Supernatural: Inherit the Earth
November 12, 2020 6:37 PM - Season 15, Episode 19 - Subscribe
Everything is on the line as the battle against God continues, and a familiar face returns to join the fight.
According to tumblr, Destiel.
posted by dorothyisunderwood at 6:19 PM on November 13, 2020
posted by dorothyisunderwood at 6:19 PM on November 13, 2020
What a strange viewing experience this was! We went into it thinking there were still two or three episodes left, so it was very puzzling when Lucifer bought it so soon, they defeated Chuck, Jack became the new boss and the brothers drove into the sunset with a best-of montage. We figured we'd been wrong and this was the series finale after all... but then there was a promo for next week! It was weird not knowing if we were watching the end of everything or not, and to be honest that confusion really undercut the emotion of it all. Instead of being like, "Whoa, they beat Chuck!", it was, "Wait, they beat Chuck? Aren't there like two more weeks after this?"
If we consider this as the series finale (who knows what next week will bring?) I thought it was pretty good. Perhaps it wasn't quite as epic as we may have hoped, but it's honestly kind of amazing they got it done at all in the middle of a global pandemic. I was disappointed we never saw Crowley, Bobby, Mary, et al, but again, it's impressive this got done at all when just getting the core cast together in a closed set is a big, risky thing.
I'd had the idea it might end with Chuck as a mortal, but I dismissed the possibility because he's still way too dangerous. He still has untold millennia of God-knowledge, right? Like, he's known everything, forever. If he wants to get revenge on the Winchesters, he'd know where every magical artifact is and how to use it, and he'd still presumably have plenty of followers ready to do anything to return him to power. I suppose Jack could intervene, but Jack specifically said he wasn't going to get involved in Earth's affairs! So there's a certain poetry to Chuck's fate, but it really doesn't stand up to fridge logic.
I also had some questions about the period when the Earth was de-peopled. Like, were Hell and Heaven empty too? Did the boys even try to contact Rowena, or whoever the heck is in charge of Heaven now? (They really needed a line like, "No answer from Hell, Heaven... or anywhere." Just one line!)
It was a mix of thrilling storytelling, kind of baffling choices from the showrunners and stuff where you could really see that they were doing the best they could with very limited means... all of which is kind of par for the course with this show, really. I'd shed a tear to say goodbye, but I still don't know if it's goodbye yet! The ad for next time was confusing, featuring a mix of Ackles and Padalecki as themselves and stuff that seems like a continuation of the Winchester story.
I have no idea where they could take things from here and I'm a little worried they'll go out on some French Mistake-style meta-fiction thing. That stuff was fine as spice for the main story but I really hope the show doesn't end with Ackles and Padalecki strolling off the studio lot or something. Don't go all Moonlighting on us, guys.
Lucifer's imitation of Castiel was so mean. To Dean, and the audience. He is the devil.
posted by Ursula Hitler at 10:36 PM on November 13, 2020
If we consider this as the series finale (who knows what next week will bring?) I thought it was pretty good. Perhaps it wasn't quite as epic as we may have hoped, but it's honestly kind of amazing they got it done at all in the middle of a global pandemic. I was disappointed we never saw Crowley, Bobby, Mary, et al, but again, it's impressive this got done at all when just getting the core cast together in a closed set is a big, risky thing.
I'd had the idea it might end with Chuck as a mortal, but I dismissed the possibility because he's still way too dangerous. He still has untold millennia of God-knowledge, right? Like, he's known everything, forever. If he wants to get revenge on the Winchesters, he'd know where every magical artifact is and how to use it, and he'd still presumably have plenty of followers ready to do anything to return him to power. I suppose Jack could intervene, but Jack specifically said he wasn't going to get involved in Earth's affairs! So there's a certain poetry to Chuck's fate, but it really doesn't stand up to fridge logic.
I also had some questions about the period when the Earth was de-peopled. Like, were Hell and Heaven empty too? Did the boys even try to contact Rowena, or whoever the heck is in charge of Heaven now? (They really needed a line like, "No answer from Hell, Heaven... or anywhere." Just one line!)
It was a mix of thrilling storytelling, kind of baffling choices from the showrunners and stuff where you could really see that they were doing the best they could with very limited means... all of which is kind of par for the course with this show, really. I'd shed a tear to say goodbye, but I still don't know if it's goodbye yet! The ad for next time was confusing, featuring a mix of Ackles and Padalecki as themselves and stuff that seems like a continuation of the Winchester story.
I have no idea where they could take things from here and I'm a little worried they'll go out on some French Mistake-style meta-fiction thing. That stuff was fine as spice for the main story but I really hope the show doesn't end with Ackles and Padalecki strolling off the studio lot or something. Don't go all Moonlighting on us, guys.
Lucifer's imitation of Castiel was so mean. To Dean, and the audience. He is the devil.
posted by Ursula Hitler at 10:36 PM on November 13, 2020
This one felt really pandemic with everyone gone at the start.
Michael and Lucifer were in it for like what, ten minutes apiece, and there was one last disposable woman in for five? Sigh.
But at least the ending was nice. Jack is a kind, peaceful God.
Yeah, it really did seem like The Finale in this one, to the point where you're like "what else would you DO?" (Since "bring back all the friends for a giant party" is sadly no longer an option, anyway.)
posted by jenfullmoon at 6:40 PM on November 14, 2020
Michael and Lucifer were in it for like what, ten minutes apiece, and there was one last disposable woman in for five? Sigh.
But at least the ending was nice. Jack is a kind, peaceful God.
Yeah, it really did seem like The Finale in this one, to the point where you're like "what else would you DO?" (Since "bring back all the friends for a giant party" is sadly no longer an option, anyway.)
posted by jenfullmoon at 6:40 PM on November 14, 2020
I keep having more to say, but I feel like this is kind of a dead thread. Is this thing on?
I think it kind of escaped everybody just how radical this concluding story arc really was, in terms of its take on religion. I mean, God, Old Testament God, is the bad guy. He's a cruel dick, when he's not a pitiful nebbish. There is a lot of anger about how indifferent he is to the suffering of his creation, there's a visit to a church where the whole idea of worshiping him is depicted as a pathetic farce, and in the end he's left powerless and anonymous, just a stranger on the bus. This is not a show for the fundies!
But it occurred to me that in some ways this series finale (if that's even what it is) actually didn't shake things up as much as we may have expected going in. Like, Cas and Jack are gone and Chuck is presumably off the board, but it seems likely Sam and Dean will just head back to the bunker and resume hunting monsters. I had the feeling the finale would split them up somehow, even if it was just one of them deciding to give up hunting. At the very least I figured the Bunker would be destroyed or Baby would blow up or something. Even as I'm glad to see the brothers continue as a team, it doesn't feel very resolved. I guess they really will just keep doing this until they get killed by monsters someday.
I'm really surprised Amara ended up being such a non-player in these final episodes and I wonder if they couldn't get the actress back due to covid stuff. Like, Amara had nothing to say about all the awful things Chuck did, including almost beating Sam and Dean to death? I kind of wonder if there was an ending written where she emerged from Chuck, took his power and became the new God... or at least where she emerged from God-Jack to say goodbye or something. It just felt weird, never hearing from her at all.
But again, we don't know how much this was all affected by the pandemic. It may be that they had to make a lot of compromises and change a lot of plans, just to get this done at all. Who knows? And it may be that this ending wasn't the ending and next week we'll find out that this was all some crazy dream Sam has been having and he'll wake up next to Jessica in 2004, or that the whole show was a fantasy in Tommy Westphall's snow globe.
posted by Ursula Hitler at 11:05 PM on November 14, 2020 [1 favorite]
I think it kind of escaped everybody just how radical this concluding story arc really was, in terms of its take on religion. I mean, God, Old Testament God, is the bad guy. He's a cruel dick, when he's not a pitiful nebbish. There is a lot of anger about how indifferent he is to the suffering of his creation, there's a visit to a church where the whole idea of worshiping him is depicted as a pathetic farce, and in the end he's left powerless and anonymous, just a stranger on the bus. This is not a show for the fundies!
But it occurred to me that in some ways this series finale (if that's even what it is) actually didn't shake things up as much as we may have expected going in. Like, Cas and Jack are gone and Chuck is presumably off the board, but it seems likely Sam and Dean will just head back to the bunker and resume hunting monsters. I had the feeling the finale would split them up somehow, even if it was just one of them deciding to give up hunting. At the very least I figured the Bunker would be destroyed or Baby would blow up or something. Even as I'm glad to see the brothers continue as a team, it doesn't feel very resolved. I guess they really will just keep doing this until they get killed by monsters someday.
I'm really surprised Amara ended up being such a non-player in these final episodes and I wonder if they couldn't get the actress back due to covid stuff. Like, Amara had nothing to say about all the awful things Chuck did, including almost beating Sam and Dean to death? I kind of wonder if there was an ending written where she emerged from Chuck, took his power and became the new God... or at least where she emerged from God-Jack to say goodbye or something. It just felt weird, never hearing from her at all.
But again, we don't know how much this was all affected by the pandemic. It may be that they had to make a lot of compromises and change a lot of plans, just to get this done at all. Who knows? And it may be that this ending wasn't the ending and next week we'll find out that this was all some crazy dream Sam has been having and he'll wake up next to Jessica in 2004, or that the whole show was a fantasy in Tommy Westphall's snow globe.
posted by Ursula Hitler at 11:05 PM on November 14, 2020 [1 favorite]
So Jack did become the new god! I think that's the only time I've ever had an idea about what should happen and seen it actually happen on the show. That really did feel like a finale and at first I wondered what could be left for next week. Then I realized that we know nothing about what happened to monsters, angels, and souls in Heaven and Hell when Chuck removed everyone and Jack brought everyone back. Sam and Dean may find out next week that Jack chose not to bring back any monsters, so now they have to figure out new jobs for themselves. I think that would be a good ending, but I've always expected the show would end just the way it started - with Sam and Dean together, committed to fighting the good fight against a never-ending supply of monsters. So probably there will still be monsters. I wouldn't be surprised to see that Jack has made some changes to the Heaven/Hell system. Maybe he's turned some of our lost favorites (Bobby, Charlie, Kevin, Mary, John) into angels. Maybe he's set up a way for souls in Hell or Purgatory to work their way into Heaven. Maybe he's made it so no one will go to Hell anymore.
posted by Redstart at 9:07 AM on November 15, 2020
posted by Redstart at 9:07 AM on November 15, 2020
I've been generally assuming the show ends in two ways: (a) the boys get a happy ending, or (b) the boys end up dead and staying dead. I am thinking the show is leaning towards (a), which is nice.
Do we know if monsters were brought back or not? Right now, we don't. Maybe Jack just...didn't. I assume he probably didn't bring Cas back because he may not have control over The Empty (I don't know, maybe?), but do we need to have the monsters at this point if you have the option not to? This kind of deus ex machina ending would be the one way to get rid of the need to monster hunt. And then they can...carry on... doing something else. Sam settles down with Eileen, no idea what the hell Dean would do, but I guess they can figure it out Buffy-style?
I assume all of our favorites have been brought back, but we might not see them due to Covid, sadly. Amara might be one of those casualties.
posted by jenfullmoon at 10:00 AM on November 15, 2020
Do we know if monsters were brought back or not? Right now, we don't. Maybe Jack just...didn't. I assume he probably didn't bring Cas back because he may not have control over The Empty (I don't know, maybe?), but do we need to have the monsters at this point if you have the option not to? This kind of deus ex machina ending would be the one way to get rid of the need to monster hunt. And then they can...carry on... doing something else. Sam settles down with Eileen, no idea what the hell Dean would do, but I guess they can figure it out Buffy-style?
I assume all of our favorites have been brought back, but we might not see them due to Covid, sadly. Amara might be one of those casualties.
posted by jenfullmoon at 10:00 AM on November 15, 2020
Maybe Jack decided to eliminate Heaven and Hell and switch to a reincarnation system. (The cute dog from last week might be one of their old friends. Maybe Charlie, who is clever enough even as a dog to grab a pencil in her teeth and tap out a message to them on a keyboard.) Maybe it will turn out that even without the powers of a god Chuck is still able to do something horrible. Ursula Hitler is right that he's still awfully dangerous. Maybe Sam and Dean have to sacrifice themselves to stop it. Then the show jumps to twenty years later. We're introduced to a pair of sisters (after 15 male-dominated seasons they really ought to make them sisters) and it's revealed (at least to the viewer) that they are the reincarnations of Sam and Dean. They have some encounter with monsters that makes them commit to a life of fighting them. They load their gear into their cool old car, slam the hood and head down the highway.
posted by Redstart at 11:57 AM on November 15, 2020 [1 favorite]
posted by Redstart at 11:57 AM on November 15, 2020 [1 favorite]
wrong thread please delete.
posted by Faintdreams at 8:37 AM on November 16, 2020
posted by Faintdreams at 8:37 AM on November 16, 2020
OK, we binged the last two. My wife, who ships HARD, wept tears of joy at the end of the previous one. She's still hoping that Jack brought Cas back. Now that I think of it, if Chuck could pluck Lucifer out of the Empty, Jack could easily pull Cas out. Right?
I read that when the shutdown began, they had only just begun shooting this episode. As far as Amara returning, I am betting that Emily Swallow was already committed to SEAL Team and the Mandolorian. She probably wasn't available and they wrote around it.
I like the idea of Chuck wandering the earth, eventually aging out in an asylum. The God knowledge will just rot in his mind and what's left will be a madman. Works for me.
I am insanely curious how the two hour finale is going to play out. From the trailer it appears that some of it is just going to be cast interviews and behind the scenes stuff. I'm OK with that. The boys have earned a victory lap. This show was wandering in the darkness for a while with bad writing and some wretched Big Bads (we shall never talk about the Leviathans). But the last two seasons have been really good, practically up to the standard of the initial Kripke years. It's so satisfying to see a genre show go out on a high note after seeing so many come to wretched ends. Will this be as satisfying as the epilogue in Grimm? We'll know in a couple days.
posted by Ber at 10:53 AM on November 17, 2020
I read that when the shutdown began, they had only just begun shooting this episode. As far as Amara returning, I am betting that Emily Swallow was already committed to SEAL Team and the Mandolorian. She probably wasn't available and they wrote around it.
I like the idea of Chuck wandering the earth, eventually aging out in an asylum. The God knowledge will just rot in his mind and what's left will be a madman. Works for me.
I am insanely curious how the two hour finale is going to play out. From the trailer it appears that some of it is just going to be cast interviews and behind the scenes stuff. I'm OK with that. The boys have earned a victory lap. This show was wandering in the darkness for a while with bad writing and some wretched Big Bads (we shall never talk about the Leviathans). But the last two seasons have been really good, practically up to the standard of the initial Kripke years. It's so satisfying to see a genre show go out on a high note after seeing so many come to wretched ends. Will this be as satisfying as the epilogue in Grimm? We'll know in a couple days.
posted by Ber at 10:53 AM on November 17, 2020
Now that I think of it, if Chuck could pluck Lucifer out of the Empty, Jack could easily pull Cas out. Right?
I don't see why not. Jack already pulled Cas out once and that was before he was God. But I'm guessing Cas is there to stay this time. If there's any explanation in the minds of the writers, maybe it's that pulling him out would disturb the Empty and lead to unfortunate consequences. Or that Jack realizes it's better for Cas to die happy and then just go to sleep forever than to come back and face the awkwardness of having declared his love for someone who doesn't reciprocate and the lifelong sadness of never being able to be in a romantic relationship with Dean. (My daughter is still hoping we'll hear Dean say he did love Cas that way, but I'm not betting on it.)
posted by Redstart at 12:01 PM on November 17, 2020
I don't see why not. Jack already pulled Cas out once and that was before he was God. But I'm guessing Cas is there to stay this time. If there's any explanation in the minds of the writers, maybe it's that pulling him out would disturb the Empty and lead to unfortunate consequences. Or that Jack realizes it's better for Cas to die happy and then just go to sleep forever than to come back and face the awkwardness of having declared his love for someone who doesn't reciprocate and the lifelong sadness of never being able to be in a romantic relationship with Dean. (My daughter is still hoping we'll hear Dean say he did love Cas that way, but I'm not betting on it.)
posted by Redstart at 12:01 PM on November 17, 2020
Yeah, while this show has defied my expectations many times, I feel fairly certain saying that even if Cas comes back he and Dean won't be an Item. If Cas was indeed declaring his romantic love in that death scene, I think Dean was as stunned by it as I was. While Dean has come a long way from his days of casual, low-grade homophobia, I just can't see him with Cas or any other dude. (Although thinking about his romantic life reminds me of my old complaint about how the show abruptly took Dean from being a relentless horndog to having no dates ever. It was a major change for the character and the closest we ever got to an explanation was Dean getting shot down offscreen by a woman who told him he had a "dad bod." Instead of reading like Dean had matured out of loveless hook-ups, it had the unfortunate effect of making it seem like the writers thought Jensen Ackles had just gotten too old to plausibly attract women anymore.)
IIRC the Leviathans and Dick Roman didn't even show up in that Running on Empty montage. I mean, even Asmodeus got a shout out, but not the mouth-facers!
posted by Ursula Hitler at 1:35 PM on November 17, 2020 [1 favorite]
IIRC the Leviathans and Dick Roman didn't even show up in that Running on Empty montage. I mean, even Asmodeus got a shout out, but not the mouth-facers!
posted by Ursula Hitler at 1:35 PM on November 17, 2020 [1 favorite]
Jack's "god is in everyone, I'm not super hands on tho" seemed about where I thought they'd land as far as spirituality on this show; leaving God a mediocre mortal chump sobbing in horror by the side of the road might not work that well in the logistics of the show but was a harsher fate and thematically landed for me much better than the splashier options. (As did winning by reaalllly dragging out the process of letting God kick the crap out of you.)
I didn't watch the promo and I tried to squint past any spoilers for it here, but I totally get the comments about how that felt like The End. Going for a drive together on a nice day seems perfectly reasonable way to use their brand new existential freedom, but it did kind of underline that they intend to keep doing what they've been doing their whole lives, just without plot armor or Chuck's interference (or further interference, since he did a hell of a lot of the legwork to get them here.) And maybe that's all they really want and that's fine, but I'm not sure it feels quite as triumphant as they were maybe going for. Maybe that's this week's episode! I have no guesses, though there did seem to be an odd dearth of Mary, John, and Castiel in that montage. There wasn't much Bobby either, I guess.
I CANNOT BELIEVE, except who am I kidding, after fifteen seasons, I absolutely believe, that they'd leave hanging the fact that Castiel found Dean's god-detecting beloved necklace last season and then never used it, gave it back, or indeed mentioned it again. I guess it's still in his pocket in the Empty. (They don't really need a god detector anymore and Dean doesn't need a necklace to remember that his brother adores him. I can hold this grudge a long time.)
I was putting off and putting off watching this episode because, yknow, I'm very ready for this silly show to end, but I've been watching it since the first season when I was still in college, literally my whole adult life, and this year has been A Lot and after I watch it it'll be over.
posted by jameaterblues at 10:11 PM on November 17, 2020 [1 favorite]
I didn't watch the promo and I tried to squint past any spoilers for it here, but I totally get the comments about how that felt like The End. Going for a drive together on a nice day seems perfectly reasonable way to use their brand new existential freedom, but it did kind of underline that they intend to keep doing what they've been doing their whole lives, just without plot armor or Chuck's interference (or further interference, since he did a hell of a lot of the legwork to get them here.) And maybe that's all they really want and that's fine, but I'm not sure it feels quite as triumphant as they were maybe going for. Maybe that's this week's episode! I have no guesses, though there did seem to be an odd dearth of Mary, John, and Castiel in that montage. There wasn't much Bobby either, I guess.
I CANNOT BELIEVE, except who am I kidding, after fifteen seasons, I absolutely believe, that they'd leave hanging the fact that Castiel found Dean's god-detecting beloved necklace last season and then never used it, gave it back, or indeed mentioned it again. I guess it's still in his pocket in the Empty. (They don't really need a god detector anymore and Dean doesn't need a necklace to remember that his brother adores him. I can hold this grudge a long time.)
I was putting off and putting off watching this episode because, yknow, I'm very ready for this silly show to end, but I've been watching it since the first season when I was still in college, literally my whole adult life, and this year has been A Lot and after I watch it it'll be over.
posted by jameaterblues at 10:11 PM on November 17, 2020 [1 favorite]
Quotes
Lucifer: Whassup?
Dean: [slams the door in his face]
Michael: I did what I did because it was the right thing to do. Not to get His love.
Lucifer: Well, that's a good thing. Because the man had no love to give. Not to you, not to me, not to... humanity. You see that now, right?
Betty: Asshats. I have opened the book.
Sam: And?
Betty: And it's in here. All that you want. I know how God ends.
Sam: Wait a second. You're sure about this?
Betty: Of course I'm sure. I'm Death.
Dean: You've been Death for an hour.
Chuck: And you two. You know, eternal suffering sounds good on paper, but as a viewing experience, it's just kind of... eh. So we're done. I'm canceling your show.
Dean: You can't.
Chuck: Oh, no, see, I'm the almighty. I really can.
Dean: All right, Chuck. You win.
Chuck: Well... sure. I always do. Me being me.
Chuck: What'd you do?
Dean: We won.
Chuck: This is why you're my favorites. You know, for the first time, I have no idea what happens next. Is this where you kill me? I mean, I could never think of an ending where I lose. But this, after everything I've done to you... to die at the hands of Sam Winchester... of Dean Winchester, the ultimate killer... It's kind of glorious.
Dean: Sorry, Chuck.
Chuck: What? What?
Dean: See, that's not who I am. That's not who we are.
Chuck: What kind of an ending is this?
Sam: His power. You sure it won't come back?
Jack: It's not his power anymore.
Sam: Then I think it's the ending where you're just like us and like the other humans you forgot about.
Dean: It's the ending where you grow old, you get sick, and you just die.
Sam: And no one cares. And no one remembers you. You're just forgotten.
Trivia
When the boys walk into the bar there is a beer tap that has been left running. Dean walks over and turns it off. The tap bears an "FB" logo for "Family Business Beer Co.", the brewery founded by Jensen Ackles, his wife Danneel, and her brother.
As Jack and the brothers talk near the end, there's a shot of a gas station with the name "Showalter" on it. John F. Showalter is a co-executive producer on the show and directed this episode among many others.
The diner that Jack is standing outside of is aptly named "Sammy's Highway Café est. 1977".
According to Jensen Ackles, the cast shot one day of this episode when the shutdown occurred, so only 18 episodes were completed filming when the COVID-19 pandemic forced filming to stop.
On the bar wall is a sign for 3 Sheeps Brewing Co.; while a lot of the beer-related signage and items throughout the series were for fictional beers and breweries. 3 Sheeps is a real brewery in Sheboygan, Wisconsin.
The gas station where Dean finds Miracle the dog is called "Tod & Buz Route 66 Service". Tod and Buz were the initial stars of the classic TV series Route 66 (1960-1964), played by Martin Milner and George Maharis.
The church that Sam, Dean, and Jack visit is St. Francis of Assisi Parish in Vancouver, Canada.
At the end in the bunker Sam and Dean drink Samuel Adams Beer.
Castiel and Jack's names have joined Sam, Dean, and Mary's initials carved into the bunker's table.
When Dean arrives in the Impala another car passes by in the distance in a presumably empty world.
posted by orange swan at 5:29 PM on June 20, 2022
Lucifer: Whassup?
Dean: [slams the door in his face]
Michael: I did what I did because it was the right thing to do. Not to get His love.
Lucifer: Well, that's a good thing. Because the man had no love to give. Not to you, not to me, not to... humanity. You see that now, right?
Betty: Asshats. I have opened the book.
Sam: And?
Betty: And it's in here. All that you want. I know how God ends.
Sam: Wait a second. You're sure about this?
Betty: Of course I'm sure. I'm Death.
Dean: You've been Death for an hour.
Chuck: And you two. You know, eternal suffering sounds good on paper, but as a viewing experience, it's just kind of... eh. So we're done. I'm canceling your show.
Dean: You can't.
Chuck: Oh, no, see, I'm the almighty. I really can.
Dean: All right, Chuck. You win.
Chuck: Well... sure. I always do. Me being me.
Chuck: What'd you do?
Dean: We won.
Chuck: This is why you're my favorites. You know, for the first time, I have no idea what happens next. Is this where you kill me? I mean, I could never think of an ending where I lose. But this, after everything I've done to you... to die at the hands of Sam Winchester... of Dean Winchester, the ultimate killer... It's kind of glorious.
Dean: Sorry, Chuck.
Chuck: What? What?
Dean: See, that's not who I am. That's not who we are.
Chuck: What kind of an ending is this?
Sam: His power. You sure it won't come back?
Jack: It's not his power anymore.
Sam: Then I think it's the ending where you're just like us and like the other humans you forgot about.
Dean: It's the ending where you grow old, you get sick, and you just die.
Sam: And no one cares. And no one remembers you. You're just forgotten.
Trivia
When the boys walk into the bar there is a beer tap that has been left running. Dean walks over and turns it off. The tap bears an "FB" logo for "Family Business Beer Co.", the brewery founded by Jensen Ackles, his wife Danneel, and her brother.
As Jack and the brothers talk near the end, there's a shot of a gas station with the name "Showalter" on it. John F. Showalter is a co-executive producer on the show and directed this episode among many others.
The diner that Jack is standing outside of is aptly named "Sammy's Highway Café est. 1977".
According to Jensen Ackles, the cast shot one day of this episode when the shutdown occurred, so only 18 episodes were completed filming when the COVID-19 pandemic forced filming to stop.
On the bar wall is a sign for 3 Sheeps Brewing Co.; while a lot of the beer-related signage and items throughout the series were for fictional beers and breweries. 3 Sheeps is a real brewery in Sheboygan, Wisconsin.
The gas station where Dean finds Miracle the dog is called "Tod & Buz Route 66 Service". Tod and Buz were the initial stars of the classic TV series Route 66 (1960-1964), played by Martin Milner and George Maharis.
The church that Sam, Dean, and Jack visit is St. Francis of Assisi Parish in Vancouver, Canada.
At the end in the bunker Sam and Dean drink Samuel Adams Beer.
Castiel and Jack's names have joined Sam, Dean, and Mary's initials carved into the bunker's table.
When Dean arrives in the Impala another car passes by in the distance in a presumably empty world.
posted by orange swan at 5:29 PM on June 20, 2022
Not a bad way to wrap up the Chuck storyline (I love that his punishment is being human), but I still can't help finding it an eyeroller that Sam and Dean are so Very Important to him. I mean.. he's existed since there was existence, he can create entire worlds, his knowledge is incredibly vast... and he focuses this intently on two flannel-clad drifters from Kansas?
Nice to see Jake Abel one last time, even if we do learn that poor Adam has been raptured. Would Adam come back with everyone else when Jack snaps his fingers, or does he stay gone given that his body was destroyed when Michael died?
Could have done without seeing Mark Pellegrino again, but at least it's the last time I ever have to see him in anything.
I would have asked Jack to rid the world of monsters... and fix the climate crisis. Seems like the least he could do.
posted by orange swan at 5:31 PM on June 20, 2022
Nice to see Jake Abel one last time, even if we do learn that poor Adam has been raptured. Would Adam come back with everyone else when Jack snaps his fingers, or does he stay gone given that his body was destroyed when Michael died?
Could have done without seeing Mark Pellegrino again, but at least it's the last time I ever have to see him in anything.
I would have asked Jack to rid the world of monsters... and fix the climate crisis. Seems like the least he could do.
posted by orange swan at 5:31 PM on June 20, 2022
I said most of what I have to say about this episode upthread back in 2020, but coming up on the end of what is now an extremely prolonged rewatch, I guess it does play a little different.
Michael and Lucifer were always more important to each other thematically than as individual characters on screen, but their conflict was a big part of the plot engine of this show for years, and while I don't think the actual scene worked all that well, I appreciate at least trying to wrap it up (for what I guess is now technically like the eighth time.) Something about Lucifer 's last words being "you don't learn" right before Michael kills him feels fundamental to the DNA of a show that started with Sam trying to escape hunting and John to live his own life, and is ending with Dean trying to escape God to live his own life. Lucifer, the rebel and the most loved, died for taking God's side one more time; Michael almost did the right thing but stumbled right into his own death because he couldn't bear the thought of losing his place with God, who so clearly cannot give a shit about him. Lucifer wasn't wrong, Michael never learns, but jeez, who does.
I can understand the appeal of leaving Chuck alive as punishment, but also pretty soon Sam's going to have a lot of years to think about how Chuck's out there taking hot showers and drinking beer by the lake and Dean isn't.
posted by jameaterblues at 10:40 PM on March 20, 2023
Michael and Lucifer were always more important to each other thematically than as individual characters on screen, but their conflict was a big part of the plot engine of this show for years, and while I don't think the actual scene worked all that well, I appreciate at least trying to wrap it up (for what I guess is now technically like the eighth time.) Something about Lucifer 's last words being "you don't learn" right before Michael kills him feels fundamental to the DNA of a show that started with Sam trying to escape hunting and John to live his own life, and is ending with Dean trying to escape God to live his own life. Lucifer, the rebel and the most loved, died for taking God's side one more time; Michael almost did the right thing but stumbled right into his own death because he couldn't bear the thought of losing his place with God, who so clearly cannot give a shit about him. Lucifer wasn't wrong, Michael never learns, but jeez, who does.
I can understand the appeal of leaving Chuck alive as punishment, but also pretty soon Sam's going to have a lot of years to think about how Chuck's out there taking hot showers and drinking beer by the lake and Dean isn't.
posted by jameaterblues at 10:40 PM on March 20, 2023
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posted by oh yeah! at 5:49 PM on November 13, 2020 [3 favorites]