Supernatural 11.23 “Alpha and Omega” Review: The End (of season 11) is Here

(image via EW)

Apologies for taking so long to get this one up, but I have been processing feels. To be honest, it’s Dean Winchester’s fault I started watching Game of Thrones, so I was still reeling from Sunday when the Supernatural season finale hit. I probably shouldn’t have to say this, but as usual…

IT’S SPOILER LAND DOWN THERE! REPEAT, SPOILERS AHEAD!!! And this is a long one. Buckle up, it’s season finale time!

Oh man, where to begin. Season 11 has been a really enjoyable, super fab season. Probably the best since my fave, season 5. We all know how good this season has been and if you’re reading this, I’m sure you’re as familiar with The Road So Far as I am. So I’m not going to recap, I’m just going to talk about season finale goodness.

Dean’s face when he realized he was talking to Cass and not Luci, let’s begin there. I knew Lucifer had been smited, but it was good to learn we for sure don’t know for sure what happened to him. In Supernatural speak that means he’s alive and we will get to see Mark Pellegrino again someday. Dean was pretty obviously relieved, and kudos to Jensen for showing us the difference between his regard for Lucifer compared to Cass with such a simple expression. The transformation on his face was delightful to watch and if I weren’t already thrilled to see Cass returned to us, I would have been after that.

On the other side of the room, we were treated to a Chuck who was finally “a little less lordly”. I have to admit, it was nice to see. Even given the argument that they’ve killed pagan gods on the show before, as well as Norse and Hindu, I was fairly certain they weren’t going to kill this one. Seeing as Chuck=Kripke=God, this one has been elevated to Creator. And that makes it pretty tricky to kill him. Also, who doesn’t just love Rob? Why would we want a Supernatural universe in which he couldn’t pop back into one day? I wouldn’t. So, sidetracked, I was able to watch the scenes with god with a sense of humor instead of foreboding. To me, that increased my enjoyment.

Also with a sense of humor-any scenes or situations which led us to believe one or both Winchesters were going to die. We all know the show has been renewed, so for at least one more season finale we aren’t worried about a permanent death.

What a show where we have to qualify what sort of death we’re talking about, i.e. “permanent“ or “not so much”. I love it.

So, back at the bunker, we were treated to some of the best scenes of the season. Seriously. Dean stating his purpose in life and asking the real questions (“How are we supposed to fix the freaking sun?“), Sam reaching in to try and pull him out of his hole, and the glorious scenes between Crowley/Rowena/God. I hope everyone enjoyed that heart to heart between Crowley and Chuck without any actual eye contact as much as I did. Mark was a delight throughout, as always. And listening to Rowena and God get going about their children was laugh out loud hilarious. Mark delivered some very excellent one liners all evening.

The heart to heart with Dean and Cass in the car was shot from a funny angle, one I’ve noticed they’ve played with a bit this season, and the conversation was a long time coming. I’m pretty sure Dean had mentioned how close they are before, but was it to Castiel directly? I can’t remember, I apologize. I’d have to sift through a few episodes to find the conversation I’m thinking of. Either way, Cass looked genuinely touched. And what I realized when Dean told him, “You’re one of our best friends,” is that they really don’t have that many, do they? They never really have, being as transient as they are. Sure, they have associates, people who will work with them, but not a lot of actual friends. Not many people who truly enjoy their company. Not anymore. And not only does Cass enjoy their company, enough so that he gave up Heaven, he routinely pulls their asses out of the fire. I’m glad Dean finally spoke it out loud, to Cass.

Come to think of it, Dean was pretty touchy feely all episode, wasn’t he? He knew, deep down, that he probably wasn’t going to make it out of this fight. He always knew that when the Darkness went, he was going with her. For myself, I’ve always felt like Dean was in love with the Darkness before she had a name and a face. So while the connection, the pull, he felt to her made him uncomfortable, it wasn’t exactly unexpected. I think it made him uncomfortable because he could see himself leaving with her. He always could, but now she was real. I wonder if that’s where he will go when the show is over?

Let’s not talk about that.

Right, so here we have Sam, ever the optimist, making plans to save the world. And it wasn’t a bad plan. Sam’s got the ideas, and with Dean to back his play (man, I love this season), he’s got the fortitude to pull it off. But again, as always, when it came time to make the “spirit bomb”, his power level was over nin…sorry. Wrong show. When it came time to make the bomb, after some fun hunting Waverly Hills, we all knew who would step up to sacrifice himself.

As Sam and Dean said their final goodbyes, again, I began to get a sense of melancholy. They really think that the next time they die will be the last. And again, while we all know the show will go on, they do not. Sam and Dean really thought Dean was going to die. So when they pulled back and showed them in the cemetery where Mary was buried, I lost it. I’m not going to lie. I already had the tissues handy, and was surprised I had not reached for them by half way through. But after the reveal of their location, I didn’t put the tissues back down. And I found myself about three feet from the TV.

The goodbyes in the graveyard were just…oh my goodness. Castiel pulling Dean into an unexpected hug. And the speech again (“Don’t douche her up.”). But to have Dean be the one to initiate the chick flick moment…my tender little heart couldn’t handle it. I all but sobbed aloud. I didn’t think at all about how excellent a job either of them did because in that moment, everything was so perfect I forgot I was watching actors. Here’s Sam and Dean Winchester, saying goodbye for what both of them truly believes is the last time. Tragedy.

So with everyone else awaiting the end in a bar, Dean stands alone with Amara in the garden. It was a beautiful, idyllic little botanical garden. Excellent job set department once again, by the way. You guys just really knock it out of the park on the regular. Even when forced to use the same sets over and over and over and over and over again. How did that staircase make it all the way to England?

Sorry, sidetracked again. I’m all over the place on this one, huh? One more note. I swear, was that Tim Omundson carrying that “The End is Near” poster?

So here we have our heroes, all the work they can do done, awaiting the apocalypse in a bar. I can only imagine where Sam was in his head. Hoping it would work because he must save the world, but wishing Dean would fail because that would mean he lives. What a terrible conundrum for him. Either way, he can have no relief. And in the end, you can see the clash of emotions all over his face as the sun heals but he knows Dean’s sacrifice was what made it possible.

But I get ahead of myself. There’s the rest of our intrepid heroes, and here’s Dean with the Darkness. As a villain, I kinda liked her. She was never bad for bad’s sake, she always had this conflict. She didn’t understand humans, she had been locked away for too long. She was as removed from humanity as God, but she was always curious just what it was she was missing about them. It was this, and her love for both Dean and her brother, that made her accessible in those final few moments. I knew it would be her love that was her undoing. Because she loved Dean, she let him talk. She let him convince her there was another way.

By this point, I’m dying in front of the TV. I don’t want to give too much away, but an ending like this, where they use love to kill the monster instead of guns, IS WHY I WROTE MY BOOK. You guys, this plot, this solution meant everything to me. To see them finally get it. Sometimes the force is necessary. But more often than not, there is another way. What was it Martin Luther King Jr said?

“Darkness cannot drive out darkness; only light can do that. Hate cannot drive out hate; only love can do that.”

 

Yes, that. To see the boys finally learn that, and Dean of all people, was the best thing I’ve seen happen on Supernatural in seasons. Seasons. It was amazing. What a lovely, lovely way to end this beautiful season. When Amara and Chuck ascended, it was both thematically and visually stunning. I was so happy, I needed another few tissues.

Let me stop. I need to shoe-horn in a reference to the new character, Toni, just like she was shoe-horned into the episode. I will give this new Man of Letters a chance, but I’m not thrilled with the way they decided to introduce her. And we all know she didn’t kill Sam. I’ll even give you reasons. One, she was ordered by the “Old Men”, our new villain I presume, to “bring him in”. Two, if these Old Men and Toni really are who they claim to be, they will know that killing a Winchester is no solution. It’s only asking for trouble. Three, we all know they can’t kill Sam yet. For those reasons alone, I guarantee you she didn’t kill him. Only grazed, if that.

If you thought Dean’s face was like the sun breaking over the horizon after six months of winter when he saw his mother, imagine Sam’s face when they both show up to rescue him. They’re both dead, remember? I literally cannot wait to see that. I’m getting teary just thinking about it.

I was going to end with that, but I have one more note. I have heard a bit of dissention, not much mind you, but a bit, about Mary being back. Saying they don’t need their mommy and such. I couldn’t disagree more. No, they don’t need a mommy to kiss their boo-boo’s and apply band-aids as needed, but it is a gift to have her back nonetheless. I lost one of my parents when I was young, and I still have the other. As someone who has been able to experience both having a relationship with a parent as an adult and not having one, I can tell you I know what I’m talking about here. Sometimes I wish for a relationship with the lost parent as an adult so much that it hurts. The relationship you have with your parents as adults is far removed from the one you had as a young child. You get to know them as people, and almost, almost like peers. They become human to you. More real, I think. And Sam and Dean never had that opportunity with their mother. They barely had it with their father. I am overjoyed for them to have this chance. I cannot wait to see what they get into while working together.

But she is going to be PISSED at John Winchester when she finds out how he raised them. Pee-eye-double ESSSSSSSED. She is going to let him have it the next time she sees him. Which I think is possible, as long as filming schedules and contracts and things can be worked out. Either way, Sam and Dean have entered an exciting new chapter in their lives, and I couldn’t be happier for them.

Now all Mary and Dean have to do is find and rescue Sam from the Men of Letters. Should be a cinch.