Supernatural: Sacrifice (8x23)

Just so you know, this review is mainly going to be me giving a ton of praise to each of the actors in this thing, because Holy Chuck, I'm impressed. I want to go through each of these actors/characters and give a really close look at why they deserve awards for their performances in this episode.

But first I want to comment on two other things: the story, and the writing. You may be thinking that these are the same thing, but they're really not. The story was absolutely astounding, but it was also the dialogue - the way in which that story was told that made this episode so amazing. Putting that script in the hands of these talented actors made for one of the most gripping hours of television I have ever experienced. This is going down in the books as an episode of Supernatural that I will come back to watch again and again.

I'd also like to say that I waited until the morning after I watched this to write the review, to let it all sink in. When I tried to write it last night, I just kept slamming the keyboard and writing fan-girlish things all over the place, and I decided to wait and see if this episode actually held up once the initial excitement wore off.

It. Does.

There was really only one teeny tiny nitpick for me in this whole episode and I wouldn't even mention it but it's nagging at me a bit so I think I have to say something. Sam and Dean manage to catch Crowley, which was so necessary for the plot and I don't even really mind how easy it was because Crowley probably doesn't know about the Men of Letters or about fancy demon handcuffs so I can let that one go. But did it bother anyone else that when Crowley asked for help, only Abaddon turned up? I mean, if he really is the King of Hell and he instills so much fear in people, why would none of his followers would come to him?

Like I said, it's just a small problem I had, and the only reason it even occurred to me is just that Crowley is such a bad-ass, and I was having a tiny bit of a hard time believing how easy it was for them to capture him, and how not forthcoming the other demons were in helping get him out.

But now that's out of the way and it's all gushing and praise from here on.

So, the story. In between all the fan stuff going on right now, I've actually noticed a few people here and there who are rather ambivalent about this finale. They say that it's not worthy of being a finale, that it's not epic enough to be the end of the season. I sincerely disagree. In fact, I think the only other Supernatural finale that compares to this one is "Swan Song" which will forever be my example of an almost perfectly paced, perfectly written, perfectly acted episode. "Sacrifice," for me, goes on the same level.

And here's why: Season Eight as a whole has had a lot of missteps. The entire first half of it was rather weak, but once the trials really started going, it picked up in a big way and went out with a very strong final few episodes. The reason being that Sam and Dean are actively pursuing something. That actually hasn't been the case for most seasons of Supernatural, if you stop and think about it. In Seasons Six and Seven in particular, the boys were playing more of a defensive game. And that's fine, it is, but I found that the finales of both of these seasons lacked the perfect punch that I was looking for. Sure, they set up some cool stuff for the following season, but they didn't go out on high notes for me. In Season Eight, the boys are taking an offensive position and going after something very specific: closing the gates of Hell.

And they don't succeed. This may feel anti-climactic to some, but I actually think it was incredibly smart to give us a cliffhanger at the end of this season rather than resolve the season's overarching goal and move on to a new one. Because that's what this show usually does. Even though the Season Two finale, for example, was super epic, it wasn't a cliffhanger. It resolved an ongoing plot thread and informed us that next season would be about Sam trying to find a way to stop Dean from going to Hell. The same thing at the end of Season Four. The whole Ruby/Lilith mess is resolved, or at least comes to its conclusion, and we have a new enemy in Lucifer.

The Season Eight finale didn't do that. And it was really freakin' smart. What other way could they have ended this episode? There's really no more you can get out of ending a season with the death of one of the boys. This has been done so often that we all expected a member of Team Free Will to get killed. And they didn't. Subverting our expectations like this is a good thing. But just because everyone's still living, doesn't mean that we're not sobbing piles of goo right now. Because guess what? The season freakin' finale happened, and we're going into hiatus with the following pieces of information: Sam is struggling to breath. He's on the verge of death. Angels are falling all over the place. Cas is separated from the Winchesters, and we don't even know if he remembers who he is or not. Kevin has the angel and demon tablets, which is good, but we don't know how any of this is going to turn out.

And that. Is. Interesting. And intense. And the perfect way to go out. I am so anxious and scared and I want Season Nine immediately, and that is most definitely what the creators were going for.

There were other things about the story/pacing that I found just excellent. That ending scene was just flawless. The cuts between Sam and Dean leaning against the Impala and Cas wandering around, lost, scared, crying as he looked up at his family falling from the sky... we have the brief shots of Crowley and Kevin as they try to process what's going on, and we have angels falling everywhere. It was intense, it was emotional, it was perfect.

Then you've got Metatron. And yeah, it wasn't like it was a huge surprise that he's not good news, but we still have a character that has thus far only appeared in three episodes, and he managed to be compelling and drive the ending forward in a really intense way. I'll talk more about Metatron later. We have a good resolution to Naomi's character, although I'm hoping that she's not really dead, because we really need to keep the ladies breathing.

Most important, we have a moment that should basically satisfy every Supernatural fan: that moment between Sam and Dean. I have heard a lot of people saying that Sam was "shaming" Dean for having friends, or that it wasn't okay for Dean to make a statement like this because it just proves how unhealthy/uneven their relationship is. Everyone is entitled to their opinion, but I think ultimately that this moment was exactly what the end of Season Eight needed, and here's why.

This whole season has been full of resentment and avoidance and nobody talking about how they really felt about anything. The first half of the season, it was more blatant that there were issues between them. Then, the trials seemed to push everything to the back burner, and they started to really rely on one another again. In my review of the last episode, I wrote this: "Their trust in one another is amazing, and I think they are - ironically - in a better place now as brothers than they have been in a very long time, maybe ever."

Obviously, I was wrong. But that's what makes this so great - the moment between Sam and Dean clearly outlined what it is about their personalities that's so different. Dean seems to need constant validation from Sam that he places their relationship above all else. He needs it, and Sam doesn't want to give it to him. Even in this episode, when Dean lists some "suggestions" for Sam's confession, he barely reacts to this list of terrible things (I still maintain that Dean shouldn't have included Sam losing his soul on there, because how on earth was that his fault?). In Dean's mind, this moment probably seems like Sam just brushing off some pretty serious stuff. In Sam's mind, obviously, it was just a reinforcement of how many times his big brother has been disappointed in him. Sam has been harboring all these feelings of guilt and depression and apparently suicidal thoughts, and it never once occurs to Dean that Sam has doubts about his big brother's love for him. And this is truly heartbreaking. Dean puts Sam above everything else, and to him that's obvious. You can practically watch his heart break as he suddenly realizes that Sam doesn't know it.

This whole season culminated into this moment when Dean said exactly what Sam needed him to say, and at exactly the right time. I think what's a bit more subtle here, though, is that Dean now has what he wants from Sam, too. Dean thinks that Sam is always just fighting for the light at the end of the tunnel, and that he can't wait to get away from his life and everything in it, including Dean himself. But now Dean sees, as heart-wrenching as it is, that Sam doesn't see that light. He's in a dark place, and it's all because what he truly wants and needs is his brother's love and unconditional trust. In this scene, which completely shattered my heart, by the way, Sam realizes that Dean puts him first, and Dean actually realizes the same about Sam.

I truly believe (or at least hope) that this means there will be no more question of family coming first in the next season. People have been arguing that Dean's characterization has been inconsistent here, but I would disagree. I don't think it's news to anyone who watches this show that Dean would put Sam first. What's new here is that Dean suddenly realizes that Sam doesn't think it's obvious. This is an important moment for both of the brothers in that I think they're actually on the same page. If Sam survives whatever the hell is happening to him as the episode ends, I'm sure they'll need to have another "chick flick" moment about this, but in all, the most important stuff has been said.

Some other things in the story to praise... okay, actually I take that back. I'm not going to praise this, I'm going to seriously hope that the intentions here are praise-worthy. Dean and Cas. I'm going to talk about one of this fandom's fixations, Destiel. My personal feelings about this ship don't really come into play, but just so everyone knows, I'm pretty neutral. I want Dean and Cas to be close, and I want them to love each other, but I don't really have a preference for whether this love is romantic and/or sexual, or if it is the love of family or just really close friends. Whatever happens, I just want Dean and Cas to be okay.

For a long time, I watched with amusement as everyone shipped Destiel because I had absolutely no hope that it would ever become canon. I simply thought that the creators of the show weren't going to make Dean into a non-heterosexual character. I personally don't really care if he is or not, but I just didn't think it was going to happen.

All of the Destiel stuff was, for a long time, subtext that could be found in the acting, not the writing or direction. I was happy about this, because if Destiel wasn't going to become canon, I didn't want the writers to fall into any queer baiting traps along the way.

I don't want to get into the question of Dean's sexuality in too much detail, because there's already so much meta on the subject, but I will say this: there are plenty of examples I could list of times where the dialogue itself didn't have any bisexual intent, but Jensen seemed to play it that way. (Common examples are his reaction to Dr. Sexy in "Changing Channels," or his reaction to being hit on in "Everybody Hates Hitler.") That's the sort of subtext I can be okay with. However, more recently there have been pretty blatant examples of subtext from the script and from the direction.

The example from this episode, obviously, is the Cupid scene. Dean and Cas drink together at a bar. Cupid comes in and makes a gay couple fall in love. Dean looks at them in surprise and then immediately turns around and looks at Cas. This is literally Heaven endorsing a same-sex relationship right the hell in front of Dean and Cas. Now - here's the thing. I didn't want to concede this, but I'm going to have to. This can really only be one of two things at this point.

A) Foreshadowing a canonical romantic relationship between Castiel and Dean

OR

B) It's baiting.

That's it. And even though I haven't previously given much thought to whether I wanted Destiel to be canon or not, now I do. Now I want to trust that the creators of this show are not baiting and are actually setting up a serious relationship between these two. Otherwise, I'll be really disappointed in the writers/creators.

Speaking of this scene in a little more detail.... if we do assume that it's foreshadowing (please, please, please don't disappoint me) then this scene has a lot of weight. I feel like in that moment, Dean saw two very masculine men form a connection and he realized that he could be masculine and still have feelings for another male person. Or... another apparently-male-gendered celestial being, anyway. I could write a lot of meta about Dean's feelings on masculinity and his fears of being considered "weak" or "feminine," but it's all already out there, and if you're still reading my ramblings then you're the sort of person who has already read other people's arguments on this.

So, in short, I hope that this scene is a foreshadow of canonical Destiel. Not because I ship them particularly, but because the alternative is that the writers are queer baiting. (If anyone has any questions about what exactly I mean by that term, please let me know.)

Now that I've dealt with the story arc of this episode, mentioned it's tiny little flaw in that it was too easy to get to Crowley, and ranted over everything else, I'll move on to talk about the writing. I'm not usually one who obsesses over minute word choices or facial twitches from the actors, but I felt like I could just feel all the care and attention pouring out of every word in this script.

It was the little things that did it for me, such as Dean shouting out "Castiel" instead of "Cas" when he was freaking out about Sam, or Kevin's line "I don't have any friends." That moment was seriously tragic mostly because it was entirely brushed over. Sam and Dean know that having no friends is pretty much par for the course with their lifestyle. One of the most powerful moments in the episode came after Naomi's conversation with Cas, when Dean, frantic, says to Cas: "Take me to him. Take me to him, now." He doesn't need to say Sam's name. Everyone who hears Dean say "him" like that knows that he's talking about his brother. There were numerous other examples of insanely well written dialogue, but I'll get to them as I talk about each character in turn.

One last quick shout-out to the makeup department for this one, as well. In particular, Sam and Crowley both looked beyond emaciated and beat up. It was almost frightening how sick Sam looked, and that had a lot to do with the make up as well as his acting. And speaking of acting, let's take a look at each of our key players this week.

Starting with...

Metatron. Curtis Armstrong has done more with the three episodes he has been in than most people would be capable of. Like I said earlier, his betrayal wasn't exactly surprising, but it also wasn't painfully obvious, from my point of view. Metatron gives us something that Supernatural doesn't really have a lot of. An entirely unsympathetic villain. People seem to coo over Lucifer, everyone loves Crowley, Naomi had her moment of redemption... but Metatron? No. Just. No. This was a smart move, because it gives us a character to universally band against and hate in the next season. There were some lovely subtle moments from him, such as when Naomi comes and kidnaps him and Cas stands up to help. He looks just a bit too angelic, just a bit too martyr-like as he's being taken away. It was at that moment that I realized that this guy was for sure up to no good.

Naomi. I really hope to Chuck that she's somehow not dead. She was an interesting villain, and her moment of redemption was really touching. You could see the pain in her eyes as she tried to convince Castiel of her intentions. Imagine coming to a realization that you've completely lost sight of your purpose, but in the process you've alienated those who could help you. Amanda Tapping did a beautiful job with this role and she really owned it especially in this episode. If that really is the end of this character, I'll feel cheated.

Kevin Tran. Honestly, I think Kevin is probably the best thing to come out of Season Seven, and one of the best things to come out of this show ever. He is the perfect angry hero, and he really shows us what this sort of life might be like if you were thrust into it suddenly rather than having been raised in it. Some favorite moments from him include the line I mentioned earlier, where Kevin very casually announces that he has no friends. Later, in the Bat Cave, when Dean asks him to translate the tablet he reacts just the way I would expect him to. He is not happy. And the only thing that convinces him to step up is one very angry angel in his face. As this episode ends, we have Kevin seeing the Men of Letters' HQ controls start going crazy because of the falling angels, and we also have a prophet in possession of both the angel and the demon tablets. What is this going to mean for Kevin in Season Nine? I really hope they take the time to seriously explore his character and continue to bring back Osric Chau for as long as possible. He's a seriously good addition to the show.

Okay, now onto the four gentlemen that really killed it tonight with such superb performances that I was enticed to go back and watch their scenes again, and again, and again, until I was a blubbering mess. It's at moments like these when I get really upset that genre shows generally get overlooked for Emmy awards, because these guys all deserve an Emmy in my eyes. They did such a beautiful job with this finale.

Misha Collins. I don't even really need to detail why this man is amazing, but I will give it ago. He delivers every line with just the right amount of monotone so that you can still feel the emotion bleeding through. He had some funny lines this week, as he usually does. I particularly loved his impassioned speech to Kevin, and the little shrug he gave as he said "until you cease to exist."

His scenes with Jensen were just the perfect balance of restrained pain. There were so many things that Castiel obviously wanted to say to Dean, but he didn't know how. The conversation in the bar, where Cas basically admits that he expects to be killed, was so beautiful in its simplicity. It was also so strange to see Dean be the one to restrain Cas from lashing out physically. Then there was Cas' heartbreaking certainty that Metatron was telling the truth and Naomi was lying. It was so sad to see Cas tell Dean, with full confidence, that she was lying, and then only a few moments later see Cas realize his mistake.

And of course we must talk about his scene with Metatron. The fear, the desperation, the pain, the dawning realization of exactly what he set in motion, and the panic at what was about to happen to him. I really hope Castiel remembers who he is next season, and I have a pretty good reason to hope for that: the tears streaming down his face as he watched his  brethren fall were so raw, so intense, that he had to have known exactly what was going on. I also want to give Misha props for something that's almost undefinable. When he stands up and begins running towards the field where he watches the angels fall, there's something subtly different about the way he moves and holds himself. You just know that he is no longer an angel. He's Castiel, and he has fallen. (Brief moment of silence for Jimmy, by the way, as I'm sure that there's no way any part of him is in there anymore.)

I could ramble on and on about Misha's performance, but I should probably move forward.

Mark A. Sheppard. The thing that's so amazing about the Supernatural cast is that they're all so much better than they need to be. Think about it: this is a show about monsters and angels and demons. If a bunch of really hot actors just ran around looking serious and shooting things, I think people would still watch it. But instead, we get these incredibly nuanced performances from each and every one of our characters. Crowley is the perfect example of that. He could be just "smarmy villain man," but he isn't. He's so much more than that, and he always has been.

I'm not entirely convinced that Crowley is almost cured. Part of me wonders if any of it was an act, or if Crowley was truly feeling as broken as he seemed to be. I think it actually may be a bit of both. Crowley could maybe start to feel the guilt and self-loathing of humanity (and specifically Sam Winchester) flowing through him, but rather than lean into it, he over-hyped his pain in order to try and get Sam to stop. It's just a theory, and I'm still thinking through some other possibilities. Bottom line, I'm ridiculously excited to see what Season Nine will bring for this character. I'd watch him as a blubbering human mess, or I'd watch him as a ruthless King of Hell again. Bottom line, this guy is ridiculously talented and Crowley is a ridiculously interesting character.

Some of the best moments from him: the way he asks Sam for a favor.... when he calls him Moose, but then switches to "Sam... earlier when you were confessing, back there. What did you say? I only ask, because... given my history, it raises the question: where do I start? To even look... for forgiveness?" His delivery of this line was so profound that it had me crying over a character I had only minutes ago loved to loath.

I enjoyed his scene with Abaddon as well, in particular when he tells Sam that he's proud of him. What a weird, twisty moment in the script, but these two actors just grab it and do everything they can to cement this odd relationship that they have. You can really see Crowley's pain and fear as he absorbs more and more of Sam's blood into his own. I honestly don't know how Sheppard played this character with such perfection, but it broke my heart.

Jensen Ackles. Oh, my darling Jensen. I can't put my love for this man into words. It's impossible. He always gives such standout performances, and his character has really become the center of the show. Even if he and Sam share the same amount of screen time, it's Dean that carries the emotional center of things. It's a huge weight for Dean to carry, and it's also a huge weight for Jensen to carry as an actor. And he carries it like a boss. When we look at Dean's character arc this season, there are a lot of things to notice. For one, Purgatory seems to have been a bit of a reset button. He hasn't had a problem with alcohol as much this season, and he's been focused and less generally angry at the world.

His relationship with Sam is difficult to suss out, but I think that his anger and resentment towards Sam are natural parts of feeling hurt and betrayed. When he discusses Sam's mistakes, he's actually being the bigger man by addressing the things that have bothered him. What's so heartbreaking is that Sam is dying inside because of all the times he's messed up, but he doesn't let it show. Dean has no idea what he's doing to his brother as he says things and makes choices that Sam interprets as Dean choosing other people over him.

Looking more specifically at Dean's acting in this episode, we see the way he interacts with Cas and how much love and pain there really is between them. He actually leaves Sam to deal with Crowley on his own, all because Cas asks him for help (but just note here that he never would have left if Sam hadn't allowed it). We can see his sadness and fear when he realizes that if Cas succeeds, it will mean he's locked up in Heaven, perhaps permanently. One of the most poignant things about the episode was the fact that the moment with Cas was interrupted by Cupid. It was almost like they were trying to say goodbye, but neither one knew how to start. Instead, they never got to have their goodbye.

There's a tiny little moment at the end of the episode that nearly gets lost in all the other things going on. Dean looks up and sees the angels falling, and he just lets out this little, "no, Cas..." He knows now that Metatron was tricking Cas all along, and he knows that Cas is either dead or at the very least he has fallen like his brethren. At this moment, Dean has Sam to worry about, but you can bet if that wasn't the case, he would be off and running to look for Castiel. It's a heartbreaking little moment and I am, once again, excited to see what Season Nine brings us on this front.

Then we have to talk about the scene with Sam. Oh, God. Oh. My. God. I was dying. Just imagine being Dean, running into the room and realizing that you're just in time to stop your brother's death. You tell him to stop what he's doing - that he'll die if he does it. And what's his answer? "So?" The look on Dean's face here, like his entire world is just frozen. You can just see the tenseness in every line of Jensen's body as he talks to Sam. I felt like he was preparing himself to tackle his brother if he had to, in order to stop him from completing the trial.

I realized while watching this episode that Jensen can change his entire expression just by closing and re-opening his eyes. When Sam says the line about his "greatest sin" being letting Dean down, Jensen just closes his eyes, opens them, and his mouth falls open slightly, and all of a sudden there's a whole new layer to what's going on here. The way his voice almost cracks as he's telling Sam how he feels... well, be still my beating heart, is all I'll say. Here's the quote in full (mostly so that I make sure I've immortalized it on my blog.)

"Hold on. Hold on. You seriously think that? Because none of it - none of it - is true. Listen, man, I know we've had our disagreements, okay, Hell I know I've said some junk that's set you back on your heels. But Sammy, come on. I killed Benny to save you. I'm ready to let this bastard and all the sons-of-bitches that killed mom walk because of you. So don't you dare think that there is anything, past or present, that I would put in front of you. It has never been like that. Ever. I need you to see that. I'm begging you."

I think the one of my favorite moments in there is when he says "Sammy, come on." It's like Dean can hardly believe he's having to say these words out loud. His entire purpose in life has always revolved around Sam, and the fact that Sam himself didn't know it... it just breaks Dean's heart.

There's this great mood shift when Sam finally lets out a pained "how do I stop?" You can see Dean's gears shift from "Oh-My-God-Sam-No-Don't-Do-It-Please" to "Thank-God-Sammy-Don't-Worry-I'll-Fix-It." Once he sees that Sam isn't going to finish the trial and die, he's able to switch into comforting mode and take care of Sam like he always does. But then of course that relief is short lived. I loved the use of "little brother" here, especially as it juxtaposed to Dean half-carrying Sam out of the church, since Sam is clearly so much bigger than Dean is.

As you can see, I have a lot of thoughts and feelings about Jensen's performance here, but I should really move on to the final character before I ramble you all into an early grave.

Jared Padalecki. Get this boy a trophy. Stat. I was blown away by the intensity of his performance. He was shaking, he was crying, he was trying so desperately to hold it all in but then he just couldn't anymore. I saved him for last because I can't just talk about this performance on its own. Do you realize that Sam's outburst at the end was basically at least five years of repressed emotions surfacing all at once? You gotta figure, that if he's been walking around feeling guilty about Ruby, Lilith, Lucifer, his actions while soulless, and then not looking for Dean in Purgatory... if he's seriously been thinking that Dean was disappointed in him for all of that and that he was a nuisance to his brother... that is so much pain to be carting around!

Ironically, Sam is the one on this show known for wanting to instigate "chick-flick moments," and Dean is supposed to be the emotionally unavailable and gruff one. But, actually, Sam is the master of holding it all in. Just imagine how he was feeling when Dean mentioned that list of sins as suggestions for him earlier in the episode. Dean was hitting him again with all the reasons why he was disappointed. Dean couldn't know what his words were doing to Sam, and that's what makes it so painful.

The best part about Sam's outburst at the end was how inevitable yet tragic it was. I'm so glad that Sam finally shared how he's been feeling, even if what he's been feeling is tragic as all hell. Jared Padalecki's performance in this episode - and actually in this season in general - was astounding. Again, I'm upset that genre shows are generally overlooked for awards shows, because this boy needs an Emmy. Immediately.

So, there you have it. This finale was seriously amazing. It's interesting to note that for the first time, a Winchester actually chose to live for his brother rather than die for him. Dean has died for Sam, Sam has died for the world, but this time, Sam did the best thing for his brother that he could by choosing to live. Not only does this give me all sorts of gushy Winchester-brother feelings, but it also sets up a really compelling character arc for next season. The brothers have had their ridiculously heart-felt moment, but I cannot wait to see the fallout from it. (Also, may I just point out that there were four Winchester hugs in this season? FOUR! There have been nine total, and four of them came in one season. You guys. For real, though. Four.)

The flaw I listed earlier concerning Crowley really isn't even a flaw of this episode, but more a flaw of pacing that Supernatural often struggles with. For as good as these last few episodes have been, there were a lot of weaker ones in the beginning, and if the same energy and drive had been built into the whole season, we could have been given more time to develop Crowley as the last trial. We could have seen the Winchesters plan for his capture. All of this might have pushed the episode just a touch further towards perfection. But, taken on its own, this episode was seriously one of the best things I have ever seen on television. I simply must give it...

10/10