Supernatural - Alpha and Omega - Review: "Ready for Season 12!"

Supernatural closed out season 11 with “Alpha and Omega” written by the show’s new showrunner for season 12, Andrew Dabb, and directed by Phil Sgriccia. With a record breaking season 12 starting tonight, I thought now would be a good time to quickly re-visit the final episode of last season. Jeremy Carver, showrunner for the last three seasons, exited to take up the reins of another new CW show, Frequency. Carver’s tenure has been a bumpy one at best. He never quite mastered a successful season arc, though the first half of his seasons always had plenty of promise, they seemed to falter towards the end of the season. This season was no different. Carver ended on a strong note, with a lot of fan service in the final few episodes, including the reappearance of Chuck and the confirmation that he is God and the reappearance of the Samulet.

It is perhaps a fault of the traditional television season that has 22 or 23 episodes, which were rarely seen as a long-form story arc. In the past, a television season was composed of individual, standalone episodes. A three episode arc was an event. Supernatural appeared at a time when a continuous story arc was just becoming popular, but even Supernatural’s premise was based on a peppering of monster of the week episodes. It is hard to maintain a story for that long and helps to explain the success of shows with shorter arcs like The Walking Dead. I had great hopes for this season, but whenever a show passes from one showrunner to the next, the practice is to let the new showrunner set up their coming season by writing the last of the previous season. Carver can therefore be forgiven for the almost total disintegration of his season in this final episode. I’ll be honest. I don’t have a lot of faith in where Dabb will take the show. He’s written some decent episodes, but he’s also written a lot of my least favorite ones. Perhaps most disturbingly is his propensity to write Sam hurt/comfort, heavy on the hurt, stories. But let’s take a quick tour through “Alpha and Omega” to see where we left off – the road so far…

Like all season finales, it begins with a season retrospective set to “Carry On My Wayward Son,” and then it picks up right where “We Happy Few” left off. Lucifer has been zapped out of Castiel (Misha Collins) by Amara (Emily Swallow), leaving Cas back in control of his own vessel. God (Rob Benedict) is dying and there doesn’t seem to be anything that Dean (Jensen Ackles) or Sam (Jared Padalecki) can do. Crowley (Mark Sheppard) and Rowena (Ruth Connell) join the others, and Rowena takes them outside to show them that the sun is dying.

God manages to zap them back to the Bunker. Dean goes for the beer because they’ve already used everything they have on Amara. What else is there to do? How can they fix “the friggin’ sun?”

Meanwhile, we see Dabb start to lay the groundwork for his own storyarc. In England, we meet Lady Antonia Bevell – Toni (Elizabeth Blackmore). She’s a Woman of Letters and even has her own secret bunker. She has her own hunter’s wall, papered with Dean and Sam. She receives a call from her “boss” about the dying sun and heads to Kansas. Before she goes, we see that she has a son. And a super-competent Housekeeper.

Dean is ready to go on a beer run. Rowena is focused on fussing over Chuck and getting him some tea. Crowley explains to Chuck that she’s just sucking up to him because that’s what Rowena does – ingratiates herself with the person she thinks has the most power. Chuck is simply enjoying the attention.

Crowley settles in with his scotch and Chuck and Rowena compare stories about their kids. Only Sam is focused on trying to save the world and reads the rest of them the riot act. Did I mention that Dabb really, really likes Sam? Chuck explains that once he’s dead, the cosmic battle between light and dark is over. Sam suggest that if they can’t stop her, they have to kill Amara. That’s a bingo for Crowley!

Dean and Cas share a heart to heart in the car. Dean tells Cas that he understands what he did and that he appreciates that he’s always there for them to help. He tells Cas that he’s their brother. Dean heads back to the Bunker when Sam calls. Sam’s plan is to kill the darkness and balance the scales that way. Chuck admits that Amara’s weakness is light. They want to know why he waited so long to tell them and he explains he only wanted to stop her, not kill her.

Chuck is too weak to supply the power to take out Amara, but Rowena could build a bomb with enough souls. Cas says he will ask the angels. Dean suggests ghosts, specifically Waverly Hills Sanitorium. Crowley offers to raid Hell.

Amara meanwhile is spending time in a garden. She realizes her touch is killing the flowers she touches, and she watches the sun weaken. She seems to be having some regrets. An old woman (Barbara Wallace) gives her some insight into the complicated relationship that everyone has with family. I haven't been a big fan of Swallow, but she gives a credible performance in this episode.

Dean and Sam arrive at Waverly, and Dean mocks Rowena’s instructions in a Scottish accent that is utterly hilarious! Sam gives him a long-suffering look. It was fun to revisit Riverside – a location the show has used often in the past. We get treated to an EMF reader – something that used to be fairly standard on the show, but that the brothers rarely have need for these days.

        The ghosts are playing shy, so Sam goes to piss them off. Dean manages to say the magic word and the souls are sucked into the magic stone. The two don’t go unnoticed, however, as Billie (Lisa Berry) shows up as they leave. Berry is fine, but she's never going to be a replacement for Julian Riching's Death.

The angels refuse to help because they are determined to die with dignity. They don’t see any hope. Crowley’s supplies have been raided by his own demons. Billie shows up at the Bunker. She wants to know what they’re up to. They tell her that they’re collecting souls to build a bomb to blow the darkness to Hell. Billie says ok. She doesn’t want to reap God. Billie raids the veil to power the bomb.

It has to be someone with a personal connection to Amara to get close to her. It has to be Dean who takes the bomb. But Rowena tells him he won’t carry the bomb. He’ll BE the bomb. He just has to squeeze his fingers together to detonate the bomb. Ackles is excellent in this scene – and it’s a nice indication of how far Dean has come. He no longer welcomes death, but he does still accept his fate – and his responsibility to right this.

Toni arrives by what looks like private jet and is met by a driver, who will take her to the Bunker.

Dean and Sam share a moment by Mary Winchester’s grave. Sam tries to convince Dean that he doesn’t have to do it. Chuck still doesn’t want to see Amara dead. Cas hugs Dean, and offers to go with him. Dean asks Cas to look out for Sam. He tells them that he wants a big funeral and he’d like his ashes with Mary. Dean tells Sam, no chick-flick moments and Sam calls him on it – saying Dean loves chick flicks. They hug and Dean’s ready.

Chuck snaps Dean to Amara’s garden. The rest of them head to the local pub – The Lazy Shag. Amara wants to know how Dean found her. He tells her that he’s there to give her what she wanted: him. Amara knows he has a bomb in his chest. She points out that he’s never been able to hurt her, so why should now be different? She also tells him that it’s not her destroying the sun, it’s simply the inevitable tipping of the scales as Chuck dies. Dean tells her that Chuck doesn’t want her dead – he doesn’t want any of it. Amara wanted to hurt Chuck, to make him pay. Dean tells her that that’s revenge. It gets you out of bed in the morning, but when you get it feels great – but only for a few minutes.

Dean tells her that at the end of the day, it’s all about family. She’s just like him. She just wants her brother. Dean asks her to put aside the rage and hate and tell him what she really wants. Meanwhile, Sam asks Chuck to hang in there for just a little while longer. He goes to get him some water and when he turns back around, Chuck is gone. Amara brought him to the garden.

Amara tells him that in the beginning it was just the two of them, and she thought he loved her as she loved him. Chuck says he did. She doesn’t understand why He had to make all those other things. She confesses that her rage and the sun is re-energized. The others think that Dean has done it. But Amara has healed Chuck.

Chuck says that they’re just going to go away for a while. Chuck takes the bomb/souls out of Dean’s chest. Dean wants to know what about earth? Chuck says earth will be fine because it’s got Dean and Sam. Amara says that Dean gave her what she needed most, so she wants to do the same for him. Dean watches while the two turn to smoke and disappear.

Cas takes Sam back to the Bunker. Toni is waiting and uses an Angel sigil to zap Cas. She tells him who she is. A member of the London chapter of the Men of Letters. They keep to themselves and their studies, but the old men have simply had enough of Sam and Dean’s shenanigans! He’s just a hunter, playing with things he doesn’t understand, doing more harm than good. She wants to know where Dean is, and Sam says he’s dead. She pulls a gun on him and despite Sam telling her to put it down, and telling her they both know he’s not going to pull the trigger, she does.

Meanwhile, Dean finds Mary (Samantha Smith) in her iconic white nightie, wandering around disoriented in the graveyard.

Of course, there have been extensive spoilers about what comes next – check out the long list of promos, synopses, and photos on the site! What will it mean to have Mary back? How is Toni going to fit into the long story? Looks like it’s a new blonde for each of the Winchester brothers! I will admit that I’m a lot more interested in Mary’s coming story. We all know how much Dean loved his mother and missed her, but if Amara was going to bring back Mary, why not go all the way and bring back John too? Might be because Jeffrey Dean Morgan is too busy playing Negan on The Walking Dead… The teasers for season 12 are intriguing, but my biggest objection to this episode is that in the end, it was just too easy to get Amara to stand down and make nice. It felt like she’d never really been any threat at all.

What did you think of this final episode? Where does season 11 fit on your scale of the seasons? Are you looking forward to season 12? What are you most excited about? Let me know your thoughts in the comments below!

About the Author - Lisa Macklem

I do interviews and write articles for the site in addition to reviewing a number of shows, including Supernatural, Arrow, Agents of Shield, Agent Carter, The Walking Dead, Game of Thrones, The X-Files, Defiance, Bitten, Killjoys, and a few others! I'm active on the Con scene when I have the time. When I'm not writing about television shows, I'm often writing about entertainment and media law in my capacity as a legal scholar. I also work in theatre when the opportunity arises. I'm an avid runner and rider, currently training in dressage.

Recent Reviews (All Reviews)