About two weeks ago, I pondered (jokingly) how Castle should resolve the cliffhanger that it left us fans on. But your discussion turned so interesting (I read every comment!), how about we play this game again, this time taking on Supernatural, which aired its finale exactly two weeks ago tonight. (And we can hit on a different show every week during the summer, if you’d like.)
Refresher (or read the recap): The end of Supernatural left us with the reveal that Castiel was assuming the position as the new God after having taken more than his fair share of the souls he and Crowley had rounded up for the Purgatory party. Yes, thee God, who art in… everywhere.
Now, we’ve heard that Castiel’s portrayer Misha Collins will not be returning as a regular next season, which I feel won’t be all that noticeable given that I didn’t think he had much “regular” airtime this season to begin with. Still, it’s a strange move for a character whose storyline was the peg of this year’s cliffhanger. So part of me thinks they’re going to start next season by letting this ”Castiel is God” thing stand as a fact and move on, dealing with the repercussions in spurts. Maybe they will even start next season with a time jump. And, honestly, I’d be fine with moving on from souls and purgatory. I feel like that story was told very completely this season and there’s no need to drag it out. But then what?
Butch Cassidy and the Sundance Kid is one inspiration for the impending season that’s been mentioned already, which sounds a bit like season 1. Do you hope we see a return to that? Or do you want to see a new, big scary foe? Or should we just have 22 meta episodes and just constantly dump Dean and Sam into different worlds and scenarios, starting first (I propose) with a nude beach. Kidding! Or…
Your turn! How do you envision the first scene of season 7? And where should they go from there?
Also, pipe up if there’s another show you want to talk about next week. Tell me on Twitter: @EWSandraG
WHAT?? Misha is not returning for next season?? What the…
It said he’s not returning as a regular, not that he’s not returning at all. He’ll still be on.
Hopefully just for one or two episodes. I’m so sick of Castiel and the angels!
Hopefully this is just a budget thing, because I think he brings a much needed balance to the show.
Whereas I hope he’ll be on alot! Cas is one of my favorite parts of the show. More Cas please! Preferably redeemed! I would love to see him as a fallen angel adapting to life on earth.
Misha is actually returning for the 7th season, though it is extremely unclear in what capacity. Initially The CW released a press release saying he would be regular cast, then no sooner had 6×22 aired than they modified that statement and said he would be back but not as a regular – and some reports suggest he’s only signed up, so far, for one episode. For Misha and Castiel fans, extremely poor handling of the situation, to get hopes up and then dash them completely.
As for the Castiel/Angel arc – there are a lot of folks who seem to believe the show would be better back as the Dean and Sam show. And there is no denying they are at the core of this story. But from the moment they introduced characters like Bobby, Ellen and Jo it became apparent that the Winchester universe would encompass others – including an Angel named Castiel.
Is the Angel arc done? Perhaps it is… the same way the Azazel arc reached its natural conclusion, the same way the demon blood-drinking days of Sam seems to have reached its conclusion. But I believe it is disrespectful of the journey and the development of these characters to just want to dismiss that arc – and the character – like so much trash. Castiel’s place in Dean and Sam’s life – particularly Dean’s given that “profound bond” created when Cas raised Dean from hell – is important, whether anybody wants to acknowledge it or not.
It is only fair to Dean and Sam, to Castiel – and to the many fans of the show who do actually like and love this character – to give him the exit (if he must be exited) he deserves.
And as one who is highly sick of death in fiction for the sake of shock, for the sake of resetting the clock to the good ol’ days (which never works, by the way) I would like to see this character redeemed, to see him returned to some measure of his former self and – for once – to see a member of Dean’s family (as Dean has referred to him as such) survive this journey.
Yes, for me, the show will be far less interesting. But if The CW want me (and I know of others) to continue watching and to re-watch the repeats, please do justice to this character.
I will miss Misha’s character, I will miss the tangible acting chemistry he has with Jensen Ackles – pure magic on screen – but I would hate to have to walk away from this show with a bad taste in my mouth (like I have so many others) because one of the best characters on television has been thrown out like last week’s bad milk for the sake of returning to the old formula. And I know it’s not the case for everyone, but the reality is, I liked SPN in season 1 and 2, I became really interested in it during Season 3 and that season’s arc, and I became a fan in season 4 when a certain angel walked through those barn doors.
Here, here!
Please let one person besides Bobby, Dean, and Sam live..
Just let him leave with the possibility to return
mfluder42 ; Thank you for your words about Cas. I’m agree with you, I feel the same ( : Cas is very important for the Show, his character deserves to be regular. I LOVE CASTIEL♥
AMEN! (see what i did there?)
the show is far from done. i do believe Scarlotti is right sam and dean will be on the hunt for god but also probably trying to find a way to detox Cas from the powertrip the souls put him on much the same way they tried to save sam when he was hooked on demon blood. One question i had though what kind of abilities would sam have if he drank angel blood?
What abilities would Sam get if he drank angel blood? That’s a good question.
I miss the days when they would go on good ole fashioned hunts (ghosts, vampires, etc)…:)
Me too. Let’s go back to that and get rid of the angels and devil stuff.
Agreed,
And I miss conversations that don’t start with “that killer truck”.
They still go on MOTW hunts, there have been episodes like that this year but they never just went on those kind of hunts so you can’t go back to that (there’s no that there); season 1 had an overarching storyline about finding Dad and killing the YED, season 2 about Sam’s destiny. You wouldn’t want to go back to those storylines – they’ve been played out – so you can’t want to go back to the ‘good ole days’ since the days denoted by your description never existed. Some storylines like the ‘Sam and the special kids’ storyline were played out but that obviously doesn’t mean Sam is played out. Some storylines involving angels have now been played out (the most recent one with a desperately poor conclusion) but that doesn’t mean angels are played out. The character of Castiel is one of the main reasons why I (and many others) watch the show and unless the violence done to the integrity of the character Castiel is walked back and resolved in the first few episodes of season 7 I
(cont.) unless the violence done to the integrity of the character Castiel is walked back and resolved in the first few episodes of season 7 I won’t be watching any further.
Agreed. For me the angel storyline was played out in season 5 and I had hoped to avoid it in season 6. However, if we have to have angels, I like this new tack with MegaloCas. My hope is that he is used very sparingly in season 7 as the Big Bad but redeems himself in the end in a Darth Vader-ish move. Let him die saving the Winchesters and let the angel storyline die with him. Angels are too powerful for the Supernatural ‘verse. I am tired of every time Dean and Sam and Bobby get in a bind, they can up an angel who whisks the problem away in 10 seconds. It’s boring and makes the Winchesters side characters in their own story.
You can diffidently get rid of angel-demon stuff, without killing Cas.
I think they can do that without doing a disservice to Castiel’s character, and his relationships with the boys. My favorite episode this season was Mommy Dearest, which was essentially just a monster hunt, but with all of the guys. Just having the brothers travel around has been done – there is nothing new to come out of it, and at this point would be really claustrophobic.
I miss those days too. I stopped watching midway through this past season, but I keep an eye on what’s going on in case they go back to the older format.
And it starts already, the Castiel hate. Please go back to the CW forums.
You go back to TWOP – thank you very much. You’ve pretty much banished everyone from that place anyhow.
I agree, the angel stuff is overdone and not interesting anymore.
Castiel can die in the premiere and then the show can reboot to what originally made it great – urban legends and spooks.
Seconded.
Nowhere did the OP mention Castiel, just that they’d like to see more MOTW plots. Don’t make this into something that it’s not.
Besides, even if they DID dislike a character, they’re perfectly entitled to. It’s their opinion, and they have a right to express it.
Believing that a storyline has reached its conclusion does not make someone a Cas hater.
Or Castiel just can become a human… It will solve problems of both sides: they will be able to go to good old hunts, without any super mojo powers, and those who love Castiel will be happy that he didn’t have to die.
100% in agreement. The time to move on from the angel storyline has long since passed. Let’s get back to the boys and the monsters they fight. No more angels!!!!
Agreed!
Agreed !! Been on this Angel kick for far too long…..Cas is a delight to watch but it’s time to move on from it.
The boys have grown past season 1 and 2, etc. I don’t think that would work as well as you might think…not only have they done a lot of the story lines in the first 3 seasons…but maybe seeing some of those people they helped…what happened to the kid in season 5 that just thought something and it happened…what happened to the girl Sam like in season 1. Maybe something where Misha trying to make up to our boys by showing them the good things that they have done for people…we have seen all the horror there are still a few stories hanging on, if you think back. Has anyone else wondered about some of the people they have helped? Cas is like a third hunter and it would be a big loss if Misha is not in the show. But i would still watch because i love my guys.
Only problem is that you have opened the world to angels and more, once you open that door, you can’t just simply close it because one angel character is dead. The show cannot just go back to the way it was with no angels ever, if demons can still exist, why should angels not? And killing Cas sure as hell wouldn’t mean the angels would disappear, wouldn’t mean the chaos left behind by Cas and Raphael’s fight over Heaven will simply vanish away. That storyline is not resolved and will not be resolved or ended properly unless we see where Cas’s storyline will take us. You want the character to go, fine, but at least give the character the dignity and respect of having an actual good exit storyline that is worthy of the contributions and impact the character of Castiel has made. Is that too much to ask? If he’s just killed off in the premiere, then what? Three years of character development just gets tossed aside like yesterday’s trash? Is that how the writers treat the fans of the show and the character? is that how the writers treat Misha Collins who has brought so much to the show? You want this story to end, then at least end it with respect that the character deserves, end it in a good storyline that ties up with how Heaven will fade into the background. Because simply killing Cas isn’t gonna change anything because angels will still exist, and they will always exist because the writers have opened that door, there is no going back. Sam and Dean’s world have changed, just having them going back to kill some evil monsters is amateur and little kid’s games that will get old real fast.
But they did that during the first half of this past season, and it was BORING! The season became interesting again after 6×17, when characters like Fate showed up. And 6×19, when the entire TFW went after Eve, was FANTASTIC!
um, no they didn’t. In the first half of S6, Sam wasn’t really Sam. If it was boring (or awkward or annoying) it was because that fantastic brother dynamic of S1 was nowhere to be found during the first half of S6. Without that, no amount of awesome MOTW can give Supernatural what S1 gave it.
Agreed! I have been watching re-runs of season 1 on TNT and it was SOOO good then! I still love it, but it was MUCH better then!
I don’t miss those days because they haven’t gone. Like the X-Files did back in the day, this show has always been a mix of arc-story and MOTW… even in Season 1 they had an arc of looking for their father.
I don’t believe the show would have lasted nearly as long as it had if it was MOTW after MOTW. There’s no development of character or need to commitment of the audience without an arc.
Dean and Sam are awesome characters, but they don’t live in a vacuum – there have always been family members, friends, allies and enemies. In the case of the angel arc and Castiel specifically, he now falls into three of those categories – four if he is to be the “big bad” next season. (Godstiel forbid.) To deny the angel arc and this character his rightful place in the show now is tantamount to trying a bit of revisionist history and undermine all that has happened before – including how it impacted (and still impacts) Dean and Sam.
Bottom line, if you loved Season 1, pull out the DVDs. But let this show develop along a natural course, not a rewind, else it will go the way of many other shows and be cancelled due to lack of interest.
Thank you for saying that! This is exactly what I’ve always said! Yes Sam and Dean are each other’s everything and the show is about them, but why should their world be so claustrophobic? How can characters grow if they don’t even have interactions with others? They’ve already lost enough characters, and now they’ve turned Cas, leaving Bobby as the only one left, what kind of the bleak character interaction is that? Cas was able to show a different side of both Sam and Dean, and various other characters as a result. This show should be allowed to take its natural course instead of dreaming for the varsity days or being married to the vision that somehow Sam and Dean only have each other and no one else. The show has grown and expanded from that, the boys’ world and landscape have long changed, you can’t go back from the change anymore. Cas’s storyline is far from over, and if the writers are just gonna end it at the premiere, then it’s a disrespect to themselves, the characters they write, to the actors who give so much, and to the fans who love it.
I’d rather them eventually get back to the season one formula of two brothers kicking the monster of the week’s ass. I didn’t think they’d be able to up the ante as far as the next season’s “big bad” goes after Lucifer, but with Cas now having god-like powers, they did it (sort of the ‘Supernatural’ answer to Evil Willow). I don’t think they can top that, so after getting Cas back to normal, I’d just love to see Dean and Sam riding off into the sunset in the Impala.
I actually thought I had read that the show was supposed to focus on monsters for season 6. Then they had to go and tie monsters into Eve and well… whatever. Is it pro-forma now that every season of every show needs a ‘big bad’ to fight until the finally? It’s getting a little tiring.
Yep. Tiring for me too.
I think they’ll start right where the finale left off and somehow, Dean, Sam and Bobby will escape Castiel’s wrath. Maybe God will save them again. I’d like to see Chuck the Prophet come back to help deal with the new ‘God’ and I can’t be the only person who would love to see the boys team up with Crowley again.
Also, I’d like to see the show deal with more H.P. Lovecraft stuff. They’ve exhausted almost every other supernatural monster so isn’t time for the Great Old Ones to become the big season threat? How great would it be if Dean got into a brawl with Cthulu?
Yeah! I want to see Cthulhu in the show!
Ooh, I like the nude beach idea =). I think it makes sense that Cas will be missing for a great deal of the new season if he has become ‘God’. I read that Sam and Dean will be on the run and can only rely on each other, so I’m guessing they’re on the run from Cas, who is drunk on power and wants them to obey him. I don’t know. What I like about the cliffhanger is that I have no idea what will actually happen next. I never expected that Cas would become the season’s ‘big bad’.
Castiel reminded Dean of how many times he has saved him in the last episode so I think it’s Dean’s turn to save Cas. I think we have had enough of Crowley(even though I love him) it should be Dean & Sam with a little help from Bobby that does the ass kicking. And Butch and Sundance went out in a blaze of gunfire, this better not be the ending they are planning.
This should be the final season. Let it got out on a good note.
I hope they go back to the days of season one and ghost hunts. I still love the show but I’ve been souring on it lately and hoped this past season would be back as a monster of the week formula. Season one is so perfect that I’m hoping before the show ends, whenever it does, they can go back to the fun monsters and fear that those old episodes used to bring.
I think God should come back. Basically, a re-telling of the fall of Satan (who was an Angel back in the day), only this time, it’s Castiel who falls. God basically goes, OK it’s clear to me that you can’t get along without me so I’m back in heaven and you, Castiel, thought you could be as powerful as me? as if. Hell needs a new master and I’m going to push you off this cloud and you’re going to fall down there and assume control, since you wanted to lead so badly. So then the boys have to figure out what it means to them – Is Cas still their friend? Can they ask the devil for help? If Cas is the new devil, is he going to change the way demons work on earth and do the boys still go around killing as many as possible. And they also have to deal with the new (old) order in heaven. Or something to that effect.
I like it Jen, it is pretty close to what I imagined would happen also. I think everyone has a lot of questions for God now that are going to need to be answered. The biggest question would be where have you been? Maybe, God planned for things to happen this way because the boys stopped the apocalypse and God needed another fallen angel to take over H*E*L*L, which would tie-in with your supposition.
Love the idea of Misha as Satan.
I like the idea of God coming back to de-throne Cas, but I don’t know if Cas then becomes the Devil. It would depend on whether Cas is still on the super soul charged ego trip. I like the idea of God coming back, casting Castiel out. Castiel is missing for most of the season where Sam and Dean are handling MOTW cases until they happen upon a human Castiel towards the end of the season who provides much needed intel for whatever big bad pops up.
Did they EVER touch on the fact that Chuck the Prophet went POOF! at the end of season 5?! They better tie that up first and foremost. I think, along with several hundred OTHER Supernatural fans, that he’s God. They need to bring him back and establish that original canon that was so good seasons 1-5: Sam and Dean, with the help of Bobby, kicking butt and taking names.
I have had this theory, it would serve two purposes, get some girls who are heroes who might survive and ultimately lead to the return of God and redemption of Cas, we open exactly where we left off, but there is this trio (my vision has been two girls and a guy) who have been through sometime similar but in a different dimension than our heroes. But they have been aware of the purgatory breakdown and they finally focus in on where the boys and Bobby are and can get them out of there and hold Cas off (my thought had been that one of the girls is a half elf and because she doesn’t have a human soul, an angel can’t see her so Cas is just suprised). They manage to get the boys moving and back to their headquarters (I have an image of a city version of Bobby’s house) and the boys first have to get past the idea that these three aren’t human, but have the same ideas and mission as the boys and have a divine type friend of their own (I am going with they were all in Fae unless the Mother was brought across). I am going with a young woman (like someone around Dean’s age, but she has two secrets – 1. she carries a curse that will be the thing all bad guys are going for and 2. she is, this might not be known to her, Bobby’s daughter. The other woman is a changeling, different that a shapeshifter, she was born whatever cat like animal she was and can turn human (I like the idea of her for Sam), and a guy who is the least human looking than the rest of them, but actually could be a good buddy for Dean (like classic rock, beer, porn, gooey center). I think then they will try and get God, their divine friend (my other idea had been that it was Michael in Adam’s body), to deal with Cas differently than he dealt with Lucifer.
I hope Chuck returns in the premiere, kills Castiel and we all move on. I want them to go back to the “monster of the week” formula.
I’d LOVE that!
Horrible deus ex machina idea! Plus you toally dropped Castiel’s character arc. Reboots are such lazy storytelling devices.
And that is lazy storytelling at its best. The writers have opened the door to a big story, setting up Cas as the big focus in the cliffhanger, if your idea is what they have in mind, then the writers are more dumb than I thought because any decent writer have learned to never short-change a story like that. Castiel’s character has made contributions and impacts on the show for the last 3 years, and he’s done a hell of a lot for the Winchesters and died TWICE for them, he deserves a better exit than just thrown out in the premiere, and Misha certainly deserves better than being kicked to the curb after all he has done for the show. It’s a clear disrespect not only to Misha but also the fans who actually care about character development.
okay, the big question for me is “what else came through the door from purgatory and killed H. P. Lovecraft?” Because our favorite lady professor was the maid and didn’t do the killing. So there’s a set up for a big Cuthulu-like nasty out there for a future bad guy. That said I hope we continue to explore the new “condensed” Sam and see flashes of no-soul Sam, who, I admit, I actually liked better sometimes. A “redemption” of Castiel would be interesting, as well as the notion of second fall.
like it
I always thought that it is possible that whoever bad guy that came through when HP Lovecraft opened the door may have taken over Cas in an attempt to get in on the deal with Crowley and get to those purgatory souls to power itself up and rule. This evil entity is controlling Cas and that is why there is such a stark change between part one of the finale and part two of the finale. That would certainly bring a redemption arc for Cas should he able to break free of the evil entity or something.
I say they spend the majority of the season fighting all those monsters Eve brought with her they didn’t get to. As far as the season’s big story, I think they should start looking for the real God (remember when Cass was searching for him using that necklace?) to fix what’s happening upstairs and, more importantly, return our Cas to normal. Plus I’d like for us to meet more hunters on this quest (are there only three left now?)– just ones that don’t just die in the same episode and don’t figure into the bigger picture.
What about Bella? I know she’s a badass on Chuck these days, but they kind of left her status hanging and mysterious. I was waiting for them to wrap her up. I also like Jen’s reply, that sounds like a reasonable transition and while I also love the monster of the week premise, where does it lead? To next week’s monster? We’ve Shurley (as in Chuck) progressed beyond that, right?
They did wrap up Bella’s story at the end of seson 3. She sold her soul to a demon and she was taken to hell at the end.
I agree with you about the motw premise, I like it but I think they do need a bigger story arc and not just that every week because yeah we’ve progressed beyond that.
I was hoping that they would actually do something with ‘Bella’. She’s in hell, she’s a demon…why not make her come up from hell and go after the Winchesters?
On a related note, I was also hoping that Sam and Dean got some revenge on those 2 hunters that killed them and sent them to heaven back in Season 5. There were a few loose ends like that shouldve been addressed last season.
Totally agree on needing a bigger story arc, but what can they do? After taking out Lucifer, whats next? Dragons and leprechauns was not the way to go, in my opinion.
My opinon on what will happen next season is that perhaps Death will step in to power down Cas–maybe he reaps everywhere–and Cas’s soul stealing upsets his work. I really can’t imagine what the ‘big bad’ will be though if Cas won’t be a regular. Maybe it will be Crowley?
I HATED Bella. I hope she never comes back.
Misha Collins will always be the series regular of my heart. But I concur with others that we’ll probably get a good dose of Castiel through the season; he was just a recurring character in season 4 and 5, and there’s great screentime in those seasons.
I think that the show will start with an answer to the question: do the Winchesters profess fealty to Castiel or not? If yes, I assume it will be lip service as they plan on how to de-soul him. If no, WHAT THEN? Does Castiel just let them go, or does a deus ex machina save them yet again from certain destruction? With that question answered (in any of those directions), I think season 7 will then have Sam and Dean on the run (and more than usual) as they try to save (or destroy) Castiel, attend to Crowley in some fashion, and probably have another big bad to deal with (I like the theory that more came out of purgatory than we know, etc).
I also would love for Castiel to replace Crowley with Meg as Queen of Hell. Let us not forget that delicious kiss they shared! Oh my stars!
Seasons one and two worked best because the arc was kept to a minimum and was never explored separately from the MOTW plotline. This season I’m hoping for Sam & Dean to be battling good old fashioned monsters while being on the run from Cas and looking for God (Chuck, although they don’t yet know it’s Chuck) to depose him and restore him to his normal loveable self.
Chuck’s not God.