A Pre-Finale Letter to Jeremy Carver
Dear Jeremy,
I am confused. It is only 2 days until Supernatural’s Season 8 finale airs in the U.S., but with so many plots and sub-plots still fluidly intertwining, I have no idea where this story is headed! I have totally given up on speculating, predicting or theorizing what is happening this season! I am intellectually baffled and emotionally exhausted. I think that’s a good thing. It means the series is unpredictable. It means I come back week after week for answers. These brainteasers are a significant part of my love of the show. I must say, though, that there are so many mysteries and layers upon layers of misdirection in this season, that I can’t keep them straight anymore! Can you help me?
I suppose I should start by telling you that I was thrilled when I heard that you were going to take over as the lead writer of the show. Long before I knew the names of the people who were writing “Supernatural;” back when I was innocently swept along by the story; before I recognized writers’ styles or eagerly anticipated a particular writer’s turn in the rotation before all that happened, I looked up your name. I believe it was after I saw “Mystery Spot.” I became aware that certain episodes put me into an emotional vise. The dialogue between Sam and Dean was absolutely perfect. They would say exactly what I wanted them to say to each other. The emotions they expressed were moving and honest, and the words they used were precise and insightful. I later learned to call these moments “bromance”. Beyond Sam and Dean’s dialogue, though, some episodes helped me understand their deepest thoughts, fears, motivations and hopes. When I looked up every episode that I thought got “it” right, you were the writer. So you were the first writer I recognized. You might even say I became a fan. I looked forward to your stories and you never, ever disappointed me. “A Very Supernatural Christmas,” “In the Beginning,” “Free to Be You and Me,” “Changing Channels,” “Point of No Return” and just about every other episode you wrote I consider pivotal, classic episodes in the series. So, yes, I was thrilled when you took over the story. I still am. I have to admit, though, that this season has me spinning in circles!
In retrospect, prior seasons of Supernatural had simple, straightforward themes:
- Season 1: Finding Dad
- Season 2: Discovering Sam’s Secret and Stopping Azazel
- Season 3: Dean’s Deal
- Season 4: Sam using Demon Blood to Stop Lilith
- Season 5: Stopping Lucifer and the Apocalypse
- Season 6: Revealing and Curing Soulless Sam; then Stopping the Purgatory Rift
- Season 7: Stopping the Leviathans
While we didn’t know what was going on at the time, it all makes sense now. Sure, there was always suspense and heartache and each season had its share of poor choices, disagreements, reconciliation, mysteries and big revelations. From that standpoint, season 8 is no different. I would speculate that the big “theme” of Season 8 will be “Closing the Gates of Hell”. Ok, I get that. What I don’t understand is everything else! It is much too simplistic to say that there has only been one theme this season. Indulge me while I try to list a few other themes that have either been introduced or greatly developed this year:
- Sam wanting a “normal” life – Sam didn’t look for Dean, found a new life with Amelia, lost it all (again!) and holds out hope to return to it at the end of the trials
- Purgatory, its rules, entry and exit points, how it forged Warrior!Dean and how it created an unlikely battlefield bond between Benny and Dean
- Naomi – the mystery surrounding the CIAngels, her power and control over Castiel, her history with other angels and her relationship to heaven
- The Men of Letters Legacy – A whole new history that has a profound impact on the myth arc. Introduction of Henry and his life’s story, the boys’ legacy as Winchesters, volumes of priceless information for the boys to use as hunter, the bunker; in other words, a whole new world of stories to explore!
- The Angel Tablet – Originally synergistic with Naomi’s story, it has branched off into a separate story with Castiel and Metatron, figuring out the scribe’s motivation, and the possibility of closing the Gates of Heaven
- The Brothers Maturing – The first half of the season was torture as we watched two brothers who barely recognized each other, fought all the time, said things that were deeply hurtful, and stayed together only to hunt, find Kevin, or survive. The second half of the season (especially the last few episodes) has done a complete turnabout with hugs, mutual understanding, support, tolerance and honesty, in short, everything I could hope for between the brothers!
There are a lot of story lines here! Then, just to turn up the heat a little, you wove secondary plots and subliminal mysteries throughout the episodes! These enigmas aren’t cleverly hidden in just one conversation, or subtly written into back stories. No, they are laced into the stories week after week after week. So, as attentive and devoted fans, we have created theories and possible explanations for all of the context clues and canon changes that have bombarded us this year. Let me see if I can remember all of them…
- Sam’s lost year, Jeremy, you have said that there is nothing mysterious here. Sam wanted to live a quiet life, with Amelia. Simple as that. Yet there are hints that something more happened! There is an attempted-suicide theory (Sam, worn down by remembering Hell and his Lucifer hallucinations, became despondent after losing Dean. His attempt to kill himself in the Impala was side-tracked when he hit a dog). This suicide theme was reinforced by “Heartache” when it was revealed that Brick drove his car off a bridge when faced with the prospect of living alone without his life partner.
A second theory is that none of it is real. There were countless hints at dream worlds in the first half of the season. The idealized quality of Sam’s memories of Amelia and the super bright lighting of his flashbacks suggested something other than reality. There was the mysterious figure standing outside of Sam’s Texas home. Was it Don? Dean? An Alternate Reality Sam? Then Dean’s advice to Sam to “never take a joint from a guy named Don” without knowing that Amelia’s husband’s name was Don, had to be more than a coincidence! Sam’s conversation with Amelia’s father was rather harsh, with him telling Sam that he was basically a broken man. Then Sam’s revealing monologue to Fred Jones in “Hunteri Heroici” was that you can’t live in a dream world because reality will always find you. The latest variations on this theory involve dark towers and alternate universes! Jeremy, were you just reinforcing the point that Sam couldn’t live the normal life he fantasized about, or were you intimating that it is all an illusion?
A third theory supported by sub-text is that memories have been altered. Naomi altered Castiel’s mind and we certainly know that angels can alter human memories. Were Sam’s activities in his missing year wiped away and new memories implanted? Did she control and train him too? It has already been revealed that she manipulated Samandriel’s and Ion’s minds, and they said she has done it to many (if not all) angels. The faulty memory theme was reinforced when Castiel corrected Dean’s memory of his escape from Purgatory. To deepen the memory references, Sam is now remembering intricate details of his life; details that Dean has long since forgotten. Jeremy, I don’t think we are imagining these clues, but we are certainly working hard to make sense out of them!
- The second theme that was pursued throughout several episodes was that monsters aren’t always monsters, and that they can choose to be good. As early as the fourth episode of the season, you dedicated an entire show to creating empathy for a group of teens that became werewolves (“Bitten”). This theme of “good” monsters was furthered through the season-long story of Benny, a vampire that Dean trusted. Benny’s story is developed with empathy in “Citizen Fang” making him a completely likeable and trusted character. While the “things aren’t always black and white” idea has been explored for years by both Sam and Dean, why would you spend so much time reiterating the point that monsters can be the good guys? Which other characters are you trying to suggest are battling with their true nature?
- A third theme that permeated the second half of the season was fathers making sacrifices for their children. This was more subtle, but a few weeks ago I documented no less than four episodes (“As Time Goes By”, “Freaks and Geeks”, “Everybody Hates Hitler” and “Remember the Titans”) that scared us with their ominous exploration of legacies, deaths, or impossible choices fathers have to make to save their children. So far, this theme hasn’t been further developed, so why was it introduced?
- Lastly, you are teasing us with references that Crowley and Naomi have a prior history, maybe even to the point of not being who they are pretending to be. Mesopotamia references, using endearing terms when speaking to each other, etc. Now I can’t even trust that the King of Hell is really a demon!
Jeremy, WHERE ARE YOU GOING WITH ALL OF THIS??? I have heard a phrase many times this season as fans, actors, writers and media analysts try to make sense of Season 8. Believe me, I share their sentiment when I say that I think my head is about to explode! Some speculate that it took you several months to get your “sea legs” as showrunner and that you experimented with, then dropped themes as they proved unpopular or unsuccessful. They believe that it took you a while to find direction, but you are now on a true course. Since I would find it distressing to think that several weeks of this season were simply experiments, or worse yet, mistakes (and I believe you have demonstrated writing talent beyond making mistakes of this magnitude), I choose to not subscribe to this explanation.
A second possibility is that there is just wildly inconsistent writing capability on your staff, and we go from great to mediocre, epic to forgettable based on the writer. Better writers give us canon, poorer writers give us mistakes. While this may be true, there are just too many subthemes to be ignored. The last possibility is the one that I choose to believe. I believe that you are setting up an immensely intricate myth arc that will take at least three years (and hopefully more than that!) to unravel and explain. I believe you have a plan. I want you to have a plan. Originally I had hoped to get Sam’s lost year, not looking for Dean, Naomi’s agenda, Cas’ manipulation, closing whatever gates…all resolved this season. I had hoped that by Episode 23 I would have a lot of answers. I have given up on that!! There’s less than a week left, and Cas is heading in some new, crazy, misguided direction; a Knight of Hell is released again (ineptly by the brothers); Sam is being attacked both emotionally and physically, and may be losing his resolve to complete the trials; Dean is alone in supporting both his brother and their quest; and Crowley, Naomi and Metatron are still mysteries.
Jeremy, I have to acknowledge there have been missed opportunities this season, but overall, it has had some of the most gut-wrenching, emotionally-intense, best written, spectacular episodes of the series. While the choices differ from fan to fan, there have been several stories that have become instant classics. Expressions of “Finally he said that!” or “They have a home” have echoed across the world all at once as fans glued themselves within inches of their screens. Don’t even get me started on the emotional whiplash I have experienced with finding new friends while killing off old friends, and the new and inventive torture loosed upon some of the good guys (Cas and Samandriel immediately come to mind), and the brother’s relationship! The worst heartaches ever throughout the first half of the season followed by the most beautiful brotherly reconciliations, hugs and love we have ever seen delivered in the second half of the season.
I promise I will write to you again this summer, after I have seen the finale and know all that you have to share with us this season. For now, though, I have to marvel at the amount of faith you have in fandom! You are either giving us the most complex season of all time (a judgment only hindsight can deliver once all is revealed), or are baiting us with clues and multi-year story set-ups that we have to absorb and just hold on to patiently for years. Or, are we, as fans, seeing way too many things that just aren’t there? Jeremy, please help us make sense of all of this! Your hint of “perception” is doing more to fuel rather than resolve the speculations! Please tell us to just be patient, or to believe in you, or something so that I know how to channel my overwhelming emotions! Dear Jeremy, what in the name of Chuck is going on????
++++++
Fans, what other answers had you hoped to get by next week? What other clues were dropped on us that haven’t been resolved? What other theories have you read that are still bugging you? What would you say to our fearless leader, Jeremy Carver? Where is your heart and head going into the season 8 finale??
Nightsky, I really enjoy this format of you writing letters to whomever. 🙂 Very concisely said! “plots and sub- plots still fluidly intertwining”. It has been a nerve racking year and it truly looks as if much of this is going to carry over to next season. I have been holding out hope this is all a brilliant plan that will eventually come together. I am not so sure now. I thought earlier that maybe JC was adding too many elements and that it might sag under that weight. I am wondering if I was correct. I do hope that the finale gives some reason to think that this may all be more than it seems!
I do remain optimistic 🙂
[quote]Jeremy, I have to acknowledge there have been missed opportunities this season, but overall, it has had some of the most gut-wrenching, emotionally-intense, best written, spectacular episodes of the series. [/quote]
I agree with THIS sentence! I’m a huge fan of Jeremy Carver & I’ve loved season 8. The addition of the MoL legacy and the growing circle of contacts that Sam & Dean now have, has given the show so much material to work with…. take those creepy black & white films in Clip Show for example. The MoL bunker is a veritable gold-mine & I can’t wait to see what else they find in there 😀
I also like that we’re still guessing (and feeling way too anxious 😮 ) going into the finale. I do hope there is an “oh my god” moment, but I don’t think we’ll get answers about everything. Jeremy said that, in an ideal world where the show is renewed, he had a 3-year plan. I think many of the storylines you’ve mentioned will carry into next season and beyond.
There’s only a couple of things I’m impatient about… I want to know who was standing outside Sam’s house & who told Benny how to get Dean out of purgatory.
But, even if we don’t find this out, I trust Jeremy Carver and I’m happy to be patient 🙂
I’m not so happy about hellatus though 🙁 and look forward to reading more of your letters & other articles on TWFB. Thanks!
Nightsky, you summed up my thoughts perfectly. This season has been the most frustrating to me of all the seasons. I just don’t know exactly how I feel about it. It seems like it all rests on this one episode working. And like you mentioned he has had some of the best of the series(at least 2 of my top five), but he has all had some stinkers. And feel like my faith in the show has taken a beating. Come 9pm Wednesday I may be on top of the world or completely devastated. I seriously could go either way. It’s hell on the nerves. 🙂
Well said 🙂 I really want to believe that some of those loose ends are not in fact dead ends that were started and then dropped along the way. The unevenness of this season has at times made my head spin, but there have been (as you say) some episodes that were just blissful in delivering all the things I watch SPN for. The brothers back on the same page, the glimpses into both of their headspace, the Batcave, Charlie, the hugs…some episodes were damn near perfect. (Robbie Thompson, I’m looking at you….) I’ve got my fingers crossed that the season finale is one of them…
Jeremy wrote the finale, so there is a good reason for hope! I think the key will be expectations. I do not believe, or expect, that the finale will give us answers to many of the threads I have been tracking. I just hope it gives us an excellent story about one plot line: the demon tablet and closing the gates of hell. If it delivers on that, I choose to believe the other stories will carry over until S9.
Well, Mr. Carver, if you read this, you get a standing “O” from me!!! This season has been amazing. I would love to see it go on and on. I could see you going on to a season 12; but I will hold out for a 10, at least. Thank you
Dear Nightsky:
Brilliantly clear. Thank you much to you and other fans who have been grappling with the possible themes/arc. I meant, you try to make sense of SPN’s themes and mytharc for us.
From An Inmate
(of Purgatory, a mental health facility, or just my home —
depends on where the weekly SPN will send me)
If he( Jeremy) at least try to start to answer some of these questions that we torment in the finale season, I’ll be happy and very optimistic for the season 9. 😀 8)
I dont know if the finale will make much difference ? Jeremy might think he has been clever or some of it has been poor planning and poor writing. I do know I have seen yet another showrunner damage Sam unnecessarily with some plot idea .
I just hope the finale gives something for everybody and we are all debating and excited for the next season by the end of it.
A very enlightening look at the season, but for me the scales are definitely heavy on the negative side.
Lots of brotherly hugs, which I adore , can’t make up for a bad, confused, illogical, canon-trashing season.
To me it seems that each writer has written his own little episode without any consultation or co-ordination with what has gone before or was to come after.
I believe that should be Carver’s job, to coordinate the writing into an overall logical story-line.
In this Carver has definitely failed, as the season is all over the place.
X
I feel that this last episode will keep us hanging on without really resolving anything, cos there is just too much going on.
X
However, this new thing of Castiel getting the heaven trials to do is annoying, as they should have fallen to Dean.
Actually the brothers should both have gotten to do the hell trials together but as they fell to Sam , it would have been fair that Dean got the heaven trials, if for no other reason than to keep the dichotomy between the Heaven /Hell theme that the brothers have always had.
X
Dean has had little to do this season, myth-arc wise, next season it seems he is destined to do even less and I’m afraid that the thought of seeing more of Castiel doesn’t fire me up with enthusiasm.
X
Dean and Sam are bad-ass hunters, or should be. They should be out on the open road, uncovering urban legends and kicking monster ass, not cooking, grocery shopping or watching guest stars try on outfits.
.
[quote]To me it seems that each writer has written his own little episode without any consultation or co-ordination with what has gone before or was to come after.
I believe that should be Carver’s job, to coordinate the writing into an overall logical story-line.
.[/quote]
I absolutely agree with this!!! I have a little sympathy for Jeremy, though. I have seen many, many times how hard it is for a new “boss” (in any line of work) to figure out how much to step in, guide and correct staff mistakes. Often, they err on the side of allowing too much independence. I really sense this is the case this season. It takes a while to know that working with a large staff means providing overriding input sometimes, not just soft suggestions that you [i]hope [/i] they understand and follow. Responsibility for the show mean that all the episodes should have a [i]minimum [/i] of “Jeremy Carver” quality, which is much higher than the natural talent or experience of a few of his writers.
This year really was a roller coaster of extremes! I am being very sincere when I say I think he has delivered [i]many [/i] of the best shows of the series. I could list several that were outstanding. The problem, though, is that the weaker shows were glaring in how drastically they interrupted the momentum (My icon for this season: a [i]huge [/i] SINE wave!). Next season I would like to see Jeremy more confidently provide consistency between writers and episodes.
reply to nightsky.
X
Carver has certainly written some wonderful eps. Mystery Spot, AVSC and many others, that’s why I tend to blame him even more for this bad season.
X
If he had come onto the show without knowing anything about SPN or the Winchesters and had to learn everything from scratch, I would be more inclined to be understanding, but he has been with the show for years and should know how it works.
I can only surmise that the great eps he wrote were such because of Kripke’s supervision.
X
There is too much of a gap between what he did in the past and what he is allowing his writers to put out now.
Perhaps as you say, he will improve. I hope so.
X
One of the indications will be tomorrow’s episode. He has written it, so this is his chance to amaze us!
beautifully said nightsky. i so agree with you and appreciate your insight and maturity when addressing carver, his brilliance and also his challenges of being a first year show runner of a long-standing series. carver possesses a fearlessness when it comes to the darker themes (which makes them believable — the high stakes actually FEEL REAL — in a way that often hasn’t been the case with supernatural) and an uncanny ability to weave the disturbing material with a keen twisted wit and wrenching, powerful emotion. i haven’t been this excited about the show in years!
Overall I have loved S8 and knowing a S9 is coming makes me okay with not getting all the answers this season. I trust JC and I am going to patiently ride in the back of the Impala until the end of this great show and reserve my final verdict until then. I will speculate, for the fun of it, but love the fact that I never know for sure. In a nutshell, I’m going to enjoy the ride with the Winchester brothers, just like I have for 8 seasons.
[quote] In a nutshell, I’m going to enjoy the ride with the Winchester brothers, just like I have for 8 seasons.[/quote]
Good for you! The “I choose to be happy” attitude makes life so much better!
Excellent letter! It summed things up so well. Personally, I have loved season eight overall. Has it been complex and perhaps even convoluted at times? Yes. But in general the new elements and possibilities that have opened up and direction the characters have been taken in have been phenomenal. In particular the maturity of the brothers and their renewed bond and the fact that finally, they have a home again. LOVE!
If we don’t get all the answers about this season until next year, or (should we be so lucky) the year after, that’s okay. The first five seasons weren’t strictly written with neatly tied individual bows at the end of every year after all and part of what I love about this show has been it’s ability to thread together stories over the years (example: Mary apologizing to Sam in season one, but we don’t know why until years later).
God, I love this show!
I love your letter. I can’t wait to see how many of your points are dealt with.
I love SPN; it is the only show I watch. I started watching 1.01 and never stopped. I will watch to the end. I love the episodes JC wrote. Mystery Spot and Supernatural Xmas are right up there at the top of my list. I really do have faith in him.
However, SPN used to make me feel good and excited about what was coming next. This season I have felt disturbed, confused, fragile and depressed. I know the fragility and depression are my own , but the disturbing and confusing go straight to SPN. 😕 The plots and many subplots without any resolution have something to do with it. I feel like I am twisting in the wind. A three-year wind twist will be very exhausting. I’m tired already.
One thing I that might have helped me with S8 would have been if they had not kept EVERYTHING hanging all season. Some reveals, keeping some secrets and making new plotlines, all overlapping, might have made for less extensive wind-twisting.
One more thing that has me confused. Most of the fandom seems glad that S&D have found a “home.” To me, the bunker feels like they are squatting there without permission. I realize they are “legacy” and should have been there, but it seems too good to be true for S&D. Does anything really turn out well for them? I hope it does, because the bunker is fantastic. And Dean has a room and a mattress that remembers him. I LOVE that. But it seems like “the other shoe will drop.”
Enjoy the episode, everyone!
I love your letter. I’m frusterated and yes i even feel betrayed by Carvers inability (unwillingness) to be true to Sams charector. Season 1: Your my brother and there isn’t nothing i wouldn’t do for you. to Season 6: You know me. You know why. I’m not going to leave my brother alone out there.
How did Sam go from all that to just dropping off the face of the earth and not searching for Dean? Not trying to save Kevin? “I imploded. I ran.” is NOT a story. Its not even a human story. Its two lines of dialogue that can mean anything. When. How? where? This is what writing is all about…asnwering these questions.
Carver also didn’t do well with Dean. Apparently Dean told Benny ALL ABOUT Sam. And yet Benny showed no surprise upon learning Sam wanted him dead (again, huh?). what eactly did Dean tell benny about Sam? Apprently he didn’t tell Benny that Sam was a hunter who saw shades of grey, who faught for the right for certain monsters to live, to have a second chance. Otherwise benny would have told Dean that Sam was nothing like Dean described.
I am also confused about the MOL. Dean calls it home. he is ‘nesting’ and decorating and making it his. What does Sam think? Truely think? If he is still hoping to get out of hunting then does he consider the MOL bunker a temporary residence? A no rent motel? Does he consider himself crashing at Deans place…like the Impala? And if Dean decides they need to each pick a hemisphere does that mean Sam has to leave this ‘home’?
I feel i know more about secondary charectors thenn i do one of the leads. Why is Sam STILL being treated as a mystery? quite isolating him. Give Sam a recurring friend so he is less a mystery. Have the only writer on staff who knows Sam winchester…Ben Edlund…cause its obvious Carver doesn’t know Sam (cause if he did he would knwo Sam would never have left Dean alone out there) ……and write Sam so he opens up. He just needs the right charector. The right actor. Dont chintz on this like you did with Ameila and LB.
[quote]….. I will take an incomplete season of Supernatural over most of the crap on TV.[/quote]
Right there with you, Teresa!