Supernatural Pre-Finale Roundtable

The Supernatural season finale is drawing near.  We’ve pulled together some of our contributors to analyze the season so far and speculate on where we may be headed as we approach the final episode of the season.  Stay tuned in the days followings the finale for our Post Finale Roundtable.  Before we get down to business, meet the participants!

Angel is the admin of The Geekiary, a proud Minion of Misha Collins, Cas girl, and GISHer (go Team Subtext! Top 10 team 3 years in a row!). She dabbles in Destiel fanfic and considers it one of the larger ships in her overcrowded harbor. She’s been a main reviewer for the show since The Geekiary was founded and has attended numerous Supernatural focused and general geek conventions in the United States and Canada.

Erin is a little boy crazy, so of course, she loves Supernatural. You can find her lost in Dean’s dreamy eyes most of the time, or cheering on memorable minor characters (Donna!). Feeding Jared Padalecki a drink while he was recovering from shoulder surgery is one of her proudest moments. Although pretty neutral in the shipping department, she loves all the guys and how they give us all insight into the minds of men. She live tweets the show for The Geekiary.

Jessica has been a Dean fan since she started watching Supernatural in early season four. She was attracted to the horror element but stuck around for the characters. She’s not nearly as jaded as she used to be and is incredibly happy to see Dean with a storyline. A huge fan of Jensen and Misha and the Dean and Cas friendship, she is not a shipper but is cool with any ship or lack of ship people choose to love. Team Free Will is her favorite thing to see on the show.

Bandit has watched Supernatural since day one back in 2005, when her love of Halloween drew her to the show, but it was Dean that made her stay, though Cas has earned himself a well deserved place in her heart right next to Dean since Season 4. She is also a Misha Minion, as well as a GISHer, and faithful servant to all things Random Acts oriented. And, yeah, she ships Destiel and is damn proud of it. She also shares reviewing duties of Supernatural with Angel for The Geekiary.

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Q1)  What do you think the biggest strength of the season has been so far?

Erin: The biggest strength without a doubt has been Jensen Ackles and his acting. There are no shades of gray with Dean without that acting ability. Most actors cannot pull off being a sympathetic villain or evil character, but Jensen does a great job. The way that he emotes with his eyes and facial expressions: just perfect. He can go from Dean to Deanmon in a matter of seconds.

Bandit: Behind the camera? Robbie Thompson. He has given us so many amazing episodes, and this season he has not disappointed us whatsoever. On screen, Dean’s drive to do whatever he can to keep control. He tried eating healthy and being good. The poor guy hasn’t even had any pie this season. That is some strong determination. And then we get the Reverse Crypt scene, which I can’t talk about because I am still shaking.

Jessica: The biggest strength this season has certainly been Robbie Thompson and Robert Beren’s writing.  They recognize the importance of canon and doing their best to make sure their writing agrees with it.  They also realize how important the characters are to the fans and treat them respectfully.  They add so much to the show and I wish they had more power in the writers’ room.  They’re really a big part of why I stick around.  I love their scripts.

I also am loving Dean’s storyline and Jensen having something meaty to work with. I think sadly Demon Dean wasn’t explored well enough or long enough, but Mark of Cain Dean is just plain scary.  Jensen is doing an amazing job.  We also get to see Sam in a role we don’t see him in as often.  We see him worried about his big brother.  The addition of Claire and what she has meant to both Castiel and the brothers’ story was also a highlight.  “Angel Heart” was the best episode of the season and one of my favorite of the series.

Angel: So many good answers here and I have to echo the loving sentiments about Robbie Thompson and Jensen Ackles.  For me one of the highlights was the dynamic secondary cast, especially the women.  The 200th episode (praise Robbie Thompson) was also a unique and empowering portrayal of young, creative women.

Q2)  What about the biggest weakness of the season so far?

Bandit: This has been my favourite season up until “Dark Dynasty”. Yeah, I know everyone is going to probably say it, but killing Charlie was a bad idea. It’s probably tied with killing Kevin and second only to killing Cas in Season 7 (which I still can’t talk about).

Jessica: I loved this season other than “Dark Dynasty”. There were some boring episodes, but nothing I hated.  Killing off Charlie Bradbury was a huge mistake.  She meant so much to so many of us.  In many ways, she was me. I related to her.  I know many people who felt that same way.  And the way she was killed was disgusting – the plot holes had plot holes. Everyone other than Dean and Rowena were written out of character in order for this needless death to happen.  I’d hate to say it, but nepotism put a huge damper on what was otherwise, in my opinion, an amazing season.  Thank you though Robbie, for fighting for her and for us.

Angel: Charlie’s death was a disaster.  After praising this season’s portrayal of women, it felt like a slap in the face.  Everyone felt out of character and her death only furthered the Man Pain.  She was a Woman in a Refrigerator…  or a Woman in a Tub in this case.  It was unnecessary, cruel, and didn’t give the character the respect she deserved.

Erin: Of course killing Charlie was a big weakness. Although I was never a huge fan of hers, killing off the character just seemed like plot contrivance and a way to further the Winchester angst. To me, it is lazy writing. There are a million other ways to further a plot without killing off a fan-favorite minor character. I also continue to believe that the writers have no idea what to do with Castiel, and that is really showing this season. Whether he is absent altogether or just weirdly brooding, they need to give him more.

Q3) Hardly a finale goes by without at least one major character death.  Who do you think will die in the finale and why?  Do you think they’ll be brought back or will it be permanent?

Angel: This is really tough for me because I really love Crowley, but I’m really hoping it’s him.  Sam, Dean, and Cas have all died repeatedly and been brought back again and again.  It’d be boring and predictable if any of the the core of TFW dies in the finale.  That said, Mark Sheppard IS contracted for season 11, so if he does die it’s either 1) not permanent or 2) they used some sort of out clause for his contract for next season.  Misha is also contracted for season 11, so they are in the same boat on that front, but killing Cas has become so cliché that if they go that route I’d be extremely disappointed.

Bandit: Crowley. Nothing against Mark Sheppard (such an amazing actor and awesome guy), but I’m hoping it’s Crowley because with all the talk from Asylum 14, it better not be Cas. I can’t handle that. Also, Crowley has been pretty absent this season. He was there in the beginning, but it’s honestly like he’s been stoned or something the rest of the time. I don’t get it. He’s been such a strong character in the past that this is a bit disheartening. Though, I have this sneaking suspicion that it’s Baby, which would break my heart, but if they are paralleling “Swan Song” it might make sense. It’d hurt. Not as much as Cas, but it’d hurt. Though we’d get to exercise some of the cars in the MOL bunker. I’d also love to see Dean riding shotgun in the pimpmobile bemoaning Cas’s music choices: “Driver picks the music. Shotgun shuts his cakehole.” Though in this instance, it’d be his piehole.

Jessica: Like Bandit and Angel, I’m thinking it’s Crowley. But maybe the obvious answer is too obvious.  I do kind of feel like Rowena will take over Hell, so maybe Crowley does die. It could be Castiel, too, he hasn’t died for a few finales now. Since both Misha and Mark are contracted for season 11, it seems like any character death will be temporary.

Erin: Definitely Crowley. And maybe Rowena, too. I feel like Crowley’s character arc is coming to an end, particularly with the Mark of Cain storyline, and I think that there isn’t really anywhere to advance the character to. He is pretty much done. This pains me, though, because I really like Crowley! But the evil needs to come back sometime because that is really when he is the most fun. I think that Rowena’s time has come, too, although I think a death for her would be temporary. She has turned into a fan favorite, and her scenes with Sam are especially fun.

Angel: Wow, were were unanimous.  Sorry Crowley.  We think your time is up.

Q4) Last season they telecast Dean’s demon transformation long in advance in interviews leading up to the finale.  Do you have any idea what the cliffhanger for this finale may be?  Warning: This series of answers may contain spoilers.

Angel: The only spoiler I have is that someone Dean cares about is going to die, but is that really anything new?  Death on this show has become almost a joke.  If they kill anyone who has been killed numerous times before, it’d be a pretty boring cliffhanger.  Demon!Dean was an incredible cliffhanger because it hadn’t been done before.  I sort of hope we end the season where we began with more Demon!Dean.  Having the same cliffhanger twice would ALSO be boring, but they could go about it differently and ramp up the excitement.

Bandit: Probably something involving the brothers being split up again (big surprise). In all honesty, what I think would be an interesting cliffhanger would be Rowena converting Sam to the dark side (he kills Crowley), then becomes a warlock (that’s a male witch, right?) and she becomes the Queen of Hell. Then Dean and Cas work together to go save him next season (in Cas’s pimpmobile while Dean complains the entire time because something happened to Baby and they don’t have time to fix her), so they actually get more than what seems like only 10 minutes of screentime together this past season. Oh, and Charlie comes back as a zombie, but a good one.

Angel: If Bandit’s scenario doesn’t happen, I demand someone write it in fanfic please. Thanks.

Bandit: ***BIG CHEESY GRIN***

Jessica: So here’s an out-there idea, what if it’s Dean who dies?  Maybe he makes a deal with Death so that dying no longer means becoming a demon for him. So, we end up with Dean who dies and becomes a reaper? Or maybe he makes a deal with Death to bring back Charlie.  Something.  I don’t know. Jensen accidentally gives things away in interviews sometimes.  He mentioned something about Dean being a vessel. I do think something huge will happen with Dean in the finale.

Erin: At this point, I really don’t have any idea where the writers are headed. I think that the return of Death (which is probably the best spoiler/tease we have for the finale) will mean a large arc for Dean in the next season, but I am unsure what it will be. I agree with Jessica and some fans that the reaper route might be the most likely option. I think the Mark of Cain will be gone for Dean by the end of the finale, and Dean’s future will be a bit uncertain (perhaps a temporary reaper gig).

Author: Angel Wilson

Angel is the admin of The Geekiary and a geek culture commentator. They earned a BA in Film & Digital Media from UC Santa Cruz. They have contributed to various podcasts and webcasts including An Englishman in San Diego, Free to Be Radio, and Genre TV for All. They’ve also written for Friends of Comic Con and is a 2019 Hugo Award winner for contributing fanfic on AO3. They identify as queer.

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