Supernatural Season 4: Hits & Misses – Part 1
Happy 2013 Hellatus, everyone! Here is a little (and long overdue!) filler fluff piece to pass the time. Now, of all the hits and misses lists I’ve put together, season four proved the most challenging. One of the strongest seasons to date, it had a slew of hits for me to narrow down and very, very few misses to choose from. As a result, there are probably 99+ things that did not make it to the Hits lists but should be on there, so if you see something you think I should have included that doesn’t make it on this list or part two, add it below in the comments and know that if it isn’t on this list (or part two) it’s more likely because it didn’t make the random draw the top twenty hits went into, rather than to say because it wasn’t considered a hit. As for the Misses – most of them are minor because I was desperate, so I won’t even bother with the Nitpick Alert this time through.
Alright, season four here we come…
Hit: Visuals
This episode miss speaks purely to visual here: it was disgusting. Supernatural can certainly push the limits visually, but this episode was too much for me. Very high on my personal miss scale.
Hit: Ordinary Men
It’s a Terrible Life was a brilliant concept. Sam in a cubicle, Dean doing spinach salads, classic haunting and a cameo by the Ghostfacers? Yes please! This episode was humorous, bloody, well written and had a great ending to boot. Plus, how many of us have had a job we wished we could quit following Sam’s example?
Hit: Monsters in Black and White
This was a brilliant and refreshing new spin on the old shifter monster. It gave us humor and great visuals. Not to mention – OKTOBERFEST!
Maybe this will be controversial, but the introduction and use of this particular character in season four was epic. The lightning flashes and Castiel’s shadowed wings as he displays his majesty to prove to Dean he truly is an angel in that infamous scene in Lazarus Rising will forever be one of my favourite Supernatural moments.
Miss: Not Enough Giant Sam/Cheap Set
Okay, yes, this is grasping. No question. Sam in Monster Movie was excellent. Couldn’t we all have watched him bring down whole walls while trying to kick in single doors just a couple more times?
Hit: Corporate Heaven
Miss: Angel’s Fall
No issue with Anna, or the idea of a fallen angel of course. It’s the whole “removal of grace” thing that felt somewhat shaky – and it never really stabilized. Though it’s hard to pinpoint what or where exactly this piece of storyline is specifically problematic, it’s just not quite 100% solid either.
Your thoughts?
I agree with all of your hits but none of your misses. I love Metamorphosis, although I’ll admit it is still mostly for the brother scenes. And I thought Sam identifying her as Kristy was his way of saying they would keep it a secret. Because he already knew from S3 that Dean wouldn’t approve. The angel grace thing just doesn’t really bother me.
My miss would be Family Remains minus the brother scenes-I did love those. But the rest was just not good.
I’m tempted to say all the rest of the season for the hits. But The Monster at the End of the Book. That is an all time hit for me. Practically every moment of it.
About Adam, his mother was missing for three days, not enough time to put him in a milk carton I think, I’m guessing the monster became Adam as soon as he killed him too.
Too me, there are only 2 misses in season 4
One will be the casting of the actress playing Jimmy’s wife in The Rupture, I remember she only had this one expression in her face the whole episode… I always skip this episode.
The second will be a minor thing, considering it is my favorite episode of this season, In the beginning, Mary look too young comparing with the dead Mary, considering that it’s only a four and a half years difference, but, it’s nothing, this episode is so good that you don’t pay attention to that detail after you watch it, not during…. or maybe, it’s just me.
Thank you Elle, I love season 4, probably my favourite of all the seasons. Good job trying to find any misses, cause I sure can’t! 🙂 Even the gross out in “Metamorphisis”, basically anything that makes me go ewwww, I’m happy with.
Hmmm. Yes. Season 4 misses are hard to identify. It was a great season. Other than the Angel-becomes-a-baby-and-threw-my-grace-in-a-tree thing…. Even though I liked anna, that concept was a definite miss.
I have a love/hate relationship with season 4. Most of the episodes were great and I loved how strong and confident Sam had become (and it will never happen again, I fear). But the whole Anna angel thing was kind of useless to me. I once could not figure out why Sam would decide to take up the blood drinking again after that dumb Criss Angel episode, but I have a better understanding of where his character was at now, so I’m ok. Jimmy’s story was also quite useless IMO except as a way to propel them into the penultimate episode – which I find nearly unwatchable. Don’t get me wrong, the performances were spectacular, but the whole sudden DTs and hallucinations just thru me out of the story, way too convenient and to this day I still feel like it was manufactured by the angels. There were so many better ways to painfully finish that story that this still disappoints me when I watch it.
Thanks. I agree with all your hits, and the Kathy/Kristi Ruby miss, but your other misses hit with me. I would add to hits:
– In addition to the visual, Dean climbing out of his grave was one of the most stunning scenes ever.
– The dynamic between the brothers as Dean was overcome by fear in Yellow Fever and Sam worked to save him.
– The progression of Sam’s power – the subtle shifts in Jared’s acting as his power grew, before we knew where the power was coming from.
– The drip, drip revealing of Dean’s secret from Hell. I think they played this just right, telling the viewer one piece at a time until it was fully revealed, and Jensen played it beautifully. I cry every time I see those scenes.
– Speaking of reveals, the scene in On the Head of a Pin between Dean and Alistair. Both actors knocked it out of the park, and the symmetry of the plotting that had Dean unknowingly breaking the first seal and Sam unknowingly breaking the last, was brilliant.
I would add just 2 items to the misses:
– I agree with Kelly – except for the couple brother conversations, that whole episode missed with me.
– Cris Angel episode- I like all those actors, but the episode bored me. I honestly have trouble pinpointing why – story, pacing, I do not know, but the whole episode just missed with me.
Thanks again.
[quote]Technically, this is more of a wondering than an out and out miss – but if the ghoul had killed Adam and he’d been gone for days, wasn’t anyone from his real life looking for him? A friend, a roommate, a relative? Anyone who might a filed a report that might have popped up when Sam and Dean searched into Adam?[/quote]
Since Adam had gone home because his mother was missing. It had only been a couple of days, so friends at school, etc. probably just figured he was too busy/concerned about his mother to keep in contact. So that didn’t bother me.
Season 4 is my least enjoyable one of 1 – 4. I blame Sam’s attitude and blood drinking and arrogance for my dislike. Right from the get go, right after the hug, he began his season of lies. Also, with the appearance of Castiel, the scope of the show became a world ending scenario, which I didn’t truly enjoy as much as the personal problems of the boys and their hunting life in seasons 1 – 3. Don’t get me wrong, I’m loving Cas now, it’s just the turn of the mytharc that disappointed me.
The monster in Metamorphosis didn’t bother me nearly as much as Sam’s ranting at Dean. I couldn’t believe Sammy could be so cold so soon after getting his beloved brother back! He really went his own way, and it felt even worse after what he said to Dean in Sex and Violence! Boo hoo? So depressing!
I thought Adam’s ghoul probably let his school know he would be taking some leave. It was his mom that was missing, not Adam.
Loved Monster Movie for the concept and the relationship of the brothers in it. If they aren’t on the same page mostly then my enjoyment dissipates and I get anxious. (Just shows what a hold this show has on me and my emotions, eh?)
There were wonderful episodes. On the Head of a Pin (the acting was superb and Dean ripped out my heart), It’s a Terrible Life, I loved that so much as it was a throwback to the first seasons for me.
I too disliked Mrs. Jimmy in The Rapture. I wanted to kick her a**! And Sam jonesing for Ruby’s blood and letting Jimmy escape so easily. Loved Dean and his sarcasm afterwards.
The little girl and her teddy bear, the sex scene in the backseat of the Impala, the boys wounded and Sam fixing Dean’s dislocated shoulder, “On 3, 1—-snap!” The scene in the laundromat and Dean’s talk with Anna about what he did in Hell (he couldn’t hardly speak words, the acting, wow!). Loved Chuck. The final scene with them clutching at each other!
The acting was top notch and the writing seems to have pleased the big majority of fans for this season so I’m the odd man out. JMO.
My least favourite episode was “Criss Angel is a Douchebag” (even though I loved Dean and the Chief) until “Man’s Best Friend with Benefits” came along this year and usurped that position. 😡
I just couldn’t hardly wait until the boys sorta reconciled. 😉
OMG Bevie – can’t believe I forgot. Also loved that scene with Sam sewing up his cut and then popping his brother’s shoulder in – on 1 rather than 3 so he would not tense up. (And the scene with them jumping through that window was stunning.) And also loved the scene in the laundromat. I have seen that episode 4 times and laughed just as much the fourth time as the first. Thanks for those reminders.
I have to agree with Kelly (Hi Kelly!) about Metamorphosis; I loved this episode and the brother conflict and angst far outweighed the grossout factor at least for me. The Adam thing and the Ruby/Kristy/Kathy thing didn’t really bother me either, they seem pretty minor overall in a season that was so tightly plotted. One little miss for me was the Anna’s grace thing…. it just seemed kind of silly, especially the grace in a tree stuff. :-* . I am not too keen on Family Remains with the exception of the Dean/Sam talk at the end and I felt that Krissangel was boring even though it shouldn’t have been. For me the big miss of season 4 was The Rapture. The introduction of Cas as a character was by and large a big “hit” for me; I loved Cas in season 4, he was powerful and ambiguous and grappling with his sense of duty vs. what he felt was right. We weren’t sure if he was an enemy or and ally. I loved all that. What I didn’t love was Jimmy’s story. I mean, who cares!? That was the first and last time we ever saw Castiel’s vessel and he’s been ignored since to the point that we pretty much have to assume that he’s dead and Cas is inhabiting a shell, we’ve heard so little about him. What bugged me most is that while the useless story of Jimmy was going on and on and on there was a very small subplot about Sam’s addiction being shown in the background that was far more interesting, far more relevant to the season arc but it was being totally obscured by the Jimmy storyline. This episode could have been much better served by reversing those two stories; having Sam’s experiences front and center while Jimmy’s played in the background. It would have given Sam and his motivations much more weight, meaning and perhaps sympathy and left the secondary Jimmy story as secondary where it belonged.
HI E! Metamorphosis is one of those episode I liked on the first watch then the more I watched it the more I loved it.
I did think the Rapture was excellently done, but I’ll admit on rarely rewatching it. And thinking of poor Jimmy makes me uncomfortable so I really HOPE he is dead. That does pose an interesting conundrum if Jimmy was dead before what happened to him when Castiel became fully human.
The one part I did absolutely adore in Rapture was when Sam gets so desperate he starts sucking on the demon’s neck right in front of Dean WTH! That was great!
Kelly – I do not think Cas is human – i think he is an angel without his grace that can pass as human. Anna was not human – if she was, she would not have been able to hear the angels talking or use telekenesis to escape from the asylum. And, Pamela helped her remember what she was – an angel, not a human. I think Cas will be a powerless angel learning to live and feel like a human in season 9.
[quote]Kelly – I do not think Cas is human – i think he is an angel without his grace that can pass as human. Anna was not human – if she was, she would not have been able to hear the angels talking or use telekenesis to escape from the asylum. And, Pamela helped her remember what she was – an angel, not a human. I think Cas will be a powerless angel learning to live and feel like a human in season 9.[/quote]
So, the only difference is that he won’t have a soul. But he will still be able to hear angels. And have a degree of super strengh. What else?
Grace232 that is an excellent point! thanks for bringing it to my attention. A human cannot become an angel so vice versa is true. It would still be an angel just less powerful and stuck in a body. I think I forget sometimes about Cas as being an angel because we are always relating to him in a body. I remember when Naomi was messing about with him and he was in two places at once and I was all …oh yeah he can do that! 🙂 thanks
But didn’t Metatron say something about settling with a wife and kids and dying and going to Heaven? So I got the impression he was fully human with perhaps remnants of angel (which is what I thought Anna was). Not like in the End when he was just an angel still in his meat suit who’d lost his powers.
Oops double post. But I guess I’ll add to Ale, if he’s going to Heaven after he dies that would mean he has a soul because that is what goes to the different planes.
Well hell Kelly – now I am confused!
You guys are makin my brain hurt. Which I love by the way. So I guess my question for you is do angels have souls? And besides comic con where do they go….
So is he a near human angel with a soul in a human body?
OK. I can actually answer that one, gabes. Remember The Rapture? When Crowley came to Cas and started to propose his deal, Cas said something like: I’m an angel, you ass – I don’t have a soul to sell.
Now that I remember that, I am less confused, Kelly. Maybe Metatron is right and he would go to heaven when he dies, but I do not think he would have a soul. I think he would return to heaven as a powerless angel.
That being said, I do not think it will ever happen. I think Cas will get his grace back before that happens.
Thanks! that makes sense and I agree that he will get it back. I can’t see him making the decision to sit everything out.
Thanks for the suggestions of your hits and misses guys – Metamorphosis was a popular episode! My dislike was purely visceral reaction to visuals and nothing to do with a very well done plot and exceptional writing – it’s actually an extremely sad episode. The idea of/hint at cannibalism just hangs me up, really strongly.
Part 2 coming out soon!