Incoherent episode reaction to 'Swan Song'

[galathea]

I haven’t been feeling well these last two weeks, that’s why I didn’t manage to get out my review for Two Minutes to Midnight in time for the finale. It will all be a bit delayed, I am sorry for that. However, I just watched the S5 finale and am stunned and heartbroken and happy and speechless and disbelieving and delirious. And since it will take A LOT of time to process this episode properly, I thought I’d make a first episode reaction post, just to share my love for Show today. ♥



Wow, just wow! ♥ I cried my way through that whole damn episode. The last time that happened was probably in No Rest For The Wicked. Swan Song might not have been perfect in every aspect possible, but where the brothers' storyline was concerned, it hit all the right notes for me. The parallels – especially to the S2 & S3 finale – and symbolism in this episode make my head spin and it will take some time to dissect it all, but I am really looking forward to it. I loved especially the intimate feeling of the episode, the way it solely focused on the brothers and their story, reminiscing – flashbacks & montages of happy brotherly moments ♥ – while at the same time bringing closure to their story in a manner that does said story justice. At the core Supernatural has always been the epic love story of Sam and Dean, as Sera Gamble so nicely pointed out once, and Swan Song took that statement and ran with it – their love for each other literally saved the world. I couldn’t have asked for anything more, and it's especially poignant because it was their love for each other that brought the world to the brink of destruction in the first place. Nicely done, Show! ♥

Okay, here are some of my first thoughts:

(a) The parallels to All Hell Breaks Loose I+II are wonderful. Back then Sam made a choice to not succumb to the YED’s plans and said choice cost him his life. Dean undid that choice by resurrecting him, setting the wheels of the apocalypse in motion in the process. In Swan Song Sam makes another choice, i.e. to rather die than allow Lucifer to win, and this time Dean respects his brother’s choice and lets him go. Additionally, the parallels to No Rest For The Wicked, where Dean asked Sam to let him go and live his life in honour of Dean’s sacrifice, are fantastic. Sam didn’t honour his brother’s wishes, thus fulfilling his part in bringing on the apocalypse, now Dean has to try and find the strength to do what he himself demanded from his brother – to live on to honour Sam’s sacrifice. The beauty of it all makes me incredibly happy. The circle of self-sacrifice had to stop or Sam and Dean’s suffering would have been for nothing in the end.

(b) Sam and Dean’s opening conversation, with Dean not only finally letting go of his guardian role and accepting Sam as an equal grown-up, but also coming to terms with the fact that he himself has to grow past this role and find a new self-identity now, was beautiful. ♥ I loved his decision to back Sam up, no matter how much he hated Sam’s plan, because that’s what they do, they have each other’s backs. It's Dean giving the faith Sam showed in him in Point Of No Return back, unconditionally, willingly. It's what Sam needed to hear to go through this trial. I just love the parallels that connect these two crucial episodes of the season.

(c) Dean seeking out Lisa in the end was not about him moving on or accepting that Sam rots in a cage with Lucifer, it was a about trying to honour Sam’s wishes and stick to his promise, however painful. It’s about accepting comfort and about grieving, both of which he didn’t allow himself after Sam’s death in All Hell Breaks Loose I, and we all know how that ended. Dean is clearly a broken man – he is drinking again and seems distant, bitter even in his conversation with Castiel – and it’s clear that this isn’t going to be a permanent solution anyway. I cannot begrudge Dean the little comfort he might find in being with Lisa at the moment, and I have no doubt whatsoever that S6 will end with Sam and Dean united and happy, as it should be.

(d) The flashbacks with Sam and Dean and the Impala, broke me into tiny little pieces. ♥ The army men toys – nice call-back to Dead In The Water there by the way – and Sam and Dean carving their names in the panelling of the car, the brothers driving to concerts and star gazing on the hood of the Impala, man, it was just brotherly goodness overload. Furthermore, the contrast between seeing all those happy memories and the heart-wrenching final scenes between Sam and Dean was incredibly poignant.

(e) Sam, oh Sam, he owned me in this episode, his quiet determination, his fears, his courage. In the end he became the hero he was always meant to be. And Dean, oh Dean, holding on to his brother, willing to die with him rather than let Sam die alone – and there are shades of Croatoan right there – he killed me dead with his loyalty and love for his brother. The last look between them mirrored their look in Point Of No Return, which is fitting, given that both brothers found the strength to resist Michael and Lucifer, respectively, in their brother.

(f) I even enjoyed the narrative frame created by Chuck’s words, because unlike all other meta commentary featured in the show so far, this one wasn’t mockery or irony, on the contrary, the sentimentalism of it subtly supported the whole mood of the episode perfectly. It was Kripke’s heart-felt good-bye as a show runner and I think it worked well.

(g) The only thing that didn’t work at all for me in this episode was the fact that Sam needed to drink blood to be possessed by Lucifer. It doesn’t make any sense in the light of previously established facts, but I’m willing to hand-wave that away, because the rest of the episode was so well done.

(h) While I didn’t expect the season to end with Sam trapped in Lucifer’s cage, I am mightily intrigued for S6 now. The fact that the street lights start to flicker and then go out when Sam makes a re-appearance at the end suggests to me that it is rather Sam’s spirit than his real self who checks in on Dean. Only time will tell, I guess. Man, is it September yet?!?

Full length review will come in the next weeks, together with the review for Two Minutes To Midnight. I just needed to get this off my chest. I love my show, even when it breaks my heart! ♥