Supernatural: (Since I Have Only Said One Thing About) The Road So Far…

It is a perplexing situation to be in when you do not understand the thing you love. And I have been in that situation for months. I haven’t missed an episode of this season, but I have just been so confused that I haven’t known what to say. But since I moved away from the lovely viewing party that I partook of every week (it will never be the same without you Jennie and Emily), I guess I am on my own again to figure it out week to week.

So, the big problem everyone seems to be having this season is: angels. Okay, even if it does happen to be a logical progression, the addition of Castiel and Co. has thrown a wrench into things for loyal viewers. Since we all approach things from more or less our own perspective, I will say upfront that I am Catholic, and believe in the existence of angels, and I have some problems with the way the show is addressing them, but not as many as other people. This whole idea that they’re “dicks” is what the show is going for, but it is hard for me to see it that way. Since angels are higher beings, which are neither bodied nor gendered, who have experience of Heaven, obviously their priorities would be a little bit bigger than mortal conception, and their interpersonal communication skills would be lacking. I have always found the whole cubby-babies-on-white-clouds thing a crock, and if you watch “Houses of the Holy” the show describes angels in a very biblically accurate way, so really I am not bothered by portraying the angels as remote, mysterious, and with serious superiority complexes. (I would appreciate if they would invest in some chap stick, but of course that is part of what is going on.)

I do have a serious problem with this whole Anna thing. And not just because Dean did her in the car that should never have been soiled in such a way, and that still makes me angry on behalf of the Impala. Her whole storyline is ludicrous. Beyond the fact that I have no desire to watch Nicholas Cage movies in the first place, I have absolutely no desire to see knock-off plots on a show that is so much better than that. Furthermore, it indicates that while the writers were willing to do a bit of research into angels, they are unwilling to pick a tradition and stick with it. Consistency is key, and when you are just picking and choosing bits and pieces from the Cliff Notes version of tradition and theory without any perceivable rhyme or reason the viewer ends up frustrated and confused.

Oh, and why on earth does everyone keep Castiel “Caz?” It sucks.

Despite these disagreements on my part, I feel better and better about this season. Yes, Dean is lost and uncommitted, too mess up with personal guilt and existential confusion to be the funny little badass that he is deep in his heart, but I love watching characters grow and develop, and it would be utterly ridiculous if Dean came back from hell the same person as when he died. While I keep yelling at the TV for Dean to make a wisecrack and then kill the shite out of everything, I am intrigued to watch someone so resistant to believing in good being faced with evidence of their place in a larger cosmos.

The bigger problem is Sam and his little demon blood addiction. I haven’t been able to see him without yelling at him for being all in cahoots with Ruby and acting like he is so much better than his brother. It took me until about today to figure out why Sam is being such an ass-hat this season. Of course, it is simple in the end. If you lost someone you loved more than anyone else, but then you got to have him or her back, what wouldn’t you do to keep them? Would you bother to worry about the bounds of nature or morality if it meant that you could protect them (and yourself) from having to be taken again, and as a bonus got to punish the thing that took them in the first place? While it breaks my heart to see Sam turning into John, focused so much on what he perceives as his mission that all the compassion inside of him dies, I don’t know that I can really blame him, considering that he was never taught any other outlet for grief. Dean is alive, but Sam is still grieving his death. And that would leave anyone a little, shall we say, confused about proper behavior.

It has been hard for me to remember when all turned around that this is one of the best put-together shows on the air. The stark lighting, the bleached, dry color palate, and the noticeable lack of music (which I dearly miss) all work to compliment the bleak and scoured lives Sam and Dean are living right now.

I guess bleak really is the word for this season so far, and I don’t hold out much hope that it is going to get any less so as we come to the season finale.

The TV Girl