Aidonian's blog

 Next week the CW will air the very last episode of the US tv show Supernatural. A tv show that even outdid The X-Files. It ran for 15 years. Its a tv show about two brothers on the road fighting ghosts, demons, monsters, etc… 

It was a light hearted horror fantasy show. Originally it was supposed to last for 5 years and was to be done by season 5. The whole arc was about Sam and Dean (the brothers) who unknowingly were future vessels for the archangels Michael and Lucifer. 

Overall it was a guilty pleasure of mine. They changed things about demons, about angels, Gods, etc… Those were improvements on the mythology. Even when in season 4 angels were introduced it became pretty clear that these angels were very different from the angels we known up and till then. 

The same for demons. Demons appeared as black smoke (sometimes higher up demons had a different color of smoke) and could posses people by entering their mouths. Angels were seen as winged beings of light, who were righteous and kind of dicks. 

The show started as a ordinary monster hunting show where two brothers were searching for their father and the killer of their mother “Yellow eyed Demon (later was called Azazel). Azazel was the main bad guy for two seasons before being killed by Dean at the end of season 2. From that plotline, a overarching story unfolded with Sam being the chosen one by Aazazel for some dark plans. Sam even developed psychic powers in season 2, but lost them in season 3 again. At the beginning of season 2, John Winchester (played by Jeffrey Dean Morgan) made a deal with Azazel to save his son in exchange for his life and the colt. Azazel accepted and killed John and brought Dean back. At the end of season 2, Dean made a deal with a crossroads demon and in order for Sam to be brought back, Dean would sacrifice himself. In itself a noble deed and goes to show how much the man loves his brother and would do anything for him. It turns out by opening the gates of hell, alot of ghosts and demons were freed. While Azazel was killed, and lack of hierarchy, Lilith, the first demon stood up as queen for the demons and sent assasins after Sam & Dean, especially Sam. When Dean’s time was up and was dragged to hell by a hellhound on orders by Lilith, Sam latent powers awoke and prevented Lilith from striking him down. She was equally surprised and shocked by it. 

Unbeknownst to even Dean, sending him to hell was all part of a plan. When he was ripped out of hell by angels, especially by Castiel, he learned that news and that by accepting Alastairs offer to start torturing souls, he set the apocalyps in motion. Season 4 was about trying to stop the seals to be broken. Lucifer was put into a cage with 666 seals. If 66 were broken, Lucifer would be freed. In this season we learn that the brothers have a half brother called Adam (who was killed by monsters). We also get to know a writer called Chuck (who later turned out to be God himself in disguise). The season ended with Sam killing Lilith- who was the final seal to be broken. Lucifer was freed. Season 5 introduced a new version of the Horsemen of apocalypse. War was putting people against each other in a small town, where each side thinks the other side are demons. Famine was a old man in a wheelchair who sucked out souls of humans and demons. Pestilence was a doctor experimenting with a virus; the croatoan virus. Death was a ordinary man with a taste of cheep food. But his presence, the presence of each Horseman was one that commanded power and fear. Both Death and Pestilence hated working for Lucifer, whom according to Death was a petulant child trowing a tamper tantrum. Lucifer himself, played by the excellent Mark Pellegrino) commanded respect and fear by his presence alone. He next to Azazel and Lilith were frightening opponents. Sam and Dean have found themselves outmatched and outgunned at every confrontation with these beings. Yet they prevailed by mere luck. 

The end of season 5 saw Lucifer and Michael end up in the cage instead of going head to head in a battle that would have roasted the entire planet. This season saw Castiel brought back from the dead at least twice. He rebelled against Heaven and was cast out. He couldn’t heal or teleport anymore. 

Those first 5 were excellent seasons. It showed ordinary people against monsters, demons, ghosts. That they were part of a divine plan so they would be vessels of the most powerful archangels Michael and Lucifer, so they could try to kill each other. The antichrist was also introduced, but quickly forgotten. 

Like Chuck said: endings are hard. There will always be lose ends. Supernatural was a show that had fleshed out male characters but the female characters… not so much. Either love interest or damsel in distress. There were exceptions but they weren’t part of the permanent cast. 

After season 5, the mythology got richer, but the bad guys got bigger. Season 6 featured the civil war in Heaven and Eve, the mother of the monsters, who came back from Purgatory, a place where monsters go when they die. That season ended with the death of the archangel Raphael by Castial, who was superpowered by all the souls of Purgatory. He ended the civil war and brought changes. The brothers saw a way to defeat him with the help of Death himself. Death smirked at Castial for thinking himself a God. Death knew better. Because Purgatory was created to hold the Leviathans, the first beasts God created. Death thought they were cute, but God feared that they were a threat to the universe and locked them away in Purgatory and Castian absorbed them as well. Castial dies again (was brought back again later) and from him came forth the Leviathans. These were formidable opponents. Nothing worked against them. The bad guys of season 7, the leader of the Leviathans: Dick Roman was modeled after a capitalist it seems. The resemblence was uncanny. In season 7 Bobby dies, the man who helped raise the brothers and was a surrogate father to them. Season 8 and 9 were about the civil war in Heaven and Hell. They introduced Cain, Knights of Hell, a scribe of God – who became the enemy for he wanted revenge. If you think about it. He was a lite version of Chuck. 

At the end of season 9, Dean was killed, but came back as a demon. He carried the mark of Cain, which turned any person in a ruthless killer and the person wielding the blade a demon after he dies. Season 10 was by far the weakests of seasons. At the end, they killed Death. It was the only way to free Dean from the mark, but it would release The darkness as well. Who was the Darkness? Well, that turns out to be God’s sister.God is light, his sister Amara is darkness. Combined they keep the world in balance. Since amara was out for revenge and somehow tied to Dean (even Chuck admitted that he had nothing to do with it.) God came back, made amends with Lucifer and almost died at the hands of his sister. His sister brought him back from the brink of death and saved the universe with it. Dean and sam were reunited with their long dead mother, who was a hunter in life before she married. Dean was disappointed in his mother for not willing to spend time with her sons. The third time a family member disappoints them. Their maternal grandfather didn’t like them and chose to work with Crowly against the wishes of the brothers to have his daughter back. Their paternal grandfather was kind of a dick and was more concerned with Abaddan than with his grandsons. The 12th season saw a confrontation between the brothers and the British men of Letters and a hunto for Lucifer, who did sire a offspring with a mortal woman, the Nephilim Jack. It was also a weak season. Seeing Mark Pellegrino back again as Lucifer was great. Season 12 saw the death of Crowley and Castiel by Lucifer. Castiel awoke through Jack’s words in The Empty, the place where angels and demons go when they die. The Shadow, the cosmic being who rules there was not happy. While angels knew about the existence of The Empty (how that is possible is not revealed as nothing can escape from The Empty without the consent of the Shadow. A lie it seems,as God is able to bring back both angels and demons from the Empty. Season 13 and 14 were about parallel worlds. Season 14 ended with Jack being dead again and back in Empty, greeted by The Shadow and Billie. Jack was killed by God because Dean would refuse to do it. They then found out that God/Chuck was behind everything that happened to them and that he enjoyed it from a writer point of view. Season 15 showed how menacing Chuck can be. Season 15 was one of the better seasons. We saw Lilith and Michael again, who showed how powerful they really were. The Lilith the boys confronted in season 3 & 4 was nothing compared the one they faced in season 15. She met her end by Michael when he smited her for touching him. He agreed to meet the Winchesters after Castiel trapped him. He helped him to trap God, but by then it was to late. God was fully healed from his wound and disapeared. He went to the other universes he created and started to snuff them out one by one. Meanwhile with Chuck disapearence Jack was brought back to Earth to start to plan to overthrow God and Amara. As it turned out, that plan by Billie was a power grab by her to restore the natural order and putting people back in their place (even if it wasn’t there anymore). Which is something that Chuck saw coming. He had planned for it. Episode 19 ended with Chuck defeated and depleted of his powers. He is no longer a God, but a mortal without a soul, who will die at some point and fade into nothing. 

Like I said, it was a guilty pleasure, but some plots were never revisited like the lack of angels to support and power heaven so the souls wont come crashing down to Earth. The first seasons saw a recurring theme. Each season saw the brothers fight with other and split and came back together again later on. Later seasons dropped this because the internet started to make fun of this. The show went meta couple of times and even made fun of themselves couple of times. 

I’m actually glad the show will end. While the show was lite horror, it was fun to watch it.Its undeniable that the show had problems with their female characters as they were kind of more one dimensional than their male counterparts. Amara being the exception next to Mary Winchester.  One of the reasons this show lasted for so long was that it didn’t cost that much to make the show: no need for expensive make up prosthetics like for Walking Dead zombies, or aliens for Star Trek or monsters and demons from Buffy and Angel. This show definitly had it flaws but it was fun to watch. Which is why I could watch it for so long.