Is it weird if I link to stuff I wrote other places? It feels weird. But I just finished writing a recap that may or may not get used on their front page, and I...feels! Rewatching this to write about it--it's the 30 minute point (ad-free time) where everything just starts to really hurt--Mark Sheppard earns all the pay, and the ball doesn't stop rolling until "Angels. They're falling."

I feel battered.

Anyway, I'm done with linking to my art or other writing, after so: [link] -- it's just...the pictures are so pretty. They done good here. Nine familiar faces in this ep. That's a lot.

Brenda,

Seriously.

So I have been thinking about the Supernatural finale and I am dissatisfied. I really liked the moments with Sam & Dean quite a lot, but from a plotting perspective, I am not overall thrilled. I'm not thrilled with the season's pacing and specifically the pacing of the recent 2-3 episodes.

Someone, argue with me against this.

What was wrong with the pacing? I feel this was one of the strongest finales since 5--it's got some stiff competition, but I'd place it in my top 5 if not 3. The unremitting emotional stakes and how sincerely invested everyone was in everything they did--they managed to sustain that very well.

Crowley was better than I've seen Sheppard do in forever, Amanda Tapping was also very convincing. Castiel was kind of the weakest link, but I barely mean that. Just him, at the end, after all of his lines were done, that was also really well done. But he didn't get as rich an emotional dump as everyone else.

As far as plotting goes, what bothers you?

I think I would have preferred more plot preparation for the finale in previous episodes. It felt like this should have been a two-part finale. I wanted to see Metatron fight the angels. I saw his power grab coming, but I would have liked to see what changed his mind from staying out of the fray in the bookstore to wanting universal domination.

I think I would have preferred this finale to provide a few more clues as to what Metatron was after leading into next season. Now, I'm like: well, WTF now?

I'm not totally sure about the status of the demons if none of them came to Crowley's rescue.

Yes, I liked Crowley. I thought he was written a bit too sympathetically though, but the acting was great.

I didn't interpet him as wanting universal domination. It was a simple gesture of tit for tat, was what I thought--he held everyone ultimately complicit in denying him heaven, so now he wants to throw them all out. The reveal worked for me at the right speed, since I thought he was shady last week. Cas is cut off from any information--he knows what Naomi told him, and she tortured him, and this cuddly guy in a cardigan who calls himself a mere pencil pusher seems to have good motives.

Mm, right.

Metatron doesn't even have to be in season 9 for me. He's kicked everyone out of his playhouse--I imagine he'll be running up and down the halls screaming. When he's bored *and there are millions of stories new to him) maybe he'll come back.

Or he could be embarking on the domination of which you speak, but if they go there, they will need to talk me into it. He's a sneaky creepy guy, and I see him being a problem, but not a big bad (inasmuch as that even applies to SPN finales). I don't feel there's anything else I need to know about Metatron--he fled the archangels' influence and hid on earth (clearly unchallenging) and likes stories enough to make people immortal for giving them to him. Oh, and he holds a grudge.

As for the demons--he threw out a half-assed yell for help. If the strongest demon in existence is the one who acts on it, I don't know if anyone else even heard. Normally these blood calls have more blood, a bowl, and a conversation. He was a drowning man yelling for help, and someone who was probably looking for him anyway (and was effective holding a microphone) is who shows up.

She may have beaten them all into submission in the time he was corralled. They may all be on her side now. Or dead, or just following the last orders he gave them--steer clear of Winchesters. Any one of those explanations work for me, which means it will turn out to be something else.

GAH! The fucking doctor in IMTOD describes Dean as having survived. Sam is alive at the end of the S2 finale.

THEY SURVIVED MOST OF THE FINALES. Your semantic dance ignores a lot of things, most notably: words mean stuff.

I have better things to do on my day off than this...

I feel battered.

Battered is right. I feel battered, but stoked. This was a deeply satisfying finale. Far better than last year's.

The demons not coming to Crowley's rescue didn't strike me as particularly off. They're demons, and it makes sense that there is no loyalty or devotion or feeling of any kind for Crowley. Plus some may have ignored his 911 simply because, hey, a potential opening on the throne!

Loved your recap, ita ! Very well done!

Season 3 is the only finale with an actual brotherly death, isn't it? 1 didn't quite get that far and 5 technically skipped the death part and went directly to Hell.

OK, I know that the character of the boys is what the writers say it is, and I don't get to decide. But they still have not sold me on this Sam. My head canon is that the Sam who chose to be locked up alive with Lucifer in the worst part of hell would not give up closing the gates of hell to stay alive. He'd be glad that his older brother loved him, but that would be another reason to do what it took to ban demons from earth forever. I just can't see Sam NOT seeing this as worth dying for, and I can't see him letting Dean talk him out of it.

Also, I can't see him saying (major paraphrase) "it is OK me to die cause you don't respect me anyway" as his dying speech to Dean. It would be more along the line of "dying sucks, but it is worth it to beat the demons once and for all". Which would not leave the opening for Dean to talk him out of dying on the basis that he loves Sam more than anything. Again, I don't get to decide canon. But this latest canon is NOT consistent with past seasons Sam IMO. If Sam had died then next season would have been Dean coping with the fallen angels while working to rescue Sam from heaven. Which might be possible, given that M is the only angel left in heaven. Plus, there are a bunch of fallen angels around to serve as information sources about weaknesses and back doors.