Tweet
Just to be on the safe side, I'm gonna post my review here as well. 
Okay okay I know I'm beyond late with this review but you know what they say, better late than never.
I have watched this finale countless times now and it still makes me cry every single time.
ob: Way to lay on the angst, Kripke & co. And I thought that part 1 was an angst-fest, silly me. Anyway, let's start at the beginning.
First off, I loved that they used "Wayward Son" again for the recap of the season, just like they had done in the season 1 finale. It certainly put me into the right mood for the finale, what with the lyrics of the song and all.
I knew that Sam's death would hit Dean very hard but I was still shocked as to how broken and utterly devastated he looked.
The fact that he turns down the free food Bobby offers him just broke my heart, now even this small pleasure is denied to him. I get where Bobby is coming from in this scene (he mostly does not want Dean to be alone) but I still thought it was a bit much when he asked Dean to join him in the fight again. Now I don't know how much time has passed between Sam's death and the beginning of AHBL II but based on how Sam looks I'm guessing not a lot. So I could totally understand Dean's outburst towards Bobby and that he wanted him to back off. I could relate to Dean when he said the following:
Dean: "You don't think I have given enough? You don't think I've paid enough? I'm done with it, all of it."
Dean pushing Bobby away with an angry voice and then immediately apologising and just begging him to go was so sad to watch.
Dean's entire monologue to lifeless Sam was absolutely hearbreaking, especially the following part:
Dean: "It's like I had one job and I screwed it up. I blew it and for that I'm sorry. I guess that's what I do, I let down the people that I love. I let Dad down, now I guess I'm supposed to let you down too? How can I? How am I supposed to live with that? What am I supposed to do? What am I supposed to do? What am I supposed to do?"
ob: ob: ob:
The way Dean yelled out that last line so loudly and desperately and how he cried in that scene just broke my heart and makes me cry so hard every time I watch that scene. As predicted, Dean blames himself for Sam's death and his already low self-esteem is even lower. And Dean decides that he really cannot live without Sam, with another "failure" and he decides to do something about it. He gets into the Impala, drives to a crossroads and makes a deal with a demon. Now I was not particularly surprised by this plot point, I expected Kripke & co. to go down that route. What I did not expect though was that Dean would get such a crappy deal! L I mean one year!!! Come on, Dean, you can't be serious!
I can't believe he took such a crappy deal but I guess he really was beyond desperate. This one year thing makes me really quite nervous for the end of season 3. If Kripke really kills off Dean, he will have one extremely pissed-off fan (aka me) on his hands. But after freaking out about this for a few days, I decided to take a Zen approach and just hope that Sam and Dean will find a way to get Dean out of this mess. I have to say I quite liked the actress who played the crossroads demon but I preferred the one in "Crossroads Blues", I thought she had even better chemistry with Jensen. Watching Dean bargain with the demon was painful to watch for me. Dean was just so desperate that he would have agreed to anything offered to him. I had to chuckle a bit when the demon said that it/she had a soft spot for Dean. See, even the demons find him adorable! 
So with a kiss the deal is sealed and Sam is back from the dead.
Sam is in full hunter mode again while Dean just wants him to rest but Sam will have none of that. I was glad to see that now Sam is alive, Dean can also eat again. And then the first thing happens that suggests that Sam might have come back a bit different. At least that's how I see it. Why did Sam not tell Dean about the blood ritual the YED performed on him when he was a baby and that Mary knew the YED? Did he just not want to worry Dean in their current situation or is there a more sinister motive behind this? It just seemed a tad suspicious to me and as we see later on in the ep, the Sam who came back is a bit different indeed.
So the boys decide to drive to Bobby to get more info on the YED. The look on Bobby's face when he saw Sam alive was great and the shocked way he looked at Dean was so intense that even Sam noticed it. And Dean knows exactly what's coming, which is why he is so shifty and nervous. Bobby's entire speech in the junkyard perfectly mirrored my own feelings about Dean's deal so let me just quote it:
Bobby: "You stupid ass! What did you do? What did you do? You made a deal for Sam, didn't you? How long they give you?"
Dean: "Bobby."
Bobby: "How long?"
Dean: "One year."
Bobby: "Damn it, Dean."
Dean. "Which is why we gotta find this yellow-eyed son of a bitch. That's why I'm gonna kill him myself. I mean I got nothing left to lose now right?"
Bobby: "I could throttle you."
Dean: "And send me downstairs ahead of schedule?"
Bobby: "What is it with you Winchesters huh? You, your Dad, you're just itching to throw yourselves down the pit."
Dean: "That's my point. Dad brought me back, Bobby. I'm not even supposed to be here. At least this way something good could come out of it, you know, it's like my life could mean something."
Bobby: "What? And it didn't before? Have you got that low an opinion of yourself? Are you that screwed in the head?"
And the sad truth is that Dean really is that screwed in the head and that he has such a low opinion of himself. John Winchester's brand of parenting really has a lot to answer for.
Dean begging Bobby not to tell Sam was also a very touching scene. Jensen Ackles completely sold all those scenes; I can't repeat enough what a fantastic actor he is. 
Ah and then Ellen shows up! So glad that she survived because she is one cool chick. Case in point: asking for whiskey after downing a shot of Bobby's holy water!
The revelation with the huge devil's trap and the hell's gate in the middle of it was a pretty cool idea. That Samuel Colt must have been a very clever guy!
Let me talk about the YED and Jake for a bit. I gotta say I'm gonna miss the YED's funny and sarcastic lines, I laughed out aloud several times at his lines. For example at this one:
YED (at Jake pointing the Colt at him): "Oh my, I'm shocked at this unforeseen turn of events."
I can't believe that Jake does not shoot the YED and believes his promises of money and power and his family being royalty etc. I mean I know that Jakes does not have the experience with demons that Sam and Dean have but come on! Yeah I know human beings are weak and corrupted easily but it still kinda bugged me.
And now things were really gearing up to the showdown of the ep. The way Sam shot Jake in cold blood was very shocking indeed. I really did not expect that. Bobby's and Dean's shocked and worried looks pretty much said it all. The wild crazed look in Sam's eyes and his blood-splattered face reminded me of Dean in "Bloodlust".
Which brings me to another thing that was so great about this finale: all the tie-ins with and hints at other episodes: obviously "Devil's Trap", as mentioned "Bloodlust", "Children Shouldn't Play With Dead Things" (the whole "what's dead should stay dead" line that the YED is quoting back at Dean) and of course "Crossroads Blues". And at the very end we even get a tie-in with the Pilot. And I'm sure there are other episodes which were hinted at in this finale. The plot continuity in this show is a thing of beauty!
The door to hell opens and tons of demons get out. While Bobby and Ellen try to get the gate closed again, Sam and Dean are occupied with the YED who has suddenly appeared. Worringly enough, the YED hints at Sam having come back wrong to Dean:
YED: "I mean, you saw what your brother just did to Jake, right? That was pretty cold, wasn't it? How certain are you that what you brought back is 100% pure Sam? You of all people should know that what's dead should stay dead."
Now demons are not exactly honorable so the YED could be lying but given the evidence in this episode I don't think so. Something might indeed be wrong with Sam and I guess season 3 will heavily focus on that. I also find it quite intriguing how the YED has such insight into Dean's psyche (calling him self-destructive and self-loathing, which is true to a certain degree).
Just as the YED is about to kill Dean, who appears and saves the day? John Winchester (or at least his spirit). Now I knew that JDM would be in this episode but I had no idea in what capacity and I have to say his appearance worked out perfectly. Meanwhile Dean has grabbed the Colt and shoots and kills the YED. The shot of the bullet being fired, the way that was filmed was pretty damn cool!
I'm so happy that it was Dean who managed to kill the YED and not Sam or someone else. Good for Dean! 
The scene that followed is now one of my favourite season 2 scenes and makes me bawl like a baby every time I watch it.ob: I'm of course talking about the scene where John puts his arm on Dean and looks him in the eyes and smiles at him and Sam and all three Winchesters have tears in their eyes. A few fans have been complaining on the net about the fact that John did not speak a word to the boys in this scene. I, however, think that Kripke made the right call here. John's look of love and pride (especially at Dean) said more than a thousand words. I hope that Dean will now finally be at peace with his father's death and all the issues that he has with John.
Sam looks so young when he is stunned by the fact that the YED is really dead now and doesn't know what to say, poor lad. Dean does though:
Dean: "That was for our mom. You son of a bitch."
That was so cool!
I'm so glad that Sam keeps asking Dean about what happened after he was stabbed, that he doesn't allow Dean to keep his secret about making the deal, that he doesn't allow him to sweep things under the rug. Because Dean needs to open up to Sam about these kind of things, otherwise this will just be another thing that will eat away at him. So yay for Sam being persistent here! :applause:
So Sam finds out about the deal and is understandably enough not happy. And I love how he turns things around, that for once he is the one who has to protect and save Dean:
Dean: "I had to. I had to look out for you. That's my job."
Sam: "What do you think my job is?"
Dean: "What?"
Sam: "You saved my life over and over. I mean you sacrificied everything for me. Don't you think I'd do the same for you? You're my big brother, there's nothing I wouldn't do for you. And I don't care what it takes, I'm gonna get you out of this. Guess I gotta save your ass for a change."
Awwww! Boys, you break my heart! :love: Yay for Sam's speech and yay for Dean being all moved by it! Just beautiful!
And just as the entire episode has been absolutely awesome, it also has a killer ending. Dean having this cheeky smile on his face and saying "Well then, we've got work to do" was just such a brilliant way to end the episode and the season. It promises a bit of hope in all the darkness and angst. Plus it nicely ties in with the last scene of the Pilot where it was Sam who said the exact same words. So you get this nice feeling of things coming full circle and that was just brilliantly done!
Season 2 has been a truly fantastic season and it ended in a fittingly fantastic manner. While I still had my doubts about the show during season 1, this second season has turned me into a hardcore obsessed fan and I'm looking forward to many more tales with Sam and Dean in season 3 and (hopefully) beyond. Now, why can't it be September already?
Okay okay I know I'm beyond late with this review but you know what they say, better late than never.
I have watched this finale countless times now and it still makes me cry every single time.
ob: Way to lay on the angst, Kripke & co. And I thought that part 1 was an angst-fest, silly me. Anyway, let's start at the beginning.First off, I loved that they used "Wayward Son" again for the recap of the season, just like they had done in the season 1 finale. It certainly put me into the right mood for the finale, what with the lyrics of the song and all.
I knew that Sam's death would hit Dean very hard but I was still shocked as to how broken and utterly devastated he looked.
The fact that he turns down the free food Bobby offers him just broke my heart, now even this small pleasure is denied to him. I get where Bobby is coming from in this scene (he mostly does not want Dean to be alone) but I still thought it was a bit much when he asked Dean to join him in the fight again. Now I don't know how much time has passed between Sam's death and the beginning of AHBL II but based on how Sam looks I'm guessing not a lot. So I could totally understand Dean's outburst towards Bobby and that he wanted him to back off. I could relate to Dean when he said the following:Dean: "You don't think I have given enough? You don't think I've paid enough? I'm done with it, all of it."
Dean pushing Bobby away with an angry voice and then immediately apologising and just begging him to go was so sad to watch.
Dean's entire monologue to lifeless Sam was absolutely hearbreaking, especially the following part:
Dean: "It's like I had one job and I screwed it up. I blew it and for that I'm sorry. I guess that's what I do, I let down the people that I love. I let Dad down, now I guess I'm supposed to let you down too? How can I? How am I supposed to live with that? What am I supposed to do? What am I supposed to do? What am I supposed to do?"
ob: ob: ob:The way Dean yelled out that last line so loudly and desperately and how he cried in that scene just broke my heart and makes me cry so hard every time I watch that scene. As predicted, Dean blames himself for Sam's death and his already low self-esteem is even lower. And Dean decides that he really cannot live without Sam, with another "failure" and he decides to do something about it. He gets into the Impala, drives to a crossroads and makes a deal with a demon. Now I was not particularly surprised by this plot point, I expected Kripke & co. to go down that route. What I did not expect though was that Dean would get such a crappy deal! L I mean one year!!! Come on, Dean, you can't be serious!
I can't believe he took such a crappy deal but I guess he really was beyond desperate. This one year thing makes me really quite nervous for the end of season 3. If Kripke really kills off Dean, he will have one extremely pissed-off fan (aka me) on his hands. But after freaking out about this for a few days, I decided to take a Zen approach and just hope that Sam and Dean will find a way to get Dean out of this mess. I have to say I quite liked the actress who played the crossroads demon but I preferred the one in "Crossroads Blues", I thought she had even better chemistry with Jensen. Watching Dean bargain with the demon was painful to watch for me. Dean was just so desperate that he would have agreed to anything offered to him. I had to chuckle a bit when the demon said that it/she had a soft spot for Dean. See, even the demons find him adorable! So with a kiss the deal is sealed and Sam is back from the dead.Sam is in full hunter mode again while Dean just wants him to rest but Sam will have none of that. I was glad to see that now Sam is alive, Dean can also eat again. And then the first thing happens that suggests that Sam might have come back a bit different. At least that's how I see it. Why did Sam not tell Dean about the blood ritual the YED performed on him when he was a baby and that Mary knew the YED? Did he just not want to worry Dean in their current situation or is there a more sinister motive behind this? It just seemed a tad suspicious to me and as we see later on in the ep, the Sam who came back is a bit different indeed.
So the boys decide to drive to Bobby to get more info on the YED. The look on Bobby's face when he saw Sam alive was great and the shocked way he looked at Dean was so intense that even Sam noticed it. And Dean knows exactly what's coming, which is why he is so shifty and nervous. Bobby's entire speech in the junkyard perfectly mirrored my own feelings about Dean's deal so let me just quote it:
Bobby: "You stupid ass! What did you do? What did you do? You made a deal for Sam, didn't you? How long they give you?"
Dean: "Bobby."
Bobby: "How long?"
Dean: "One year."
Bobby: "Damn it, Dean."
Dean. "Which is why we gotta find this yellow-eyed son of a bitch. That's why I'm gonna kill him myself. I mean I got nothing left to lose now right?"
Bobby: "I could throttle you."
Dean: "And send me downstairs ahead of schedule?"
Bobby: "What is it with you Winchesters huh? You, your Dad, you're just itching to throw yourselves down the pit."
Dean: "That's my point. Dad brought me back, Bobby. I'm not even supposed to be here. At least this way something good could come out of it, you know, it's like my life could mean something."
Bobby: "What? And it didn't before? Have you got that low an opinion of yourself? Are you that screwed in the head?"
And the sad truth is that Dean really is that screwed in the head and that he has such a low opinion of himself. John Winchester's brand of parenting really has a lot to answer for.
Dean begging Bobby not to tell Sam was also a very touching scene. Jensen Ackles completely sold all those scenes; I can't repeat enough what a fantastic actor he is. Ah and then Ellen shows up! So glad that she survived because she is one cool chick. Case in point: asking for whiskey after downing a shot of Bobby's holy water!
The revelation with the huge devil's trap and the hell's gate in the middle of it was a pretty cool idea. That Samuel Colt must have been a very clever guy!
Let me talk about the YED and Jake for a bit. I gotta say I'm gonna miss the YED's funny and sarcastic lines, I laughed out aloud several times at his lines. For example at this one:
YED (at Jake pointing the Colt at him): "Oh my, I'm shocked at this unforeseen turn of events."
I can't believe that Jake does not shoot the YED and believes his promises of money and power and his family being royalty etc. I mean I know that Jakes does not have the experience with demons that Sam and Dean have but come on! Yeah I know human beings are weak and corrupted easily but it still kinda bugged me.
And now things were really gearing up to the showdown of the ep. The way Sam shot Jake in cold blood was very shocking indeed.
I really did not expect that. Bobby's and Dean's shocked and worried looks pretty much said it all. The wild crazed look in Sam's eyes and his blood-splattered face reminded me of Dean in "Bloodlust". Which brings me to another thing that was so great about this finale: all the tie-ins with and hints at other episodes: obviously "Devil's Trap", as mentioned "Bloodlust", "Children Shouldn't Play With Dead Things" (the whole "what's dead should stay dead" line that the YED is quoting back at Dean) and of course "Crossroads Blues". And at the very end we even get a tie-in with the Pilot. And I'm sure there are other episodes which were hinted at in this finale. The plot continuity in this show is a thing of beauty!
The door to hell opens and tons of demons get out. While Bobby and Ellen try to get the gate closed again, Sam and Dean are occupied with the YED who has suddenly appeared. Worringly enough, the YED hints at Sam having come back wrong to Dean:
YED: "I mean, you saw what your brother just did to Jake, right? That was pretty cold, wasn't it? How certain are you that what you brought back is 100% pure Sam? You of all people should know that what's dead should stay dead."
Now demons are not exactly honorable so the YED could be lying but given the evidence in this episode I don't think so. Something might indeed be wrong with Sam and I guess season 3 will heavily focus on that. I also find it quite intriguing how the YED has such insight into Dean's psyche (calling him self-destructive and self-loathing, which is true to a certain degree).
Just as the YED is about to kill Dean, who appears and saves the day? John Winchester (or at least his spirit). Now I knew that JDM would be in this episode but I had no idea in what capacity and I have to say his appearance worked out perfectly. Meanwhile Dean has grabbed the Colt and shoots and kills the YED. The shot of the bullet being fired, the way that was filmed was pretty damn cool!
I'm so happy that it was Dean who managed to kill the YED and not Sam or someone else. Good for Dean! The scene that followed is now one of my favourite season 2 scenes and makes me bawl like a baby every time I watch it.
ob: I'm of course talking about the scene where John puts his arm on Dean and looks him in the eyes and smiles at him and Sam and all three Winchesters have tears in their eyes. A few fans have been complaining on the net about the fact that John did not speak a word to the boys in this scene. I, however, think that Kripke made the right call here. John's look of love and pride (especially at Dean) said more than a thousand words. I hope that Dean will now finally be at peace with his father's death and all the issues that he has with John. Sam looks so young when he is stunned by the fact that the YED is really dead now and doesn't know what to say, poor lad. Dean does though:
Dean: "That was for our mom. You son of a bitch."
That was so cool!
I'm so glad that Sam keeps asking Dean about what happened after he was stabbed, that he doesn't allow Dean to keep his secret about making the deal, that he doesn't allow him to sweep things under the rug. Because Dean needs to open up to Sam about these kind of things, otherwise this will just be another thing that will eat away at him. So yay for Sam being persistent here! :applause:
So Sam finds out about the deal and is understandably enough not happy. And I love how he turns things around, that for once he is the one who has to protect and save Dean:
Dean: "I had to. I had to look out for you. That's my job."
Sam: "What do you think my job is?"
Dean: "What?"
Sam: "You saved my life over and over. I mean you sacrificied everything for me. Don't you think I'd do the same for you? You're my big brother, there's nothing I wouldn't do for you. And I don't care what it takes, I'm gonna get you out of this. Guess I gotta save your ass for a change."
Awwww!
Boys, you break my heart! :love: Yay for Sam's speech and yay for Dean being all moved by it! Just beautiful! And just as the entire episode has been absolutely awesome, it also has a killer ending. Dean having this cheeky smile on his face and saying "Well then, we've got work to do" was just such a brilliant way to end the episode and the season. It promises a bit of hope in all the darkness and angst. Plus it nicely ties in with the last scene of the Pilot where it was Sam who said the exact same words. So you get this nice feeling of things coming full circle and that was just brilliantly done!
Season 2 has been a truly fantastic season and it ended in a fittingly fantastic manner.
While I still had my doubts about the show during season 1, this second season has turned me into a hardcore obsessed fan and I'm looking forward to many more tales with Sam and Dean in season 3 and (hopefully) beyond. Now, why can't it be September already?