Supernatural s14e1: a review (with spoilers)

“Stranger In A Strange Land”

There was so precious little I liked about this episode, I think I’ll start with that. I really liked the very first shot of Sam, alone, struggling with grief, intent on the mission ahead, driving Impala along a dark, deserted, rain-washed road, a classic rock tune blaring from the radio until he softly switches it off; it’s too painful to listen to without Dean not steering the wheel by his side, drumming and humming along, maybe even cracking a joke or two. It was a very poignant and powerful visual – a lighter shade of blue on the horizon as a hint of hope, perhaps? – a perfect setting… for about a second... We later find out that his errand turned out to be a bust.

The next scene is Michael scene and it is riveting. I have never had any doubts about Jensen’s acting skills and yet I was not prepared for how different it would be to look at his face and see no trace of Dean anywhere. Michael is cold, calm and collected. He shows no emotions. He has no emotions. He smiles but he is not amused. He is in no hurry. He takes his time. He has a question and he seeks the answer that will not disappoint, that will gratify, that will serve his purpose. But what is his purpose? A better world. Well, that’s what he says. But is it truly? “What do you want?” he asks. But what do you want, Michael? His scenes, however short and episodic, are phenomenal. I could watch the whole episode just of Michael asking different people what they want.

And then comes the title card and it is… so very disappointing. It looks like something a five-year-old would have patched up with minimum skills and resources: splotchy and clumsy and so very unrealistic.

Then the first glimpse of the bunker and it is a scene of much activity, all very business- and military-like. But Dean’s absence feels like a void and it seems that the writer is trying to fill it with other hunters – but mostly with Bobby and his old man’s ramblings and lectures. It doesn’t work. I have to confess that I found him annoying and unsympathetic in this episode. “Life is a little different when you can’t just zap people around, eh?” he tells Jack, who is struggling with the loss of his powers, that have never been truly explored or delved into on the show. Jack, lost and hurt, is lying at his feet after he has knocked him down and told him with a chuckle to “watch for that left”. There were so many things that one could say to Jack on that occasion, I thought; so many parallels that one could make about people who lost certain physical abilities due to disease or in an accident and had to learn to live and deal with it – instead of a bunch of commonplace nothings.

Mary is often hovering uncertainly over Sam as though on the brink of breaking into a mother mode, but after two seasons, during one of which she was actively distancing herself from her sons, it doesn’t come easily or naturally. Their interaction is hollow and strained, filled with Mary’s platitudes and empty promises, and it’s almost as though Sam wants to say “don’t bother on my account now”. Of course, without his brother by his side nothing looks right anymore. Dean must be here. But he isn’t.

Almost as though it is inevitable, we are introduced to another King of Hell wannabe – or, to be more precise, another Crowley wannabe – another copycat demon who uses fancy lingo and silly endearments that sound off and has a penchant for unnecessary drama. I suppose it would be too much to ask to bring in another Queen of Hell for a change. Personally, I think Rowena would have been a much better choice, not to mention that it would be a rather interesting turn of events. However, instead we are subjected to this demon’s popinjay ways and long-winded prattle and it is boring as hell and just as trite and it wastes precious screen time. I thought back in S12 that Crowley had outlived his usefulness as a character, that he had become too soft to return to his more nefarious ways, but looking at these poor substitutes and their failed attempts to emulate him I wish he were back.

Mary is once again hovering uncertainly in the doorway when Sam and Jack are having a conversation about strength and faith that she interrupts in order to tell Sam that “he’s awake”. Jack is visibly disappointed and hurt when Sam leaves. The “he” in question comes as a shock. It is incredible, unbelievable. Mary says that she can barely look at “him” and hastily retreats (I wonder what happened to that badass hunter that she was so persistently shown to be throughout the last two seasons), leaving Sam on his own to take care of – wait for it – Lucifer’s vessel! Miraculously, after all this time, the man – Nick – Lucifer was possessing is alive. I must say that this was an unexpected turn of events that I thoroughly failed to appreciate. I hoped never to see Lucifer or his vessel ever again. I thought that Dean’s sacrifice put an end to that long-winding saga. Alas, no. Apparently, “the archangel blades were meant to kill the archangel inside and not the person they possess…” Is it just me or does it sound a little too far-fetched – and extremely convenient? Just another gimmick. It rather reminded me of that cock-an-bull story that Arthur Ketch was spinning last season about his twin brother Alexander. Of course, that, at least, was later confirmed to be untrue.

Sam steels himself before entering the room and you can see a whole range of emotions playing across his face. It seems to be a recurring theme recently, isn’t it? Last season Sam had to take care of Gabriel – the archangel who killed his brother over and over and over again to teach him a lesson – and this season he has to take care of the vessel of the archangel who possessed him, tortured his soul in hell and, in the end, forced his brother to say “yes” to Michael in order to defeat him once and for all. “I’m glad Lucifer is dead,” says Sam through a lump in his throat. “Me too,” replies Nick. I hope it’s true; otherwise Dean’s sacrifice was all for naught, wasn’t it? A real slap in the face, if you ask me. When Sam finally leaves the room, you can see how much it took of him to be inside that room with Nick.

However, he doesn’t get a break for the very next moment he receives a call from this week’s king-of-hell-wannabe who wants to make a deal with him in order to become one (what a bewildering concept!) and who took Castiel hostage in order to have some leverage during the negotiations. Sam instantly assembles a team, knowing full well that it’s a trap, comprising himself, Mary, Bobby, Jack, and, bizarrely enough, out of all the seasoned hunters in the bunker… Maggie? I was pleased that (despite the inevitable danger) Sam showed Jack that he had faith in him not only through empty words but through his own actions by allowing him to join them. But why take Maggie? I do not recall her being a hunter in the first place – and at the start of the episode she could barely handle staring at blood. What a strange decision on the writer’s part – to put another young and wide-eyed girl in harm’s way!

The fight that ensued was quite brutal and for a while it seemed that our side was going to lose. I’m sorry to say that Castiel had very little to do throughout the episode. He somehow managed to miss the fact that he walked into a demon-infested bar, was then instantly overpowered, beaten up and, finally, forced to impersonate a trussed-up turkey, while the others fought all around him. At one point Mary gives Maggie an angel blade with the help of which she later saves Mary’s hide. And yet, for whatever reason, no one thought to teach Jack to use something other than his fists in order to defend himself, considering how badly he was doing. Is this another bone carelessly thrown into the “girl power” camp? I’ve noticed that it has become this writer’s staple to make the girls look stronger by deliberately making the boys look weaker.

I appreciated Castiel's speech - self-deprecating ("To be fair, we've all got punched in the face"), sympathetic, encouraging and rallying - to Jack after the fight when he felt even more useless than before and believed that without his powers he had nothing: "You've got your family. And we are going to find Dean. And we are going to beat Michael. And we are going to do it together. Because that's what we do." I think it is something Dean would say if he were there and I want to believe that Castiel learned it from him. 

It was a right decision to end the episode with another Michael scene. He might be cruel and calculating but he is also enigmatic and mesmerizing and it is simply fascinating to watch him move and hear him talk.

I've said it before and I'll say it again: this show needs writers who know how to craft stories instead of going at them with a butcher knife. I don't usually do this but I have to say one more thing: Andrew Dabb has to go. His writing is lazy and incompetent, it is devoid of imagination, consistency, subtlety and finesse, and he is simply an awful storyteller.

WAYWARD SISTERS: or what went wrong with a Supernatural spin-off - in my opinion

I don’t know why I feel so compelled to write about WAYWARD SISTERS after all this time. I guess because even now it’s still bugging the hell out of me for a number of reasons. So here are my thoughts on why I think it went wrong and missed its chance to become an excellent show I personally would have loved to watch. I remember getting quite excited when I heard about the plans for a female-headlined SUPERNATURAL spin-off. I thought it was a really good idea – if done right. I also thought, back then, that it would center around Jody and Donna – two very different but enjoyable characters, who have some hunting experience, and who, I believed, would make a very good team, hunting monsters and saving people – like Sam and Dean or Bobby and Rufus – while bringing their own unique ways in the process. I was definitely looking forward to that.

However, what it turned out to be was 95% of unnecessary family drama (I’m sorry but haven’t we seen it all before?) and only 5% of fighting actual supernatural monsters – and even that part was so insipid that I’m not at all surprised that the show wasn’t picked in the end. The fact of the matter is that it simply failed to deliver what it was supposed to deliver as a SUPERNATURAL spin-off. If you have to ask – no, it was not supposed to deliver an episode heavily based on maudlin family drama, revolving around same old issues that in one form or another have been plaguing the original show since the very beginning, and that have been resolved to a certain extent and with varying degrees of success in the course of its long run. So that was the first big problem that I had with WAYWARD SISTERS: too much drama and very little actual plot.

The second problem for me was that the writers chose one of the most controversial, problematic, and not always sympathetic recurring characters to make their lead and pin their meager I-have-to-save-Sam-and-Dean plot on. Personally, I can’t help feeling that the writers painted themselves into a corner with Claire’s character, because every time there appears to be a slim chance of her further development and improvement, they snatch it away and push her back into a troubled-teenager-with-messed-up-past box – bizarrely, they also chose to make that tangled web of parental issues, frustration, insecurity, arrogance and devil-may-care attitude the central plotline of the pilot, which took a lot of screen time and utterly failed to bring anything remotely new or original to the show.

The third problem for me was the unnecessary overpopulation of old and new characters who had virtually nothing to do other than watch Claire and Jody butt heads, and, from time to time, when the occasion required, run around, pointing guns and shooting when in sight of otherworldly creatures. Unfortunately, such characters as Donna and Alex became little more than a background noise, supporting characters at best, pushed aside for the sake of the newcomers. But did we really need another psychic or a dream-walker-slash-messed-up-kid thrown into the mix? I believe it would have made for a much more solid story if the writers concentrated their efforts on the smaller number of characters, that we have already come to know and love and invest in, and provided them with meaning and substance through a well-devised plot rather than extreme cardio workout. After all, the quantity of the characters doesn’t make for the quality of the story.

I also find it ironic that on SUPERNATURAL it has been stressed again and again and again and again that hunting life is not the kind of life that you choose or encourage anyone to take up. I mean, there has always been so much talk about Sam’s chance at going to college and having a normal life or Mary’s ardent wish for a normal life with her husband and kids. Apparently, that’s no longer the case in WAYWARD SISTERS. Here we have a bright young girl (Patience) with a bright future ahead of her and instead of leaving her be to have that future she is pushed into hunting life because of her abilities – that, when you think about it, could be just as easily used for good in some other way. How come she doesn’t deserve a chance at normal? How did hunting suddenly become a job that you actually encourage young girls to take up rather than an obscure and dangerous lifestyle that people are forced into because of loss, revenge and other supernaturally-effected circumstances and that, in fact, should be avoided at all costs?

Finally, another big problem of mine with the pilot was that ridiculous “rescue mission” that constituted the rest of the plot. I don’t think that the notion of Sam and Dean being rescued by women (or teenage girls, in this case) is unbelievable or ridiculous. It was the writing that made it so. By choosing to provide comic effect for entertainment’s sake when first introducing the boys – I’m sure I wasn’t the only one who thought that Sam and Dean couldn’t look less like two people in need of saving – the writers failed to represent their situation as truly dangerous and convince the audience that they were in horrible predicament to justify that contrived plot of theirs. Moreover, by choosing to disregard their extensive experience, skills and abilities, including excellent intuition and sense of direction, they did their characters a great disservice by suggesting that they wouldn’t be able to find a way out on their own.

If you need to manipulate characters and their capabilities by degrading them in order to fit your plot and to make someone else look better by comparison, then maybe you’re just not good at your job. Incidentally, it reflected poorly on the rescue party, completely subverting their efforts, at least in my eyes, because you can’t make someone look truly strong by deliberately weakening someone else and then, adding insult to injury, condescendingly make it miraculously easy for the girls to find and rescue the boys – before the inevitable tragedy struck. I’m sorry but that was an example of lazy, sloppy and self-complacent writing of someone totally lacking in any new ideas or imagination and going about it with all the finesse of a hatchet. I guess if your purpose is to push through the show that you seem to be more interested in than the current one you’re working on, then that’s how you would go about it… unfortunately, that’s the impression that I got.

But what made the whole thing even more unconvincing was the fact that Sam and Dean had spent over a day in that place without either finding their way back or being attacked by anyone or anything, making it look to all intents and purposes as though it was just a picnic gone slightly wrong – and it wasn’t until Claire and Kaia were finally on their way to save them that Sam and Dean ended up in any danger at all. It doesn’t look like a very well thought out plot to me; more like a water balloon – prick it with a pin and there will be nothing left but a lot of water to mop up. I’m not even going to mention that instant bond and blind devotion between Claire and Kaia – forced, far-fetched and overused as pretty much everything else within this episode.

Yet that wasn’t even the most ridiculous part. I guess the prize goes to that one-person ambush that had both Sam and Dean down in less than a minute, bound and ready to be served for dinner. I’m sorry but I really have to ask: is this some kind of game that these writers play, where they decide whether to increase or decrease the capabilities of the characters, depending on the circumstances that they put them in?

In the end, I would have preferred to watch the pilot without the boys in it at all rather than have them shamelessly used as a hook for those who would have certain reservations about watching a proposed spin-off pilot without them in it. Let’s face it: their characters were used solely for comic relief and treated as nothing more than a feeble plot device to showcase that girls can be heroes too. I know that they can – but that was an unmitigated disappointment.

I wanted to see a well-written story that would not employ tricks and gimmicks to achieve its end. I wanted to see a story that would not use overblown and overused drama. I wanted to see a story that would give each character a fair chance to show themselves. I wanted to see a challenging, engaging, scary and compelling story about kick-ass women who use their wits, skills, expertise, resources, and humour against the supernatural, and who save someone actually in need of saving.

To conclude, the problem with WAYWARD SISTERS for me was that I didn’t see a SUPERNATURAL spin-off in all of that. I blame the writing and the chosen subject matter. I mostly saw a whole load of trite teenage drama complete with tantrums, constant bids for freedom and even diary-writing. Surely there is enough of that on TV these days. So who really needs another such show and quite unoriginal at that?

Supernatural: some thoughts before the finale

Don’t mind me! I’m just giving into my “Supernatural” obsession as I try to prepare myself for two-part season finale. However, if you’re watching the show, I’d really love to hear what you think is going to happen! 

I haven’t actually read any spoilers so everything written here is based on my observations (such as they are), promo photos and the teaser. I’ve started watching “Supernatural” only this year, so that’s the first time I’m nearing the end of the season having to actually wait for it to air and being eaten alive by curiosity. So… 

The set-up before the finale: 

1. Dean, Sam and Toni are stuck at the bunker-turned-tomb together. I guess they will have to work together if they want to survive there and eventually get out. But I'm pretty sure that this will be the end of Dean and Sam’s cooperation with her. Unless, of course, it’ll be against their will. 

At first I thought that leaving Toni behind was Ketch's way of getting rid of the competition and ensuring that he got Mick's job once American hunters were eliminated – with an added bonus of knowing that she’d be dying a slow and painful death. However, the more I think about it, the more I believe that Toni's staying behind is a part of some plan of theirs. 

Despite the fact that we are persistently shown that they very much loathe each other these days, I started to have some doubts about that while observing them in 12x21. I don’t deny that I have a habit of looking too much into things, but I'm pretty sure that I haven't imagined the heated glances that they keep exchanging or that when Toni calls Ketch a psychopath it sounds almost like a pet name or a private joke or a fond memory or something like that. 

Anyway, I might be totally off the mark here, but whether they are an item or not, I wouldn't be surprised if it turned out that they are not the adversaries we are supposed to believe them to be. I think these two are a couple of psychopaths and natural-born killers and that they are in on something together. 

Also, in promo photos Ketch is back at the bunker attacking someone and Toni is once again armed with a syringe and some mind-controlling equipment – this time using Dean as her torture subject. However, there are also photos where she’s handcuffed, so, I assume, something must have happened later to give her the upper hand. Speaking of which, what is it that she’s doing with Dean? Is she brainwashing him too? Or is it something else? I’ve heard that his childhood memories will be involved. Is she making him relive them? Why? 

2. Mary and Ketch are driving away together. I guess either on their way to recruit more hunters or hunt down and kill those of them who refuse to be recruited. Once again, promo photos show Mary back at the bunker. 

Here she’s gagged and handcuffed and it’s not quite clear whether Dean is cuffing or un-cuffing her. So, what’s going on? How did she get back to the bunker? Why? If he is cuffing her it can mean that he’s doing it to keep her from harming any more hunters. However, if he is un-cuffing her it can mean that she is no longer under BMOL’s control. 

Then we have a photo where Dean, Sam and Mary are cooking up something. A tracking spell? A summoning spell? A banishing spell? Maybe they are trying to find Castiel and Kelly? Or summon Crowley? Or is it something to do with Lucifer and Lucifer Junior? 

3. Castiel and Kelly are... somewhere together. I honestly have no idea where they might be or what is going on between them. Is Lucifer Junior good or bad? Can he be good? Or is he bad by default? How powerful is he? How dangerous? What future did he show Castiel? Does he control Kelly and Castiel? Is Kelly going to die? 

Dean, Sam and Mary catch up with them at some point and it looks like Mary is trying to help or comfort Kelly. How did this come about? How did they leave the bunker? What happened to Ketch and Toni? Are they still a threat or has they been dealt with? What about the rest of BMOL? Are they still pursuing their goal of eliminating American hunters? 

There are some promo photos that show Sam, Jody and (I’m assuming) other hunters storming BMOL’s headquarters or whatever that is. I wonder how that will pan out and whether they have enough people and resources to take BMOL down. I’m afraid that they will be outnumbered and ruthlessly dealt with in the end. How high will be the death toll this time around? I shudder to think; everyone seems to be preparing for the worst. 

4. Lucifer is out and about, tracking down Kelly and Castiel. Does he know where they are? Can he somehow sense his son’s whereabouts? What are his plans once he finds them? Kill them? Is this the end for Castiel? What is Lucifer's grand plan? Taking over heaven and hell? Taking over the world? The universe? With his son by his side? I’m worried about this picture of Lucifer with a wavy lock of red hair that looks suspiciously like Rowena’s and smears of blood in the background. 

What happened here? If I remember correctly, Lucifer certainly has a score to settle with her. We haven’t seen Rowena since 12x13 and I would just hate to see her turn up dead. Did he need her to do another spell for him? Is he keeping her prisoner? Is she even in the picture? Lucifer looks too pleased about something and nothing that makes him look like that is good news.

5. Crowley is… dead? Or riding a rat? I would bet my money on the latter. On the other hand, he is suspiciously absent from promo photos and from the teaser. It could be nothing, of course. I’m almost sure that we’ll see him again this season but I wonder as to what course of action he’ll be pursuing and whose side he’ll be on – if any. He once again showed his true nature in 12x21 and I’m guessing Dean and Sam won’t be too happy or cooperative when they learn that it was due to his involvement that Lucifer stayed out of the Cage and, on top of that, that he was the one who lent a hellhound that killed Eileen. 

6. Three main problems: Lucifer, Lucifer Junior and BMOL. Lucifer and Lucifer Junior are the common problem here. I wonder if there is even the slightest chance that it could bring the two sides together?

And then there’s the teaser: beautiful, intense, poignant and heartbreaking. Lots of questions and wild guesses! The hand that is being cut and bled looks like Dean’s. But the hand that is emerging from the ground looks like that of an older man (to me) – even though the scene is reminiscent of the one where Dean broke out of hell. I saw someone suggesting that it's Crowley's hand. It actually makes sense. Then there’s also a heavily-wrapped and armed figure walking through the mist and someone’s bloody hands washing blood off a bloody weapon.

Is it the same person? Is it the same person Castiel is bewildered to see in the end? If I didn’t know better I’d say that this person is John. I don’t know why I have this feeling. Of course, I don’t really know any better and it could be him, but I doubt that they are bringing him back. I mean, if that was the case, there would be at least some rumours flying around about it, right? Maybe it’s Dean from the future? (I don’t know why from the future but why not?) Or Lucifer Junior all grown up? Like I said – lots of wild guesses! 

Anyway, I can’t wait to see the finale (even though I’m not prepared to have my heart broken)! I assume the season will end on a cliffhanger. I wonder, could the scene where Castiel is looking up from the ground saying "You?" be the last scene we see? In which case, we won't know who this "you" and the mysterious figure emerging from the mist is until the next season, which, in its turn, will make for a very long wait indeed...

Photo source: The TV Addict