I’ll confess, my idea to update my angel meta by looking at what we learned about angels and how the show used them in seasons eight, nine, ten, and eleven turned out to be much harder than I expected. That wasn’t because of any depth or complexity in what the show presented. On the contrary:…
For my “old long ago,” I blew the dust off my two 2013 dissertations on the show’s use of angels – one as a group, and one specifically on Castiel – to set the stage for a “new, more recent” look at what the show has done with angels since then. While I organize my…
This is one of my purely speculative classes. I don’t try to predict the show’s story, as a rule: I never, ever, want to get invested in my idea of a story and thus be predisposed to reject and be disappointed by any different version – however potentially brilliant – making it to screen. But…
I loved all the aspects of Meta Fiction, including the meta ones. Robbie Thompson’s script was a profound brain teaser; Jensen Ackles’ depiction of Dean’s struggle with the effects of the Mark of Cain was masterfully subtle; Jared Padalecki brought Sam’s worry over his brother and his rage at Gadreel and Metatron into his every…
I think a lot of fans have been upset this season with the Winchester brothers’ fundamental failure to communicate; I know it’s been bothering me. Their relationship is broken on basic levels. We all know it needs to be healed – but HOW? I was in the shower when it hit me: what the brothers…
Supernatural University: On the Genesis and Regenesis of Monsters Supernatural has always done its own takes on classic monsters, often giving them unique twists. Over the seasons, the show has also revisited monsters, sometimes appearing to change the monster rules in the process. I’ve written a lot about monsters in Supernatural over the years, and…
Supernatural University: Sowing Changes, Reaping … Confusion Gentle readers, I need your help! I have some critical logic and continuity issues with developmenta in the show’s cosmology concerning Reapers. Since I don’t ever want to be unhappy with any aspect of my favorite show, I’m looking for some Canon-Ball Award-worthy solutions to my dilemmas (and…
Supernatural University: Accept, Let Go, And Move On; Lessons from Garth This is the latest in a series of articles on life lessons we can learn from Supernatural characters. My subject this time is Garth Fitzgerald IV. I think Garth has particularly valuable lessons to teach about living a happy life by accepting that some…
Supernatural University: Life Is What You Make Of It; Lessons from Castiel Way back in the summer of 2007, I did a series of five articles styled as “Lessons from …” various Supernatural characters. Those five, in chronological order, were Dean, John, Sam, Bobby, and Ellen. (If you want to read them, each character name…
Supernatural University: “I Did What I Had To” – The Pernicious Defense In Holy Terror, character after character – from Theo, to Castiel, to Dean, to Gadreel – repeated the same mantra to justify their actions to themselves and to others: “I did what I had to.” We’ve heard it before from many characters in…
“Saving people, hunting things: the family business.” That’s been the tagline of Supernatural from the very beginning, memorably given voice by Dean way back in the second episode, Wendigo, and repeated multiple times every season since. But it’s never been a static concept; every part of that phrase has undergone evolution as the seasons progressed….
Supernatural University: Demonstration Angel Even in the Supernatural universe, Castiel is absolutely unique. Oh, every angel is unique, like every person – each one is an individual with its own identity and personality – but from everything we’ve seen, Castiel stands alone as the only angel ever to die and be restored “¦ not to…
