Supernatural: We Happy Few
May 19, 2016 6:45 PM - Season 11, Episode 22 - Subscribe
Sam and Dean gets a plan to defeat Amara. For it to work, they need to recruit some help.
Welp. There goes creation.
Welp. There goes creation.
I think this may be my favorite season as well. A lot of great episodes and an interesting story arc. I hope that Chuck and Amara survive, but perhaps are locked away. Not a great payoff for the introduction of Donatello last episode. Great scene between Lucifer and Chuck. Misha Collins is killing it as Lucifer, but I would have liked to see Mark Pelligrino come back for this episode. Seems like God could have made Lucifer a Mark-shaped vessel.
posted by cfoxhi at 9:38 PM on May 19, 2016 [1 favorite]
posted by cfoxhi at 9:38 PM on May 19, 2016 [1 favorite]
yeah I dunno why God didn't just split Lucifer and Castiel up, seems like having more bodies would've been useful.
And why was it so easy for Amara to overcome her injuries and cripple God like that? Couldn't Chuck have resisted with all the powers he has?
posted by numaner at 1:44 PM on May 20, 2016
And why was it so easy for Amara to overcome her injuries and cripple God like that? Couldn't Chuck have resisted with all the powers he has?
posted by numaner at 1:44 PM on May 20, 2016
And why was it so easy for Amara to overcome her injuries and cripple God like that? Couldn't Chuck have resisted with all the powers he has?
I thought that too. I'm wondering if he's doing some sort of fake out maneuver.
posted by Jalliah at 3:49 PM on May 20, 2016
I thought that too. I'm wondering if he's doing some sort of fake out maneuver.
posted by Jalliah at 3:49 PM on May 20, 2016
Just finally saw this. Whoa! It really seemed like series finale stuff, with the boys and witches and angels and demons and Crowley and Lucifer and GOD, all on the same side. It seemed like literally anybody could die, and I was ready to believe they'd just killed God. We glimpsed him up and around in the previews for next time, but I have no idea if he survives beyond that, how they'll wrap this season up, or where they might go from here. I tend to think God won't die and that Lucifer will come back somehow (he is the devil, after all) but I wouldn't bet the farm on anything right now. I was SURE Sam was gonna get the mark, and I figured we were gonna get evil Sam (again) next season. But nope!
The line about how Amara can't be killed or bad things will happen, that makes me wonder if she WILL die and then... I don't know, things will be "out of balance" in some catastrophic way.
Presumably when Lucifer went poof Castiel was freed, but we've seen so little of Cas lately that I'm wondering if the writers are just plain out of ideas for the character. He could have played a more active role during the possession stuff, arguing with Lucifer or doing other things to remind us he was in there. But no, it's been pretty much exclusively Misha Collins' (excellent) Mark Pelligrino impression. I was sure the character would survive until the end of the series, but now I'm starting to wonder if they're gonna write him out.
posted by Ursula Hitler at 12:46 AM on May 21, 2016
The line about how Amara can't be killed or bad things will happen, that makes me wonder if she WILL die and then... I don't know, things will be "out of balance" in some catastrophic way.
Presumably when Lucifer went poof Castiel was freed, but we've seen so little of Cas lately that I'm wondering if the writers are just plain out of ideas for the character. He could have played a more active role during the possession stuff, arguing with Lucifer or doing other things to remind us he was in there. But no, it's been pretty much exclusively Misha Collins' (excellent) Mark Pelligrino impression. I was sure the character would survive until the end of the series, but now I'm starting to wonder if they're gonna write him out.
posted by Ursula Hitler at 12:46 AM on May 21, 2016
Amara was able to overcome her injuries due to the horrors of being imprisoned again. She was accepting (and maybe even looking forward) to dying. When she realized that she was to be locked away for millions of years again that allowed her to tap into reserves she didn't know she had.
Think of it as the woman who lifts the car to save her child
posted by 2manyusernames at 7:27 AM on May 21, 2016
Think of it as the woman who lifts the car to save her child
posted by 2manyusernames at 7:27 AM on May 21, 2016
Is it just me or was Misha playing it kinda camp in the beginning of the episode? When he was opposite Chuck?
There's this weird theory that, back at the beginning of season 5, when Padalecki was playing Lucifer, his Lucifer comes off as female - or genderless. Which has always made a lot of sense to me. The two episodes before that had Lucifer appearing in female shapes.
posted by Rainbo Vagrant at 7:45 AM on May 22, 2016
There's this weird theory that, back at the beginning of season 5, when Padalecki was playing Lucifer, his Lucifer comes off as female - or genderless. Which has always made a lot of sense to me. The two episodes before that had Lucifer appearing in female shapes.
posted by Rainbo Vagrant at 7:45 AM on May 22, 2016
And why was it so easy for Amara to overcome her injuries and cripple God like that? Couldn't Chuck have resisted with all the powers he has?
Chuck & Amara are opposite equals - brother and sister, dark and light. All the entities helping Chuck are no advantage at all, they are all his creations and of no true advantage.
I'm hoping the story shows that they can't truly kill each other or even exist without each other. The universe only works with both of them in it. It would be so much more satisfying.
posted by Requiax at 12:39 PM on May 22, 2016 [1 favorite]
Chuck & Amara are opposite equals - brother and sister, dark and light. All the entities helping Chuck are no advantage at all, they are all his creations and of no true advantage.
I'm hoping the story shows that they can't truly kill each other or even exist without each other. The universe only works with both of them in it. It would be so much more satisfying.
posted by Requiax at 12:39 PM on May 22, 2016 [1 favorite]
From what Amara's said, it sounded like she never even wanted Creation in the first place, and if killing God undo all that, so be it. I don't think she cares about balance as much as God does.
posted by numaner at 9:41 AM on May 25, 2016
posted by numaner at 9:41 AM on May 25, 2016
We watched this and the finale last night. Wow. After years of flailing in the wilderness, Supernatural returns to greatness. The scene with Chuck and Luc/Cas was incredible. I love the whole light vs darkness thing, something very Roger Zelazney about that notion.
posted by Ber at 6:24 AM on June 1, 2016
posted by Ber at 6:24 AM on June 1, 2016
I know this party is over and everybody went home long ago, but it just occurred to me that Supernatural's stuff about the male light and the female void actually has a lot in common with Cerebus creator Dave Sim's crazy religious theories.
I don't believe the mythology of Supernatural comes from a misogynist place and I think they took pains to make it clear that God's sister wasn't truly evil and in her own way she was as essential to the universe as God was. She was the yin to God's yang. But still: Male light, female void. That totally sounds like Sim's malarkey!
posted by Ursula Hitler at 2:48 AM on June 8, 2016 [1 favorite]
I don't believe the mythology of Supernatural comes from a misogynist place and I think they took pains to make it clear that God's sister wasn't truly evil and in her own way she was as essential to the universe as God was. She was the yin to God's yang. But still: Male light, female void. That totally sounds like Sim's malarkey!
posted by Ursula Hitler at 2:48 AM on June 8, 2016 [1 favorite]
I've been outspoken about how this show is defined by how derivative it is, and I wouldn't bat an eye if it came to light that some of the writers are Sim fans. Like, geeze, I used to be a fan and Sim is embarrassing but Gerhard is legit good at drawing.
posted by porpoise at 12:04 AM on January 3, 2022
posted by porpoise at 12:04 AM on January 3, 2022
Quotes
Dean: The great thing about apologies is you don't have to mean 'em. You know, I lie and tell Sam I'm sorry all the time.
Sam: ...
Dean: [to Sam] Sorry. [to Chuck and Lucifer] See?
Crowley: [to Lucifer] I don't hold grudges. Besides, that dog collar was a lovely touch, really made my eyes pop. Almost wore it here today.
Chuck: Rowena, Crowley. It's good to finally meet you in person.
Rowena: Sorry about, well, everything I've ever done in my life. Really, you can't have been a fan.
Chuck: Oh, yeah, I've been quietly rooting against you both for some time now. Although, I can't deny you're one of my guilty pleasures.
Rowena: Oh, God.
Crowley: Oh, God.
Lucifer: Screw you. Screw all of you!
Chuck: [to Sam and Dean] Kids, huh?
Dean: The end is freakin' nigh.
Trivia
Crowley says "let's make hell great again", a reference to Donald Trump's 2016 presidential campaign slogan, "Make America Great Again".
The title of this episode, "We Happy Few", is a direct quote from the play Henry V by William Shakespeare. It is from the pre-battle speech that King Henry V delivers right before the Battle of Agincourt, often referred to as "The St. Crispin's Day Speech". The full line from the speech is "We few, we happy few. We band of brothers." Henry is delivering this speech to his men in an effort to express his love for them, since they all know that they are severely outnumbered by the French army, who are also better armed and much fresher (having not had to trek hundreds of miles like the English did), and that the odds of them winning the battle are almost nil. Sam actually says the words "our band of brothers" when talking about the unlikely alliance between God, Lucifer, Castiel, the Winchesters, Rowena, Crowley, witches, angels and demons in an effort to take down Amara, against whom they are fairly outmatched. In the play (and in real life) Henry's army beat the French, losing very few men, whereas the French lost thousands. It's a reference that is ultimately foreshadowing their eventual victory against the Darkness, though it doesn't happen quite the way they thought it would.
When Amara was smited previously in "O Brother, Where Art Thou?" (ep. 11.9), Dean gets "smiting sickness" by driving within a couple miles of the impact site. Despite Sam and Dean being only 50 feet away inside of a building when Amara was once more smited, they showed no signs of sickness, even when they stuck around until dawn.
posted by orange swan at 4:49 PM on January 7, 2022
Dean: The great thing about apologies is you don't have to mean 'em. You know, I lie and tell Sam I'm sorry all the time.
Sam: ...
Dean: [to Sam] Sorry. [to Chuck and Lucifer] See?
Crowley: [to Lucifer] I don't hold grudges. Besides, that dog collar was a lovely touch, really made my eyes pop. Almost wore it here today.
Chuck: Rowena, Crowley. It's good to finally meet you in person.
Rowena: Sorry about, well, everything I've ever done in my life. Really, you can't have been a fan.
Chuck: Oh, yeah, I've been quietly rooting against you both for some time now. Although, I can't deny you're one of my guilty pleasures.
Rowena: Oh, God.
Crowley: Oh, God.
Lucifer: Screw you. Screw all of you!
Chuck: [to Sam and Dean] Kids, huh?
Dean: The end is freakin' nigh.
Trivia
Crowley says "let's make hell great again", a reference to Donald Trump's 2016 presidential campaign slogan, "Make America Great Again".
The title of this episode, "We Happy Few", is a direct quote from the play Henry V by William Shakespeare. It is from the pre-battle speech that King Henry V delivers right before the Battle of Agincourt, often referred to as "The St. Crispin's Day Speech". The full line from the speech is "We few, we happy few. We band of brothers." Henry is delivering this speech to his men in an effort to express his love for them, since they all know that they are severely outnumbered by the French army, who are also better armed and much fresher (having not had to trek hundreds of miles like the English did), and that the odds of them winning the battle are almost nil. Sam actually says the words "our band of brothers" when talking about the unlikely alliance between God, Lucifer, Castiel, the Winchesters, Rowena, Crowley, witches, angels and demons in an effort to take down Amara, against whom they are fairly outmatched. In the play (and in real life) Henry's army beat the French, losing very few men, whereas the French lost thousands. It's a reference that is ultimately foreshadowing their eventual victory against the Darkness, though it doesn't happen quite the way they thought it would.
When Amara was smited previously in "O Brother, Where Art Thou?" (ep. 11.9), Dean gets "smiting sickness" by driving within a couple miles of the impact site. Despite Sam and Dean being only 50 feet away inside of a building when Amara was once more smited, they showed no signs of sickness, even when they stuck around until dawn.
posted by orange swan at 4:49 PM on January 7, 2022
You'd think Chuck would have at least tried to talk to Amara the way she wanted before going nuclear on her. His interpersonal/management style isn't the best.
I felt bad for those poor witches whom Rowena got killed.
Rowena tried to flirt with and flatter God. She doesn't know when to quit, that one. I also note that Crowley tries to flirt with everyone, while Rowena only gets flirty with powerful males.
posted by orange swan at 4:51 PM on January 7, 2022
I felt bad for those poor witches whom Rowena got killed.
Rowena tried to flirt with and flatter God. She doesn't know when to quit, that one. I also note that Crowley tries to flirt with everyone, while Rowena only gets flirty with powerful males.
posted by orange swan at 4:51 PM on January 7, 2022
You are not logged in, either login or create an account to post comments
Recaps
FoxSistersIMDb
Stuff:
* I about died at the Lucifer/God reconciliation. "This is like the worst episode of Full House ever!" almost ended me, along with Dean's talk about how he always lies in his apologies to Sam.
* I really thought Chuck was going to lock himself away with Amara this time, to protect creation and make up for leaving her to rot. I was disappointed with how that confrontation played out.
* I enjoyed the demons being dicks to Crowley. It's easy to forget that demons are supposed to be nasty for its own sake, and that was pretty funny.
* Hard to believe Lucifer's really gone, but I feel like they're clearing the playing field for S12. I bet neither Amara nor Chuck make it out of the finale alive. (I'm not sure what other narrative move would make sense after this - the Winchesters operating *without* a divine mandate and with a hostile Reaper population seems like the only way to retain dramatic tension.)
* I was disappointed that Rowena survived, while her more practical and courageous friend bit it.
posted by mordax at 7:58 PM on May 19, 2016