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Supernatural Retrospective 2/3
Nov. 10th, 2021 06:05 pmIt's about a year since I started my Supernatural binge in the wake of November 5th, 2020, what some might term 'Destielection Day'.
I haven't been binging the entire time. In fact, having stopped around April or May, you could say I've been on an extended break as long or longer than the initial binge. Season 10 was about the limit of my patience, not because it was spectacularly terrible, but because it was just...Supernatural. It wasn't good, and it was a drain on time and energy, and difficult to maintain now that I had a full-time job.
Now it's time to dive back in, but before I get to work on Season 11 and drag myself through the last five seasons, I need to do the same thing I did after the first five, and do a retrospective on Seasons Six through Ten.
Now, I think I made it clear back when I first covered it that the first lap around the Supernatural track was not exactly stellar. It amazes me, honestly, that it earned the titanic, historic fandom that it did under such weak writing. Seasons One and Two were relatively modest, nothing seriously wrong but nothing to shoot to the moon about. Season Three was a true ride through hell, legitimately awful. Seasons Four and Five were somewhere in the middle, generally annoying.
But at least going up and down like that provided something to talk about. Seasons Six, Seven, Eight, Nine, and Ten, are just...bleh. They go on and on, spinning their wheels, with everything that was unique to Supernatural and enjoyable about it slowly bleeding out in favor of new plotlines and new, high stakes that never end up going any further than the last ones. It's all so very, very same-ey, and unfortunately it consists almost entirely of plots that have their potential squandered and characters that stopped being interesting and starting being frustrating and annoying way back down the road.
Season Six? Here, take every last thing that Season Five had that had any air of finality about it and throw it in the garbage. Make everyone act utterly insufferable. Take characters that were generally inoffensive or even enjoyable and make them utterly hate-able. There is not one single enjoyable thing about this season, and you can tie it with Season Three for being true, bona fide trash. But Season Three at least had a plot working through the entire thing. It was misogynistic, racist, and homophobic out the ass, but it had a plot. Season Six can't even make a plot happen right, and breaks about two or three of them like your mother's fine china before it finally ends.
Season Seven? Characters are still annoying, but Castiel's gone and there's something reasonably new and challenging--and then Bobby dies and Castiel comes back and Meg is still here and God, just fuck everything, I guess.
Season Eight? All of the above and more fucking angels.
Season Nine? All of the above and more fucking angels.
Season Ten? All of the above and more fucking angels.
The show just doesn't have anything left. It doesn't surprise me that Supernatural would begin quieting as a fandom shortly after this point because if you weren't into Castiel and/or Destiel, it just didn't have anything to offer you.
Oh yeah, Destiel. Another thing that is absolutely shocking in how big it got out of literally nothing. By the time of Season Seven, I was feeling cheated and lied to. I was four seasons into what was supposed to be the juiciest gay bait ever, and I'd gotten nothing. Seasons Eight and Nine offered a little more to work with, but if you want me to say that there's any actual chemistry between Dean and Castiel, I'm afraid I can't lie to you like that. Mostly it's just Castiel and Dean dragging each other around to help with each other's angel-related problems because angels are all Robert Singer wants to fucking have in this show anymore. I could sort of see how a determined shipper might try and force it, purely out of shared history, because Castiel does admittedly seem to be allergic to interacting with Sam one-on-one, and it's not like any cast members but Crowley stick around long enough for him to build up chemistry with outside of the other three leading dudes, anyway.
I'm just tired, man. Not once has this show handed me anything I actually, unironically, and emphatically thought was worth the time taken to deliver it. And I don't expect better from the coming seasons, which as I understand are about when Supernatural's staying power in the wake of Dashcon 2014 finally started to run a little dry.
But here we go anyway, fresh off of a months-long break so thoroughly rejuvenating that I can now re-experience all the reasons I hate this show like it's my first time all over again.
I haven't been binging the entire time. In fact, having stopped around April or May, you could say I've been on an extended break as long or longer than the initial binge. Season 10 was about the limit of my patience, not because it was spectacularly terrible, but because it was just...Supernatural. It wasn't good, and it was a drain on time and energy, and difficult to maintain now that I had a full-time job.
Now it's time to dive back in, but before I get to work on Season 11 and drag myself through the last five seasons, I need to do the same thing I did after the first five, and do a retrospective on Seasons Six through Ten.
Now, I think I made it clear back when I first covered it that the first lap around the Supernatural track was not exactly stellar. It amazes me, honestly, that it earned the titanic, historic fandom that it did under such weak writing. Seasons One and Two were relatively modest, nothing seriously wrong but nothing to shoot to the moon about. Season Three was a true ride through hell, legitimately awful. Seasons Four and Five were somewhere in the middle, generally annoying.
But at least going up and down like that provided something to talk about. Seasons Six, Seven, Eight, Nine, and Ten, are just...bleh. They go on and on, spinning their wheels, with everything that was unique to Supernatural and enjoyable about it slowly bleeding out in favor of new plotlines and new, high stakes that never end up going any further than the last ones. It's all so very, very same-ey, and unfortunately it consists almost entirely of plots that have their potential squandered and characters that stopped being interesting and starting being frustrating and annoying way back down the road.
Season Six? Here, take every last thing that Season Five had that had any air of finality about it and throw it in the garbage. Make everyone act utterly insufferable. Take characters that were generally inoffensive or even enjoyable and make them utterly hate-able. There is not one single enjoyable thing about this season, and you can tie it with Season Three for being true, bona fide trash. But Season Three at least had a plot working through the entire thing. It was misogynistic, racist, and homophobic out the ass, but it had a plot. Season Six can't even make a plot happen right, and breaks about two or three of them like your mother's fine china before it finally ends.
Season Seven? Characters are still annoying, but Castiel's gone and there's something reasonably new and challenging--and then Bobby dies and Castiel comes back and Meg is still here and God, just fuck everything, I guess.
Season Eight? All of the above and more fucking angels.
Season Nine? All of the above and more fucking angels.
Season Ten? All of the above and more fucking angels.
The show just doesn't have anything left. It doesn't surprise me that Supernatural would begin quieting as a fandom shortly after this point because if you weren't into Castiel and/or Destiel, it just didn't have anything to offer you.
Oh yeah, Destiel. Another thing that is absolutely shocking in how big it got out of literally nothing. By the time of Season Seven, I was feeling cheated and lied to. I was four seasons into what was supposed to be the juiciest gay bait ever, and I'd gotten nothing. Seasons Eight and Nine offered a little more to work with, but if you want me to say that there's any actual chemistry between Dean and Castiel, I'm afraid I can't lie to you like that. Mostly it's just Castiel and Dean dragging each other around to help with each other's angel-related problems because angels are all Robert Singer wants to fucking have in this show anymore. I could sort of see how a determined shipper might try and force it, purely out of shared history, because Castiel does admittedly seem to be allergic to interacting with Sam one-on-one, and it's not like any cast members but Crowley stick around long enough for him to build up chemistry with outside of the other three leading dudes, anyway.
I'm just tired, man. Not once has this show handed me anything I actually, unironically, and emphatically thought was worth the time taken to deliver it. And I don't expect better from the coming seasons, which as I understand are about when Supernatural's staying power in the wake of Dashcon 2014 finally started to run a little dry.
But here we go anyway, fresh off of a months-long break so thoroughly rejuvenating that I can now re-experience all the reasons I hate this show like it's my first time all over again.
