Supernatural - Season 9 - Review : Top 10 Biggest Issues

As I’ve reviewed Supernatural this season, for fear of letting my episode reviews get too far off track, I found myself writing about a lot of the smaller things and putting off the bigger, global issues until, well, later. It’s later and time to take a step back and look at the big picture.

I’ve limited this article to 10 of the biggest issues that I believe this show currently struggles with, prioritized and starting with the more damaging. There’s more that could be discussed, but I didn’t want to be writing this list forever, and it is really intended to focus on reoccurring or structural issues. So here we go - a top 10 list of the show’s biggest problems, and what I would do if I were God, Carver, Chuck, Cas, Metatron, or whoever is running things at the moment.

Issue 1 – Too Much Has Not Been Sam and Dean’s Story

Put the major story focus back on Sam AND Dean (note, that’s an “and,” not “or”). There should be two big interconnected storylines that dwarf all others. One should have Sam at the center and one should have Dean. There should be equal focus and effort put into developing each, and these storylines above all else should be carefully paced and developed throughout the season.

This is a formula that worked perfectly well for the first seven seasons. While Sam was trying to figure out what his psychic visions were about, Dean was working through his self-worth issues and anger at his dad. While Dean was facing death and an eternity of torture in Hell, Sam was wrestling with whether to trust Ruby. While Sam was back soulless, Dean was taking the lead in investigating what was up with the hunt the for alpha vamps. Things started drifting away from Sam and Dean though – possibly starting in season 6, although not becoming as apparent until seasons 8 and 9.

In the past couple of seasons, it seems the show has flipped to a structure of having Sam and Dean share one story, having Cas at the center of the second, and having possibly additional smaller stories with other characters that may or may not intersect with the Winchester’s storylines. Even the guest characters too often don’t seem to be there to support the Wincester storylines. Guests such as Charlie, Garth, or Jody, are arriving with their own arcs in which Sam or Dean play a supporting role.

While some exploration of guest and reoccurring characters is welcome, the Winchesters can’t be so separated from major storylines of the season. When Dean went to kill Metatron in the finale, the confrontation felt forced because Dean hadn’t had any direct contact with Metatron since season 8. In fairness, Dean did have the Mark of Cain storyline, but while Dean’s Mark of Cain storyline progressed, Sam was left floundering without much to do.

The angel storyline could have been used to create a good role for Sam. The angel possession could have opened up opportunities for deeper exploration of Sam’s feeling about possession and his past traumas. The parallels between Sam’s and Gadreel’s histories could have been explored with more one-on-one interaction between the two. And Sam could have been used as the voice speaking on behalf of humanity in an arc about angels possessing and destroying hundreds or thousands of humans as they destroyed each other.

Instead the season felt disjointed. There have been comments about pacing, and while I think there’s valid criticism in that area as well, the root problem as I see it is more that the Winchesters’ storyline felt like it was dragging because it wasn’t developed enough. Many of the meatiest parts of this year’s story played out far away from them.

Dean looks certain to have an exciting, supernatural role in the coming season. Meanwhile we’re likely looking at an upcoming season in which Sam’s story will focus on trying to save Dean. That’s fine as a basic premise, but my fear is there will be little thought and development into making that meaty enough to stand as one of the season’s central storyline. For that to happen, there needs to be attention paid to the following:

 - First, there needs to be a fleshed out plot that’s interesting. Throwing some possibilities out here as examples – there was a running joke when Crowley was first introduced that Sam was always trying to kill Crowley. They could build off of that to include a cat and mouse game between Sam and Crowley. Another possibility – while Sam is trying to turn Dean back to human, maybe Dean will be trying to turn Sam into a demon. There’s potential in the set up, but it requires a commitment on the part of the writing team to put some creativity toward writing for Sam and keeping Sam a focus in the story, and that’s something they’ve had a bad track record with lately.

- Second, Sam need to be driving his story. I hope I’m wrong on this, but I suspect we’ll see a lot of worried looks from Sam or shots of him doing research on the computer, while he waits for some other character – most likely Cas – to come along with a plan and drive things forward. Meanwhile, Sam might hunt ghosts off-screen. Sam is a character who takes initiative. Let’s see him get out there and poke some bears instead of sitting around and waiting for solutions to come to him.

- Third, Sam’s story needs to involve a character arc. Sam’s actions need to say something about who Sam is, and not be just reactive to Dean’s story. Sam’s been missing a character arc for too long, and that brings me to the next point.

Issue 2 – Sam Needs a Character Arc

There’s been a lot of use of the expression “point of view” in viewer comments when discussing Sam (or more specifically, the lack of point of view). I think Sam has had some isolated moments of point of view within episodes - not nearly enough. But while point of view is important because it helps us to see things from a character’s angle and identify with him, there’s something else that’s been completely absent from the show for the past four seasons that I think is even more critical – and the absence more damaging. That is a character arc for Sam.  The difference in terms being that point of view can mean seeing someone else's story from a character's perspective, whereas a character arc is about rounding out and developing a character.

Sam has had storylines (soullness and hellucinations are two good examples), but what’s been lacking has been an attempt to show Sam reflecting on events and changing as a result of them. The Amelia storyline might have been an attempt at a character arc, but it became so muddled, as the focus shifted to triangle-drama rather than on what was going on internally with Sam, that in the end it wasn’t developed into an arc. The Gadreel possession storyline should have created an arc for Sam. It should have been a jumping off point to affect some change in how Sam sees his past and how he sees Dean. But the communication between Sam and Dean was too muddled, or the story was never supposed to be about Sam. Either way, in the end, the possession didn’t seem to have much of a lasting effect on Sam at all.

The result is that Sam's character growth has remained stunted since Swan Song, and it's hard to identify with a character if you can't empathize with their struggle to figure things out.

Issue 3 – Out-of-Character Writing

This one really shouldn’t need to be said, but for god’s sake, Sam and Dean need to be written in character. Ideally, no characters on the show should be written out of character, but there are two characters on this show for whom it’s absolutely critical to get it right.

With every development, the writer should be asking, how would Dean react to this? How would Sam react to this? Instead, we’ve had a bizarre zig zag of reactions that taken together over several years can leave the viewer completely confused as to who these people are and why they’re reacting the way they are. For example, Sam is shown as being friendly with Meg in season 8 and confiding in her, even though they share a history that involved Meg possessing him, and while possessing him murdering a hunter, assaulting Jo, and trying to bait Dean into killing him. But when Gadreel possesses Sam in season 9 and kills Kevin while in Sam’s body, this leads Sam to be wracked with guilt and consumed with revenge. And then in the season finale, we hear Sam refer to Gadreel as one of their friends.

When Sam said to Dean that everything bad that had happened to them was because they were brothers, the meaning to me seemed to refer to the show’s history of demonstrating that when the Winchesters use the supernatural to help out family, there’s a ripple effect of negative reactions (in the most extreme example, triggering the apocalypse). But I seemed to be in a minority in that opinion, and most fans seemed puzzled by the comment.  There were multiple problems with the comment. The first is that the comment was vague, and never revisited and elaborated on to make the meaning clear. The second is that there wasn’t a consistency to the past writing of Sam to make this meaning clear, without explanation. While the ripple effect of despair has been an ongoing theme on the show, I can’t remember Sam ever explicitly voicing concern about it. And the one-on-one lesson on the natural order, administered by Death, was given to Dean, not Sam.

The success of a fictional production depends on the audience identifying with and feeling like they really understand the characters. This illusion becomes almost impossible to maintain if the characterization is routinely changed on a whim.

Issue 4 – Wimping Out

Go Big. The show should make Dean evil and make it last the whole season. Let’s face it, the show’s in a rut. That’s expected for a show in its ninth/tenth year, but the dynamic needs to be shaken up. Some fans will absolutely hate it, but I think the show needs to do it.

Issue 5 – The Show’s Identity Crisis

Figure out whether this is a story about humans or supernatural beings at its core, and commit to it. If it’s about humans, then the show should be developing human-size storylines, and stop writing Sam and Dean as spinning their wheels until someone supernatural comes along to fight their battles for them. Instead, the show should make humans a force to be reckoned with – smart, capable, and driven. If the creative staff decides this is a about supernatural creatures, then keep Dean a demon and give Sam his powers back to level the playing field.

Issue 6 – Too Much Noise

Cut back the noise – not just the audio kind, but visual noise, and noise used in a broader sense – all of the stories, characters, and elements that distract but don’t add much to the story. This point first became apparent to me as I was watching Mother’s Little Helper this year. The episode felt scaled back and simplified in some way – more focused than what I’ve become used to getting. I struggled to define what about it worked, but in watching Bloodlines, the answer became clear. I was overwhelmed by the noise in Bloodlines. The first thing that hit me was the audio background track and the loud sound effects. And then there was the visual assault of bright colors, pretty faces, and lack of any real depth to draw me in. I kept watching the episode, but when I got to the end, I realized I had no idea what had happened in it.

I’ve had similar reactions. Because I’ve been reviewing this show this season, I’ve watched most episodes at least two or three times. But earlier this season, someone mentioned Naomi, and my initial reaction was “who’s Naomi?” Something similar reoccurred a few weeks ago. Someone mentioned the absence of Malachi in the comments, and I was thinking, “Who’s Malachi?” I had to look him up on the Internet. This season was just too cluttered with too many plots, too much meaningless activity, too many unmemorable characters, and not enough focus on the core elements of the show. The exception to this was Dean’s transformation with the Mark of Cain. I thought the show did a nice job in slowly pacing out the changes within him, but this storyline was an exception.

Rumor has it that someone on the show decided to cut back the brother scene in the finale to make room for more noise.

Issue 7 – Too Much Silliness

Dial back the campiness. Somehow this year we ended up with angels who were more silly than threatening and villains who often seemed cartoonish. Camp has always had a minor place on the show, but it used to be used much more sparingly. In addition, while the humor has gotten more silly, the tension has become darker, leading to an odd pairing of moods – often within the same episode.

Issue 8 – Messed Up Mythology

Stop messing with the mythology. Before any change in mythology is undertaken, someone should be asking “why.” If there’s not a damn good reason beyond a short-term convenience, just don’t do it.

Issue 9 – Identity Crisis (Part II)

Play to the show's strengths. This show works best a lighter, suspenseful, sometimes funny, often snarky monster hunt. Its foundation is in the character interactions, the brotherly relationships, and the boys-being-boys humor. This show has in recent years tried to tackle some issues that were much too dark and deep. Mental illness and associations with rape are two examples – and neither was handled properly. It’s also gone very dark, with season-long depression arcs, an attempt at a noir mood, and intensified fighting between Sam and Dean.

The show is on new ground this year with turning Dean into a demon. My hope is that this isn’t turned into an angst fest, but instead is used as a tool to bring out a new level of snarky banter, increased focus on Sam and Dean, and upping the tension and action.

Issue 10 – Dean and “Dean’s Little Brother”

Drop the Sam’s not a hunter shtick. Remember Sam’s history. Being a hunter might not have been the path Sam would have chosen when he was 12 years old, but he has been one since he was a child (with a brief break during the college years).  He’s in his early 30s now, and experiences change you. He’s smart and capable – pretty damn kickass when he wants to be and he’s not being controlled by a writer who sees him only as Dean’s “little brother.” Remember soulless Sam and how awesome a hunter he was? There’s no reason Sam can’t be as capable with a soul. And enough with the MoL being Sam’s legacy crap. This may be more of a fandom fantasy than something the show is pushing, but I wouldn’t put it past some of the writers to try to turn him into a librarian.

Sam’s smart and approaches problems and ethical dilemmas from a different place than Dean, but Sam has never been a librarian and he has just as much blood on his hands as Dean does. Besides, how does portraying one of the lead characters of a show as an poor hunter who doesn’t want to be there improve the show?

So what did you think of the season as a whole?  What do you see as the biggest issues?