Love Conquers All in Supernatural’s Season 11 Finale

11.23 dean sun dying apoc

Sibling Love to be exact. This is Supernatural, after all.

Somehow I’m never really prepared for those first notes of Carry On to play in the season finale. It’s not that I don’t know it will happen, but I never remember right at that moment and then BOOM, I’m hit with a wave of love for this Show that is like an emotional hurricane. Add to that the recap of this truly epic Season 11, and I was already a bit wibbly going in. This turned out to be an unusual season finale, especially coming after some episodes that were real nail biters. ‘Alpha and Omega’ was comparatively quiet, slower paced than most finale episodes. There were some things that, at first viewing, didn’t work that well for me – and some things that I wished were in the episode but weren’t – so I waited until after I had time for a second viewing today before I wrote this. And I’m really glad I did, because I liked it much better the second time around. Maybe it’s because my adrenaline level wasn’t set to maximum with anticipation like it was on Wednesday night, so that it didn’t match the slower pace of the episode. After I calmed down and watched more thoughtfully, the quieter scenes and the more subtle emotional notes came through more clearly.

Read more

Careening To Season End with Supernatural ‘We Happy Few’

Warner Bros/The CW
Warner Bros/The CW

My perspective on this week’s episode was shaped by the context of watching it, let me say that up front. I’m in Rome, without much internet, and didn’t get to see the episode until Thursday evening (thanks to the generosity of fandom and a download link—thank you @mywaywardsonsuk!). We watched huddled over my iPad in our hotel room, but the download stopped and started and I confess I held my breath the entire time, not for the usual reasons, but because I was rather terrified that I’d get to see half of the episode and then I wouldn’t get the rest. What kind of torture would that be?? Luckily it all played, so here’s my quick-before-my-internet-craps-out mini review!

The reaction to ‘We Happy Few’, from the little I’ve seen since I’m not online as much as usual, was mixed. Some people enjoyed it and liked where the story seems to be going. Others hated it and hated that same trajectory. We knew it was a ballsy move to make God a character—this is Supernatural, after all, which means as soon as you’re a character you also have a likely expiration date. Apparently even if you’re God! I was prepared for that, so it didn’t shock me as much as it shocked some people, but I did still whisper, “They’re actually gonna kill God??” Apparently I’m not as unshockable as I thought.

Read more

Supernatural Asks The Big Questions in ‘All In The Family’

Tom Wright and Serge Ladouceur being brilliant
Tom Wright and Serge Ladouceur being brilliant

So much happened in this week’s episode, ‘All In The Family’ that it’s difficult to get it all down in a review that’s sandwiched between conventions. I just got back from the Ladies of SPN Con, where I met some wonderful actresses and some wonderful fellow fans, so my review is late – and most likely you’ve all read others while I was flying back and forth across the country. So I’ll make this one personal, and leave most of the deep theological ponderings to others. I watch this Show with a very personal lens – it’s the relationships that matter to me, more than anything else. Though of course the characters are embedded within a larger story, and it’s that story which shapes who they are.

We pick up where we left off (thank you for that, Show!) as Dean and Sam are reunited with Chuck and – predictably – don’t exactly say oh sure, you’ve been God all along, right. Instead, they’re skeptical, but their hunters’ skepticism is quickly erased by the sudden and unexpected (to me as well as the Winchesters) appearance of none other than Kevin Tran, looking as adorable as ever.

11.21 1

The veil has been good to him, it seems – or at least not terrible. I was so shocked to see Kevin that I dropped the remote I was holding and it fell right into the delicious dessert we were all eating. Oops.

Read more

It – He – They’re Back! Supernatural ‘Don’t Call Me Shurley’

11.20 12

I’m in the middle of a family vacation, so this is a one-time viewing review. Forgive me if I mess up details – and feel free to correct me! I’m writing from the heart (which, let’s face it, is usually a large part of what motivates my writing about this Show anyway).

I loved this episode. It’s another one of those episodes that split the fandom, though I think there were more people on the squee side than the OMG NO side this time. I will admit right up front that at first I was skeptical. I’ve been skeptical ever since we’ve pretty much known that Chuck was back and he was going to be God. Kripke carefully didn’t “go there” because seriously, that is one BIG risk for a show to take. As soon as this episode began and Chuck revealed himself to Metatron, I got nervous. Oh boy, here we go – Show is really truly going there. I might have bitten my fingernails a bit.

Read more

Love, Loss and Protective Big Brothers – Supernatural ‘The Chitters’

11.19 9 woods impala

It’s always interesting to me when reaction to a Supernatural episode isn’t unanimous. In my little corner of the internet, the vast majority of fans were squeeful about ‘The Chitters’. I wasn’t expecting to love it – the preview made it seem like a MotW episode, which are sometimes awesome and sometimes so so. But from the very first frame, I ended up leaning in toward my television, literally on the edge of my seat. Not because it was a bite-your-fingernails-and-tear-your-heart-out-simultaneously roller coaster ride like ‘Red Meat’, but because I was invested in the characters I was watching. And I don’t just mean Sam and Dean.

Read more