Was the pandemic responsible for Supernatural's lackluster series finale?

Vanity Fair

"Over the course of a staggering 320 episodes, Supernatural, its myriad showrunners, and charming co-leads Jensen Ackles and Jared Padalecki have seemingly done it all, from animated episodes to musicals. In the penultimate episode of the series, the Winchester boys actually defeated God with a capital G," says Joanna Robinson. "So what more could a loyal fandom possibly want? If the salty tweets flooding Twitter Thursday night were any indication, more than they got. Sam and Dean may have toppled God, but even the Winchester boys couldn't overcome COVID-19. Okay, so: what did happen in the finale? Honestly, not much—and that’s part of the problem. In the hour-long retrospective special leading up the final episode, one talking head after another emphasized that the real charm of Supernatural was the brotherly bond between Sam and Dean. While that may be true, it doesn't mean fans were ready for a finale that featured no series regulars other than Sam, Dean, and, briefly, their adopted father figure Bobby (Jim Beaver)." Robinson adds that it's "tough not to view those final two episodes through the lens of a COVID-challenged shoot."

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• In defense of Supernatural's series finale: "I know a lot of fans hated it, because, well, no one wanted this story to end and a lot of us expected the Winchesters to drive into the sunset like they did last week. But this was about the after," says Jessica Mason. "This was the epilogue. It reminded me of the finale scenes of the Lord of the Rings, where Frodo leaves for the Grey Havens to find peace at last, and leaves that other Sam to live a full life. There have been many episodes on Supernatural that were love letters to the fans, and I get that many fans were expecting that here even though COVID made getting the entire band back together impossible. But this was not a love letter, it was a gift of finality and peace to Sam and Dean Winchester, and a homage to who they have always been and how it all started."
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