Supernatural Season in Review: Season 6

Supernatural: Season 6 in Review 

Season Recap

The season begins one year after Sam’s leap into Lucifer’s Cage. The audience is immediately aligned with Dean, following how he slowly uncovers everything that has been going on for the entire year he was coping with the loss of his brother and living “the apple pie life” he promised Sam he would. The audience feels each betrayal that Dean does. Sam is back and is without his soul for most of the season. Once he is reunited with his soul that has been trapped in The Cage with Lucifer for over a year, it is a struggle for him to keep from remembering all the terrible things that Lucifer did to him. Castiel has been covertly teamed up with Crowley to get the power of the souls in Purgatory so that he can win the heavenly battle against the archangel Raphael. In the midst of all these struggles, all monster activity has been increasingly unpredictable leading to the appearance of the supposed season “Big Bad”, Eve – The Mother of All. The real reveal is that Castiel is the season Big Bad and the Winchesters find out as the audience does. 

This is a season of lies, betrayal, and loss for all characters, but most especially, for Dean. With previous seasons, the audience has been privy to Sam’s feelings and perspective, but this season, the audience does not get that alliance until Sam gets his soul back. Because of this perspective, we can then conclude, the audience functions as part of the souls of Sam and Dean. The overall message of this season is given to us in the form of a human existential question - what is the value and purpose of a soul?   

What Worked

Every character is fully engaged in and important to the overall story arc. With many seasons, Sam and Dean are the central characters and all other characters are satellite characters- meaning they are only there to interact with Sam and Dean but do not exist outside the Winchesters’ world. This season, every significant character, not just Sam and Dean, has a life and story that continues even when the viewer is not immediately aware of it. This makes for a deeper, richer experience for the audience as it makes all the characters more substantial.  

The season follows what happened in the previous season well and flowed into the Big Bad for season 7 just as smoothly. The first episode being written by Sera Gamble and the finale being written by Eric Kripke illustrates the cohesive transitioning partnership between Kripke as showrunner for the previous seasons and Sera Gamble as the new showrunner. 

There were only two episodes where the MOTW (Monster of the Week) narrative were weak or not focused on the overall myth arc. However, in both episodes, the sub stories made them important and not “throwaway” episodes. For example, if we look at the current season, season 11 has at this time only shown sixteen episodes and seven of them are MOTW with no real subplots or tie-ins to the overall myth-arc. While many MOTW episodes are fan favorites, there are MOTW episodes that weave the story in such a way as to allude to something pertaining to the myth arc or subtext to character growth, as we have in the previous seasons with Sam struggling with the monster within him. At most, the later seasons MOTW episodes have a short conversation between Sam and Dean that somehow refers to the current “Big Bad” situation, usually as bookends to the episode. In season six, all of the episodes pertain to the overall myth arc or character growth. Not one episode is wasted.

What Didn’t Work

The two episodes that were weak were, 6x09 “Clap Your Hands If You Believe” and 6x14 “Mannequin 3: The Reckoning”. I hesitate to say they “didn’t work” because they did, but they were weaker in myth arc than other episodes so I will include them here for exploratory purposes only. 

Although 6x09 is a funny and entertaining episode, the only pertinent information to the overall story arc is when a Leprechaun, Wayne Whittaker, tells Sam he can get Sam’s soul back for him and Sam refuses the offer. Sam tells Dean he refused it because, “It was a deal. When’s a deal ever been a good thing?” but perhaps Sam was having second thoughts about getting his soul back. Just as Dean has questioned Sam repeatedly over several episodes although Sam doesn’t seem to be showing any thoughts or real resistance against getting his soul back until 6x10 “Caged Heat”. However, 6x09 does consistently build, throughout the entire episode, on Sam’s lack of conscience or ability to empathize because of his lack of a soul. 

     

And 6x14 was weak because it added nothing to the overall story arc in the way of insight or subtext, but it did some character building with the Dean, Lisa and Ben storyline. Ben calls Dean, lying, saying that something is wrong with Lisa so that Dean would come running back. When the lie is revealed, Dean has a heart-to-heart with Ben in which Ben angrily tells Dean, “You know you're walking out on your family, right?” Considering how important family is to Dean, Ben couldn’t have found a better way to hurt him. Kicking Dean in the crotch would have been kinder. 

The only other thing that didn’t quite work this season, is the noticeable lack of classic rock music. There was a record setting seven episodes that had no music at all! That is more than any other season to date. Season 7 had six episodes with no classic rock music. All other seasons range from 2-4 episodes without a classic rock song.

Final Thoughts and Observations

This season has four narratives going on at once but they are woven together so that by the end, everything is cohesive.

Dean:

The first scenes, there is a compare/contrast of Dean then and now set to the Bob Seger tune “Beautiful Loser”. This song sums up what Dean is this season, “Beautiful loser/Where you gonna fall/When you realize/you just can't have it all”. He lost everything the end of season 5 and started over with Lisa and Ben. Now Sam is back but Dean can’t have it all. It’s either hunting with Sam or the apple pie life with Lisa and Ben.  Being in his perspective also sets exactly who the audience is going to be focused on for the majority of the season. The viewers are aligned to have the same revelations as Dean about what has been going on for the year since the Apocalypse was averted. The audience feels each betrayal as Dean feels it. 

This is a season of betrayal for Dean from everyone he loves and cares about. Sam lies to him about being alive, and although not having a soul is not Sam’s fault, he lied about so many other things including how different he was since he got back. Bobby lied to Dean for a year about Sam being alive. Yes, his intentions may have been good but it was still a betrayal to Dean. Castiel lied about everything. This is the betrayal that hurt Dean the most. He never saw it coming. 

Grandpa Campbell also betrayed him by teaming up with Crowley and letting Crowley feed him and Sam to ghouls. Family is the one thing Dean has always put the most important value and loyalty on and Grampa let him down. Which is why Ben telling Dean that he was walking out on his family hurt Dean so much. Even Lisa betrayed Dean, in a way. She’s the one who encouraged Dean to go back to hunting, telling him they could make it work - giving him hope. She wouldn’t commit to his hunting life. The first time things got rough, she bailed on him. She let him down too.

Sam:

Sam begins the season soulless and ends it with his mind broken. His storyline is all about the importance and value of a soul. Jared’s acting of the two separate Sam’s is subtle but altered enough that the viewer knows something is definitely different between the two. Until Sam gets his soul back, we have no idea how rough Sam had it in hell with Lucifer because Soulless!Sam refuses to talk about it and the audience is never given Sam’s perspective until his soul is returned to him.

Castiel:

Castiel, The Betrayer, is the surprise villain of the season. The lengths he will go to for the power to defeat Raphael are not completely revealed until episode 20 “The Man Who Would Be King”. Until then, there were subtle clues that were played off as part of the heavenly battle. Cas betrayed Dean, Sam, Bobby, Crowley, Balthazar, and the angel Rachel. As an angel, he was taught that the ends justify the means. Achieve your goal no matter what and deal with the consequences later. Interestingly enough, this seems to be the Winchesters way of doing things in later seasons. 

Crowley:

Crowley appears in eight episodes this season, which is more than either season 5 or season 7. Crowley has become the King of Hell but wants to increase his power by securing the souls from purgatory which will strengthen him. His torture and killing of Alphas is what stirs Eve and all the monsters to fight back. Crowley’s development this season seems to be as the new antagonist but as we discover in episode 20 “The Man Who Would Be King” he is more of a foil for Castiel as he is betrayed by Castiel as well. In both season 5 and season 7 (and other seasons as well), Crowley is an antihero working sometimes with and sometimes against the hero brothers.  

Eve/Monsters:

Some seasons seam to clarify the Big Bad right away. Season 5, it was Lucifer and the Apocalypse. Season 7, it’s the Leviathans.  Season 6 doesn’t make clear about Eve “The Mother of All” until episode 12 “Like a Virgin”. Until then, all monsters are behaving unusually and seem to be building an army. However once Eve is revealed, she is killed in episode 19 “Mommy Dearest”. It is highly unusual, in fact, it has never happened that a Big Bad is killed before the finale. This makes her more of a Red Herring or decoy to the true Big Bad which is Castiel.

There are undeniable similarities in the overall crafting of the season story arc and the way Ben Edlund crafts some of his stories. As an example, “The Man Who Would Be King” drops the viewer in at what seems to be the beginning but then rewinds to slowly unfurl what has actually been going on from the start until the viewer is back where the episode began, with Castiel in the garden, and then it pushes forward to a finish. “Repo Man” and even “The End” are done in this similar style.   

Season 6 is designed in a similar fashion. The viewer is dropped in with Dean a year after Sam jumped in the hole and then the story slowly unwinds as to what has been happening with everyone else during the last year until you reach the dramatic reveal in episode 20 “The Man Who Would Be King” and realize everything that has been going on and going wrong over the last year and a half can be laid at the feet of Castiel; then the story pushes forward two more episodes to the big finish.

No other season has created such a complete world where each character has a life outside the other characters but still entwined and integral to each other. If season 6 were a novel and each episode a chapter, this would be a beautifully woven tale of deceit, betrayal, power, love, loss and existential crisis. It would be a novel whose rich, well-developed characters would haunt you and one you would return to read again and again.  

 

The Man Who Would Be King 6x20: A Supernatural Review

Summary

Castiel tells his story of what has gone on the entire season that the audience has not been aware of and his reasons behind it. He divulges why he has teamed up with Crowley to break into Purgatory; he needs the power of the souls there so that he can defeat the archangel Raphael who wants to start Armageddon - again.  Supernatural 6.20 "The Man Who Would Be King" Promo

Review

“The Man Who Would Be King” written and directed by Ben Edlund, is a beautiful example of a well-crafted episode. The first shot sets the tone for the entire episode and offers up the perfect symbology for Castiel – he is alone. 

What you don’t realize, until the end, is that so much has transpired and he’s lost the support of Sam and Dean. Once you have all of the information, when you see this first shot again you can appreciate what it represents – Cas alone, uncertain, dejected, and lost. 


This is also the first time the fourth wall gets shattered, when Castiel looks directly into the camera to implore the audience “Let me tell you everything.”

Supernatural has stretched that fourth wall a bit with the meta episodes, but this is the first time a character has ever outright acknowledged the viewer in such an explicit way. After Castiel retells his story, he begs for guidance from his father, God. What does that imply? Is the viewer God? Or is it that God is out there watching but silent? Much has been said and written about Eric Kripke inserting himself as Chuck aka God. Is Edlund speaking to Kripke here? By the sixth season, Kripke had stepped down as showrunner but was still available for the new showrunner, Sera Gamble.

In the final lines of the episode, Cas pleads, “That’s why I’m asking you Father, one last time, am I doing the right thing? Am I on the right path?” 

So much existential angst! This is a very human moment for Cas, although I doubt he recognized it as that. We see a deeper side to an angel who is growing through his short friendship with the Winchesters. This story reminds us that Castiel is very old, thousands of years, but he is also still very naïve about humanity. Castiel becoming more human, having a better understanding of humans, is where his story arc goes in future seasons - after he comes back from death, again. It is such perfect symmetry to have the episode begin and end in the same manner.

This screen shot does not do the graphics justice

This episode brings a great deal of depth to the character of Castiel who is often viewed as emotionless and robotic, especially in the early episodes. In fact, all the angels are often portrayed this way. They are either hateful, power hungry douchebags or flaccid, robotic douchebags. Cas is the only angel learning and growing and that is all because of his time with the Winchesters. Part of the narrative is Cas talking about what he has learned from the Winchesters – how to stand up, what to stand for and what generally happens to you when you do. The vfx team really shines this episode. The 3D look of this blood splatter was incredible! 

After Dean learns of Cas’ betrayal and escapes Crowley’s wrath, Cas surprises Dean so they can have a chat. I want applaud Serge Ladouceur’s touch here. First, look at how this is backlit. The blue “moonlight” effect really makes the angel warding sigils stand out. But I want to point out a hint you are being given in this scene. A hint at what is coming in the next episode. What is the one thing that is lit the most in this scene? The books on the far left of the screen. Those books are center and the most lit things in the entire shot – why? Remember, things aren’t done on Supernatural accidentally. As we find out in the next episode, Cas came to Bobby’s for a reason – to steal a book! The journal of one Moishe Campbell, which will lead to him getting into purgatory. Like Dean said in episode 6.17 “My Heart Will Go On”…

But we have to talk about a heart-touching exchange between Cas and Dean. The moment when Dean admits that Cas is family. 

Again, the screen shot does not do this moment justice

Dean: Look, next to Sam, you and Bobby are the closest thing I have to family. That you are like a brother to me.

We all know how Dean feels about his brother. For Dean to include and equate Cas with that level of love is a powerful statement. The one thing Dean prizes most is family so Cas’ betrayal has truly hurt Dean. Think back to Sam’s betrayal at the end of season four, when he chose Ruby over Dean, and how hurt Dean was by that. But until this moment, Cas didn’t really think Dean thought of him that way. You can see it in the slight softening of Cas’ eyes and the way his mouth opens somewhat, he was surprised by this admission.

Questions. Problems. Concerns. Observations.

The use of “Me and Mrs. Jones”, which is playing in the background as Crowley and Castiel talk while in Crowley's laboratory, is brilliant! The line in the song, “We got a thing going on”, obviously refers to the business arrangement that Cas and Crowley have the entire season. 

This is such a well-crafted episode. There are a lot of people that worked hard to put it together. Everyone from the incredible performances of all the actors, right through to editors, and the music scoring by Christopher Lennertz. But none of this would have happened without the beautiful storytelling ability of Ben Edlund. I heard someone say once that anyone can learn the mechanics in which to be a good writer but it takes special talent to be a good storyteller. Ben Edlund is an exceptional storyteller. I make no secret and no apologies for my admiration for Ben Edlund. I think he is an extraordinary genius. I often point to this episode when people ask me to explain my viewpoint. This episode is as close to perfect storytelling as you can get. I rank it second only to “Swan Song” and believe me, with well over 200 episodes for this series, that is saying something.