SUPERNATURAL Season Finale Recap: ‘Let it Bleed’/’The Man Who Knew Too Much’

Well…now that was definitely a twist I did not see coming.  I guess it’s safe to assume that my wish that the show would be able to get back to its simple, monster-killing roots in season 7 did not come true.  I made a comment in a recent post that the only real next step the show could take with respect to the heaven and hell aspect of the SUPERNATURAL world would be to have God himself return from wherever he’s been hiding. Well, that didn’t happen, but it looks like “God” will be a major issue next year nonetheless.  But there is much to discuss before we get to that, so let’s start from the beginning.

The first half of the two-part finale was a really great showcase for Jensen Ackles’ trademark emoting.  I thought that he was fantastic expressing Dean’s absolute horror that Lisa and Ben had been placed right in the middle of the battle for purgatory and his determination to keep them safe.  And then, of course, there was that last scene.  After Cas saved the day by healing the damage Lisa had suffered while possessed, per Dean’s request, he wiped her memory clean, as well as Ben’s.  Dean evidently felt that the best way to keep them both safe was to sever all ties connecting him to them.

Despite the fact that he surely felt some relief that they wouldn’t remember the terrible things they’d seen, done and heard since meeting him, he wore his broken heart on his sleeve and it was pretty powerful.  I’m assuming that this is a permanent solution to the Lisa and Ben Problem that we’ve all been wondering about since the season started, so I guess that’s a good thing but it all just seemed like a bit of an easy fix.

The first episode also saw Team Hunter searching for the key to opening purgatory before Cas and Crowley could get to it.  This involved a fictionalized version of real-life horror writer H.P. Lovecraft and a dinner party he hosted in 1937, at which they managed to free a soul from purgatory.  It turned out that this soul took over the body of one of the attendees, and had been residing there ever since.

It’s a little amazing that Bobby didn’t notice his one-time girlfriend, the previously-seen Dr. Visyak, was actually the soul of a 900 year old creature considering how paranoid he normally is about these things.  She told him the ingredients to the key to purgatory, but unfortunately Cas found it first.  And unfortunately for Dr. Visyak, her blood was part of that key and Cas had no problem taking what he needed.  Armed with the necessary components, all that was left was to perform the ritual.  To keep the pesky kids from trying to stop him from seeing his plan through, he decided to keep them busy by tearing down the walls in Sam’s head.

The final hour was divided between Sam’s struggle inside his own mind and Dean and Bobby’s attempt to stop Cas from opening the doors to purgatory.  I thought that the journey into Sam’s mind was pretty great – I had no idea what to expect when the walls ultimately came crumbling down, but I really liked the idea of three separate Sams – Sam as he’s been since getting his soul back; Sam-less; and the broken version of himself who had the burden of remembering hell and everything he went through there.  Presumably he remembers everything now – Hell and what he did during his “lost” year.  It’s hard to say what kind of impact this will have on him going forward.  He seemed healthy enough at the end of the episode so I’m choosing to remain optimistic, even thought it would be a little anti-climactic considering all of the dire warnings we heard about scratching at the walls back at the beginning of the season.

This brings us to Cas.  Cas, everyone’s favorite angel, the one who has routinely saved the day and countless lives, actually left a trail of dead bodies behind in his quest to take on the power of the purgatory souls.  Dr. Visyak, Balthazar(!), and ultimately Raphael each died by his hand.  The doctor and Raphael I was fine with, but Balthazar hurt a lot.  At least Crowley is still out there; we couldn’t lose all of the British charm on this show in one episode.

The last scene of the episode was a whirlwind.  First Cas disposed of Raphael in the same way he was ended last year – in a burst of blood and guts.  Soon after that Sam returned from his internal journey to stab Cas with the angel knife, which accomplished…absolutely nothing.  It was at this point that I was nervously looking at the clock and wondering what the hell could happen in less than a minute that would be appropriate to end the season on.  And then…

Cas announced that he was the new god in town, and that Team Hunter had two choices: bow down and worship him, or die.  Whoa.  Did NOT see that coming.  At all.

Of course, this raises a ton of questions for next year, but one thing that seemed obvious was that Cas would be playing a big role in season 7, right?  Only, that doesn’t appear to be the case.  According to an interview with showrunner Sara Gemble, Misha Collins is not returning as a series regular next year.  Color me both confused and pretty sad.

I have no idea what to expect next year.  We don’t know what kind of state Sam is in, really.  We don’t know where the real God is, the one who’s been MIA for two seasons.  We don’t know what kind of god Cas plans on being, but something tells me it’s not a benevolent one.  Where does that leave Sam, Dean and Bobby?  Only time will tell.  But at the very least, I’m excited to find out.

I’d love to hear your opinions on how things went down.  Were you happy about the resolution to the Lisa and Ben problem?  How sad were you to lose Balthazar and his crazy-deep v-necks?  What did you think of the depiction of Sam’s internal struggle?  Most importantly, how are you feeling about that ending and what do you want to see happen when the show returns for it’s seventh season?  Thanks for reading, everyone!

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