Posted:
Supernatural Season 9 Midseason
Roundtable Review: Sam, Dean,
Castiel, Angels, Demons, a Battle for
Heaven and More!
link:
https://www.screenfad.com/supernatural/supernatural-season-9-midseason-roundtable-review-dean-sam-castiel-angels-demons-9972
The winter Supernatural hellatus is
upon us (and after a dramatic and
heartbreaking a death in the final
moments of "Holy Terror!"). As is
tradition, I've once again called on
my group of fellow Supernatural
reviewers across the internet to share
our thoughts.
Participating in this roundtable are
the usual suspects: myself,
freelancer Laura Prudom, Vinnie from
WinchesterBros , Danielle Turchiano
from Possible By Pop Culture, Marisa
Roffman from Give Me My Remote ,
Alice Jester from Winchester Family
Business, Nikki Moore from
Winchester Daily, and Tina Charles
from TV Goodness . We hope you'll
stick with us to the end, because
while this is a very comprehensive
(read: long) season 9 review up until
this point, we've got a lot of opinions
to share and a lot of topics to get
through.
I think Vinnie put it best when she
said "Dean's storyline [this season
on Supernatural] has been, as
always, a study in Dean's emotions."
There's always turmoil in the fandom
over whether Dean has a storyline, if
you will. While it's true that Dean is
often a player in the overall
mythology, as opposed to being the
driving force, Dean is " in my
opinion " the heart of Supernatural
and always has been. Dean has a
tendency to bond more with
secondary characters and shoulder a
great deal of emotional depth on this
show because Dean's emotions are
often the driving force in his story. In
the case of season 9, Dean's choice
was the catalyst for one of the main
mytharcs (the possession of Sam),
which is unusual because Sam
typically makes a choice (or is the
focus) that drives the main or
secondary mytharc for the season.
But despite Dean's choice being the
starting point for the possession
storyline, it's really Dean's feelings,
as Vinnie said, that have been the
focus for the first nine episodes of
Supernatural this season.
Dean, unlike Sam, doesn't typically
keep secrets of this magnitude (he
even told Sam about his deal in the
course of a single episode in season
2), but his choice in the premiere
made sense. "While we can probably
all agree that Dean making Sam's
choice for him was a predominantly
selfish and arguably unfair act, it's
also consistent with Dean's character
" he was never going to let Sam die
without a fight, and given how much
of his sense of identity and self-
worth is tied to his brother, in many
ways, it seems like letting Zeke in
was Dean's only real option. I can't
say I'm mad at Dean for being Dean
(especially since there wouldn't be a
show without Sam hunting with him),
and as we've seen in every episode
since the premiere, the guilt has
been eating him up inside, so it was
clearly not a decision that Dean
made lightly, nor one that we, the
audience, or Dean as a character, are
supposed to think was "right." I like
that we've seen Dean struggling with
it, because Jensen Ackles sells those
scenes of inner turmoil
phenomenally," Laura said.
"After the trials, Sam was in a bad
way," Tina said. "And Dean's always
shown he's going to do whatever it
takes to save his brother. Ezekiel'
kept stringing Dean along so I get
why he felt he needed to keep things
secret. But Dean having to constantly
lie, in my opinion, was difficult to
watch. We went through this after he
offed Amy but this time around it
was on a much bigger level. I mean,
he was doing so much of it. On top
of that, he had to turn Cas away on
Ezekiel's orders. That was immensely
difficult to watch. And then to see his
trust in Zeke fully go to pot in Holy
Terror?' Beyond difficult to watch.
You see my pattern here? Dean has
had a turbulent season so far. I
know. When doesn't he? But I don't
think it's going to get better anytime
soon. At this point, I'm wondering
when it's going to be the brothers vs.
the supernatural universe again. My
heart can't take these seismic
brotherly conflicts. Although, we
really haven't seen the Sam vs. Dean
of it all just yet, have we? I thought it
was going to happen in the mid-
season finale but things didn't quite
work out that way, did they?"
Danielle originally seemed frustrated
that the season began with one
brother keeping a secret from the
other (yes, Supernatural fans, we've
been here before), but appreciated
the unexpected outcome: "In a ninth
season show, it is common for theme
and stories to be revisited, but at the
same time, I don't want to be able to
anticipate every beat that is coming,
especially with the inevitable he (in
this case, Sam) finds out the truth,
gets mad, and the brothers split
apart for a period of the season, etc,
etc'. This secret still provided the
moments of waiting for certain beats
" for the audience as well as for
Dean. All along Dean knew he would
have to answer to his brother's anger
when he eventually learned the truth,
and we were all bracing for that
moment while still trying to stave it
off as long as possible. In a weird
way, it aligned the POVs of Dean and
the audience. While a good chunk of
the first half of the season was spent
waiting for the moment of truth, the
exciting and unique thing was that
once it happened this time around, it
set up a brand new chain of events.
Dean was expecting his brother to be
mad and storm off and possibly even
hit him, but Dean was not expecting
to be blindsided by the fact that
Ezekiel was not who he claimed to
be and that Sam wasn't really safe let
alone in control anymore. I was not
expecting that either. So while the
first half of the season felt very
repetitive for Dean, I at least really
enjoyed and respected the difference
in the result and what it should mean
for how Dean acts going forward.
Now he is at a loss of control, as
well. He could have handled Sam
hitting him and storming off for a
little bit, even though it would have
hurt, but this is something much
greater, and he is all alone in trying
to fight it since Castiel is still not
quite Castiel (that wasn't his grace,
so how different will he be with some
other " not as nice " angel's grace
in him), and Kevin has been killed."
Marisa agreed with Danielle's
sentiments, saying "On one hand, I
totally get why Dean did what he did
for (and arguably to) Sam " he's
proven time and time again he will
do whatever it takes to keep his
brother alive, whether Sam wants it
or not. It's sweet, I suppose...
arguably a retread of approximately
472,815 times the brothers have kept
a secret from each other, but it's
nice he cares. Given the
circumstances, I'm not sure he could
have done things any differently if
Sam was to be kept alive. As long as
the writers keep putting him in the
situation, it's hard to imagine he
won't keep making the same choice
again and again. But on the other
hand, as questionable as what Dean
did was, it was almost more
fascinating to see the unexpected
fallout from his choice: he was alone
in a way we truly haven't really seen
before. Sam was Sam (ish), but he
never knew when Zeke' would pop
up. He had to keep Cas away. He
couldn't confide in anyone what was
really going on, so he was not only
struggling to make sure Sam stayed
alive, but any of his doubts or
worries weren't allowed to surface for
a second."
Alice had the opposite perspective,
arguing that the retread of storylines
was too much for her: "Dean's story
was very interesting at first, then it
lingered and got repetitive. I'm
disappointed that when everything
started to slowly unravel for him, he
stuck with the "trust me" line while it
all fell apart. I get why he tricked
Sam with angel possession. Seeing
Sam agreeing to go with Death had
to be a huge jolt. Plus it hasn't been
all bad, not!Zeke has managed to get
them out of a few life or death jams.
But the boy did not need more guilt!
Now that his actions have led to the
death of Kevin I think that's going to
bust open that huge bag of guilt he's
been collecting."
Vinnie brought up an interesting
aspect of the 2014 scenario
presented to us in season 5: "I want
to note that all season people were
talking about the current storyline
coming full circle to meet up with a
version of what we were shown in
5.04 The End'. There was
speculation that Ezekiel was really
Lucifer. I was not part of that camp
at all. Yet I realized at the end of
Holy Terror' that Dean was, in a way,
running parallel to that; when we
come back from hiatus it'll be 2014,
Sam's body will be controlled by a
fallen angel and Dean will be broken
and distraught. I thought about
Lucifer telling Dean 'whatever you do,
you will always end up here'. I'm not
sure if that parallel was intentional,
but I'd love to see it explored in
relation to what that says about
Dean."
As for "Bad Boys", the newest
flashback to a younger Winchester,
there's agreement among us that
while it may not have necessarily
shown us aspects of Dean that we
had never expected to see, it was,
nonetheless, a thoroughly enjoyable
episode. "I absolutely loved Bad
Boys' for so many reasons," Nikki
said. "We got sneak peek into a
younger Dean with depth and layers
and it made me want to know so
much more about him. The episode
really gave me insight into the way
John raised those boys and just how
destroyed he was as a man. Dean
gained so much from Sonny, a man
who treated him like a son and gave
him hope. That's something they
never got from John because in his
eyes, all hope was lost."
"'Bad Boys' didn't really tell us
anything we didn't already know
about Dean, but it was still an
enjoyable episode," Laura admitted.
"After the events of the flashback in
"Something Wicked," we know that
Dean has always put his little brother
first, so while it was nice to see that
dedication reiterated, showing us that
Dean truly did give up a shot at
normalcy (something he's always
protested against but has still
understandably seemed to crave) for
the sake of his family, I just saw it as
further evidence of Dean's dedication
to Sam and John, a loyalty that
hasn't always been reciprocated."
Marisa also mentioned that the
episode seemed quite hard on the
characterization of John Winchester:
"As for Bad Boys,' it didn't
massively change things for me, but
it made me really sad to be reminded
how terrible John was as a father to
his kids. As messed up as that
relationship has always been, John
was always a character I liked, but...
yeah. He never comes off even
remotely decent in these flashbacks."
The systematic tearing down of John
Winchester is an aspect of
Supernatural that occasionally
frustrates me over the years
Vinnie had a slightly different
perspective, stating that "I have such
mixed feelings about Dean in 9.07:
on one hand it was deliciously
emotional to see Dean go through
that; the guilt of losing the money,
the desperation that lead to stealing,
the humiliation of getting caught. Tug
on my heartstrings and validate my
headcanon, why don't you? The idea
of Dean getting a taste of normal, of
liking it, and ultimately choosing to
turn his back on it for Sam was
heartbreakingly beautiful.
Unfortunately, what we also learn that
after the guilt, desperation and
humiliation wore off Dean easily
settled right into a new life and never
once inquired about the brother that
he left behind. It was difficult to
reconcile that Dean with the Dean we
met in A Very Supernatural
Christmas' and later in After School
Special'; this Dean was sandwiched
directly in between those two, yet it
felt like an entirely different
character. Dean lost his mother at 4,
started shooting at 6, nearly lost Sam
to a Shtriga at 10, and had to deal
with Sam learning the truth about
their lives at 12, nevermind that by
16 he'd been Sam's caretaker for at
least 10 years. That's intense. So, in
a way, I feel like we learned nothing
about Dean in "Bad Boys", because I
honestly don't know who that kid
was."
Dean's decision in the season
premiere of Supernatural has clearly
been a driving force of a great deal of
the emotional and even (one of the)
mythological storylines. While it is,
admittedly, a repeat of previous
storylines (to a degree), the
unexpected twist in "Holy Terror"
with Sam's body being taken over
and Kevin getting killed has turned
his lie into a far bigger story,
breaking a bit of new ground in the
show (and, frankly, it's not that often
Dean gets to be the sinner in the
Winchesters' relationship). What will
be most interesting is how Sam
reacts to Dean's choice and how it
affects the brothers' relationship.
Roundtable Review: Sam, Dean,
Castiel, Angels, Demons, a Battle for
Heaven and More!
link:
https://www.screenfad.com/supernatural/supernatural-season-9-midseason-roundtable-review-dean-sam-castiel-angels-demons-9972
The winter Supernatural hellatus is
upon us (and after a dramatic and
heartbreaking a death in the final
moments of "Holy Terror!"). As is
tradition, I've once again called on
my group of fellow Supernatural
reviewers across the internet to share
our thoughts.
Participating in this roundtable are
the usual suspects: myself,
freelancer Laura Prudom, Vinnie from
WinchesterBros , Danielle Turchiano
from Possible By Pop Culture, Marisa
Roffman from Give Me My Remote ,
Alice Jester from Winchester Family
Business, Nikki Moore from
Winchester Daily, and Tina Charles
from TV Goodness . We hope you'll
stick with us to the end, because
while this is a very comprehensive
(read: long) season 9 review up until
this point, we've got a lot of opinions
to share and a lot of topics to get
through.
I think Vinnie put it best when she
said "Dean's storyline [this season
on Supernatural] has been, as
always, a study in Dean's emotions."
There's always turmoil in the fandom
over whether Dean has a storyline, if
you will. While it's true that Dean is
often a player in the overall
mythology, as opposed to being the
driving force, Dean is " in my
opinion " the heart of Supernatural
and always has been. Dean has a
tendency to bond more with
secondary characters and shoulder a
great deal of emotional depth on this
show because Dean's emotions are
often the driving force in his story. In
the case of season 9, Dean's choice
was the catalyst for one of the main
mytharcs (the possession of Sam),
which is unusual because Sam
typically makes a choice (or is the
focus) that drives the main or
secondary mytharc for the season.
But despite Dean's choice being the
starting point for the possession
storyline, it's really Dean's feelings,
as Vinnie said, that have been the
focus for the first nine episodes of
Supernatural this season.
Dean, unlike Sam, doesn't typically
keep secrets of this magnitude (he
even told Sam about his deal in the
course of a single episode in season
2), but his choice in the premiere
made sense. "While we can probably
all agree that Dean making Sam's
choice for him was a predominantly
selfish and arguably unfair act, it's
also consistent with Dean's character
" he was never going to let Sam die
without a fight, and given how much
of his sense of identity and self-
worth is tied to his brother, in many
ways, it seems like letting Zeke in
was Dean's only real option. I can't
say I'm mad at Dean for being Dean
(especially since there wouldn't be a
show without Sam hunting with him),
and as we've seen in every episode
since the premiere, the guilt has
been eating him up inside, so it was
clearly not a decision that Dean
made lightly, nor one that we, the
audience, or Dean as a character, are
supposed to think was "right." I like
that we've seen Dean struggling with
it, because Jensen Ackles sells those
scenes of inner turmoil
phenomenally," Laura said.
"After the trials, Sam was in a bad
way," Tina said. "And Dean's always
shown he's going to do whatever it
takes to save his brother. Ezekiel'
kept stringing Dean along so I get
why he felt he needed to keep things
secret. But Dean having to constantly
lie, in my opinion, was difficult to
watch. We went through this after he
offed Amy but this time around it
was on a much bigger level. I mean,
he was doing so much of it. On top
of that, he had to turn Cas away on
Ezekiel's orders. That was immensely
difficult to watch. And then to see his
trust in Zeke fully go to pot in Holy
Terror?' Beyond difficult to watch.
You see my pattern here? Dean has
had a turbulent season so far. I
know. When doesn't he? But I don't
think it's going to get better anytime
soon. At this point, I'm wondering
when it's going to be the brothers vs.
the supernatural universe again. My
heart can't take these seismic
brotherly conflicts. Although, we
really haven't seen the Sam vs. Dean
of it all just yet, have we? I thought it
was going to happen in the mid-
season finale but things didn't quite
work out that way, did they?"
Danielle originally seemed frustrated
that the season began with one
brother keeping a secret from the
other (yes, Supernatural fans, we've
been here before), but appreciated
the unexpected outcome: "In a ninth
season show, it is common for theme
and stories to be revisited, but at the
same time, I don't want to be able to
anticipate every beat that is coming,
especially with the inevitable he (in
this case, Sam) finds out the truth,
gets mad, and the brothers split
apart for a period of the season, etc,
etc'. This secret still provided the
moments of waiting for certain beats
" for the audience as well as for
Dean. All along Dean knew he would
have to answer to his brother's anger
when he eventually learned the truth,
and we were all bracing for that
moment while still trying to stave it
off as long as possible. In a weird
way, it aligned the POVs of Dean and
the audience. While a good chunk of
the first half of the season was spent
waiting for the moment of truth, the
exciting and unique thing was that
once it happened this time around, it
set up a brand new chain of events.
Dean was expecting his brother to be
mad and storm off and possibly even
hit him, but Dean was not expecting
to be blindsided by the fact that
Ezekiel was not who he claimed to
be and that Sam wasn't really safe let
alone in control anymore. I was not
expecting that either. So while the
first half of the season felt very
repetitive for Dean, I at least really
enjoyed and respected the difference
in the result and what it should mean
for how Dean acts going forward.
Now he is at a loss of control, as
well. He could have handled Sam
hitting him and storming off for a
little bit, even though it would have
hurt, but this is something much
greater, and he is all alone in trying
to fight it since Castiel is still not
quite Castiel (that wasn't his grace,
so how different will he be with some
other " not as nice " angel's grace
in him), and Kevin has been killed."
Marisa agreed with Danielle's
sentiments, saying "On one hand, I
totally get why Dean did what he did
for (and arguably to) Sam " he's
proven time and time again he will
do whatever it takes to keep his
brother alive, whether Sam wants it
or not. It's sweet, I suppose...
arguably a retread of approximately
472,815 times the brothers have kept
a secret from each other, but it's
nice he cares. Given the
circumstances, I'm not sure he could
have done things any differently if
Sam was to be kept alive. As long as
the writers keep putting him in the
situation, it's hard to imagine he
won't keep making the same choice
again and again. But on the other
hand, as questionable as what Dean
did was, it was almost more
fascinating to see the unexpected
fallout from his choice: he was alone
in a way we truly haven't really seen
before. Sam was Sam (ish), but he
never knew when Zeke' would pop
up. He had to keep Cas away. He
couldn't confide in anyone what was
really going on, so he was not only
struggling to make sure Sam stayed
alive, but any of his doubts or
worries weren't allowed to surface for
a second."
Alice had the opposite perspective,
arguing that the retread of storylines
was too much for her: "Dean's story
was very interesting at first, then it
lingered and got repetitive. I'm
disappointed that when everything
started to slowly unravel for him, he
stuck with the "trust me" line while it
all fell apart. I get why he tricked
Sam with angel possession. Seeing
Sam agreeing to go with Death had
to be a huge jolt. Plus it hasn't been
all bad, not!Zeke has managed to get
them out of a few life or death jams.
But the boy did not need more guilt!
Now that his actions have led to the
death of Kevin I think that's going to
bust open that huge bag of guilt he's
been collecting."
Vinnie brought up an interesting
aspect of the 2014 scenario
presented to us in season 5: "I want
to note that all season people were
talking about the current storyline
coming full circle to meet up with a
version of what we were shown in
5.04 The End'. There was
speculation that Ezekiel was really
Lucifer. I was not part of that camp
at all. Yet I realized at the end of
Holy Terror' that Dean was, in a way,
running parallel to that; when we
come back from hiatus it'll be 2014,
Sam's body will be controlled by a
fallen angel and Dean will be broken
and distraught. I thought about
Lucifer telling Dean 'whatever you do,
you will always end up here'. I'm not
sure if that parallel was intentional,
but I'd love to see it explored in
relation to what that says about
Dean."
As for "Bad Boys", the newest
flashback to a younger Winchester,
there's agreement among us that
while it may not have necessarily
shown us aspects of Dean that we
had never expected to see, it was,
nonetheless, a thoroughly enjoyable
episode. "I absolutely loved Bad
Boys' for so many reasons," Nikki
said. "We got sneak peek into a
younger Dean with depth and layers
and it made me want to know so
much more about him. The episode
really gave me insight into the way
John raised those boys and just how
destroyed he was as a man. Dean
gained so much from Sonny, a man
who treated him like a son and gave
him hope. That's something they
never got from John because in his
eyes, all hope was lost."
"'Bad Boys' didn't really tell us
anything we didn't already know
about Dean, but it was still an
enjoyable episode," Laura admitted.
"After the events of the flashback in
"Something Wicked," we know that
Dean has always put his little brother
first, so while it was nice to see that
dedication reiterated, showing us that
Dean truly did give up a shot at
normalcy (something he's always
protested against but has still
understandably seemed to crave) for
the sake of his family, I just saw it as
further evidence of Dean's dedication
to Sam and John, a loyalty that
hasn't always been reciprocated."
Marisa also mentioned that the
episode seemed quite hard on the
characterization of John Winchester:
"As for Bad Boys,' it didn't
massively change things for me, but
it made me really sad to be reminded
how terrible John was as a father to
his kids. As messed up as that
relationship has always been, John
was always a character I liked, but...
yeah. He never comes off even
remotely decent in these flashbacks."
The systematic tearing down of John
Winchester is an aspect of
Supernatural that occasionally
frustrates me over the years
Vinnie had a slightly different
perspective, stating that "I have such
mixed feelings about Dean in 9.07:
on one hand it was deliciously
emotional to see Dean go through
that; the guilt of losing the money,
the desperation that lead to stealing,
the humiliation of getting caught. Tug
on my heartstrings and validate my
headcanon, why don't you? The idea
of Dean getting a taste of normal, of
liking it, and ultimately choosing to
turn his back on it for Sam was
heartbreakingly beautiful.
Unfortunately, what we also learn that
after the guilt, desperation and
humiliation wore off Dean easily
settled right into a new life and never
once inquired about the brother that
he left behind. It was difficult to
reconcile that Dean with the Dean we
met in A Very Supernatural
Christmas' and later in After School
Special'; this Dean was sandwiched
directly in between those two, yet it
felt like an entirely different
character. Dean lost his mother at 4,
started shooting at 6, nearly lost Sam
to a Shtriga at 10, and had to deal
with Sam learning the truth about
their lives at 12, nevermind that by
16 he'd been Sam's caretaker for at
least 10 years. That's intense. So, in
a way, I feel like we learned nothing
about Dean in "Bad Boys", because I
honestly don't know who that kid
was."
Dean's decision in the season
premiere of Supernatural has clearly
been a driving force of a great deal of
the emotional and even (one of the)
mythological storylines. While it is,
admittedly, a repeat of previous
storylines (to a degree), the
unexpected twist in "Holy Terror"
with Sam's body being taken over
and Kevin getting killed has turned
his lie into a far bigger story,
breaking a bit of new ground in the
show (and, frankly, it's not that often
Dean gets to be the sinner in the
Winchesters' relationship). What will
be most interesting is how Sam
reacts to Dean's choice and how it
affects the brothers' relationship.
Seher Hone Ko Hai
Members Lounge
