Supernatural: Let the Good Times Roll
May 17, 2018 6:54 PM - Season 13, Episode 23 - Subscribe

Sam and Dean continue to be tested in the battle between good and evil; an impulsive decision could alter the life of one brother forever.
posted by litera scripta manet (15 comments total)
 
Somewhere in the Empty, our world's Zachariah just bolted upright and let out the most frustrated scream. After spending a lot of S4 and S5 trying to convince Dean to say yes to Michael, only for Dean to turn him down, and now in this finale, in all of two seconds, he's like, "Hey, yeah, come on in, the water's fine."

It is actually totally in keeping with Dean's general MO to do something impulsive like this, but it just amuses me to think of how Zachariah is probably somewhere pulling his hair out over this.

But also, I feel like maybe this episode could have benefited from being spread out over two separate episodes. I would have liked to be able to spend a little more time with the people at the bunker, and more importantly, the ending just felt kind of abrupt.

It was neat to finally see the Lucifer/Michael show down that was teased through S5, although I could have done without the in-the-air stunts, since those ended up just looking kind of cheesy.

I hope they don't resolve the Michael using Dean as a vessel thing too quickly next season. I think Jensen Ackles will have a lot of fun getting to play Dean possessed by Michael.
posted by litera scripta manet at 6:59 PM on May 17, 2018 [4 favorites]


Oh, and is Jack now permanently just going to be human? Or can he regenerate his grace like an angel can? Although I guess if Lucifer truly took all of his grace, even an angel can't regenerate their grace in that case as we saw with Cas after Metatron took his grace.

From a storytelling perspective, it would make some sense to just get rid of Jack's grace, because now that he has control of his powers, he would probably make everything too easy. Then again, without his powers, they're kind of screwed when it comes to fighting back against Michael.
posted by litera scripta manet at 7:01 PM on May 17, 2018


Also, alt-Bobby's whole, "The ice caps are melting, a movie where a woman goes all the way with a fish just won best picture, and that dick from the apprentice is president...and you call our universe apocalypse world?"* thing was funny but also like too real/forever too soon.

*Paraphrasing, because I'm too lazy to look it up in the episode, but you get the gist.
posted by litera scripta manet at 7:14 PM on May 17, 2018 [3 favorites]


And moving on to the nit picking: This isn't the first time it's come up, but it's kind of weird how just last season they showed some random guy as president, and it's kind of hard to forget about, since that was what led to Kelly Kline getting pregnant with Jack, and yet suddenly the show acknowledges Trump as president. (I know this isn't the first time the show has done that; I'm pretty sure they also referenced Obama, but still.)

Also, it's not at all surprising that Michael didn't hold up his end of the deal, but shouldn't he be able to expel Michael? Wasn't that part of the deal with angels as opposed to Demon's? Wasn't that how Sam ultimately kicks out Gadreel, once Crowley convinces him that he needs to do that?

Not that I should really expect the show to be internally consistent. Maybe it's just that Michael is that powerful, or there's something about being the one true vessel.

Oh, and how does Michael know that Dean is the true Michael sword if Sam and Dean never existed in his universe?

I did like that we got a teeny bit more insight into Michael's whole deal, when he was talking about purifying the world and what not.
posted by litera scripta manet at 7:19 PM on May 17, 2018


Oh, and how could I forget this? Let me be the first to say how absolutely thrilled I am that they finally iced Lucifer. I liked Lucifer as a character back in S5, but his characterization has been rather inconsistent over the last couple seasons, and I didn't like how it seemed like they were trying to make him seem redeemable, so I'm glad they a) showed him going back to his roots of wanting to re-make the world in his image and b) finally killed him.
posted by litera scripta manet at 7:21 PM on May 17, 2018


and that dick from the apprentice is president

It's idjit. Never forget idjit.

I think Michael is just too powerful for a vessel to kick him out. I do like that we're getting Angel Dean now since we already had Demon Dean. At least they're covering all the bases.

My headcanon is that Obama didn't have a second term, and that random president was voted in, and now the idjit is president (also, thank you to the show for another phrase to refer to 45, idjit pres is great).

I was very shocked that they actually killed him. But then again, almost nothing stays dead in Supernatural, even the women, now that we have alternate universes. The death was pretty spectacular. Even better than Dean angeling it up with the wings shadows. That was some of my favorite moments on TV.

Oh yes, the wirework for the fight in the air was pretty lame. They could learn a lot from Hong Kong wuxia shows.

Also, I'm glad Bobby's gonna be back on the show more frequently nooooow! Any version of Bobby is good!
posted by numaner at 4:00 PM on May 18, 2018


You would think that after thirteen seasons I'd be way over the heavy-handed Carry On Wayward Son season previouslies, and you'd be DEAD WRONG, SON when that song kicked in I cackled like a loon.

I've been way hot and cold on this season, but I enjoyed that! And I agree that after all the drama of getting Michael and Lucifer into their respective True Meatsuits back in S4-5, I actually liked that all it finally took was Dean being desperate and shit out of better ideas (and it being his idea.) Sam and Dean had a really sweet moment at the end there before Michael took over, but I could see this being a fun dynamic for a while. And Michael's going to need somebody to exposit with like Demon Dean did with Crowley, maybe that'll be where Sister Jo or some of the other randoms tie in.

I was totally willing to overlook that angels use knives or go bareknuckled when they want to fight each other, I don't really need to see that happening ten feet off the ground on shaky wirework, but this fight lacked even the emotional weight it had when it was Sam and Adam slugging it out, and it's Dean possessed by an archangel, I guess I understand why they wanted to go big and special effects was what they had to work with. I guess I'm okay with Lucifer going out now. (I laughed at "I could make you a Wookiee," though.)

My memory's fuzzy... I know Sam's had Meg, Lucifer, Gadreel, the body-swap kid, probably others, but is this really the first time Dean's actually been possessed by anything? I don't count his stint as a demon; the Mark of Cain comes close but that was changing his personality, not driving his body around.

Sometimes the angels all talk about each other as siblings and sometimes only smaller clusters of them, like the archangels, seem to think of themselves that way. (Lucifer talked about how he and Jack were blood, in contrast to Sam and Dean and "the other one," though that may just be his personal distaste for Castiel in particular.) But Castiel really looked like he was going to cry at the end there, and this has got to be a nightmare for him, after all they went through with his Michael last time. In some ways he's as stuck between worlds as Jack is, he's just a lot older and had a lot more time to figure stuff out.

All that said, I'm not sure I'm emotionally prepared for the Mary/Bobby thing this show seems gearing up to give me. The man said it himself, the ice caps are melting, we've got enough to worry about.
posted by jameaterblues at 8:25 PM on May 18, 2018 [1 favorite]


All that said, I'm not sure I'm emotionally prepared for the Mary/Bobby thing this show seems gearing up to

Yeah, that definitely seems to be where we're heading, and I get it, but I just don't really want to see it. In general, I'm not real thrilled about Mary being back, just because I feel like the show never was very good at handling her being actual present and the emotional fall out of everything, based on S12. At the same time, I don't want them to kill off Mary, so I'm not really sure where this will go. I thought they might both go back to apocalypse world, but that's seeming less likely now.

My memory's fuzzy... I know Sam's had Meg, Lucifer, Gadreel, the body-swap kid, probably others, but is this really the first time Dean's actually been possessed by anything? I don't count his stint as a demon; the Mark of Cain comes close but that was changing his personality, not driving his body around.

Well, Dean was also impersonated by a shapshifter way back in S1, but he wasn't actually possessed. I think this is the first time Dean's been possessed by anything. (I agree that his stint as a demon doesn't count, since it was still fundamentally him.)
posted by litera scripta manet at 9:16 PM on May 18, 2018


After browsing the supernatural wiki, the closest thing I can find to Dean being possessed was that episode in S6 where that "Khan Worm" that Eve created got into him, leading to him killing Gwen Campbell. But this seems to be the first angel or demon possession for Dean.
posted by litera scripta manet at 9:23 PM on May 18, 2018


I admit: I enjoy seeing the dead/old characters back, including the line about Trump (I guess he was vp to get into the job?), I enjoyed Dean with angel wings, and got an LOL at "Dean" in that hat. Should give Jensen something to liven things up for a thirteenth(!) season.

"You would think that after thirteen seasons I'd be way over the heavy-handed Carry On Wayward Son season previouslies, and you'd be DEAD WRONG, SON when that song kicked in I cackled like a loon."

That never gets old. I can't explain it, but it doesn't.
posted by jenfullmoon at 9:49 PM on May 18, 2018 [3 favorites]


Okay, I just came up with another possible explanation of the whole presidency issue:

So in S9, Ep 21, Abaddon brings Crowley's son to the present day. Sam and Dean want to send him back, but Crowley disappears with his son before they can send him back. This alters the timeline.

Because of this, we end up with that guy who gets possessed by Lucifer as president, as seen in the first half of S12.

However, in S12, Ep 13, Sam and Dean do succeed in sending Crowley's son back to his own time, so that he ends up on board the ship that sinks. This undoes the original timeline alteration, so we end up back with Trump as president, since we're once again in the unaltered timeline.

Of course, you could argue that this should mean Kelly Kline would never get pregnant with Lucifer's baby, but...maybe nephilim are immune from timeline alterations? Well, it almost works.
posted by litera scripta manet at 10:37 PM on May 18, 2018 [1 favorite]


Finally saw this. Hope I'm not too late to the party!

I'd be really surprised if Lucifer is dead, because he's been so central to the series. (But I would've said the same about Crowley, and Bobby.) I suspect they'll bring him back for their final season, because how do you top Satan as a baddie? It was fun getting to see him go full bad guy again, although yeah, that wire work was pretty iffy. They seemed to be not so much flying as kind of hanging and wobbling.

The presidential timeline is just a mess. It only makes sense if Trump was Lucifer's vice-president, which... Nah. Trump's plenty evil enough for the gig, but his ego wouldn't permit him to be vice-anything.

There was a lot to like about this season, but it was also kind of a mess. We STILL have no idea what's happening with the angels, with Mr. Inky in the void, with Sister Jo. I feel like having Dean be the bad guy next season could be a good way to shake things up, but it'd also mean losing the Sam/Dean dynamic. It'd be the kind of bold move this show needs, but it'd also mean overturning the dynamic the show runs on.

I'm not sure how old Mary is supposed to be. Wouldn't she be Sam and Dean's age, if not younger? (The actress playing them is clearly older than they are, but wasn't Mary supposed to be a new mom when she died?) Bobby seems kind of old for her already, but the gap is even wider if she's supposed to be 30 or something!

Weird about the Wayward Sisters gang showing up in the previouslies. Gave me hope we'd see them again this time!
posted by Ursula Hitler at 10:40 PM on May 19, 2018


oh yeah thanks for reminding about them showing up in the previouslies, I was expecting them to come help. I know they called Jodi about the situation at some point, but we never got to see them!

at least the producers are already trying to work them into next season after the announcement that the spin-off was a no-go.
posted by numaner at 10:47 PM on May 19, 2018


Quotes

Sam: [explaining his universe to the people from the apocalyptic universe with the aid of a bulletin board and a pointer] The ice caps are melting. People marching. A little bit of, uh, craziness in the movie world. Businessman billionaire turned president, embroiled in yet another controversy. And that is pretty much the world -- uh, our world -- right now.
Bobby: Let me get this right -- the ice caps are melting, a movie where a girl goes all the way with a fish wins Best Picture, and that damn fool idjit from The Apprentice is president.
Sam: Yeah.
Bobby: And you call where we come from "Apocalypse World"?

Dean: All right, gang's all here.
Sam: How many are inside?
Castiel: I can hear three. Wait, maybe -- maybe four. They're talking about whether Kyle Jenner would make a good mother. The consensus is no.
Dean: Yeah, well, that's why I'm a Khloé man.

Jack: What do we do?
Lucifer: Leave. I mean... there's a whole universe out there, buddy. Planets. Stars. Galaxies. Why should we stay here on Earth when we can go anywhere else? Heck, everywhere else.
Jack: Like, um, like Star Wars?
Lucifer: Exactly like Star Wars. You want a lightsaber? I can make you a lightsaber. Heck, I can make you a Wookie.

Michael: And now, this world is mine. I can save it, purge it of sin.
Dean: Oh, yeah, 'cause that really worked on your rock.
Michael: I'm not perfect. Yes, I made mistakes. But second time's the charm. And you Dean Winchester, will be the first life that I take in this world, first soul I save. Some would consider that an honor.
Dean: Well, as Shakespeare once said, eat me, dickbag.

Castiel: How do we stop him?
Michael: You don't. After consuming the nephilim's grace, Lucifer's juiced up. He's super-charged. He'll kill your boy, your brother. Hell, he could end the whole universe if he put his mind to it. And you thought I was bad.
Dean: No. No, you beat him. I saw you.
Michael: When he was weaker, and I was stronger. Believe me, I'd love to rip my brother apart. But now in this banged up meatsuit... not happening. This is the end, of everything.
Dean: No. What if... what if you had your sword?

Dean: I am your sword. Your perfect vessel. With me, you'd be stronger than you've been before.
Michael: Oh, I know what you are.
Dean: If we work together, can we beat Lucifer? Can we?
Michael: We'd have a chance.
Castiel: Dean, you can't.
Dean: Lucifer has Sam. He has Jack. Cass, I don't have a choice! [to Michael] If we do this, it's a one-time deal. I'm in charge. You're the engine, but I'm behind the wheel. Understand?

Jack: You... you shot me.
Dean: To get your attention. You're acting like a psycho!

Trivia

In the convenience store, Castiel introduces himself and the Winchesters as FBI agents "Rowland, Williams, and Knowles". Kelly Rowland, Michelle Williams, and Beyoncé Knowles are the three primary members of "Destiny's Child".

In one scene, Lucifer refers Bobby as Longmire. Jim Beaver was in one episode of Longmire.

With Lucifer dead, the only archangel left in the Supernatural home universe is Michael, who is still trapped in Lucifer's cage with Adam.

After ten seasons with angels, this is actually the first time we see angels fly while in their vessels.

Dean was revealed to be the true vessel of the archangel Michael in season 5. In this episode, he finally said "yes", allowing himself to be possessed by Michael, albeit a version from an alternate universe.
posted by orange swan at 12:34 PM on February 26, 2022


"You would think that after thirteen seasons I'd be way over the heavy-handed Carry On Wayward Son season previouslies, and you'd be DEAD WRONG, SON when that song kicked in I cackled like a loon."

That never gets old. I can't explain it, but it doesn't.


I look forward to the appearance of that song at the end of every season.

So now we get a course of a foppishly attired Jensen Ackles, because damn straight Michael's not going to go slopping about in ratty plaid flannel shirts and jeans.
posted by orange swan at 12:36 PM on February 26, 2022


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