Mastodon Mastodon Mastodon Mastodon Mastodon Supernatural - Brother's Keeper - Review - "Finale and Season Thoughts"


    Enable Dark Mode!

  • What's HOT
  • Premiere Calendar
  • Ratings News
  • Movies
  • YouTube Channel
  • Submit Scoop
  • Contact Us
  • Search
  • Privacy Policy
Support SpoilerTV
SpoilerTV.com is now available ad-free to for all premium subscribers. Thank you for considering becoming a SpoilerTV premium member!

SpoilerTV - TV Spoilers

Supernatural - Brother's Keeper - Review - "Finale and Season Thoughts"

May 27, 2015

Share on Reddit


Supernatural, “Brother’s Keeper,” was written by Jeremy Carver and directed by Phil Sgriccia. It felt like your typical Supernatural finale – we being with Carry On My Wayward Son and end with the brothers – and the angel and the King of Hell – in imminent peril. The big bad of the season – the Mark of Cain – is dealt with and a new one is introduced for next season – the Darkness. The episode is well directed by veteran Sgriccia, the dialogue less clunky than some recent episodes and Jared Padalecki (Sam) and Jensen Ackles (Dean) deliver terrific performances. The special effects were also outstanding. So, why am I left feeling slightly ho hum about this episode? And much of the season?

To begin with, while I liked the rendition of Carry On My Wayward Son from “Fan Fiction,” I just wanted to hear Kansas at the beginning of the finale – regardless of whether the “Fan Fiction” version is also part of the season re-cap. Picky maybe, but after 9 finales, some things are sacrosanct.

I was thrilled to have Julian Richings reprise his role as Death, but I felt that his dialogue wasn’t as snappy as it has been in the past and his accent seemed somewhat off. And somehow, he just didn’t have the same ability to send a chill up my spine. The Death that we met in “Two Minutes to Midnight” would not have been surprised by Dean.

One of the things that I miss most about the show is when the brothers had a strong moral code. It’s fine to damn the consequences when you’re the only one paying the price, but when it’s the whole world? That just doesn’t seem like something the Winchesters would do. Dean sold his own soul to bring his brother back to life, but Dean insisted he be the only one to pay the consequences. Remember when Ruby had to find a clinically brain-dead corpse before Sam would work with her? Remember when the brothers really did avoid killing humans?

The episode begins with Cas (Misha Collins) admonishing Sam that they should find Dean but not use the book. Sam is determined to save his brother regardless of the cost because they don’t even know what – if any – the consequences will even be. Just a quick aside to mention that I always do like when the brothers are doing tasks of their trade – in this case Sam is make witch-killing bullets. Let’s not dwell on how it came to be that witches weren’t simply human and easily dispatched by an ordinary bullet.

The next scene gives us a close up of a hungover, sweaty, hurting Dean waking up on the carpet of the crappy motel he’s retreated to. As he sits up, he rubs his face, muttering, “I’m good, I’m good.” He’s clearly trying to convince himself that he’s okay when he’s clearly, not and we start to see evidence of that right away. Dean is either completely emotionless or brutally honest with those he encounters.

 
    He tells the Sheriff (David Cameron) that the dead girl left her house dressed like a whore. The Sheriff is taken aback and remarks, “Tell me what you really think, Agent…. That could be the Whore of Babylon but all I see is someone’s little girl.” This is actually a really fun shout out to “99 Problems” – the episode in which the actual Whore of Babylon looks like the daughter of the local Pastor and Dean kills her. It’s a also a nice parallel as it’s that event that makes Dean decide to offer himself up to Michael. Here the case also has Dean decide that he needs to sacrifice himself to spare others.

Dean apologizes – completely and obviously not sincerely. This prompts the Sheriff to remark, “You’ve worked some pretty dark stuff in your day, haven’t you, Agent? Must have left quite a mark.” The remark is a bit on the nose, but also highlights that even with all the dark that Dean had seen, he himself didn’t become “dark” (nice shout out to those black eyes too) until he took on the Mark.

Dean continues to be a dick when Rudy (Robert Moloney) shows up. He tells him, “We both know you’re playing dress up out here. It’s just a matter of time before you get yourself killed so why don’t you take that walk and let the real hunters do the work.” In actual fact, it’s Dean that gets Rudy killed. Anybody else have flashes of Martin? Rudy does call Sam to let him know that Dean “isn’t playing well with others.”

Dean has never been the subtle or sensitive one when interviewing people, leaving that role to Sam, but he really crosses a line with the McKinleys. Not surprisingly, after suggesting that their “shy” daughter not only knew her murderer, she was trying to have “intercourse” with him, Mr McKinley (Roger Haskett) and Mrs McKinley (Fiona Hogan) become pretty hostile. Ackles is great in this scene as Dean remains completely emotionless throughout. He tells them he’s just doing his job.

        The father wants to know if that includes calling his daughter a slut, and Dean replies, “I’ll admit the thought crossed my mind. Then I came here and I smelt the deceit and the beatings, and the shame that pervade this home and you know what? I don’t blame Rose anymore.” The father is losing it, muttering, “Shut your face right now,” but Dean continues, “No wonder she put on that skank outfit and went out there looking for validation and right into the arms of the monster that killed her. Joe? Who did this?” Joe loses it and punches Dean several times in the face before Dean pulls his gun on him. The father breaks down crying and says he doesn’t know.

This exchange brings up a few interesting points. Is Dean’s own history of picking up women a manifestation of this same urge in Rose? Was he simply trying to find the validation he didn’t get at home? We’ve also seen Dean fall right into the arms of a monster on more than one occasion – and Sam too for that matter. It’s also another indication of how far the Mark is taking over that Dean barely feels being punched in the face.

As he leaves, Dean is followed out by Rose’s brother, JJ McKinley (Darren Mann), who tells Dean about the guys in a cabin on the edge of town. Once again, shark-eyed, Mark-Dean takes out the vampires completely dispassionately only to burst into the cabin to find a vamp with a knife to Rudy’s throat and Crystal (Emilija Baranac) tied to the bed. Dean’s not wrong when he tells Rudy to simply walk away because he’s the vamp’s insurance, but when he actually barks at the vamp, he startles him into killing Rudy. There’s really no question that as Crystal points out, Dean could easily have save Rudy.

One image that has been used really consistently throughout the season – and bears further analysis – is the use of mirrors. Dean is washing the blood off his hands when he sees a bloody Cas and then a bloody Rudy reflected back at him. Once again, Dean punches his own image in the mirror, and then proceeds to trash his entire room – it’s only seeing his actions reflected to him that ignite emotion in him. Luckily, there is enough of Dean left to take action. Unfortunately, in typical Dean fashion, his solution is like using a nuclear bomb rather than a flyswatter to kill a fly.

Meanwhile, Sam and Cas pursue the spell. Rowena agrees to cast the spell if Sam will grant her freedom and give her the codex as he can’t kill Crowley. Cas is adamant that Sam is making a mistake to agree to this. Rowena is able to determine that they will need three things for the spell to work – the apple from the Garden of Eden, a piece of the Golden Calf, and something that Rowena loves. She denies loving or having loved anything. We’ve seen that there is no love lost on Crowley – which is a good thing given their inability to kill him anyway.

        Cas touches her forehead and sees that she loved the Polish boy Oskar (Nathan Dales) – who turns out to be Seth from the diner last week. That certainly made Crowley’s trip there last week make a lot more sense – no doubt that’s what the hamster told him. Of course, the scene with Cas reading Rowena’s memory is yet another example of cherry-picking powers for Cas, depending on what the episode requires rather than any consistency.

Sam gets Rudy’s call and leaves Cas with some of Dean’s hair for the spell and to gather the other ingredients. Sam arrives at the crime scene and after seeing Rudy realizes that Dean has completely lost control. When Sam arrives at the motel, having spotted the Impala, he goes to the door with his gun drawn. Was he prepared to try to kill Dean? Of course, he can’t kill him, he can only turn him into a demon, so it’s unclear what he was thinking of doing. He finds the room trashed and a note with the keys to the Impala. The note is clearly a good-bye – we’ve certainly been here before in the aftermath of “99 Problems” for one. The paper shows that this is Curtis’ Motor Court – no doubt a shout out to Ryan Curtis, VFX Coordinator on the show.

Cas summons Crowley, who immediately says “Who summons anymore? Couldn’t you have called?” Which brings up a good point – they don’t summon anymore, and it has become a little ridiculous that there is cell reception in Hell. It also highlights that we have not one but two summonings in the episode. Cas makes it a joke by saying that Crowley isn’t in his contacts. Cas then simply asks for Crowley’s help. Crowley points out that Sam just tried to kill him, so he’s not to disposed to help.
       
        The only thing Crowley wants is for Cas to beg. Personally, I didn’t think he got much more than a pretty grudging please. Crowley capitulated way too easily, for him not to be playing his own game here. And he agrees before he knows what the third ingredient is. Was he simply hoping to get close enough to Rowena to be able to kill her? I also found it curious that Crowley seemed to know a lot more about the biblical elements than Cas did. Shouldn’t Cas have known that it wasn’t an apple but a quince? Shouldn’t Cas have some sense of where a religious artifact like the Golden Calf might have been? Even if that artifact represented sacrilege?

Dean summons Death and has made him an offering of Mexican food made with “the bad fat.” It’s nice to see that some things haven’t changed even if Death’s accent seems a little off. Dean’s betting on Death being able to kill him, but even Death can’t kill him. Because it is the first curse, nothing can kill Dean, but he can still get rid of it. Death introduces what is clearly the next big fight/big bad for the brothers – the mysterious “Darkness.” I say mysterious because just like the mark, there is no real information about it.

        We are simply told it is “a horrible destructive amoral force” that existed before everything else. It’s not clear why they simply didn’t go with “Chaos” – which the Bible makes clear is what God created the earth out of, but whatever. I loved when Sam wanted to know what the evil was and Dean tells him the Darkness. Sam replies, “What the hell is that?” And Dean’s whole explanation is “What does it sound like? Does it sound like a good thing?” I guess the writers will spend the summer trying to figure out an actual answer, and I hope that it will be a lot more of a fleshed out and consistent answer than we ever got with the Mark.

According to Death, the Mark is the lock and key that keeps the Darkness locked away. Anybody else immediately jump to the ridiculously funny scene in “The French Mistake” with Sam acting as Jared, acting as Sam, painfully explaining that lock and key? But, I digress… The Mark had first gone to Lucifer and caused his corruption, resulting in him being locked in Hell. Lucifer passed the Mark to Cain who, we know, gave it to Dean. Though, apparently, Cain was sharing it with Dean as he continued to be invincible and kill after that.

Death offers to remove the Mark, but only if Dean will share it with another to ensure that the lock remains unbroken and the darkness remains banned. Is this supposed to be a suggestion that the Mark has only really taken hold since Cain’s death? Of course, this negates the Mark’s behavior at the end of last season, so doesn’t seem like much of an explanation. Regardless, Dean refuses to “share.” He does seem to agree to let Death lock him away – not on this planet. Really? Seems like we are awfully close to aliens at this point. Dean calls Sam, ostensibly to say good bye.

Of course, when Sam arrives that doesn’t seem to be the plan. Padalecki is excellent in these scenes and his performance is committed. Ackles is also very good, but of course, Dean is hampered by the effects of the Mark which distance his emotions from him. Sam is, of course, desperate to stop Dean from once again doing the rash self-sacrificial thing – he doesn’t have to die. In perhaps the most OOC (out-of-character) moment ever in the show, Dean tells his brother, “I thought I did but I don’t. You need to die, Sam.” Now, regardless of the logic of having to kill Sam in order to stop him from brining Dean back, there is no universe – alternate or otherwise – in which the Dean Winchester I’ve come to know, would ever agree to a plan that resulted in, indeed hinged on, Sam’s death. Regardless of it being “for the greater good.” Dean may have decided that he is evil – and even agrees that killing Rudy was evil – but Sam is the farthest he’s ever been from evil. At least, the show has failed to demonstrate to me that Sam is off the reservation.

Death – as always, but even moreso here – clearly has an ulterior motive. I love the mural behind the three of them of dancing skeletons which seems to really mirror Death making the Winchesters dance to his tune. He reminds Sam that he stood him up when he chose not to die at the beginning of season nine. Sam continues to try to persuade Dean not to listen to Death and what the Mark is telling him: “You’re willing to summon Death to make sure you could never do anymore harm. You summoned me because you knew I would do anything to protect you. That’s not evil. That is a good man trying to be heard, searching for some other way.” Dean looks at Death during this speech, clearly wanting him to intervene with an argument of his own as Dean really seems to believe what Sam is saying. The physical fight that follows seemed like a cheap way to ratchet up the tension as a call back to the brother’s fight in “When the Levee Breaks” and didn’t flow naturally out of the conversation for me the way it did in season four.

On his knees, Sam tells Dean, “You’ll never, ever hear me say that you – the real you – is anything but good.” Just me or is this incredibly clunky dialogue? Also? When Sam says “This is madness” about Death wanting to send Dean to “outer space,” it also felt like bad melo-drama. However, Padalecki continues to out act the bad dialogue. He tells Dean he understands that Dean must me stopped at all costs and tells him to “Do it.”


      Death then hands Dean the Scythe and asks him to “Do me the honor.” Dean looks down at his brother and says, “Close your eyes. Sammy. Close your eyes.” And this is the first bit of dialogue that remotely feels like Dean. It’s impossible for any fan of the show not to be touched by Dean’s term of endearment for his brother, and of course, he could never look into those eyes and actually kill his brother.

Sam pulls out his final card and hands Dean the pictures of Mary and themselves as kids that Dean has kept as a talisman with him for his entire life. Again, I felt the dialogue just went a bit too far towards melodrama. Death’s dialogue actually makes no sense: “It’s the family you must precede.” How is Dean going before his family? Isn’t he sending them into death before him? Death goes on, “To be what you are to become, what you’ve become, is a stain on their memory.” I’d have to agree with Death about this. Dean used to be a hero. One can argue he’s still a fallen hero, but the line that the brothers used to respect has really been irrevocably crossed several times now – with the death of Rudy as only one example. Yes, they’ve saved the world, but they’ve also managed to get a lot of people killed. There’s creating a more interesting and complicated dialogue by looking at the grey area between black and white, but once you add too much black to the white, it becomes black. And I’ve never been a big fan of the anti-hero.

Death forces Dean’s hand by telling him to do it or he will. Sam nods for Dean to go ahead. Dean asks, “Forgive me,” and Sam finally shuts his eyes as Dean swings, coming all the way around to apparently kill Death who is standing behind him. Was Dean in any way planning to do this? I doubt it. I’m sure this was simply another impetuous split second decision which will result in many more casualties at the Winchesters’ feet. My other question is whether this is actually the Scythe that can reap death. It certainly isn’t the one that Dean gave back to Death in “Two Minutes to Midnight.” And again, since when has Death been that easy to kill?

Meanwhile, in what is a nicely parallel situation, Rowena is being asked to sacrifice the one thing in the world that she loves. Just as Dean kills Death instead of Sam, Rowena kills Oskar.

        The spell is completed and a blast of power knocks Cas, Crowley and Rowena off their feet as lightening blasts up through the roof and then down through the roof at Juanita’s to sear the Mark off of Dean’s arm. Rowena is the first to recover and breaks her chains and traps both Cas and Crowley. I have to say that Connell shows some flashes here of what Rowena could be. I like her as simply evil – when she isn’t being directed to go over the top with her delivery, I like the character much better.

Rowena tells Crowley, “I’m afraid, Fergus, that in all your long life, you’ve never seen what a real witch can do with real magic. I’m terrifically pleased it’s the last thing you’ll ever see.” And with a flick of her fingers, she casts the bestial spell on Cas that we’ve seen her use several times this season. Our last view of Crowley has him frozen in place with Cas about to stab him with an angel blade. Of course, we also know that the bestial spell generally ends with the death of the person cursed with it. So. I guess we wait to see who’s announced as a regular for next season….

Back at Juanita’s, Sam and Dean step out and try to convince themselves that things turned out ok for them for once. Sam says, “This good. Mark is gone. Nothing crazy happened. You get your baby back.” And Dean replies, “Yeah. I’m sure everything is perfectly fine.” And then, of course, all hell breaks loose – oh wait. Where have I heard that before? Right. At the end of season two.

        Once again, the VFX department proves they’ve got the art of smoke mastered. Lightening rains down from above – reminding me of the angels falling at the end of season eight. Smoke boils out of the ground and forms a huge cloud – reminding me of the gates of Hell opening in the season two finale. Sam and Dean run away and attempt to drive away, but are stopped by Dean backing into a hole. Darkness rolls over everything in its path, toppling trees and the Juanita’s sign before engulfing the Impala. Reminding me of the flash of light at the end of season four.

It’s arguable that the show had written itself into a corner by the end of season five. How do you top the Apocalypse? I don’t think you can top it, but you can provide satisfying storylines. I feel like the Mark storyline was so diffused that it lacked the gravitas it might have garnered. Carver has proven again and again that he writes a pretty good 13 episode arc. What I’d really like to see is the season truly broken up that way – give us two good 13 episode arcs.

Perhaps I’m being harsh. There were some real strengths in this episode. There were some nice parallel scenes written into the episode. Teh mirror imagery was carried through several episodes and made good use of here. Padalecki in particular delivered one of his best performances. The VFX, set dressing – how could you not love Juanita’s – and the direction were excellent. I particularly liked the shot of Dean and Sam with the mural between them at Juanita’s.

However, the fact remains, that once again, too much of the season was shoe-horned into a couple of episodes. I’m hoping that they haven’t killed off yet another fan-favorite in Death because the deaths are no longer unexpected, we’re upping the stakes events. The deaths themselves have become the expected outcome. Just like the brothers in peril in the closing shot. We know they aren’t about to die, but we don’t have enough information to even make a guess as to how they are going to beat this. What we do know is that there are a lot of loose threads. How many balls do we need in the air for one season? We have the Darkness. Rowena is at full strength with the codex and the book of the Damned. I will say that I've warmed up to Connell as her performance has been toned down. I'd like to see what she could do as a serious villain and threat. Metatron (Curtis Armstrong) is still on the loose with the Demon tablet. Please no more of over-the-top Metatron...

What did you think of the season finale? How about the season as a whole? Are you as excited for season 11 as you were for season 10? Theories on how the boys, Cas, and Crowley get out of their predicaments? Please leave your thoughts – and any links to speculative fan fic! – in the comments below!

About the Author - Lisa Macklem
I do interviews and write articles for the site in addition to reviewing a number of shows, including Supernatural, Arrow, Agents of Shield, The Walking Dead, Game of Thrones, Forever, Defiance, Bitten, Glee, and a few others! Highlights of this past year include covering San Diego Comic Con as press and a set visit to Bitten. When I'm not writing about television shows, I'm often writing about entertainment and media law in my capacity as a legal scholar. I also work in theatre when the opportunity arises. I'm an avid runner and rider, currently training in dressage.

29 comments:

  1. Death actually said "It's FOR family you must PROCEED" aka do it for you family so you won't disappoint them any longer. Still doesn't make much sense, but that's Carver for you.

    ReplyDelete
  2. Watched it three times - still clearly couldn't get it...

    ReplyDelete
  3. I thought this was the eighth best season after 1-5 and then 6 and 9, which speaks more about my dislike of season 7 and 8 than anything. Season 10 was definitely flawed - no episode resonated with me this season like, for example, most recently Bad Boys of last season. The meta episode of this season was funny, but nowhere near a classic

    ReplyDelete
  4. Good summary! I always like to see how people rank the season, episodes, etc. Thanks for sharing!

    ReplyDelete
  5. I found it interesting that you commented on the whole mirror thing. They did it last season too. Personally, I found it to be a really over-used narrative device. After 30 episodes in a row of Dean spending two minutes an episode staring angstily into a mirror, I wanted to shout at the writers 'we get it, Dean doesn't recognise the man he's become. Stop hitting us over the head with it.'


    I went into the episode with low expectations, and I actually really enjoyed it. The scenes with Sam and Dean were the definite highlight; Jared and Jensen were fantastic together.


    I know some people didn't like the Darkness stuff, but the cliffhanger of it rushing towards a trapped Sam and Dean actually got me really excited for next season. If it means a break from the over-done angel and demon stuff, then count me in.

    ReplyDelete
  6. I think it meant the literal definition of proceed. For his family, Dean most move forward/take the next step.

    ReplyDelete
  7. It's not that witches can't be killed by normal means, it's that Sam and Dean have had a terrible track record when they went up against witches, and the witch killing brew is a sure fire way to kill one. I think they've only killed like two witches in the series entire run, the shtriga in season 1 and the warlock they hit with the witch killing brew in season 7.

    Also, I don't think it's that Cas didn't know where the ingredients were, but that he couldn't get them. Crowley had to travel to the Middle East to get the stuff, something Cas can't do at the moment.


    As is I'd give the season a solid B. It really did remind me a lot of season 1, mostly MotW with a simple mytharc -- where season 1 was about finding John, this season was about finding a cure for the MoC. Then there was a splash of season 4 with Dean paralleling Sam's downward spiral with demon blood.

    ReplyDelete
  8. My point is that they used to avoid killing witches because they were really human - not Supernatural - but then we get super-charged witches like Rowena...


    Cas was legitimately surprised that it was a Quince and not an Apple. Rookie mistake, unforgivable for an angel really... One or two gaffs is fine but the show just seems not to care about attention to details or monster/character consistency and that's my personal bug-bear...


    A B is a pretty good mark. I can see it.

    ReplyDelete
  9. I think I was simply relieved to see consistency in _anything_. And this show ceased to be subtle a long time ago.
    I think going in with low expectations is the best approach...
    I hate to say it, but as it was God who locked the Darkness away the last time, with Lucifer's help, I see no way for them to deal with it without both angels and demons. Plus we have Metatron - and angel problem - still running around, and Rowena - a Crowley problem still running around....

    ReplyDelete
  10. That's clearly what it meant. Still sounded like PRECEDE to me though. But I'm not watching again to verify! LOL!

    ReplyDelete
  11. Some great moments, a few headscratchers – but overall a decent finale. Agree that the dialogue was not as clunky as some episodes of late (except for the bits you pointed out – "madness!") and the scenes in Juanita's were very powerful. Also that set was perfection; kudos to Jerry Wanek and crew.


    I feel similarly about the season as a whole: some headscratchers, some clunkers, but overall a decent season with a few great episodes. I'd rank this season above Seasons 8 and 9, not in small part because the brothers were on the same page (or in the same book, at least) for much of it. And there were more episodes I loved than there were in either of the previous seasons.


    Looking forward to Season 11, but I agree – why isn't it "Chaos" instead of "The Darkness"? Oh well. Curious to see how it manifests (hopefully not like the Leviathans). I'd almost prefer it to be an influencing force, something that corrupts and causes chaos within people and communities, rather than something corporeal. We'll see what Carver et al. come up with. And how will a new writer/producer change things up? Berens was a great hire; let's hope for another.


    Top episodes:
    1. Inside Man
    2. Reichenbach
    3. Fan Fiction
    4. The Executioner's Song
    5. The Prisoner
    6. Ask Jeeves
    7. The Werther Project


    Bottom episodes:
    23. Paint It Black
    22. Paper Moon
    21. Halt and Catch Fire

    ReplyDelete
  12. I think they went with "Darkness" instead of "Chaos" because it does sound a bit more foreboding, and it seems slightly less ridiculous to have the characters refer to something as "the Darkness" rather than "the Chaos."


    Though when Death was describing it, they probably should have had him call it a "destructive chaotic force" rather than "destructive amoral force."

    ReplyDelete
  13. Probably because of Richings accent, he's got that unique cross of Canadian/British going on.

    ReplyDelete
  14. Except his "accent" was all over the place in the episode...

    ReplyDelete
  15. I guess so – now I'm picturing them talking about "Chaos" and all I can think of is Get Smart.


    "Amoral" was an interesting word choice – not immoral, but amoral. Wonder if that will have any bearing on how The Darkness affects the planet.

    ReplyDelete
  16. God save us from more Leviathans! I wonder if they didn't go with Chaos because of the biblical connection - but that horse has rather left the barn anyway. "IF" they stick with it as a destructive amoral force, it should just influence people/monsters/etc. The fact that it's amoral is what's really interesting - it's not specifically evil that way.


    Always interesting to see where people rank episodes... I would agree with the Executioner's Song as a top episode - and can't fault those you rank in the bottom!

    ReplyDelete
  17. I didn't notice anything different about it, he sounded like he normally does to me.

    ReplyDelete
  18. bored of the show. staying cause i'm committed. i am dumb.

    ReplyDelete
  19. Well, that was a fair, even kind, review of pretty much a dog turd of an episode. I mean, really? Killing Death? That alone is ridiculous on so many fronts that nothing much else even bears comment.

    ReplyDelete
  20. And it doesn't look good at cons if you don't know who people are... ;)

    ReplyDelete
  21. Assuming he's really dead... I mean, you knew you were in trouble when the writers started playing up "is anyone ever really dead on Supernatural" like that was a good thing. It means that nobody's death has any weight or meaning...

    ReplyDelete
  22. Indeed. My first thought when it happened was "hunh? where did THAT come from?" then "that can't REALLY have been Death" then "WTMFF?" and then, basically, irritation just set in, and whatever engagement I had had with the episode hitherto--which wasn't much--evaporated.

    ReplyDelete
  23. well i wont be doing any cons this summer. too busy with ultimate.

    ReplyDelete
  24. yes to all of this

    ReplyDelete
  25. LOL! Get Smart just might explain it! You do know that Jim Beaver (Bobby) was married to Don Adams' daughter, right?

    ReplyDelete
  26. Honestly, I think they just say that to get people off their backs about killing characters. Because absolutely characters stay dead, outside of the principal actors, Samuel Campbell and Adam are the only real full on character resurrection the show has done. Though recurring characters tend to pop-up at least once after their deaths in a ghost capacity, or like Ash and Pamela in Heaven and Ellen getting the alt. timeline treatment.


    Though with Death there is an out, since he's Death. But killing, not that ridiculous, because everything can die on Supernatural. And given that Death was locked away for thousands of years before season 5, and everything was fine in the world, I can't see any reason there would be repercussions for it.

    ReplyDelete
  27. Nope – no idea! Six degrees of Supernatural...

    ReplyDelete
  28. I somehow missed the notification that your article was up, so late commenting. Your review could have said so much more, but I have a feeling that you think the same thing I do following the end of the finale, which was "Well, that happened." That's my feeling about the finale and S10 in general. I, too, am hoping that the writers spend -- not even the summer, but just a little bit of time figuring out a story for S11 and HOW TO TELL THAT STORY in some way other than the last two episodes of the season. I doubt that will happen and don't expect anything better for S11 than what was offered up in S10...or S9....or S8.


    I, too, left the finale thinking The Darkness was Chaos, but five days later now and I think it will probably be Rowena in her gowns or a white dude in a suit. Somehow, The Darkness feels like to me it will be some vague philosophical idea that neither Carver or the other writers will have the competency (more like the desire) to delve into.


    I have to say that I felt no emotional connection to anything in the finale. It was an okay episode, but the only part I like was dick Dean, and I know he was OOC, but I liked seeing that for a change. Other than that, I felt nothing and actually zoned out during Sam's big "Sacrifice" speech, because it made absolutely no logical sense to me at all. Sam was basically saying that it doesn't matter what the brothers' do, as long as their intentions are good (the end justifies the means), so Dean needs to live, and Dean saying their actions result in more evil than good, so he needs to kill Sam so that he can be sent to another planet. Seriously? Then Dean supposedly kills Death, instead of committing fratricide when (1) Dean never would and (2) there was no reason to supposedly kill Death once Sam agreed that Dean needed to be stopped (i.e., Sam would not try to get Dean off that other planet.


    I usually love Death (Julian Richings), but this episode lost his character. I didn't care a hoot about Rowena killing a one-bit character. And how much more useless can Cas get. Besides, the Cas attacking Crowley scene went so fast, there wasn't time to even build up to any tension in that one.


    In the end, Crowley wanted to hurt Rowena (not kill her?) and she beat him at his own game. Rowena wins all the marbles, Sam unleashed The Darkness (whenever the writers figure out what that is going to be), and the Mark story ended rather flat as the two brothers walked out of the bar without Dean even questioning how he got rid of the Mark. There was no resolution to anything the entire season, the characters did not face or examine anything, and there was zero character growth by everyone...well, maybe Crowley. I am left unsure as to whether he learned to be King of Hell again or not, since he wanted to hurt Rowena and not kill her. It looked to me like he chose his new "family;" the Winchesters over his mother, but that is as vague as the Mark was the entire season, so who knows.


    I would say the season managed to get rid of two good characters -- Cain and Death -- and kept crap characters who will fill up screen time while the Js have their time off again -- Claire, Sheriff Donut, and Cole (tolerable, but I could live without him). I expect Charlie to be resurrected, because she's the crappiest character ever, but Robbie will have to be coddled after the major fit he threw about his pet self-insert being killed off.


    I am glad the season is over. Perhaps I will think about it again in October, but I won't be waiting on pins and needles. In all likelihood, I will watch the premiere and the last two episodes of S11 to see the Winchester story, but I am not sitting through another season of episode after episode dedicated to characters I can't stand (**cough** Claire, Hannah, Metatron, Kate, middle school girls, or a young teen playing Dean Winchester).

    ReplyDelete

NOTE: Name-calling, personal attacks, spamming, excessive self-promotion, condescending pomposity, general assiness, racism, sexism, any-other-ism, homophobia, acrophobia, and destructive (versus constructive) criticism will get you BANNED from the party.