Home Featured TV Shows All TV Shows Movie Reviews Book Reviews Articles Frequently Asked Questions About Us

Supernatural: The End

Dean: "So you're his vessel? Lucifer's wearing you to the prom?"

Is this the future as it absolutely will be, or the future that Zachariah wanted Dean to see?

If Zachariah desperately wants Dean to say yes to Archangel Michael, then Michael is on the wrong side and Dean should say no forever. (If Castiel had been the one to send Dean to the future, I'd feel differently about it.) But did Dean just make a horrible mistake? After all, he's been loving Sam and trying to keep him safe for years, and it didn't stop Sam from raising Lucifer. Can they really keep each other human?

Sam as Lucifer looked natural, comfortable, and simply beautiful in that white suit. He killed future Dean without a moment's hesitation. He said that scene in the courtyard in 2014 will be "The End," no matter what — nothing can change it. You know, I never thought the end of a series this dark would be lollipops and roses, but I can't get my head around the boys killing each other. I don't care if it's dramatically sound and all signs point in that direction. Can't they die together fighting unspeakable evil instead? That's dramatically sound too, isn't it?

Archangel Michael cast Lucifer into Hell the first time. Maybe he'll do it the second time, too. Hopefully, with Michael in Dean, but Lucifer not in Sam. Maybe Lucifer really is just the same evil they've been killing all these years (only bigger) and he can be killed, like the Yellow Eyed Demon. Maybe since we got Sam as Lucifer now, it won't happen later. I'm lying to myself, though. Aren't I?

Future Dean, leader of a ragtag remnant of humans, was burned out, humorless, cold and angry, and jaded enough to actually sacrifice his friends as decoys. Seeing him that way was as big a bummer as Sam in that white suit. But I did love Dean's reaction to his future self: it just made him more determined. And Dean has to convince Dean that he's Dean and what deep dark secret does he reveal? Pink panties. Doesn't make you any less masculine in my eyes, big boy. One of the things that I love about Dean as a character is how he can be macho without being macho at all.

Did you notice how the whole zombie thing was pretty much played down? No munching on tasty brains, no staggering around shouting for Charlton Heston. The emphasis was on Dean and Sam (and Dean), as it should have been. The opener where the urban guerrillas killed zombies to the tune of "Do You Love Me" was a perfect example of why this show is so good. They needed to show humans killing zombies, with a feeling of "we do this every day and it doesn't mean anything" as well as an apocalyptic hopelessness (and possibly even a callback to classic movies about Vietnam). So they did it to a sexy old rock song. It so worked.

In the final scene, I really liked how Dean handed Sam the knife hilt first: a sign of trust. Maybe Dean is right, after all. No, I'm lying to myself.

Bits and pieces:

— Future Castiel went mortal. Did he ever. Too funny. But what about Jimmy? Did Castiel and Jimmy merge, or did Castiel just keep driving Jimmy's body around?


— A movie marquee said, "Now playing: Route 666." Of course, that's the Supernatural episode about the Flying Dutchman truck. Except here, it was probably just the Number of the Beast.

— "Croatoan" was a second season Supernatural episode about a demonic virus. I am assuming this Croatoan was the same virus. Interesting that it was originally used to test Sam's immunity, huh?

— That was some set. It's not easy to create an end of the world set that convincing.


— Future Dean wasn't wearing the necklace Sam gave him. Neither was present Dean, since Castiel has it.

— Bobby was apparently dead in the future. Dean found his empty wheelchair full of bullet holes. The Impala was dead, too.

— Chuck was the supplies officer. I do love Chuck.

— This episode took place in Kansas City, present and future, Bobby's place (in Nebraska, right?), and Camp Chitaqua, wherever that is. The courtyard scene, with the statue and the roses, was on the grounds of the Jackson County Sanitarium.

— Sarah Palin was president. Actually, she'd be the perfect president for a nation full of zombies. "President Palin defends bombing of Houston."

— The fans are aware of how overworked Jensen and Jared are. They were only apart for two episodes, Jared got a vacation and Jensen pulled double duty. Note how we don't tend to get all Sam episodes. Why is that?

— In an instance of pretty much perfect placement, there was an ad for Zombieland.

Quotes:

Jehovah's Witness: "Excuse me, friend, but have you taken time out to think about God's plan for you?"
Dean: "Too friggin' much, pal."

Dean: "That's kind of funny, talking to a messenger of God on a cell phone. You know, like watching a Hell's Angel ride a moped."
Castiel: "This isn't funny, Dean. The voice says I'm almost out of minutes."

Dean: "Turns out that you and me, we're the fire and the oil of the Armageddon. On that basis alone, we should just pick a hemisphere and stay away from each other for good."

Future Dean: "I got a camp full of twitchy trauma survivors out there with an apocalypse hanging over their head. The last thing they need to see is a version of The Parent Trap."

Dean: "Oh, come on. You don't trust yourself?"
Future Dean: "No. Absolutely not."
Dean: "Dick."

Dean: "So we're torturing again? That's good. Classy."
(Castiel laughs. Future Dean glares at him.)
Castiel: "What? I like past you."

Chuck: "Some free advice when you get back there? You hoard toilet paper. You understand me? Hoard it. Hoard it like it's made of gold."

Dean: "Amphetamines?"
Castiel: "It's the perfect antidote for that absinthe."
Dean: "Don't get me wrong, Cas. I'm happy that the stick is out of your ass, but what's going on?"

Castiel: "Why not bang a few gongs before the lights go out? That's just how I roll."

Dean: "Very nice timing, Cas."
Castiel: "We had an appointment."
Dean: "Don't ever change."

Ben Edlund did it again. I was pretty much floored and freaked by this episode,

Billie
---
Billie Doux adores Supernatural which is a good thing since apparently, it's eternal.

18 comments:

  1. F.Y.I. the spectacular apocalyptic set, that was the set from "Watchmen", which had also filmed in Vancouver.

    ReplyDelete
  2. That makes total sense. Thanks. (Now everyone knows that I haven't seen Watchmen yet. :)

    ReplyDelete
  3. Cool episode. Still, it must be possible for people to change events, or else why would Zach send Dean into the future in the first place? He wanted to convince Dean to say yes, to change his mind and prevent that future from happening. So it must surely be possible to do so.

    Also, I don't think Lucifer is the one that brought Castiel back - after all Castiel has made it much harder for Lucifer to find his real vessel (Sam) and made it difficult for Lucifer to find and kill Dean (Michaels vessel and a possible threat). And that still doesn't explain who put Sam and Dean on that plane - after all Sam being the one to be there and release the last seal was obviously set up so that Lucifer would have his chosen vessel the second he breaks free, but because someone zapped the boys away, then raised Cas who went on to hide them from Lucifer, whoever did it was obviously trying to hinder him. God? Either him or Michael. Besides, if Lucifer can bring back the dead don't you think he'd have brought back yellow-eyes and Lilith as reward for freeing him? And he did admit that he couldn't bring back his vessels dead family.

    And the Colt! About time. I've been saying since last season they should go after that, as it's said to be able to kill anything. Having said that future Dean didn't manage to kill Lucifer. Was that because it didn't work? Or couldn't he bring himself to actually pull the trigger on his brother? Maybe it's just that Lucifer could stop the bullets the way that witch/demon could a while back.

    ReplyDelete
  4. There has to be SOME WAY for the Winchester brothers to avoid having to don their "prom dresses"--Michael and Lucifer. I don't know if God needs to intervene or if the brothers themselves can somehow avoid having to do it, but do it they must, because the show cannot end with the death of either or both brothers, I simply can't tolerate it! My heart won't deal, it's that simple, Billie! Love, Robin

    ReplyDelete
  5. Jared got a vacation and Jensen pulled double duty. Note how we don't tend to get all Sam episodes. Why is that?

    I don't know why that is, but I'm beginning to suspect it's never going to change. Someone needs to tell the people in charge of this show that you can only pull things like this so many times before it stops merely smacking of favoritism, and is proven to be exactly that. I don't care if it's the actor or the character that's being favored, it's at the expense of the story.

    I thought this episode was fair, but not exceptional. I was more amused by future!Castiel than I expected to be, and Chuck was adorable, as always. Present!Castiel had me rolling with the "This isn't funny, Dean! The voice says I'm almost out of minutes!" line, and the way he just waited by the side of the road.

    So it had it's moments but, all in all, it fell flat for me.

    ReplyDelete
  6. I thought this episode was the best episode of Season 5. Ben Edlund did a great job with a relatively tight script (as opposed to last week's by Carver, which seemed to be all over the place).

    I thought Jensen did a fantastic job as both Present Dean and Future Dean, you could tell which was which even without the different jackets. Castiel, obviously, was completely different and I liked how Misha played the differences.

    ReplyDelete
  7. Excellent review, Billie. I have to say that watching Heroes now is really difficult to maintain without your reviews. Fortunately, Supernatural is still awesome!

    One thought, I thought that "Sam" was way too convincing as Lucifer, so much so that the last scene, with Sam holding the knife and being all quiet while Dean apologized, made me really nervous. I kept expecting Sam to skewer Dean. Have they made Sam too easily evil?

    ReplyDelete
  8. Great review, superb episode!
    I did get the feeling that Zach was doing his smoke and mirrors thing, trying to get Dean to say yes. Why? Future Dean was slightly...off.
    Especially noticeable when the Deans shared a drink. Our Dean raised his glass with his right hand, future Dean with his left.
    Sure, that means it was like looking in a mirror - but a very creepy apocalyptic mirror.
    Dean simply wouldn't get this bad, this jaded.
    There is still hope.

    ReplyDelete
  9. I guess that I had a problem with DevilSam. White suit and all. I was expecting more Angelus (Buffy Season 2 style) from him. Is Jared just not up to it? Nah. So I wonder why the tension just wasn't in that scene? Because we knew the reset button was coming? Something was off. I'm almost hoping that they do have a finale confrontation so that they get a second swing at that scene.

    ReplyDelete
  10. Awesome, awesome episode! Ben Edlund is amazing. I rest my case.

    ReplyDelete
  11. Watched this episode yesterday, after viewing the amazing French Mistake, also by the amazing Ben Edlund, for the 3rd time, and the only comment I have is:

    Isn't it cool how Dean learned a completely different lesson from the one intended by Zach, and decided to begin hunting with Sam again?! Also, wasn't it sad that they hadn't even spoken for 5 years?! Dang! With their relationship I never would have expected them to be able to be apart for so long, unless Sam said yes to Lucifer the next day or something. SL

    ReplyDelete
  12. Billie/Jen -- I couldn't agree with you more. Through a lot of this episode I kept thinking, why does JP still have top billing? Over and over, they go to JA who had to play two roles this week. It does seem odd to me somehow.

    However, thought this was the best episode of season five so far. I loved seeing the boys in the future, although neither of them was particularly sympathetic.

    Did the opening killing zombies scene remind anyone else of the season four finale of 'Alias'? I kept hoping that Jack and Sydney would pop up and save the day.

    ReplyDelete
  13. When you watch a show that's already nine years in all at once, it's really confusing when they look in horror at a sign reading '1 August 2014'. Which was last week. It took me a few seconds to remember and work out what was going on!

    When Zach said 'say yes' to Dean, for a minute I thought he meant to Sam. And I'm hoping, as Dean is, that that's the key. Forgive Sam and keep him human. And Sam caused the Apocalypse when he thought Dean had called him a monster, so he did something he KNEW was wrong - bleeding a nurse who was trapped in his car boot (he thought he was doing the right thing by killing Lilith, but he should have realised when he threw that woman in the boot that something was wrong here). It would be nice if he finished out the season by refusing Lucifer because he knows that Dean loves him - Love being the thing that saves, etc. etc. I'm sure that's not what's gonna happen (and I know you guys all already know by now!) but it would be nice.

    ReplyDelete
  14. The scene with the little girl right after Dean went back in time was strikingly similar to the opening scene of The Walking Dead (http://www.douxreviews.com/2011/09/walking-dead-days-gone-bye.html). This episode was before The Walking Dead started so I don't have an explanation.

    ReplyDelete
  15. (I love re-reading old reviews when someone comments on them ^^)

    "The voice says I'm almost out of minutes" must Cas' best line EVER.

    The fans are aware of how overworked Jensen and Jared are. They were only apart for two episodes, Jared got a vacation and Jensen pulled double duty. Note how we don't tend to get all Sam episodes. Why is that?

    After what's been going on lately, I'm guessing that in general, Jared suffers more from the work overload than Jensen (which is completely understandable, their work schedule is insane). Maybe Jensen covered for him so he could have a little break.

    ReplyDelete
  16. The winners in this episode for me was definitely Dean and Castiel, for entirely different reasons.

    Dean was phenomenal as a darker version of himself and, of course, the Dean we all know and love from present day. Even more so when you consider just how difficult this had to be for Jensen, logistically, emotionally, and every other way.

    Fun fact: after shooting this episode, Jensen made one thing very clear to the cast and crew. "Don't ever do that to me again." For first time viewers, this will ring true as you move along :)

    As for Castiel, he had the best quotes in the episode, from one of my all time favorites from Misha - "This isn't funny, Dean, the voice says I'm almost out of minutes." The delivery was perfection. To his laugh in the future - "What? I like past you." To his conversation with Dean in the car, about being human and why he acts the way he does now.

    ReplyDelete
  17. And to think at one point President Palin was the worst case scenario.

    ReplyDelete
  18. Great comment, Anonymous. You're right. Who knew.

    ReplyDelete

We love comments! We moderate because of spam and trolls, but don't let that stop you! It’s never too late to comment on an old show, but please don’t spoil future episodes for newbies.