#so if you were gonna be erroneously tragic show

[littlehollyleaf]

you know the WEIRDEST THING about the spn finale for me?

it is NOT the fact that

everything about it straight up (lol, punny) reads as TRAGEDY from my POV

how it is in every respect THE TRAGIC ENDING to the story

in the way literally all of our protagonists get exactly the opposite of what they want or what the narrative built up as best for them

I mean yes - that sucks imo, cos, as I've talked about before, I feel the narrative shifted from Tragedy a long time ago so a Tragic ending simply doesn't fit

but no the WEIRDEST THING

is that while it's very much a TRAGIC ENDING to my understanding

it's being marketed AS A HAPPY ONE?

like, bittersweet yes, but still, so many things are pushing this reading of an ultimately satisfying conclusion in which the in-universe experiences of our heroes are... good/right/hopeful??

both within the episode itself (eg. Dean's various speeches saying 'what is happening is good and right' and the montage of Sam's life and all the supposed paradise in Heaven) and with the various PR comments about the ending continuing to come out talking about how good or fitting or satisfying the end was

so I just...

???

if they wanted a Tragic ending then... fine

I would have disagreed and been overall disappointed but...

damn if my little Tragic loving heart doesn't beat just a ~little bit faster at the thought of the momentary cathartic ~thrill a full on Tragedy would give

if they had just FULL ON EMBRACED THE TRAGEDY, dear god I'd likely have bawled my eyes out

like, idk, showing Dean really struggling over Cas' loss and the culmination of all their battles, showing him happy like in the show with Sam but falling apart alone so we see his apparent recovery is just a show and he's really spiraling back into suicidal - have Eileen explicitly gone as well and maybe all the AU!hunters too? - show Sam dealing by throwing him and Dean manically into hunting in order to cope with his own trauma and try and keep Dean distracted - have some unanswered messages from Jody, Donna and Garth sounding worried - then when Dean dies make it THE FUCKING AWFUL UNFAIR TRAGIC EVENT IT IS with Dean's speech painfully defeatist - zoom in on that job application after so it's super clear all hope of a future that maybe just maybe Dean was slowly starting to claw back to thinking he could have was stolen - have Sam leaving the Bunker mixed in with him giving devastated 'goodbye don't try and contact me I'm done' messages to the hunting network to emphasise how he's once again trying to run away from and cut out that part of his life - then you could basically have the montage of his life as is just give it a less colourful hue, emphasise how unhappy Sam is, how he's going through the motions, living half a life in denial of both the supernatural world and the side of him that belongs in it - and when he dies... heck, skip the scenes in Heaven completely, leave it ambiguous where Dean and Sam have gone... have a small scene with Sam and his son where Sam mutters something about 'hoping' he'll see his brother soon, but we never know... like, maybe they're in Hell... maybe they are trapped as spirits going slowly insane...

just - if they wanted the Tragic ending they could have

MADE IT ~SO TRAGIC OMG

...but instead we have this weird hybrid monstrosity which is trying to be BOTH Tragic AND Happy and as a result manages to be satisfying as NEITHER

and THAT...

that vexes me

I see a lot of (very legit) criticism about how unfair/unfitting/insulting/etc the ending is for giving the characters and story such tragic outcomes

but I've read so many now that I'm honestly just -

I WISH the finale was THE LEGIT TRAGEDY the criticism complains about

because at least ~I might find some satisfaction in that

the problem is that IT'S NOT

I mean it is, but it's not

because the show (and subsequent PR) doesn't TELL IT like a Tragedy

so the more crit I read pointing out how painfully (~poignantly?) tragic the finale was because of x, y or z the more I want to SCREAM not simply because - yes, said tragedy goes against so much of the prior narrative

but because, GOD, each in depth description of the ways the ending is Tragic is really starting to... ~excite me ('Tragedy is my biggest kink' is a tag of mine for a ~reason)

and I cry inside because that's NOT HOW IT COMES ACROSS IN THE SHOW

so now I'm simultaneously frustrated with the finale for being Tragic AND for NOT BEING TRAGIC ENOUGH

ffs sake fml