Having watched the finale episode of Supernatural Season 15.20 I found I had much to say on it, but in the end decided there isn't much I will say after all. Firstly since I know many won't agree with what I really have to say and that's fine, but that's not the major reason why which I won't go into since it will turn out being long and protracted.
SO this was Dean's swansong, the first one to die and not going out in the sense of fighting a battle but during a fight which left him impaled on a nail. Okay there's a term for that protruding thing but anyway to me, it wasn't what I was expecting or how any one of us would've imagined the ending would be. There was no Butch and Sundance ending as Sam (Jared Padalecki) and Dean (Jensen Ackles) used to talk about on many occasions as did we too. No guns blazing, fighting the good fight, though saving those children was a fight for the good. Sam having to say goodbye so quickly, Dean too and not enough time to say necessary, but enough to get out the important goodbyes. In some ways it was understandable Dean would be taken first as from 1.22 when he was the one who ended up in hospital after the truck crashed into the Impala. Leaving Dad (Jeffrey Dean Morgan) to strike a bargain with Yellow Eyes, giving up his own life to save Dean.
This time round there wasn't going to be any returning, no way Sam was going to bring him back. This time was for keeps. This showed from Dean's entire being, his reason for hunting and he was losing momentum fast and he was tired. This again was apparent when he just wanted Jack (Alexander Calvert) to end Chuck (Rob Benedict) then and there in 15.18. In doing so, they could have their lives back, free will, live as they wanted. Yet it was such a short life, well lived without being puppets in a story. Dean adopting that dog took me back to 9.5 Dean Dog Afternoon, where he carried out the spell allowing hit to communicate with dogs.
Then came Sam dying in season 2 and being brought back, Dean selling his soul, Cas (Misha Collins) rescuing him from purgatory, it was an endless cycle, vicious circle, but it was their destiny and somewhere someone will say it was still Chuck playing with their lives, causing all this chaos over and over. Billie (Lisa Berry) telling Dean he was always the one, then adding the destructive part to it in 15.18 Despair. This for summed up the entire battle for Dean and his hunting and in some respects was some crazy foreshadowing:
- Billie: "It's you, Dean. It's always been you. Death-defying, rule-breaking. You are everything I lived to set right. To put down. To tame. You are human disorder incarnate."
- Castiel: "I've got you." [Always had since season 4.)
- Billie: "Come on, Dean. You can't escape me. Don't you think it's finally time? Time for the sweet release of Death?"
Then there was Dean wanting to give up when he found that perfect life from What Is And What Should Never Be. That was it for him, having Mom (Samantha Smith) around. Again only being manipulated by the Djinn and ultimately by Chuck (as usual.)
This ending left a bad taste, it felt rushed, contrived. There was no Zimmer frame for either one of them. Contrary to what we fans imagined their lives would turn out to be as they grew grey together. Still hunting into their '60's, '70's and beyond, heck we thought those Winchester dudes were invincible. Turns out they were fallible after all and human too. A harkback to the episode A Hero's Journey where they lost their mojo and were just as clumsy as you and me and no longer heroes. "Getting old isn't a bachelor party" as Dean says to Bobby in 5.7 The Curious Case of Dean Winchester. Where we do see Dean age, not gracefully but as handing out lives back to Bobby (Jim Beaver) during a poker game. (Yes Supernatural was obsessed with poker, or pool as we also saw in 15.11 The Gamblers where they gambled with winning back their luck. A great episode going back to the lore that the show was renown for.
Some good points: they had a final hunt together, got to bring out Dad's journal again and should've known the end was near when Dean said, "this is my destiny" the pie festival! And not those "vamp mimes!" Hey we never even got to see that leather jacket again!
Sam was the one who grew old, who had his life back as it should've been too if Dean hadn't returned for him as he said in 1.1 Pilot. Granted he didn't get the uni/college education he was after, but he got married, presumably to Eileen, had a son and the family business continued leaving behind the Winchester legacy in his own son, named for Dean. Just as Dad did the same entrusting it with Sam and Dean. Sam telling Ruby in 4.12 how he didn't want to end up hunting all his life, but ended up doing just that. Finally joining Dean in heaven, Jack's reboot of heaven as it should have been, according to Bobby. Even if all Dean was seen to do was drive around carefree in his beloved Baby; playing Carry On My Wayward Son, endlessly! We got to hear that at least.
I admit it wasn't going to be a finale that everyone would enjoy, as my friends said, after 15 years you were either going to hate it or love it, or maybe a mix of both, which is how I eventually ended up feeling. No one wasn't going to be 100% catered for in getting the end we wanted. Bittersweet ain't so bad. They gave it their all and will be missed! Who's crying, I'm not crying. You're crying! Just blubbing plenty now and then, or then and now!
Farewell awesome dudes...
