Supernatural Season Seven: Hits and Misses – A Second Look Pt 2
The second half the season seven hit list, revisited with the wisdom of 3 years of hindsight, as promised!
It had highs, it had lows – overall it was a full, jam-packed year of ups and downs, unlike that which we’ve encountered before or since. Take a look and sound off below – anything not on these lists you think should have been? Let’s hear it! (As always – no particular order to these):
Hit: Dick Roman
Suave. Calm. Collected. Smooth. Arrogant. The list goes on. As villains go, there are so many ways to approach the bad-ass bad-guy character and we’ve had quite the parade of the them throughout Supernatural history. What makes a truly memorable baddie is someone with distinct style, and Roman definitely had that. He was witty (which we love in our villains) and enjoyed playing with our boys in a way that was tantalizingly familiar (YED, Lucifer) but distinct in the lack of subtly and the Saturday-morning Rule-the-World kind of way. Whatever else may have gone wrong in season seven, Dick Roman was kind of fun and awesome.
Interesting premise I suppose, the idea of Cas “transferring” Sam’s damage to himself but in practice it had so many issues. Frankly, it was just one more thing in the mix and never addressed, truly, the damage to Sam by his time in Hell. The whole concept and plot was a mess ultimately.
If we had to lose Bobby down the road, then Frank was an acceptable addition and further to that, stood totally as his own character. He was a paranoid curmudgeon with new tech talents the boys desperately needed. Frank was a fantastic new character. In fact, season seven was ripe with rich character additions and he was one of the many pleasures.
Yes, this was on the original list and yes, a few things on this half of the list touch on Castiel. It did strike a nerve that Castiel died with minor fanfare and was barely mentioned again until he was rediscovered. In retrospect the lack of a grief plot was due to Castiel’s resurrection later; nevertheless it still feels like his death would have had a stronger response one way or another.
On the heels of the aforementioned Miss, this may seem out of place – but this remains as one of my favourite Supernatural sequences: Cas as God. It was brief, but awesome. Castiel lost his mind to the Leviathan, the souls and the power therein, visiting churches and recasting his trenched image in stained glass and other ridiculous things all the while looking terrifyingly insane. It was clever writing, great acting and an interesting red-herring as to who the villain of season seven might be.
Rehash from the original list, so let’s be quick: it was a disappointment to say the least. The trial was underwhelming in every respect from the witnesses to the way Sam played lawyer to Osiris’ weak portrayal. Missed opportunities all around.
Faces we know and love (or love to hate) back again – how could I not include this again?
Again, from the original list so to keep it short and sweet: too much build up and far, far too little pay off.
Remember those great characters we mentioned being introduced in season seven? Kevin is definitely among the best of the best. Some of the most entertaining characters are the supernatural virgins plunged into the world of vamps and demons and Kevin was as squarely pure as they come before Sam and Dean. Plus he brought mom along for the ride – what’s not to love?
While Dick Roman was a great lead villain – the actual “bad guy” was, in theory, Corporate America, taking over the world by infiltrating those everyday businesses and infecting one burger at a time. It’s a fun commentary on the state of North American society, yes, but makes for a bit of a slow plot at times too. It wasn’t a major miss, I guess it’s more a nitpick comment because I didn’t mind it either.
So there we have, the flaws and wins of season seven. Thoughts?
If you’d like to judge the accuracy of my first impressions, compare my new choices against my original Season 7 Hit and Miss review!
The whole concept of season 7 was off. It should have simply continued what season 6 started, namely the idea of “monster armies” and “evolving monsters” that culminated in some great battle. Although cliche, a war between the Alpha Vampire and some other entity (perhaps an Alpha Werewolf) for domination of the human race would probably have worked better than the Leviathans.
Dick Roman was awesome, but he was more a corrective measure. They had already dug a hole for themselves, so adding Dick Roman was a way to help alleviate the damage that had already been done.
The Castiel story was (as is way too often the case) handled very badly. True, Castiel should have been mourned more, but he should also have stayed dead for longer. The reveal that he is alive should have been saved until the end, possibly as a cliffhanger to launch season 8. For example, Dean (having been sent into Purgatory) encounters Castiel in the closing moment of the season. This scenario would have made perfect sense, since Castiel could have been sucked into Purgatory during the season premier along with all the monster souls.
Sam’s soul should have been repaired in some other way. Transferring the damage to some other character was an interesting way to resolve this story, but we should have seen some follow-up. Perhaps transferring the damage to some villain (like Eve) as a way of defeating him or her?
Alright, I’m putting my thoughts on both here. If I don’t mention it below, assume I agreed with you a 100%.
[quote]Miss: Opportinities[/quote]
This is, in my opinion, the chief flaw of S7. It had a lot of great raw material, and had things been better plotted, I think it would have been a very memorable classic. A lot of my comments below are going to build off this idea.
[quote]Miss: Benching Baby[/quote]
Everybody should know that I love Baby the way you gals love the boys. (well… maybe a little different, I would totally do a photo op with her) But I think the real problem with benching her is the timing. Upon reflection, the season should have had an arc of the boys slowly losing ground. Baby should have been the final piece, the lowest of low moments where things are at their worst right before things start turning around.
And actually upon reflection, since Baby is what gave Sam the strength to conquer Lucifer, instead of his palm Baby should have been what Sam used to keep his sanity. And her being forced to be hidden would have taken away his last lifeline, THEN he completely loses it (and that is the lowest point).
[quote]Hit: Dopplegangers[/quote]
Similar to above. I liked them, but I think they happened too early in the season and fighting them should have been a 2 parter. I really thing they should have arisen after Dean confronted Dick as Dick made the move as a kind of “Checkmate” against them.
[quote]Miss: Amy, Amy, Amy
Miss: Dead Cas
Miss: The Trial of Dean Winchester
[/quote]
Grouping these 3 together because… well they are. Dean not dealing with Corpstiel is what lead to his killing amy to him being on trial. Except none of that was really needed except to drive a wedge through the boys, YET AGAIN when Sam’s insanity should have been doing that just fine on his own. Love Jewel, but she should have lived.
[quote]Season ten demonstrated much better the descent into and struggle against internal demons and the reactions of those around him. Yes, wholly different story elements – but a smoother way to go, in my opinion. And regardless of how you may feel about season ten, season seven missed on this drinking Dean, fully and completely.[/quote]
Eh… not sure how much I agree as I think they went for less subtle and more overt, yet neither one was smoothly plotted.
[quote]Miss: Goodbye Bobby
Hit: Dick Roman[/quote]
Both of these I would call a mix. I actually rather liked Bobby’s arc, especially as ghosts and their fates are quite an apt metaphor for the struggle between mind and heart. There was a powerful irony in Bobby, a man proud and focused on powering his mind giving into his heart and doing what he knew he shouldn’t. A good show and character should make you hate the death of said character in the right way (the way we hate death in real life), not because it was tacked on or for no reason but impact.
On the flip side, I’m torn about Dick. He was entertaining, but I thought went too cartoonish. Part of me really wants to see the season with the lead leviathan still being in Castiel, and Dick Roman being a human lackey that’s trying to save his own skin by helping the leviathans. Let’s face it, the boys really needed a season of opposing another human.
[quote]Miss: Fall of the Wall
Miss: Craztiel
The whole concept and plot was a mess ultimately.[/quote]
Well a lot of that is them writing themselves into a corner and getting stuck. To tell the truth, not even I can really think of a way to resolve this and not sure anyone could with the way things had been set up. At the very least, I will give Craztiel a hit for being an apt penance for his earlier misdeeds.
[quote]Miss: Diabolical Grand Villain
Corporate America It’s a fun commentary on the state of North American society, yes, but makes for a bit of a slow plot at times too. It wasn’t a major miss, I guess it’s more a nitpick comment because I didn’t mind it either.[/quote]
Which is funny, because if you parse the story logic out, and ends up proving the opposite (after all, it wouldn’t take very long or much effort from the Leviathan to take over like… China or North Korea). By far the better metaphor was the Leviathans’ gaping mouths, symbolizing our bottomless appetites. Which is why I think the season would have worked better had they added some willful human collaborators.
[quote]But I think the real problem with benching her is the timing. Upon reflection, the season should have had an arc of the boys slowly losing ground. Baby should have been the final piece, the lowest of low moments where things are at their worst right before things start turning around.[/quote]
Benching Baby is a miss that can’t really be pinned on the writers. The Impala was given a lengthy and expensive makeover that included a new suspension, entirely new engine, breaks, struts and etc…. it was expensive (30K +) and time consuming. The boys and the writers were forced to do without her. She wouldn’t be her bad-ass self that she is today without all that work done on her. She can actually be filmed with her own engine noise now, instead of having a mustang engine overdubbed in post production which is what they’d been doing for years.
I did not like the leviathans. But I do miss old friends. Actually, I love SN whatever they do. But I do wish they would go back to fighting demons & monster. I love Crowley, trickster and a few more that has left but I will stay true to the brothers. Love SN .
Frank. I still weep bitter tears over the loss of Frank. ;(
Interesting character, great actor.