Season 7 is not only as bad as I remember, but possibly worse. It's reminiscent of Season 1 in that it is largely monster-of-the-week plots loosely connected by the Leviathan arc, so there's very little momentum from episode to episode. It's also unrelentingly grim, with very little of the flashes of humor that characterized other seasons.
The season opener, "Meet the New Boss" features "Godstiel", Castiel empowered by the Leviathans and determined to correct all the world's mistakes. I wish they had extended this plot line, killing Cas in say ep 15 instead of ep 3, but no. Instead we get montages of Cas's acts, including walking into a conservative church where he makes a homophobic pastor choke on his own tongue. "You're wrong, I am utterly indifferent to sexual orientation. On the other hand, I cannot abide hypocrites like you, Reverend" is a great moment. Later, Dean listens to news on the radio of other targets, including white supremacists, and that the KKK has been forced to disband. "Can't argue with that one," Dean says with a shake of his head.
And then it's all downhill from there. Cas is possessed by the Leviathans and seemingly dies, leaving Dean to hold on to his trenchcoat and grieve for the next few episodes. (It's interesting to see how Dean's grief, flirting with alcoholism and depression, looks forward to his reaction when Cas is killed again at the end of S12. His grief in S13 "Lost and Found" is consuming; for several episodes he is both suicidally depressed and angry to the point of abuse with Jack and Sam. That episode also has a scene where he literally rends cloth to prepare Cas's body for a funeral pyre, and the whole thing just hurts to watch.) When watching at the time, I had naively assumed that Castiel would always come back, which was apparently not the plan until the ratings were in the toilet and they brought him back. I think the absence of Cas as a character--not just Misha the actor, who has never had a full season contract anyway but is a recurring regular--really shows up how central the Dean/Cas story is to the show itself, even if I know a fuckton of fangirls would disagree with me.
I remembered only a handful of episodes from the first half of the season--and all because of special guest stars: "The Girl Next Door" because of Jewel Staite, "Defending Your Life" with the last appearance of Jo, "Slash Fiction" because it had the guy who played Tigh on BSG. I had utterly forgotten that "Shut Up, Doctor Phil" had James Marsters and Charisma Carpenter in it, though when I rewatched I remembered hoping that we'd see them again (we don't).
"Season Seven, Time for a Wedding!" is also notable for being the first time (as far as I know) a significant number of fans tapped out; "fangirl" Becky Rosen uses a love potion to drug and marry Sam, though it is referenced in the text that they never consummate. This is also Becky's last episode, though the show continues to engage with fandom. It too has a great guest star--Leslie Odom Jr. as a crossroads demon, who is hilarious and charming and dispensed with at the end.
Probably the best written episode of the season is "Death's Door" which takes place largely in Bobby's mind while he is in a coma after being shot in the head in the previous episode. Rufus returns as a memory to guide him towards waking up--briefly, to pass on some final information--and I again felt robbed that we never got a Bobby & Rufus show. But there's a LOT of good character stuff here, including scenes where Bobby, contrary to John's orders, takes child!Dean out to throw a ball around rather than teaching him to shoot--and the phone call he has with John after, where they argue about it. (Again: John Winchester, a fucking piece of work.) The memories center around the revelation that Bobby shot and killed his own abusive father, his fear that he'd become like his old man, and how he broke his wife's heart when he told her he didn't want to have kids. When the memory of his father yells at him for breaking everything he touches, Bobby yells back, "Uh-huh. Well, as fate would have it, I adopted two boys, and they grew up great. They grew up heroes. So you can go to hell!" and ow my fucking soul ow.
And then Bobby's dead, leaving the boys alone. I remember chatting with friends after, all of us shocked that they would actually kill Bobby. (I think it's telling that he has nonetheless "returned" at least once a season as either a memory, spirit, or alternate universe counterpart. The 'verse needs Bobby Singer, at least what it can have of him.)
Anyhow, it's tempting to try to skip through to the final episodes so that Cas will return and Charlie will be introduced, but I'm going to try to stick with it!
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