Threads: Supernatural Season 11 Summary and Retrospective
Traumatized Children …and their Families
The “traumatized children” theme was arguably the second most dominant thread woven throughout season 11, present in at least half of the episodes:
- 11.01 Out of the Darkness into the Fire (a baby being orphaned)
- 11.04 Baby (children turned into monsters; monster mom trying to please sire)
- 11.05 Thin Lizzie (a child being abused, and children being neglected by uncaring parents)
- 11.07 Plush (children being abused)
- 11.08 Just My Imagination (losing a twin sister; children being neglected)
- 11.11 Into the Mystic (being orphaned)
- 11.12 Don’t You Forget About Me (both girls trying to recover from being abducted, brainwashed or abandoned as a child)
- 11.15 Beyond the Mat (the boy losing his dad)
- 11.19 The Chitters (losing a brother)
- 11.20 Don’t Call Me Shurley (Metatron’s abandonment by his Father)
- 11.21 All in the Family (Dean’s expression of humanity’s pain at being abandoned by its Father)
- 11.22 We Happy Few (Lucifer’s abandonment/betrayal from his Father)
Am I missing any?
While the thread was unmistakable, we pondered and debated all season about its meaning. Who was going to be the traumatized child in the main myth arc? Was Amara going to be God’s daughter? Did Amara have a child? How was it that the child Amara talked to the adult Amara in the mirror in Crowley’s guest chamber?
It turns out that the traumatized ethos pertained to several characters. Crowley finally learned the truth from his mother about why she abandoned and mistreated him. I don’t recall us every specifically predicting this, but it was well supported and not surprising. Lucifer was the favored son and Metatron was the close confidant who both felt abandoned or betrayed by their Father. I don’t think we ever suspected Lucifer or Metatron would have those feelings. In both cases, their revelation was part of a complete character reversal so utterly surprising and not predicted. Dean was the voice of humanity, when he tearfully questioned God about abandoning His children. Eventually we surmised that humans would be the “traumatized children” of a God who “abandoned” them, so even though it took a while, we did see that application of the theme. Sadly, we never learned Castiel’s feelings about the reappearance of his Father. Surprisingly, the purpose of the thread seems to have been to establish why everyone other than Amara was justified in being angry with their parent.
Crowley, Dean, Lucifer and Metatron all had dramatic confrontations with their parent in an effort to come to terms with their feelings. Metatron’s and Dean’s cathartic moments were superbly executed; Lucifer’s was an embarrassing joke. Still, these scenes were a large portion of the pre-finale myth arc climax so I believe we can claim complete accuracy on detection, but only partial accuracy on interpretation of this long, intricately woven thread.
To further emphasize the theme of children, the season’s episode titles reflected the stages of a growing child. Early episode titles referred to conception, birth and infancy:
- 11.01 Out of the Darkness, Into the Fire (birth)
- 11.03 The Bad Seed (conception)
- 11.04 Baby (obviously, infancy)
- 11.14 The Vessel (Pregnancy)
The opening two episodes took place in a maternity ward of a hospital. Amara was introduced to us as an infant, and as my Continuity Review highlighted, the baby girl who Sam saved in “Don’t Call Me Shurley” was meant to parallel and remind the audience of Amara’s rescue . Wednesday and I also found reproductive symbolism in the images and references to seeds/ nuts, a woman’s biological life cycle and babies in several episodes. “The Chitters” so blatantly (and awkwardly) brought sex, reproduction, birth (pregnancy, nests, protecting one’s offspring, …) to the fore that the theme was impossible to miss.
Mid-season titles later referred to growing children:
- 11.06 Our Little World (a child’s world is small and contained compared to parent’s reality)
- 11.07 Plush (referring to childhood toys)
- 11.08 Just My Imagination (childhood games and imaginary friends)
- 11.16 Safe House (a child’s refuge)
It appears that the emphasis on birth and protecting children as they grow established the motive for God’s actions eons ago. Creation had to be “born” and humanity, his children, had to be protected. In 11.22 “We Happy Few”, in His first confrontation with His sister, God tried to explain His actions:
There’s a value, a glory in creation… that’s greater and truer than my pride or my ego. Call it grace, call it being! Whatever it is, it didn’t come from my hands. It was there… waiting to be born.
In God’s “therapy” session with Lucifer, he reiterated his protective instincts:
I did what I had to do. To create the world, I had to lock Amara away. And when the Mark corrupted you and I saw that you posed a threat to humankind, I did the same with you.
Lucifer: No, you betrayed me.
God was the parent who would do anything to protect His children. Once His creation was “born”, he struggled with parenting, much the same as any other father. He talked about not wanting to be a “helicopter” parent, about not enabling, and about letting them make their own mistakes and learn on their own. His motivations, His triumphs, His mistakes, and the uncertainty of all His actions were made to parallel those of any other parent. He was clearly proud of his procreation, as evidenced by his “World’s Greatest Dad” mug that he used throughout the final few episodes. It took a good part of the season before any of my reviews lit on the idea of creation being the baby that was born, but I do believe that was a stated theory eventually, so I think we meandered our way to the correct interpretation of this thread.
Not all of our theories were sound, though. Around the time of 11.06 “Our Little World”, many fans worried that maybe Dean and Amara had “procreated” in their intimate first meeting in the fog and that Dean’s fatherhood was being foreshadowed. Dean’s memory, or at least admissions about that encounter, were revealed very slowly, so we were never sure how much more we might eventually learn. In “Baby”, Sam also had visions of his dad, and Dean admitted to dreams of his dad (and Sam of their mom). These and other references kept us guessing as to whether the Winchester family was being extended or simply used as an example. I truly don’t remember anyone ever suggesting that Mary would be brought back to the story, so that honestly caught most (all?) of us by surprise! I think we have to admit defeat on both Dean’s fatherhood theory and anticipating Mary’s return. Chalk that one up for the writing team!
Besides the relationships between children and parents, uncles and siblings were also emphasized all season. Rowena referred to “sister witches” and Amara recognized Rowena as “Uncle Crowley’s mother”. Transparent plots as well as subtle dialog constantly brought the season back to its central theme of sisters, brothers, dads, moms and sons– in short, family. As that is “the whole point” according to Chuck, it isn’t surprising that exploring familial relationships was at the core of season 11. Maybe that’s why so many of its episodes were well-received by fans.
Early in the season we floundered trying to guess the importance of these relationships, though. Thrown off the scent by the “Bad Seed” scene of an adult and a child Amara, from at least episodes 5 to 7, I theorized that “The Darkness” was God’s sister, that she had a child named Amara, thus making God Amara’s uncle. In that scenario, Amara was the abandoned child and The Darkness was the mother who wanted revenge. Close, but not quite right. In my defense, I also theorized that Amara and The Darkness were the same being, duplicating the feminine of the Divine Trinity between God and his younger self, Jesus. As unlikely as it seemed at the time, I assume that ended up being the truth since this was never addressed overtly (actually, this was a rather bothersome dangling thread!). Of course, we didn’t expect that God would actually make an appearance and be central to the last four episodes of the season! That was the missing piece of the puzzle. Once God was revealed, it became clear that the siblings, nephews, aunts, uncles and dad being studied and foreshadowed were all from the First Family. Even though we didn’t get all the details right, we knew the concept of family was key, so I think we get to claim at least partial credit on guessing that the primary theme of season 11 was family.
Betrayal
Betrayal was also a pervasive theme this season. As early as “Baby”, betrayal was implied when the mom turned her children over to a monster. By “Just My Imagination”, the surviving sister felt betrayed by Sully, and the sister in “Plush” betrayed her brother Chester. ”Love Hurts” ripped out the hearts of men who betrayed their lovers. Rowena betrayed Crowley, Sam and Dean when she released Lucifer from his cage, only to have him turn around and betray her loyalty by killing her. In the final battles, Rowena claimed to have betrayed God, but Amara understood that she instead was the one betrayed. In the conversation above, Lucifer voiced his feeling of betrayal by God.
All these betrayals laid the foundation to justify Amara’s hatred of her brother, as she clearly felt betrayed by him. While we recognized this as a thread, our speculations centered on whether Sam or Dean would betray the other, whether either of them would betray Castiel, or visa-versa. I don’t recall many brain cycles being expended on Amara’s betrayal of God. I think this has to go down as a win on detection but a loss on accuracy.
Amara, The Darkness and the Light
It took a long time to learn Amara’s identity. At first, we didn’t know if she was one in the same as the Darkness, then we didn’t know her relationship to God, her motivations, or her powers. We had many theories but I still remember my shock when Metatron revealed that she was God’s sister (I loved Crowley’s reaction: “He has relatives?”). Her identity was a main plot line so it cannot truly be categorized as a “thread” that we detected. Appropriately, we debated and theorized, though. Some ideas were close, others were dead wrong, but I don’t think we get a grade on this one because it was intentionally hidden from us.
One point after seeing the conclusion of Amara’s story, though. In season 8 (?), Sam said he saw the light at the end of the tunnel and would guide Dean to it (SugarHi15 reminded us early on). It is therefore fitting for us to surmise that Sam’s faith, his rescue of the amulet and his willingness to be the first brother to allow the other to die, led Dean to bringing together Light and Darkness, redeeming not only the brothers from the threat they unleashed on the world but also healing the First Family.
Love or Lore
11.12 “Don’t You Forget about Me” and 11.13 “Love Hurts” specifically foreshadowed the love of family being the most powerful weapon in the brothers’ battles, more than knowing from lore how to defeat their enemies. This thread was repeated in 11.19 “The Chitters”, when Sam and Dean were once again faced with a monster for which they personally had no history. This theme, which I originally thought of as a minor thread at most, surprisingly became extremely important in the last crucial moment of the myth arc. In fact, Dean’s love of family guided his actions and allowed him, God and Amara to not only survive but reach happiness. I think we get HUGE bonus points for detecting this thread, but I specifically want to rewatch the season to see if there are more occurrences of it within episodes. Can you think of any?
Mark of Cain
Huge win all around here! In 11.22 “We Happy Few”, we finally learned the absolute origin of the Mark:
Lucifer to God: You gave me the Mark to lock her away, and when it changed me, when it did what the Mark inevitably does… you threw me away.
God: No, Son. The Mark — You always cast a jaundiced glance at humans. The Mark didn’t change you. It just made you more of what you already were.
Several people (including me) had theorized that Lucifer only fell from grace after the Mark corrupted him. It made him more envious, just as it made Cain and his progeny, Dean, more lethal killers. Quoting a samandean10 (and others’) theory posed to my “Our Little World” Threads article: “in her anger at God’s betrayal of her, Amara is seeking to replicate that same type of betrayal among all of God’s beloved creations”, to which I replied “Amara is making the humans act out the vengeance she desires: to kill her sibling” . Continuing, Samandean10 said “Lucy being locked away by his brother just as Amara had been locked away by hers. What wonderful symmetry!” This made sense out of the whole MoC history. Jen also reminded us that the “great burden” Cain referenced was holding the key to the prison.
The Mark now resides back with Amara, at least for the time being not cursing any other innocent souls. It would be really, really nice if someday Sam and Dean recognize that their horrible ordeal removed the oldest Biblical curse on humanity from existence! They should feel tremendously good about that! They should also take credit for another monumental win. Sam’s courage to let his brother go to Amara, added to Dean’s faith in family, not only released the world from the MoC curse but also healed the oldest family rift in the universe. Outstanding, immeasurable good has to come from that. They reunited God and His sister. What an awesome conclusion to the MoC plot line and a HUGE win for the brothers!! They not only cleaned up their mess, but God’s mess as well. Now if they could just be together for two seconds to recognize and revel in the good they have done.
As a side thought, I wonder what the Mark would have done to Sam. When he became obsessed with finding the Trickster, Sam became a single-minded, merciless predator. He acted similarly when he became soulless. I’m guessing MarkedSam would have become an obsessed killing machine, doling out justice without mercy. What do you think?
Witchcraft
This was an obvious, recurring theme of several stories during the season. In addition to Rowena’s plotline, other witches were featured in hunts, such as in 11.13, “Love Hurts”. When Rowena “died” mid-season, I had speculated (hopefully) that this theme would end. With her resurrection, though, and witchcraft’s obvious importance in the season’s finale, it seems that both Rowena and witchcraft will extend into season 12. It also seems we are meant to take it very seriously. Rowena chastised her son in the pre-finale episodes, saying he always “underestimated” the power of witches. Guilty of the same error, I had speculated that Lucifer’s appearance in the holding cell in 11.09 “O Brother Where Art Thou?” was a telepathic illusion. I didn’t believe The Book of the Damned could transfer him out of his impenetrable cage. It was also a surprise that Rowena’s ability to build a soul bomb held the key to the supposed destruction of Amara. It appears that she will be again be a reluctant ally to the brothers in the future, and witchcraft has to be added to the weapons that they both can use and have to fear.
Visions
We never truly got a direct answer as to whether all Sam’s visions were from Lucifer. Many (most?) of us were convinced that at least the “John” vision was from God. I’m only speculating, but I’m guessing we were wrong. Lucifer said several times they were “all me”; we just refused to believe him. Then again, he did tell Sam “I’ll never lie to you” so maybe we should have taken his word for it. Absent God mentioning that some were from Him, I think we have to assume all the visions were from Lucifer and we were wrong to think (hope?) otherwise. Dean’s “visions” of Amara ended up being a connection to her that continued through to the pre-finale episodes. So it seems both brothers only get visions from the “dark side”.
Revenge and Truth
We acknowledged both of these threads throughout the season. I highlighted dialog that specifically mentioned the words, and they were used as recurring morals of several stories. I think we all agreed that revenge was a bad thing and truth was a good thing, so there wasn’t a great deal of speculation required! I sincerely hope we have the opportunity to continue to see both these themes in season 12, as they are refreshing and allow for mature plotlines.
[Note: Samandean10 posted an excelled recap of the Revenge Thread in the comments below]
Soullessness is Quiet
11.05, “Thin Lizzie”, explored the idea that serial killers are like soulless beings, killing without mercy or guilt. It also specifically introduced the idea that soullessness is quiet. Then 11.11 “Into the Mystic” repeated the theme of silence. I’m still not sure the purpose of the silence theme. It was clearly present but to what end? We didn’t discuss this thread very often, because when it became obvious in 11.02 that Amara was going to suck out people’s souls, soullessness was expected and apparent, not requiring much speculation. The silence aspect still remains a mystery, though. Having seen the finale, did you see any implications that we previously missed?
Is Death Dead?
If you can remember all the way back to the beginning of this season, it opened just minutes after Dean “killed” Death. Dean even referred to his surprise at doing so in 11.01. It was truly a subtle implication, but Billie’s identity as a reaper is highly suspect as far as I’m concerned. I am absolutely convinced that Billie is the New Death, a reincarnated version of his former self. Her declaration that she would “reap God” in the finale echoed Death’s self-proclaimed mission that he admitted to Dean many, many seasons ago. I also found it highly irregular and extremely significant that she and God did not look at each other, acknowledge each other or in any other way reveal that they recognized each other when she entered the bunker. Billie also just happened to know of “the Empty” just hours after Death had promised to send Dean to a place where he could never hurt anyone every again? Only time will tell if I’m right so I’m carrying this thread over to season 12!
Threads Closed in S11
- The Mark of Cain
- Souls in the Veil
- Kevin’s disposition
- Sam’s faith was rewarded when he learned that there is truly a God
- That darn train on the tracks/whistle sound – We never got an answer to this, and I fear we never will
- The hot dog vendor was just a guy selling fast food
- Others?
Threads to Carry Over to S12 (in addition to those mentioned above)
- Mary Winchester (plotline)!
- Those “pesky” MoL in England (plotline)!
- Cas found and hid the Demon Tablet
- Rowena’s whereabouts
- Lucifer’s present condition
- Billie’s true identity
- Who has the amulet now?
- Prophets are reactivated. With Donatello dead, who will take over?
- Will Crowley go back to being the deposed King of Hell?
- Becoming/Acting like an Animal – I first noticed this when writing my first continuity bridge article. We didn’t track it this season, but I suggest we all watch for it during rewatch:
– Castiel was turned into an “animal” by Rowena. 11.01 showed images of him crouching and acting like a “beast”
– The image of the dead dog on the farm in 11.01
– In “The Vessel”, Crowley was treated like a dog and put in a dog’s kennel
– 11.23 Crowley said, “That was a complete and utter dog’s breakfast”, to which Cas replied, “I didn’t know dog’s had breakfast”.
- Others?
I know this is all a lot to absorb, so take your time! Read and comment on one section at a time.
What do you think?
What have I missed?
Do you agree or disagree with my conclusions on these threads?
If you need/want to go back to read/reread the “Threads” analysis for a particular episode, you can find them through WFB’s Episode Guide or my author page!
When you’ve said everything you want to say about 11, let me know if you want to continue searching for Threads in season 12!
Do you have other ideas for a new review series?
Let me know in comments!
Please stay with The WFB all hiatus! The site survives on your daily visits, so check back for original, analytical Supernatural analysis, videos, news and fun! We’ll get through the hiatus together!
The WFB – Exploring the Road So Far.
Quotes courtesy of: http://transcripts.foreverdreaming.org
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