Four and a half Torches (Out of Five)
Warning: This review contains spoilers for the “Swan Song” episode of Supernatural.
I liked the episode, but I confess: I really wasn’t crazy about this season.
As an individual episode, it was fine. It had a nice opening, connecting things back to both Chuck (the prophet-author of the Supernatural novels/chronicles) and Dean’s Chevy Impala.
I liked the set-up where Sam says, “I let [Lucifer] out. I gotta put him back in.” And I liked that Dean finally seems to truly trust him again. (But hadn’t we’d already covered all this several times in previous episodes? Did we need to waste time in the all-important finale to go over it again?)
I thought Jared Padalecki had some nice acting moments, playing both Sam and Lucifer using him as a vessel, and the scene where he and/or Lucifer kill all his childhood enemies was absolutely chilling/fantastic.
(Watching Bobby and Castiel get killed, meanwhile, was not fun at all. I love both those characters, and that was really difficult to see, their deaths so casually done.)
The show also played fair in that they promised early on that Sam would voluntarily choose to become Lucifer’s vessel — and sure enough, he did. (But didn’t they prophecize the same thing about Dean voluntarily becoming Michael’s vessel? It’s a pet peeve of mine where a show establishes that prophecies are “real” and unbreakable — but then simply has them not come true with no real explanation why.)
Finally, I liked the ambiguous ending, even if it was also sort of a cheat, both plot-wise and thematically. How nice: maybe God isn’t dead after all. That does contradict quite a bit of what we learned this year, but hey, maybe it’s time the show lightened up a bit on its patented darkness/cynicism. This might have been the last episode of the series, after all.
But all in all, it was a fairly underwhelming conclusion to a season that did, after all, promise the Apocalypse. And as I’ve worried in these last few episode reviews, this action here wasn’t really connected to all, or even most, of the episodes of the season. It’s like they set up this terrific, riveting storyline at the beginning of the season, then went away for twelve episodes, only to come back and say, “Oh, right, we have to finish the story now, don’t we?”
When Lucifer mentioned how he never lies, it reminded me how much I liked that character at the beginning of the season, how the so-called “Prince of Lies” never does lie: he tells people the absolute truth (and that’s how he charms them, but also why they hate him).
But this also reminded me how little we’ve seen of the character this season, how he was pretty much wasted.
In past years, when a season of Supernatural was over, I was up half the night, buzzing about how brilliant and chilling and perfectly realized the finale was.
I wish I felt that way this year, but instead, I guess I’ll just go to bed.
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Man, I hate to say it, but I have to agree with you Brent. The whole direction they seem to be going in with Chuck does not feel right to me either. He’s supposed to be a prophet! I liked him the way he was!!
I’ve read another theory about Chuck today…that he’s Jesus and God sent him to earth to help the boys. I’m still pondering on all the possibilites and I’m sure I will be until the season six premiere.
interesting theory. For some reason, I’m pretty sure he’s not God (and would be kinda annoyed if he was). But it’d be interesting if maybe he was Jesus but didn’t know it.
Something about that doesn’t feel quite right either.
Hey Nicki,
OMG…I loved that part of the show as well!! When Cas called Michael Assbutt! That was freakin’ hilarious!!
Regann,
Lisa’s son is not Dean’s. Unless she was lying in the previous episode.
This episode was one of the very few that has made me jump. I’m talking about when Cas and Bobby died. Thank god they were brought back!! I would have been EXTREMELY pissed if they were not!!
Speaking of God…that was the one part of the episode I happened to look down for a couple of seconds. I look back up and Chuck is gone. But, IS he God? I don’t know. I might have a hard time wrapping my mind around that one.
Overall…I guess I would have to give this episode 4 out of 5 stars. One reason is because I rarely ever get scared, jump or grossed out when watching something. Including with Supernatural. I jumped twice with this episode.
I loved the episode, was on the edge of my seat, or jumping out of it the whole show. About cried when Dean had lost everyone around him, then all of a sudden Cass and Bobby came back…then Sam (or the devil)standing under the lamplight at the end. And Chuck disappearing…is he supposed to be God? Man loved it all.
That was truly one of the weakest finales I have seen for a show. Ever.
It was like a complete retcon of everything that was built up all season. In the end, it all meant nothing. What a waste!
First a couple of little errors to correct, sorry. It was Detroit not Chicago. And I don’t remember anyone ever saying that God was dead he was just MIA. He communicated to the boys in the 100th episode and Death talked about reaping God in last weeks episode.
There are a couple little things that I’m wondering about that I have to go back and rewatch earlier episodes to see if I’m just not remembering something. Like if Chuck is God why didn’t the necklace do it’s locating thing back when they first met him. It really could be as simple as he’s super at hiding. And since Cas didn’t know who he really was that is where I’m leaning.
Regann I partially agree with you about the Lisa thing. We’ve known for a long time that what Dean really wanted was a family. It’s not how he wanted it and he doesn’t have his brother or parents but he made Sam a promise and he kept it. As a Dean Fangirl I was a little annoyed by it but he really clicked with Ben and promised Sam so I’m letting it go.
When Sam said he let Lucifer out and he had to put him back in I didn’t see it as Dean finally trusting him so much as Dean realizing that he was out of time and choices and had to let Sam go through with his plan. And then try to think of a Hail Mary.
I loved the episode! I was actually speechless a couple times towards the end. It was an emotional roller coaster and just brilliant. The montages to the Impala were great and had me more than a little worried that the Metallicar wasn’t going to make it through the episode. I was also scared of losing Cas and Bobby and we did but then we got them back, thank God! ;) And how powerful is Cas now?? I can’t wait to find out. I was happy to see that Crowley wasn’t in the episode because that meant he wasn’t going to die.
Finding out just how many people in Sam’s life had been screwing with him was heartbreaking. Sam’s flashbacks of the last five years that helped him regain control was a nice touch. And seeing him watching Dean at the end left me saying WTF? Is it actually Sam or did Lucifer get out? I’m leaning towards Sam but this show always surprises me so I’m not completely sure what to think.
I do agree that Mark Pellegrino was underused but when we did see him he was amazing. The Devil went down to Georgia joke was hilarious.
For me it comes down to this season had to be more emotional and maybe in a way even spinning their wheels a bit because how do you fight Lucifer and stop the Apocalypse? They went all out to find a way to stop it in the beginning, lost faith in each other, regrouped and came together for the only option they had left.
And finally I cannot forget the funniest part of the episode, Cas saying “Hey Assbutt”.
Thanks, I’ll correct that. D’oh! I didn’t watch the ep till late, so I wrote this review at 3 AM. ;-)
As for “God is dead,” that’s just an expression (one I’ve used in previous reviews). I know he’s not literally dead in the show — he saved their butts in the first ep of the season.
I enjoyed the rest of your comments. :-)
I wondered about that with the “God is dead” thing about an hour after I wrote it. And I would have messed that up at 3 a.m. too!
:-)
What a drag. I’d watched so many good setups for this finale, and this is what we get? And it all comes down to the car? And Chuck is God? Seeing Sam standing outside the window felt like a horrible emotional cheat to me.
The only way this works for me is if I divorce myself from the characters I’ve followed for five years and agree the entire thing was actually Chuck/God’s story that had to be written, and that Sam and Dean were merely incidental.
I feel much less likely to tune in for the unnecessary season six after this.
I am so with you on the overall disappointment of this season’s arc.
After Death last week and Crowley the eps before, I had hopes, but all of their awesomeness was missing from the finale and it felt very anti-climatic. This is the first time I’ve really been disappointed by a finale of this show and that hurts, so much so I almost wish that this was the series finale. Because any of the truly powerful parts of this ep (like Sam sacrificing himself for the world) will have to be pushed aside to make room for a 6th season which means the finale will be even more irrelevant.
Also - can I just add that I find the Lisa subplot to be so ridiculous? He doesn’t really know this woman (he spent what? two weeks with her over ten years?) and her son may or may not be his, so he’s settling for the IDEA of a happy family instead of actually building one. I find that much sadder than just about anything else they could’ve with him. Better he stay with Sam ‘to the end’ and go into the pit with him as Michael. I think that would’ve been a fitting ending.
I can only hope that Cas’s last line “Do you prefer peace or freedom?” means that Dean will quickly realize that he doesn’t want this idea of a family instead of a real life, just like he prefers a life on earth over the lonely loveliness of Heaven or the peaceful paradise Michael promised him.
And Chuck is God? I guess that means God has a thing for crazy slash fangirls and prostitutes!
Interesting point about Lisa. I guess she’s a symbol of a sacrificed life. But yeah, why do we care?