Supernatural Review: The End?

Is this the end? Chuck doesn’t seem to think so. I agree with him as we have season six to look forward to in the fall, but for now it was a great and satisfying end to season five.

The episode begins with historical footage of a Chevrolet assembly line. Chuck is narrating the story of the Impala and lets the audience know that it’s the most important object in the universe. We cut to Sam who’s seated on the hood of the Impala while drinking a bottle of beer. Dean joins him and finally tells his younger brother that he’ll go along with the plan, if that’s what Sam really wants. Sam feels responsible for this entire situation and is determined to right his wrong.

So Sam, Bobby, Dean, and Castiel manage to kill some demons and drain their blood for the younger Winchester to drink before heading to Detroit where Lucifer is. On their way there, Sam asks Dean to promise him not to try to bring him back. He wanted his big brother to find Lisa and live a normal apple pie kind of life.

In Detroit, Sam and Dean walk straight up to Lucifer’s headquarters and demand to be seen. Sam is high on demon blood and boldly tells the devil that his answer is yes. Lucifer though already knows about the Horsemen’s rings and that Sam is attempting to lock both of them back up in the cage. The Winchesters are freaking out at this point and desperately trying to bluff their ignorance. But Lucifer says game on and that he knows he’s going to win in a battle inside Sam, so before you know it, the devil in a beam of light leaves his temporary body and jumps into his Winchester vessel. Dean throws the Horsemen’s rings on the wall and chants a spell that opens into a swirly black hole-like vortex. It looks like Sam is about to jump into the pit when his expression changes and we know Lucifer is in control. He closes the vortex, takes the rings and then vanishes from the room.

Cas, Bobby, and Dean watch disaster unfold in front of a store with televisions on display. Both Bobby and the newly humanized Cas appear to have given up while Dean desperately tries to figure out a way to save his brother. He calls Chuck who tells him that Michael and Lucifer will battle the following day at Stull Cemetery in Lawrence, Kansas (this is where the brothers first lived as children). Chuck thinks that it has to end where it began.

Meanwhile Lucifer has taken Sam to an abandoned and decrepit looking house where they proceed to have some fun in killing demons from Sam’s past. This seems to confirm Crowley’s theory that the devil has no problem in destroying the demons he created. Jared Padalecki does a great job in this Sybil-ish (Sybil is a non-fiction book about dissociative identity disorder) moment where he goes back and forth from Sam to Lucifer while staring at a mirror.

The following day at Stull Cemetery Lucifer/Sam meets with Michael/Adam (the Winchesters’ half brother and current Michael vessel) and their conversation goes a little like this:

Lucifer/Sam: Michael, hey nice to see you.

Michael/Adam: Nice to see you too. So are you ready to get it on?

Lucifer/Sam: Yea, I guess so. Wait why do we have to do this? This is so unfair!

Michael/Adam: Cuz dad said so. I’m the good son and I’m going to kick your ass.

Lucifer/Sam: Whateva, none of this is really my fault, it’s dad’s fault! He wanted the devil!

Michael/Adam: Stop stalling, you’re an abomination! Prepare to die!

This conversation reminded me of this week’s Lost episode because of the similar parallels on brotherhood. In fact Lucifer is much like the Man in Black and Michael is Jacob. Michael doesn’t want to question his father’s plans and is just here to fulfill his role. Lucifer on the other hand feels like he had been dealt a bad hand and is being punished for questioning something that doesn’t make sense to him. He argues that God created him and the devil and how unfair it is for them to be pit against each other. You can feel that both brothers feel strongly for the other.

Dean and the Impala show up as the fight is about to start. Michael is royally pissed off that he’s there, crying out that he is no longer part of the story. Dean just wants to have five minutes to talk to Sam. In an unexpected move, Cas and Bobby show up as well, the former angel dousing Michael with holy oil. The elder Winchester has his five minutes but Lucifer becomes over protective and disintegrates Cas for that little move against Michael. He gets pouty and says nobody beats my brother but me! At this point my heart just thuds at the sudden departure of my favorite former angel but then Bobby goes next after he shoots Lucifer in a feeble attempt to stop him from pulverizing Dean’s face.

Dean is sacrificing himself because he can’t bear to let his little brother go through this alone. In an earlier scene he realizes how taking care of Sam has been who he is and even at the end he is unable to stop. Lucifer is using the elder Winchester’s face as a punching bag by the Impala and sees the little toy soldier stuck in the ashtray in the back seat and all of Sam’s memories suddenly overtake him. It is this crucial moment that allows Sam control of his body back and he is able to take the Horsemen’s rings and open the vortex into the pit. Just as he is about to fall in Michael comes back, saying that he can’t do that and that they must fight. The younger Winchester pulls Michael in with him and they both fall into the cage.

The last Winchester remaining is still on the ground watching the vortex close back up. He has lost both of his brothers. Cas returns though, having been resurrected by God we assume and his angelic powers fully restored. He heals Dean and brings Bobby back from the dead.

Cas is set to go back to heaven as the new sheriff in town while Dean keeps his promise to Sam and goes to Lisa. The episode ends with Lisa, Ben, and Dean at the dinner table, the former hunter drinking scotch. Outside watching across the street is Sam.

Chuck finishes typing the latest Supernatural book, saying that endings are hard, never perfect and that fans always have something to complain about. But then adds that nothing ever really ends anyway then dissolves from the chair.

So what the heck! Chuck appears to be God and I didn’t see that coming at all. What a great twist! I guess we should have been clued in when we saw Chuck dressed a lot more dapper than usual in his crisp white button up shirt. The way he wrote about Dean and Sam making their own choices and their own options leads us to believe that this was as much a test for the two brothers to exercise their freedom of will in comparison to his other two sons, Lucifer and Michael, who couldn’t or didn’t make that choice. Perhaps God gave all his creatures that freedom, but it was only the humans who actually used it. In any case it was a great way to end this season and left us hanging for more through Sam’s sudden appearance. It does sort of feel like the end though doesn’t it? This battle or almost battle seems to be what everything has been building up to and now that it’s done what’s next? We still don’t know what happened to Death and Pestilence, but I have a feeling this won’t be the last we’ll see of them. Season five was another great season and I’m looking forward to what’s in store for the Winchesters come fall!

Season 5, Episode 22: Swan Song (originally aired May 13, 2010)

For more on Supernatural, click here.

Thursdays at 9/8C on The CW

Photograph courtesy of The CW and Jack Rowand.