There is always so much anticipation leading up to the Supernatural season premiere, that it’s hard to believe anything could actually live up to it. For weeks, fans have been posting countdowns, fanfiction that picks up where S10 left off and imagines where the Winchesters, Cas and Crowley will go from there, fanvids, fanart, and graphics all in an attempt to get through the long Hellatus without going insane from Supernatural deprivation.
When the big night is finally here, the excitement is palpable all over social media. I might have let my grad students go home a bit early last night. Shhhh…
‘Run Through the Jungle’ was a great way to start. I squeed through the Road So Far and then waited breathlessly to see what would happen next. The first half of ‘Out of the Darkness, Into the Fire’ sort of had me biting my nails more from the waiting for something to happen and having no bloody idea where we were going than from my usual sense of OMG OMG OMG. Then 9:40 happened and suddenly (forgive the Supernatural reference) All Hell Broke Loose!
The first time I dropped the pretzel I was eating and just sat staring at my screen was when someone actually mentioned the CAGE. The Cage?! OMG! And then they mentioned Lucifer. And Michael! Suddenly this episode was getting GOOD. Like, really good. I love it when Show remembers its own history, and its own beloved and iconic characters. Mark Pellegrino and Matt Cohen, are your ears burning??
We had divided story lines once again, but they at least meshed and intersected at times. All the main characters had some good scenes. We had Crowley swapping meat suits (that actress did Crowley justice with how menacing and cheeky she was!) and taking time out for an orgy with the neighbors (and having a hot flash) before returning to the meat suit he loves best – and to Mark Sheppard, who we love best. It struck me that after much talk about Crowley being bisexual, they were only comfortable “going there” with him in a female vessel. Hmm. I guess from Crowley’s pov, it really doesn’t matter though, Crowley was still Crowley. Anyway, I did appreciate Crowley’s reaction to mention of the Cage and the Darkness. And the little bits of humor that Sheppard always adds to what was a pretty dark and tense episode.
Misha Collins really made me feel for poor Cas – and I feel really bad for Misha himself, having to wear whatever sort of contacts cause his eyes to be so horrifically red – it hurts just looking at him. Cas tugged at my heartstrings in this episode, with his plea to Heaven to keep him from hurting anyone and his sad phone call to Dean downplaying his own dire situation. What a Winchester thing to do!
His obvious relief that Dean was finally free of the mark made me reach for the tissues. The last scene with those two menacing angels doesn’t bode well for poor Cas… and neither do the spoiler pics for next episode…
And then there were the Winchester brothers. I actually like it when Show keeps me a little confused – I knew they were going to make the time line a little obscure from what Jensen had said, so I really liked the beginning when it was unclear how much time had passed or where Dean had been. I’m still unclear about when he was talking to the Darkness – was that in the past? In the future? Does Dean remember that conversation or are we seeing something that hasn’t happened yet??
I also liked Dean waking up in a field of flowers, just because what’s not to like about Dean waking up in a field of flowers? I think I might have had that dream once or twice…
All of those dream-like sequences with the Darkness and Dean were gorgeous. (Once again, thanks Serge Ladouceur!) I like the actress playing her too; she had the sort of understated menacing quality that Eve lacked.
But back to confusion. Was the Darkness we saw with Dean the grown up version of that baby, who carries the same mark? Was that in the future or in the past? And why are she and Dean bound? There was some speculation online that the baby was actually Dean’s (and the Darkness), which totally makes my head spin. There was also the wry comment that since Dean released the Darkness and Sam removed the mark, they essentially created the baby. Two Winchesters and a Baby, as EW quipped. But I’m still confused. All that backstory about the mother bleeding out….was that because you don’t survive giving birth to the Darkness? I don’t know where you’re going with this, Show, but I kinda like that not-knowing feeling!
She was right about one thing – Dean did help her. What does that mean going forward?
I also liked the Winchesters TALKING. Sam’s speech didn’t totally make sense to me – the brothers rarely speak clearly to each other, but hey, it’s only a 42 minute Show and this was better than most of the cryptic conversations they have. I loved Sam kinda sorta breaking the fourth wall to reference the Show’s tag line with ‘that’s only half the bumper sticker’. Saving people, hunting things. It was a bit of a heavy handed way to announce the season’s getting back to that mantra, but I’ll take it.
The brothers said some things that needed to be said, that’s for sure.
Dean: “I can’t strap on a time machine and go back and tell Cain to shove that mark up his ass.” “We broke it, we bought it.”
It was inevitable that Dean would feel responsible for bringing on the Darkness, but Sam doesn’t let him take sole responsibility. And I like that. They’re not blaming each other, they’re both taking responsibility for the part each played in this latest apocalyptic disaster.
Sam: “I unleashed a force on this world that could destroy it to save you…And I’d do it again. In a second, I would do it again.” “This isn’t on you. It’s on us.”
I might have jumped up and down a bit at that point, because I’m still not absolutely positively 100% over Season 9 and I need Sam to tell me again and again that he would move heaven and earth to save his brother and does not regret it. I might have replayed that bit a few times.
Sam and Dean, lock and key. Works for me.
The rest of Sam’s speech, about how they needed to change, how they had forgotten the saving people part of the mantra, and how they needed to save everyone and not just each other, didn’t ring quite as true to me. I have never seen the contradiction in saving your own loved one and also trying to save everyone else, and I have always loved that Sam and Dean will go to great lengths to save each other. I realize Show is trying to re-set the basic plot with that rather clunky bit of the speech – but I don’t actually think it was necessary. Neither Sam nor Dean have ever forgotten about saving people – that’s why they were in that hospital in the first place. Otherwise they just could have holed up somewhere and said screw it, let the rest of the world take care of itself! I’m more invested in their story when they are invested in saving someone they care about – each other, Cas, Jody, Donna, etc. I don’t want that to change.
Both brothers were pretty badass in this episode. Mmmm.
Dean has always certainly been focused on saving people, and he was in this episode too — he just was mostly focused on saving the baby. Hey, that’s been a defining theme of Dean Winchester’s life, from the time John put baby Sammy in his arms and said “Run Dean, and don’t look back!” It’s an instinct at this point.
However, I do love that Sam was determined to get through to his brother, and I do love that Dean listened. He didn’t like the plan (and neither did I – Sam, splitting up is never a good idea!) but he did it. He listened to Sam and respected what he had to say and did it his way. I love seeing the brothers working together as a team and both of them being competent and passionate and oh-so-brave. *swoon*
Of course, they wouldn’t be Winchesters if they were totally up front with each other. We got a great action sequence with Sam running with those long long legs trying to evade the Rabids, and then a great horror movie moment when he’s attacked by a Rabid in the dark room he’s sought refuge in. (By this time, I was screaming SAMMM!!! NOOOO!!! so that everyone in my house was quite certain that Supernatural was back…) When the Rabids took one look at Sam and shrugged and left, we all knew it was bad. We leave Sam hurt and alone and infected, and determinedly NOT telling Dean so that he can concentrate on saving the sheriff and the baby. Self sacrifice is as much a part of the Winchester mantra as Saving People, Hunting Things. Sammmmmm!
Dean and the Sheriff and the baby get away, thanks to Sam. Did anyone else get wibbly when Dean told her, with so much conviction, that “you’re going to help each other”? The way taking care of Sammy has been Dean’s reason to live for his entire life? *sniffles*
The whole ‘save the baby’ thing gave me Pilot feels, NGL. (We’ve already established that I freaking love it when Show remembers its own history).
Btw, what is it with this Show and sassy female sheriffs? She got one of the best lines of the episode.
When handed a baby: “I don’t even own a guinea pig!”
Also, “Show me some skin! Both of you!”
Dean: “Is this a Magic Mike thing?”
Everyone watching: We wish!
Cas got one of the best lines too: “The Darkness is a woman?”
Everyone: That’s what we all said!
The episode reminded me quite a bit of “Croatoan,” which is one of my favorite episodes of all time. I’m very much looking forward to Dean trying to save Sam, and both of them trying to save Cas, and Crowley being their perhaps reluctant ally, and Rowena throwing a (very pretty) monkey wrench into everything. I’m very much looking forward to the rest of S11, and that’s what you want from a season premiere, after all.
Misha Collins tweeted a bit of advice before the Show started:
@mishacollins: when you’re overwhelmed with tears & emotion tonight, calm urself by remembering that some of what you’re watching is fiction. #supernatural
Wait, what? It sure doesn’t feel like that sometimes. And I guess that’s a very good thing.
Sometimes the things that make me feel the best are what happens that’s not on the screen. Like Misha tweeting a picture of a whole bunch of SPN alumni watching together.
@MishaCollins: We are using actors as a screen to project the show on tonight. #supernatural
Or Jared tweeting the cast and crew screening as they set up to watch.
Or Kim Rhodes and Alaina Huffman tweeting NSFW comments back and forth during the West coast live tweeting which were too funny for me to be smart and actually go to bed.
Or the fact that we got #supernatural trending before the East coast airing was even done. Sometimes it just feels so damn good to be part of this #SPNFamily. Welcome back, Show!
–Lynn
Celebrate Season 11 by reading more about Supernatural
And the SPN Family – check out our books at the links
at the top of the page! Including chapters written by
Misha Collins and cinematographer Serge Ladouceur!
Thank you for your ever-perceptive review. You always give me things to ponder.
I think with Sam’s speech, he was giving voice to what the fans have been saying for years. The boys have become so focused on killing demons that they don’t even try to save the vessels anymore. Remember Magnificent Seven when Bobby spent all night exorcising demons to save the hosts? This felt like Sam trying to break the cycles they’ve been stuck in and get back to basics. And then he goes sacrificing himself while Dean saves the girl & the baby. What could be more quintessentialy Winchester?
And I agree with you about not really knowing or understanding everything that’s going on. It makes me excited to explore all the questions in the upcoming episodes.
I totally missed that the baby and the darkness might be the same person! Thanks for telling me. Otherwise we had the same fave parts!
Nice summary as usual! I agree that Sam’s speech was about getting back to basics and not saving just each other. Hopefully the writers will follow through with this line of thinking. At the end of last season it felt like season 9 all over again. One of them does something the other doesn’t want and an innocent gets killed, Kevin in season 9 and Charlie in season 10. It was great to hear them both take responsibility and not have one of them chastise the other for mistakes. They are at their best when they listen to each other and balance Dean’s instinct to act first and ask questions later with Sam’s let’s go a little slower and ask what the strings might be before hand. Really loved the actress playing the darkness, like you said she did bring a nice subtle level of malevolence to the character. This was a great season opener and I can’t wait to see when the Road takes Us!!
Thank you for this article !! I love always DEAN !! SUPERNATURAL has come back in town !!!
It surely felt like “Croatoan”! This is exactly what I was telling myself while watching… I liked the episode and I think season 11 has a lot of potential. Hope the writers will take us to all the right places!
Oh, PLEASE don’t tell me Amara is Dean and Darkness’ baby! That is waaaay too soapy for me, and I have a pretty derned high tolerance for ‘soap’ in SPN. 😉 (I figured Amara was going to grow up to be the Darkness’ vessel in some fashion.)
I kinda wish they’d made the Darkness this inhuman, alien force, instead of a personification. If it needed to zip in and out of bodies to get sh*t done, great! But I dunno. I think it’d have been more claustrophobic and terrifying to have it less relatable as something human.
Sam’s speech was a little conflicting and ham-fisted for me too, but I think it had to be done. Dean is pretty notorious for riding rough-shod on Sam’s opinions when they butt up against his own (which is the way it’s pretty much always been, so no surprise there; he IS the big brother, after all), so what tickled me was Dean’s begrudging allowance to let Sam make this call. Both boys have been a smidge neglect lately, when it comes to saving all people. And it’s a tough thing to wrestle with! Do you sacrifice the few for the many? Who deserves salvation more than the next person? They’ve been cacking vessels and meatsuits willy-nilly, with little regard for trying to actually SAVE the victim. And I think Sam was trying to make the point that WE ALL DESERVE SAVING.
Then, of course, he goes and gets himself infected. (Thanks, Carver, heh.) It’s conceivable another reason he didn’t tell Dean on the phone of this turn of events was so that Dean wouldn’t think “Dammit, last time I let Sam pick the plan!” (Maybe I’m not over Season 9 yet myself! I need Dean to respect Sam’s right to speak for himself and mean it.)
Annnywho, this episode laid down a lot of groundwork for the new season and I enjoyed it!
I don’t think Amara is Dean and the Darkness’ baby – I think Amara IS the Darkness.
Me too! Or at least the physical incarnation of the Darkness.
I’m also wondering if Dean is going to be the only one who can see the grown up Amara/Darkness/Personification because they are linked through the Mark. (Well, Cain could, too, I guess. And Lucifer. Wow – that’s a fun trio.) Maybe the Darkness remains an amorphous terrifying entity for everyone else.
One thing is certain, though. It’s nice to see that the Smoke Monster from Lost is working again. He/She hasn’t been in anything since that went off the air.
Your idea that only Dean can see the personification of the Darkness it really interesting! I think you may be spot on!
Oooh, I like this idea! (And huzzah for Smoke employment!)
I really like the idea that only Dean sees the Darkness as adult Amara. That makes a lot of sense to me, since the Darkness is essentially trying to get Dean on its side. After all, a beautiful, dark-haired woman is the go-to apparition choice for entities who don’t want to appear threatening to Dean (Tessa from “In My Time of Dying” is the best example).
Reblogged this on Ana Fraser Lallybroch Blog.
I agree with some of the other commenters–Sam’s speech was actually my favorite part of the episode, because the boys absolutely *do* need to change. While I passionately love this show, sometimes it feels like we’re all spinning our wheels. One brother gets in trouble, he doesn’t tell the other brother, things get tense, other brother eventually has to save the first brother… I think it’s time to get back to basics, be a team, and focus on saving people–“all people,” as Sam puts it. Of course, already Sam is not telling Dean something, but I hope (and think) this is more of a local problem and less of a global one. I want them on the same team, I want them both to make some changes, and I want more of a cohesive, unified storyline this season.
And OH MAN do I want what’s in that Cage. Bring it, Show.
Never mind me putting a spanner in the whole thing, but it sure looked to me like Dean was going all glassy-eyed at Sam’s speech cuz he was feeling pretty consumed with guilt about what he’d almost done to his baby brother, and maybe his agreeing to do whatever Sam suggested (i.e. separating and letting Sam act as decoy) was cuz he was feeling pretty damn bad about being such an idiot.
I’m reserving judgement on Emily Swallow and her Lady Darkness. After watching her on The Mentalist in a rather thankless role (that triggered a huge fan backlash), I’m not sure of how she’ll do when she’s got more to do than stand and say cryptic things to Dean.
I’m also resisting speculating on what will be happening story wise until I see what happens in next week’s episode. It was great to see the boys back in business again!
I still think it’s all a dream. That the boys are still in the Impala and are living through their own demons/darkness in a shared dream. Some of the conversation between the boys was kind of off character a little from the past two seasons. I think next week both will have worked through their personal darkness and be better prepared to help others through the process. Example: Dean having to save the baby — did he not do that as a child and is the his whole mission saving sam “the baby”. And Sam, his whole purpose last year was to find a cure for Dean so now he has to find a cure for everyone since he released the darkness on the world. Isn’t that Sam’s whole mission — thinking be brough evil to the world then trying to correct his mistake. In the premiere, they were still working against each other but next week, I think Sam and Dean will figure out they have to work together.
Yikes, this is going to be long – my half-hearted apologies … 😉
I’m generally not a huge fan of the season premieres as individual episodes due to the very nature of them – they have to set up an entire season, so there tends to be shoehorned dialogue to check off the boxes. Mention this, mention that, allude to something, etc. But I did enjoy this episode – in no small part because I think this has the potential to be a killer season. Going with a pre-Biblical big bad opens up so many possibilities, although I will miss trying to remember my catechism and seeing if I can use that as the nuns intended – to figure out the plot of Supernatural.
I also like that this seems to be setting up a return to Kripke era plot-wise. I won’t go so far as to say Season 1 like I’ve seen some mentions of online – but even more impressive to me is that this has the chance to be a return to the ‘greatest hits’ of the first five years. The boys just know too much now to go back to the simple ‘bumper sticker’ of “Saving People, Hunting Things” – they’ve seen, and been, too many shades of gray themselves.
Personally, I loved the (admittedly gross) way Sam was infected. What a perfect reminder of Sam’s origin story – having a monster bleed into his mouth. The Rabids going after him, sniffing him, and then walking away (after – of course – trying to strangle him. Because that’s just what you do to Sam, even though it’s a rather inefficient way to kill him.) reminded me of Sam’s previous demon attack immunity. The way the ‘infection’ spread also looked similar to Sam’s demon blood detox scenes. I wonder if Sam’s plan is to wait it out and die to spare Dean and the world at large, only to find out that what Famine said about demon blood also applies here: He can’t have too much of it; he’s the exception that proves the rule. In other words, come on Powers! After all, Sam was able to save people when he was exorcising (or commanding – to-may-to, to-mah-to) demons.
Of course it was an evil baby! On a show like this does a baby born at the exact moment all pre-Hell breaks loose ever turn out to be a good guy? As for the mom, my theory is that once released the Darkness needed to find a host/vessel and the next baby to pop out gets the honor. This probably kills the mom as a survival strategy – get the mom out of the way so you can have the absolutely adorable meatsuit. Of course, there could also be a much more mundane, albeit still tragic, answer in that if the hospital lost power and the staff were incapacitated she could’ve just died of a post-partum hemorrhage since no one would have been able to treat her. But I like the creepy option better, so I’m going with that. 😉
As for adult Darkness, I assumed her conversations with Dean happened while Dean was swept away but before she took over the baby. And since we’re talking about a magical situation, those conversations could’ve all happened in Dean’s head within a second. My thought is that adult Darkness is it’s ‘essence’ or whatever the monster version of a soul is. And Dean did already help her, he moved the evil – but oh my God so adorable – baby into a new location to wreak havoc there.
I was psyched to hear a mention of Lucifer and Michael – as soon as they linked the Darkness to pre-biblical ideas I’ve been wondering how they would bring back the three remaining forces that fought the Darkness the first time: Lucifer (the literal Light Bringer), Michael … and Gabriel. Here’s hoping!
I wasn’t wild about the Crowley comic relief bit but his facial expression when he was turned away from his minions was perfect. That calculating but worried look says everything. And there was some more shoehorned dialogue between Crowley and his demons to establish two important plot points: Rowena is the most powerful witch, but even her magic can be countered with the right spells even if those are done by a lesser witch.
I really am intrigued by the idea of both brothers being tainted by something – Dean by whatever Darkness implied about the MoC linking them, and Sam by his new infection/demon blood situation. It could be wild to see both boys on the same side, but simultaneously slipping into demonic influence.
Here’s to the new season!
1) I’m 100% with you on still being a little bit scarred from S9 and from Sam saying he’s just as willing to move heaven and earth for Dean. I mean all of last season was saying that too, but the actual words were nice to hear.
2) While agree with some of the people here that Sam’s little speech was necessary, albeit heavy handed, just to acknowledge that they need to change how they do things if they want to actually help people, I also think it wasn’t exactly fitting to the situation they were in at that exact moment? There’s what amounts to a zombie hoard outside and they have innocent civilians they need to get to safety. Maybe there is a cure, and maybe finding it should be a priority, but Sam knew perfectly well that it’s not like he was going to be able to find it before these people dropped dead of their own accord anyway. Again, I liked the points in general, but the actual context of the situation they were in made the whole thing feel very shoehorned in and kind of irrelevant to the situation.
3) that being said, I LOVED them being a team again. Sam’s “this is on US” and Dean’s concession to Sam. Everything about it seemed like they’re back to being a united team and I hope that continues!
4) I assumed they were playing with the timeline because the women shown as the Darkness was also the baby. And I think that hindsight will prove to make Sam’s speech more relevant (despite what I just said) because it serves to underscore how Dean’s focus is on saving the baby, which is the darkness. Remember how she said they’d protect each other? In other words by focusing so intently on protecting the baby, he’s actually focusing intently on saving the Darkness, albeit unknowingly, and Sam’s speech about needing to save “more than that baby” will serve to highlight that in hindsight.
I’m still ridiculously psyched for this season!
I agree with you that Sam’s speech was “wrong time, wrong place”.
“the actual context of the situation they were in made the whole thing feel very shoehorned in and kind of irrelevant to the situation” and
“There’s what amounts to a zombie hoard outside and they have innocent civilians they need to get to safety. Maybe there is a cure, and maybe finding it should be a priority, but Sam knew perfectly well that it’s not like he was going to be able to find it before these people dropped dead of their own accord anyway. ”
This! It was like Carver wanted to have this “saving people” scene, and he didn’t care where he put it or if it made sense, so he stuck it there. I too think it was shoehorned and didn’t fit the situation. Also, I don’t know how you find a cure when you don’t know what you’re dealing with, especially within the short time span they had for those infected in the hospital.
The plan was, in my opinion, sorry, pretty stupid, and again, felt like it was shoehorned and no real thought went into it from the writer. There is more than 1 exit to the hospital, there are products in a hospital that can be used to create distractions, they could have used the baby’s father to be a decoy, and that’s just off the top if my head; there are so many better and more logical options than having Sam act as decoy, and they could have even left without killing the zombies coming after them.
I think the episode would have been better off getting out of the hospital together, using a better, more logical plan, getting the baby and Jenna to safety, and then researching what they could on the Darkness and what could be wrong with the infected people and if there’s a way to save them or to stop people from getting infected.
I loved the sassy sheriff – the actress was before on Supernatural in the vampire episode “There will be blood”. Also, Emily Swallow the actress who plays the adult Darkness is listed on IMDb as Amara, so I guess that answers the question that has been nagging me throughout the episode and nobody on the show said out loud: why were the rabids going and raiding the hospital in the first place? It could have been any other supermarket, school or church but they went to the hospital – twice!
“Cas tugged at my heartstrings in this episode, with his plea to Heaven to keep him from hurting anyone and his sad phone call to Dean downplaying his own dire situation. What a Winchester thing to do!”
Oh my god, Cas was heart-breaking in this episode. I hope the guys can find and save him – I’d love to see him back with them instead of isolated, alone, and hurting.
Anybody else catch that the women Crowley possessed was the wife of the guy that died from razor blades in season 4’s “It’s the Great Pumpkin”?? I think everybody has posited some really good speculations about the Darkness. Can’t wait to see how the season unfolds!!
I knew I recognized her but I couldn’t place her! Do you think the Crowley gender swap was meant to be a reminder that these entities switch in and out of hosts with no regard to gender? Maybe that’s why Cas was so confused about the Darkness being a woman. It’s probably genderless.
That does make sense, especially for the angels. They are always making comments about their genderless aspects. I think we the fans get attached to a certain character as a specific actor and then it makes it hard for the Show to make changes which could be fun for the story. They haven’t really changed anybody much since Ruby and Meg. I really liked both of the original actress’ that played those roles, but I also liked how the new actress’ brought something new to the character. I really like Rachel Miner as Meg and was sorry to see her go, she had such great chemistry with Castiel. I also think that Genevieve Padalecki did a great job as Ruby, she did a nice job playing the ambiguity of character, is she good or is she bad. It would be impossible now to have somebody new play Castiel or Crowley but the temporary change was really fun. Although I think Crowley’s character is easier to do that with.
I’m going to put in my two cents and also agree with what a lot of other people are saying here: I don’t think there necessarily HAS to be a contradiction between saving people and saving each other, but the way the story has been told and set up until now, that has been what’s happened. Sam and Dean started out saving people – until the end of season 1, when Dean killed an innocent man with the Colt to save Sam. I think that was sort of the “gateway” to the dynamic we’ve constantly seen throughout since: Sam and Dean will save people until it comes to saving each other – at which point they’ll sacrifice other people to save each other. Believe me, I too love the idea that Sam and Dean mean the world to each other – but I think their journey has always been to learn NOT to sacrifice the world for each other. With the Apocalypse, they learned what happened if they put each other before the world – and so Dean let Sam jump into the cage and had to learn to put the world before his brother. That was their lesson and I think in many ways the show has regressed since then. Season 8 saw Dean refusing to let Sam close the gates of hell – despite the fact that they’d sacrificed multiple people (sarah blake, anyone?) to get there. Season 9 saw Dean ignore Sam’s agency to save him – and Kevin died. This time Dean again ignored the whole idea of saving the world – and now they’ve started apocalypse take 2 (5?) I would really, really love to see Sam and Dean go back to saving people, caring about the vessels of people possessed by demons, and the like – but it doesn’t look like they’re going to happen. It seems like they’re stuck in a perpetual cycle of not learning from their mistakes and putting each other before the world. It’s actually rather frustrating.
Am I the only person who thought that Cas was referencing the Ray Stantz line from Ghostbusters when Gozer appeared…”It’s a girl.”
Plus, give me all the Crowleys. I want a meatsuit retrospective episdode.
I was an immoderate little child waiting for this premiere! Counting down indeed. I agree that Sam’s speech was very likely a shout-out to the fans who’ve complained about the rinse & repeat nature of some Winchester behavioral habits. Whether the boys actually take steps to rectify some of those habits remains to be seen; but at least it was stated. That’s a beginning. I’m slightly annoyed that 1) we were told neither brother would be afflicted this year, yet Sam is afflicted; and 2) they will be working together. Well, they split up very soon. Mind you, these are NOT major gripes by any means. I also found this a more satisfying premiere in some ways than S9 because there was jeopardy involved; after setting up the greatest season finale with Dean’s black eyes, they then gave us him as demon singing bad karaoke. And yes, I whooped like crazy over the Cage reference! I hope the show remains self-aware and willing to tackle its history as well as some complaints leveled against it. There are missteps every season just as there are brilliant episodes, and I have no doubt we’ll see both this year, too. But in the meantime I remain completely invested in the Winchesters.
I predicted to friends, once the show confirmed the Darkness was a woman and very seductive, that we might get some Darkness/Dean action. They seem to be setting up that dynamic, and there’s a definite chemistry. How else to twist Dean’s guilt complex into greater knots than to have him perversely attracted to a chaotic primordial force? I think the ride is shaping up nicely.