ABANDONMENET PARTY 2 EPILOGUE AND ALL OF DRAFT 4: COMPLETE!
BOOK COVER: COMPLETE!
Yes, they were both finished at the same time. Maura Watkins did an AMAZING job and put everything on the cover exactly as I asked. And yes, I’ll just say her name instead of being vague. Her name will be credited, after all.
And speaking of vague, it is time for the final vague poem of the book:
A crone and elder creep along the wretched ceiling;
masked actors bow and keep the sour fruits a-peeling;
executioners gather here, at creation’s end;
it’s rather far, the hateful grudges those siblings send.
This epilogue did not need much work; Kim was fine with almost everything. I added a bit more detail just to make it interesting.
I don’t believe that there are any major changes to make to the book at this point, so I’ll just go through the entire thing as many times as it takes to finish everything up.
The ‘polishing’ phase.
Not much else to say until completion, but I’ll still check in every month.
And of course I’ll have to talk about the shows, comics, and anime I’m watching/reading.
So here we go! Spoilers for Castlevania: Nocturne season two and Supernatural up to S7: E10.
Castlevania: Nocturne Season Two:
I think I said this before, but this series is much more consistent than the first one. In the original Castlevania show, either the episode was drop-dead boring, or the most thrilling thing I’ve ever watched. No middle ground.
Nocturne cuts out most of the boring side characters and focuses on Richter Belmont, his family, and his friends. They get those wanna-be philosopher side characters outta there and gave me some whip-flinging action!
(There is still some side character nonsense but at least it’s short. And one is a good singer.)
And wow, episode five of this season is almost ALL battling from beginning to end. Wild stuff.
But if you’re looking for a deep story, there’s not much here. It’s pretty much ‘there’s an evil vampire savior and we’ve gotta stop ’em.’
The usual tropes are all present: you’ve got the heroes that can’t tap into their full power; the heroines that are tapping into TOO MUCH dangerous power; and the old heroes that need to step up to help the younger generation.
In the end it works out. The group struggles through, the Castlevania music starts, and you get to behold the gorgeous vampire-splattering animation. 😅
Supernatural: I really can’t believe I’m still watching this. I figured I’d get bored or that the show would drop in quality by now. But man, it just keeps going with interesting ideas.
Last time I left off in season six, where the ‘Mother of All Monsters’ has broken free from Purgatory. How will the bros stop her?
Frontierland – There’s only one thing that can kill the MoAM: a dose of phoenix ashes! And of course the only way to find some is to travel back in time to the old American west. Trust me, it all makes sense after they read Colt’s diary.
Castiel sends the bros back in time with the power of souls. Neato. The man himself, Colt, finally shows up in this one. He shows off his wisdom of all things bizarre and arcane by instantly believing Sam’s story of being from the future. (Sam reveals his smartphone as proof.) I only wish we got more time with him.
They narrowly miss catching the ashes, but ol’ Colt pulls a ‘Back to the Future 2’ and leaves the ashes at the post offices for a few decades. Centuries? I’d be a bad time traveler. 😗
Mommy Dearest – The bros actually kill the MoAM with the ashes. I seriously did not expect that. And in such a clever way, too.
And zounds! Crowley is alive. Nice spoilers, Netflix graphic. 🙄
But what’s this!? He’s working with Castiel to find Purgatory!? No, bro! Say it ain’t so!
The Final 3 Episodes of the Season – Yeah, I forgot what happens in which episode. But Castiel’s ‘war in Heaven’ is fully explained, along with the internal struggles he’s had.
I really appreciate that! I didn’t think I’d get an explanation. Whenever Castiel showed up earlier in the season he’d just be like ‘Boys, I’m super busy with this civil war. Trust me, it’s crazy.’ I figured it was just a lazy way to keep him out of the story.
But Castiel was working with Crowley the entire time, and they were going to split up the souls in Purgatory to fuel their own takeovers: Crowley in Hell, and Castiel in Heaven. Very nice work, Supernatural crew!
It doesn’t all go as planned, though. The season ends with Castiel taking ALL the souls for himself. Yes, he eats them. Then he proclaims himself God, and that the bros should kneel and worship him.
Kind of a strange way to end the season. I think some ‘godly’ music would have helped. But there was no choir! No latin! Not even a pipe organ! What were the music people thinking!? Castiel just stands there and says ‘I’m God’ with no glorious backup!? Fade to black. Credits. C’mon.
Again, I’d be very disappointed if I had to wait months before the next episode. But I don’t. 😗
Season 7: Castiel, drunk on soul power, has turned into Light Yagami from Death Note. That means everyone he deems ‘evil’ is getting wasted in record time.
The bros, realizing that weapons are useless, decide to summon Death himself to kill Castiel. Death doesn’t do as he’s told, but he reveals a shocking secret: the souls Castiel absorbed weren’t all humans. Some souls are leviathans, trapped in Purgatory by God himself. And it’s TOO MUCH soul for ol’ boy Castiel to handle.
So Castiel, his body ready to burst, agrees to let the souls go back. They come pouring out of him like the finale of that one Nightmare on Elm Street flick. Hey, that’s great! Only one problem: The leviathans ‘hold on’ and stay inside him! Ha,ha oh no. 😆
Castiel then falls into a water reservoir and disperses completely into a blob of black goop. No way. He’s dead!? But what about the Netflix graphic?
I suppose it will make a fine memorial. RIP. 😔
The Girl Next Door – Okay enough of that. The black goop has possessed people all over the nation, but now it’s time to work the next case.
It seems that Sam’s first love was a kitsune, a brain-eating creature. He met her as a boy, and secretly helped her escape death from Dean and his dad.
You see, she was a good Kitsune. But now she’s started killing again. Sam goes off on his own to find her as we see many informative flashbacks. The kitsune explains that she only murdered bad people so that her sick son could FEED. On brains. But it’s only temporary! So Sam lets her live.
When Dean hears the sad story he also goes off on his own. To kill her! Yeah! He just stabs her to death and then pulls a Kill Bill on her son.
“You feel raw right now. Come find me in twenty years. We’ll settle the score.”
I don’t know. It’s been twenty years since I’ve seen the movie, so that little girl should be ready.
Defending Your Life – Ah! Here we go! Another Red Dwarf plot! Yeah, you remember The Inquisitor episode of Dwarf? ‘A replicant survives until the end of time! THEN! He travels throughout the timestream judging every individual.’
And just to make things fair, the Inquisitor has the unlucky smeghead judged by… themself!
In this Supernatural episode, the role of the Inquisitor is played by Osiris, Egyptian god of the Underworld. So a bit different.
But man, everything else is just like Red Dwarf! Just replace ‘the old backfiring time gauntlet trick’ with ‘stabbed from behind with a ram’s horn.’
Charisma Carpenter and James Marsters Guest Star – Incredible. I never thought I’d see these two legends of Buffy again. They play a magic-using married couple.
They really elevate the episode, too. I wouldn’t have cared for this one if ol’ Cordy wasn’t in it. 😅
Slash Fiction – The leviathan-possessed people finally decide to kill the Winchester bros by replicating their DNA, transforming into them, and going on a slaughter-fest throughout the country. Yes, just like in Kill Bill! I mean, wait, it was some other movie. 🤔
And get this: the magic substance that melts leviathans isn’t silver or dead man’s blood or something complicated. It’s soap! Ha,ha,ha isn’t that funny?
Crowley finally showed up too. He tried to strike a deal with the leviathan’s leader. But it didn’t work out, and Crowley had to flee for his life again. I guess he’ll be teaming up with the bros again soon enough…. 😎
Also, Sam finds out that Dean killed his Kitsune friend. He struts off in a furious rage, never to be seen again.
The Mentalists – Or not! Dean and Sam run into each other on the very next job! (The characters do mention that over a week had passed since they split up.)
But sheesh, ANOTHER ghost episode? They’ve all been going the same way:
- Discover a ghost is killing people.
- The bros find a painting of a dead person that holds a grudge. There is also someone else in the painting that definitely is not evil.
- Burn the bones of the first dead person with half the episode left to go.
- Oops! The ghost is still killing people. It’s the other person in the painting.
- One brother holds off the ghost while the other brother faces off against the necromancer that is sleeping with the skeleton of the ghost in their bed.
At least the town of fake magicians was fun. And the bros’ drama was resolved rather quickly.
So—I’m about halfway through the series at this point aren’t I? I’ll see you all next ti—
EDIT: I almost wrapped this post up, but then I saw the episodes where Bobby dies. I gotta write about it. I mean, I’ve been bracing for this for a long time. Not because I knew for certain it would happen, but because that’s the sort of place these stories like to go. The ‘death of the mentor’ trope.
And as a writer, I could see the signs. We had the fake-out death at the start of the season. And in the fatal episode Bobby had a ‘find a reason to live’ talk with Dean. And then Bobby gets captured by the leviathans, escapes, and finds vital info that the bros MUST know.
By the time I got to the getaway from ‘Dick’ I could sense it. The bros. pull up in a van. The shots sound as Bobby hops in the back of the moving vehicle and closes the door. With the bros in the front, they assume they’ve made another last-minute victory. But then they see that worn trucker’s cap on the floor and a bullet hole punched through the front. 😥
I didn’t really expect Bobby to last this long, really. He isn’t on the Netflix graphic and all the bros’ other friends die all the time. Like I said, this is about the half-way point of the show. It would be a good spot for it. Although, it’s not like the writers knew the future. 😕
And the next episode called ‘Death’s Door‘ was amazing. Bobby, comatose, is inside his own mind, running from a reaper. We follow the bros in the hospital, coming to grips with the inevitable as Bobby fights for his life from the inside. Or rather, he fights for JUST enough life to reveal the leviathan info to the boys before he passes on.
And Rufus is inside Bobby’s mind too. (The actor from 21 Jump Street.) Great! One last ride.
Although who knows? Maybe Bobby comes back. Gosh, I’d look silly writing all this if he just pops back to life like he did when Lucifer ‘killed’ him. But this seems final. (Although we never actually saw Bobby go with the reaper.)
As far as the show is concerned, I think it can go on without Bobby. But I’m worried about the lack of characters. They’ve all died! I mean, who else is there now? Crowley? I assume Castiel will come back at some point, but he’s been gone half the season.
Ugh, I just remembered some dorky dude from a couple episodes back. The wedding episode. He was some apprentice of Bobby’s I think. I sure hope that dude isn’t the new Bobby. 😑
Okay, I’m out for real this time! See you later, space cowboy!