Supernatural- Not a Wayward Finale

Many fans hated the Supernatural finale. I want to tell you why I liked it. This post is heavy on the spoilers so if you haven’t seen it, bookmark this page and come back when you’re done.

I'm not a long-time fan of the show. I’ve only been watching for about 4 years. I started watching on Inauguration Day 2017. I figured watching a show about two brothers fending off the apocalypse was appropriate for the coming years.

I started off thinking the show was pretty cheesy, but charming with its B movie slashing effects. It was almost as if they were poking fun at themselves by saying, “This never looks real anyway so lets make it as over the top as possible.” Of course this could have just been a budgeting non-choice, but I like the scenario in my head.

The show is a semi-departure from-my usual tastes. I like fantasy, but not traditional monsters like vampires. I love strong and fun characters. but gravitate to shows amplifying female power. A show with a majority male cast was never for me. (Except MacGyver. The original, anyway; the reboot has fabulous female characters.) I loved Supernatural’s humor mixed in with drama. But the characters are what kept me watching.

Yes, it helped Jarad and Jensen aren't hard on the eyes, but the characters were real. I could see them as real people sitting at the bar of a local watering hole. Dean hitting on the women and Sam looking like the less dangerous choice.

The true finale of the show was Ep. 18. ALL the loose ends got tied up and it was a satisfying ending to the arcs, encapsulating the growth of the characters. Symbolically, they were always beat down in fights they shouldn't have won, but they got up over and over until they prevailed.

The producers could have left it at that. In watching it, I wondered if I was mistaken about the date of the finale. The credits rolled and I said to my husband, “What could they possibly do for two more episodes?” But Ep. 19 wasn't within the season. I would have preferred it to be billed as an appreciation show and maybe aired the week after as a palate cleanser to the emotional hangover.

This brings me to the actual series end. Complain as the fans might, it was wrought with emotion and symbolism. The brothers start by saving brothers, which was the whole series. Sam and Dean saved everyone, yes, but they saved each other in so many ways in every single season. Their final hunt as brothers was fitting.

Social media tells me Dean's death is a point of contention. No, it wasn't the spectacular blaze of glory most fans wanted. But here's my take: Dean was really just a man. While the vehicle of his death was not ordinary, it was a human bested by something human. Hellhounds didn't rip his body to shreds. Djinn or vampires didn't drain him. He died by something that could have killed any of us. I would have felt cheated if Dean was killed by a supernatural being. He fought the most powerfulones in existence. He couldn’t possibly die from something other than the mundane. And there’s a lesson: Ordinary people can be heroes. We *are* heroes. We don't need anything but our own will and the encouragement from those we love to fight back.

Sam continuing on is the resilience featured season upon season. Pain and sorrow are part of our lives, but getting up to face the day is what we need to do. His sitting in the Impala tells us to not forget the past. That it’s ok to have the scars of living. It's ok to still hurt, but still get up in the morning. The brothers truly died in accordance with their beginnings. Dean was a hunter through and through. Sam wasn't interested in the life. Dean died doing what he was passionate about, and Sam passed after living the life he originally wanted.

Another point of contention was the exclusion of Cas. Yes, Misha deserved a curtain call. Yes, I would have loved an encore performance from our favorite angel. Yes, we would have cried harder if Cas appeared on that bridge. But…

No one else belonged in this episode. Bobby was needed to explain Heaven 2.0 (Honestly, I lost count of how many times Heaven was under New Management, so bear with me on the 2.0), but the focus should have been, and was, on Sam & Dean.

For those complaining about a lackluster finale, we got the ending we deserved in Ep. 18. The Winchesters prevailed. Jack's purpose was fulfilled. #Destiel is canon. #TeamFreeWill.

Episode 20 was a farewell to the fans. It was a thank you to us. It wasn't about the show or wrapping up loose ends. They were telling us everything was ok. To follow the song and Carry On.

The final scene of the brothers on the bridge had me in tears. Bridges are connections, joining two separate things. Sam and Dean/Jared and Jensen met us in the middle. They did their part by showing up week after week for 15 years. We did the same, and I believe the actors truly appreciated the dedication— not because it meant they had a steady job. They know how they affected the fandom and I’d venture to say they are fans of us just as much as we are of them.

And they were content— whether we were watching the actors being themselves or Sam and Dean, they were happy to be where they were. Together. After a job well done. Just like the song says:

There’ll be peace when you are done.

The Only Thing I Can Write.

My fiction isn’t flowing.

These days have the same feel as those following 9/11.  My day *looks* the same, but I’m pushing through a dense fog masquerading as normalcy. Silence is heavy and actions are meaningless. The new way of life has not sunk in yet and is buried under the rubble.

There are victims, survivors, the untouched, and the out of touch. POTUS is trying to pacify the country with bedtime stories of efficiency and competence when we need a hefty dose of reality.

Getting through a crisis such as this requires painful truth. We do not need to be patted on the head and told everything will be all right.  He needs to stand in his full authority as a leader and truly “tell it like it is”. We don’t have enough personal protective equipment. We do not have the testing capabilities. We do not have enough hospital beds. We do not know how many people are infected.

I’m bitter and I’m mad. I’ll admit my attitude would be the same regardless of his actions; I’m under no illusion I’m biased. I’m reading reports of warnings as early as January and nothing was done. Nothing that we can tangibly see. That’s beginning to change.

When a friend first mentioned the virus, I didn’t think much about it. I figured it was the typical doomsday hype we hear from the news every day. Ebola and H1N1 would wipe us out and it didn’t.  This would be the same. What did not factor into my sense of calm were all the things that happened behind the scenes with previous epidemics. The previous administration tackled things head-on. The response wasn’t perfect—we still had too many deaths. What we did not have is the national panic.

We’re right to be panicked. Even with strong leadership, this will be a devastating time. My solution is to stop requiring payment for everything. Everyone. From manufacturing overhead to getting groceries. All monetary transactions should stop all over the world. Ration goods. Stop worrying about the stock market. No more talk over how much it costs to produce a drug, mask, hospital gown.  All of it. But we’d all have to play along. It’s unrealistic. I know that. A person can dream that greed can be put aside. Darwin had it wrong.  It’s survival of the richest.

The best of humanity needs to shine through. Post 9/11--- hours after the towers fell* people lined up in the streets to give blood. Today average people are trying to manufacture protective masks and gowns on their home sewing machines for the healthcare angels.  

But the bells are ringing and the healthcare angels are dwindling, earning their eternal wings. What happens when the people who fix us need fixing?  When those who feed us go hungry?

I have no answers.  I barely have words. But I have a heart and will do what I can with it.

Kindness must overcome greed. Life before the bottom line. The economy can’t recover if its participants do not.

*I’m in New York and cannot comment on the experience of the Pentagon and Pennsylvania site responses.