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We're doing this on a Monday again, because I had a busy weekend (well, Sunday wasn't busy, but I didn't have enough hours with the DVD-playing computer.)

So, FINALLY, I get to the S13 finale! Yay!

Let's discuss...

I like the set up for Carry On, with Dean's narration and then Rowena saying "well, this is boring, isn't there music?" Very well done.

I've already mentioned the plot hole of suddenly having Trump as president when last year it was some other dude. So, in Sam and Dean's world, it went Obama - some other dude - Trump. Only the other dude only lasted for a year, I guess? ANYWAY, this is basically just to reiterate that my rewrite of S12 would have avoided this problem, and been a lot less OTT in the meantime.

Then we get a werewolf hunt...

Apparently angel blades are silver... or, well, actually, it's probably more that angels can kill werewolves too.

Anyway, this is just setting up how cool Jack's powers are.

Mary: "What are you going to do now?"
AU!Bobby: "Honestly, I have no clue. Everyone seems to be settling in okay in town. Ketch is out doing doing Ketch things. Rowena and Charlie are roadtripping through the South-West..."

- Again, Ketch was pointless in this season. They could have easily written it without him around. He doesn't affect the story at all, he's just an extra body... I mean, YES he ultimately rescues Gabriel and gives us intel on Asmodeus, but nothing about those two things has to be KETCH. Gabriel could have rescued himself, or Cas could have done it (I've talked about this previously). They could have given us a new character in some rebelling/opportunistic demon... and here, they don't even address the fact that he and Mary have history. Mary doesn't even blink an eye at the mention of him, even though he BETRAYED HER and then SHE SHOT HIM IN THE HEAD.
- Okay, I just backed it up and watched again, and she raises her eyebrows slightly in a sort of very small eye-roll. Like "Oh, that Ketch! What a rascal." Like, honestly, when these things happen, I know it's solely because the writers/production likes the actor - but if you like the actor so much GIVE HIM SOMETHING TO DO!
- Also, Bobby specifically says "settling in okay in town" - does that mean that all the AU!Hunters/Citizens are in Lebanon?! I wonder what the other Lebanonians think of the sudden influx of new people, who all seem to be war veterans. Haha
- Sidenote: I happened to pause the video at a point where Samantha Smith looks directly at the camera for what is only a split second - but now it's like she's watching me type up these notes, and it is VERY disconcerting.
- I also wish we got more references to the Charlie/Rowena roadtrip. Obviously, due to Felicia's availability, I understand why we don't get more from her... but I'd love it if when Rowena got back in S14 she MENTIONED her, or the trip. But, maybe that's just too minuscule a detail for them to bother following up on, when they can't even follow up on the fact that Mary and Ketch were once FWBs and then she shot him and now he's back from the dead.

AU!Bobby: "Anyway, without an archangel, it's not like we can go back home. I'm not sure I'd want to - I like it here."
- Well, "don't give up the fight!" certainly lasted long. Hahaha

Dean: "Kid did great!"
Sam: "Yeah, no kidding."
Dean: "I mean, he keeps this up and..."
Sam: "And what?"
Dean: "Dunno. Hey, you remember - you remember when you asked, if we could stop it? All the evil in the world - if we could really change things - well, maybe with Jack, we can."
Sam: "Maybe you're right, but then what would we do?"
Dean: "Hm, yeah. This." *indicates beer* "A lot of this, but on a beach somewhere - can you imagine? You, me, Cas - toes in the sand, those little umbrella drinks, matching hawaiian shirts, obviously. Some hula girls..."
Sam: "Are you talking about retiring? You?"
Dean: "If I knew the world was safe? Hell yeah. You know why, because we frickin' earned it, man."
Sam: "I'll drink to that."

- You know things are about to go south when your pessimist turns into more of an optimist than the usual optimist without any prompting.
- Also, love how they threw the "hula girls" in there, just to reinforce that Dean likes women and there's nothing gay about wanting to spend your retirement with your brother and your male-bodied best friend (spoiler: there isn't anything gay about that and you don't need to reinforce your heterosexuality to indicate the fact that there's nothing gay about it.) (/nitpicky-bitterness)
- So, as, currently, we're about to to into the 15th and finale season - we must ask ourselves the question, have they turned Supernatural into a comedy, or is it still a tragedy? Will Dean get his toes in the sand retirement or will he be once again forced into an unwilling type of a retirement that breaks all our hearts?!

And poor Jack is traumatized by war and having bad dreams. I'm not typing it out, right now, but it's a good scene for Dean to be fatherly.

Dean: "...even when we're strong, bad things are going to happen. We're going to make mistakes - nobody's perfect, right? But we can get better. Every day, we can get better."
- This is a very healthy attitude and is basically my religion. :P

Dean: "So, whatever you're dealing with, whatever comes at us - we'll figure out a way to deal with it, together. You're family, kid. And we look after our own."
- Awww, where's this at the end of S14. :(

Also, Dean having a WHOLE BUNCH of healthy attitudes just further foreshadows that he's about to dive off a cliff into a dark abyss.

Let's all stand around and watch this dead girl get rained on! Seriously... if anyone ever finds me dead in the woods and you don't need to leave me there to gather evidence, could you please bring me out of the rain ASAP? I mean, I know I'm dead, but it just seems disrespectful to let me get soaking wet on top of all the other indignities I've clearly already suffered.

Oh yeah, poor Nate at the store on route 281. He's about to have a rough day.

Look at Nate! I love him! 

Dean: "Alright" *Dean shoots Jack twice in the back*
Jack: "YOU SHOT ME?!"
Dean: "To get your attention! You're acting like a psycho!"

- Hahaha, man, I just want more "How to Parent Your Nephilim by Dean Winchester" snippets, is that too much to ask?

And Jack keeps punching himself and crying because he keeps accidentally hurting people.

Oh yeah, Michael and Lucifer both show up at the same time. I forgot about that.

Ugh, Lucifer... and of course he finds Jack when he's emotionally vulnerable.

Jack: "What do we do?"
Lucifer: "Leave [...] why should we stay here when we can go somewhere else - anywhere else!"
Jack: "Like Star Wars?"

- I forgot that Lucifer's plan was to take Jack and flee while Michael tries to take over this world. Or at least, that's what I'm remembering at the moment.

Mary *hands Bobby a phone*: "Call Sam - now!"
- I love that Mary is telling Bobby to specifically calling Sam.

And Lucifer has to bring back his own murder victim from the dead in order to win over his son - Irony!

Dean: "I'll call Jody and everybody else."
AU!Bobby: "You're going to put out an APB on the Devil?"
Dean: "Yeah, I am."

- So, the AU!Bobby somehow knows which Jody Dean is referring to?

Mary: "Sam, even if we do find Lucifer - how are we going to stop him?"
- Yup... the fundamental problem.

There is so many taking on and off coats in this episode.... my clothing notes are basically  "coat -> no coat -> coat -> no coat..."

Michael attacks the Bunker

Sam: "Mom, Bobby, take Maggie, get her out of here - go through the garage!"
Dean: "We'll buy you some time."
Mom: "No!"
Dean: "Mom!"
Sam: "Please!"
Dean: "Go!"

- I just put this together, that the Winchesters have a complete reversal of the parent dynamic when it comes to Mary. They've internalized her original death as a failure of protection (not necessarily their failure, but also not necessarily NOT their failure - Dean especially tends to take on John's failures as his own, not to mention that he tried to alter the past more than once in order to save her and failed.) So, as a result, they're extremely protective of her safety - they see it as their job to keep her alive and safe - and in that respect, they've become the parent rather than the child. It's not a complete reversal, of course, I don't think Mary sees the boys as invulnerable, nor does she go to them for safety/security... but she treats them more like friends than children, because really, that's all she CAN do - they're the same age or older than her at this point - she never witnessed them grow up. She LOVES them, don't get me wrong, and she probably DOES feel some parental feelings towards them - but I think she treats them more like equals/partners than they do her. Regardless, I think that she also has enough maternal instinct towards them that she also would rather sacrifice herself to keep them safe rather than have them do it for her. It also doesn't make sense, as she's largely stayed alive FOR THEM. She wanted to return to the dead last season, but chose not to... it's my belief that she chose not to because she knew it would devastate them. BUT, judging by the fact that just last episode she told them that she wanted to stay in the AU (seemingly without them), she may in fact be over the feelings of being obliged to stay at their side (this is further reinforced by her choice to live at Donna's cabin, with Bobby or ALONE, rather than live at the Bunker in S14.) It's not a slight on Mary - but it's evidence that she can't really emotionally connect adult Sam and Dean with her babies. I mean, my mother is one of the least maternal mothers I know - but given the choice to live with me or on her own, she'd definitely choose to live with me or near me.

I kind of hate it whenever the Bunker is broken into by a supernatural entity.

And we also get the first of the shoddy wire-work in this episode. They're rigging is just such that the actors can't hold their bodies in a natural position, so it looks awkward and obviously fake.

Sam: "Jack, Jack, Jack, I don't know where you are - and I don't know if you can hear this prayer, but we need you - we need you."
- I love Sam praying to Jack. I absolutely ADORE IT. I can't even really put it into words... I think because unlike when Dean prays to Cas, it's actually an act of faith, rather than a cellphone call. I mean, Sam prays to Jack in S14 like a cellphone call, and I love it a little less. :P

Jack: "You hurt my friend! You hurt my family!"
- Not to harp on S14... but you see here, where Jack is basically torturing Michael for hurting his family... and everyone is like "this is understandable and acceptable to us"... yeah, I think this is why some fans (including me) are having a hard time understanding why the same behaviour isn't acceptable a year later. Though, we won't get into it, because I know there are a LOT of extenuating circumstances and this is supposed to be about S13 anyway.

Though, MAN, I wish Jack had just killed Michael here and then Lucifer and then we all went and got some ice cream cones.

Jack: "Tell me the truth!"
Lucifer *under Jack's 'spell'*: "She saw me when I was scouting the Bunker. She saw me and she screamed. So I crushed her skull with my bare hands and it was warm and wet and I liked it."
*cut to Sam's expression*

- So, someone told me how to make gifs the other day, but I've already forgotten, and I spend enough time on these rewatches already - but Sam's expression here, the body movement he does, it's PERFECT - because it's someone saying "Yes, this is the truth of who this person is. This is the Lucifer that I spent X years with in the cage." It's someone finally having other people witness what he already knows (not that they ever doubted him, of course.)

Jack: "You're not my father. You're a monster."
Lucifer: "COME ON MAN!"

- How I wish Jack had killed him here.

Lucifer: "So I killed the girl! She's a human! She doesn't matter!"
Jack: "So am I!"

- I mean... technically no? But also, as a metaphor, yes.

Sam is super brave for running in to save Jack from Lucifer, or go with Jack when Lucifer takes him. It's an amazing character moment, and very much IN character for Sam.

Dean: "What if... what if you had your sword?"
- I mean, we all know this is a bad decision - even without knowing what happens after this. But, I do think it's in character. At the same time, I wish they'd played up more of Dean's fear of Lucifer getting his hands on Sam again - we got one mention of it, and then it was basically just all jokes and begrudgingly letting Lucifer come-along... and not even watching how much contact Lucifer and Sam had...he even purposefully sends Sam to walk with Lucifer and Jack in order to monitor what Lucifer is saying to Jack. So, it's very much a fear that seems to come and go when convenient for the plot. But if they had played it up more, then Dean's extreme decision to trust Michael would make much more sense as something born out of fear. Though, there is the point where there's not much else Dean can do here, they have no way of killing an archangel, and Dean is not the type to NOT try to save Sam... so, even without being consistent with the fear, we still understand his decision...it's just that I think it would have been better if it had been consistent.

Lucifer: "You know, it's been really fun. I've really had a great time with you. But I think we should see other people."
- Just pointing out the sexual language here, which Lucifer usually always employed when talking to Sam... further enforcing the rape/sexual assault metaphors/implications in their storyline.

Lucifer: "Daddy Sammy coming to the rescue. But you're little Jacky ain't the nougat loving boy that you had before - he's killed people. He's got lots of blood on his hands."
Sam: "I don't care. He's family."

- Again, where's this attitude in S14... I know I know, depends on WHO he's killed. We don't like it when people kill someone we KNOW by accident, only when they kill strangers by accident.... but not to be the barer of bad news, but it's still the same crime, and us treating it differently is actually a moral judgement on us, not the person guilty of manslaughter. BUT, there are other differences too, and I know that, and I guess I'll talk about it a year from now when I do my rewatch of 14. :P

Lucifer gives the old BMoL test to Sam and Dean... Dabb must really like that scenario? Hahaha.. but basically, Sam and Jack have to kill each other, or both of them die anyway.

Sam: "Kill me."
Jack: "What?"
Sam: "Kill me. You can stop him, Jack. You can get your power back."
Jack: "No, I can't. I can't beat him. But you can."
Sam: "What?"
Jack: "I know you can."
Sam: "No no no no no, Jack! Don't! Jack! Jack!"
Jack: "I love you. I love all of you."

- Again, I think I love Sam and Jack's relationship so much because it involves so much faith in each other.
- I also wonder if Jack felt/knew he might be dying here.

Then we get Dean's appearance - the flash of wings, and then the disappointing wire fight. Again, the wires are very much Beetlejuice (ie: 1988 FX) and not so much the kind of sophisticated stuff we've gotten use to expecting these days.

Then Sam's able to throw Dean the blade and Dean's able to take the kill shot. And I know there's a lot of fandom division on whether Sam should have been the one to kill Lucifer - but I think it works as a victory for both characters. And a great moment for Dean too - as he's finally able to save Sam from Lucifer, like he wanted to do years ago. And he would quite literally be dead right now if Sam hadn't thrown him that blade, so I really do think it's a deliberately written joint-victory.

It's a very sweet, though brief, shared joyous moment.

And then Michael takes Dean. :(

I don't like the Michael Jackson video still frame at the end either, even though I get the reference and haha... So, you know, I'd take that off in a rewrite.


And I'm done!! YAY!

Clothes will start going up on the weekend. I'll probably do a special features post too... and maybe a rewrite compilation/further rewrite thoughts post. You know, just to give myself something to do over the extra long hiatus.

Let me know your own thoughts in comments!

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