It’s Monday morning and I’m still sitting here pondering the last episode of Supernatural. Make no mistake, my enthusiasm for the Show is as healthy as ever – otherwise I wouldn’t have spent the last three days thinking about it! This season has been uneven for me, with some wonderful episodes and some wonderful moments even in episodes I didn’t love, but when I get two in a row that don’t show me as much of the Winchesters’ perspectives as I need to see, I get impatient for more of what drew me into this show in the first place. This week’s episode was written by one of my favorite writers. Meredith Glynn wrote the incredible ‘Regarding Dean’, one of my favorite episodes of the entire series – so I went into this episode with high hopes after being disappointed by the last one three weeks ago. There were definitely things I liked about this episode, and it was indeed well written, but it didn’t leave me jumping up and down and screaming about my love of my Show, which is where I really like to be at the end of a new episode.
Someone on Tumblr wrote a provocative little post after this week’s episode about how Supernatural was never meant to be an ensemble show. The premise that drew me in was the story of these two brothers – two characters who have fascinated me for going on thirteen years. I enjoy Sam and Dean’s relationships with the other important people in their lives, which enriches my understanding of them, but Sam and Dean are my route in, and if I don’t have that route in, I feel too much on the outside instead of immersed like I want to be. The episodes that relegate Sam and Dean to more of a supporting role don’t have the emotional resonance for me that I’ve come to count on with this show. They may be good episodes in the sense of a self contained 42 minutes of drama, but they don’t give me that unique thrill that watching Supernatural does. I’m the last person to suggest that anyone should keep up the sort of pace that Jared and Jensen have for the past twelve years because I care about them as human beings, but some have suggested that a shorter season would be a win/win alternative and I think I’d be down with that.
Let me be clear – I really liked a lot of this episode. Just not fangirl-thrilled-jump-up-and-down-OMG-I-love-this-Show kind of like, but like nevertheless. I think the scenes I enjoyed the most were the ones in the AU. I realize that seems to contradict what I said before about Sam and Dean being my route in since they weren’t even in the AU, but it’s not just having them onscreen, it’s having an emotional and psychological focus on them, and that didn’t happen in the ‘real world’ portion of the past few episodes either. The AU story was well done, it just didn’t leave me squeeful.
I liked the opening scene with Jack dreaming of being back “home” with Sam and Dean, even if I recognized it as a manipulated image from the start. The glimpse of what Jack longs for — his fantasy of Dean saying “You, me and the kid, home safe where he belongs” was heartbreaking. It’s so much the theme of Supernatural, that longing for family, the ability to create those bonds both with blood and without, and I was reminded how young Jack is with that glimpse, and how much he does long for that sort of family love and acceptance. For whatever it’s worth, Jack has bonded with Sam and Dean. They are his attachment figures, the first people who protected him and nurtured him. That early bond is powerful, resistant to a lot of outside attacks (as Michael (Christian Keyes) and Zachariah (Chad Rook) are finding out). Jack’s deepest desire is to do right by Sam and Dean, to save them as they have saved him – I wanted to cry when his cruelly manipulated dream took such a dark turn and he was unable to save them.
Jack’s intelligence is clear despite his naivete – when Castiel appears to show him the dark side of humanity’s “Good Intentions” (climate change, nuclear war, oil spills….), Jack quickly figures out that it is not Cas. His loyalty to Sam and Dean is unwavering. Also, Misha gets to smile the most evil smile at the end of that scene. I guess it’s Zachariah smiling? But it looks intriguing on Misha’s face anyway. And it looks an awful lot like Entity!Cas….but we’ll get to that later.
I also thought that Alex Calvert and Samantha Smith did an outstanding job with the scenes of Jack and Mary finally meeting face to face. Glynn wrote some beautiful dialogue for that scene, Serge Ladouceur lit it in gorgeous almost black and white, reflecting the austere and harsh nature of the AU, and Eduardo Sanchez directed it in close shots that allowed the actors’ emotions to really come through. I loved the halting way Jack and Mary began to understand each other, and the way Mary’s tactical smarts came through as she immediately figures out who Jack is and how Michael plans to use both of them. The bond between the two of them is created so quickly that it should seem implausible, but the writing and the acting make it believable. I think I saw in Mary the maternal nature that was missing in her interactions with her grown sons in her budding relationship with Jack – which I suppose makes sense. She bonded with Kelly, and in a sense that means she also bonded with Jack even before he was born. She recognizes the innocence in him, the naivete, and she responds to that as a mother would. Mary, who was only ever a mother to very young sons in her own natural life, responds to Jack in the same way. And Jack, the motherless child, bonds to her right back. Again, it was like all my lectures on attachment to my Human Development students playing out onscreen.
The third thing I really liked was AU!Bobby. He’s not exactly like the Bobby Singer we know and love, but he’s pretty damn close. Different life history, but same personality – and is it my imagination, or does he look at Mary “Campbell” with a lot of emotion? I have to wonder what was between the two of them in this other world, and honestly? I think I’d kinda enjoy that. Though if there’s a Jody Mills in this universe…okay, tangent, never mind. I’m lookin’ out for you, Jim Beaver! Anyway, I loved Bobby and Mary and everything about their scenes together. Mary in the AU is so much warmer than she was back in the ‘real world’ – or she’s finally allowing herself to show some of that warmth. It’s not inconceivable, I suppose, that it’s taken all this time for her to start to come to terms with the vicious circumstances of being yanked out of Heaven. (It took Buffy a while too, after all). Mary and Bobby have a spark, that’s for sure – part affection, part gratitude, part respect which makes it easy to argue and stand up to each other.
I loved it when Mary grinned over her mug of alcohol-infused coffee, but I also loved it when she stuck her chin out and said “If Jack goes, I go too.” And Bobby, despite how much he clearly wanted her to stay, sticks to his guns too. Two tough hunters, very clearly. I haven’t been the biggest Mary fan at all, but I liked her better in this episode. She was willing to die so that Jack wouldn’t have to open the rift, to protect her sons and the rest of humanity. That’s the protective Mary we really didn’t see when she came back, and I’m still frankly confused and a bit dismayed that’s the direction they took her after she returned. But at least I like the progression that’s happening now.
The conversation between Bobby and Mary about her demon deal was a pivotal point in the episode (and the season probably). Mary in the AU is full of regret, but not for making the demon deal – for NOT making it.
Bobby: She lost the love of her life, never moved on.
Sam and Dean were never born, and so they weren’t there to be the heroes who stopped the apocalypse. This is a perspective Mary has never really had.
Bobby: Then I’d say you made the right choice. You done good by your boys.
That perspective may be a turning point for Mary. It may be in part her guilt over making that deal, and the consequences it had for her sons, that has kept her from fully loving them or accepting their forgiveness of her and their embracing of hunting.
I’ve said this before, but I love the addition of Alex Calvert and Jack to the show. Jack (and Alex) broke my heart a little more when he immediately bonded with the children at the AU camp, wanting so much to amuse them with his shadow puppets. I feel so much for Jack – every single time he tries to do something nice, with the best of his good intentions, it goes horribly wrong. His little use of powers to make better shadow puppets – to give the traumatized children of war a moment of their childhood back – is what gives their location away to the angels. I could have cried for Jack at that moment, that realization that once again he’s tried to do something good and it has gone bad.
I loved Mary’s quiet “It’s not fair” because it SO is not. And Jack needs to know that other people believe that and see that too.
Finally, I loved Jack finding his courage. He starts to run away, but then he hears the screams of those children who he’d tried to give some comfort and he can’t do it. He turns around, arrives just in time to save Mary and explode Zachariah and then some of the incoming angels. (Btw, angels are just flat out DICKS in the AU. When Bobby says that the angels all turned on them one by one, it gave me chills). I love that Jack’s role models, his attachment figures, are the ones who inspired Jack to stay and fight.
Jack: Sam and Dean, they wouldn’t run. They’d stay and fight.
Thank you, Meredith, for that scene. For making it all about what Supernatural is all about, even when Sam and Dean aren’t in those scenes. I did enjoy the AU story line, and it worked beautifully, looked gorgeous, carried the story forward in an organic way. That’s all good. It just doesn’t leave me with the over the top fangirl glee that Supernatural usually leaves me with, or the impulse to squee at the top of my lungs about how much I love this Show. I hope that makes sense, not as a criticism of the writing or the story, but just that it doesn’t give me that passionate response that has kept me watching and writing for thirteen seasons. I might like the Jack and Mary and Bobby AU show, but I wouldn’t fall in love with it like I did with Supernatural. It doesn’t give me “all the feels”, which is what we used to say in fandom back in the day – about this Show. And I miss that.
The story line that happens in the ‘real world’ was not as compelling for me, which is exactly the opposite of how I usually feel. We do get a few small domestic Winchester moments, which I always like, but they were brief. Dean eating a whole plate of bacon and Sam chastising him for it was a nice moment, and gave us a very Dean line in “If bacon’s what kills me, I win.” Also, Dean has pretty eyes. But I digress.
My favorite episodes this season have focused on the Winchesters’ emotional states, with each of them struggling a lot at different times, and both of them trying to be there for each other. We get maybe a little glimpse of that story line the couple of times that Sam and Dean talk about their “plan” for getting their mom and Jack back – as Dean puts it, “for a family reunion.”
It was clearly very important to Sam to have a plan, and he’s understandably distraught when that plan later falls apart. I can infer that from the couple of lines we got, but I wanted so much more.
Sam: We were so close, we almost had it…Mom back… our plan…
That was the most we got from Sam all episode in terms of his emotional and psychological state, and it was not enough.
We got a little bit of insight into Castiel’s psychological state in this episode, but I honestly don’t know what to make of what we did get because I still have no idea if this really is Cas, or if it’s the Entity!Cas, or if it’s some sort of combination. Many fans believe it’s not Cas, and most people don’t think it’s purely “our” Cas, but not knowing makes it difficult to judge his words and actions and to figure out what they mean. He is definitely harsher than usual, and very driven – he says because he feels an obligation to protect Jack, which he feels he’s failed at so far, but I’m not sure I believe him. I’m not sure we’re supposed to believe him! Doors are a recurring theme in this episode, and Cas is framed interestingly as he comes to speak with Sam and Dean, and later when he brings Donatello breakfast – in a door. Is he from this universe or is he not?
Dean has repeatedly asked Cas this season “What’s wrong with you?”, and that seems to be the underlying confusion. What IS wrong with him? Is anything wrong with him? Is it even him? I don’t know! It would seem to be an odd choice to show us the Entity who looks just like Cas, and can get into Castiel’s head (a repeated theme of this episode and this season), then have Cas wake up on Earth, without that meaning something. Surely they’re not going to forget that and not have any consequences, right? But then again, I was certain for like half a season that Sam’s time with Amelia was meant to be a hallucination, complete with fuzzy blurry utopian birthday cake in the park scenes, but it turned out Show decided that it was real all along! So….I don’t know. But my doubt makes everything Cas does confusing to me right now. When Dean asks how he is, he emphasizes that he promised Kelly he’d protect Jack, but then he jumps right to “I was brought back because this is War, to prepare for War.”
I was surprised by that – this is at the very least a more warlike and take-no-prisoners Cas than we’ve seen before. I like Badass versions of Cas, but again, I’m not sure if this is Badass Cas or some other being who’s intent on starting a multi-universe apocalypse. All this War talk seemed to come out of nowhere, and he was way into it all of a sudden. It sounded less personal (about Jack) and more about bring on the war!
Dean: Well then, we do what we do. Whatever it takes.
That’s the theme of the episode, the question of how much is too much when you’ve decided to do “whatever it takes” and have the best of intentions. And Castiel’s decision making hasn’t always been the best, so I was just left with a feeling of apprehension after all that war talk.
My confusion about Cas also means the intended-to-be-humorous scene with Gog and Magog wasn’t as enjoyable as it might have been. I usually enjoy the little meta nods, because that’s something I like, such as their observations about how pretty Dean and Castiel are. I don’t always mind a little fan service. But honestly I felt a little sorry for Gog and Magog when I thought they were human (and Sam and Dean and Cas thought they were human too, though Show took pains to make it clear they were BAD humans…). But everyone was awfully cavalier about killing two humans who were essentially minding their own business before being summoned – and hey, they have good taste in men. I enjoyed Dean’s eyeroll (though I wasn’t sure about the loincloth giggling).
And I enjoyed the amazing stunt coordination and Ackles’ and Collins’ fighting skills, but I didn’t really have any doubt that they’d prevail so I wasn’t on the edge of my seat.
Still, just the fight choreography was impressive. Did you see Dean’s ultra quick reflexes rolling out of the way of that sword about to come down on him? Whoa.
A fan tweeted stunt coordinator Kirk Jacques and asked whether that was Jensen and if so how he was at doing that, and this was the response.
KirkJacques: – He’s pretty damn fast. And one of the most naturally talented fighters I’ve seen. He learns choreography super fast and is a joy to teach.
Exactly no one was surprised by that response.
Oh, I did kind of like that Gog and Magog were brothers, because they argued just like Sam and Dean sometimes do. I’m surprised Cas didn’t say that!
Then there’s the whole Donatello part of the story line, which I didn’t enjoy at all. I’m not at all sure why Dean and Cas went off to tackle the Gog and Magog thing while Sam had to stay back in the bunker, unless that was just an artifact of splitting up the shooting days or a way to put Dean and Cas in a field together, but I rolled my eyes when Sam stayed behind for the important job of pulling ingredients off the shelves instead of helping fight two super powerful beings TO THE DEATH. And to get attacked by Donatello apparently. I was glad that Sam’s “I’m Sam Fucking Winchester” badassery came through and he was able to subdue “the muppet professor”, but the whole splitting up thing didn’t make sense to me so I remained aggravated. Also we didn’t get to SEE Sam’s badassery! We’ve done the “ingredient scavenger hunt” many times, but this one had very little gravity to it. And Sam getting left behind to shelf scour really didn’t sit well.
I liked the character of Donatello. Keith Szarabajka plays him brilliantly, and I really felt for him when (through no fault of his own) Amara ate his soul. Then the Winchesters bring him back to do them a favor, knowing he doesn’t have a soul but asking him to translate the demon tablet anyway, which (predicatably?) scrambles his brain totally. Weirdly, instead of Dean getting protectively angry about Donatello attacking Sam, it’s Cas who goes off the deep end with protective anger once both Sam and Dean have been attacked. Sam, bless his heart, is his usual forgiving self, not wanting to hurt Donatello even after he’s been hit over the head with a bottle – and steadfastly stating “no one is killing anyone” when Cas suggests that.
I did like the brief moment of Dean being unable to breathe and reaching out to Sam for help, and Sam’s protective slinging an arm around him and helping him outside. That was a call back to so many scenes in Supernatural’s early days, and it warmed my heart.
I liked Castiel seeing that happening on the laptop and the look of rage on his face when he does. That seemed like it really was Cas, because he was definitely concerned about Dean being attacked.
But Cas going back on something he promised not to do and destroying Donatello’s brain? I didn’t really like that.
Cas: Some people just can’t be saved.
Ouch. Is that meant to be some ominous foreshadowing there?
I get it, Donatello is compromised, he can’t be trusted, he’s broken…but none of that was his fault. Also, it didn’t make any sense to leave him technically not dead but brain dead. Now we don’t get another prophet and he’s not really alive anyway, so why was this an outcome that was even remotely okay? I was even confused by Sam and Dean’s reaction to what Cas did – it almost seems like this is Castiel’s plan, and he’s dragging the Winchesters along. He’s impatient with them, criticizing them for too much “just talking” and not enough action. Does Cas even have a plan though? What are they going to put into action? And oddly, it’s Dean who expresses the most moral indignation about what Cas did to Donatello, when I expected it to be Sam.
I will never be a happy camper when Dean isn’t the very intelligent hunter we know him to be either.
Sam: Donatello doesn’t have a soul.
Dean: Is that bad?
IS THAT BAD?? Dean, seriously? Why did you say that? You know it’s bad.
I guess we needed explanation for how being soulless intersects with being a prophet interpreting a demon tablet, but I still raised my eyebrows at Dean for a second there.
So we got to the end of the episode and I didn’t want to get up and run to twitter and gush about it, which is perhaps an unrealistic expectation to have for every single episode, but I was still sort of disappointed about that. I think this season overall has been less compelling for me because despite the fact that it should be all about Sam and Dean saving their mother, it doesn’t FEEL like it’s about that. Somehow that’s not the overwhelming urgency that comes through. My route into the story is through Sam and Dean, so when it doesn’t feel like the story is inextricably wound around them and their destinies, I feel less invested. When they feel like supporting players, I’m not as emotionally affected as I usually would be – and I miss that.
Hopefully next week we’ll find out what the Winchesters are thinking and feeling about all this, and they’ll be able to get back to a plan of some kind that will bring them back to front and center of the fight that’s looming – this war that Cas keeps talking about (and hopefully we’ll find out if indeed that is Cas talking at all!).
There’s no way I’m ever giving up on this Show, I will love it until it disappears forever – I’ll be there next Thursday sitting on the edge of my seat like always and I hope you all will be too. See you then, Show!
Caps by @kayb625!
–Lynn
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Thank you, as always for your astounding review and insight. Such a pleasure.
It was definitely an uneven episode and I agree that there are too many balls in the air. AU, Cas (?), Asmodeus, Lucifer, Sister Jo, Rowena, Gabriel, oh yeah -the Winchester’s! Obviously they can’t cover all of the story lines in one episode ( thank goodness) but it’s lost focus and I don’t know if the writers aren’t communicating well or what is going on. Maybe because I still haven’t heard whether the show is renewed for season 14?
I feel nervous about Jack saying he has to kill Michael, he’s probably right but I’m not sure if he’s powerful enough.
I assumed Sam stayed behind with Donatello because he’s the one who can do spells, and they are both “bookish” and can relate to each other better. Anyway, I actually didn’t find it that strange that Dean & Cas would go fight.
I also didn’t like what Cas did to Donatello and found it strange that Sam didn’t speak up and try and find another way to help him.
We’re running out of time to tie up some of the loose ends and I suspect that we’re not going to be getting long Winchester scenes for a while. Too bad. Great review btw!
Aha! Thank you for identifying my feeling at the end of this ep. I too felt a bit “unfeeling” about this ep and you once again hit that nail on the head for me. Many good moments but overall it felt a bit disjointed. I need a heaping dose of brotherly love and a full 42 minutes of the Boys to make it all better! And I completely agree with your sentiment about Show, I’ll never leave it and will be in my seat on Thursday night waiting to see what they have come up with next!
I’m sorry you were disappointed with this episode. I thoroughly enjoyed it. Gog and Magog were hilarious. Love the show’s humorous side. I get that you want nonstop Sam and Dean but they are only human and can’t be expected to be in every scene. I love my boys and I would spend forever with them if I could. I agree about Donatello. I never liked his character except the first one where he complains that he’s an atheist . Anyway. I hope this show lasts forever. It will be a dark day when it ends.nice recap as always
I’ll be there next episode as well. This episode had good intentions of starting to pull the threads together, but sometimes like good intentions there are some fails along the way. Not sure if the loin cloth, furry diaper is a nod to Princess Bride or some other meta force, but it did not work as a joke for me. The eye roll however did. Strange. Jury is out as to what Cas is all about. Agree with your feeling at the end of the episode. I do think there is an effort to give Ackles and Pada a bit less screen time so they are not working as long- probably a contract clause- but there is enough Winchester to please and keep it interesting. The match up using Cas and Dean rather than Dean and Cas makes sense to me but it would take too long to explain. Feeling that some of Sam’s emotional response is on the editing floor due to time constraints as is his capturing of Donny. Got to keep Donny’s vessel available for future unrealistic inhabitants. Rather enjoying season 13- it has a different flavor- which is better than replay. There will be a showdown between Michael and Lucifer…again but this is twisted differently and of course Sam and Dean have a hug role in it for sure. Angels follow each in a different universe. Makes you want to cheer for Luci at the moment. All angels are followers save Castiel.Just a shout out to Kurt Fuller who played the original Zachariah- businessman, douchey, angel. This version fits the warrior story and the demographics- too short a stay for bringing back a classic angel. Uriel may still be the funniest one in the garrison, but both sets of angels forgot their mission to watch over humanity. Season 13 is all about AUs and keeping Sam and Dean going.
Oops! I wanted to say Dean and Cas and then Dean and Sam. Fingers work faster than the brain at this point.
Reblogged this on SUPERNATURAL AND OTHER SHOWS.
I was pretty annoyed at the “is that bad?” Dumbing down of Dean. There’s been a lot of that this season. I thought it was pretty lazy writing. I felt about the episode the way you did almost exactly. Weird. Anyway hopefully the writers read what you write and seek to correct some of the OOCness.
I agree on most of your thoughts, though maybe I‘m not looking at the episode that harshly (my sympathy for Jared&Jensen and their precious family time is probably messing with my ability to analyse the episode critically).
I liked how the AU actually seemed to bring more of Sam&Dean as we love them, even if they weren‘t even there: the way their sacrifices have saved the world, the way they influenced and impressed Jack already, the way Mary shows her love by murmuring a quiet „thank god“ when Jack tells her the boys haven‘t made the jump to the AU with him. It shows their value far more than their actual scenes did…
The Gog/Magog scene was maybe a little over the top, I found their bickering really funny though (although it took away much of their supposed dangerousness for me).
I dont even know for sure what I think of Cas right now. Confusion?
Mostly.
And I agree with a few of the other comments, there are LOTS of story lines to bring together somehow (as always at this stage of a season), and it will cost us precious Winchester time…
And yes- I love the show, always have, always will. Maybe our love for it makes us look at its flaws with softened eyes, but- who cares! We‘ll get „jump and squee“ episodes again (as well as „hide under a pillow and cry“ episodes I guess), and until then, I‘ll enjoy the good moments (and also the possibility to discuss the ones that bring confusion with so many other invested people!)
I usually have some differences of opinion from you, but this time we’re entirely in sync. I will add that I was very disappointed that AU Zachariah wasn’t played by Kurt Fuller. If they aren’t going to give me Kurt Fuller, just give the damned angel some other name!
I don’t really have anything to add so just wanted to say thank you for this review as it 100% sums up how I felt about this episode. When i saw the promo pics and clips i was really excited and thought it looked awesome, but by the end of the episode i was a bit like “meh” and felt a bit deflated. Your review has expressed my thoughts exactly. I’m looking forward to this week’s episode and your review. Thanks Lynn,
I keep hearing people speculating about Entity!Cas but I really really really hope that’s not the case. I’ve just never been a big fan of the whole “did they come back wrong” trope — didn’t like it with Sam in Season 3, don’t like it now.
It just always seems like a cheap device to cheat on character development.
Castiel has always been someone whose *cough* good intentions lead to extremely poor decision-making (see pretty much all of Season 6, Metatron, you get the idea). I think that’s the case here.
Similar to what you mentioned with Buffy/Mary — Cas also came back from the dead and he’s clearly struggling with it. He’s still dealing with all the trauma and low self-worth that he’s had in previous seasons, unsure about his place and his role… So hearing about the threat from the AU, he’s latched on to that as his new purpose.
It’s fear, and it’s desperation, and deep down he knows that it’s not the best course of action but right now he *needs* this to be the right course of action.
The observations I’ve been reading elsewhere about Dabb’s ‘vision’ seeming to be moving the Winchesters from epic heroes at the centre of their own story to iconic heroes who are almost incidental to whatever story is being told – ring so true. I’m with you 100% in loving Supernatural because of the Winchesters. The fact is that every article that’s written about the show in the media, and the WB’s own blurb, states that Supernatural is, at it’s heart, about two brothers and their battle against the evils of the world. THAT is what drew me in and kept me watching over the years, through the good times and the bad. I did not sign up for an ensemble show where the Winchesters are just there as window dressing (pretty though Jared and Jensen are) or worse – comic relief.
I really hope and pray that Dabb sees your words and takes them on board. I get the feeling he’s writing to please one small yet very vocal section of fandom and at the same time trying to ease the burden on J2. The latter I can understand, but there are ways of doing that without making the Winchesters a side show.
Very good comments and observations. I too, started watching the show about two brothers against things that go bump in the night. I really wish they would quit bringing everyone back. Was I curious about Mary Winchester? Yes. Is she relevant to the main story now? No. Did we need another Prince of Hell? More Angels? An alternate universe? Not really sure we did. Too many characters means too many story lines which means (as people have said) less Winchesters. I care about the boys, not Lucifer.
I join the club of “here for the Winchester brothers” right from the start and right till the end. But I’m a little more demanding. I’ll put it like this: Dabb & Co. are not listening to us, real fans. While we keep asking for going back to basics, they keep jumping the shark with far fetched stories nobody cares about. I am sick of angels telenovela. I’m sick of whiny Castiel who no longer brings anything interesting to the story. I’m sick of them trying to force Dean and Cas as partners. It doesnt work. Period. Partners here are Sam and Dean and thats it. I like Jack. Everybody likes Jack. Hope they dont abuse it like they did Castiel until they rendered him completely dislikeable. I dont care about the AU and as a mother of two grown men, I find absolutely impossible to relate to Mary or sympathize with her detached “love” for her sons. Kids grow up to make their own life choices, whether you like them or not. And you love them anyway. Thats what being a mom is all about. Sorry, Mary. Your sons deserve better. Even John and his drill sargent thing were warmer than she is. Sorry if I came out too blunt. S13 did not start on the wrong foot for me, especially after S12 debacle. But its been going downhill for some episodes now and I’ve been holding back but I feel I have a moral obligation to speak up. Like most of you, I will be, again, at the edge of my seat next week, ready for the next ride but I have to say it: These past two weeks I have dozed off. Its true Im overworked and very tired, but this had never happened in 13 years. Just saying.
I’m wondering whether TPB are reacting to the more vocal fans and thus undermining the essential basis of the show – the relationship and development of Sam and Dean Winchester. All the blurb about SPN keeps saying the show is about the epic journey of the Winchester brothers, but Andrew Dabb seems to be moving us towards some kind of ensemble thing where Sam and Dean are merely plot devices and eye candy in what should be their own story.
Maybe those of us who came and stayed for the epic hero Winchesters should shout more on social media and make OUR voices heard.
Perhaps the combination of contractual time off and the writers running dry of Sam and Dean arcs signals the direction toward a finale of the series. Not saying I want this to happen, as I could watch Supernatural ad infinitum,(sometimes I do in re-runs). There are a few new writers on board this season but the show runner steers the arc, I believe. SPN has yet to be picked up by the network and at the Las Vegas(?) convention, Jared seemed to be asking fans to notify the CW that the show should be picked up for s 14. So far, the CW is mum and usually sends out an early renewal for Supernatural. Not sure if the contracts of the actors etc are complete or if the CW is pondering the show’s future. As I said, I am a die hard fan and will be there until the end-hoping it is not too soon. The A/U theme allows for a variety of stories and situations that would not take place otherwise, but Sam and Dean must stay central not as characters off of whom other characters take center stage. I see the Winchesters as more than eye candy as they do have a role in each episode and fighting the bad guys, just hoping there is a reason this season is ensemble like, This ensemble style is what other networks are using as well to tell stories- so it is the trend. I still think s 13 is not so bad, and there is brother stuff going on, just a diminished amount. There is so much going on in s 13, hoping it will all come together brilliantly and we will say “Ah ha!” or it becomes so diluted that we say “WTF”.