Welcome Back Baby – Look What Returns for Supernatural’s Season Seven Finale – Updated

Supernatural has been tough on the Winchester brothers and their fans in season seven, taking away so much of what they love — starting with angel-turned-God Castiel (Misha Collins) in the second episode and then Bobby (Jim Beaver) before Christmas in the heart-breaking episode ten, where the fatally-shot father figure comes out of a coma briefly for a final few moments with his beloved “idjits”. Gradually though, these loved ones are returning, albeit in different forms. Castiel is back but sadly and hilariously cuckoo-bananas after too long in the cage with Lucifer. And Bobby is back but as a ghost and a potentially vengeful one at that.

So that leaves Dean’s beloved black Impala unaccounted for, missing since Halloween when two Leviathans took on the forms of Sam and Dean to drive acoss the country in their own black Impala staging a series of public mass killings in the appropriately-titled episode six, Slash Fiction.

Ever since the Impala went into hiding, I have been looking for it each time I found Supernatural filming on location, scouting the area only to discover yet another in the series of not-the-Impalas. I did enjoy the SMD license plate on the chocolate crap-car-of-the-week though. That was a nice touch.

And let’s not forget the bright orange monstrosity driven in last Friday’s There Will Be Blood.

But enough is enough. Producers assured Jensen Ackles that the Impala would be back and it seems they saved the best for last. At a season finale shoot a month ago, not far from the Supernatural studios, look what I found parked on the road.

It was one of three Impalas on set that day. Further down the road at the Nokia head office dressed as Dick Roman’s latest acquisition Sucrocorp, the second Impala was doing stunt work. It seeems to be wearing a gate from the fence.

The third Impala got to do some stunt driving on the road but it wasn’t Dean behind the wheel and I won’t spoil who it was (“We’re going to announce ourselves – big,” said Dean about bringing back the Impala but it was demon Meg doing the driving). After all, I promised some of the Supernatural crew I wouldn’t spoil the return of the Impala either, although others did that day.

If you’re interested,  this is how the Impalas travel between gigs, stacked three high inside this trailer.

Two nights later, Supernatural returned to Nokia as Sucrocorp for an overnight shoot but there was little to see. The action seemed to be around the back where Jared Padalecki’s Sam was fighting someone (turned out to be Bobby inside the body of the pink-uniformed maid).

And then one more day in studio and Supernatural wrapped filming of season seven (the east Van hipster hangout, The Waldorf Hotel, hosted the wrap party).

So see you next season, as the Alpha Vamp said last Friday. Hope all loved ones survive the finale.

UPDATE: Turns out all loved ones did not survive the finale so Supernatural made me cry all over again.