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Context Recap / SupernaturalS11E23AlphaAndOmega

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2Previous: Recap/SupernaturalS11E22WeHappyFew\
3Next: Recap/SupernaturalS12E01KeepCalmAndCarryOn]
4
5'''[[Recap/{{Supernatural}} Recap]] of ''Series/{{Supernatural}}'''''\
6'''Season 11, Episode 23''':
7! Alpha And Omega
8
9God comes to a decision about Amara that has direct repercussions for Sam and Dean.
10
11Writers: Andrew Dabb
12
13Director: Phil Sgriccia
14
15!!Body Count
16
17For this episode: EverybodyLives (a first for a Supernatural season finale)
18
19For the series so far: At least 1273 humans (of which 19 were witches), 1126 angels, 186 demons, 71 vampires, 52 ghosts, 36 Jefferson Starships, 22 gods, 19 zombies, 17 werewolves, 10 hellhounds, 8 Bisaan, 7 shapeshifters, 7 skinwalkers, 6 changelings, 5 djinn, 5 reapers, 4 dogs, 4 ghouls, 4 Leviathan, 3 Khan Worms, 3 Thule, 2 Amazons, 2 arachnes, 2 kitsunes, 2 rugarus, 2 vetalas, 2 zannas, 1 banshee, 1 cat, 1 crocotta, Death, 1 deer, 1 dragon, 1 fairy, 1 familiar, 1 lamia, The Mother of All, 1 nachzehrer, 1 okami, 1 phoenix, 1 pishtaco, 1 Purgatory creature, 1 qarin, 1 rakshasa, 1 rawhead, 1 shojo, 1 shtriga, 1 siren, 1 soul eater, 1 Titan, 1 wendigo, The Whore of Babylon, 1 wicked witch, and 1 wraith.
20
21!!Tropes
22
23* AbandonedHospital: Sam and Dean visit Waverly Hills Sanitarium. For a creepy bonus, it's also packed with ghosts.
24* AntiClimax: In the end, Chuck manages to convince Amara to heal his mortal injuries and they both have AscendedToAHigherPlaneOfExistence once again, aiming to resolve their differences with one another with Dean's help.
25* ApocalypseHow: A Class Z is happening due to God having been mortally wounded. If he dies, Earth, Heaven, Hell, and everything else will die with him, including Amara. And without the two biggest powers to make anything else, it'd probably stay that way. Thankfully, Amara makes a HeelFaceTurn and heals God, saving it.
26* BackFromTheDead: Amara resurrects Mary Winchester as a thank you to Dean.
27* BalanceBetweenGoodAndEvil: Well, Balance Between Light and Darkness. God and Amara's existences balance each other out, and the destruction of one would not only destroy the other as well but the universe itself. The group decides to try and kill Amara to void both sides and hopefully restore balance.
28* BottomlessMagazines: {{Downplayed}} Sam fires 8 shots out of a shotgun with a maximum capacity of 6 rounds.
29* BriefAccentImitation: Dean indulges in a hilarious imitation of Rowena's Scottish accent, complete with high-pitched voice, as he recounts her instructions regarding the ghost-catching gem. Sam appears as nonplussed as the audience.
30* ClimacticMusic: Amara's HeelFaceTurn and healing of Chuck is accompanied by the sun dramatically brightening along with an awesome electric guitar solo.
31* CrazyPrepared: The British Men of Letters have been apparently watching the Winchesters extremely closely. So closely that they fully expect Sam to walk back to the bunker accompanied by an angel, and have a banishment sigil ready.
32* DarkIsNotEvil: Finally cemented by Amara's HeelFaceTurn. She's really not evil and she was only an "amoral force" as Death described her because she had no exposure to anything outside herself and thus couldn't develop empathy. And because HumanityIsInfectious, Amara developed a kind of humanity of her own as Dean points out.
33* FaceDeathWithDignity: Rather than partake in the soul bomb plan, the angels choose to seal Heaven off and simply await the end.
34* TheFunInFuneral: Before going off to blow himself up, Dean tells everyone that he wants his funeral to have an open bar, a Music/BlackSabbath cover band, and the eulogy read by Creator/GaryBusey.
35* GodzillaThreshold: Making a soul bomb and killing Amara are both this. Obviously turning several hundred thousand souls into a WeaponOfMassDestruction isn't something anyone would want to do normally and God doesn't ''want'' to kill Amara (she IS his sister), but with God dying killing Amara to balance things back out is about the only hope they have of saving the universe (and even then they're not sure it will work and are just guessing).
36* GoKartingWithBowser: While Dean is off implementing the soul bomb plan to try and stop Amara (and then trying to talk her down), Sam, Crowley, Rowena, Chuck, and Cas have nothing much to do...so they break into a bar and spend most of the episode just hanging out.
37* GreenEyedMonster: Amara admits to God that she hated his creations because she couldn't stand the idea of him needing something that wasn't her. She finally comes around to seeing WHY he created them and accepting creation.
38* HeelFaceTurn: Amara finally sees the beauty of God's creation and she rejoins him as brother and sister.
39* HeroicSacrifice: Dean allows himself to become the soul bomb with intent of destroying Amara. Thankfully he figures out another way.
40* HumanityIsInfectious: Dean points this out to Amara that her time experiencing creation has led her to develop her own kind of humanity.
41* INeedAFreakingDrink: Dean and Crowley are happy to get trashed when all hope seems lost.
42* IncestSubtext: Amara and Chuck. The scene in which they finally reconcile and disappear together is written almost romantically. There's also Amara's affection for Dean, which ''had'' been explicitly written and framed as romantic, turning out to be because she sees him as a ReplacementGoldfish... for her brother. There is also a basis for [[BrotherSisterIncest sibling incest with deities and Biblical figures]] and Chuck canonically had relationships with his own creations ("children").
43* KarmicJackpot: Dean helping the two most powerful beings in all creation bury the hatchet and save all creation finally results in Amara and God rewarding him by bringing his mother back to life.
44* KillTheGod: Sam and Dean decide to destroy Amara with a soul bomb. However, Dean finds another way.
45* TheMagicGoesAway: In this case, Chuck and Amara depart the Earth to spend some quality time reconciling with each other. Chuck tells Dean that humanity will be fine because they have him and Sam to watch over them.
46* LoadBearingBoss: It turns out Chuck is this for all creation. When Amara delivered a fatal blow to him, it caused reality to start to unravel and everything would also die including herself. This trope likewise applying to Amara for the same reasons is why God never killed her.
47* MyGodWhatHaveIDone: Or rather, "What Have I Done to God?" Amara has this reaction upon seeing flowers die in reaction to her touch, finally realizing what she has wrought with what amounts to beating up her brother while caught up in a temper tantrum.
48* PowerfulAndHelpless: After delivering the fatal blow to her brother in the previous episode, Amara will die along with him because the cosmic balance has been upset.
49* ThePowerOfLove: What ultimately resolves the conflict between Chuck and Amara. They're still family, after all.
50* PsychopathicManchild: Or Womanchild, anyway. Amara is revealed to be this all along. Her SuicidalCosmicTemperTantrum was all about the fact that she missed her brother and wanted to be with him again without him having other things to focus on than her. When she realizes this, she asks for his forgiveness and to have her brother back.
51* PutOnABus: Chuck and Amara take off to the ether or somewhere to be together. It's unlikely that they'll get involved in the world's troubles again anytime soon.
52* RealityBreakingParadox: What would happen if Chuck or Amara died. Fortunately the only thing powerful enough to kill either of them is each other. Unfortunately Amara already hit Chuck with a fatal blow that would see all of creation including herself die with him.
53* ReplacementGoldfish: Dean gets Amara to admit that he's just a replacement for Chuck as a companion for her. It helps her tor realise that she and Chuck can still be family together.
54* RousseauWasRight: Amara heals Chuck's injuries, helps to avert the apocalypse, and even brings Mary Winchester to life. Since she is the ultimate negating principle of the universe and arguably the reason evil exists, this goes beyond the standard HeelFaceTurn.
55* SkewedPriorities: Lady Antonia makes a transatlantic flight to arrest the Winchesters while all of existence is in the process of fading out, an action that would be completely meaningless if they hadn't saved the world with zero help from her.
56* SoulJar: First the crystal, then Dean himself.
57* SoulPower: ThePlan for killing Amara requires enough power and light to equal 10,000 exploding suns. They decide to collect souls since each one is equivalent to 100 suns each.
58* StarKilling: Chuck's slow death is also causing the sun to slowly die as a prelude to the universe winking out of existence if God dies for real.
59* SuspiciouslySimilarSubstitute: Revealed to be this for Lucifer, of all people. A family member of God who loved Him above all else but, influenced by the Darkness's nature, became jealous and bitter when he created humans and loved them.
60* TakeAThirdOption: Instead of killing Amara or letting creation be destroyed, Dean convinces her to try and reconcile with God and saves the world without either having to die.
61* TalkingTheMonsterToDeath: Dean ultimately does this instead of destroying Amara.
62* TheEndIsNigh: While Dean confronts Amara, Sam, Castiel, Crowley, Rowena and Chuck pass by a group of people holding these signs while on the way to a bar. Crowley quips that they're not wrong.
63* TheyCallMeMisterTibbs: The second type, as Lady Antonia insists that her servant call her "Toni" instead of "milady."
64* ThickerThanWater: Amara just wants her brother back, and forgiveness for all she had done. He grants both.
65* UncertainDoom:
66** At the episode's end, Sam is apparently shot by the Men of Letters agent who was sent for him and Dean, although we don't see him actually hit by the bullet and his fate is left hanging for the next season.
67** Lucifer was ripped out of Castiel in the previous episode, but Cas doesn't say he was outright destroyed, leaving his status and whereabouts as a loose end.
68* VengeanceFeelsEmpty: Dean convinces Amara of this in the process of talking Amara down. Amara admits he's right and revenge didn't make her happy at all.
69--> '''Amara''': I just wanted to hurt him. To make him pay.
70--> '''Dean''': Yeah, that's revenge. It will get you out of bed in the morning, and when you get it? It feels great...for about five minutes.
71* WasItReallyWorthIt: Dean doesn't use the exact words, but he clearly has this idea in mind when he asks Amara if vengeance is ''really'' what she wants, because VengeanceFeelsEmpty and deep down the thing she ''really'' wants is her brother, the very thing her revenge would cost her. Amara's reaction to seeing the effects of God dying earlier implies she'd been asking herself the same question.
72* YouWouldntShootMe: Sam tells Toni that they both know she won't pull the trigger. She does, but whether she actually hit Sam or not remains to be seen.

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