Supernatural – 9.10, 9.11, & 9.12

by Jennifer Pitt

I’ve been having  a hard time sitting down to write about Supernatural post-midseason hiatus. I’m loving it and I am not, all at the same time.

Maybe it’s because the mid-season hiatus is so long that I feel a disconnect between the last episode in December and the first in January. I have enjoyed each of the three episodes for their own merits, but I keep having to remind myself of key points, like why is it again that Dean won’t hunt with Sam…? What happened with Castiel and how does he have his grace back?

Things came to such a head on the last episode in December, with Kevin and….well, Kevin. Sam and Ezekiel and Gadreel. I am struggling because I don’t dislike the episodes, but I dislike what feels like a lack of continuity, among other things.

For instance, the idea that Castiel could just kill another angel and take his grace: if that is the case, why didn’t he do that ages ago? The werewolves that took in Garth: not sure the lore ever mentions the possibility of being born one.

I am a great proponent of things changing in order to move on; just go back and read past articles about SPN – I am always in support of the writers who take things in a new direction. I am also not one to complain about changing canon, since I rarely notice when something is changed anyway, save for these two examples. And really, it’s fiction, so….canon? Should be almost non-existent outside of the core storyline of the Winchesters and their family and life as hunters, since it IS fiction, after all.

I really did enjoy each episode in and of itself. I think all three were well-written and, as usual, I appreciated the laughs (“You have a guinea pig? Where?!?”). I am delighted that Castiel (delayed grace-taking aside) is closer to his naive, pizzaman days then how he has been over the last few seasons. I love that Sam is growing a set and told Dean off in the 9.12, and that Dean is so flustered by it that he doesn’t know what to say. Timothy Omundson killed it as Cain, and I am seriously curious about how Dean bearing the mark of Cain will play out.

I don’t know how many will be in agreement with this, but I loved that they had to rely on Crowley, and loved that Crowley kept his word. And Mark Sheppard is my new hero.

I am definitely not out of love, but I am definitely a little confused by the disconnect I feel between episodes. I am far from dismissing the show, though; I believe that writers can have plans on a need to know basis, and right now, my friends, we might not need to know – yet.