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i-d0nt-even-kn0w · 6 years

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SPN Season 14 (and a little bit of 12 and 13) Critiques

Listen, I dislike when people hate new seasons of a show just because “the old ones were better” with no actual excuse, so I hope this post does not get perceived that way, but Supernatural’s writing and directing has decayed over the last few years, and season 14 episode 1 really just did it for me. I tried to ignore season 12′s mess of a storyline because the new characters were well done (in my opinion, of course--and Mary is excluded from this because although the actress is wonderful, I cannot get into her being back in the story for over a season. I’ll go more into that later), and season 13 had Gabriel and Rowena to pull me through the alternate universe plot and Jack who--as I’ll go into later--was another big punch in SPN’s writing integrity, but this one episode from 14 literally had me in shock.

So, with no more introduction, the list of critiques I have based of season 14′s ONE episode. I may pull in a bit of 12 and 13 too because they are where a lot of the issues started. There will be some things I liked about the episode too! But very little lol.

Spoilers ahead! Also opinions ahead--feel free to disagree with me, and I actually would really like to see what other people think!

1. Filmography

That fight scene in the bar says it all. There have been some god awful editing of the footage since 13 (that Michael blue eyes zoom in at the end of 13? Unless they were trying to make a thriller joke, it was wack), but this one episode, like I said before, sent me into shock. The zoom ins, the shaky camera filming like we’re in the Office, the out of place music that does not really fit the Supernatural theme--I could go on. That fight scene had flashing lights, zoom ins, and more jump-cuts than a youtube video to the point we’re I had no idea what was going on. My brother watching with me literally was speechless for the entire fight, which felt like an eternity.

It felt dramatized in a Riverdale way. No shade to Riverdale, obviously, because that works for that show. But in Supernatural? It’s the Teen Titans Go effect--popular shows on a network influence older shows and, in my opinion, make those shows worse as a result. This leaks into my number 2...

2. Theme

It’s the 100. The theme is the 100. The show is the 100. (This is a joke I have never watched the 100, but when did Supernatural adopt a dystopia mood for their show?)

3. Wait a minute....... Who ARE you?

The centric theme of Supernatural is family and freewill. Sam and Dean are supposed to constantly be the centers of the show, but exceptions are made, and often have been really well done. I thought Bitten was a great episode, and episodes where Sam and Dean are separated are also a great way to look at the brothers from a different viewpoint. Even if you didn’t like Bitten or those type of episodes, however, that was okay. Why? Because they were one off episodes, if not maybe two or three. Dean being gone is fresh, and could be done well, but when the centric theme of family, aka people Sam and Dean trust and love like Cas, Bobby, Jo, Ellen, etc, is suddenly ruptured by extras (that are usually super fun in a one-off hunting episode, maybe a reoccurrence now and then) becoming apart of the brother’s daily life and the viewer’s weekly watching, it’s uncomfortable. Not because I or others hate change, but because it goes against a major theme of supernatural. Dean, Sam, and Cas are suddenly extremely close to people they don’t necessarily consider family, and that is very odd for the show.

In case you cannot tell, I care a lot about Supernatural’s themes. I don’t care if they shake things up, but the show’s values are important. They need to stick to them for it to be, well, Supernatural.

4. Not-Bobby and Mary

If they become canon, I’ll actually sink into the pit. You can pair together whoever you want--this one is very much so just an opinion. But in terms of writing, this just comes off as so wrong for many reasons. Maybe it’s because neither of them should be on earth in the first place.

Mary was such a wonderful and powerful character. Then they brought her back to life, which drained meaning out of her. She could have had a realization she does not belong on earth and go back to heaven at the end of 12, which would give Sam and Dean closure and actually be kinda nice. But nope. She’s still here. And what’s the point if the only available female character isn’t dating someone????? (she said, sarcastically)

Not-Bobby is just a way to keep Jim Beaver around, which yeah I get it i love him too, but why not just have some episodes like where Bobby helped the boys from heaven. That was fun. That was also real Bobby. If we were going to have Not-Bobby, I would at least like him to establish what Not-Charlie established (I liked her so much more)--they are not who the Winchesters knew in their universe. Not-Bobby gives off too much of an actual Bobby feel, and God knows I don’t want actual Bobby and Mary together... eeeee...

5. The alternate universe plot-line sucks in the context of Supernatural as a show

Speaks for itself.

6. Jack

Fellas. I’ll get hate for this (if anyone reads this, lol), but he’s a bad character.

He’s fan-service. Fan-service isn’t always bad, mind you, but it is when that is the bases for the character. A cute, younger boy (back to the Riverdale/the 100 teen drama throw in a more adult-centered show) who is reminiscent of all the things fans loved about quirky Castiel back in seasons 4 and 5. Jack was super over powered too, which made me struggle all throughout season 13 to not hate his character for what was just a writing death sentence. Now that he doesn’t have powers they’re finally trying to give him... depth? Pro tip: If it takes a whole season to give a character depth, it’s bad writing.

I’ll admit, though--I do love the dad Sam scenes. Not too much the dad Cas scenes because they’re often poorly written and unlike Cas imo. But eh.

Jack is like an OC. Sounds fun until put into practice.

Why couldn’t they have just... not killed Kevin and had him be the son-character he already was to the boys? Or not kill Charlie and let her be the little-sibling character she was to the boys? Why couldn’t either of those two very important characters become titular main characters instantly after being introduced, like Jack was? Maybe because they’re not white or a dude, respectively? Or because the show didn’t need to fill in the hole Mark Sheppard left for a main character until now? Hmm...

In all realness, Jack is just too poorly written in my eyes to like, but I know people totally love him so please know that’s valid and I get it. I do love the actor, so there’s that.

7. Maggie

WHY DID SHE COME ALONG ON THE TRIP?? SHE COULDN’T USE A BLADE, BUT THEY PICKED HER TO COME ALONG?

I get the quirky humor, but SURELY there were other capable people they could have asked. Maggie is cute, but a throwaway for humor. I was trying to like her because, again, the actress was great and I love some comedy, but not at the expense of reason.

Also, again, no offense but I cannot deal with the parallel universe people and the storyline in general.

Now for some positives mixed with negatives!

8. Nick

Ohhhh boy. Nick could be the one good thing about this season IF they do not make it a “it was me, Lucifer all along!” cheap shot (which I know they will do, hence the negative). I think it would be a bigger plot twist if Nick WASN’T Lucifer. Sam could bond with a guy who went exactly through what he went through, we could have an established character back instead of these random new ones (like the vampire Michael brought in at the end with no context... like, I put Supernatural higher above other drama shows because it actually establishes a character and who they are before making them apart of the plot, like Gabriel being the janitor before he was the trickster, and the trickster before he was Gabriel. Cheap introductions with dramatic music in the background? Pass).

I wanted Missouri back, she died. I wanted Gabriel back, he died. Nick will either be Lucifer or die, but I will cling onto every good old character there is until there are none left. There are good new characters too, sometimes, but they keep dying too (Eileen) so miss me with that argument.

Also there’s no way Nick could have survived. Jimmy died, why wouldn’t he? It’s Lucifer, but if it wasn’t? It’d be better. And also this totally is another cheap shot to keep Mark in the show, like with Jim. I love Mark, but we all know it.

9. Kip

I was SO pissed for most of the episode, because I thought that the show was actually trying to replace Crowley (you know the writing is bad when you expect SPN to pull something like that). I actually LOVED it when that show was self-aware and Kip was actually putting on a show--TRYING to be Crowley but miserably failing and being a pathetic knock-off. It was good, it was interesting, I was ready for the plot-line of Crowley’s irreplaceableness and how demons would deal with it.

But Kip died. Why wasn’t Asmodeus’ death that quick? He was an actual poorly written villain with nothing interesting to him.

In conclusion, this is why I nearly died watching the first episode of season 14. Will I stop watching? Not yet. SPN is a show I have loved since I was little--I watched it with my big sister, and now my little brother watches it with me. Does that mean the show is still good? In my opinion... no.

I think the writers should stop pandering to the audience so much. I watched “Live Free Or Twi-Hard” after 14x01 to wash my eyes out with old SPN, and I remembered how much the show used to laugh at over-done trends. SPN was different and fun because it didn’t care, it did what the creators wanted, and it worked. It doesn’t feel like that any more. The show made fun of Twilight in that episode, yet “Wayward Sisters” had total Vampire Diaries narration (no offense to the pilot, but I have to admit... I didn’t like it. It could definitely be a good stand-alone show, and I did want it to be picked up, but it was completely out of place in Supernatural as a show. Again, because of the themes and shameless pandering to the teen audience).

Supernatural fans fell in love with Supernatural, not a teen CW drama. That does not mean fans can’t love those too--love all the TV teen dramas you want, I like those shows too--but the tropes for those type of shows fits in those type of shows. I can admit Supernatural is not a masterpiece, and it is a drama, but it’s not what they show has become now. And 14x01 makes that perfectly clear.

But that’s just my opinion, a Supernatural opinion! Thanks for reading!

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