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SPN Rewatch: Season 9
Season 9 is fine but astonishingly forgettable. It's a series of neat ideas and middling to bad execution.
The season opens minutes after S8 ends, with Sam on the verge of death after the Trials and Castiel newly human. Dean makes a deal with an angel who will inhabit Sam and help heal him; hijinks ensue. Castiel's flirtation with humanity lasts for ten episodes, during which he is relegated to homeless drifter and Gas-N-Sip attendant. At this point fandom had had FIVE YEARS to imagine our bamf little angel as a human, being introduced to food, showers, sex, and so on. And Cas does all of these things, in the saddest way possible. (The sex is at the hands of a Reaper who soon afterwards tortures him for information. The only time he has sex, and its being seduced by a baddie who then kills him. That's just...sad. And also interesting because five years later he has neither had nor evinced any interest in sex, either.) While rewatching however, I noticed that S9 Cas is the most like our current Cas in characterization: snarky and devoted to Dean.
There's another war in Heaven. It is bloody and boring. Bartholomew is like the second coming of Dick Roman: he's supposed to be scary but he's a generic white dude and you really just wait for him to hurry up and get killed already. The actual Big Bad is the return of the Knight of Hell Abaddon. The writers talked about how they wanted a femme fatale character to contrast with the male big bads. Much like our previous femme fatale baddies Lilith and Eve, she's just....there. On the flip side we have Crowley and Metatron. This is the season where Crowley goes back to true chaotic neutral, which makes him hella entertaining. Metatron is enamored of stories; "Metafiction" remains a great episode about the manipulations of narrative.
We lose two minor characters: Kevin the Prophet, who was introduced at the end of S6 and spent most of his time being pushed to crazy and paranoia. Which is a waste because Osric Chau was goddamn adorable and they should have given him more than two notes to work with. We also lose the Reaper Tessa, who has shown up irregularly since S2.
We check in with Garth for a few episodes, trying to pick up where Bobby left off--and then forgetting about this role. We also get a couple eps with Charlie, who continues to be the actual best. Sheriff Jody Mills has a few appearances, and Sheriff Donna is introduced briefly. Wayward Sisters: So glad to see you!
My favorite episode is "Bad Boys" which is half monster-of-the-week and half flashbacks to a teenage Dean's time in a boys' home when he has several months of normal life. The actor who plays him nails Jensen Ackles' mannerisms and charm. This episode is also about narrative in a way, because in many ways it was about the happiest time in Dean's life--while Sam had assumed it had to have been the worst.
The season also has the literal worst episode: "Bloodlines" which was a backdoor pilot of a knock-off of The Originals. It wasn't picked up and for that we are all grateful.
Relevant to my notes towards the show and sex: We do see Dean have another onscreen sexual encounter in "Rock in a Hard Place"--with a former porn star who is trying to turn her life around. Dean belatedly recognizes her and clearly adores her, which she responds to very cutely.
The Mark of Cain plot is introduced and will become a significant part of S10. Having previously stated around S4-5 that Dean is the Righteous Man whose incorruptibility is what will help save the world--which they seem to be bringing back now in S14--they kind of throw that out and have him corrupted by the Mark and the First Blade. Which is an idea that could have been so cool--Dean ends the season as a DEMON. This should have been so interesting, especially as parallel to Sam's original plot as The Boy King of Hell. And then we see that Dean's demon self mostly drinks, fucks, sings bad karaoke, and kills demons. WTF, writers, WTF.
Okay. Season 10. Here we go.
The season opens minutes after S8 ends, with Sam on the verge of death after the Trials and Castiel newly human. Dean makes a deal with an angel who will inhabit Sam and help heal him; hijinks ensue. Castiel's flirtation with humanity lasts for ten episodes, during which he is relegated to homeless drifter and Gas-N-Sip attendant. At this point fandom had had FIVE YEARS to imagine our bamf little angel as a human, being introduced to food, showers, sex, and so on. And Cas does all of these things, in the saddest way possible. (The sex is at the hands of a Reaper who soon afterwards tortures him for information. The only time he has sex, and its being seduced by a baddie who then kills him. That's just...sad. And also interesting because five years later he has neither had nor evinced any interest in sex, either.) While rewatching however, I noticed that S9 Cas is the most like our current Cas in characterization: snarky and devoted to Dean.
There's another war in Heaven. It is bloody and boring. Bartholomew is like the second coming of Dick Roman: he's supposed to be scary but he's a generic white dude and you really just wait for him to hurry up and get killed already. The actual Big Bad is the return of the Knight of Hell Abaddon. The writers talked about how they wanted a femme fatale character to contrast with the male big bads. Much like our previous femme fatale baddies Lilith and Eve, she's just....there. On the flip side we have Crowley and Metatron. This is the season where Crowley goes back to true chaotic neutral, which makes him hella entertaining. Metatron is enamored of stories; "Metafiction" remains a great episode about the manipulations of narrative.
We lose two minor characters: Kevin the Prophet, who was introduced at the end of S6 and spent most of his time being pushed to crazy and paranoia. Which is a waste because Osric Chau was goddamn adorable and they should have given him more than two notes to work with. We also lose the Reaper Tessa, who has shown up irregularly since S2.
We check in with Garth for a few episodes, trying to pick up where Bobby left off--and then forgetting about this role. We also get a couple eps with Charlie, who continues to be the actual best. Sheriff Jody Mills has a few appearances, and Sheriff Donna is introduced briefly. Wayward Sisters: So glad to see you!
My favorite episode is "Bad Boys" which is half monster-of-the-week and half flashbacks to a teenage Dean's time in a boys' home when he has several months of normal life. The actor who plays him nails Jensen Ackles' mannerisms and charm. This episode is also about narrative in a way, because in many ways it was about the happiest time in Dean's life--while Sam had assumed it had to have been the worst.
The season also has the literal worst episode: "Bloodlines" which was a backdoor pilot of a knock-off of The Originals. It wasn't picked up and for that we are all grateful.
Relevant to my notes towards the show and sex: We do see Dean have another onscreen sexual encounter in "Rock in a Hard Place"--with a former porn star who is trying to turn her life around. Dean belatedly recognizes her and clearly adores her, which she responds to very cutely.
The Mark of Cain plot is introduced and will become a significant part of S10. Having previously stated around S4-5 that Dean is the Righteous Man whose incorruptibility is what will help save the world--which they seem to be bringing back now in S14--they kind of throw that out and have him corrupted by the Mark and the First Blade. Which is an idea that could have been so cool--Dean ends the season as a DEMON. This should have been so interesting, especially as parallel to Sam's original plot as The Boy King of Hell. And then we see that Dean's demon self mostly drinks, fucks, sings bad karaoke, and kills demons. WTF, writers, WTF.
Okay. Season 10. Here we go.