In Season 7 we basically loose Castiel and Bobby. Castiel comes back as Emmanuel and they leave him in a mental hospital after he risks his life to remove Lucifer from Sam's head, then he's an angel again and gets sent to purgatory with Dean, he gets pulled out of purgatory and is an angel, then a human with angel radio. Bobby is a ghost for a hot minute and ends up in purgatory in season 8, then heaven. Ugh.
One of the main underlying storylines...Basically there are two tablets, one is a demon tablet to close hell and one is an angel tablet to close the gates of heaven. Kevin Tran is the prophet that can translate them, along with Megatron...... er I mean Metatron that actually wrote the tablets. They both list three trials that one must endure to close either. Sam ~ of course ~ is the one who begins the trials to close hell. First he must soak in the blood of an invisible hellhound, send an innocent to heaven (which ends up being Bobby), and cure a demon (which ~ in a plot twist ~ could have been the King of Hell Himself Crowley).
This time I'll start with the pluses.
Can I just say there really needs to be a Supernatural drinking game? When you should drink...
1. When Sam or Dean "dies".
2. When they actually drink on the show.
3. When Bobby says, "Balls."
4. When they show blood splatter.
5. When they say "ganked". (I kind of cringe when they say it, it's an ugly word.)
SO MUCH BLOOD SPLATTER. Yeah, I get that it's cheaper than special effects, but they must go through gallons and gallons! Oh by the way, this would be under my PLUS column.
PLUS- There's a Sam as a teenager episode that's refreshing, because you don't see too many flashbacks when they are young on this show, and I LOVE a good flashback. It's Season 7, episode 3 "The Girl Next Door". You see Sam as a young hunter and Amy as a young monster. She's referred to a lot in the beginning of this season even though she's only in one episode. Bonus: Amy is played by Jewel Staite from Firefly. Yes, I'm a Firefly fan, but more of a Whedon one. Buffy the Vampire Slayer is the best. Shhhh, don't argue.
PLUS- SPEAKING OF BUFFY- James Marsters and Charisma Carpenter, both actors on Buffy, are in an episode where they play married witches. Outstanding. I love them all together. It's Season 7, episode 5 "Shut up, Dr. Phil".
Mayor Richard Wilkins III from Buffy, the actor Harry Groener also makes an appearance in Season 7, episode 13 "The Slice Girls" as a professor. It's a parallel to an Angel episode, Season 1, episode 12, where Cordelia gets pregnant and comes to full term in a day.
PLUS- Jo is back! Unfortunately it's only for one episode where she is a ghost that tries to kill Dean. (insert sad face here). Season 7, episode 4 "Defending your Life".
PLUS- There's a Lilydale, NY episode!!! I should mention that Lilydale looks nothing like it's pictured. Lol. Season 7, episode 7 "The Mentalists".
PLUS- In Season 7, episode 10 "Death's Door" Bobby gets shot and the whole episode takes place in his head, where he's trying to avoid the reaper, but you get to see flashbacks of his traumatic childhood and how it shaped his future as a father. This is a great episode. By the end he's still in a coma though, so it leaves you hanging...again. So good. So sad.
PLUS- I'm still enjoying the opening sequences and recap especially when they are themed to the episode like Season 7, episode 8 "Season Seven, Time for a Wedding".
PLUS- Time travel with Chronos and Elliott Ness, Season 7, episode 12 "Time After Time". I kinda love the time travel episodes. Dean in vintage styling works perfectly.
PLUS- Garth ~ another hunter ~ has wonderful 1990s theme songs and one is Bel Biv DeVoe's "Poison". He kills the tooth fairy at one point. He replaces Bobby...in his own way. He's the comic relief hunter, but he still does his job. Oh and he's a hugger.
PLUS- The new villian in Season 7 is Dick Roman. Everytime he says his own name he smirks and it makes me laugh out loud. It's WAY over the top.
PLUS- Charlie played by Felicia Day is the perfect hacker that the show needs. She appeals to the girl audience and she's perfect for the fan boy cult followers of the show because she has a nerd fan base of her own. It's hinted at that she has a back story we'll probably find out about in the future. Season 7, episode 20 "The Girl with the Dungeons and Dragons Tattoo".
Charlie is back in the Season 8, episode 11 "LARP and the Real Girl". She part of a LARPing group that really speaks to the nerds that watch the show.
"Pac Man Fever" Season 8, episode 20 is outstanding. Charlie contacts the Winchesters because she's in town visiting her hospitalized mother and she has a case for them. Charlie has been in trouble with the law since she was 12, she's been on the run and paying hospital bills since then. The storyline and acting is truly well done. There's even an alternate reality to 1951. This episode really shows that the Winchesters are Charlie's only family and that's she's a strong female character. Finally! It only took 8 seasons for them to realize women watch the show, not just for the hot main actors.
PLUS- Ms. Tran the mom of the newly introduced prophet Kevin Tran. She's kick ass. She's smart and sassy and can hold her own, sadly she dies at the hands of Crowley.
PLUS- Cas is removed from purgatory by angels and in Season 8, episode 8"Hunteri Heroici" it's adorable when he interrogates the cat in the nursing home.
PLUS- Sam and Dean find out they are part of the Men of Letters, and ancient organization that fights monsters. They also find out where the abandoned lair for the Men of Letters is located and start living there. It's a pretty sweet art deco Batcave!
MINUS- Dean has a very soft spot for kids, as a result of living a normal life for a year a couple of seasons ago. He was living with his girlfriend and her little boy. This makes some episodes very predictable i.e. Season 7, episode 3 "The Girl Next Door" he let's Amy's son go even though he's a monster or Season 7, episode 11 "Adventures in Babysitting" or Season 7, episode 14 "Plucky Pennywhistles Magical Menagerie" or Season 7 Episode 22 "There Will Be Blood" when they take a little boy away from the Alpha vamp. This is pointless to the story.
MINUS- I miss the black Impala. They are going incognito and using a bunch of different cars in Season 7. In season 8 it comes back ...FINALLY!
MINUS- Annie ~ another hunter ~ is a great character, but she dies the first time we meet her. Gah. Season 7, episode 19 "Of Grave Importance".
MINUS- SO MANY FLASHBACKS in Season 8 and not just in the opening. The show is trying to recap a year between season 7 and 8 where Sam had a normal life with a girlfriend named Amelia, while Dean was in purgatory constantly fighting monsters with his vampire friend Benny. You know when a flashback is coming when they begin to stare off into space.
MINUS- Season 8 episode 16, "Remember the Titans" is a terrible story line, the writing is bad, and it's not worth watching.
PLUS/ MINUS- You know I like the funny episodes and in Season 7, episode 8 "Season Seven, Time for a Wedding" I think it was meant to be funny, but I found it sad. We get to see Becky aka the biggest Sam Winchester fan ever from Season 5. (She's the one that tricked the boys into attending a Supernatural convention.) Well in this episode she's attending a high school reunion and everyone makes fun of her. I thought she was cute, and for the show she's comic relief, but they make fun of her a lot. I guess I relate too much to her. She feels like a looser and just wants people to like her.
I really don't like season 8 and care nothing for the Crowley/ Castiel story line. However it ended with angels falling from the sky, Sam almost dead, Castiel without angel powers, and Crowley almost cured from being a demon. This has peaked my interest. On to Season 9.
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