"Carry On" | |
---|---|
Supernatural episode | |
Episode no. | Season 15 Episode 20 |
Directed by | Robert Singer |
Written by | Andrew Dabb |
Cinematography by | Serge Ladouceur |
Editing by | James Pickel |
Production code | T13.21770 |
Original air date | November 19, 2020 |
Guest appearance | |
Jim Beaver as Bobby Singer (special guest star) | |
"Carry On" is the series finale of the American television series Supernatural . It serves as the 20th episode of the fifteenth season, and the 327th overall. The episode was originally broadcast on The CW on November 19, 2020, and was written by showrunner and executive producer Andrew Dabb and directed by co-showrunner Robert Singer. The show stars Jared Padalecki and Jensen Ackles as Sam and Dean Winchester, two brothers who hunt demons, ghosts, monsters, and other supernatural beings. The episode shows Sam and Dean six months after the events of the previous episode, as they begin their final hunt together which ends in tragedy.
In January 2019, the CW renewed the series for a fifteenth season. In March, various cast members revealed that the new season of the show would be its last, with the series finale scheduled to air on May 18, 2020. However, production was shut down due to the COVID-19 pandemic with two episodes left to film, which resumed in August, and concluded in September 2020. The finale, which was rescheduled to air on November 19, 2020, was preceded by a special titled The Long Road Home. In its initial broadcast, "Carry On" received positive reviews from critics, who deemed the episode a satisfactory conclusion to the series.
As revealed in the season finale of The Winchesters , for Dean, the spin-off show takes place following Dean's death in "Carry On", but before he reunites with Sam in Heaven at the end of the episode.
Six months after the events of the previous episode, Sam (Jared Padalecki) and Dean Winchester (Jensen Ackles) resume their regular lives hunting monsters. Sam is still expressing sadness with his allies Castiel (Misha Collins) and Jack Kline (Alexander Calvert) gone but Dean reassures him that they now have a chance to live a "more normal life".
In Akron, Ohio, intruders break into a family's house. The father is killed with his body drained of blood, the mother has her tongue removed and the children are kidnapped. Sam and Dean investigate and use their father's journal to identify the intruders as vampires he had hunted in 1986, predicting that their next target is Canton, Ohio. Following them, they kill one of the intruders and force the other to reveal the location of the children, who are at a barn. Once there, Sam and Dean free the children but they fight the vampires, with Sam being knocked out.
One of the vampires is Jenny (Christine Chatelain), a woman that they had failed to save from being turned into a vampire 15 years prior. Sam wakes up and they kill the vampires but Dean is impaled in the back by a spike. Sam intends to leave to find medical supplies but Dean has him stay, as his wound appears to be fatal. Dean reassures him that this was always how it was going to end for him and thanks Sam for everything, telling him he loves him and is proud of him. After saying goodbye, Dean dies in Sam's arms. The next day, Sam burns Dean's body in a funeral pyre.
Dean finds himself in Heaven and reunites with Bobby Singer (Jim Beaver) outside of the Roadhouse bar. Bobby reveals that after becoming God, Jack and Castiel reshaped Heaven to give everyone anything they wanted and tore down all of the walls keeping the souls separated from each other. After being told that his friend Rufus Turner (Steven Williams), and his parents John Winchester (Jeffrey Dean Morgan) and Mary Winchester (Samantha Smith) live in the surrounding area, Dean takes the Chevrolet Impala for a ride through Heaven as "Carry On Wayward Son" plays on the radio.
Sam continues with his life, getting married and having a child, whom he names after Dean. As he grows older and his health deteriorates, he is visited by Dean Jr. who is shown to have become a hunter as well before Sam peacefully dies of natural causes. He then reunites with Dean in Heaven, on a version of the bridge first seen in the pilot episode.
In January 2019, The CW renewed Supernatural for a fifteenth season. [1] In March 2019, cast members Jared Padalecki, Jensen Ackles, and Misha Collins confirmed that the fifteenth season would be the last. Series creator Eric Kripke commented that "In a show about family, it is amazing, and it is the pride of his life, that it became family. So thank you guys for that." [2] With 15 seasons and 327 episodes, the show holds the title as the longest-running show in The CW's history. [3]
The series finale was originally set to air on May 18, 2020. [4] However, in March 2020, Warner Bros. Television shut down production on the series due to the COVID-19 pandemic with two episodes, including the finale, left to go. [5] Showrunner and executive producer Andrew Dabb revealed that the season would go on hiatus after episode 13 of the season, broadcast on March 23. Dabb clarified that the series had completed production on 18 of the 20 episodes for the season, but the post-production process could not be completed on the episodes because of the shutdown in production. Dabb also assured that the series' cast and crew, The CW, and Warner Bros. were fully committed to filming and airing the unproduced episodes with its proper finale. [6]
In August 2020, The CW announced that the season would resume airing on October 8, 2020, and that the series finale would air on November 19, which was preceded by a special titled The Long Road Home. [7] Filming on the last two episodes began in Vancouver on August 18, and concluded on September 10, 2020. [8] [9]
According to an interview with Entertainment Weekly , the original plans for the series' final moments would have had Dean going to Heaven and finding a party being held in a version of the Roadhouse Bar. In attendance would have been various characters from throughout the series along with Kansas themselves performing the titular song. [10] The pandemic forced the studio to cancel this idea and the ending was rewritten.
The episode received 1.4 million viewers and was the most-watched Supernatural episode since April 2019. [11]
"Carry On" received mainly positive reviews. Emily Tannenbaum of IGN gave the episode an "amazing" 9 out of 10 and wrote in her verdict that "the Supernatural series finale took its time, gracefully balancing reference and nostalgia with a hunt and endgame worthy of its legacy." [12] Alex McLevy of The A.V. Club gave the episode a B+ and praised the episode for its story, conclusion of major character arcs, and its ending that gave him an "emotional gut punch" and ended the series as "a damn good one." [13] While Saim Cheeda of Screen Rant lauded the episode for focusing on the Winchesters, [14] Maryann Sleasman of TV Guide wrote, "I may not be thrilled by where we ended up, but the trip has been incredible." [15]
Jensen Ross Ackles is an American actor and musician. He is best known for his portrayal of Dean Winchester in The WB/CW dark fantasy drama series Supernatural (2005–2020) and appearing in television series such as NBC's Days of Our Lives as Eric Brady, super soldiers Ben/X5-493 and Alec/X5-494 in Fox's Dark Angel, Jason Teague in The WB/CW's Smallville and Ben/Soldier Boy in Amazon Prime Video's The Boys. He also starred as the lead in the box office success My Bloody Valentine 3D, and provided the voices of Jason Todd in the animated film Batman: Under the Red Hood and Bruce Wayne/Batman in the animated adaptation of Batman: The Long Halloween, Legion Of Super-Heroes, and Justice League: Warworld.
Jared Tristan Padalecki is an American actor. He is best known for playing the role of Sam Winchester in the TV series Supernatural. He rose to fame in the early 2000s after appearing on the television series Gilmore Girls (2000–2005) as well as the films Cheaper by the Dozen (2003), Flight of the Phoenix (2004), Cry Wolf (2005) and Friday the 13th (2009).
Supernatural is an American television series created by Eric Kripke. It was first broadcast on September 13, 2005, on The WB, and subsequently became part of successor network The CW's lineup. Starring Jared Padalecki as Sam Winchester and Jensen Ackles as Dean Winchester, the series follows the two brothers as they hunt demons, ghosts, monsters and other supernatural beings. Along with Kripke, the series' executive producers included McG, Robert Singer, Phil Sgriccia, Sera Gamble, Jeremy Carver, John Shiban, Ben Edlund and Adam Glass. Former executive producer and director Kim Manners died during production of the fourth season. The series was produced by Kripke Enterprises, Wonderland Sound and Vision, and Warner Bros. Television.
John Eric Winchester is a fictional character on The CW's series Supernatural and the protagonist of the comic book spin-off series Supernatural: Origins. Developed by series creator Eric Kripke, the character is mainly portrayed by Jeffrey Dean Morgan. John is the father of Sam and Dean Winchester, the show's protagonists.
Meg Masters is a fictional character on The CW Television Network's drama and horror television series Supernatural. Created by the series' writers to develop a story arc for the first season, Meg is an unnamed demon who assumes the name of the host she possesses and begins antagonizing the series protagonists Sam and Dean Winchester. Nicki Aycox portrays her in the first season. Meg returns in the second season, possessing Sam and as such, was played by Jared Padalecki. The writers wanted Aycox to reprise the role in later seasons, but ultimately cast Rachel Miner for storyline purposes. Miner's incarnation evolves into an ally of the Winchesters and the angel Castiel over the course of the sixth, seventh, and eighth seasons.
Robert Steven Singer is a fictional character in The CW Television Network's horror-drama television series Supernatural portrayed by Jim Beaver. Named after the show's executive producer, Bobby first appears in the first season finale "Devil's Trap." Although Beaver believed his role would merely be a "one-shot deal," Bobby has become a recurring character on the series, and is one of three characters who has appeared in every season of the show. The character, a "rough but warmhearted" working-class man who hunts supernatural creatures, has evolved over time into a father figure for series protagonists Sam and Dean Winchester. Critics have responded favorably to the character.
The third season of Supernatural, an American dark fantasy television series created by Eric Kripke, premiered on October 4, 2007, and concluded on May 15, 2008. Traveling throughout America, protagonists Sam and Dean Winchester use their father's journal to help them carry on the family business—saving people and hunting supernatural creatures. The season begins with the brothers tracking down the demons released from Hell in the previous season finale. They become allies with a demon named Ruby, who claims to know a way to release Dean from his demonic pact—he had sold his soul to a demon and was given a year to live in exchange for Sam's resurrection—and wants to protect them from the new demonic leader Lilith. As Dean's deadline approaches, their efforts are further hindered by Bela Talbot, a professional thief of occult items who is often at odds with the Winchesters.
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"Fresh Blood" is the seventh episode of the paranormal drama Supernatural's third season on The CW, and is the show's fifty-first episode overall. The episode was written by Sera Gamble and directed by Kim Manners; it was first broadcast on November 15, 2007. The narrative follows the series' protagonists Sam and Dean Winchester as they have their final confrontation with hunter Gordon Walker, who has been turned into a vampire.
The sixth season of Supernatural, an American dark fantasy television series created by Eric Kripke, premiered September 24, 2010, and concluded May 20, 2011, airing 22 episodes. This is the first season to have Sera Gamble as showrunner after the full-time departure of Kripke. The sixth season had an average viewership of 2.27 million U.S. viewers.
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The fifteenth and final season of Supernatural, an American dark fantasy television series created by Eric Kripke, premiered on The CW on October 10, 2019. The series was initially set to conclude on May 18, 2020, but a hiatus occurred after the March 23, 2020, episode owing to production delays caused by the COVID-19 pandemic in the United States. The season resumed airing on October 8, 2020, and the series finale aired on November 19, 2020. The season consisted of 20 episodes and aired on Thursdays at 8:00 pm (ET), with the exception of two March 2020 episodes aired Mondays at 8:00 pm. This was the fourth season with Andrew Dabb and Robert Singer as showrunners. The season follows Sam, Dean, and Castiel's battle against God, who has been manipulating events in their lives including their family, friends, and allies. Angered by their decision to fight him, God jumpstarts the end of everything in creation.