Episode 21 Recap — Episode 22 Recap
Well. There you go! After an uneven season and 20 episodes of not being sure where exactly all of this was headed, Supernatural season six ended (relatively) strong and at least helped put some of the season in perspective as well as tease season seven.
It appears this was a season of soul. All soul, all the time; the importance of it and the power they hold.
Sam was a without a soul for the better half of the season and it seems that story will trickle over into next season, though that might end up being another story thread without direction… but more on that later.
For Castiel and Crowley, souls equaled power. Nuclear power that would’ve solidified their superiority in their respective worlds. Interesting sure, but it might have been even more interesting if they didn’t wait until the last couple of episodes to really introduce the story.
When the CW had renewed Supernatural for a 6th season, one season more than creator Eric Kripke had planned (or anyone really expected), new showrunner Sera Gamble said that the show would go back to season one-ish monster of the weeks, that we’d get to see some crazy monsters and that the series would be less mythology heavy.
Granted, the kidnapping of newly released monsters to waterboard them into spitting out information on finding purgatory was a clever way of going back to the procedural-y monster of the week flow of Supernatural, season 1.
But the main problem with the season seems to have been putting out too many threads and instead of weaving them together, they all got tangled.
This season was the first time I felt like the show had no idea where they were going with what they were putting on screen and were making it up as they went along. Even if that may have been the case before this season, at least we knew the basic endgame… the Apocalypse.
Now, we had no idea where anything was going, which really should be even more interesting and exciting, but actually ended up making the show feel disconnected and without focus at times. There were definitely plenty of excellent episodes during the season, but as a whole, I guess I expected more of a post-non-apocalypse series.
Still, I am very happy Supernatural will get to see a 7th season. The show may have hit a lot of speed bumps this season, but none of them big enough to get me to stop watching the show. At the very least, the show is pure fun and Jared and Jensen week in, week out definitely help make that happen.
Now about the actual developments of the two episodes.
The big one, Castiel is nuGod. And judging from his scorned little speech, possibly the next villain (or “big bad”) for season 7. What makes it even more interesting is this surprising bit of news about next season (warning! Possible spoiler!).
A lot of the internets seem to have been shocked by the development of Castiel taking over as nuGod, but wasn’t that always his “destiny” so to speak? Really, that was one of the only straight lined threads this season.
Castiel was fighting Raphael for control of heaven. What with God on indefinite vacation writing more Supernatural graphic novels, the heavenly civil war was all about who’ll slip into the seat while Father was on leave.
Sure, maybe no one expected Castiel to turn into King Castiel, your nuGod, worship at my feet… but then again, “Power corrupts; absolute power corrupts absolutely.”
I was actually more fascinated by Sam’s journey in his mind (and I know I’ll probably be in the minority). I actually wished it was longer, had Sam meet more pieces of himself. Would’ve been a great full episode during the season (not as the finale though) and maybe would’ve been a great excuse to have Adrianne Palicki guest star again. (hee)
And the other big development, Dean saying farewell to Lisa and Ben. Probably the only other straight thread during the season, Dean attempting a normal life but proving that can’t exist for him or anyone around him he cares about. The scene after Castiel’s wiped Lisa and Ben’s minds clean was probably the most shocking moment for me these two episodes. Definitely unexpected for me, and definitely emotional.
Other tidbits… Crowley’s black smoke tornado was very chilling and it was great to see Miss Raphael back even though she had to get snapexploded. And also great to see Kim Johnston Ulrich again and her character surprisingly intertwined into the not until the last few episodes-season long arc .
Both episodes also featured Jared and Jensen’s best (non-comedic) performances of the season and would definitely be their Emmy tapes (if the show had a chance 🙁 ).
“Let It Bleed” was a great showcase for Jensen while “The Man Who Knew Too Much” gave Jared material to chew on. Jensen did very well as the heroic knight and even more in the end as the selfless man who’d sacrifice his happiness for the happiness of the two people he cares about.
For Jared, some of his best work on the series has been the times he had to play a dark version of Sam, whether it be soulessSam, LuciferSam, or DeanlessSam. So it was great to see soulessSam again and seeing Jared play that as well as patheticchildSam and hellSam in the same episode is a great showcase of an actor’s range.
So overall, a disjointed season, but with plenty of bright spots. And I definitely still looking forward to next season.