I understand that the SPN season finale is old news, but I did the recap anyway. First off, congrats to Mark Shepard for making the series regular paycheck! YAY. And props to Curtis Armstrong and Tahmon Penikett for their great work this season. Good stuff. There are also some good fan ‘catches’ that I wanted to pass on. The first is this little nugget Jensen threw out a few weeks ago:

Oh, Jensen, you clever boy! (Also, that suit is ACES!)

The show begins with the requisite and always welcome THE ROAD SO FAR, to the strains of “Carry On My Wayward Son”. Lots of stabbing and smiting and the like.

NOW. We start right where we left off, with Dean’s rage machine at full tilt.

Luckily, he only injured Gadreel and Cas and Sam were strong enough to not only pull him back, but to get him to the MoL dungeon where they intend to leave him until they can figure out how to control Dean. Of course, this isn’t very likely, what with Dean being so freakin’ focused on his goal. Hard to stop a focused Dean, right?

Sam and Cas get back from the dungeon, and after stashing the blade, realize that Gadreel is gone, so they head off to find their newly injured friend. In the meantime, Metatron is welcoming the angels back to the fold via an old skool angel radio gizmo, while planning his rise to God status among the general population. His pop culture and media savvy makes quick work of both tasks.

Dean of course summons Crowley, and we find out that the blade is making Dean want to kill. Need to kill. Not.Good. Dean takes the blade out of its really bad hiding place, and they head off to try and find Metatron. Two of Crowley’s minions show up with a video of Metatron performing a miracle in public, and they head out to Muncie, Crowley fretting that Dean didn’t touch his food. As we all know, Dean turning down food is never a good sign. NEVER.

Cas and Sammy find Gadreel, and Cas, the sweetest little angel, uses his grace to heal Gadreel, even though Gadreel protests, and Cas is decidedly weakened by it. Upon returning to the MoL they find out that Dean had escaped, with the blade, and Gadreel comes up with the idea to get to Heaven and destroying the Angel tablet to lessen Metatron’s power.

Cas and Gadreel ‘Wookie’ their way into Heaven, only to be nabbed by Hannah and her sisters, and are quickly housed in Heaven’s jail. Gadreel has had about enough, finding himself back in a cell. They try to convince Hannah that Metatron is no bueno, and when that doesn’t work, Gadreel takes his final act of redemption, making himself an angel bomb and busting Castiel out of the clink. Aww, poor, naive Gadreel goes out a hero.

Dean and Crowley track down Sammy at the nicest trailer park ever. After Sammy airs his grievances, and they are extremely valid, Sammy says he is in, no matter what. Dean is reasonable for a hot second and takes Sam up on his offer to stick together, and they send Crowley packing. Having figured out where Metatron is hiding out, the beautiful boys head on over to homeless central. As Sammy packs up, and says, “Ready to gut this bitch?” Dean sucker punches his little brother and heads off on his own. DEAN! Gawd.

Dean enters as Metatron sits in wait. There is a lot of threatening posturing and monologueing, and while Dean is stronger than ever, getting in a few good licks, Metatron has the superior strength and beats up Dean but good. Even his new found ability to Jedi the blade isn’t enough, and Metatron has Dean right where he wants him. He pulls out his angel blade just as Sammy enters the room, and before Sammy has a chance to even touch him, Metatron pushes his blade into Dean’s heart. We are all devastated. Dean and Sammy exchange heartbreaking looks and we all die a little.

Castiel gets himself up to Metatron’s study, and after ransacking the place, finally finds the Angel tablet, crashing it to bits. Only it’s too late. Metatron feels the upheaval from the breaking of the tablet and heads back to his study to talk to Castiel. Cas breaks the news of a dead Gadreel, and Metatron breaks the news of a dead Dean.

Sammy rushes to his dying brother’s side, and then, Dean kills us all a little more by saying, “Sammy, you gotta get out of here before he comes back.” And then Sammy, desperate, says, “Shhhhh, shut up, shut up. Save your energy, all right? We’ll stop the bleeding, we’ll get a doctor, or find a spell, you’re gonna be okay.” And then, the Dean we all know and love says, “Listen to me, it’s better this way. The Mark, it’s making me something I don’t wanna be.” Aaaaannnnnd, I die. *weeps*

Castiel pulls a classic move, getting Metatron to admit his plan on an open mic, for all the angels to hear. Metatron gets his own cell in heaven. This will inevitably have repercussions next season. Not to mention Castiels waning grace.

Dean stops Sam and tells him he is “proud of us” and dies in his little brothers arms. Sammy crying over his dead brother kills me yet again. I know Sam and Dean have died a lot in this show, but dammit, it kills me every time to see them suffer.

Sam does what he always does when Dean dies, he drinks and goes all “Dean”. While Sam is in the dungeon summoning him, Crowley visits Dean at his death bed and delivers a doozy.

“Your brother, bless his soul, is summoning me as I speak. Make a deal, bring him back. It’s exactly what I was talking about. It’s all become so, expected. You have to believe me, when I suggested you take on The Mark I didn’t know this was gonna happen, not really. I mean, I might not have told you the entire truth, but I never lied. I never lied, Dean! It’s important, it’s fundamental. But, there is one story about Cain that I might have forgotten to tell you. Apparently, he too was willing to accept death rather than becoming the killer The Mark wanted him to be, so he took his own life with the blade. He died, except, as rumor has it, The Mark never quite let go. You can understand why I never spoke of this, it’s a flutter of mere speculation. It wasn’t until you summoned me, no, it wasn’t truly until you left the cheeseburger uneaten that I began to let myself believe maybe miracles do come true. Listen to me, Dean Winchester, what you’re feeling right now, it’s not death, it’s life. A new kind of life. Open your eyes, Dean. See what I see, feel what I feel. Let’s go take a howl at that moon.”

Nooooooooooooooo. Demon Dean awakes.

And that leads me to this little nugget, a bit of something that I had totally forgotten about.

Whoa. For the life of me, I can’t remember what episode this is, but I DO remember it happening, and daaaaamn. Well done, Jeremy Carver.

Well, I’m exhausted. A good season, capped off by a heartbreakingly awesome finale. After nine years of this show, I can get a little jaded with it, but I gotta give props to the writers for ratcheting it all up a notch in an interesting way. Dean and Crowley set up to be demon besties, while Sam and Castiel get to continue their new found friendship. As usual, I have no idea where they are going to go with ll of this, but I can’t wait to see.

And now, because I don’t have the energy to weep through the summer over Sam and Dean, here are a couple of fun things to meditate on.

EW did a good Sam and Dean Top 10 Deaths list.

And a random SPN fan dropped this on the interwebz, which made me snicker:

Thanks for everything and have a great summer!