Disclaimer: I stopped watching mid S9 & only just came back for this last run of episodes, post-the-Covid-break. So I’m not well versed in the current mythology, though I gather Becky says there will be two endings. Ever since the end of Despair (s15e18), I’ve had this visual in my head of an ending. I’m not quite sure how to get there, since again, I’m not up on current mythology. But I wanted to write this down for myself. It’s not a Dean/Cas romance ending, but a friendship ending, and a good ending for everybody and yeah, kinda Dean heavy, but I know what I’m about, idk. But I just had a visual and for the first time in what feels like 1,000 years, I had something in my head that I had to get out through writing, and once again it’s SPN, so like…here’s what I’m picturing:
First of all, Jack defeats Chuck. But it drains all his power and leaves him powerless & more or less human. Idk who becomes God then…Amara? Michael? No one? But when Chuck is defeated, everyone comes back – all the people Chuck deleted, all the Apocalypse World people, all the people like Eileen who died & came back. Everyone. And The Empty, as a gift to the boys for ending this nonsense, spits Castiel back out – (as a writer, I know it was actually a good ending for Cas, his pure happiness, but as a fan I won’t stand for it to end that way). Then angels & demons are suddenly sucked back up into Heaven & Hell, to put things right. As this happens, Dean turns wild-eyed to Castiel, thinking he’s being taken…but he doesn’t go. He stays. And it’s in that moment they realize he is human now, blessed to be part of the humanity he loves now. (From this point on Cas’ outfits consist of button-up shirts with the top 2 buttons undone, black slacks, no tie & no trenchcoat). And then somehow we find out – if Amaara is God or whatever, she gives them the 411 – that angels & demons are on lockdown and unable to return to Earth. “At least for a millennium or so. But that doesn’t mean there aren’t still things that go bump in the night, boys.” (Also, idk enough about what’s up with Adam, but pls insert your own happy ending in here for that boy, he fucking deserves it, the poor kid).
Then, for some reason – idk, maybe when they came back all the people in the world realized something had happened, things don’t just pick right up where they left off, everyone is a little dazed – a bunch of people are at the bunker with the boys, Apoca-World people & stuff. And there’s kind of this montage, with a score, maybe a folk-rock song, idk, but like people slowly getting their bearings and heading out; the family with the two daughters, bags slung over their shoulders, shaking the boys’ hands in thanks and then heading up the stairs /fade them out to the next scene/ Sam & Eileen sweetly kissing /fade them out to the next scene/ Jody & Donna & the girls hugging the boys goodbye, heading up the stairs /fade them out to the next scene/ Dean setting a burger down in front of Cas, who smiles softly because there are some things he missed about being human /fade them out to the next scene/ Garth saying goodbye to the boys, heading up the stairs /fade them out to the next scene/ Sam & Eileen having amazingly hot sex /fade them out to the next scene/ Jack trying out his powers on a houseplant, nothing happens, he nods, accepting this is permanent /fade them out to the next scene/ Charlie & Stevie, with one of those great Dean-&-Charlie hugs where he cradles her head, omg /fade them out to the next scene/ Sam & Eileen in bed together, facing each other, hands pressed palm to palm, fingers interlocked, gazing loving at each other /fade them out to the last person/ Bobby gets a hug from Sam & then Dean, Cas goes to shake his hand and Bobby gives him a gruff look and then pulls him in for a back-slap hug. “You boys stay in touch.” Sam’s all, “Always, Bobby.”
Then all that’s left is the four guys + Eileen. Sam says to Dean, “I’m gonna take Eileen home, get her settled. I’ll be back in a few days.”
Dean says, “Or you could stay, you know?” He looks like it’s hard to say, but he’s also happy for Sam. “It’s not that far.” (Is it, idk, where does she live?)
Sam’s all, “You mean, like move in with her? Naw, man, naw. We aren’t there yet.”
Dean goes, “That’s not how it’s seemed this last week around here,” with a waggle of his eyebrows.
Sam blushes, so soft, a soft baby. “No, Dean. I mean…we aren’t there, *yet*.”
“Attaboy,” with a slap on the arm.
Then we get Dean hugging Eileen goodbye, she and Sam head up the stairs, Dean turns to Cas & Jack at the table. Cas stands up awkwardly, says, “I suppose I should consider getting a place of my own. Humans do that, yes?”
Dean goes, “What? No. Are you kidding me? Sam’s gonna be spending a lot of time – and I mean a *lot* of time /suggestive tone/ with Eileen. You’re not gonna leave me to clunk around this place on my own.” Then he pauses, can’t quite meet Cas’ eyes, so not good with emotions that he knows what Cas said before The Empty took him but Dean can’t quite acknowledge it. “Unless, like, that’s something you need. For yourself, I mean. To not be here. If you wanna move out…”
Cas, firm and sure, “I do not.”
Dean looks up, a smile of relief on his face, “Well, alright then.”
Then Dean turns to Jack. “What about you? You gonna try to bail out on us?”
Jack, confused, says, “No, not at all.”
Dean asks, “Then what’s your plan? One day at a time?”
“Actually,” Jack says, and slides a pamphlet over that’s been sitting with a stack of papers on the table, “I hadn’t had time to give it much thought, but I was thinking this.”
Dean picks it up. It’s a college pamphlet. “College, huh? Following in Sam’s footsteps?”
“*Community* college,” Jack emphasis. “So I could live here &, idk, try it out. See what I want to do next. The pamphlet says there are many options ahead of me.”
Dean gives Jack his patented half-smirk/half-smile. “Alright, we can work with that. What do you need?” He reaches in his back pocket for his wallet. “Money for books? A credit card?” He may have taken a while to get onboard the Jack-train, but he’s there now, proud Uncle Dean.
“I think I’ll need a birth certificate and a, uh,” he glances at a list he’s been making on a piece of paper, “a social security number?”
Dean nods. “Okay. I can take care of that. I know a guy.”
He’s happy with both Cas’ and Jack’s answers.
/fade out to the next scene, scores starts back up, idk maybe we use a rock song here?/
There are a few wide shots of regular people going on about their lives, animals in the fields, people walking the streets, life going on, etc. Then we start to see all the people we know who are still alive, living their lives…Garth, Charlie & Stevie being happy and domestic, Jody & Donna & the girls, Bobby, other people idk, Jack walking onto campus with a backpack over his shoulder & smiling on his first day of college, Sam and Eileen cooking in her kitchen & cute-kissing & being adorably cute together like so smushy cute.
/fade into the next scene/ Cas is at the kitchen table researching, Dean walks in and heads to the fridge.
He asks, “You got anything, Cas?”
Cas says, “I think there is a nest of vampires in ***insert place*** and a poltergeist in ***insert place***. You could probably take care of one and hit the other on your way back. And for your pleasure, you will pass by ***something like the world’s largest ball of string***.”
Dean grins, thrilled about the cheesy tourist trap idea, “Oh, I’m down with that. You in?”
Cas gives his doubtful face. “It’s Jack’s first week of school.”
Dean nods, “Say no more. I’ll call Sammy.”
/Final scene – music starts, Ramble On by Led Zeppelin/
Dean is standing outside Eileen’s apartment, at the back of the Impala, with the trunk open. Sam comes out with a duffel, tosses it in the trunk among the other weapons. We see the classic shot from the trunk POV of the two boys. Sam smiles, content, ready. “We got work to do.” The trunk slams shut. We see the boys get in the Impala, shut their doors at exactly the same time. The view is from the back of the car as it revs up and starts off down the road.
Ramble On plays as we watch the Impala drive off until we can no longer see it.
Cut to credit screen that reads – “Carry on, my wayward sons & daughters. Thank you for 15 years of memories.” - Love, Eric, Jensen, Jared, Misha and the entire SPN cast & crew.
Boom, bam, credits roll.
(Sorry, I can’t for the life of me figure out a Read More break)
Hi@ronon-dex thanks for your super polite reply to this post! I was initally going to respond in the post, but it sort of turned into this whole meta, so I thought I’d transfer it here.
You do realize that the hero’s journey and narrative symmetry doesn’t ACTUALLY end with the characters in the exact same place, right? It ends with them going back to “normal” but with things changed.
I’ll give you a good example of the heroes journey and narrative symmetry: Frodo in lotr. He starts out living in hobbitton happy, but he wants to leave and see the world and go on an adventure. He does that, but spends most of his journey wanting to come home. Only when he returns home he is so irrevocably changed that he can’t find happiness in his home anymore and needs to leave.
Another good example of storytelling from the lord of the rings: Aragorn starts out denying his family legacy, and hiding from his destiny as a ranger. His story arc is about learning to accept his destiny, and take responsibility to be king. In the end, he grows as a character and becomes king. Now would his story have been satisfying if he’d gone back to be a ranger?
Another example, this time of bad storytelling, is Jaime Lannister, specifically in the Game of Thrones TV show. He starts off completely devoted to Cercei, and it’s shown to be an unhealthy relationship. His character arc is about branching out as a person and separating himself from his toxic relationship with his sister. In the end, he dies with his sister, the thing he’d been fighting against the entire show. This was widely regarded to be a poor ending for his character.
So why is Jaime’s ending bad, when Frodo’s is good? Well the difference here is chnage, and satisfaction of story arc.
The Frodo ending works because while Frodo is off on his journey, all he wants is to go home, and when he gets that, it’s not something he can have anymore. There’s change in that storyline, even if on the surface it seems like he’s come full circle, things are DIFFERENT. The plot of the story had an effect. Is it a happy ending? No. It’s tragic, but it fits in with the themes of the story.
Jaime’s ending doesn’t fit because nothingchanges, and it doesn’t make sense in the story. The mesage of his story wasn’t “nobody can change” it was “anyone can change”, then it was destroyed when he doesn’t. Jaime could have had a tragic ending that made narrative sence, but his ending did not.
So does Supernatural’s ending fit with the story of Supernatural? No. Sam and Dean aren’t the people they were when that was their ending, but they’re shoved back into it like round pegs into square holes. Does it sort of fit? Sure. But poorly.
Sam’s character arc throughout the show has been him learning not to deal in absolutes. He believes that he can either be a hunter and have Dean in his life, or have a family, but he learns that he can have both through Eileen. So for him to end up with the white picket fence, alone, without his connection to hunting and his brother is dissatisfying.
Dean’s story arc was about him learning that he wasn’t just “daddy’s blunt instument”. That he was his own person, had his own fate and could be happy. So to have him die young while hunting is dissatisfying.
Now aside from the characters’ arcs being left in the dirt from the ending, you also have the overarching message of the show.
For multiple seasons the message of the show was about carving your own path making your own destiny. So how exactly does them deciding to go full circle make any sense? I suppose you could say that the overall message of the show is “you can’t fight fate”, except its explicitly not, considering they defeated literal God the episode before.
Finally, since most people seem to think our problem with the end is about destiel, let’s make a more narratively satisfying conclusion without it, hm?
First of all, don’t have Cas confess his love in episode 18. If you’re not going to follow it up in any way, then you shouldn’t bring it up in the first place.
Sam marries Eileen, and they have a kid or two. They don’t stay in the bunker, but they stay close, maybe they move into Lebanon. They still hunt, because Sam finds satisfaction in it, but it’s no longer the sole focus of their entire lives. He get’s a melding of the two worlds he always thought couldn’t meet.
Dean settles into the bunker, but starts taking online classes, maybe he starts working in the mechanic shop in town. Cas and Jack live with him, because even without romance they’re still family. Dean hunts a lot less, but starts coordinating hunters from the bunker. On weekends, he visits Sam, Eileen and the kids. He does what he always wanted but never expected to do: grows old and happy, surrounded by family.
Now look me in the face and tell me that’s less satisfying then “Dean dies in a random hunt, Sam gives up hunting and marries a faceless woman”.
