Supernatural S05E22 - Swan Song (2010)

Review

With the apocalypse coming down the turnpike at warp factor nine, team Winchester are out of ideas and options. Dean finally gives in and goes with Sam's plan to say yes to Lucifer and drag him back into the pit via the four rings they gained from the Horsemen and a little incantation. Sam figures if he pigs out on Demon blood then he'll be able to hold Lucifer back from possessing him fully till he can make the plunge that can avert Lucifer getting it on with Michael, naturally as with all battle plans this one works for the first ten minutes and then goes pear shaped.

Lucifer knows all about the rings and isn't about to fall into line with plan Winchester, but he does gain Sam as a vessel and is rushing off for the final countdown against Michael at Stull Cemetery Lawrence, Kansas because it all ends where it started, say what! Naturally Dean isn't going to sit idly by and leave it to his brother and intervenes, along with backup in the form of Castiel and Bobby. Things sort of go okay, and that's it for season five.

Woot the final episode of season five and got to say it definitely finished the season on a strong point. The overall plot arc of the season got resolved and we are definitely left with a few things to think about while Supernatural goes into hiatus. Personally I was a tad disappointed with the final shot of the episode, could have left that one hanging, but guess things went were they were going from scene one of the season. Let's get down and dirty with what could well be the best episode of the season and one that definitely has me itching to get stuck into season six.

The Winchesters versus Lucifer, there can only be one winner, oh and we can win

Surprisingly the episode doesn't start out exactly as I thought it might, given the ultimate showdown with evil to avoid the apocalypse and all. We begin with Chuck Shurley, prophet of the Lord, working on his latest book and narrating the early history of the Impala. Seems on April 21, 1967 the millionth GM vehicle rolled off the assembly line to great celebration, but three days later the same production line would produce the Universe's single most important object, the 1967 Chevrolet Impala. The car was purchased by Sal Moriarty, "an alcoholic with two ex-wives and three blocked arteries" - quiz question right there, but was eventually purchased by John Winchester for $2204.00 after Sal passed on. John was of course being influenced by a certain young time traveller when making his car purchasing decision, which ties into the Supernatural mythos. Keep this in mind as it becomes important later in the episode in a well written inclusion.

This leaches into Sam and Dean going downtown Detroit rock city to overcome Lucifer and send his bum back to the cage in hell; that would be the one Sam released him from back in season four. I actually dug the scene which was intense as the Boys toyed with the Prince of Hell, unfortunately the Satanic one was always one step ahead of them, but dripping with tension folks.

We do get back to Chuck and the history of the Impala, including kids being kids sticking things in places they can't be retrieved from. The inference here is that the centre of the Winchester's lives is the car and pretty much its home for the Bros. Once again this will be of paramount importance as things come to a head; I just wanted to mention it again as it is pretty good writing kicks from scribe Eric Gewirtz. Pretty solid inter threading I got to say, it all works up to one pivotal scene that defines the season pretty much and underlines perhaps the themes of the past four or so seasons.We do get back to Chuck and the history of the Impala, including kids being kids sticking things in places they can't be retrieved from. The inference here is that the centre of the Winchester's lives is the car and pretty much its home for the Bros. Once again this will be of paramount importance as things come to a head; I just wanted to mention it again as it is pretty good writing kicks from scribe Eric Gewirtz. Pretty solid inter threading I got to say, it all works up to one pivotal scene that defines the season pretty much and underlines perhaps the themes of the past four or so seasons.

So to the first of the surprise happenings of the evening, and there were a couple I wasn't expecting, after his narrative of all things Impala Chuck vanishes in what I have to say is a puff of smoke. Besides being slightly dramatic in Vaudeville fashion it leaves us wondering just who Chuck might be or at the very least wondering who his allies might be. Chuck is a scribe of God, protected by arch Angels but since there's a lack of them in general, are we to assume Chuck might himself be a supernatural entity. I've got one theory about this, which I guess most people would also be harbouring but we'll have to wait to see how it pans out. Intriguing nevertheless and providing some off season argument.

The second surprise is somewhat spoiler ridden, so can't really go there, but does leave me wondering what they have planned for next season. On the bright side Dean is taken in by long term love interest Lisa and has finally settled into domestic suburban bliss. One wonders how long that situation is going to last next season. No doubt he'll be dragged back into the hunt, which is just as well, as team Winchester is starting to get pretty thin on the ground to be honest.

Bonanza time for the mullet rock faithful with four tracks listed for the episode. Naturally, since it's the end of season and all, we get Carry on Wayward Son by Kansas. The track we'll hopefully cover this week is Def Leppard's 2012 re-recorded version of Rock of Ages. Jay Gruska's Americana and Def Leppard's Pour Some Sugar on Me rounds out a decent play list.

Should mention we get a microcosm here of how characters may die but this doesn't mean they won't bounce back when required. Watch the episode to catch up with this concept, hell it all has logic within the Supernatural universe.

Swan Song was a fitting round out to season five and certainly had me grooving to the beat being laid down think and syrupy. We get the conclusion to the overall plot arc and some added gravy to kick off season six, though to be honest things like the Croatoan virus took a number of seasons to flesh out so don't hold your breath that things will be wrapped up neatly next season. Naturally you are going to have to have seen the previous episodes, read maybe some seasons, to get the full imprint of what's going down. Fans of the show will be right across this, as ever if you haven't rolled into it yet then remedial viewing class is a requirement. Lock and load folks this this is seriously fun times at Ridgemont high.