT ALL ABOUT THE WHOLE LAWRENCE/STULL THING, AND WHY IT HAD TO BE LAWRENCE!!!! IT WAS ALWAYS STULL!!! \o/ *froths* Crap! I cannot believe I forgot about that. That came to light back in first season and was bandied around for a while, but then kind of passed to the wayside when the Devil's Gate at the end of season 2 turned out to be in Wyoming. Stull. Holy crap. Ha! We were right and forgot about it.
-"You're gonna do something stupid. You got that look." Hee! *pats Dean and Bobby*
-"You just don't give up."/"It's Sam!" EXACTLY! \o/
-"I ain't gonna let him die alone." *wibbles all over*
-Ooo. I don't know precisely why, but I like the shot composition here.
-Adam's looking okay... Wonder if regular angel vessels need to do anything in particular to keep from exploding?
-"Then why are we?" OOO. Lucifer instigates the Talk That Always Had To Happen, not Michael. Interesting.
-"He made me who I am." Oh, wow. Surprise!Random-theology-meta. I just read an article a couple weeks ago on this! O.O Need link... darn it, I think I lost the link.[Here it is!] Differences in the perception of Lucifer between Christianity and Judaism. What Lucifer's saying there is close to what was in that article as the Judaic interpretation. It had some interesting implications on free will of angels... And rather than risking opening a can of worms I know very little about, I'll leave the analysis about that to those with actual knowledge. *moves on*
-"Dad's test." Of oooo, I dunno, FREE WILL maybe???
-"You're a monster, Lucifer." If Dean had been hosting Michael for this conversation... Owww. Ow. Owwww. Just thinking of it. Owwwwwwwwww. Damn.
-I'm having a hard time finding Michael-in-Adam threatening. Possibly because in the "circling animal menace" contest he seems to be having with Lucifer-in-Sam, he is so out-classed by Sam's evil prowling it's funny.
-CAR!! AND DEAN! BUT CAAAAAR!!\o/
-"Gunter Glieben Glauben Globen" WTF music? .....Funky Cole Medina?? No, that's definitely not it. It's vaguely familiar, and has a lot of cowbell. And was quoted by the Kurgan in Highlander. That's not a comforting precedent, Dean. [Massive fangirl fail there. It's "Rock of Ages" by Def Leppard. Also earworm fail, because right after "It's better to burn out than to fade away" the song morphs into the "WooHoo" song (Song 2 by Blur) in my head. However, this explains why they have been saving so much of the budget this episode by using stock footage and flashbacks. Considering Universal Music wouldn't allow the musical named after this song to use the song itself, yeah. Kripke's been saving his pennies for this one. XD]
-The Impala is gorgeous. Just in case anyone forgot.
(please don't kill the car)
-"Am I interrupting something?" Hee. Dean. So very Dean. Perfect timing too. This apocalypse needed more snark. *nods*
-Commercials. Crap, only three-quarters of the way through the episode? Feels like hours have passed. I love that, the time dilation effect. Seriously though, Son of a bitch! Stull! \o/
-"Even for you, this is a whole new mountain of stupid." Well, quite possibly. But what the hell, it's this or the end of the world uncontested, and going down swinging has always been Dean's plan. (Jus in Bello anyone?)
-"You're next on my list, buttercup." Heeee! \o/
-Hey,irismay42, Dean's still wearing the leather coat. That's a good sign, right?
-"Hey, Ass-butt!" *rofls like a mad thing and pats Castiel* YAY FOR RENEWED HOPE AND LAST MINUTE RESCUES! (Especially considering there wasn't anything like a vehicle noise, plus there wasn't time, so Castiel must have summoned up just enough oomph to pop himself and Bobby there! And there wasn't any wing noise because they showed up while Dean was coming in and were covered by the "Gunter Glieben Glauben Globen". Yeah, sure! *nods and handwaves* Deus ex Machina again some more! \o/)
-Holy Oil Molotov! Wow. Had to happen to someone. *nods*
-"Did you just Molotov my brother?" Typical sibling behavior, as far as I know. Get into rabid snarling dogfights with each other, but defend each other against the rest of the world. Except Castiel's their brother too. Their baby brother, really. So this is like him jumping into his bigger brothers' scrap with a slingshot. Or something.
-No. Oh shit, Castiel. No wings. There's no wing burn. He's not gone if there's no wing burn. Not dead. Just momentarily inconvenienced. Yeah. Dean has to know that too. Yeah. *shivers* On the up side, I guess we got to see the 'water balloon full of vegetable soup' effect, there? [Not capping well. Also EW.]
-Oh and the car gets hurt. *winces* I mean it Boyum, I'm watching you!
-Bobby. Oh crap.
-Oh god. Okay. Neither Bobby's death or Castiel'sdeath temporary inconveniencing had enough build up or time to be permanent. They'll be fine. They will. If not by the end of the hour then sometime next season. Yeah. Totally. *breathes and is shocky* O.O
-Eek. Beatdown time. Eek.
-"It's okay, I'm here, I'm not gonna leave you." GNH! DEEEEEEEEEEEAN!!! *flails all over* Also ow. That really looks... Ow.
-[OOO!!! When Lucifer-in-Sam's pulling back his fist here, in the soundtrack there's the same kind of weird snarly growl noise from the Title card! Season 1-3 I think. Didn't hear it on airing because my TV sound is crap. But it's there. EEEE! *flails*]
-Toy soldier! \o/ THE WORLD'S GONNA GET SAVED BECAUSE DEAN GAVE SAM THE LAST OF THE LUCKY CHARMS, YOU GUYS!!! *APPLAUDS THROUGH ENTIRE FRIGGING MONTAGE* AND EPIC HUGGING!!! EPIC HUGGING SAVED THE WORLD TOO!!! IT JUST HAPPENED IN ADVANCE!! WOO! \o/
(...Although something that actually has been in the background all along, like the dreamcatcher or, I dunno, DEAN'S PENDANT could have showed up in that montage. But this is cool too. *handwaves*)
-[If it hasn't already been done, I hope someone lists all the episodes everything in that montage came from. Also maybe set it to "Nothing Else Matters" by Metallica. *nods*]
-And OMG. The Impala. The comic. Detail later. [Okay. Remember that interview with Peter Johnson at the end of June 2007 about the Origins comics? The one where he said they had John driving a station wagon in the Origins comics because the car in the Pilot could have been any car? And fandom's heads collectively exploded and we all went over and said "I'm sorry, but no." That the shot of the three of them on the car was as clear as day, and that it established the Impala as the safe haven and refuge of the remains of the Winchester family. I hope you do remember the article, because the it doesn't appear to be accessible anymore, dammit. I'm glad I saved my comment (I posted it as 'sadfan') now. :-/ I also went and wrote a commentary on the comic in a fit of frothing ire. Anyway, so, remember that? And then they changed the comic? We did this. Us. The fans. We pointed out the real role of the Impala in the Winchester family to one of the showrunners. I can't even explain the depth of personal joy I have for this. I feel... damn. I feel vindicated you guys. *grins* Of course this means I'll probably never get around to posting the other comicommentaries for Origins, because after an apology this huge, it'd be a little crass to go back and give them a hard time. ^.^]
-Crap, Dean looks awful. O.O
-Heh. Yep. Sam's got the key.
-Oh, fuck your destiny, Michael, you whiny little twerp. *snarls*
...aaaaand I'll be chalking that up on the big wall of 'things I never thought I'd think' o.O
-[Behind the wind noise, when Sam and Dean are looking at each other and the piano's all sad, and just before Sam closes his eyes, are the whispery voices from this season's title card. Angel voices? Or something else? *ponders*]
-Hey! Hands off, dickhead!
-Ooo. Into the cage with Michael. So, is there gonna be like a perpetual apocalyptic smackdown cage match between those two until Sam gets out? Because he's gonna get out. Eventually. Maybe with Adam too, if there's anything left of him after being normal/ripped apart by ghouls/dead/in heaven/resurrected/emotionally blackmailed by Zachariah/and possessed by an archangel.
-Ooo... are the rings slagged or just hot and cooling down? [They look like they might be okay...? Hm...]
-Oh Deeeean.
-Commercial. Well. Fuck me sideways. Bobby. Castiel... There's 15 minutes left! O.O No wingburn, Castiel is NOT DEAD. Of course. Bobby... Dean came back, Bobby will too. *is reassuring self*
-Oh Deeeean some more. *wibbles*
-CASTIEL! YAY! AND HE'S EMPOWERED! \o/
-"Are you God?" Hee! Wouldn't that be a shock. And awesome.
-"New and improved." Ooo. Is Castiel an archangel now I wonder?
-Bobby! OMG!!! And hellhounds never came to claim his soul, he's okay. Phew. Although Crowley's probably got a really confused puppy right now.
Yeah, that's about the right level of bogglement for having just been resurrected by the guy whose brains are still splattered on your face. XD
-Rings are looking in pretty good condition there... that's kind of nerve-wracking in that opening the cage again is highly inadvisable, and the rings provide a quick and easy way to do that instead of finding the way to get Sam and Adam out without letting out the big guy again.
-CHUCK! "The fans are always gonna bitch." Yep! Or at least hyper-analyse. Every. Single. Detail. Like Chuck suddenly wearing a white shirt and putting his empty glass down in an awkward manner so that it's clearly in shot... hm.
-"I'm telling you, they're a raging pain in the ass." Hee! We love you too, Kripke. *pats*
-New sherrif. Ooo. ...damn it, they snuck that right past me. Castiel had a Hero Cycle there. He started the task, came down to earth, learned stuff, passed the gatekeeper (Raphael?), the belly of the whale (getting splatted the first time?), road of trials (Zachariah, rebelling, search for God, losing faith) has sort of an absent reconciliation with the father, and is now returning home with his experiences, going full circle. Snuck it right past me. Well done. *grins even wider*
-"I'm coming for Him next." Oh Dean.
-"No Paradise, no Hell, just more of the same." The same would include Sam, you know. Just sayin'.
-"What would you rather have? Peace or freedom?" Wow. Random possibly political comment is random. And I'll leave the meta and spec on that topic alone for now. O.o
-"You suck at goodbyes." Aw. And Dean's family theme again. Gaaaaaaah.
-Bobby's out hunting a Rugaru solo? I hope he at least gets a dog or something. Bobby needs backup. And his soul back from Crowley. [And you know, months could pass between seasons. It's not like Sam necessarily popped back out of the cage like slightly singed toast. Also, 'see Bobby' not talk to. Bet they call each other every week. *nods*]
-"He made a promise." Actually, Dean didn't say a thing. He can rescue Sam any old time he feels like it. The trick would be only letting Sam (and Adam) out of the cage without letting any other entities out. Just don't open the cage. (Hm. Will Death come and re-claim and re-distribute the rings now, I wonder?) *ponders*
-Hi Lisa! You know, seriously, Dean's a guy you had sex with for a weekend ages ago, he showed up and monsters nearly ate your son and you, he showed up again with a big weird nebulous "Bad freaky things are going to happen, I'm going away now and I may never return" story when you hadn't seen him in years and had this big emotional thing on your porch, and now he's back on your doorstep again... I'd punch him. Then hug him. Then sit him down with a beer and get the exact details of everything, because seriously, Lisa, right now Dean is Random Drama Man to you and no one needs that nonsense. Just saying, honey.
-His voice. Gaaaaaaaah. *flails*
-And more montage. And Chuck's liquour bottle and glass are both completely empty now.... Something's about to happen.
-Poof. WTF Chuck??? He- does that- OMG. CHUCK IS GOD??? Kripke, you smug-assed sonofabitch!
Yeaaaaah, the sly looks at the camera, "I am a cruel, cruel, capricious god' indeed. HA! XD Or was Chuck just a construct of God? Or... crap! Dean's worn the necklace around him, but seriously, like I said, A) if a God doesn't want to be found, he won't be found, and B) how exactly do you know if a God detector works or not?? It's less reliable than a rock on a string weather forecaster. Although that dissapear effect was rather like a Trickster construct, was it not? Which means if Chuck was God's construct, anyone could still be God, up to and including Bobby or the Impala. (OR THE SPIKY CLOCK!) It bears much more pondering. When I have a brain. Because mine is currently blown.
-Dean's Family Theme. Aw. Dean 'happy' and home. With a large glass of booze. Not boding well there either. And now Dean's technically in a position to 'fade away' instead of 'burn out', right? Like the song said. While Sam's stuck in a super-max solitary confinement cage in Hell with Adam, Michael and Lucifer. So yeah. That ain't gonna stick, no matter how good Dean is at adapting and whether he figures he did make an unspoken promise to Sam or not. There always had to be a season 6. Or a coda movie. Or a shitload of fic. Or all of the above! \o/
-Dean's gotta be choking on angst [even as he tosses a dinner roll to Ben, hee!] and... and... Wait, streetlight... ooo... ooo hoo! *bounces*
-SAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAM! \o/ OMG I HAVE NEVER BEEN HAPPIER TO SEE SAM!!! EVER!!! Little concerned about the implications of the light overhead going out, [and the freaking thunder rolling in, OMG! O.O] and the passive-observing-inconclusive expression he's got, but whatever. Sam is Sera's to play with now, no worries about him being mistreated. Much. Or fully clothed. Ever. *koff* >.>
And in the end? Castiel's alive! BOBBY's alive! Sam's ALIVE! Dean's alive! Chuck is probably freaking construct of GOD! The IMPALA was pivotal and it's STILL IN ONE PIECE! THE WORLD WAS SAVED BECAUSE DEAN GAVE SAM THE LAST OF THE LUCKY CHARMS AND SAM GAVE DEAN THE TOY! OMG You GUYS!!! I WANT TO KISS THE TOP OF ERIC KRIPKE'S ADORABLE LITTLE BALD HEAD!!! \o/
Oh this will be fun to retcon. *rubs hands gleefully*
In all honesty, though, the last two episodes have been super compressed. Awful lot of stuff packed into a small space. Plus a lot of things popping up at the last minute that could have been seeded throughout the season, if not the whole show. I suspect this aspect may irritate some people, and seem a bit like:
...but really... I'm pretty okay with it, mostly. Actually, no. I loved it. Doesn't mean I don't wish it was possible to do a huge beta-read of the last two episodes, seed some things in earlier scripts, smooth the tension and pacing and turn the last two episodes into four, but there we go.
And this, being the end of Kripke's planned five season arc, is the end of Kripke's story. But it isn't the end of Sam and Dean's.
In a very big way, this finale is still a huge cliffhanger. Even though the apocalypse is done with, Sam's taken the big dive for the good of the Earth and seemingly come back from it whole, Dean has a home, Castiel is house-cleaning in Heaven and trying to bring things back into line with his perception of God's will (which I think is probably a damn sight closer than the previous administration), and Bobby's back in the field, still hunting, and on the surface, everyone is alive(ish), well(we think), and continuing forward into tomorrow. It's a cliffhanger because the thing that has been the theme of the show all along, as we have just had very clearly demonstrated, the family bond between Sam and Dean and their adopted family of Bobby and Castiel is... I don't want to say imperiled, because that's not it. Nor tenative or tenuous. When we leave this season, each of them is in their own space and their own world, so to speak. They are seperate. And that's why this is not the end. The boys may have gone full circle in terms of coming back to Lawrence and Stull, but they have not come full circle to return back to where they were as characters. The plot-arc has been (mostly) resolved, but the character-arcs haven't.
There lies Season 6. Completing the emotional circle. They are scattered to the four corners right now. Kind of literally. Heaven, Hell, Hunting, Home. (Hee.) Until they are back together -- all of them, in some way -- the journey hasn't truly come full circle.
So. Season 6. The journey home, for real this time. The home of the heart. True family, blood or not. I think Sam reuniting with Dean will take a lot longer than Dean reuniting with Sam at the start of season 4, and it may take a while before anyone is sure whether Sam is Sam or not, and that gets dealt with. Bobby and Dean will be the simplest to reconnect, given they're on the same plane of existence and not possibly-evil or not-them. And Castiel is a whole 'nother kettle of angelic fish and will either be the most difficult to reconnect, or be a catalyst for re-connection.
This all of course will probably be done via a lot of ass-kicking. With all this Apocalypse stuff distracting all he hunters the world over, the ghost/wendigo/vampire/werewolf/random nasty evil thingy population has to have gotten up to some unopposed hijinx. And Meg's still out there. And she's gotta be pissed.
Oh andmalevolent73? Let me know if you ever land from the car squee! \o/
Just one more thing.
*clears throat* And now, to Kripke. A man I never have and never will meet, whose world I've been happily residing in mentally for five years. A man who I've cursed openly on several occasions, including a rather extreme 'head-floating-with-righteous-fury' rant on the old WB boards about the season 1 finale. Rabid badgers, missing spotlights (don't think I won't nag Sera about them!), insta-dawns and racist trucks aside, it's been five great years.
Despite years of attending sci-fi conventions, this show has taught me what it is to be a fan, and to be in a fandom. It's made me do silly things, brave things, stupid things and fun things. It's made me write more fiction and non-fiction every year than I did my entire time in college. Because of this show I stopped lurking and joined the conversation. I joined LJ and have met (virtually) so many wonderful people I would have never otherwise have met. I love this show, warts and all. And I always will.
So *raises a glass in a toast* to Eric Kripke, creator of a show that's living on without him. Cruel sadistic sonofabitch he may be, but be damned if I don't half love the rat bastard.
Now. Who's got a spoiler link-dump for the past year?
No spoilers or rumours for season 6 in comments please guys! \o/
Contains: Capslock. Emoticons. Profanity. Blithering. As-it-happens reaction and speculation. Talking to the people in my TV. Retroactive constructive critisism. Spec for the future.
You GUYS. OMG.
Spoiler and Theorizing Timeline (seperate entry)
New mantra time.
Whatever Kripke breaks, Sera and the gang can fix.
Bring it on.
Picspam Reaction, with speculation and randomness for Supernatural 5.22 - "Swan Song"
[Random Statement I feel the need to make: I do these reaction posts first and foremost to work through what I think about an episode. It's why I avoid the 'net or talking about an episode with anyone else before posting a reaction; so I can cement my own opinion before reading others'. As a result, I suspect this reaction will be wildly different than large portions of fandom. But I don't care. This is a positive reaction, because that's the reaction I had to the episode. If your reaction was not positive, I'm sorry, and your reaction is just as valid as mine or anyone else's. I'm not going to try to argue anyone out of their opinion, please don't try to argue me out of mine. :-) ]
If you have a problem with positivity and squee as a reaction to this episode, this is not the reaction post for you. Fair warning.
I have got the biggest, goofiest goddamn grin anyone ever saw on right now.
DUDE. MY ZEN IS FULFILLED. O.O (Sort of. Mostly! Yeah!)
I think I might cry. Again. Some more.
Oh crap, I was so lost in squee I forgot to stop recording and now have ten minutes of Seinfeld on my SPN tape. :-P
Right. On with the squee! \o/
-"The Road So Far." \o/
-Hi Lisa! Hi Death! Oooo. Hey... Maybe Dean can make a deal with Death to bring back dead people! And if no one dies tonight, maybe Ellen and Jo! \o/
-"Don't you cry no more." *bu-dum-CH* *wibbles*
-EEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEE! HOLY CRAP IMPALA LOVE!!! OMG!!! \o/
[Sal was the original owner's name. HA! I see what you did there Show.] EEEEEE! CAR!! \o/ ...uh oh.
-(Wow is Sam ever huge. He's dwarfing the damn car.)
-To continue the sudden angst interrupted by the notable largeness of Sam; OH CRAP, FICWRITER'S RIGHT, KRIPKE'S GONNA KILL THE CAR!!! AGAIN!! O.O
-"I'm in." Oh crap. Whaddaya mean, Dean?
-"It's not on me to let you do anything." Awwww. And free will. It's a two-way street. *nods* Except DON'T NOT RESIST, DEAN! Sam needs your resistance to fight. I think, anyway.
-Overgrown. Hee! ^.^
-"It goes against every fibre I got." LISTEN TO YOUR FIBRE, DEAN! FIBRE IS GOOD FOR YOU!!
-Family theeeeeeme! *flappy hands*
[...Why is Dean drinking Adam's favourite beer? You'd think if they were about to head out on a suicide mission, they'd at least get their favourite beer. Maybe the store was out. And out of ice too, since there was no ice in that cooler. Now that's freaking depressing. End of the world, suicide mission, and stuck drinking warm second-choice beer. Aw.]
-OOO! OOO!!! LOOK! BOBBY'S CAR!!! THE ONE WITH THE RUSTY TOP!!! IT'S STILL INTACT! IS HE DRIVING IT AGAIN NOW THAT HE CAN WALK??? *flails*
-Um. Eeek. O.O Oof. Blood-draining. Well, pragmatism, I guess. This is the apocalypse they are trying to stop, not a cross-town bus. Also, given the way demons treat their hosts, those people were already dead. And, given that this is probably the exact wrong thing to do and what Lucifer has wanted Sam to do all along, I'm surprised he hasn't been sending an endless parade of tantalizingly bleeding demons past Sam the whole time, to get him to fall off the wagon. Well, except he doesn't know where Sam is because of the rib-graffiti. Maybe just issue a standing order to all demons under his command to bleed if they see Sam Winchester? Heh. Yeah, that wouldn't be a popular order. All that aside, these three guys in Bobby's basement, bleeding demons dry as though they were slaughtered hogs... probably the single most disturbing thing I've seen on this show.
-[Although I must say, considering the average adult human only contains 4 or 5 litres (1 to 1.3 gallons) of blood and those are 4 litre (1 gallon) jugs, and I think there were only two demons drained, they were damned efficient at it. Even if they're all only 3/4 full, that's still 12 litres of blood. Hm. I guess the other 2+ litres must be straight demon juice. *nods* Hm. Wonder if there's a lab thing where they could just extract the demon part. Like... demon dialysis or something. *ponders*]
-Yeah, Dean's just thrilled with this plan.
-Yoda. Hee. *pats Bobby*
-Stunt demons. *snerk*
-"You okay?" That would be a resounding 'fuck no' I believe.
-Motown. Hunh. Who knew Lucifer liked R&B. o.O
-Detroit. Yes. Go where Lucifer says you're going to go. It's not a trap at all. Really. *facepalm* NO ONE IS PARANOID ENOUGH IN THIS SHOW!
-Awwww Sam's face! Aw.
-Castiel sleeping in the back seat of the Impala! And snoring! *shrieks and deafens self* OW! I've gotta stop doing that.
-"Angels don't sleep." Aw. Awwwwww. *flails* [Sleeping angels also don't cap well.]
-"We've just gotta hope he doesn't know about the rings." Oh come on, Sam, Big L totally knows about the rings. Even if Sam and Dean getting the rings wasn't some weird plan of Lucifer's all along, they're taking out his heavy-artillery henchthings to get them. He has to have noticed.
-...triple lindy? What the hell's a triple lindy? [Ah. Who knew the gate to Hell had a diving board, let alone three? o.O]
-"You know I'm not coming back." and "You gotta promise not to try to bring me back." Suuure. Have you even met your brother, Sam? In this case puppy-dog eyes will absolutely not help you.
-"What am I supposed to do?" Ooo. This speech is a parallel of the one from Dean at the end of 3.16. Very close. Ooo. Except instead of telling Dean to keep fighting, Sam's telling Dean to get out of it, settle down and be safe. There's meta in that. *babbles randomly about parallel construction and hero cycles*
-No promise was actually made there by Dean. Noted. A variation on Dean's theme again though, thank you soundtrack people.
-Executive producers (since we will be looking for someone else's name to scream "Damn you, [FITB]!" next season) include Sera Gamble, Ben Edlund, Phil Sgriccia, McG... wow. Loads. Personally, I plan on subbing in Sera for Kripke, if that wasn't already obvious. I suspect a few others might sneak into damning range once in a while though.
-Hug time now? I know I could use one.
-BOBBY HUGS!!! \o/
-Teleplay by Eric Kripke and Story by a different Eric? [Eric 'Giz' Gewirtz. Hm. Directed and wrote some Star Wars video games. So very random. Maybe we're getting a video game tie-in?] O.o Wow. That's really unexpected. Directed by Steve Boyum. Spotlight thief, perpetrator of the ravaged Impala hulk in "The End"....OH CRAP THE IMPALA'S TOTALLY GONNA DIE!!!
-And now Bobby is making me wibble.
-"Take care of these guys, okay?"/"That's not possible." Castiel, still rockin' the obtuseness. The pained look, though. Aw, Castiel.
-"Oh, I'm supposed to lie!" BWAH! Never ever ever change, Castiel.
[And as we can see, since misplacing his angelic powers, Castiel has taken up piracy. *smishes
kroki_refur in absentia*]-Hug your brother, Dean. Hug your brother, dammit! HUUUUUUUG! Crap!
-Wow. That's a whole lot of blood. Hope Sam didn't fill up on beer. O.O And it's really liquid still, too. Hm. Are demons an anti-coagulant? Must be. Next thing you know, instead of standard blood thinners, physicians will be prescribing demonic possession. Although admittedly the side-effects are rather nastier than existing treatments. *nods*
-"Do you mind not watching this?" Hm. No one watched Sam drink the blood. Did he actually drink it? Ooo... I dunno whether that'd be a good or bad thing. Not drinking blood is a good thing, yeah, but... hm. Does he think he has the power to do it without the blood, and is this really the time to be testing that out? o.O
-"Is your father home?" Hee.
-Commercials. What if Sam did fake drinking? Seriously, that much blood and not even a dribble on his clothes? That smear on his mouth could have been misdirection. Also, this is a total setup by Lucifer. And Dean supporting Sam's saying yes won't help him fight Lucifer for control. Fight it Dean. It's the only way Sam will fight it.
-More Impala! I love this!
malevolent73, CAN YOU BELIEVE HOW AWESOME THIS IS???!!! \o/
Wee!chester stuff! Army men! Legos! CARVING THEIR INITIALS UNDER THE SEAT UNDERPADDING. Awwwww. It's like a whole bunch of last-minute wee!chester story prompts! And Dean making sure all of that stuff got put back when he rebuilt the Impala!!! his is like the canonization of every wee!chesters-in-the-car fic ever! Hee! Would have been nice if any of that stuff had been mentioned elsewhere in the series, but whatever. Retconning through fic is always possible. EEEEE!!! *handwaves in a flaily manner*
-"We get our parents back." Ooo. Oooo... there's a hell of a last-minute rider clause. o.O
-"...I have no idea what you're talking about." *facepalm* Still not getting the hang of lying there, Sam?
-Yep, see he knows about the rings. Duh. Like I said, his major henchthings are disappearing off his tactical grid, and they were carrying the components to make a key to the only jail cell that can hold him? Not hard to do the math there. Even if it wasn't all a trick to get Sam into range and saying yes in the first place.
-Yeah. These are their 'we're screwed' faces.
-"A fiddle of gold against your soul says I'm better than you." HELL YES, GOLDEN FIDDLE!!! Hee! Sorry. I have wanted for a very long time, if I could do vids, to make a vid to 'Devil Went Down to Georgia' surrounding John and the boys VS YED. It's on my
spn_summergen request list. OMG Yay for song reference! \o/ 
-Dean and his broken little 'Sam, no' Gaaaaaah.
-Sam said "Yes." Three times. There's meta in that. Possibly with a hint of Shakespeare. *nods*
-Wall! OOOO!!! Latination! Portal!!! \o/ I have a real weakness for portals. Also, it makes a hell of a lot more sense that the portal can be opened anywhere with the correct key, rather than having to haul Lucifer's ass to an
-[Although it would have been really cool and tactically wise, (maybe) if they had slapped the
-Oh boys. Although given we're less than halfway through the episode, I'd be shocked if Lucifer isn't just faking being Sam here. But still. Oh boys.
-Yeah, too late. Sam's change-
Guh. I mean he looks like a different... More... uh. Mmm. Sorry. Evil looks good on Sam. *shrug*
-Oh Deeean.
-Eeek. Since the Horsemen's rings aren't being used as a key, are they gonna be used as brass knuckles? *winces anticipatorily*
-"I told you this would always happen in Detroit." Wait... he said that to Dean in the future. He remembers the future. Angelic memory is non-entropic. Very cool, makes sense in an entity that can time travel and very good to know. Although I think the Trickster (I know, he's Gabriel, *handwaves*) implied that back in 'Hammer of the Gods', right? [Can't find it.]
-Also interesting is that Dean has been wearing the leather coat for all of this. What do you think,
irismay42? -And Lucifer-in-Sam is gone and has the rings and Sam. OH DEAN! *wibble* It's one thing to sacrifice Sam to save the world. It's another thing to sacrifice Sam and completely screw the world to boot.
Oh Deeeeeeeeeeeeeean.
-DUDE! EVIL!SAM!
-Okay, mirrors work. I have a weakness for black room staging (I blame theatre and Babylon 5) and was hoping to see some for the inevitable Sam vs Lucifer conversations, but mirrors work. They work rather well actually, as if I recall correctly, there are more than a few mirror metas out there and the fans responsible for those are probably dancing with glee now.
-Wow. Padalecki. Dude. Your acting skills have gotten seriously kick-ass. O.o [And I second this in retrospect because not once during either watching did I have a single doubt about there being two completely seperate and distinct personalities interacting there. Well done.]
-*sits quietly stunned by the awesome*
-*reminds self to blink*
-"MFEO" Eh? What the hell's that? Mother-F-ing... Ehhhhh... Oooo.... I have no idea. It's distracting me from the awesome. *bats away* [Made for each other, sayeth Google. Seriously, that's an acronym now? I feel decrepit. :-p]
-Foster care. *grins broadly* I think I'll claim victory on my very old meta for that statement and leave it at that. Really wish I'd posted any of that post-season 1 AU tag 'verse. Anyway, \o/.
-"All those times you ran away." And the teen!chester bunnies keep on coming. Again, more overt mention of this earlier in the series would have been cool, but fic is for retconning, among many many other things. *handwaves*
-Azazel's gang of watchdogs! OMG I WAS RIGHT ABOUT THE WATCHERS!!! MAX MILLER'S STEP-MOM WAS TOTALLY ONE OF THOSE!!!! Yay, another theory I'm claiming proven!! \o/ Hey, hasn't Sam's prom date been mentioned before? [Heh. WIAWSNB, Wish-Verse. Dean stole Sam's prom date. HA!]
-"Whaddaya say you and I blow off a little steam?" Oh crap. Don't do it, Sam!
Mirror Sam's face being split by image frame and secondary shadowed Sam face in the broken mirror and epic chiaroscuro and the only visible half in both being Sam's left (classically 'sinister') side FTMASSIVEFREAKINGW. \o/ *epic film studies squee*
-"I suggest we imbibe copious quantities of alcohol." \o/
-Oh Castiel. Oh Bobby. And Dean's support network is gone. Not dead, just without hope, given up.
-Aw Sammy. You let him make you take Dark-Side points, dude. He owns you now. And now we also all see why Sam's rage was so important to Lucifer, right? So Sam could be tempted into doing this and as a result hamstring his own chances of overpowering Lucifer's possession by sapping Sam's will with guilt and shame. Tactically smart and very well-played by Lucifer. But nasty. Because, y'know, Lucifer. *nods*
-Commercials: Well, shit. Okay, L-in-Sam has the Key, right? All Sam needs to do is win the fight for control and he can open the cage himself. And the means to win that fight for control will come from Dean. *nods*
-Holy crap commercials have NEVER BEEN SO GODDAMN LONG!!!
-More Impala backstory!! And previous season montage! \o/
-This is new. Watching the stars. Oh. Aw.
That could have been sprinkled around earlier seasons too. Post-case discussions, etc. But whatever. Aw.
-Ah yes, THAT shot Dream a Little Dream. BOYUM. I know you took the spotlights, Boyum! I'm watching you!! The car better make it out of this season with all her parts intact! *shakes fist of irkedness*
-"They were never homeless." YES! THANK YOU! I LOVE THE CAR LOVE AND IT'S MAKING ME VERY SCARED FOR THE IMPALA NOW!! O.O
-Hey, Chuck has the same cheap-ass portable phone as I do! *feels kinship*
-Aw, no more Becky. He respected her too much. Suuure. Also, heh. I see what you did there, Kripke. XD
-"A place called Stull Cemetary." STULL!!! OMFG FUCKING STULL! IT'S BEEN SO DAMN LONG I FORGOT ALL ABOUT THE WHOLE LAWRENCE/STULL THING, AND WHY IT HAD TO BE LAWRENCE!!!! IT WAS ALWAYS STULL!!! \o/ *froths* Crap! I cannot believe I forgot about that. That came to light back in first season and was bandied around for a while, but then kind of passed to the wayside when the Devil's Gate at the end of season 2 turned out to be in Wyoming. Stull. Holy crap. Ha! We were right and forgot about it.
-"You're gonna do something stupid. You got that look." Hee! *pats Dean and Bobby*
-"You just don't give up."/"It's Sam!" EXACTLY! \o/
-"I ain't gonna let him die alone." *wibbles all over*
-Ooo. I don't know precisely why, but I like the shot composition here.
-Adam's looking okay... Wonder if regular angel vessels need to do anything in particular to keep from exploding?
-"Then why are we?" OOO. Lucifer instigates the Talk That Always Had To Happen, not Michael. Interesting.
-"He made me who I am." Oh, wow. Surprise!Random-theology-meta. I just read an article a couple weeks ago on this! O.O Need link... darn it, I think I lost the link.[Here it is!] Differences in the perception of Lucifer between Christianity and Judaism. What Lucifer's saying there is close to what was in that article as the Judaic interpretation. It had some interesting implications on free will of angels... And rather than risking opening a can of worms I know very little about, I'll leave the analysis about that to those with actual knowledge. *moves on*
-"Dad's test." Of oooo, I dunno, FREE WILL maybe???
-"You're a monster, Lucifer." If Dean had been hosting Michael for this conversation... Owww. Ow. Owwww. Just thinking of it. Owwwwwwwwww. Damn.
-I'm having a hard time finding Michael-in-Adam threatening. Possibly because in the "circling animal menace" contest he seems to be having with Lucifer-in-Sam, he is so out-classed by Sam's evil prowling it's funny.
-CAR!! AND DEAN! BUT CAAAAAR!!\o/
-"Gunter Glieben Glauben Globen" WTF music? .....Funky Cole Medina?? No, that's definitely not it. It's vaguely familiar, and has a lot of cowbell. And was quoted by the Kurgan in Highlander. That's not a comforting precedent, Dean. [Massive fangirl fail there. It's "Rock of Ages" by Def Leppard. Also earworm fail, because right after "It's better to burn out than to fade away" the song morphs into the "WooHoo" song (Song 2 by Blur) in my head. However, this explains why they have been saving so much of the budget this episode by using stock footage and flashbacks. Considering Universal Music wouldn't allow the musical named after this song to use the song itself, yeah. Kripke's been saving his pennies for this one. XD]
-The Impala is gorgeous. Just in case anyone forgot.
(please don't kill the car)
-"Am I interrupting something?" Hee. Dean. So very Dean. Perfect timing too. This apocalypse needed more snark. *nods*
-Commercials. Crap, only three-quarters of the way through the episode? Feels like hours have passed. I love that, the time dilation effect. Seriously though, Son of a bitch! Stull! \o/
-"Even for you, this is a whole new mountain of stupid." Well, quite possibly. But what the hell, it's this or the end of the world uncontested, and going down swinging has always been Dean's plan. (Jus in Bello anyone?)
-"You're next on my list, buttercup." Heeee! \o/
-Hey,
irismay42, Dean's still wearing the leather coat. That's a good sign, right?-"Hey, Ass-butt!" *rofls like a mad thing and pats Castiel* YAY FOR RENEWED HOPE AND LAST MINUTE RESCUES! (Especially considering there wasn't anything like a vehicle noise, plus there wasn't time, so Castiel must have summoned up just enough oomph to pop himself and Bobby there! And there wasn't any wing noise because they showed up while Dean was coming in and were covered by the "Gunter Glieben Glauben Globen". Yeah, sure! *nods and handwaves* Deus ex Machina again some more! \o/)
-Holy Oil Molotov! Wow. Had to happen to someone. *nods*
-"Did you just Molotov my brother?" Typical sibling behavior, as far as I know. Get into rabid snarling dogfights with each other, but defend each other against the rest of the world. Except Castiel's their brother too. Their baby brother, really. So this is like him jumping into his bigger brothers' scrap with a slingshot. Or something.
-No. Oh shit, Castiel. No wings. There's no wing burn. He's not gone if there's no wing burn. Not dead. Just momentarily inconvenienced. Yeah. Dean has to know that too. Yeah. *shivers* On the up side, I guess we got to see the 'water balloon full of vegetable soup' effect, there? [Not capping well. Also EW.]
-Oh and the car gets hurt. *winces* I mean it Boyum, I'm watching you!
-Bobby. Oh crap.
-Oh god. Okay. Neither Bobby's death or Castiel's
-Eek. Beatdown time. Eek.
-"It's okay, I'm here, I'm not gonna leave you." GNH! DEEEEEEEEEEEAN!!! *flails all over* Also ow. That really looks... Ow.
-[OOO!!! When Lucifer-in-Sam's pulling back his fist here, in the soundtrack there's the same kind of weird snarly growl noise from the Title card! Season 1-3 I think. Didn't hear it on airing because my TV sound is crap. But it's there. EEEE! *flails*]
-Toy soldier! \o/ THE WORLD'S GONNA GET SAVED BECAUSE DEAN GAVE SAM THE LAST OF THE LUCKY CHARMS, YOU GUYS!!! *APPLAUDS THROUGH ENTIRE FRIGGING MONTAGE* AND EPIC HUGGING!!! EPIC HUGGING SAVED THE WORLD TOO!!! IT JUST HAPPENED IN ADVANCE!! WOO! \o/
(...Although something that actually has been in the background all along, like the dreamcatcher or, I dunno, DEAN'S PENDANT could have showed up in that montage. But this is cool too. *handwaves*)
-[If it hasn't already been done, I hope someone lists all the episodes everything in that montage came from. Also maybe set it to "Nothing Else Matters" by Metallica. *nods*]
-And OMG. The Impala. The comic. Detail later. [Okay. Remember that interview with Peter Johnson at the end of June 2007 about the Origins comics? The one where he said they had John driving a station wagon in the Origins comics because the car in the Pilot could have been any car? And fandom's heads collectively exploded and we all went over and said "I'm sorry, but no." That the shot of the three of them on the car was as clear as day, and that it established the Impala as the safe haven and refuge of the remains of the Winchester family. I hope you do remember the article, because the it doesn't appear to be accessible anymore, dammit. I'm glad I saved my comment (I posted it as 'sadfan') now. :-/ I also went and wrote a commentary on the comic in a fit of frothing ire. Anyway, so, remember that? And then they changed the comic? We did this. Us. The fans. We pointed out the real role of the Impala in the Winchester family to one of the showrunners. I can't even explain the depth of personal joy I have for this. I feel... damn. I feel vindicated you guys. *grins* Of course this means I'll probably never get around to posting the other comicommentaries for Origins, because after an apology this huge, it'd be a little crass to go back and give them a hard time. ^.^]
-Crap, Dean looks awful. O.O
-Heh. Yep. Sam's got the key.
-Oh, fuck your destiny, Michael, you whiny little twerp. *snarls*
...aaaaand I'll be chalking that up on the big wall of 'things I never thought I'd think' o.O
-[Behind the wind noise, when Sam and Dean are looking at each other and the piano's all sad, and just before Sam closes his eyes, are the whispery voices from this season's title card. Angel voices? Or something else? *ponders*]
-Hey! Hands off, dickhead!
-Ooo. Into the cage with Michael. So, is there gonna be like a perpetual apocalyptic smackdown cage match between those two until Sam gets out? Because he's gonna get out. Eventually. Maybe with Adam too, if there's anything left of him after being normal/ripped apart by ghouls/dead/in heaven/resurrected/emotionally blackmailed by Zachariah/and possessed by an archangel.
-Ooo... are the rings slagged or just hot and cooling down? [They look like they might be okay...? Hm...]
-Oh Deeeean.
-Commercial. Well. Fuck me sideways. Bobby. Castiel... There's 15 minutes left! O.O No wingburn, Castiel is NOT DEAD. Of course. Bobby... Dean came back, Bobby will too. *is reassuring self*
-Oh Deeeean some more. *wibbles*
-CASTIEL! YAY! AND HE'S EMPOWERED! \o/
-"Are you God?" Hee! Wouldn't that be a shock. And awesome.
-"New and improved." Ooo. Is Castiel an archangel now I wonder?
-Bobby! OMG!!! And hellhounds never came to claim his soul, he's okay. Phew. Although Crowley's probably got a really confused puppy right now.
Yeah, that's about the right level of bogglement for having just been resurrected by the guy whose brains are still splattered on your face. XD
-Rings are looking in pretty good condition there... that's kind of nerve-wracking in that opening the cage again is highly inadvisable, and the rings provide a quick and easy way to do that instead of finding the way to get Sam and Adam out without letting out the big guy again.
-CHUCK! "The fans are always gonna bitch." Yep! Or at least hyper-analyse. Every. Single. Detail. Like Chuck suddenly wearing a white shirt and putting his empty glass down in an awkward manner so that it's clearly in shot... hm.
-"I'm telling you, they're a raging pain in the ass." Hee! We love you too, Kripke. *pats*
-New sherrif. Ooo. ...damn it, they snuck that right past me. Castiel had a Hero Cycle there. He started the task, came down to earth, learned stuff, passed the gatekeeper (Raphael?), the belly of the whale (getting splatted the first time?), road of trials (Zachariah, rebelling, search for God, losing faith) has sort of an absent reconciliation with the father, and is now returning home with his experiences, going full circle. Snuck it right past me. Well done. *grins even wider*
-"I'm coming for Him next." Oh Dean.
-"No Paradise, no Hell, just more of the same." The same would include Sam, you know. Just sayin'.
-"What would you rather have? Peace or freedom?" Wow. Random possibly political comment is random. And I'll leave the meta and spec on that topic alone for now. O.o
-"You suck at goodbyes." Aw. And Dean's family theme again. Gaaaaaaah.
-Bobby's out hunting a Rugaru solo? I hope he at least gets a dog or something. Bobby needs backup. And his soul back from Crowley. [And you know, months could pass between seasons. It's not like Sam necessarily popped back out of the cage like slightly singed toast. Also, 'see Bobby' not talk to. Bet they call each other every week. *nods*]
-"He made a promise." Actually, Dean didn't say a thing. He can rescue Sam any old time he feels like it. The trick would be only letting Sam (and Adam) out of the cage without letting any other entities out. Just don't open the cage. (Hm. Will Death come and re-claim and re-distribute the rings now, I wonder?) *ponders*
-Hi Lisa! You know, seriously, Dean's a guy you had sex with for a weekend ages ago, he showed up and monsters nearly ate your son and you, he showed up again with a big weird nebulous "Bad freaky things are going to happen, I'm going away now and I may never return" story when you hadn't seen him in years and had this big emotional thing on your porch, and now he's back on your doorstep again... I'd punch him. Then hug him. Then sit him down with a beer and get the exact details of everything, because seriously, Lisa, right now Dean is Random Drama Man to you and no one needs that nonsense. Just saying, honey.
-His voice. Gaaaaaaaah. *flails*
-And more montage. And Chuck's liquour bottle and glass are both completely empty now.... Something's about to happen.
-Poof. WTF Chuck??? He- does that- OMG. CHUCK IS GOD??? Kripke, you smug-assed sonofabitch!
Yeaaaaah, the sly looks at the camera, "I am a cruel, cruel, capricious god' indeed. HA! XD Or was Chuck just a construct of God? Or... crap! Dean's worn the necklace around him, but seriously, like I said, A) if a God doesn't want to be found, he won't be found, and B) how exactly do you know if a God detector works or not?? It's less reliable than a rock on a string weather forecaster. Although that dissapear effect was rather like a Trickster construct, was it not? Which means if Chuck was God's construct, anyone could still be God, up to and including Bobby or the Impala. (OR THE SPIKY CLOCK!) It bears much more pondering. When I have a brain. Because mine is currently blown.
-Dean's Family Theme. Aw. Dean 'happy' and home. With a large glass of booze. Not boding well there either. And now Dean's technically in a position to 'fade away' instead of 'burn out', right? Like the song said. While Sam's stuck in a super-max solitary confinement cage in Hell with Adam, Michael and Lucifer. So yeah. That ain't gonna stick, no matter how good Dean is at adapting and whether he figures he did make an unspoken promise to Sam or not. There always had to be a season 6. Or a coda movie. Or a shitload of fic. Or all of the above! \o/
-Dean's gotta be choking on angst [even as he tosses a dinner roll to Ben, hee!] and... and... Wait, streetlight... ooo... ooo hoo! *bounces*
-SAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAM! \o/ OMG I HAVE NEVER BEEN HAPPIER TO SEE SAM!!! EVER!!! Little concerned about the implications of the light overhead going out, [and the freaking thunder rolling in, OMG! O.O] and the passive-observing-inconclusive expression he's got, but whatever. Sam is Sera's to play with now, no worries about him being mistreated. Much. Or fully clothed. Ever. *koff* >.>
And in the end? Castiel's alive! BOBBY's alive! Sam's ALIVE! Dean's alive! Chuck is probably freaking construct of GOD! The IMPALA was pivotal and it's STILL IN ONE PIECE! THE WORLD WAS SAVED BECAUSE DEAN GAVE SAM THE LAST OF THE LUCKY CHARMS AND SAM GAVE DEAN THE TOY! OMG You GUYS!!! I WANT TO KISS THE TOP OF ERIC KRIPKE'S ADORABLE LITTLE BALD HEAD!!! \o/
Oh this will be fun to retcon. *rubs hands gleefully*
In all honesty, though, the last two episodes have been super compressed. Awful lot of stuff packed into a small space. Plus a lot of things popping up at the last minute that could have been seeded throughout the season, if not the whole show. I suspect this aspect may irritate some people, and seem a bit like:
Chuck Voice-over: "Of course the big battle has to happen in Stull Cemetary because Lawrence is infamous for it's rampaging hordes of demonic ducks."
Sam:"I knew- ...wait, what?"
Chuck Voice-over: "The infamous ducks!"
Dean: "But we've never heard of them?"
Chuck Voice-over: "Sure you have, here. Have a montage."
THE EVIL DEMONIC DUCKS OF LAWRENCE, KANSAS!
Fierce! Wild! Rampaging Hooooooooordes!
BEWARE!
Sam: "Okaaaaaay...."
Dean: "Ducks. Hunh."
...but really... I'm pretty okay with it, mostly. Actually, no. I loved it. Doesn't mean I don't wish it was possible to do a huge beta-read of the last two episodes, seed some things in earlier scripts, smooth the tension and pacing and turn the last two episodes into four, but there we go.
And this, being the end of Kripke's planned five season arc, is the end of Kripke's story. But it isn't the end of Sam and Dean's.
In a very big way, this finale is still a huge cliffhanger. Even though the apocalypse is done with, Sam's taken the big dive for the good of the Earth and seemingly come back from it whole, Dean has a home, Castiel is house-cleaning in Heaven and trying to bring things back into line with his perception of God's will (which I think is probably a damn sight closer than the previous administration), and Bobby's back in the field, still hunting, and on the surface, everyone is alive(ish), well(we think), and continuing forward into tomorrow. It's a cliffhanger because the thing that has been the theme of the show all along, as we have just had very clearly demonstrated, the family bond between Sam and Dean and their adopted family of Bobby and Castiel is... I don't want to say imperiled, because that's not it. Nor tenative or tenuous. When we leave this season, each of them is in their own space and their own world, so to speak. They are seperate. And that's why this is not the end. The boys may have gone full circle in terms of coming back to Lawrence and Stull, but they have not come full circle to return back to where they were as characters. The plot-arc has been (mostly) resolved, but the character-arcs haven't.
There lies Season 6. Completing the emotional circle. They are scattered to the four corners right now. Kind of literally. Heaven, Hell, Hunting, Home. (Hee.) Until they are back together -- all of them, in some way -- the journey hasn't truly come full circle.
So. Season 6. The journey home, for real this time. The home of the heart. True family, blood or not. I think Sam reuniting with Dean will take a lot longer than Dean reuniting with Sam at the start of season 4, and it may take a while before anyone is sure whether Sam is Sam or not, and that gets dealt with. Bobby and Dean will be the simplest to reconnect, given they're on the same plane of existence and not possibly-evil or not-them. And Castiel is a whole 'nother kettle of angelic fish and will either be the most difficult to reconnect, or be a catalyst for re-connection.
This all of course will probably be done via a lot of ass-kicking. With all this Apocalypse stuff distracting all he hunters the world over, the ghost/wendigo/vampire/werewolf/random nasty evil thingy population has to have gotten up to some unopposed hijinx. And Meg's still out there. And she's gotta be pissed.
Oh and
malevolent73? Let me know if you ever land from the car squee! \o/Just one more thing.
*clears throat* And now, to Kripke. A man I never have and never will meet, whose world I've been happily residing in mentally for five years. A man who I've cursed openly on several occasions, including a rather extreme 'head-floating-with-righteous-fury' rant on the old WB boards about the season 1 finale. Rabid badgers, missing spotlights (don't think I won't nag Sera about them!), insta-dawns and racist trucks aside, it's been five great years.
Despite years of attending sci-fi conventions, this show has taught me what it is to be a fan, and to be in a fandom. It's made me do silly things, brave things, stupid things and fun things. It's made me write more fiction and non-fiction every year than I did my entire time in college. Because of this show I stopped lurking and joined the conversation. I joined LJ and have met (virtually) so many wonderful people I would have never otherwise have met. I love this show, warts and all. And I always will.
So *raises a glass in a toast* to Eric Kripke, creator of a show that's living on without him. Cruel sadistic sonofabitch he may be, but be damned if I don't half love the rat bastard.
Now. Who's got a spoiler link-dump for the past year?
No spoilers or rumours for season 6 in comments please guys! \o/
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Oh my God, Michael-in-Adam was just so... twelve! Adam was more badass on his own. And Michael-in-young!John had so much more presence and power to him, it makes me wonder if something happened between the 70's and now to damage Michael in some way. Aside from the whole 'let's start the Apocalypse' thing.
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