Wednesday’s Report Card for Supernatural Season 12
This is a roundup of my ratings for Season 12 episodes. A Supernatural Report Card!
It includes my grading system because there is variation from reviewer to reviewer.
(Alice Jester likes to use letter grades. Nate Winchester uses shotgun shells.)
I use numbers 1-5 and agonize over every decimal point.
Join me in discovering my final tally. Did Supernatural Season 12 make the grade?
16.06.2017
BY WEDNESDAY
WHAT DID I WATCH?
FEELINGS
What feelings were aroused? How did it make me feel?
Excited, sad, happy, empathetic, afraid, disappointed, offended, angry, mortified to be watching?
Some episodes were good because they were good, scary horror. Many had multiple feels.
PLOT
Were there innovative departures from formulas, Surprise twists, Suspense, and Great Memorable Moments?
(Great Moments, scripted or unscripted, make the episode stand out from others.
For example, the one where Dean climbs over the gate, or the one where he rides the bull,
or the one where Sam shoots the Alpha, etc.)
Were there too tired, Confusing Plot lines, Mary Sues, and Redundant Flashbacks,
or quick patches to plot lines by using Flashbacks, or by making inexplicable leaps?
How does an episode end up being rated a 2, or a 1, out of 5?
By answering these two questions:
1. IS IT TOO OFFENSIVE AND/OR NASTY?
I can overlook a failure to pass the Bechdel test, or canon errors, if the rest of the episode was successful.
However, misogyny, racism, and intolerance are not what I want to be watching.
(Is it even wise to stereotype the British knowing that a large portion of the fan base resides there?)
I don’t expect the writers to pander to what ALL the fans want, ALL the time, but surely there should be some
awareness of the how harmful DISCRIMINATION is, and how important REPRESENTATION is.
I am so accustomed to seeing sexism, I actually expect to see some. But, there is a limit to what is tolerable.
A “YES” in answer to this question results in a .5 or full point drop. Example: A rating of 3 becomes a 2.
2. DO I WANT TO WATCH IT AGAIN?
Usually there is motivation to go back and re-watch.
If the answer to this question is “NO”, then despite the efforts of many, it’s a failure.
A “NO” to this Question results in a .5 or a full point drop. . Example: A rating of 2 becomes 1.
MY RATINGS FOR SEASON 12
Ranked in order of best to least best:
TOTAL EPISODE SCORES & BECHDEL TEST
While the Bechdel Test only achieved a 48% rating overall, it is up from Season 11 with 9 passes, 39%.
This Season had 2 female directors, Nina Lopez-Corrado and Amanda Tapping, directing 3 episodes (13%)
up from Season 11 with only 1 female director for 1 episode, .04%.
We had 2 Female writers, E.Ross-Leming and Meredith Glynn, accounting for 26% of the scripts,
down from Season 11 that had 4 female writers accounting for 30% of the scripts.
BEST PERFORMANCES
WISHES
A flashback to my wish list at the start of Season 12:
OVERALL
Yes, some of the deaths were terrible and some of the stereotyping unforgiveable. The whole Nephilim arc did not appeal to me.
It smacked of Season 11’s Amara. Never-the-less, I quite liked this season.
I loved the nostalgia and Meta references to past episodes.
Set, props, lines, characters, everything contributed to this fun look backwards.
It was a smorgasbord of Easter Eggs for Metas to sift through.
WEDNESDAY'S SEASON 12 ARTICLES
Overall Rating: Season 12 rated 3.6 out of 5
( up from Season 11 with 3.1)
