By John Keegan

Coming into this season finale, I had two expectations: first, that the Leviathan plot arc would be resolved, and second, that Bobby would be shuffled off into the great beyond once and for all. Both took place in this episode, but I can't say that the execution was up to the usual level of "Supernatural" excellence.

Having left so much of the "fetch quest" to the finale, it felt like the writers were taking their sweet time. Giving us more detail on Dick Roman's evil plot was perfectly fine, even if it continued to play on the now-tired metaphor of brain-dead Americans feasting on evil processed food. (Fine. We get it. Move on!) Killing off the pretty teenage girls with a good enough metabolism to stay in relative shape despite eating lots of HFCS is a terrible waste. (Though I can't be the only one who thought Dick was planning to use the highly suggestible young women as part of that breeding ground program!)

With so much to do, it seemed like they tried to cram too much into the episode. By the time that Bobby nearly strangled Sam and the brothers were forced to deal with the problem, it felt like something of an afterthought. And that's one of the things a lot of fans were worried about when Bobby returned as a ghost, and his character arc's trajectory was all but telegraphed from the get-go.

Yet for all that it was designed to maximize the cost to the Brothers Winchester as they made their move on the Leviathans, it fell completely flat. Bobby recognized where he was headed, accepted his fate, and then the boys stoically burned the flask that was keeping him tethered to the mortal plane. It was all meant to give Bobby another solid exit, so why was his final moment completely off-screen? All we saw was the glow of the cleansing fire dancing across Sam and Dean's faces. It was an awfully awkward exit for one of the most beloved characters of the series.

This disappointing element of the finale was somewhat mitigated by the more substantial involvement of Castiel. He may still be the severely damaged Castiel, rather than the more familiar one of previous seasons, but he's pretty much the last angel standing at this point, so it's better than nothing. Meg is also front and center, and she always seems to bring good value, given that she's been around since the first season (in one form or another).

The "fetch quest", and its relatively straightforward usage against Dick, was a bit of a letdown. As I mentioned in the review for the previous episode, it might have been better if this process of finding the key relics and items had been spread out over the course of the second half of the season. It all seems to work out too quickly and too well. Granted, there are still Leviathans around, and the world has to recover from Dick's master plan, but it amounted to stabbing him in the neck and being done with it.

I will, however, admit that my disappointment was offset by the knowledge that Crowley used this entire scenario as a means of gaining the upper hand. He clearly knew what was going to happen to Dean and Castiel, and splitting up Team Winchester was at the top of his agenda. Using his legions of demons to wipe up the remaining Leviathans makes sense, as does his apparent plan to use the effects of the Sucrocore field tests as a launching pad for his own Earth-based operations.

I've long said that Crowley would make a solid Big Bad for the eighth season, especially since it would move the series back into the material of its heyday: the Winchesters taking on the King of Hell and his demonic hordes, backed up by Castiel and allies of convenience. I'm sure that the writers could make it work without retreading previous seasons, even if this season turned out to be a retread of the fifth season in a number of ways.

With Dean and Castiel trapped in Purgatory, the real question is what it might take to get them out. There's also the possibility that Bobby's underwhelming final moments in this episode aren't meant to be the end of his involvement with the show. As some have noted, there's the stray possibility that Bobby now resides in Purgatory. Many were waiting to see if Castiel would restore Bobby in the end, and that might not be the closed door it appears to be.

At least there is an eighth season in the works. If this had been the end of the series, it would have been a major disappointment. With Sera Gamble moving on, and Jeremy Carver taking her place as co-showrunner, I have high hopes that the messy season arcs of the past two seasons will be replaced with something a bit more substantial.

John Keegan is Editor-in-Chief for Critical Myth, a partner site of SciFi Vision.