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piierogis
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Supernatural: Lebanon (2019)
Saccharine.
With the show going on for 15 seasons, it was pretty much inevitable that John Winchester would make a reappearance. They've already brought back Mary, so why not John? But while Mary got a whole storyline with good character arcs for both her and the boys, John got... this.
If I had to describe this episode in one word, it would be saccharine - it's super sweet to see the whole family reunite! It's good to see them be happy after they've gone through so much! (even if it, weirdly, happens while an apocalyptic threat looms in the very same room and is not even recognised)
And... that's it. It's all sugar and not much more. And I could have accepted it if it was Mary being brought back from the dead for one episode while John had been back permanently. But it's John! And when I think about the relationship between John and his sons, the first thing that comes to mind is Dean lashing out about him, long ago, in s03e10:
"My father was an obsessed ***! All that *** he dumped on me about protecting Sam -- That was his ***! He's the one who couldn't protect his family! He's the one who let mom die! Who wasn't there for Sam! I always was! It wasn't fair! I didn't deserve what he put on me!"
Sure, it's been years. Their dad is dead and they miss him. It changes things, it makes you remember the good rather than the bad. Still, watching this episode was one hell of a whiplash. Are we ignoring everything that was estabilished about John Winchester in the early seasons in favour of a nice family dinner?
It's not like John Winchester couldn't make an appearance in a more interesting way. We could've finally learned what happened to him after s2 (we later get a mention that he is in heaven, but up to that point there was nothing). There could have been a proper conclusion to Sam and Dean's relationship with him - maybe they still love him because he's their father, but he also abused them terribly and deprived them of a proper childhood. We could have seen Mary confronting him about this. John is a complicated character and should be treated as such, but it all got abandoned in favor of family fluff. It reads like a mediocre fanfiction.
Seeing how fun the 100th and 200th episodes have been, I expected something more.