The second of the two-part finale was last night. I really enjoyed it and was glad to see a conclusion to the yellow-eyed demon arc. I laughed about Dean’s deal, since that sets up a perfect season three finale.
And, most of all, I was saddened by the passing of Ash, though I knew he was toast when he said that he couldn’t talk on the phone. Nooo!
Now, since I’m attempting not to girlify the thread too much by squeeing over Dean, I have nothing else to say!
I think Dean Winchester (Jensen Ackles) was pretty much made for squeeing over 
I agree with a lot of fans that the second part felt like a series finale. I have the feeling that 2.22 was written while the renewal was still up in the air; the writers killed off the YED and sent [del]Denny Duquette[/del] John Winchester off to his eternal reward, giving the main focus of the mythology its ending while opening it up onto a new stage in case of a third season (which we got :D).
Dean grieving over Sam pretty much destroyed me, thanks. I think I owe Kripke several firstborns by this point…
I was really disappointed by it. I didn’t understand why the ending was so cheery since Dean just sold his soul after suffering grievously for 22 episodes after his father did the same thing. You have one year left, and then Sam will be alone again! What is so cheery?! Of course, we know they’ll be together as long as there’s a show, but they don’t know that, and the demon at the crossroads told Dean that if he tried to weasel his way out of the deal, she’d take Sam immediately. So we get to watch them next season try to weasel out the deal without looking like he’s weaseling? sigh
OH, and then Sam’s reaction to the news wasn’t like Bobby’s (if only this were Deadwood and Bobby could have laid down some choice words) but was, “Oh, you poor silly thing, don’t you know I love you as much as you love me?” Even though he was righteously pissed off that Dean had kept their father’s last words a secret, and this was much much worse than that? Whatever.
I’m bummed. Hopefully, my joy will return after the summer has passed, because this is my favorite show on TV right now (because when it’s good, it’s really good, and the characters are so richly drawn and magnetic), and I don’t want to give it up.
But, yes indeed, Jensen Ackles? Beauty and talent. Very nice. 
I think I got teary at more points last night than I have over any hour of television this year. But, of course, I’m a big sap, so I’m sure that has something to do with it.
So, next year, we get to watch them chase down all the demons that got out and try to save Dean. All I’ve been thinking is that Dean can’t do anything to get out of the deal–but that doesn’t mean Sam can’t work on it, right? My money’s on Sam finding just one more bullet for the Colt.
To kill whom? The demon at the crossroads? So it will just be like the end of season one all over again?
I can understand that Dean was out of his mind with grief over losing his only living relative and the one person on the planet he was close to. I get that. I don’t understand, though, why the show would have taken him for a year of going through dealing with his dad’s sacrifice, and the effect it had on him, and the whole “What’s dead should stay dead” thing, only to turn it around like this. The one thing we have never seen from Dean is selfishness: he gives and gives and gives, and never expects or gets thanks. Selling his soul and getting only a year to live in order to bring back Sam (from where? maybe he was in heaven, like Buffy!), was incredibly selfish. Hey, Dean, how’s Sam going to feel? You think maybe like you were feeling for this whole season, dude? You’d do that to Sam? Really? The character I’ve been watching wouldn’t, I don’t think.
Man, I’m grumpy. Sorry to be so negative. I hope whatever comes next year is brilliant and redemptive.
It’s too bad they killed off the yellow-eyed demon because that guy had pizazz. Oh well, this is better than dragging it out until the show goes off the air. I guess that Dean selling his soul for Sam was dumb but it doesn’t bother me because every episode could consist of Jensen Ackles doing nothing but batting his eyelashes and I’d be happy.
I didn’t like the whole selling the soul bit at all, because all it does is make next season totally predictable.
I hope they get the death sentence out of the way early on. Dean’s reckless enough, even when he doesn’t know he’s going to die soon.
Why didn’t Dean hold out for a better offer from another demon? Or was that just one of Dean’s jokes? Was she the only one who could give it to him?
It seemed that in “Crossroad Blues” the crossroads demon appeared in different bodies but was the same demon each time. Dean getting a better offer from someone else does bring up the question of whether you can sell your soul to any demon or not. John may have been able to make the deal with the Big Bad Demon because of their working relationship.
I’m with Arien – I was kind of sad when he died. He had me from, “He’s in here…trapped inside his own meat suit.” (Man, it was a shame we couldn’t have seen Jeffrey Dean Morgan play demon again…he was so gleefully malevolent.)
The “save Dean’s soul” business bores me already. I hope they surprise us (in a good way!) next season. It just seems like a lame way out or something, like they’re sticking a character in a situation he would never have organically found himself, so everything is going to be contrived. The first four episodes of this season were like gold to me because they followed a very natural and realistic character arc. But now it’s like this last episode negates everything Dean learned from that experience, and we’re supposed to cheer him on or something. Blech.
Help me out here. I’ve watched all the eps from both seasons, but maybe I missed something.
The Yellow-Eyed Demon’s purpose in creating these special kids 23 years ago was to get one who would open the gates of hell and let his friends out? That’s not the whole arc, is it?
Well, so far it seems that way. Even though he mentioned to Sam in the last episode that this was only the current generation, meaning there had been others before Sam’s. Like the test the demon put them through was so grueling no one made it so he had to try again with new babies. That he waited 23 years for. For no (as yet) discernable reason.
We also don’t know if the kids were psychic before the demon got to them or if their powers came from him. The little baby in (crap, I forget…“Salvation”?) seemed to be psychic even before the demon tried to come for her. And that brings up the point…why start with a new generation before trying to harvest Sam and his friends?
ARGH.
Maybe Yellow-Eyed Demon can only materialize every 23 years? Or the gate is on a 23-year timer?
Because if I want a steady crop of peas and radishes in the summer garden, I don’t plant seeds just once, I plant every week.
I love the notion of iron and salt being effective against demons. Iron and salt are everywhere.
I don’t watch it and expect logic, it’s a fun ride, that’s all. I enjoyed the finale, but to my money, the best of the season was the brothers in Hollydumb, meeting McG.
Tacky motel rooms, muscle cars, rock’n’roll, hot babes, nice fx, really good camera work. It’s fun and well done. More than I can say about a lot on tv.
The Wikipedia entry on the Colt notes that TWO bullets are unaccounted for. We’ve been told that the first six bullets were expended by the original user, and we’ve seen five more shot. There’s nothing standing in the way of more Colt heroics.
Well, I know I’m reading too much into this and we’ll probably never get an answer, but the X-Files fan in me says there was something very important about Mom recognizing the demon in the flashback he showed Sam (yes, yes, I’m well aware that the demon was controlling the flashback and could therefore show whatever he wanted, but I like to have a little faith, even in demon veracity ). Ava’s mother was never killed–what if the demon only killed parents who were, themselves, psychically gifted and could therefore lead their children away from yellow-eyed villainy? With Mom’s generation, the demon didn’t kill the ones who wouldn’t join him–he learned his lesson with the current crop.
Yeah, I know. But I’m currently unemployed, and have a lot of time on my hands to think about things that really don’t need to be thought that hard about. 
Draelin, I for one would be happy to over-analyze this show with you. (I don’t agree that it’s just a fun ride – the family dynamic stuff is quite well-written, and they have touched on interesting philosophical issues regarding good and evil and free will (sadly, only touched so far). I don’t know, I think there’s more to it than hot guys in their hot car shooting ghosts in the face with rock salt. How much more…well, that’s debatable.)
Anyhow, yes! I think you’re onto something with the vision of Mary. Add that to the fact that Sam hid that information from Dean…that’s got to be building to something. (One good thing the show does is keep balls in the air – I can’t think of any plotlines that they’ve dropped, never to revisit again, so I’m sure we’ll learn more about Mary and the psychics in the future.) I think the idea that Dean might have to kill Sam if he can’t save him is still open, too…maybe Sam will have come back wrong (just like Buffy), and Dean will be in the position of having to trust Sam to save his soul while fearing that Sam is going evil (whatever that means).
Ironically, it was Buffy coming back wrong that made me think that Sam was the same way. Ol’ Bobby giving Sam the hairy eyeball just confirmed it (and isn’t Bobby just a great character?)
I liked the ending. I wish they could have done something different besides soul selling. The Dad did it once, that should be enough. Still, I am interested in seeing in how they resolve it next year. I will be watching!!
My guess is that the yellow-eyed demon had plans that required both the army of bad things release from Hell, and his human servant, whom he hoped would be our li’l Sammy. (As we saw, demons are powerful but limited by supernatural laws, and sometimes need a human to do something for them.) If he’d succeeded, the combination might be unstoppable; as it is, although the boys have a war on their hands, the odds aren’t impossible.
As mythic weapons go, I really like that Colt. It’s fun seeing elements of American history and folklore (e.g., Old West legends and shady 19th century characters like H.H. Holmes) used in supernatural stories.
Of course our show, currently aired on the same network that runs “The Search For the Next Pussycat Doll”, is deep and meaningful and full of complex and subtle layers.
I like the suggestion of other generations–back to Draelin’s remark about Mary recognizing the demon in the flashback. Hopefully we get more Bobby and Ellen (but please God, not more Jo–I loved Ava and I was crushed that she got killed, but Jo really grates on my nerves…)