Here we are — season thirteen of Supernatural. I’ve only been with Supernatural for the past four years. Regardless, seeing the show turn thirteen feels like some sort of milestone, so even though this premiere wasn’t exactly what I was hoping for, I’m still excited for the show to be back. It’s not as though “Lost and Found,” written by showrunner Andrew Dabb, is the worst hour of television the show has put out. It’s also not boring or uninteresting. It’s just Supernatural, and by that I mean it’s middle-ground, half-way through the season, paint-by-numbers Supernatural. However, all hope is not lost.
Picking up right where season twelve left off, Sam and Dean Winchester (Jared Padalecki and Jensen Ackles) not only have to deal with the loss of every single one of their allies (Crowley, Cas, and Mary), but also a newly born, though very teenage-looking, Jack the nephilim, son of Lucifer. Jack has taken off, naked, to search for his father. As Sam and Dean track him, they have the most unsurprising conversation of the night:
Dean: “He’s evil. We need to throw everything we’ve got at him!”
Sam: “He’s just a kid, Dean. We need to protect him!”
Dean: “No, no. He’s the son of Lucifer, so therefore he’s evil and must be killed!”
And so on. This is the part of the show I could do without because we’ve heard it all before, and at some point, being thirteen seasons down the line and all, shouldn’t there be some more character development? Dean’s insistence that Jack is evil simply because he’s the son of Lucifer feels like a regression to the Dean from seasons one through five. Since then, Dean has teamed up with a number of supernatural creatures, and didn’t he, oh, I don’t know… talk down God’s sister from destroying the world? If you decide to stick with my reviews this season, you’ll find I think Dean’s a bit of a hypocrite, and I like calling him on it. But I like him too, and it might be fair to say Dean’s probably emotionally compromised from losing Cas and Mary, and he’s back to the shoot-first-ask-later way of thinking as a defense mechanism.
Sam’s feelings on the matter make sense, seeing as Sam has always been the one to look for the good in people, despite who or what they might be. Having them stuck in a jail cell together made a lot of sense, then. And honestly, I hope Sam is right about Jack. As the most interesting part of this premiere, Jack (Alexander Calvert) was both funny, endearing, tragic, and terrifying, all of which Calvert pulled off beautifully. Jack could set off a moving story exploring the nature of good and evil, nature vs. nurture, and whether or not where we come from is all that we are. However, Calvert is only credited for five episodes on IMDB as of right now, so maybe he won’t have much of an impact as I’m hoping for. Still, his presence here gave the show some room to breathe.
As for the rest of the episode, Supernatural‘s been better. Some of the more emotionally charged scenes, especially the ones with Dean looking at a dead Cas, lost a lot of impact because of photo shoots and press releases about Misha Collins’ return. They just don’t hit the mark. I didn’t quite get the point of the reveal of Dean praying to God/Chuck — if that scene had been placed while Sam was inside the fast food restaurant, it might have played better. Instead, we don’t fully understand Dean’s head space until the very end, almost when it doesn’t matter. Sam and Dean taking Jack back to the bunker makes sense, but I still only buy Dean’s attitude toward Jack as emotions running high after being dealt a huge loss.
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Though I’m somewhere in the middle on how Mary’s return turned out last season, it’s good to have Samantha Smith back, as well as Mark Pellegrino. Whatever plans Lucifer has for Mary, it seems their exploits in the apocalypse world will be pushed to the side for awhile. I’m fine with that. And that’s probably where I ultimately am with the season thirteen premiere — I’m fine with it.
This Week’s Wayward Thoughts (get it?)
- I like Jack revealing that he thought of Castiel as his father, not Lucifer. It’s a nice continuation of Castiel’s odd connection with Kelly and the baby last season, something Dean referred to as brainwashing.
- Dean (reluctantly) adding on Crowley to the list of people he wants Chuck to bring back. <laughing emoticon>
- Is this the first time the show has used Metallica? Hello, fourteen-year-old Katey angsting to “Nothing Else Matters” on her iPod.
- So far, we know Jack is affected by Angel Radio and not affected by an Angel Blade. Why is it angels are so scared of nephilims again?
- I’m calling it now — Chuck is coming back.
Supernatural airs Thursdays 8/7c on The CW. I’ll be here every week, so feel free to discuss in the comment section or hit me up on twitter for questions, comments, and concerns. Carry on.
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