Wednesday, October 3, 2012

The Finale of The Season Seven Showdown

With mere hours to go until this season's Supernatural Premiere, we give you the final battle of the Season Seven Showdown.

Supernatural Episode #23 - "Survival of the Fittest"
The Lightning Round Recap:
"Carry On, Wayward Son" kicks it off as per usual, and we pick right up with Crowley in the belly of the beast - negotiating a deal with Dick friggin' Roman at Sucrocorp. The deal's this: if Crowley replaces the blood the boys need for the super-weapon (The Macguffin), he can have all of Canada after the apocalypse. Luckily, Crowley promptly screws Dick over (with no explanation as to the how he fudged the contract) and gives the boys his actual blood. The boys obtain the final ingredient, the blood of long dead nun Sister Mary Constant, and the super-weapon is ready to rock.

Meanwhile, Castiel's still in lalaland, but he gets back involved to let the boys know all the Angels have been murdered. Crowley is infuriated that the boys have had Cas stashed from him the whole time and even more annoyed that he's too cracked to give him some satisfying revenge.

Over at Sucrocorp, Kevin Tran discovers that a poison creamer has been created to weed out the skinny humans...and this is where this plot line has been taken too far. Creamer now? Come on, it's the Season Finale let's step it up a bit, sheesh. Meanwhile, Dick has used the frozen arm of the original Dick friggin' Roman to create many avatars of the CEO, thus confusing Sam & Dean as to who's the real one. Bobby shows up, having body-jacked that poor, unsuspecting maid at the motel and Sam is forced to stop him. This helps Bobby see how dark he's gotten and he makes the decision to finally move on. So the boys burn the flask, setting Bobby's soul free while Castiel watches from the sidelines.

Now Crowley, had cryptically mentioned that Cas would be needed n the final battle. See he can spot the actual fake Dick Roman, since all the Leviathan were inside of him at one point. So Dean talks Cas into helping and they FINALLY pick up the car just so Meg can smash it through Sucrocorp's welcome sign. Ugh, what shit is this? Meg distracts the guards but ends up getting caught by Crowley's men. Inside, Dean and Cas go on a mission to find the real Dick while Sam and Kevin blow up the....creamer...lab. Dean stabs Dick in the neck with the convenient weapon, killing him dead but with some sticky side effects: Crowley snatches up Kevin Tean, Dean and Castiel end up in Purgatory where they immediately get separated and Sam's left all alone.

VS.

Buffy Episode #22 - "Chosen"
The Lightning Round Recap:
Here we go! After Buffy kills Caleb once and for all, Angel passes the amulet to Buffy and they have a nice little post-kiss chat. A chat about Spike, a chat about the future, a chat about cookie dough. Oh yes, cookie dough…see Buffy is now a metaphor for the very thing that was in the ice cream her and Angel shared oh so many years ago. Basically, when Buffy is fully a baked warm delicious cookie, Angel will be waiting. Spike sees and hears the whole thing but Buffy tells him she didn't use tongue, so it's all good. Buffy gives Spike the amulet then spends the night with him, even though she has "Angel-breath." Speaking of 'ships, Kennedy/Willow are still making use of the latter's tongue piercing, Anya/Xander have rekindled and Faith/Wood have a moment where he puts her in her place for putting up emotional walls, so they make a deal about their post-apocalypse relationship.

 Buffy then comes up with the big plan to finally defeat The First, which freaks Willow out because it involves some major mojo and she doesn't want to go all "Black Eyes of Shut Up Willow." The entire group heads over to Sunnydale High and it's pretty epic, actually. There's a fab moment between the original core-four Scoobs, calling back to "Welcome to the Hellmouth"…Giles says "The earth is definitely doomed." Willow's spell uses the Scythe to call all the Potential Slayers to their duty and triggers their powers. Instead of "Evil Eyes of Shut Up Willow", we get to see her go "white-hair of Goddess Willow." A huge fight ensues down in the Hellmouth betwixt the now-Slayers and a gajillion Ubervamps. Oh man, I had a feeling Buffy would make it but I remember being so scared Faith was going to die here.

Unfortunately we do lose some Slayers and one of the major casualties is Anya, but not before she showed some rare bravery, brought forth by the thought of floppy, hoppy bunnies. During the battle, the amulet now around Spike's neck is charging up. It brings forth the power of the sun and kills all the Ubers in one fell swoop. Right before Sunnydale go boom, Buffy says to Spike "I Love You", which he doesn't really believe, but appreciates. Spike makes the ultimate sacrifice and the surviving gang make a run for it in a School Bus, with Buffy jumping rooftops to try and catch up to. Once the town is imploded, they look back and wonder what to do next. Buffy just smiles.

Finale Final Ruling: 
Look, this season finale of Supernatural felt more like a mid-season Finale than anything else. Killing the Leviathan and Dick Friggin' Roman was a little too easy, and too many of the season's loose ends weren't tied up. Bobby's goodbye was a little too unceremonious and with Dean in Purgatory over the summer, well I just feel like we've been here before. "Chosen" is the obvious winner here, but this episode is not without it's problems. First off, it's not even the best season finale, never mind a way to end the series, and it definitely should've been a 2-hour event. I remember being very upset that it wasn't at the time. But the real problems are with the details. Buffy called all the slayers to power and I'm still not sure I agree with the morality behind this decision. But most importantly, everything they did was in vain. Willow's Spell, The Scythe, Spike's kamikaze, the battle tactics, none of that was even needed. Straight up, the person who defeated The First Evil was Wolfram & Hart. They saved the world, sending that amulet.

So the Scoobs don't get credit for that. This wasn't the school banding together to beat The Mayor or Buffy driving a sword through a loved one. And it definitely wasn't Buffy sacrificing herself on top of a tower to avert the apocalypse. To this day it's that moment that feels like the true, epic ending this series deserved. This ending just falls a tad short...but, it did have some fantastic full-circle moments. I'll give it that.

FINAL SEASON TALLY:
Supernatural=15
Buffy=7

Post-Season thoughts:
I remember really hating Buffy Season Seven and we have beat it with a bat over the years. But really, it wasn't as vile 10 years later. It has major flaws, but at this point I *might* even scootch it ahead of Season 6. For Supernatural's part, I can't really crown it a glorious winner here. Sure it beat the numbers, but that's only because it was marginally better than Buffy, not because it kicked Buffy's ass. I probably could make the argument for it being the worst of all Supernatural seasons. Lucky for us, it gets another chance where Buffy didn't on TV. So with that, I'm going to make some popcorn and get ready to see how Season Eight kicks off tonight. Thanks for reading :)

1 comment:

Kara Lynn said...

I agree with the part about the Buffy finale being a little "Unsatisfying" but keep in mind Joss had more story to tell. Reading the graphic novels (the unofficial seasons 8 and 9) I feel like you get a better "conclusion". I've only read the first 3 so far and I feel so much better about how the show ended.