Sam. Dean. Sam and Dean!

[exsequar]

*lies dead on the floor* I FINALLY caught up on my flist. It took roughly 6 hours. And I got to SKIP=480! Daaamn. Y'all sure are a chatty bunch.

I read about a trillion finale reactions - didn't comment on any, I'm sorry, but SKIP 480! *flail* But it was really interesting seeing the range of reactions. There wasn't a whole lot of consensus, actually. Pretty much every part of the episode had both its lovers and its detractors. Which I completely understand. And I'm going to toss my own thoughts on the heap.

First, one general note - if you love this show, I don't understand hating this episode. I really don't. I always hate episode reviews that are simply "THAT SUCKED" because it feels like the easy way out to me. That said, this is not a squee-only zone - all the squee has been more than covered, honestly, and I want to be critical and dig a little deeper. Which has also been done, but you know. Whatever :) Warning - this got pretty long!

• Daddy Winchester - I can't tell you how many times I've seen both "Did hell make you mute, John?" and "I'm SO GLAD they didn't make John say anything, because no words could do this moment justice." I tend to lean towards the latter view, because honestly, what could he have said that wouldn't have felt like the cheesiest cheese to ever cheese? It was bad enough that he looked like he'd been attending the barber regularly in HELL - in fact, it looked like they'd gotten the ghost of Denny Duquette by accident! :P I think the Looks Fraught With Love and Significant between John and the boys were all the communication they needed. Sam's nod in particular touched me and rang true. Dean and Sam's reactions are markedly different, though that's partially just how they display their own emotions, but still. Sam looks like he's about to burst into laughter for joy and relief, because John is FREE, the job is DONE, and Everything Is Good. He and John have finally reached a place of mutual understanding, and they very much needed that last goodbye. Dean, on the other hand, looks almost overwhelmed and shell-shocked... because he is! I mean, his suspicion that John has been suffering in hell for him all season has just been confirmed, and that has to burn like a motherfucker, even as John is being released from that prison. Dean's guilt is almost overshadowing his happiness at that moment, which breaks my heart. I think it will take him a very very long time to stop blaming himself bitterly for John suffering in hell for so long. In the meantime, John... John looks proud. Overjoyed. Which makes my heart swell with love, because I think it was so important that he be there, and even participate in the conclusion to their life's quest. That was wonderful.
  
  
• The Climax - I'm a bit torn here. The actiony part itself felt very fast and really far too easy. The door to hell can be closed by the brute force of a rather small woman and an old man? Really? And I don't know, I kind of hoped the battle with the YED would involve some of their truly awesome hunter skillz, because those boys are super badass, and I don't know. It was over and I was like... "That's it?" Hm. On the other hand, there were some fantastic moments. Sam shooting Jake - ooooooh. Really quite ridiculously hot, yes I am on my way to the special hell. :) Sam leaving his attempts to CLOSE THE DOOR TO HELL because Dean is in danger. I swear, those boys love each other to distraction. Logic and reason have no place anywhere near them. Sam doesn't even HESITATE - he just gets this "HO SHIT" face and RUNS. And then of course gets slammed against a tree and doesn't do anything productive. But still. It was the thought that counts! And I really liked the whole mythology of Samuel Colt, with the churches and the train tracks. This Colt guy was fucking awesome. And my favorite shot of the whole episode was when the shockwave went out from the cemetery and this flash of light ran along the train tracks. SO AWESOME EEEE. *clappyhands* It was visually extremely well done (um, except for the Moment with the three Winchester men - each of them looks like they're badly photoshopped onto their backgrounds, it's kind of weird) and also rather squeal inducing on the first watch. But yeah, there were some weaknesses that put this climax behind that of Devil's Trap (and by that, I mean the scene starting when Dean begins to suspect John of being possessed) in my own personal preferences.
  
  
• Bobby - Bobby was fucking fantastic. But at the same time, I can't help but feel that he doesn't know the Winchester boys all that well. It makes me realize just how self contained the Winchesters are - we, the viewers, get a very privileged look into the closest places of their hearts. We see the most intimate, most vulnerable moments of their lives, and I think maybe we forget just how little of that is shown to the outside world. The love that Dean has for Sam is really extreme to an unhealthy degree, and rather frightening to boot. But wait, I'm supposed to be talking about Bobby. Bobby's anger and horror at what Dean had done was really note perfect (even though Jim Beaver has this weird way of talking, like he's got a bad underbite, that kind of distracts me o.O) and I really think Dean needed to hear some of that. Then again, I don't think it's going to change anything. Dean is never EVER going to regret bringing Sam back. Not for one second. So while what Bobby had to say was important, I don't think it necessarily achieved anything. I do love how paternal Bobby was being, with the mingled love and frustration. Yay Bobby!
  
  
• Ellen - Color me completely unsurprised that she survived. Pretzels? Lmao. Now, I've never personally loved her - she was cool enough, and certainly had her moments, but I don't LOVE her. *shrugs* Maybe she'll grow on me, since she's obviously going to be around more. But I did love the "Whiskey, now, if you don't mind." HEE. And I loved how Dean clutched at her and pressed his face into her neck - that was very sweet. Other than that, though, she felt extremely plot devicey - the entire showdown wouldnt have happened without the map she just happened to salvage because Ash just happened to call right before he died. *shrugs* Eh. Whatevs.
  
  
• The Yellow-Eyed Demon and Jake - How fucking AWESOME is the YED? No really. I'm sad we don't get to have him anymore! He was hilarious and snarky and just so, so wonderful. My favorite moment of his was when Jake turned the gun on him and he was like "Oh my, I'm shocked at this unforseen turn of events!" Teehee. And I really liked that they didn't make Jake go completely off the deep end - in fact, he was quite sympathetic. I don't want to take credit for this, but I have no idea whose reaction post I saw this in, so... suffice to say someone ELSE pointed out how huge the parallels were between Jake and Dean. Jake had a single parent and one sibling, and he went off to war (the modern literal kind, but still) to try to make things better for his family, and just. His emotional map was very familiar to us. He was stuck in an untenable position, and when it came down to it, he stuck by what he thought would be best for his family, and fuck everyone else - sound familiar?? ("THEN LET IT END!") Yeah. And I thought the actor did a fantastic job. Major props to this duo.
  
  
• The Special Children - I think we've finally had the question of how Sam moved the wardrobe in Nightmare answered! It seems as though all the children have access to all the different powers, if they try hard enough. Ava started with visions, and progressed to at least controlling demons, and probably more. Jake started with strength, then gained at least Andy's persuasion power and most likely controlling demons, if YED was expecting him to control the army. So that leads me to believe there's this sort of "pot" of potential powers, and each child starts with their own special specific one at first, for whatever reason, but they have access to the rest of them if they focus and try hard enough. It's almost like the YED's own reward system for his good students. If you decide to hop on the bandwagon and start killing the other Children, you get rewarded with a gold star and a shiny new power! *g* That's pretty awesome. But in Sam's case, it was just his profound, utter desperation that allowed him to tap into something that was there, inside him, but he needed that extreme of emotion to access it. And perhaps it helped that he was near another Child with that power, who knows. Fascinating!
  
  
• Sam. Dean. Sam and Dean! - Oh boys. Boys boys boys. Where to even BEGIN? There is so fucking much to love here. Dean - hollowed out, grey, cold-eyed, furious, hopeless, anchorless. His refusal to eat, to bury or "torch" Sam, to help Bobby, to do anything normal or human because he is no longer alive. I just. OW. How he pushes Bobby away (literally) and then apologizes twice, unable to meet his eyes. I love broken Dean. I really, really do. Jensen is so damn good at it! *flails around* And how he spun out in the Impala, nnnnngh, that was hot. The Red Eyed Demon served her purpose, I guess, but I didn't really like her. I did like her line about Dean's "gutter soul" though. Mmph. And then, oh then, THE HUG! EEEEE! Dean just squeezes him so tight, and then APOLOGIZES, and it's like he's immediately alive again. "I'm STARVING," because with Sam alive it's like his life gets unpaused again. It's so wonderful. And how his voice breaks on "Easy there, Van Damme." And the gentle, solicitous care, the way he keeps exhorting Sam to take care of himself, they have TIME, and Sam's equally stubborn determination to get moving, to get things done. *flails more* I knew once I got to talking about the boys, all coherence would go out the window! Suffice to say that I love them more than words can say. Meef.
  
  
• The Last Scene - This scene was incredibly powerful, and incredibly important. Of course Sam sussed out the truth; of course Dean couldn't look Sam in the eye and keep lying. And of COURSE protecting Dean is Sam's job too. And while I thought that Bobby's little speech didn't really sink into Dean, I think Sam's DID. You could see him absorbing Sam's words, the profound truth in them, the truth that he never let himself consider or need or believe. That his baby brother is all grown up, and he can take responsibilities too, and that Sam loves Dean just as much as Dean loves Sam. He never truly believed that before, but he didn't really feel like he was lacking anything, because it was his job to love Sam more than life itself, but it was Sam's job to have life, to live to the fullest. I think Sam thought the reciprocal nature of their love was obvious (there was a bit of "DUH, you idiot!!" to his words, hee) but sometimes Dean just needs the WORDS out there, because he is blinded by his self-loathing, by guilt and by duty and by all these ingrained assumptions he's had for his entire life. That scene was so pivotal for Dean, and led us into an extremely exciting direction for next season. I seriously CAN'T WAIT to watch the "Mission Sam Saves Dean" show. I really, really can't. But that's a lie, because I think this episode wrapped things up gorgeously, left a lot of avenues open for fic this summer, and I think I CAN wait. I don't think it will kill me. Yay! \o/
  

So while I had some bones to pick with this episode, and it didn't function as a whole quite as well as Devil's Trap did for me (the pacing of that one, the intensity, STILL blows my mind), I think overall - YAY SHOW. Seriously. I love our boys, they love each other, the end! Wheeee!

Comments

[alazysod.livejournal.com]

People didn't like the ep? Seriously? Every reaction I've read has been of complete love. I suppose pieces of it were kind of plot-devicey, but when they were writing this, they didn't know they had been renewed, right? So I guess they tried to end it somewhere neutral. And I'm guessing that they made the big climax shorter in favor of some character stuff.

And ee, what a huge, thorough review. :D

It's almost like the YED's own reward system for his good students.
I just had the most bizarre image of the YED as like, an elementary school teacher, and all the psychkids are his eager little students.

[exsequar.livejournal.com]

There was only one person who HATED it on my flist (and boy, did she! it was annoying, actually) but there were plenty of people who were healthily critical of good chunks of it. I think the reaction is love overall, but not without a measure of "bzuh?", haha.

Hee, I'm glad you enjoyed reading it! :)

LOL. I now picture him with a ruler smacking kids' hands, because he wouldnt be a NICE teacher. He encourages his kids to kill each other, after all! :P

I don't have any icons of Andy, Jake, OR the YED! This needs to be remedied!

[alazysod.livejournal.com]

Huh. I'll have to go looking for them. I love reading critical analysis, even if it for something that I loved. It's cool to see how different people interpret things.

LOL he totally wouldn't! "Sammy, if you want to go out for recess, you MUST use your freaky telekinesis to stop the other children from going on the swings."

There's some great Andy icons here (http://ckrazy32.livejournal.com/97955.html#cutid1).

[trinity_clare]

in fact, it looked like they'd gotten the ghost of Denny Duquette by accident!

I find this hilarious because when the Surgetory episode of Grey's aired, everyone went "WTF did Denny forget to shave in heaven?" Oh, JDM. No one ever knows how much scruff is enough.

The door to hell can be closed by the brute force of a rather small woman and an old man? Really?

I concur.

(um, except for the Moment with the three Winchester men - each of them looks like they're badly photoshopped onto their backgrounds, it's kind of weird)

THANK YOU> No one else has been saying that and I rewatched it today and it still sucks.

[weasleytook.livejournal.com]

I was so baffled by John/Sam/Dean photoshoppiness at first, that I thought maybe JDM wasn't really there and they just CGI'ed his hot ass self in there. LOL.

But otherwise, yay!

And I loved how it gave us stuff to look forward to for next year, but didn't give us an OMGWHENISSEPTEMBER cliffhanger. :D It was almost as if they did that JUST IN CASE the show didn't get renewed.

[maboheme.livejournal.com]

Everything you said, and a bag of pretzels. ♥

[exsequar.livejournal.com]

Whee! :D

[shotofjack.livejournal.com]

if you love this show, I don't understand hating this episode
Ditto for me. How can a fan not like this episode? Beyond me. The Sam & Dean stuff (which you so beautifully pointed out) was pay-off enough even if you hated every thing else.

um, except for the Moment with the three Winchester men - each of them looks like they're badly photoshopped onto their backgrounds, it's kind of weird)
Well, I think they did indeed cgi it. I read (but not from a source that I would consider surefire) that JDM couldn't get to Vancouver so they shot him on a green screen & tucked him in there through the magic of special effects. That would explain quite well why no hug since cgi of that would be quite a bit more tricky.

I can't wait for next season either...

[mona1347.livejournal.com]

someone ELSE pointed out how huge the parallels were between Jake and Dean.

*waves hand in air* That was me, that was me! Or...at least also me.


her line about Dean's "gutter soul"

*mmnnrrrk* That's gotta be a fic title someday.


*HAPPY FLAILS IN YOUR GENERAL DIRECTION*

OUR SHOW, ANNIE-BABY. OUR SHOW. AND OUR BOYS.

[exsequar.livejournal.com]

AHA! I KNEW it was someone brilliant and far more awesomesauce than I! *grins and smooches*

It should be a fic title for a fic YOU WRITE! Huh huh? *nudges*

*SPAZFLAILS FOR JOY* BOYS BOYS BOYS. I LOVE THEM SOOOO MUCH MONA DARLING. I CANT EVEN. EEEEE.

[musical-emjay.livejournal.com]

YAY WINCHESTERS!

You pretty much echoed all my thoughts, and articluated nicely the things that I disliked but didn't really want to think about too deeply because I hate disliking things about MY SHOW ;)

Also, I loved the YED more than is perhaps healthy :D

In conclusion: SAM AND DEAN ARE OTP THE END. SERIOUSLY. ♥

[exsequar.livejournal.com]

Believe me, I hate disliking things too! But I think it's healthier to kind of talk it all out, working out how I felt about everything, and making this post helped me reach an even better place with this episode. You know? Yay catharsis! LOL

OTP TO THE END OF THE UNIVERSE. JESUS. ♥

[musical-emjay.livejournal.com]

HEEE :D I'm just one of those lame people who're all, "EVERYTHING IS BUTTERFLIES AND SPARKLY RAINBOWS! Sam and Dean are in love so I'm not going to think about the fact that they shut the door to HELL with brute force alone LA LA LA *plugs ears*" XD But yay for catharsis!

*stares at your icon* DEEEEEN!!! ♥

[iatethebunny.livejournal.com]

I love your overview. It was funny clear and to the point with the right amount of flails. I’m still kind of tripping over this ep and thinking logically about it is still like 4 days away. Your idea about Sam and the special children powers seems on point. I almost forgot about Nightmare(don’t know how that happen I must be slipping). I actual like AHBL part 2 better than Devil Trap. AHBL 2 was like a breath of cool air. All season I’ve been kind of put off by the eps some were rather good but overall I wasn't happy and AHBL part 1 was kind of weak I was so worried part 2 wasn't going to live up to the standard I’ve come to expect and it did it really did so I’m not ready to see the bad (there always some bad it’s on CW after all) just yet. I mean yes I was kind of like WTF the door to hell can’t be that easy to close not after it took all that work to open but than I was like Oh yes Sammy run to save your lover..Brother whatever.
Yes broken Dean was lovely but I like the idea of the Sam Dean relationship being more balanced ( we haven’t seen that yet) and I think it finale is or it will be next season. And I’m also waiting patiently for the Sam on a mission to save Dean season. I very much like where they left off there are still some question in the air the mission has changed but it seemed balanced and Dean’s smile was awesome. This is getting long I will end it.
Peace

[exsequar.livejournal.com]

You are marvelously mature.