Lets Talk About The Bare Minimum

Lets talk about the Bare Minimum

Okay guys, obviously there is a huge divide here among those of us that are super positive and excited and those of you that are really doubtful the finale will give us anything remotely worthwhile. So lets break this down okay? Perhaps it can get us all on a fairly level playing field?

What is the absolute bare minimum the Supernatural Finale can give us to satisfy us?

Everyone will have different ideas of course, but if we dismiss all our wildest dreams and high expectations and consider the fact that yes, this is still Supernatural and they do tend to run on a mix of batshit crazy, profound and poetic beauty, and things seemingly falling into place so perfectly it was clearly 100% accidental (eg: The Monster at the End of this Book) then we should probably try to find a centre point. A point that we can use to gauge how the episode will fair overall.

So what is the bare minimum?

Castiel returns

This is it. This should be the bare minimum we should expect in order to make this finale meaningful.

If we are given nothing else, Cas returning should be enough for us to nod and say “okay Supernatural. You tried. You got him back. He was there for the finale. That’s the main thing.”

If Castiel isn’t back and the finale is just Sam and Dean driving around looking for generic MOTW hunts like in Season 1 in some sort of bronly wet dream, that would be a massive anticlimax and miserable way to end the series. It will be the worst ending of a show since GoT.

BUT we know Misha filmed 20. I will hear no more to the alternative. Misha filming 20 is and always has been a fundamental FACT.

So Castiel returns. Bare minimum met? Right? Of course there are caveats to that key point.

Castiel returning in flashback form only, or as a memory or dream, whilst the actual Castiel still remains in the Empty is NOT an acceptable option. If the show takes this route, this is still below the bare minimum. This would be deemed a failure in my opinion just as if the finale is just Sam and Dean being bros on the road.

What really needs to happen for the bare minimum to be met, is for Castiel to be rescued from the Empty. Whether that is by Jack, by Dean, or by himself or some other means, Castiel must return from the Empty to fix the only actual loose end not tied up in 15x19. We should also finally get the Empty being sent back to sleep, because having just binge watched episodes 12-18 all in one week, let me tell you, the amount of times it is repeated that the Empty desperately wants to go back to sleep is a LOT. From what I have been told, the Empty isn’t even mentioned in 19, so that is the only plot point actually still hanging over the series.

Of course, had Castiel not confessed his “homosexual feelings of love” for Dean in 15x18, then at this point I would have said that the bare minimum I needed was for Cas to be saved, and for Dean to give him a heartfelt hug and a look of love and to say “lets go home” off into a future where we know the story ends with Dean and Cas together in an ambiguous relationship. (Honestly, for a long time, this is the ending I thought we would get).

But Dabb and Bobo have written themselves into a very specific corner.

Castiel’s confession was not ambiguous. Because of this, the big question hanging over the final ever episode of the longest running genre show on TV, isn’t about whether the heroes will stop the big bad, it isn’t whether or not they will live or die, nope, it’s whether the lead male character will reciprocate romantic love for his “equally male” (Note - I’m talking in terms of mainstream here don’t @ me) best friend. The big question Supernatural has gone and put to its audience is “is Dean Winchester also in love with Castiel and therefore, is he also queer?”

This is an unpresedented situation that the show has put itself in.

Because of this, the bare minimum is no longer just Castiel being saved. It’s also Dean answering that question that the show has put to us.

Castiel must be saved, and the love confession must be addressed. These things are the key points going into this final episode. If either of them are glossed over in any way, the show would have fundamentally failed it’s audience, its characters, it’s cast, and everyone involved in it. Given how optimistic and happy everyone who works on the show seems to be currently, I highly doubt that is the case.

So. Castiel must be saved, and the confession must be addressed. Do we accept Dean rejecting Cas?

There is I suppose, a very slim chance that this could happen. If the Network let their own homophobia get to them (before you come @ me, no I don’t consider the CW’s many young attractive lesbian characters to let them off the hook for years of avoiding any non stereotypical queer men. IT’S TOTALLY DIFFERENT) then they may have greenlighted Cas’s queerness whilst refusing to do the same for Dean. They may consider simply saving Castiel and therefore #resurrectingyourgays as enough to satisfy the queer viewers, even though Castiel’s love was not returned. Perhaps in the final episode we will get a flashforward to years down the line and Cas has got over Dean and is living it up with another man? It’s possible right?

It would also cause utter outrage in the fanbase. Dabb and Bobo are far more savvy than fandom gives them credit for. I personally think that had the network said no to Dean reciprocating Castiel’s love, then Dabb and Bobo would have kept it ambiguous, and simply strongly implied that they end up together in an ending like the one I always thought we would get when my hopes for Destiel were at a low point.

So Dean reciprocating Castiel’s love also falls under the bare minimum requirements for the episode to be a success.

How they go about showing Dean reciprocating Cas’s feelings I don’t know. Do I absolutely need a kiss? No. It’s not a bare minimum requirement. Anything beyond Dean simply telling Cas he loves him back and Cas smiling at him is a bonus. Perhaps they could show it the way they showed Jesse and Cesar in 11x19. Through affection and care, but no actual kisses.

Whilst I personally believe we will get a kiss, it’s not a bare minimum, and if we don’t get one I will still be satisfied so long as we get all of the following:

Castiel is saved from the Empty

Dean reciprocates his love

Dean and Cas end up together (whether that be to live lives together on Earth, or both go out fighting and reunite in heaven together. Whatever the case, they must end up together)

My 3rd point here is the only other bare minimum requirement I need to not feel like they have screwed it up. I don’t care whether Dean and Cas end the show alive or dead. What I DO care is that regardless of where they end up, be it Earth, Heaven, or even Purgaytory, they are together. They must end the series together.

There are of course many other things I want. I want Cas to give up his grace (by choice) and become a human (I really wanna see him in Winchester plaid at least once!). I want to see them slow dancing like Garth and Bess did in 15x10. I want Sam to reunite with Eileen and also get a happy ending. I hope they get to keep the damn dog too. Ideally, I want a soft epilogue, because these boys are good people, and they’ve suffered enough. Whatever else may happen though, so long as those bare minimum requirements are met, I will consider the ending a resounding success.

Personally, I don’t think I’m asking for much.

THIS IS ADORABLE HOLY CRAP I LOVE IT 😭😭🌈🌈🌈

gotta pay respect to my origins 😔 they’re chilling in heaven now

This is a mood beyond anything I've seen rn. I hate yet I love last night's episode and I hope they don't just throw Cas to the curb after this trauma.

I can handle loving and hating the confirmation. I can't handle watching Dean move on with his life like Cas didn't just admit his undying love.

I am glad I have reached a point in my simultanuous love and hatred for Supernatural that I will defend that destiel scene to the death while at the same time reblogging memes about how stupid it is because they're hilarious and absolutely true

I don't want to write a full fledged essay about this because that's a lot of work and I have an actual essay for school that I'm procrastinating on but I really need to ramble about all of the similarities between the Tuskens and the Mandalorians and how they're used in this episode.

The Tuskens wear mask and rarely ever unmask themselves—and never in front of outsiders. The Mandalorians, or this specific sect of them, similarly wear masks and never remove them.

Mandalorian armor is an inherent part of a Mandalorian's identity and considered sacred to the culture. Cobb is wearing armor that he has no right to wear and Din seeks to take it as it belongs with the Mandalorian.

Tuskens believe all water is sacred and promised to them. The settlers steal their water in their minds and why they often raid moisture farms.

Cobb wears Mandalorian armor but he has no respect for it as portrayed in the episode and no understanding of the culture. He offers Din a drink and sits down and removes his helmet, effectively telling the audience that he isn't a Mandalorian and he blatantly says it as much later. I think the most important aspect of this scene is the way he offered Din a drink and removed his own helmet. To him its a polite offer, but in order to accept the drink Din would have to remove his own helmet which disrespects his culture. So, the story is telling us that Cobb is wearing sacred armor that he has no right to wear and he doesn't even understand the culture it belongs to.

I feel like a scene with the sand people parallels this moment later on when Cobb shows disgust towards being offered a drink by the Tuskens. He consumes, steals, their sacred water and then when it's offered by them he refuses to even drink it.

Part of me thinks I'm reading too much into this, but like ... the parallels between the Tuskens and the Mandalorians are there, right? And I think this episode definitely mades some commentary on cultural appropriation even if it wasn’t a major theme or anything.

This ladies and gentlemen, and everyone else, are the people who wrote off Dean and Castiel in the most disrepectful way. You wonder why? Roll the video. You see nothing wrong with these clips? Oh… i feel sorry for you. If you honestly think these people love and respect both Jensen but especially Misha  you are in the wrong. I am sorry but “jokes” and “funny” has its barriers. And the way Misha was treated all these years, the example above being only one from many, is just utterly disrespectful. For someone who works as hard as Jensen and Jared you are telling me this is the attitude he deserves? Saying he is “not as high quality” as the ‘duo’ of the show? I’m sorry but i cannot and will not have any respect for these kind of people.

Jensen Ackles and Misha Collins didn’t deserve this kind of attitude.

THE FUNNIEST SHIT-

Explanation 1 of 2 in my mind as to why Castiel wasn’t in that hallucinatory nightmare punchline of a 15 year long hate crime finale

Bonus: