The Unnatural decline of Supernatural
That's right... if you know me at all (as many of you do), you probably knew that it was only a matter of time before I wrote this review.
Yes, "Supernatural", as conceived by Eric Kripke, still has a rating on IMDB of 8.6 out of 10, as well as what has become a true Cult following over the years. I didn't really start watching it until a year or two ago, but it quickly became my favorite show ever... and I don't like to pick favorites, but I have to say I'm more of a fan of this than I was of Star Trek: The Next Generation as a kid, and that's saying a lot.
"The Grand Story"... Otherwise known as "The first Five Seasons"
Originally, the series was written out as a story that was meant to end with the last episode of the fifth season - the appropriately named "Swan Song". However, it was doing so well at that point that it was allowed to live on year after year. For anyone that has yet to see it, those first seasons are really where you need to start off. Two brothers following in the footsteps of their father, leaving any chance of a normal life behind them to set off and face the forces of evil across the country and everything that goes along with it. The highlights? Let's see... Demons, Vampires, Werewolves, Time-Travel plots, resurrection, corrupt Angels, Demi-Gods, Lucifer, God, Armageddon, and lots of Pie. On top of that, the story of the relationship between the two brothers and their father neatly and poetically tied into the greater story of the relationships between God and his children - Namely, the Archangels: Michael and Lucifer.
'So, what's your issue now, Robin?'
What else was it that made those first seasons so good? For one thing (and this is always very important to me), the plot was always consistent and there were rarely any holes in it, if at all. What I really hate in a TV show or movie is when they contradict themselves and change the rules of their universe at some point or another. Supernatural never did this, and they always could explain everything that happened with relatively good reasoning. Even with plot-lines involving things like Time-Travel, they manage to keep the bitching from nerdy fans like myself down to a minimum... or, at least they used to, which is part of what lead me to want to write this article.
For any of you who are still following the show, I'm sure you'll agree that there has been a disappointing feeling in the pit of your stomach since somewhere in mid-season 9 or so... maybe even before that. For example, the whole sub-plot where Castiel goes off to hunt down rogue Angels with what-her-face for half a dozen episodes was completely boring and turned out to be pointless as well. Finally, in the middle of their "mission", she decides she doesn't want to do the show anymore, or the writers just decided to scrap the whole thing, and that was the last we saw of her. And, nobody cared (at least I didn't).
Let's see... what else can I bitch about?
Oh, Season 10.
I think that the whole "Dean becoming a Demon" idea was a good one, and could have been played out really well. If you ask me, they should have stretched that out for more than 3 episodes at the beginning of the season. But the most annoying thing that start happening in that season: Am I the only person who noticed that Castiel only teleported (or "zapped", as Dean likes to call it) maybe once or twice in about 24 episodes? He's supposed to be a mighty Angel of the Lord, and he consistently gets beat up and pushed around by all manner of Demons, Witches, etc. They sucked everything that was good out of his character, and I noticed it - If I remember correctly, I believe I was screaming at the TV when he got his ass handed to him by Cain. He doesn't do any "Angel" stuff anymore, and has lost his appeal almost completely.
If you don't see it, do yourself a favor - Go back and watch "Lazarus Rising" from Season 4 where Dean and Bobby first meet Cas, and compare that to the Cas of the current seasons... it's sad.
Also, I was sad to see that they killed of "Death", who was arguably one of the most interesting characters ever created.
Anyway, I could nit-pick about a dozen other details that I could sum up as sloppy writing as of late, but the most glaring stuff has come up in the past few episodes... really, the mid-season finale. Let's sum it up:
1. For no apparent reason apart from the fact that Sam has been having dreams about "The Cage" (where he spent time in Hell with Michael, Lucifer - and don't forget, their brother Adam), he believes that God is telling him that he needs to go back there so that the "Darkness" (the new nemesis of this season) can be stopped. The first problem is, they never really explain how or why this will stop the Darkness at all. Sam and Dean would normally have seriously questioned it, and it made no sense for them to pursue the path that they did.
2. I still find it a little hard to swallow that Rowena is so powerful, and it annoys me. I've never liked her character much, and wish she'd die already, but that won't happen. Yes, she's a 300-year-old witch, but again, she shouldn't be able to trump an Angel and the King of Hell with so much ease.
3. And this is the big one. In this last episode, Sam, Rowena, and Crowley manage to bring "The Cage" to them and bind Lucifer from escaping. First of all, the cage doesn't look the same as it did when they showed a glimpse of it just a few episodes before, which is slightly annoying... but even more than that, it doesn't seem at all like the cage that Sam was actually locked in after Season 5. It was supposed to be a "Fiery Pit" with chains and meat hooks. It just looked like a regular jail cell. However, the big question is, WHERE WERE MICHAEL AND ADAM??? That wasn't explained at all, and I think they should have explained it, or had them all be there to expand on the plot somehow - Like, I dunno, how about freeing poor Adam from the cage after like 6 years???
(Another thing, when Dean was in Hell, according to the show, time passed differently - One month on Earth was equal to Ten years in Hell. That wasn't the case with Sam.)
After all of that, they give the impression that God Himself is actually going to make an appearance once the Season continues... it will be interesting to see how they handle that. I know I sound like I'm tearing the show a new one here, but the truth is that I'm still a huge fan and I really do hope that they can make a rebound in the second half of the season.
Godspeed, guys.
UPDATE:
I recently read this article, and it seems as though many of the long-standing fans share some of my concerns, as well as a few others (I didn't realize that Dean and Castiel having a romantic relationship was such a big concern of fans everywhere):
http://www.dailydot.com/geek/spn-fans-talk-back-to-cw-on-twitter/
Yes, "Supernatural", as conceived by Eric Kripke, still has a rating on IMDB of 8.6 out of 10, as well as what has become a true Cult following over the years. I didn't really start watching it until a year or two ago, but it quickly became my favorite show ever... and I don't like to pick favorites, but I have to say I'm more of a fan of this than I was of Star Trek: The Next Generation as a kid, and that's saying a lot.
"The Grand Story"... Otherwise known as "The first Five Seasons"
Originally, the series was written out as a story that was meant to end with the last episode of the fifth season - the appropriately named "Swan Song". However, it was doing so well at that point that it was allowed to live on year after year. For anyone that has yet to see it, those first seasons are really where you need to start off. Two brothers following in the footsteps of their father, leaving any chance of a normal life behind them to set off and face the forces of evil across the country and everything that goes along with it. The highlights? Let's see... Demons, Vampires, Werewolves, Time-Travel plots, resurrection, corrupt Angels, Demi-Gods, Lucifer, God, Armageddon, and lots of Pie. On top of that, the story of the relationship between the two brothers and their father neatly and poetically tied into the greater story of the relationships between God and his children - Namely, the Archangels: Michael and Lucifer.
'So, what's your issue now, Robin?'
What else was it that made those first seasons so good? For one thing (and this is always very important to me), the plot was always consistent and there were rarely any holes in it, if at all. What I really hate in a TV show or movie is when they contradict themselves and change the rules of their universe at some point or another. Supernatural never did this, and they always could explain everything that happened with relatively good reasoning. Even with plot-lines involving things like Time-Travel, they manage to keep the bitching from nerdy fans like myself down to a minimum... or, at least they used to, which is part of what lead me to want to write this article.
For any of you who are still following the show, I'm sure you'll agree that there has been a disappointing feeling in the pit of your stomach since somewhere in mid-season 9 or so... maybe even before that. For example, the whole sub-plot where Castiel goes off to hunt down rogue Angels with what-her-face for half a dozen episodes was completely boring and turned out to be pointless as well. Finally, in the middle of their "mission", she decides she doesn't want to do the show anymore, or the writers just decided to scrap the whole thing, and that was the last we saw of her. And, nobody cared (at least I didn't).
Let's see... what else can I bitch about?
Oh, Season 10.
I think that the whole "Dean becoming a Demon" idea was a good one, and could have been played out really well. If you ask me, they should have stretched that out for more than 3 episodes at the beginning of the season. But the most annoying thing that start happening in that season: Am I the only person who noticed that Castiel only teleported (or "zapped", as Dean likes to call it) maybe once or twice in about 24 episodes? He's supposed to be a mighty Angel of the Lord, and he consistently gets beat up and pushed around by all manner of Demons, Witches, etc. They sucked everything that was good out of his character, and I noticed it - If I remember correctly, I believe I was screaming at the TV when he got his ass handed to him by Cain. He doesn't do any "Angel" stuff anymore, and has lost his appeal almost completely.
If you don't see it, do yourself a favor - Go back and watch "Lazarus Rising" from Season 4 where Dean and Bobby first meet Cas, and compare that to the Cas of the current seasons... it's sad.
Also, I was sad to see that they killed of "Death", who was arguably one of the most interesting characters ever created.
Anyway, I could nit-pick about a dozen other details that I could sum up as sloppy writing as of late, but the most glaring stuff has come up in the past few episodes... really, the mid-season finale. Let's sum it up:
1. For no apparent reason apart from the fact that Sam has been having dreams about "The Cage" (where he spent time in Hell with Michael, Lucifer - and don't forget, their brother Adam), he believes that God is telling him that he needs to go back there so that the "Darkness" (the new nemesis of this season) can be stopped. The first problem is, they never really explain how or why this will stop the Darkness at all. Sam and Dean would normally have seriously questioned it, and it made no sense for them to pursue the path that they did.
2. I still find it a little hard to swallow that Rowena is so powerful, and it annoys me. I've never liked her character much, and wish she'd die already, but that won't happen. Yes, she's a 300-year-old witch, but again, she shouldn't be able to trump an Angel and the King of Hell with so much ease.
3. And this is the big one. In this last episode, Sam, Rowena, and Crowley manage to bring "The Cage" to them and bind Lucifer from escaping. First of all, the cage doesn't look the same as it did when they showed a glimpse of it just a few episodes before, which is slightly annoying... but even more than that, it doesn't seem at all like the cage that Sam was actually locked in after Season 5. It was supposed to be a "Fiery Pit" with chains and meat hooks. It just looked like a regular jail cell. However, the big question is, WHERE WERE MICHAEL AND ADAM??? That wasn't explained at all, and I think they should have explained it, or had them all be there to expand on the plot somehow - Like, I dunno, how about freeing poor Adam from the cage after like 6 years???
(Another thing, when Dean was in Hell, according to the show, time passed differently - One month on Earth was equal to Ten years in Hell. That wasn't the case with Sam.)
After all of that, they give the impression that God Himself is actually going to make an appearance once the Season continues... it will be interesting to see how they handle that. I know I sound like I'm tearing the show a new one here, but the truth is that I'm still a huge fan and I really do hope that they can make a rebound in the second half of the season.
Godspeed, guys.
UPDATE:
I recently read this article, and it seems as though many of the long-standing fans share some of my concerns, as well as a few others (I didn't realize that Dean and Castiel having a romantic relationship was such a big concern of fans everywhere):
http://www.dailydot.com/geek/spn-fans-talk-back-to-cw-on-twitter/
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