Review - Supernatural 7.11 "Adventures in Babysitting"

Warning contains spoilers...

I'm not gonna quit. It's not even an option. I'm not gonna walk out on my brother. 

And we’re back….though, it appears, not everyone made it through the hiatus alive….. 

I always think there’s a lot of pressure on the mid-season premiere. Supernatural generally gives us a rip-snorted of an episode as the mid-season finale, often with a cliff-hanger, usually with something that rips our heart out and makes us scream no, or makes us gasp out loud, or cry buckets of tears. We are then left to our own devices for 4-6 weeks to ponder the outcomes and feed each others frenzy. As we get closer to S-day we start counting down and I mean that literally. We rewatch the last episode. We hungrily keep an eye out for clips, spoilers, anything that will give us a tiny hint of what to expect. We discuss and theorise possible outcomes, motivations, arc directions. By the time the episode actually airs, the excitement is palatable; as well it should be, because we love this show and every moment without it is a nightmare. But I think this level of anticipation, this build up, often leaves us feeling a bit flat. 

I’ll be honest and say, traditionally, the mid-season premieres have not been the strongest episodes of the season. But what they do, particularly in the later seasons, is bridge the gap between the first half and the second half of the season and show us where our characters are and how they are dealing, or more specifically, not dealing with what ever tragedy just befell them. They give us a sense of where we go next and set up questions that will take us through the next 10 or so episodes. If we look at them from this angle, they do their job well. All this sounds like maybe I didn’t enjoy Adventures In Babysitting….but, I did. For me, Adventures In Babysitting acted as a character piece, allowing us to, once again, witness the diverse nature of grief experienced by Sam and Dean. It also acted as a preamble for the remainder of the season by setting up some intriguing mystery and it stayed purposefully obtuse about the loss of Bobby and what his final decision was, stay or go, allowing for the possibility of something powerful to be revealed at a later date. It may have been a bit of a weak MOTW episode, but if you think for a minute Adventures In Babysitting was all about the Vetala, then you weren’t paying attention.

I liked how the passage of time was demonstrated after the loss of Bobby. Okay, before I go any further let’s talk about Bobby. As I said earlier, I feel like the writers are being purposefully obtuse as to whether Bobby chose to stay or go. We didn’t see Bobby answer the Reaper, we didn’t see the end result at the hospital, we didn’t see his body burned by the boys, a funeral, burial, cremation, nothing. For all we know he’s still in a coma in hospital, as per Dean in In My Time Of Dying, except that both the boys alluded to his death, specifically Sam saying he passed away, so we’ve got to assume he never made it through that final flat line. But by not discussing it in detail, by not giving us a clear cut answer it keeps us engaged with Bobby and his storyline, because we’re left wondering what he decided and how will this impact the arc moving forward. We’re left to imagine and discuss the possibly options and outcomes. It leaves us with a glimmer of hope that maybe we might see him again in some form, and hope can be a hard thing to come by on Supernatural so we hang-on to it like it’s a life preserver! But most importantly, it leaves us intrigued by the possibility of a crack in the door. I thought that was smart writing, manipulative sure, but smart writing. Of course we also had the mystery of the disappearing beer. Was that Bobby, looking after that idjit Dean from beyond? Making sure he didn’t go the route of the senior Winchester and get lost in a mire of alcohol and grief induced revenge? Well only time will tell….

As devastating as the loss of Bobby is to me, somewhere inside I feel like it’s a loss we had to have, because the nature of death in Supernatural was starting to lose meaning. It had almost become a gag. You die, so what, they’ll bring you back later. Death was beginning to no longer have the impact that it had when the boys lost John. I feel like we're being shaken out of our complacency, that we're being given a wake-up call. Real death still happens on this show and it still has a significant impact and a death this large is going to reverberate through the boy’s lives and somehow change them. It’s for this reason alone, that I have sort of come to a place of peace with the loss of Bobby (also because I’m still in denial), because if his death has an importance to the season arc or is imperative to the development of Sam and Dean, individually or collectively, then, as dead Ash said when he came back, I’m cool with it. Having said that, in my heart of hearts of course I hope it’s not forever, but I no longer feel cocky about that assumption.

Okay, back to the boys. Sam and Dean have always dealt with grief differently but somehow, they seem to have come to a place where they now share one aspect of their processing, they internalise. As they’ve got older and encountered more and more crap, they’ve turned less to each other to unload. A lot of this comes from the breakdown of trust they’ve experienced through their various transgressions and lies. You can’t expect them to just open up, not when there’s been so much water under the bridge. Once upon a time, Sam would have tried to make Dean talk, but not anymore, he knows it’s futile, he knows his brother wades through denial like no one else. Once upon a time Sam may have tried to open up about his feelings, but now Sam’s dealing with a whole other problem inside his head. Seeing them sitting on the couch in silence, experiencing their own grief personally and yet together was powerful. Jensen and Jared need only look at each other to show the well of emotion their characters are feeling or show Sam and Dean’s isolation even though they’re sitting next to the person they love most in the world. I got the sense from those looks that each wanted to reach out, but neither no longer knows how. There was a tragedy to that scene that just floored me.

Three weeks in, as they moved through their grief they both took different paths which I felt was totally appropriate to how they would react. Sam chose to follow a case that related back to Bobby. The kid of one of Bobby’s hunter friends needed help. Sam chose to go that route; I’m sure thinking that if he could save this one life it would give some kind of meaning to everything. Restore some kind of balance. Dean chose to bury it all deep as usual and angrily pursue revenge, focusing on the numbers Bobby gave them with his dying breath and continue the search Dick Roman. In having a separate focus, they went their separate ways. This would usually freak me out! But though they weren’t working together, they never actually felt apart. They kept in contact, didn’t cut the other out, ensured the other knew what was going on. Sam told his brother he could do with his help. Dean dropped everything when he realised Sam was in trouble. They weren’t working the same case, but they were still working together. Somehow, this felt like a step forward. It felt like they were leaning on each other just a little.

As Sam went in search of the missing dad, Dean went in search of the silent Frank, only to find that the conspiracy nut had gone even further off the grid due to helping Sam and Dean with their Leviathan problem. Dean’s interactions with Frank reveal some things about Dean and his grieving. He doesn’t want to talk about Bobby, getting openly hostile when Frank tries to share stories. He appears even more torn than usual about living the life, but he resolutely will not leave his brother. That and revenge seem to be the only things moving him forward right now. He's so bottled up it's explosive. He’s operating on fumes. He’s tired. When he finally crashes out, Frank lets him sleep for 36 hours. When he wakes up, Dean gets some advice from Frank about how to keep going. I’m not so sure it was what Dean needed to hear quite frankly. Frank essentially told him to either quit or fake it. Wake up everyday and slap a smile on your face because that’s what you do because it’s your job. You’re alive. Be a professional. To quote T. S. Eliot, “Put on a face to meet the faces that you meet.” Read: bury your pain. The last thing Dean needs to be told is to bury his pain. He’s already a master at that. And I mean, look at Frank, the man is obviously buckets of crazy, and as we find out, after finding his wife and children butchered in his home, he’s been burying his pain like a dog with a bone ever since. No, Dean needs to get it out, somehow, and I think he will and I think when it happens, it’ll be violent.

When Dean finally gets the message from Sam and realises Sam’s working on old information, he leaves Frank to continue the surveillance of the mysterious field owned by Dick Roman enterprises and hot foots it to find his brother. In doing so, he meets Krissy, the daughter of the missing hunter. Personally, I adore any interaction Dean has with kids. I love the way he speaks to them. He susses Krissy out almost instantly as a tough brat of a hunter and talks to her accordingly. He talks to her like she’s got a brain. She calls him a dweeb. During their conversation we also get to hear a story from when Dean was hunting and Sam was at Stanford. I may or may not have geeked out a little over this! I love nothing more than hearing about the brother's lives before we met them. Of course this also gave Dean the chance to tell Krissy she could go to Stanford too. Become a hunter/paediatrician. He’s a good man Dean Winchester, with a great big heart and I love it when we get to see this side of him.

Of course, Sam’s case of Krissy and her missing father, directly mirrored the lives of Sam and Dean. Murdered mother, father driven by revenge, kid dragged along for the ride. By saving Krissy’s father and then by saving Krissy from the brother’s fate of living the life, the Winchester brothers finally got something they desperately needed. They got a win. Lord knows they need a win every now and then.

As the episode comes to a close we have the two brothers, alone in the car. They discuss how good it is to finally walk away from a case feeling like they've made a difference. Dean asks Sam how he's doing. Sam openly admits, once again that he’s not doing great, but says he just wants to work, saying to his brother, “Should I even ask?” Of course, Dean answers, “I’m fine.” and adds he also just wants to work, after all, they are professionals. Sammy knows it's a heap of crap, frowns at his brother, turns up the music and swings around to try and sleep off the recent attack. Then as his little brother rests beside him, Dean takes Frank’s advice and practices smiling….  Though his eyes are filling with tears, Dean practices smiling…. He’s going to fake it. That's how he'll be able to keep going, by faking it, by putting on a smile. In this moment, Dean’s true level of grief and despair is revealed. This scene. This scene was amazing. To be honest, I burst into tears. Great big wracking sobs. Jensen Ackles is just…I don’t know, I can’t even put it into words. Why these two guys don’t get the kind of kudos their far less talented peers receive is one of life’s great aggravating mysteries. 

Adventures In Babysitting was in absolutely no way the best episode of the season, I think we’re all honest enough to say that, but it offered us a lot to think about and I feel like that was it’s job. It set up the mystery of what the Leviathan were doing in the field. It made us question what was the fate of Bobby, by keeping that information hidden and having that beer strangely disappear. And it proliferated the scenes with engaging characters such as crazy Frank and fiesty Krissy, which helped us see how the brothers are doing both individually and as a pair. Through conversations and actions, tragic and heroic, we saw Sam and Dean’s inner struggles as they process their grief. Sam always seems to be doing better, but his eyes and their sadness reveal his struggle with in. Dean is in a deep pit of anger and despair, but he's going to try harder to hide it. I want nothing more in this world than for Sam to be whole again. I want nothing more in this world than for Dean to find his spark. I want them to come through this and be better for it. And that's what I hope will happen, because though I feel like the worst is yet to come, I felt like some small progress may have been made here and this is why Adventures In Babysitting worked for me. 

There’s been a lot of talk about the show no longer having hope, but I don’t see that, because I choose to see the Winchester brothers as the hope. As long as they keep getting up and fighting the good fight. As long as they keep battling evil and not letting the supernatural S.O.B.s push them around. As long as they stick together through everything, even when they're mad with each other, then as I see it, there’s hope. Because they do keep getting up and fighting the good fight. They do keep choosing their own paths. They do stick together. Maybe they sometimes forget why, maybe they sometimes can’t stand the pain of it, but they do keep doing it and in a way, that shows they still have hope. It shows that somewhere inside them, they still believe that they can win. They still believe that good can triumph over evil. They still believe that what they’re doing means something. They still believe in each other. And this gives me hope. They give me hope. And that’s all I need.

Well, there you have it....I'm nothing if not optimistic, though some may say delusional...feel free to tell me in the comments.

But one thing you should know, I'm on this journey with the Winchester brothers until the end, thick and thin, good and bad, I joined this ride a long time ago and I'm sticking with them.

I'm pretty excited about next week's episode. It looks interesting....and hot! Here's a preview! 

See you next week...and thanks for reading! -Amy

Supernatural Season 1 Awards - Part 2

So yesterday I posted part 1 of the Supernatural Season 1 awards, as awarded by me, Kara and Tiny!  An indepth look at what makes Season 1 special to us. Well tonight, I present, part 2 where we get right into the nitty gritty of our favourite episodes, character moments and brother moments. So here it is, the final piece of the puzzle, part 2 of....The Supernatural Season 1 Awards!

Best Character Moment

KARA: The book ended moments. The Pilot and Devils Trap had mirrored scenes first it was Sam saying, “Killing this thing isn’t going to bring Mum back” and then it was Dean saying “Killing this thing isn’t going to bring Jess back.” Their reactions were the same. It just showed how both Sam and Dean had changed, how they both viewed what happened and what they were once willing to give up and what they were no longer willing to give up. 

AMY: When Dean finally stands up to John. He does it twice. The first time in Dead Man’s Blood when he tells John, “That’s a bunch of crap” when John says he’s trying to keep the boys safe by not allowing them to fight alongside him and the second time is when his dad takes him to task for not calling him when Sam started to have nightmares. I loved seeing Dean do this. I think being with Sam, Sam’s influence and being a big brother again, finally gave him the chutzpah he needed to do it. I love that Sam and his relationship with Sam had, by this stage, become more important to him that bowing down to his father. 

TINY: Dean in Something Wicked -- This was when we started to see Dean's true colour, we were slowly seeing his emotion and weight on his shoulders. He isn't just the smartass, womanizer, there is more about Dean, kudos to the writers and Jensen Ackles for bringing the awesome character to life. I love the flash back scenes in Something Wicked, we saw young Dean was given the responsibility to look after Sammy. The whole getting-approval-from-his-father aspect has been a recurring struggle for Dean throughout the show. I mentioned about Dean's Hero Syndrome before, Something Wicked definitely showed us how it all started. 

Biggest Foreshadowing Moment 

KARA: “I’m Sorry.” When Mary said that, man who would have guessed the magnitude of what she was really saying? That everything was partially her fault. 

AMY: For me, this is a toss up between Home and Faith. Home when the spirit of Mary says "I'm sorry" to Sam and we don’t find out until Season 4 that it was Mary who made the original deal with Azazel, which sealed Sam’s and her fate and set the whole damn thing in motion. Faith where Roy tells Dean he is a young man with an important purpose, a job to do and we don’t find out until season five that Dean is the sword of the Archangel Michael. Or then again it could be Devil’s Trap when the YED tells Sam he’s special and he has plans for him and the other children like him. It’s all pretty good stuff. Really hard to pick. 

TINY: In Home, when Mary said to Sam, "I am sorry." Eric Kripke is a genius! It’s simple amazing how three words can tie everything together! 

Most Underrated Episode 

KARA: The Benders -- That episode freaks the hell out of me. But that’s not why I think it’s underrated. People often forget about this episode, its got humans as the bad guys, but it shows that monsters don’t just come from Hell.

Honourable mention: Nightmare -- Dudes this whole episode set up the season two plot of ‘The special children’ and also hinted (through Johns reaction in Salvation) that John seems to know what Yellow Eyes had planned.

Honourable mention take two: Faith -- The reason why I didn’t say it was the Most Underrated Episode is because I believe in the confines of the season there is an excuse to say there is a reason that it is underrated, but in the bigger view of series Faith being unjustly underrated. 

AMY: People put a lot of crap on Bugs but I don’t think it’s that horrible. It’s got some good moments. There’s some nice conflict between the brothers, where we see their different views on their dad and how they were raised and then of course there’s Dean in the steam shower with a towel on his head….hmmm? I think Route 666 with the stupid racist truck concept is way worse. Anyhoooo… Most underrated? I always really enjoy The Benders. I’m not sure if it’s underrated, but it’s one that you don’t often hear people talking about. I love how Dean is so desperate in his search for Sam and like I said earlier, I enjoy deputy Hudak. I love that the monsters turn out to be humans, reinforcing that humans can be just as monstrous as the things of our worst nightmares. I love how kick-ass Sammy is when he finally gets out of the cage and I totally love Sam and Dean’s little banter at the end and how Sam teases his big brother…. DEAN: Never do that again. SAM: Do what? DEAN: Go missin’ like that. SAM: You were worried about me. DEAN: All I’m sayin’ is, you vanish like that again, I’m not lookin’ for ya. SAM: Sure, you won’t.  Nawwww! Adorable. 

TINY: Something Wicked. I am a lover of all Winchester family episodes such as Home, In the Beginning and The Song Remains the Same. I think Something Wicked isn't getting the love it should. It has a lot of great stuff that helped developing characters, the brother relationship and the mythos of the show. 

Favourite Sam and Dean Moment 

KARA: This is going to sound like a weird one. But in Devils Trap where Sam and Dean go to save John and Dean makes the off the hand comment about how Dean used to always want to be a fire fighter. In that one moment I believe Sam saw Dean in a new light, that he didn’t see Dean as just an extension of John, but that Dean was like him. Dean wanted the normal life, but he chose to stay with John. I donno maybe I am just looking too much into a throwaway line. I blame the amazing acting. 

AMY: I’m going to cop out here and say the whole of Something Wicked. Every moment in this episode whether in the present or in the past reveals something about the brother’s relationship. We see so much of what makes Sam and Dean, Sam and Dean. We see so much of why Dean is how he is with Sam. We understand them better because we see what they went through as kids. It’s no longer an abstract concept, and Dean finally get’s to rescue Sam from the creature he failed in killing when they were children. The whole thing is a great big wonderful dollop of Sam and Dean brotherness from whoa to go.

Honourable Mention: Home. When Dean tells Sam he carried him from the house on that fateful night and Sam says, “You did?” There’s just something so beautiful, innocent and intimate about that moment between them. I don’t know; it just grabs my heart every single time. 

TINY: In Devil's Trap, when YEDJohn told Sam to give him the Colt but Dean told Sam that he wasn't their father. Sam chose to trust Dean. As much as John Winchester was their father, Dean was more a father figure to Sam than John ever was. Sam looked up to his big brother the most. Sam trusted Dean more than anyone. This moment really showed how close the brothers were. 

Favourite Comedic Moment in an Episode 

KARA: Can I just say Hell House? That whole episode was full of comedic moments, but gotta love the itching powder. 

AMY: Cassie’s acting in Route 666? You’ve got to admit, it’s hilarious! Ok, ok. I always giggle at Dean humming Metallica on the doomed plane in Phantom Traveller. I also like Sam’s very loud radio prank on Dean in Hell House. I love both Sam and Dean’s reactions to that one. But I don’t think of Season 1 as being very comedic. There are plenty of snappy lines, but outside of Hell House, there really isn’t much big comedy. 

TINY: In Phantom Traveller, when revealed Dean was afraid of flying. He was so scared he was humming Metallica during the flight! What I really love about this is that it was a well thought-out detail that tied up Dean, the Impala and the style of the show. Not only it was hilarious, it also explained why Dean drove everywhere and it further supported the fact Supernatural was like a road movie, the brothers travelled in the Impala across the country week in week out, and sometimes they were on the run from the authorities. Air travel was too luxury for them and did not fit into the mythos of the show.

Supernatural really gave Jensen and Jared numerous opportunities to shine as actors. Moments like this really showed their chemistry and comedic side. 

Biggest Unanswered Question 

KARA: This is going to sound petty, but season one was the season of ‘We will see you soon’s and then we never see that character ever again. So my biggest unanswered question is what the hell happened to Missouri?

But really, How much did John actually know? 

AMY: Easy, why on earth would Cassie dump Dean? Ok, ok. I’d always wondered how Dean knew to come back for Sam in the Pilot. But just the other day I read that there was a scene before that scene, which was cut. In it Dean notices his watch has stopped and hears static on the radio and he heads back on a gut feeling. So I guess that’s no longer unanswered! Oh I know! Why do Dean’s eyes bleed in Bloody Mary? What was his secret where someone died? 

TINY: Why did Mary apologise to Sam in Home? -- The answer was finally given/ explained in multiple episodes in season four and five when the show revealed Mary made a deal with YED and it was never Mary's intention to raise her children as hunters. I love how Mary was never really there, but she was the missing puzzle of the whole picture. 

Favourite Episode 

KARA: This is a hard one, season one was full of really strong stand alone episodes. I really enjoy Dead Man’s Blood and Devils Trap, but I think I will say Home. Home is just a beautifully written and acted episode. We saw just how that one night effected Dean with his reluctance to go back. We heard about the steps John went through between the death of Mary and then going out killing every supernatural monster he could find. We saw the first signs of Sam’s psychic powers. We also saw that John was very much alive and keeping away from his boys.

That John Winchester, I could hit him with a spoon. 

AMY: Faith, as you’ve probably guessed! I think Faith is an incredibly important episode. It establishes another world beyond the ghosts, monsters and demons by introducing the concept of the Reaper, which essentially introduces the concept of an afterlife and a world beyond which the boys had previously dealt with. It also poses the question if there’s a Reaper and an afterlife, is there then a God? It was the first time we saw the boys face a life or death decision by being forced to choose one life over another. We hadn’t seen this kind of moral conundrum before. Previously, good and evil, live or die and been cut and dried, but not in Faith. It was the first time we saw how little Dean values his self. It was the first time we saw Sam step up and take on the role of big brother. It sets up later mythology by revealing Dean has an important purpose, a job to do. It’s the first time we see Dean as vulnerable as this and it’s the first time (and only time) we see him in a hoody....sorry, had to be said! It was also the first time we saw the notion of a binding spell, something that would be later used in the series by the Devil and by the Winchesters on poor old Death…some synergy here don’t you think? It’s beautifully shot. I love the grade on this episode. The colours are muted. It’s filmic. I adore the use of (Don’t Fear) The Reaper and the scene it accompanies. I love everything this episode stands for, so much of which the brother’s have to embrace later in the series. Even Eric Kripke loves this episode. He says in the Season One Companion; "It's when I first realised what the show was capable of. Here's this episode about: Is there a god? What's meant to be? And is there free will? And is your life worth the cost of someone else's life? It's a metaphysical and moral study of the boys' universe.” I think Faith is as close to perfect as this show gets and they managed to get there just 12 episodes in. Awesome. 

TINY: Home -- It is one of the most watched Supernatural episodes on my TV. It was second episode with all four Winchesters in it since the Pilot. It took the audience and Dean and Sam back to the origin of the story -- Lawrence, Kansas. It has one of the biggest foreshadowing moments in the history of the show. It was the first time Sam found out it was Dean who carried him out of the house during the fire. It was the first time Sam met Mary. It has one of the very few scenes where Dean and Sam interacted with their mother, and she wasn't possessed or an evil clone. John's "I can't see my children until I find out about the truth" really got us all hooked about the family past, the story and the evil that killed Mary. Just when you thought it was just a random evil-killing-mum story, Supernatural showed us beyond the obvious, the mythos got stronger and stronger throughout the series. To me, it all began with Home. 

The Nostalgia 

KARA: The Nostalgia. To explain this I feel like I should explain how I first started watching Supernatural. I had just finished high school and I was going on schoolies (those who don’t know what schoolies is... look it up) Anyway I was nursing a hangover, which is really what the mornings during schoolies is for. My friend, which I was sharing the house with brought the first two seasons of Supernatural and was shocked when I told her I hadn’t seen it before. We powered through the first disk and since then I had been hooked.

But back to the Nostalgia. Bloody Mary will always hold a special place with me. It was the episode that my whole house sat around the small TV and watched it while eating burnt barbeque meal from the night before. And then came that scene when Mary came out of the mirror everyone was drawn in. It was awesome. 

AMY: Wow, can I say the whole of the season? There’s definitely a different vibe to season one, but that goes without saying. It was the beginning and for a lot of us, it’s where we fell in love with Supernatural and fell in love with Sam and Dean Winchester. The whole of the Pilot and Wendigo make me nostalgic, so many great lines, so many wonderful brother moments. Then there’s Dean allowing Sam time with the girls in Hookman and Provenance. Looking out for his little brother. Then there’s Sam telling Dean in Something Wicked that Dean was just a kid and that he should forgive himself. Looking out for his big brother. There’s an innocence to Sam and Dean’s relationship in season one, in the way they banter and take care of each other. It’s not that they don’t love and look out for each other now, it’s just now they do it so vehemently and with such intensity it has sort of transcended love! Back in season one, it seemed all so simple; their relationship was simple, or at least as simple as the Winchester’s relationship can ever be. So I guess for me, it’s Sam and Dean’s relationship that smacks of nostalgia. As much as I love and adore the later seasons with the rich mythology, as much as I love and adore how deep and complex the brothers have become, I often find myself pining for just a little of who Sam and Dean were to each other back in season one, before God, the Devil, the Demons and the Angels screwed it all up for them. 

TINY: Home -- This will always be the one episode I talk about when referring to the core theme, season one and Supernatural as a series. This is one of my ALL-TIME favourite episodes. Home is the reason I became a superfan and the reason I am in love with Supernatural.

THE END!

So that's it! Part 2 of the Supernatural Season 1 Awards. If you missed part 1 it's here. I really hope you enjoyed it, that it made you think about how wonderful this show is, how wonderful the writing is, how wonderful the brothers are and all the characters that proliferate their Universe. Maybe it even made you want to go back and rewatch the series from the beginning. I'd love to hear what you thought!

Thanks to my buddies Tiny and Kara. You ladies are AWE-SOME!
And special thanks to Supernatural Wiki for being the amazing reference source it is.

I'll see you next time for my review of "Adventures In Babysitting."
Thanks for reading! -Amy

Supernatural Season 1 Awards

Last hiatus, my friends Kara, Tiny and I looked over Season 6 and revealed the good, the very good and the not as good as we'd have liked in the Supernatural Season 6 Awards. This hiatus, we decided to go back to where it all began! It turned out to be a bigger project than we thought, which meant we had to break it into two parts! Come back tomorrow night to see the second part...but for now, without further adieu may I present part 1 of.......

Favourite Writer 

KARA: Eric Kripke -- Supernatural was his creation and really its all his fault. He wrote the most pivotal episodes of season one -- The Pilot, Home, Shadow, Devils Trap. All awesome episodes, all embodied the feel for the rest of the series. 

AMY: I’m going to say Eric Kripke for this one. I mean, he created this show and it all started here so he has to been seen as the most influential writing force during the first season. He imagined and created these wonderful characters, wrote in their voices, which, even into season seven, we can still hear. Though the boys have changed substantially, a lot of what was established in the Pilot, of their individual personalities and their relationship remains true today; they were written that well from the get go. Also, some of the lines Kripke created in season one have become staples in the fan vernacular. “Driver picks the music, shot-gun shuts his cakehole”; “No chick flick moments”; “Bitch/Jerk”; “Saving people, hunting things, the family business”; “There’s a storm’s coming, and you boys, your Daddy, you are smack in the middle of it.” He wrote the Pilot, Wendigo, Home, Shadow and Devil’s Trap.  Five of the strongest episodes of the season. Home is one of my all time favourites. There’s so much wonderfulness in Home. From Dean telling Sam he carried him from the burning house, to his plaintive call to his dad asking for help, the first time we really see Dean’s tears, to Mary’s foreshadowing when she says “I'm sorry” to Sam. We didn’t find out why she was sorry until In The Beginning in season four! Kripke always says he had a five-year arc planned; just that one word alone, “Sorry”, makes me believe his vision for the series was pretty much locked and loaded by this ninth episode. So, yeah….favourite writer for season one has to be Kripke.

Honourable mention: Sera Gamble. In season one she was writing with Raelle Tucker. I think Sera is a beautiful writer who reveals an emotional depth in the Winchesters that very few of the writers are capable of doing. Also, she wrote Faith, which is pretty much my go to episode when I need to feel good. I love Faith. Like a lot. 

TINY: Eric Kripke -- Supernatural has such as solid first season. Kripke is the genius who drove the mytho, the tone, the characterisation of the Winchester brothers, the writing (including the use of urban legends, music and the writing of the dialogues)... THE LOT! I wasn’t not really into genre shows back then but the thing I love about Supernatural is that it isn't just another show in the horror/sci-fi/fantasy category (which can well be another post as I am totally opposed to the press classifying Supernatural as ‘sci-fi’). Supernatural is a solid character driven drama, above all evil hunting/ horror stories and it's about the main characters fighting for something that's worth dying for, Eric Kripke showed me the one element other horror shows failed to project and perfect -- family. 

The family theme can be found in other character relationships in later seasons -- the Harvelles, the Campbells, the Singers, the angels and even monsters have families. Eric Kripke created an unique quality for Supernatural and created a theme the show is still sticking with -- two brothers on the road, saving people, hunting things, family business. Without his vision, especially in season one, Supernatural would've gone Heroes. 

Favourite Director 

KARA: Kim Manners -- Why? Because he continually ‘Kicked it in the ass’. 

AMY: Kim Manners -- No contest. Kim Manners was not only a wonderful director he was a mentor to many of the cast and crew on Supernatural. He was already rich with TV directing experience when brought onboard in season one. He directed five episodes in the first season and left a permanent mark on the cast and crew before his death during season four, and though he passed away three years ago this January 25, he remains a strong presence and influence on the show. Jensen says he felt Kim guiding his hand during Jensen’s directorial debut and both boys and the crew still talk about him often and with much love. We all know the bee story from Bugs, where Kim insisted on sitting in the bee filled room in nothing but shorts and a t-shirt, because Jensen and Jared had no protective clothing either. This story is still a vigorously told at conventions, all these years later. In 2011, the Supernatural studios were renamed in his honour and each and every one of us knows his mantra “Kick it in the ass”. And for me, well he was also responsible for so much of what The X Files was and he directed my favourite episode Home. I will never hear 'Sunshine and Lollipops’ without thinking of that particularly distasteful family! Kim Manners will forever be in the hearts of everyone who loves Supernatural. 

TINY: Kim Manners -- He was a major contributor in setting the tone of the show. His direction helped us to understand the story and the brothers. Episodes such as Dead in the Water, Scarcrow and Devil's Trap consisted of the perfect combination that made an episode a classic Supernatural episode, setting up the benchmarks for others episodes. His vision continues to inspire the crew and new directors such as Jensen Ackles. 

Best Use of Song 

KARA: Back in Black -- Seriously when I hear Back in Black, in my day to day life, I can’t help think of Supernatural. It was the perfect song (and theme song for the impala). 

AMY: Season one set the scene for the use of music in Supernatural. Kripke is famously quoted as saying, to ensure his taste in music was used in the show, he actually put in the Pilot script “CUE MUSIC - and you can take your anaemic alternative pop and shove it up your ass. Dean plays bass thumping, pile driving Zeppelin, and he plays it loud”. Actually, he played AC/DC’s Back In Black! The music in season one was almost a character. The songs were intrinsically tied to the action, much more so than in the later seasons, where the small budget is now spent on special effects and not on music licensing. So what’s my favourite use of a song? Well, I narrowed it down to three…best I could do, sorry. Hey Man, Nice Shot by Filter, which plays in Skin and will always make me think of evil, hot, shapeshifting Dean; (Don’t Fear) The Reaper by Blue Oyster Cult, which plays in Faith and which I think is one of the best music cues ever and Bad Moon Rising by Creedence Clearwater Revival, with plays at the end of Devil’s Trap and the beginning of In My Time Of Dying, which probably is the best music cue ever! And you all thought I was going to say, “Highway To Hell”, didn’t you! Or did you think I’d say Carry On Wayward Son? Seeeeee! Awesome music! 

TINY: Carry On Wayward Son by Kansas -- Never have I imagine myself screaming a classic rock song at kareoke! The song was first introduced to me in 1.21 Salvation. If it wasn't Supernatural, I would've missed out all the classic rock goodies and… Kenny Rogers. Carry On Wayward Son was the first of many classic rock songs I added to my playlist, the song was also the most played song on my iTune. 

Best Quote 

KARA: You have to stick with the classic here, “Saving people, hunting things, the family business” no one quote had been able to sum up the entire series. Also... “Bitch” “Jerk”. 

AMY: Gah! I think this might be the toughest category. Season one was full of pithy retorts! I could go for just about any of Dean’s quotes here. Or any of the brother’s come backs to each other. The bitch/jerk, the shotgun shuts his cakehole, the fabric softener teddy bear. I was trying like crazy to think of a quote that wasn’t just a throw away line, one that represented the brother’s relationship. I thought about when Dean tells Sam how he wants them to be a family again in Shadow, I thought about when Dean tells Sam that the three of them, that’s all they’ve got, that’s all he’s got in Salvation, I thought about “Take your brother outside as fast as you can and don't look back! Now, Dean, go!” from the Pilot, because really, that’s where Sam and Dean started, but I settled on, “I hope your apple pie is freakin’ worth it!” from Scarecrow, just because it’s Dean and pie. 

TINY: What else but "Dad wants us to pick us where he left off, saving people, hunting things, family business." This is the "May the force be with you" to Star Wars. 

Favourite Good Guy 

KARA: This is a bit of a hard one for me. I had to decide how I wanted to approach this. Do I want to have for the stand alone season, or would I let the other seasons dictate my feelings. My favourite Good Guy for season one has to be, without a doubt John Winchester. He was built up to be this God among men. 

AMY: Ummm Dean? Am I allowed to pick Dean? Right from the beginning it’s obvious Dean is the archetypal hero. Deeply flawed and conflicted, as all great heroes are. Loyal, almost to a fault. Selfless and brave and deeper than he’d like anyone to know. He’s compassionate and caring, but he hides it behind a shield of flippant remarks and a tough guy demeanour. Not that he’s not a tough guy, he’s totally badass, but just under the surface is a soft centre. He’ll stand in front of a stranger to save their life without even hesitating and he loves his brother more than any other person on the face of the Earth. Personally, I think Dean Winchester is one of the most beautifully realised, written and performed characters on TV, and that’s as a TV fan, not just a Supernatural fan. To me, the ultimate Good Guy will forever be, Dean Winchester. 

Do I need to pick someone other than a Winchester? Probably. So, in that case, Deputy Kathleen Hudak from The Benders. I liked her character a lot. She was smart and sympathetic and I thought the actress that played her did an awesome job. 

TINY: It’ll be too easy for me to name any Winchester boys.. so how about Favourite Good Woman? Missouri in Home was my Favourite Good Woman. She was very enjoyable to watch and I wish to see her again. Dean and Sam need more 'family friends' especially NOW. Missouri was one of a few friends mentioned in John Winchester's diary. The character definitely has a lot of potentials. She needs to return to the show! 

Favourite Villain 

KARA: Yellow Eyed -- I know he isn’t seen all that much in this season, and to be fair he is more present in the second season, but the way the Supernatural writers were able to build up a character that wasn’t even seen is just remarkable. And then when this big evil, so evil that it scared their family home, possessed John. Wow. Awesome stuff. 

AMY: Oh that would have to be the Yellow Eyed Demon, later revealed to be Azazel. As much as I loved Fred Lehne’s version of the YED in season two and six, the YED was never scarier or more threatening than when he was inside John Winchester, taking his anger out on Dean. That whole scene in Devil’s Trap; you just can’t look away. I think Jeffrey Dean Morgan did a great job with the YED and seeing as that’s the evil son of a bitch that started it all, he has to be my favourite villain. 

Honourable Mention: Meg. I love Meg too, whichever meatsuit she’s in…even when she’s in Sam.

TINY: Yellow Eyed Demon -- Supernatural's first big bad! I think YED was like Crowley, he is so badass but he is so fantastic to watch and there is something likeable about him. Is it bad that we all love our demons in Supernatural more than angels? YED and the demons are likeable villains, unlike the Leviathans who are just dicks. 

Favourite Guest Star 

KARA: I am totally, without a doubt, going to cheat in this category. My favourite guest star of season one is... Jim Beaver. Oh yeah, that is cheating. There is a reason why the character of ‘Bobby Singer’ went from just a one episode appearance to a major character for the rest of the series, Jim Beaver. 

AMY: I’m going with Julie Benz in Faith. I’m a big fan of Julie, so from that respect I was excited that she was in the show. But beyond that, I liked the character of Layla Rourke a lot. She had a great outlook for someone in her position and her chemistry with Dean was undeniable. I was glad that it didn’t go anywhere, that it just ended with her gently touching Dean’s face and walking away leaving him pondering the nature of faith. 

TINY: Jeffrey Dean Morgan -- This was the episode that made me a superfan of the show and John Winchester was a major factor. The appearance of John Winchester at the end of Home injected that family element that I love so much. I love Jeffrey Dean Morgan, I think he is the perfect actor for the role. 

Best Monster 

KARA: Bloody Mary -- Freaking hell that eyeless chick. Supernatural had managed to not only build up a common urban legend but they were able to ‘Supernatural-lise’ it by making it their own. But not only was Bloody Mary visually awesome but also the whole story on how she chooses her victims. 

AMY: The Reaper from Faith. I love the Reapers in Supernatural. The whole concept that they are there, lingering behind you, just waiting to tick you off their list and whisk you off this mortal coil is fantastic. This was our first introduction to a Reaper and consequential our first introduction to a supernatural creature that wasn’t some form spirit or monster. I gotta say, he was pretty ugly though. I don’t think I’d want to go with that Reaper! 

TINY: Demons -- I think it's because the demons were so connected to the mytho of the story, and I've always been a fan of the mytho heavy episodes. Demons in Supernatural weren't just portrayed with heavy make-up or costumes or over the top dialogues, they could be your friendly neighbour or maths teacher. The show's interpretation of demons as characters is so real, it's creepy! Demons are seen in popular culture all the time but there is something unique about those in Supernatural. 

Best Special Effect 

KARA: Mary burning on the ceiling. That effect still gets me now, and is one of the special effects that hadn’t changed, why change it, it was awesome to begin with. 

AMY: I think this might be more a visual effect than a special effect, but the truck hitting the Impala at the end of Devil’s Trap never ceases to take my breath away. Every time I see it, I’m gobbed smacked! It’s just Sam going…”Look, we’ve still got the Colt. We still have the one bullet left. We just have to start over, alright? I mean, we already found the demon.....” KABLAMO! Out of no-where an 18 wheeler smacks into them! I remember watching this when it originally went to air and jumping out of my skin! Then I just sat there, mouth agape, for like five minutes! And I know it was a fortuitous piece of fate, but how the truck pushes the Impala into the camera just tops off the perfection. One of the best special effect/visual effect/stunt or whatever it is shots ever. Gets me every damn time. 

TINY: I've always been a fan of the death scene of Mary Winchester -- Mary in her sleeping gown, pinned to the ceiling and then burst into flames. It was the most iconic scene of the entire series. 

Worst Special Effect 

KARA: Ok, lets just say it, the demon smoke. I am so glad they changed it to actual smoke instead of what looked like a spilt bag of black seeds. 

AMY: I hate, hate, hate the special effect at the end of the Pilot, when the Woman in White and her kids turn into a black blob and splat into the floor boards in a puddle of water. It’s just terrible. I cringe every single time I see it. 

TINY: Humm… I actually don’t have one for this category. Cassie? 

Best Confrontation 

KARA: Sam verses John in Dead Man’s Blood. That whole ‘You were just pissed off you couldn’t control me anymore.’ We had a whole season of hearing about how Sam and John butted heads, we had a whole season of Dean being like ‘yeah lets find Dad, but Sam don’t be a jerk when we do.’ And then bam! 

Honourable mention: Dean snapping it at John in Salvation. The whole ‘I was dying, a monster was at our childhood home and no you didn’t call back, and that is why we didn’t tell you about Sam’s freaky shiz’. The reason why I have put this one as a honourable mention even though I probably enjoyed it just as much and thought it was just as pivotal to the characters we had seen. However this scene seems to be a little bit more important throughout the series. 

AMY: John/YED and Dean in Devil’s Trap. I find this scene gripping. The fact that the Yellow Eyed Demon is inside Dean’s dad, who he worships and has been searching for all season, just adds to the intensity of the confrontation. The way Dean just perseveres with his cocky attitude, throws it in the demon’s face that he wasted his children, tells him to stop monologuing. He won’t give the YED the satisfaction of seeing his fear. It’s incredibly stupid really but very Dean! Of course it all goes pear-shaped when the YED decides he’s had enough and just goes ahead and tries to kill Dean. Still, it’s a brilliant confrontation. 

TINY: When Sam confronted John in Dead Man's Blood. For a moment, I thought Sam was going to transform into the Incredible Hulk. Sam's rebellion has always been a recurring theme. That scene was almost like bridge connection his past and the shape of things to come. The whole "you can't control me anymore"/ "if you can't save him, you have to kill him"/ "you think I'll go dark side" theme pretty much started to explode from here.

END OF PART 1 

Well that's it so far! We hope you liked it! What did you think? Do you agree with our choices? If you want to see what our favourite episodes were, or our favourite brother moments, make sure you come back at the same time tomorrow night for part 2 and the continuation of....The Supernatural Season 1 Awards! - Amy

A very special Supernatural Christmas event!

It’s nearly Christmas time and if you’re a Supernatural fan that means one thing…..

Time for A Very Supernatural Christmas!

We all love this ep right?

Well, sweet Peter on a popsicle stick! We’re having a re-watch and you’re all invited!

On Christmas Eve at 2pm Australian east coast daylight savings time (Sydney time), a bunch of us will be popping in this fan favourite episode and live tweeting as we watch it together from all around the globe!

The Weechesters, the amulet, the skin mags, shaving cream, fuel for me and fuel for my baby…. Nawwww so many adorable bro moments.

So why not join in! We want to make this a great big Supernatural festive event!

So grab your friends, grab your amulet, put on your yuletide moose antlers, fire up your DVD and get tweeting!

A VERY SUPERNATURAL CHRISTMAS REWATCH!

I hope to see you all there!

Follow me on twitter – main account and jail account (just in case)

Make sure you use the #SPNXMAS

If you want to, you can participate via tweetchat

World Clock to work out your time zone.

Check out SuperWiki's episode entry here!

Review - Supernatural 7.10 "Death's Door"

Warning: contains spoilers...

“Well Bobby, stay or go, what it is going to be?”

Supernatural has always had an underlying theme of family, but beyond that, it’s also been about fathers and sons. Our four main characters over the past six and a half years have all dealt with their own issues around their fathers. Since losing John, the Winchester brothers have struggled to come to terms with who their father was, how he raised them and their relationship with him. Sam grew to understand their father more, where as Dean seemed to understand him less. Castiel felt deserted by his father. He was hurt and angry at what he saw as being let down by God, the one ‘person’ he always had unquestioning faith in. Now in Death’s Door we discover that Bobby had an abusive drunk for a father. A father who scarred his son so deeply, that he grew up not trusting in his own ability to fulfill that role. He chose instead not to have children, breaking his wife’s and consequently his own heart in the process. But, without even realising it, Bobby Singer rose above all the deeply flawed fathers that came before him and grew into the kind of father you could look up to. Without even realising it, he became the kind of father you could trust and respect, one who guided and taught with kindness and love. Without even realising it, he became a father to two boys, who grew into remarkable men. Death’s Door led Bobby Singer on a greatest hits tour of the memories he never wanted to face and in doing so, helped him to understand who he really was. Bobby Singer was not just a cranky old hunter helping out a couple of rag-tag orphan boys, as they fought to keep the world and all its inhabitants from driving off the cliff. Bobby Singer was a father. And a damn good one.

I must admit I've been sort of dreading writing this. The heartbreak and devastation I felt immediately after Death's Door and for some hours following it, left me feeling shaky. The thought of having to revisit the episode and in detail, made me nervous, but I guess what I really felt was fear. I’m scared by where we go next. I’m scared that when left with the choice to ‘stay’ or ‘go’ Bobby’ll choose to stay and become a spirit, or choose to go and we’ll lose him forever. I’m scared with how this loss will impact Sam and Dean. How will Sam’s fragile grasp on reality cope with an emotional blow this big? How will Dean’s fragile grasp on existence cope with this latest hit in the guts? I’m scared of what will happen to Sam and Dean’s world if they’re left with no one and nothing but each other. And if faced with it, I’m scared with how I’ll deal with saying goodbye to Bobby Singer. But more importantly, with how I’ll deal with saying goodbye to Jim Beaver……..

Death’s Door picked up where How To Win Friends And Influence Monsters left off, with Bobby with a bullet in his custard and Sam and Dean unraveling as they realise the gravity of the situation. Sam in the back of the van trying to triage Bobby’s wound, Dean yelling at Sam to talk to him, Sam yelling at Dean that he’s not an idiot and Dean swerving all over the road as he drives like a bat out of Hell to get Bobby to the hospital. Around this moment I'd already chewed off all my nails. As we CSI’d it into Bobby’s brain we witness a familiar scene, with Bobby and the boys walking through the forest and coming across the hanging body of Deputy Ranger Phil. Something’s not right here and Bobby knows it. It only takes him a moment to realise he’s inside his own mind and it takes him even less time to realise, no matter what happens, somehow he has to get the information about the Leviathan’s end game to the boys, before he fades to black forever. Around this moment I remembered I had to breathe. In the waking world, Sam and Dean have made it to the hospital and wait anxiously, hoping against hope that the bullet in Bobby’s brain can be extracted and he’ll be okay, but in the dream world, or the world inside Bobby’s slowly dying brain, we see a different picture. We see a Reaper and a ticking watch and we realise, that quite possibly, Bobby’s time is up. Around this moment a pit in my stomach, about the size of the one in Stull Cemetery, opened up. Not Bobby. Please, not Bobby.

As much as this episode ripped my heart to shreds, I loved it. I loved every, single, painful moment of it. It was a beautiful ode to a man who we have come to love as a hunter, a hero, a friend and a father. To travel through Bobby’s memories with him and his buddy and old partner Rufus, played with such verve by the magnificent Steven Williams, felt like an honour. We discovered so much about him. About his wife Karen, about his deepest regret, not that he had to kill her but that he broke her heart and never got a chance to make it right. We discover Bobby lived in his childhood home, until the Leviathan burned it to the ground. That his family life was miserable, with a drunk for a father who beat him and his mother. We discover that while protecting his mother, Bobby killed his father by shooting him in the head, ironically, or probably not being as this is Supernatural, in exactly the same spot where Bobby received his fatal blow. Instead of thanking him or consoling him, his mother told him, “God will punish you.” As Bobby said to his younger self, this is where he learned that they pretty much never say thanks when you save them.

But the most important thing that we discover is how he feels about Sam and Dean. His boys. It was the first time we ever heard him refer to them as his boys, his children. “Well as fate would have it, I adopted two boys and they grew up great. They grew up heroes!” His happy memories were of Sam and Dean. Of tossing a ball with young Dean and hanging out with two brothers being the idiots we know them to be. And we saw his final memory, the one that he saved to last. The grown up Sam and Dean, bickering about Chuck Norris and Jet Li, about licorice versus peanut butter and banana sandwiches, calling each other jerkface and asshat. In Bobby’s favourite memory, as everything else dimmed and disappeared around him, he was with his boys, they were a family and they were home….

I couldn’t decide whether to smile or cry. I think I did both at the same time. Supernatural is so brilliant at making you experience a myriad of emotions tumbling over each other. And all through this, Bobby is running, running from the Reaper (great Reaper by the way, impatient but compassionate), trying to find the door out of his coma, not so he can live, but so he can deliver a final message to his boys, a series of numbers that might help them destroy the Leviathan threat.

In the waking world, Sam and Dean can only watch on as Bobby tries to cling to life. Sam is quiet. He’s trying to come to terms with what’s happening, silently pressing his palm as he chases away the hallucinations threatening to over take his emotionally fraught mind. Dean is in denial, pacing like a tiger. A ball of nervous energy, he won’t accept that they might lose Bobby, it’s just one bullet, he’s gonna be fine because he’s always fine. Sam tries to reason with him, Dean won’t have any of it. In a fit of rage he punches out a glass case above the head of the poor hospital staff member who had the misfortune to try to discuss organ donation with him. In Dean’s mind, Bobby will not die, he can’t even entertain it, so why discuss it “Walk away from me. NOW!” 

In a scene that made every hair on my body stand up, Dean walks outside and finds Dick Roman gloating at the chaos he has created. In true Dean style he lays down a threat and when Dick laughs in his face, through gritted teeth Dean says, “You’re either laughing because you’re scared or you’re laughing because you’re stupid.” I swear Dick Roman’s smile froze on his face and I swear I saw the smallest chink in his over confident armor. The whole exchange reminded me of when Dean threatened his grandfather through the cell door in Caged Heat. When will the evil sons of bitches learn? When Dean Winchester says he’s gonna kill ya, you better be worried. I loved this moment. I saw a fire in Dean’s belly that I’d been missing. I also loved that when he came back inside and Sam, all puppy-eyed, younger brother asked him what the hospital official wanted, Dean saves Sam the pain of hearing it was about organ donation and fobs it off as some insurance thing. Forever protecting each other. 

Though they don’t talk all that much through the scenes in the hospital, the looks the boys give each other speaks volumes. It’s the lack of words that hold the most power. They’re scared. They’re desperate. I thought the characterisation of Sam and Dean in these scenes was absolutely spot on. Both reacted exactly how I would expect them to. Dean never wants to hear bad news. Sam is always willing to entertain the worst and try to make some peace with it. Sam always tries to reason. Dean always storms off. But their faces. The look Dean throws back to Sam as he’s leaving the room after Sam tries to have the difficult conversation is pure devastation and the look on Sam’s face as he pitifully presses his palm is pure fear and confusion. 

When Bobby came to just for that moment, my heart sank. I just knew it. I said out loud, to no one in particular, “Oh God, he’s going to die.” With Sam and Dean around his bed, I had the distinct feeling that it was all over. As Sam thanked him for “everything” and Dean looked on frozen in fear and grief and hope, Bobby opened his eyes. He was awake just long enough to get the message to his boys. He was awake just long enough to tell them he loved them. “Idjits.” The little smiles on all their faces, the pure love pouring out of all three of them. I just knew then and there, even before that flat-line kicked in, that this was the end. And as Bobby watched his favourite memory disappear before his eyes, and as we saw Sam and Dean watch in horror as the hospital staff rushed to try and revive the one person, other than each other, that they have left in their world, I cried more tears than I thought was possible for a character in a TV show. I cried for Bobby Singer, I cried for Sam and Dean and I cried for all of us, because God damn it, we’re going to miss him.

“Well Bobby, stay or go? What’s it going to be?” I want Bobby to stay. I mean, obviously. But this episode was so powerful, was so profoundly moving, would turning around and having him be revived by the hospital staff diminish it? If Bobby has to go out, I can think of no more fitting ending. He was an ordinary man who lived an extraordinary life. He died an ordinary death, but in the midst of it, showed extraordinary fortitude to make sure, one final time, he would help humanity survive. He died a true heroe's death, putting his own desire for life behind the desire to help those he loves. It was perfect. So if he is miraculously revived, via medical or supernatural means, does that defeat the purpose or the poignancy of this episode? I love Bobby Singer and I want my memory of him to be heroic. I want my memory of him to be of his love for his boys. So what does that mean? I guess it means, whatever the outcome in January, I want it to do justice to the man Bobby Singer was and is and to the character and the show I adore.

You know, when Sera and Bob said at the beginning of this season that they were going to strip everything from Sam and Dean, I didn’t think they meant everything. I wasn’t surprised by Castiel, because, if I’m honest, I was surprised he came back after the end of season 5. I think his disappearing from the Impala with Dean’s “You really suck at goodbyes, you know that?” line was a perfect exit for Cas. I think the writers struggled to know what to do with an Angel once that plot line was finished and I think the writing was well and truly on the wall all throughout season 6, that Castiel was a goner, at least for a while. But Bobby? I’m not sure I saw that one coming! And is it necessary? Well I don’t know, because I don’t know where this season arc is heading. But one thing is for sure, a true hero shows his or her metal when faced with the toughest situation and Sam and Dean have now been thrown in to the toughest situation they have faced for a very long time, possibly ever. They are facing a foe that can't be killed and if in fact Bobby is dead, they're doing it alone. Their reality has shrunk to two. They’ve lost everything except each other. They will have to rebuild their relationship and the trust in each other, that for a while now, has been patchy at best. They will have to be each others stone number one. They will have to rise above their own pain, their own anxiety, their own personal demons and be the heroes we know them to be. And I will look forward to that. I’m one of the fans who is here for the Winchester brothers, their trials, their tribulations, their bond, their journey. But, surely they need other people in their lives? There are a lot of fans still hoping that Castiel's not dead and I know that as we go into the hellatus there are a lot of fans hoping and probably assuming that Bobby’s not dead. But, I don’t know people. I just don’t know........

Death’s Door, is not only the best episode this season, it's one of the strongest episodes Supernatural has ever delivered. Sera Gamble is roundly lambasted for everything from destroying the show to melting the polar ice caps, but one thing’s for damn sure, whether you like the direction of the season or not, the woman is a bloody good writer. Personally, I’m a huge fan. This was a truly complex and beautiful script. It was a masterpiece. An extraordinary tour de force from the cast with everyone turning in the most gut wrenching, emotional performances. Jim, Jensen, Jared, everyone, they were all flawless. It was a superbly directed episode with gorgeous cinematography, lighting, set design and editing. It was perfect. Perfectly heartbreaking and effective. Kudos to each and every member of the cast and crew involved in making this show and kudos to Ms Gamble for reminding us this show is and always will be about heart.

So here we all are in the hellatus, nervous, worried, frightened, sad, enraptured, engrossed, lucky. Lucky to be fans of a show that continually challenges us, makes us want to discuss, share, write and create. Lucky to be fans of a show that has a cast that is honestly thankful for our commitment and support and a crew that is happy to talk to us and answer our questions. Lucky to be fans of a show that can create a character like Bobby Singer, a character that we feel so strongly about that we shatter into a million pieces at the thought of losing him. Whatever comes our way in January, we're pretty lucky to have a show like this.

Thanks for reading....I really don't think I could ever do this episode justice, there's just too much in it, too many layers and quite frankly, it's still too raw. Maybe I'll revisit it, when I can see through my tears.....

Please leave a comment, I'd love to hear your thoughts, and here's the promo for next freakin' year! - Amy

*Dec 7 - Post note...with the recent information that Misha is coming back later in the season, I'm feeling a little more optimistic about Bobby's outcome. Now the initial sting has warn off...almost...