Thoughts on where the supernatural ending went wrong and why it wasn’t that hard to make it right
Alright I don’t usually do long analysis posts, but I’ve been yelling about this for over two hours so here it goes.
First things first: I’ll say it now, it was the right ending for the characters don’t @ me. It was the right ending but the worst possible way to get there.
Sam having a family and a relatively normal life, Dean in heaven with all his loved ones, Cas helping Jack be better than Chuck and making the world a better place. If you look back into their journeys that is exactly what they wanted and what they fought for.
The finale starts like a MOTW episode for no reason, cuts to Dean dying in a really dumb way and having an emotional goodbye that no one cared about because we were expecting a resolution to 15x18. Then cuts to an emotional Sam montage, then cuts to a rushed epilogue and that’s it. Nothing else.
I’ve seen many posts during the last two weeks on how this should end, but the basics are: getting Castiel back, Destiel resolution, Sam reuniting with Eileen, Sam and Dean going their separate ways with their respective partners but implying this is not the end. This closes the show nicely, closes every storyline we’ve had this season, and gives the characters actual happy endings.
But we didn’t get a single one of those.
What we got was a mess that dismissed everything they did this season and many things they did the past 15 years.
So, what went wrong and how could it have gone right? Note, I do believe they had to rewrite things because of the pandemic and all the lockdowns but there were better ways to do it.
The most disappointing thing about the finale is Castiel. The one thing everyone wanted was to get him back nothing more. There is this one great post (that I couldn’t find to save my life) about the basic thing this episode had to do and it was to save Cas, for him to get an actual conversation with Dean and closure. Destiel or not we needed closure. We got an offhanded comment and a license plate. That was the farewell to one of the most beloved characters this show ever had.
They could have ended 15x19 with Jack bringing Cas back before leaving to do god stuff, then Dean avoiding the subject until he gets impaled into a nail and Cas enters the barn perfectly mirroring his very first entrance to save Dean. And then they have the conversation™. Satisfying ending, ties all loose ends, can still end the show with Sam and Dean together in heaven.
They could have done Cas arrive to the barn just in time to save Dean saying Jack saved him and not explain a thing and it would have been better.
They could have made the same thing and then Sam answers the phone, and it is Castiel telling him Dean is happy in heaven and wants him to live his life. Ambiguous about Destiel but still good enough and again they can have the same ending.
They could have had Cas receiving Dean in heaven and (a kiss) resolution right there.
Dean dies on the dumbest death in 15 seasons of supernatural and that’s saying something.
That could have been avoided with either not having the nail conveniently there or with Castiel saving him. There solved you can do a million other things for the epilogue.
Or you know if they really wanted to end Cas on 15x18 they could have made his moment of true happiness, learning to be human and knowing he is fighting for the right reasons. It would have avoided burying the gays and coming off as the most homophobic finale ever.
Cas is literally dismissed but looking past that they gave him the perfect ending only failed to actually show the thing. He started as a soldier from heaven who rebelled because it was the right thing to do. Throughout eleven seasons he grows to understand humans and to get disappointed with heaven. In the end he fights for humanity and wants to make things right. Him continuing to mentor Jack in being a better god than Chuck is the perfect ending for Castiel’s arc.
Eileen never appears again. You are telling me they brought her back, created yet another loophole to bring her back to life, made a season long storyline about her and Sam getting together, killed her again, implied she is back to life (again) thanks to Jack. Just to completely ignore her in the finale.
I know the pandemic might have made it impossible for the show to bring Shoshannah Stern back for one day of filming, and if you squint it is implied the wife is Eileen, but that’s not good enough.
Here is where it feels there were rewrites. The best resolution was doing an actual reunion with the two of them going off together if that wasn’t possible with the lockdown the next best thing was to confirm in some way that Sam and Eileen ended up together.
Easiest way, when Sam was dying and they were zooming into all the photos doing a long dramatic pause on a photo of Eileen, or with she and Sam together. They could have taken a behind the scenes photo of Shoshannah and Jared and photoshoped it. Just to confirm they ended together.
I do believe both Sam and Dean dying and ending in heaven together was the right call, but Dean’s death was still dumb.
He should have either died in a hunt on a really epic way or (my personal favorite) died as an old man with Sam by his side and given his speech there. That would have been impactful, and the speech is actually really good. It was overshadowed by the Castiel shaped hole the finale had.
Either way Dean dying first and getting the new heaven explanation feels right, but it should have been Castiel or Jack receiving him there not Bobby. And that is another thing I feel had to be rewritten. The dialogue on that scene makes me think that in a non covid year everyone would have been there to receive Dean to heaven. And I mean everyone Mary, John, Bobby, Jo, Ellen, original Charlie, Bobby, Kevin, Pamela, Adam, Benny (even if this one is impossible), I’m sure I forgot someone.
And then he goes on a drive and meets Sam at the end. That ending works perfectly and would have been super powerful with the right execution but was overshadowed by everyone’s collective anger.
A perfect finale would have started with Castiel returning (even if it required mime vampires in skull masks), followed by the conversation everyone was hoping for, Eileen returning. And then the epilogue montage.
If I could ask for things during that it would have been: Destiel with a roadhouse, Cas coming and going to help Jack become a better god. Sam and Eileen going off together and eventually retiring together. Their wedding with Dean as best man and Castiel marrying them (also destiel wedding but I know that is way too much to ask). A montage of everyone getting together for Christmas and stuff. Scenes showing how hunters still visit Sam for info, magic, and advice. Eileen being pregnant and them being happy parents together. Dean being a good uncle. A good death for Dean with Sam, Cas, and Jack by his side and then the speech would have destroyed me. A good look for old man Sam and old man Dean. And eventually Sam dying and reuniting with Dean.
That would have felt satisfying and like they earned that ending.
One last thing. The “we want to thank you” speech felt like throwing salt in the wound of a really bad finale, but it would have been a billion times better if they got Misha there, and every actor and crewmember who was ever relevant to this show saying thank you (from home if they couldn’t be there for some reason covid).
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