Why Supernatural Should Have Ended After Season 5 By Diane

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So, without further ado, here is Diane's article!

 

         One day Tribble and I were discussing Supernatural and the difference between the Sera Gamble years and the Eric Kripke years. I told her I could go on for hours about how the season 5 finale, Swan Song, should have been the series finale. She asked me to vent about it in an article for GEEK.  I know there are some of you who will agree and disagree with me, but I just wanted to share my opinion.

       When I was little I had to do a project about an enigma for school. Enigmas, in that sense, encompassed everything from supernatural or mythological creatures to local legends and ghost stories. I chose to study the history of vampires. I did this project in 6^th grade, and it sparked an obsession with anything paranormal, strange, or just flat out impossible. So in my senior year of high school, this show came along that described everything I loved to read about in its title: Supernatural. I watched every episode live as it aired, from the beginning. This was the first show that I needed to see each week and could watch repeats of endlessly. I learned the gag reels and DVD special features forwards and backwards. I read the tie-in novels. I read and watched every cast/crew interview I could find. The show miraculously kept being renewed year after year, even with a relatively small fan base. I could not imagine the way I would handle the news that the show could ever possibly be ending, but each year I tried to prepare myself for that possibility.

       Then Eric Kripke, the creator of the show, mentioned in the fourth season that he had a plan through the fifth season and then he would end the show. At first I was devastated. The CW has a history of making terrible choices with their shows to try to keep the network alive. Even knowing that Kripke had planned for the show to run for another year at that point, they made contract moves with the stars to keep them locked in through a sixth season. They saw that Supernatural had a rabid fan following and decided to push the show for another year. Kripke, being the brilliant man that he is, stepped down at this point, handing the reins to a writer who has proved her worth in many episodes, such as Faith, Crossroad Blues, Dream a Little Dream of Me, and It’s a Terrible Life. She has been with the show from season one which, not many writers could say. She was one of my favorites. I was ready to see what she brought to the table. Was. I wanted to re-watch some episodes to try to find examples and pinpoint where exactly she went wrong, but I couldn’t bring myself to watch that much of seasons 6 or 7. I decided to watch the season 5 finale and the season 6 premiere (Exile on Main Street) to revisit how the transition went down.

       I do not have the right words to explain the way I feel about Swan Song. It is one of the most perfect hours of television I have ever seen.  That may sound like hyperbole, but when I was watching it again and still feeling the way I felt the night the episode premiered, I have to believe that is the most accurate description of the episode.  In this one episode Kripke made us all remember how much we loved the show and why. Before Castiel, before Bobby, the Impala was always considered the third main character on the show. In the season one finale Devil’s Trap Kripke had her absolutely destroyed by a monster truck. That was the first time I ever felt such loss over a main character. Then, in true Supernatural fashion, she was resurrected the next season and got a new theme song (AC/DC’s Back in Black). This random history of the car proves to be an explanation of how the Impala was their home, and their savior. After the entire fifth season was spent building up to a fight between the brothers Winchester, he starts the episode discussing the other main character.

       When Sam has allowed himself to become Lucifer’s vessel, we see demons that worked with Azazel to bring Sam to Detroit that very day. Kripke demonstrated right then that even though he originally thought it was a miracle the show made it past two seasons, he always had a plan in place in case the show went on longer. At the end, Chuck writes about how endings are difficult and there are always loose ends. Sure Kripke left a few mysteries behind when he left. But he also provided us with a lot of literary symmetry. The boys were basically born in Lawrence, KS because that is where Michael and Lucifer, played by Dean and Sam, would die. No minor detail was an accident. He realized in the fourth season that he would not necessarily be able to end the show the way he wanted, so he opened himself a loophole by adding Adam Winchester, who could therefore also play Michael at Stull Cemetery.

       Now we move on to Exile on Main Street. I tried to watch it with an open mind when it premiered and now, but it just didn’t work for me. Gamble started the show with a monster we have already encountered and defeated before. She set up the plot that lasted only half a season (Grandpa Cambell is hunting down Alphas), only to have to set up Purgatory and Eve later on.  Kripke made Sam sacrifice himself so that Dean could have the life Sam always wanted. Gamble brought Sam back SOULLESS to keep him from giving Dean what he always wanted: his little brother safe and sound. Throughout her two seasons in charge, she kept finding ways to keep the Impala hidden somewhere. How could Kripke put so much effort into making a CAR the third main character, just for Gamble to destroy the car by making it disappear? Then she also repeatedly found ways to make us believe Castiel was dead, and killed Bobby for real. She is not evil in the delicious way that Kripke is; I’m pretty sure she just wanted to see what the fans would put up with before she faced a torch-wielding mob.

       Sera Gamble was put in a difficult position to find a villain more fearsome than the Devil himself. I understand that. But Eve, Purgatory, Dick Roman, and the Leviathan just did not cut it. I respect that she took a role that not many people envied. But she did not have a plan. Seasons 6 and 7 still had some pretty epic episodes (The French Mistake anyone?). However she made the best decision of her career to step down after season 7.

       Jeremy Carver has to split his time between Supernatural and Syfy’s Being Human, and he still managed to plan out a better story than Gamble did. I know Tribble and Targ have not seen most of season gr8 so I will restrain myself from commending Carver here in detail. He did get off to a slow start, but he also had to clean up the mess Gamble left behind to try to make sure the plot advanced logically. The season 8 finale left me with a whole range of feelings, some good and some bad, but I also haven’t enjoyed an episode this much in years. At the time I am writing this, it has been a week since the episode aired and I am still holding internal debates about how things went down. I am looking forward to the next season, which I haven’t done since I was looking forward to season 5.

       However, Carver has a plan through a 10^th season, should the CW renew it after season 9. The president of the network has mentioned that he wants Supernatural to survive for the duration of his career at the CW. Why shouldn’t he? The network has some other wildly successful shows, but who wants to deal with the fans after losing Supernatural? With all of this in mind, sometimes you just need to let the story finish when it is done.  When Dean drove up to the prize fight in Swan Song, Kripke used a clip from Def Leppard’s Rock of Ages that says “it’s better to burn out, than to fade away”. That was Kripke explaining that the show will never be as good as it was while he was in charge. He was not arrogant, he was right. The story was over and ready to be neatly tied off with a ribbon, and the network pushed it on anyway. Hopefully after season 10 the network will allow Supernatural to burn out on its own, rather than fade away. I still can’t imagine a life where I don’t have a new episode of Supernatural to look forward to ever again. However I was at a point where I had to remind myself to watch it so I didn’t fall behind, and that hurt more than having the show taken away. Do the right thing, CW executives. Just sayin.