Note: Full spoilers for the season follow.
I admit I was skeptical of Season 7 of Supernatural when it began. After all, things picked up after Season 6's cliffhanger, which saw Castiel, one of my favorite characters, go completely off the reservation and declare himself to be god. However, the first few episodes were strong - it was exciting to see Castiel as an out-of-control bad guy, the Leviathans wreaked some nice havoc right out of the gate, putting the Winchesters into a situation that felt truly precarious, and Sam's newfound trouble with the visions of Lucifer in his head were compelling. It looked like Supernatural was on the right track.
After that however, things did not turn out as well as hoped, at least as far as the Leviathans were concerned. They turned out to be the weakest season-long villain in the show's history. With the exception of James Patrick Stuart charismatic turn as the leader, the Leviathans' plot to turn America into zoned out zombies so they could eat everyone was, simply put, boring. Who would have guessed that a season finale of Supernatural would involve the main bad guy having a business meeting with his villainous cohorts as a way of telling the audience his evil plan?
What the Supernatural Cast Told us Heading into Season 7 Last Summer:
A major failing in the Leviathan plotline was that the Winchesters were not emotionally connected to them the way they had been with previous villains like the Yellow-Eyed Demon, Ruby, or Lucifer. The first five seasons had impressed with their ability to build on each other and the consequences packed more and more of a punch as things went on. After Season 5, things changed. Although they attempted to go bigger and more epic, like making the Leviathans super-powerful creatures, the impact just wasn't there.
Although the emotion was lacking in the Leviathan plot, it was present in Sam's battle against the visions of Lucifer in his head, as in "The Born-Again Identity", one of the stronger episodes of the season. Mark Pellegrino returned as Lucifer and was just as coolly malicious as always. Jared Padalecki did a good job with Sam's deteriorating condition as well as his despair.
Not every episode suffered because of the Leviathan storyline, which was a side benefit to the way the Leviathan storyline was sidelined so often throughout the year. Although there were no instant classics like last season's "The French Mistake", there were some strong monster-of-the week episodes, like "The Mentalists", "Time After Time", or "Repo Man", as well as the year's funniest episode "Plucky Pennywhistle's Magic Menagerie." The season was chock-full of fun guest starts with James Marsters, Charisma Carpenter, Jason Dohring, Nicholas Lea and Felicia Day all stopping by, as well as recurring characters like the always great Mark Sheppard as Crowley and the much-missed Alona Tal as Jo Harvelle making appearances.
The unfortunate side effect of having so many guest stars was that Sam and Dean occasionally felt sidelined in their own show. Although Sam had his problems with Lucifer and Dean had some issues with drinking, Season 7 was the lightest yet on character development for either brother. I happened to see a few episodes from Season 2 right before the finale and I realized how much I missed the brothers having different opinions and conflicting ways of approaching a problem. Maybe after seven seasons they wanted to ease up on the angst, but what we got was flatter as a result.
A huge element of the season was the effort the show made to isolate the brothers, removing all their support, like Bobby and Castiel, as well as taking away more basic things that we as an audience had grown used to like the Impala, rock and roll musician names being used for their fake identities, or the funny motel rooms. Bobby's death in particular was one part of the season that did not work for me (and yes, I know I'm in the minority here). First of all, it would have had more impact if it hadn't been obvious that he was going to come back somehow and secondly Bobby should have known better than to return as a ghost. Fortunately he made the right decision in the finale and the character was not completely ruined. I know a lot of people were more upset about the Impala being MIA than anything else, so it was good to see it make a triumphant, although brief, return in the finale.
If I rate the season itself lower than the individual episodes it is because looking at the year-long storyline only emphasizes the tediousness of the Leviathans and the disappointment of killing Bobby only to bring him back as a ghost. The fact that Season 7 episodes were more entertaining when taken on their own is a testament to how appealing the actors are and how much chemistry they have - not just Padalecki and Jensen Ackles, but also Misha Collins, Jim Beaver and the many guest stars.
While I am glad to close the book on Season 7 and the Leviathans, the encouraging thing is that the final moments of the finale left the story in a great spot. The unexpected relocation of Dean and Castiel to Purgatory and Sam's bewilderment at being left all alone was the best part of the final episode. In addition, there will be a change in showrunners next year. I liked Sera Gamble as a writer, but I am looking forward to Jeremy Carver taking over the showrunning duties. Here's hoping that Season 8 can take us back to a Supernatural that is exciting, creepy, emotionally gripping and fun.
Source : http://www.ign.com
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