Alice’s Top Ten Supernatural Episode Endings
2. The ones where Winchesters die and we cry
What, you knew I’d cop out on the choices somehow!
“All Breaks Loose Part I”
Sam! You see, I saw this episode for the first time while season three was in full force, so I knew the death didn’t stick. Still, I bust out into tears over watching Dean die inside. Heck, I still bust out in tears to this day just thinking about that scene.
Remember, these were days when Winchester deaths weren’t cliché. It isn’t the fact that Sam died, it’s the way he died and Dean’s mind-blowing reaction. His death may have been sharp and somewhat quick, but we still flutter our lower lips at the idea of Sam having his spinal cord cut clean through. Nooo Sammy! All that remains in his time left is the flickers of his brain shutting down, flickers that Dean uses to deliver hope even though he knows it’s bad. They were words more for Dean than anyone, who didn’t want to believe that this was real. Quietly Sam slips away in his arms and Dean’s harsh reality, plus the single man tear, rips our hearts out of our chests.
I may not have seen this live but at least there’s consolation that fans who did only had to wait a week for an outcome. Could you imagine living all summer with that? I have a hardship with the time it takes selecting the next episode on the DVD.
“No Rest For The Wicked”
Dean! Oh man, Winchester deaths are just so hard. Now it’s Dean’s turn, an event they pushed at us as an inevitability all season. Imagine our shock when it actually happened! We were waiting for Kripke to pull that rabbit out of his hat, that one technicality in 80 million that would get Dean out of it. Nope. He became puppy chow. In dramatic, gory, make a fan girl scream at the top of her lungs fashion. It was brutal, intense, violent, and poor poor Sammy could only watch helplessly with the rest of us. Then when it becomes obvious that Dean is gone, Lilith turns for Sam next. We’re left to stew all commercial break over how Sam is going to (or not) get out of this one. The white ray of destruction doesn’t work? Sam is immune? Whoa, that’s just as stunning as Dean being torn to shreds. Once Lilith bails in fright, another very harsh reality sets in and it’s Sam’s turn to cry. Oh, and me too.
But wait! It’s not done! No, Mr. Kripke adores knife twisting. Through his vacant eye we see Dean has indeed arrived in Hell, hanging on chains and meat hooks and in terrified voice screaming Sam’s name. I vividly recall watching that finale when it aired. I didn’t cry after that. I curled up in the corner bawling. Oh, and plotting the lynching of Eric Kripke while stressing over the fact I had to actually wait all summer this time for an outcome.
1. Nightshifter, Lazarus Rising (Tie)
Yeah, I hear the cop out shouting again, but these were the episodes that whipped me up into such a HUGE frenzy, I wanted the next episode NOW!! Okay, in both cases I got to see the next episode right away, but the point is I was freaking eager. This show is really great at the sappy endings, but let’s face it, there have been several. Only two episodes though gave us the total, kick ass, HELL YEAH! type endings. How could I pick one over the other?
“Nightshifter.” Honest, did anyone predict how that was going to end? This bank hostage situation went out of control fast enough. Throw in the FBI storming the castle because Sam and Dean are on their most wanted list while the brothers deal with an unhinged yet loveable vigilante and a shapeshifter with unknown identity and it’s a thrill ride that can’t possibly end well. Sure they were likely going to get away, but how??? I didn’t catch on at first it was Sam and Dean in the swat uniforms. Not until they approached the Impala. Of course I was already too stunned to hear the opening lyrics Styx’s “Renegade.” Sam and Dean climb into the Impala, remove the swat masks, and both have the same shaken looks on their faces. The song breaks, and Dean summarizes the entire situation in four deadly accurate words. “We are so screwed.” Tommy Shaw yells, “Renegade” kicks into high gear, the Impala peels away, and I’m fist pumping. Awesome! No disappointing finish there.
So nothing could top that ending, huh? Not so fast. If you’re going to introduce angels into a demon slanted mytharc, might as well do it at the end of the season opener and do it with a bang. “Lazarus Rising” was already gripping. Why was Dean pulled out of Hell? By whom? What’s Sam been doing while Dean is gone, and why is he yanking black smoke out of demons with his mind? That reveal was mind blowing enough. Enter Castiel, aka, an “angel of the Lord.” Dean doesn’t believe it and is actually chilled by the news. Our blue eyed angel, complete with devout loyalty to God and some bad ass angel wings, tries to show Dean compassion, but ends up also being very curious about Dean’s cynical reaction. “You don’t think you deserve to be saved?” All I’m thinking is “Who is this guy playing Castiel and can he stay forever?” Best entrance of a new character ever! Dean cuts to the chase. Why did he rescue him from Hell? Close up on Castiel, cue the dramatic finishing music. “Because God commanded it. Because we have work for you.” Whoa!! New ball game. Can I play?
So, there’s my take. As you can tell, no scientific method was harmed in the making of this list. Coming tomorrow, Ardeospina’s version. Stay tuned!
I have to wait until tomorrow for Ardeospina’s list? Huh.
One thing on the ending to Good God Y’All that you didn’t mention is Sam’s three knees.
Great list, Alice. But I’d suggest an honorable mention to Fresh Blood too. The last scene always kills me. Dean offering his treasured car to little brother as if saying: ‘I love you and I want you to be OK when I’m gone.’ Just plain beautiful. Sera Gamble is a goddess. 🙂
Fantastic list and given how my lists always have 13, I’ll never accuse you of copping out. You just need to build the cop out into the structure itself. 😀
Oh man, making a list of endings? I’d have to further cop out by having a season finale one, a Kleenex one, a non-Kleenex one. Devil’s Trap is so visceral, I loved Lazarus Rising because *that* is how you do epic. Make it human, make it *mean* something, not just an amped-up game of Risk.
And I have to second AndreaW’s suggestion, such a cool brotherly moment.
Ah, Alice, you’re not alone in liking a distressed Sam… Jared is marvellous in those scenes. Even though he’s great at comedy, he’s fantastic in tragic scenes… And I, personally, am a sucker for tragic stories… They seem altogether more realistic…. Ah, that sounds sick now.
What I wanted to say : great list, many of my favourites there. I love the death scenes, of course (don’t we all?) and those moments when Sam is slipping away, and we realize he is dead a heartbeat before Dean does – yep, I keep searching for that damn weeping box…
I loved the end of the Pilot, too. As much as I could see from teary eyes – it was so troubled, so matter-of-fact and therefore even more heartbreaking. And the end of Heart! Come on, how could you forget that!? I guess my all-time-favourite is Heaven And Hell. It is easily epic.
Loved all your suggestions, though, except that you left out Heart (sniff).
Cheers, Jas
Superb list, Alice, but “Heart” should have been on it as one of the biggest weepers. Sam’s loss of innocence and Dean’s realization that he can no longer protect his little brother from monster hurt always crushes me. While it’s not death in the literal sense, it’s death in Dean’s mind of his ability to shield Sam from having to do the worst–kill someone you love.
Love the list–most of my favorites are here! Can’t wait to see Ardeospina’s. One of my favorite endings? In My Time of Dying– that’s the one that stunned me and made me realize this show had got its hooks into me. I was totally surprised by how crummy I felt after. John didn’t seem to be around for S4, but I wasn’t expecting to see him go then!
Faellie–huh? Sam’s 3 knees? Am I missing something obvious, I don’t get it…
I actually did kind of guess at the ending of Nightshifter, only after the Swat Team showed up. And that’s only because I watched “Ocean’s Eleven” with friends the night before! Didn’t make it ANY less awesome, though.
ElenaM, its a continuity/editing error at the end of Good God Y’All that just bugs me. Sam and Dean are sitting at a picnic table, and we see a long shot where Sam lifts his right leg over the bench. Then there’s a close-up where Dean asks Sam if he wants to take the Impala, and when he refuses Sam’s right knee goes over the bench again. Three knees. I really like the ep, and the ending, but that one gets to me everytime since I noticed it.
Come to think of it, maybe I shouldn’t have mentioned it.
I didn’t wanna comment until I saw both of yours lists. The similarities are different and the differences are really interesting. It’s cool to see two peoples takes on same scenes. This was a really nice idea, I hope you guys do it again sometime!
A really wonderful list Alice. Love your picks. I find it impossible to do this kinda list. There are just TOO many candidates. I can’t make a top50 even if I wanted to 😀
I’m always very excited for the endings. The ending really makes the eppie for me, you know? And our show has the best endings. I tried to think of a weak one, and didn’t come up with any!
I agree on the Family Remains ending that it was too similar to Heaven & Hell but since we had hellatus to deal in between those eppies, I’m giving them a pass.
Even though I can’t make top10 lists, I have to say that the best ending for me is the end of AHBL part 1. Two reasons. That was the eppie that got me hooked. And that was the eppie that killed Sam. It was brutal. Haunting. And I’ll never forget it. I’ve never felt so crushed over a damn TV show. And since I didn’t know if it was the last episode of the season, or the series,(came across this while channel surfing) I was seriously freaking out. Brilliant, brilliant ending.
Thanks Alice. I really, really love this lists 🙂
Alice, can I say I lurve you dearly after closing out the list with an ending that involves that greatest Supernatural character of all time? Not to mention the screen shot is pretty hot.
And have you noticed that ever since his first entrance Cas has always been kind of a diva when it comes to appearing somewhere? He even does so in ways that are funny as heck like in “My Bloody Valentine”.
Great list, Alice! It was really cool to see where we agreed and disagreed on these endings, and to hear your take on them. I’m glad you had more from season 5, too, because I just don’t think I’ve watched the episodes enough to get the full effect of some of them. I need those DVDs stat!
And I wish I had known that 13 choices was a possibility… 😉
Thanks, Faelllie– No worries, sometimes nitpicks bug me too but this one’s actually kind of funny 😀 Must agree with Supernarttu, LOVED the compare/contrast lists & hoping for more! And yeah, great endings could be a top 50 list easy. Jennifer: lol.
Oh, btw, just an addendum to my earlier comment, when I said I kinda saw the end of Nightshifter coming I just meant the boys escaping in SWAT outfits, not that the shifter was hiding out as a corpse–didn’t see that coming, both twists were very cool
This is so hard! So many goodies … I’m a big gurly wuss so I hate the tearjerkers. My top 3 are probably Nightshifter cos it’s all round fabulous, the Black Truck Of Doom as it made me jump out of my skin and spill Stella all over the cat and provided the first of many You-Bastard-Kripke! moments to treasure and the fake sunset in Hollywood Babylon as it’s almost cheerful and I can only take so much gloom and despondency ( Eh? What’s that? What do you mean, find another series? 😆 ) Same goes for the disc-wiping-widget in Ghostfacers V. Party-hat-fancying-corpse-collector-bloke.
Can’t choose … Brain hurts …
Hi Alice and Ardeospina
I’m just going to comment here…no point writing the same thing twice.
Kudos to both of you for being able to bring it down to 10(or 13 depending how you look at it).
There is just too many choices and I agree with all your picks and everyone else’s.
I also liked the endings in Everybody loves a Clown …Sam’s little confession and Dean’s release of his agony over his fathers death. :cry::
And in Nightmare, Dean trying to reassure Sam that everything is going to be ok, but his expression as he is leaving says otherwise. 🙁
Can’t wait for your next LIST OFF… 😀