It’s been a tumultuous seventh season for the Winchester brothers on Supernatural. If you haven’t checked it out yet, turn away because there will be Spoilers.
Castiel became a demigod, unleashed the Leviathans and then vanished when the Winchesters needed him to undo the damage he caused. Sam’s head remained hellishly damaged so he was seeing visions of Lucifer at every turn. Then, Bobby went up against the head Leviathan, which was posing as Dick Roman, in order to secure the Leviathans’ ultimate plan. It resulted in the loss of Sam and Dean’s surrogate father. Bobby was dead. Castiel was gone.
Then, both of Supernatural’s supporting characters came back, but not necessarily for the good of the Winchesters or mankind. Castiel lost his memory, but regained it just in time to fix Sam’s brain by shifting the damaged parts over to his own angelic mind. Castiel too saw Lucifer, but only for a short period of time before he turned into a peace-loving, boardgame playing flower child. He’d rather play Twister and Chutes and Ladders than head into war.
Bobby chose not to cross over into the next life and became a ghost. It was nice having him back, until he started going off the deep end and embracing his inner vengeful spirit. He accidentally attacked Charlie (Felicia Day) on the way to pummeling Dick Roman. Next, he got into the dirty business of body possession. Finally, he choked Sam until his “adopted” son almost died. It was a dark moment in the Supernatural Season 7 finale, but one that was quickly rectified.
EDITOR’S PICK: Photos: Supernatural’s Winchester Brothers Take on the Green Carpet for CW Upfronts
The Winchesters got to say their final goodbye. Bobby implored them to burn his flask so that his spirit could move on. It was a little anti-climactic. The goodbye didn’t have the resonance of Episode 710, “Death’s Door,” nor did it add anything new to the story. Basically we just got to see that the Winchesters were finally able to let Bobby go and Bobby was finally able to say goodbye. No screams. No tears. No flat lining. A touching moment – sure. But, we could have kept Bobby dead at “Death’s Door”, the episode where we really savored his last breath. It was great to have him back for a short stint (and if you’ve read my past articles, I was advocating his return), but ultimately and regrettably Ghost Bobby did little to add anything to the overall saga.
The finale gave us a few fun moments. I enjoyed Crowley’s long contract negotiation with Roman. There wasn’t much to it, but I like that Crowley is becoming a smarter, more dangerous adversary. Going into Supernatural Season 8, it looks like Crowley will be the leading baddie. He’s got the prophet. Why? We have no idea, but his end game can’t be anything good.
What’s worse is that Dean is gone. After killing Dick Roman, both he and Castiel vanished in an explosion of Leviathan blood. Sam was alone. No Bobby. No Castiel. No Dean. No one to help guide Sam. It’s a role reversal of sorts. Usually, Sam is the one who vanishes and Dean is left to fight.
However, Dean is now trapped in purgatory. The season 7 finale ended with the older Winchester surrounded by all those vile spirits who were trapped for being just a little too annoying. At first, Castiel was with him. But, then Castiel too disappeared.
EDITOR’S PICK: SUPERNATURAL PAIRED WITH GREEN ARROW-BASED DRAMA, ARROW
What does this mean going into Season 8? If we time jump, we can most likely expect a bolder, badder Dean when we return. Fighting demons in purgatory will do that. Dean has always been the badass demon hunter, now he’ll take it to the next level. It could make for a darker show with more severe consequences. Sam will have to step up his A-game – alone – so that he can figure out what Crowley means to do with the prophet. As we learned in “There Will Be Blood”, the alpha will be returning so that could be a potential reluctant ally in the war against Crowley. Or perhaps the Alpha will be an even bigger enemy as Crowley’s dominion grows.
As for Bobby, he is probably gone for good. Castiel, of course, is free to return whenever he wants to save the day at just the right moment. Or, perhaps, he’ll just rescue his demon girlfriend, Meg. Let’s just hope Castiel rescues Dean from purgatory before things get too messy over there.
I can’t say that I would want Season 8 to start off with too many episodes of the brothers apart: Dean trying to find his way out of limbo and Sam searching for his brother. For me, I’ve always loved the playful banter the two have even when shit hits the fan. Also, we’ll have to see just how important “the Prophet” is going to be moving forward. At first Kevin was a simple translator of The Word. He helped to move the plot along so that the Winchesters could discover a way to beat the Leviathans. But now Prophet Kevin appears to be something much more – at least as far as the story goes.
What were your thoughts on the Season 7 finale? Expectations for Season 8?
