Me and My Two Minds
Musings on a Sixth Season for Supernatural
by Sylvia Bond
The announcement has come down that the CW has picked up Supernatural for a sixth season. If you can’t take my word for it, ask the CW. Or go ask anyone in the Supernatural fandom and they will tell you all about it, the reasons why it’s good, and the reasons why it’s bad. They’ll tell you how they’re so happy they can’t breathe, and can’t wait for the next season because it’s going to be perfect, while the same time they hope and pray that the opening title images are changed to something more suitable. Then there are the fans who are rolling their eyes and are planning on changing the channel the second Season Five is over, on account of it won’t matter any more, since Show will be preparing to jump the shark for real this time.
Here’s my take on it.
Supernatural has been picked up for a Sixth Season!!! And you can’t argue with that. You can’t argue with more Sam and Dean any more than you can argue with the air you breathe or hot oatmeal on a cold, snowy Saturday morning.
I have only read one announcement about this whole thing, so I don’t know any of the details about how it’s going to work, just rumors, and there are plenty of those on the ground.
I heard that Kripke’s signed up for next year, but then I heard he was out and moving to Tahiti. Then I heard he was back in charge, but only if he wears white gloves to the set at all times.
I heard that Show’s circus is moving to Toledo, Ohio, where unemployment has skyrocketed and the Mayor is giving Show huge, huge tax breaks for filming there.
I heard that one of the guys who places the cones to direct traffic when Show is on location is going to be promoted to Head of Catering, and that the Lighting Guys are going to form their own union.
I heard that Jensen Ackles is signed up to direct every other episode, and that Jared Padalecki will now head up the writing team so as to ensure that Sam will be in 100% of every scene of every episode, per my request. I heard so many things, I’m not sure what is true anymore. As to whether any of this will come to fruition, all I can tell you is that the idea of more Sam and Dean brings a great deal of pleasure to this fangirl’s heart.
But.
What happened to the Five Year Plan? This is the plan we’ve heard touted about Show since day one, that Kripke had a five year plan, end of story, that he knew where he was going all along, that he still knows, and that we fans just need to be patient and wait for the story to spin itself out. Because story is what matters here right? At least this is what I bought into, that’s what I was promised.
Perhaps I’m not totally married to the Five Year Plan, exactly, since, after the first few eps there was a team of writers, and since too many cooks will change any broth, it wasn’t Kripke’s very own baby any more. But I bought into the Story of the brothers, and very content I was about that. So content, in fact, that I have a paid up ticket in First Class to watch Sam and Dean saving people, hunting things. I have a permanent membership in Team Free Will, I have my maps, my compass, my journal with its scribblings and newspaper clippings, and my Firefox browser open to www.ghostbusters.com.
I am ready for the boys to stay in more skanky motels and backwoods cabins, I am ready for more urban legends, and credit card scams, for more hurt/comfort and angst and emo, and for Sam and Dean to walk the earth in their flannel shirts, bleach-worn jeans, and sturdy boots hunting bad things that hurt people. And I am so very ready for Magical Bobby to die, I can’t tell you. But even if he sticks around, I’m so in love with this universe, I’ll put up with just about anything, even the Soap Angel saving the day too often, if I could watch Sam push his Samhair out of his eyes just one more time.
But why was Show renewed? That’s what I don’t get. Because heretofore now, Show was struggling to stay on the air, the way I heard it, and every meeting of the Suits in LA had as their first item on the agenda: Getting Rid of Show. They didn’t understand what they had bought, it wasn’t making them any money, they had the writers doing crazy things that were not suitable for the story of Sam and Dean, and I despaired of them ever getting it right. Only now, halfway through the long-promised Season Five, which was to reveal all the secrets and earnest beginnings in the engaging story about the Family Winchester and tie things up with a nice, tidy bow, Show has been renewed.
It happened so quickly and so unexpectedly, I suspect demonic hands were at work and I’m fairly comfortable stating that Show has sold its soul and made a deal with the same demon who made a deal with the guy who owns Wal-Mart. Show has certainly broken the promise of the Five Year Plan and it has to be money that the demon promised, because I can’t imagine anything else that would cause Show to break the pact of the Story, something which has always been sacrosanct to me. Because it’s the story and the characters I connect to, even though, ostensibly, the idea of “story” on TV was developed to sell soap, oh, so many years ago. Commercials are the underlying reason behind the whole thing: tell a story and folks will stick around long enough for you to hustle your wares. No matter how much we tell ourselves any different, no matter how earnest the writer or purpose-driven-to-develop-his-craft the actor, it’s all about the soap.
So can I blame Show? Not really, not when its underlying purpose was always to busk bubbles. But there are so many people involved who believe the cover lie, me included, that the STORY was the point here, it must be a hard pill to swallow. Because the journey of Sam and Dean and the Impala, and the filling up of gas tanks, and the bad food in crummy diners, the grimy, grotty motels, the whole “we do what we do and don’t talk about it” motto, not to mention the washing of the smalls in the bathroom of a Denny’s and having as their reward only a kiss now and then – all of that was the off-the-grid background to a story that mattered.
Sam and Dean matter, and everything the people of Show did and performed and took care of (from gaffers to best boys to the blood artists and the writers, and yes, Ackles and Padalecki) matter because the story they were telling matters. Matters like the air you breathe and hot oatmeal on a cold, snowy, Saturday morning. That Show signed up for another season was akin to it selling out, and made the whole of what Sam and Dean worked and slaved and died and literally went to hell for mean nothing. As in, “Whoops! That’s not the end! We got a whole pile of money here that says we keep going.”
I control nothing. Not the vertical and certainly not the horizontal. Plus, just because the CW picked up Show for a sixth season does not actually mean it’s going to happen, so it would be a waste of my energy, certainly, to gnash my teeth and sit in the corner to rock and worry about it. Obviously, however, I care. You’d only have to look at the reviews I’ve written to know I care. But Fate will have its way and I’m willing to let the future unfold before me even as I struggle with the idea that if Show sold its soul, will I then be selling mine if I watch Season Six?
I guess it depends, doesn’t it.
But, you ask, what does it depend on? It depends, I answer, it depends on what they do with Season Six. (Okay, I’m rocking in the corner just a little bit here.) If they continue with this nonsense they’ve currently got going on with a cast of about a thousand angels and demons, and if there are secondary characters continually stepping in to save the day, and if we get deus ex machine every other minute and plot holes big enough to drive trucks through, and Sam and Dean are constantly written in as afterthoughts, then yes, if I continue to watch and write about Show during Season Six, it will be akin to selling my soul. Though, as I have said, for Samhair, I’m willing to do quite a bit actually. So just keep that in mind, okay?
But. If Show is able to own up to its promise, both to itself and to me, the viewer, then that will be another story altogether, no pun intended, and no demon deals will ever have to be made. And here’s what Show might ought to want to consider to not only satisfy me and my Samhair fetish, but to also be true to what it started. Which is, as everyone who’s anyone knows, a story about two brothers, on the road, saving people, hunting things.
If Show needs an overarching story to connect the eps, a Magical McGuffin could easily be produced that would keep the action moving forward and that would keep the boys moving from motel to skanky squat to yet another motel. It could be a person, for example, it could be about how Sam and Dean are searching for a person who knew The Dad, someone who could tell Sam and Dean whether John was truly at rest in heaven. (And frankly, if Show doesn’t use The Dad as a motivating factor at some point, I think it would be very foolish indeed because The Dad is one major pivot in the whole plotline, and not to use him would be a waste of a perfectly good character.)
Or, perhaps, there could be some item that might free Sam from his bloodlust, once and for all, once the apocalypse is truly averted, once the world is saved. Sam and Dean could spend many, many eps hurtling across America looking for it, and the set dressers could have a field day trying to recreate motels in such places as East Jesus, Iowa; Pokipsee, New York; and Intercourse, Pennsylvania.
Oh, and here’s a novel idea. Why not write a story about how Sam and Dean become brothers again? I know, shocker, right? Write a season where the all the episodes are about Sam and Dean learning to work together and to trust each other. That’s it, just that. That would be the main story, the most important story.
And set that against the never-ending work of being a hunter, of the boys tracking down urban legends like the Barking Doberman or the Cactus Full of Spiders. Maybe have the boys encounter previously engaged monsters of the week, like the Woman in White, because surely they’re bound to do this once in a while. Maybe they could meet up again with people they’ve met on the road (like Sarah from Provenance), so as to weave the lines of their crossing the country into a believable network of support, which must surely exist after all their efforts and travels. And then just keep doing that, keep doing what Show does best, over and over and over until Sam and Dean drive off into the sunset in their beloved Impala. Because the best stories are the ones that you can just tell, that you know in your soul, keep going, even after you close the book.
I wouldn’t have to sell my soul for that kind of Season Six, and neither would Show. And if Show has already sold its soul, as I’m thinking it has, then after a season of eps about Sam and Dean saving people, hunting things, just that and nothing more, then I feel pretty sure that Show could be redeemed and its soul set free.
Sylvia Bond is a ten-year technical writing veteran with too many degrees under her belt to count. She lives in Colorado, but does not ski, preferring instead to spend her money and time at the annual Great American Beer Festival, taking road trips across the United States, and reading historical fiction from the comfort of her fluffy green arm chair. She has been involved in fandom since 1993 and been writing fanfic since approximately 1993. What she finds most amazing about fandom (besides the open heartedness of fans and the sheer amount of creativity) is how visible fandom has become. “In my day,” she says, “we had to hide behind P.O. boxes to get fanfic. But nowadays, people wear t-shirts that shout their affiliation and share their shiny toys on the internet.” It’s a wonderful world.
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Someone posted some old interviews with Kripke. I believe he was musing that if the show would get renewed, they would go back to a Season one type of storyline (maybe with some goal of finding someone, like they were trying to find their father in the beginning). This heaven vs hell epic plot would end, as planned, this season. He talks that the show is all about the brothers.. how they deal with everything being thrown at them and how their relationship evolves and survives. These were all musings from early on.. so nothing is set in stone.
I don't get why people are freaking out so much. Those people who are ready to start watching Fringe or something just don't get this show.
I am looking forward to another season and will not give myself a coronary worrying about jumping the shark, or plot holes until I actually see it.
Good for you. I’m glad you’re not worried. And I’m not either. At least not mostly. I ‘m trying to see that more Sam and Dean is better than no Sam and Dean. But is it? Maybe not, if the Sam and Dean Show’s planning to serve up is a lukewarm variation of a copy of a copy.
As for watching interviews of anyone who’s real job is to create a story, and that story is meant to sell soap, I’m not all that keen. People can spin webs and blow bubbles in one interview, and in the next interview tell us (and sell us) something completely different. I just can’t hold much stock in that.
I do agree that there’s no point in getting worked up into a coronary till we actually see what S6 is placed before us, but I reserve the right to care and be frustrated that the promise I see in this storyline isn’t being developed.
Bardicvoice says the "5 year plan" really only dates back to spring 2008. She could be missing some interviews, but her recent article seems pretty thorough. So I'm not getting too hung up on the mythical 5 year plan.
Also, the season six renewal wasn't quick or unexpected for people who follow the industry/business side of Supernatural. I've been pretty sure there would be a season six since the season 5 renewal, and the April 2009 EW story. It's cool if you're not too interested in that side of the show, though.
I’m not too hung up on the five year plan either, especially since it’s now been broken. And it always seemed pretty flimsy when in the midst of the “plan” the story went every which way. What kind of plan is that? Everything seemed to be done on the fly.
What I am hung up on is the fact that we’re going into a season six and I’m not really sure why, except that money is always behind the decisions that corporate Hollywood makes. Sure I’d be interested if someone could tell me otherwise, but I doubt it. The main point is, has Show sold its soul, and will I be doing the same if I watch season six?
I agree with you (if I'm interpreting you correctly): there's no creative reason for a season six.
It was a business decision, on the part of the CW and Kripke, not a creative one. But sadly, most TV decisions are business-based, and I watch a lot of TV, so I sold my soul a long time ago.
I'm 99% sure I'll be watching season 6, sell-out or not, unless things go really poorly for Sam in the season five finale.
If the Kripke and Gamble are to be believed, the apocolypse story line will come to an end this season. And I love the idea of a paired down season 6. I think it could make for interesting "book ends" for the series. A lot of the complaints this season (and my main complaint as well) has been that while taken individually most of the eps have been great, but isn't there ans apocolypse going on? Shouldn't we be dealing with that? In season 6 we wouldn't have to worry about that. Each episode could easily stand on it's own. My hope for seanon six is that is does in some ways recreate the first season, but that the writers and actors use their experiences and understanding of these characters to improve on any mistakes.
I would be willing to watch if it turns out like you suggest.
And I really agree with you about the Apocolypse – is it going on and when will it end!
Of course, Season 1 (and Season 2) rocked like nobody’s business – even so, we couldn’t expect Sam and Dean to turn back the clock THAT much. Still, there’s a certain tone to those early stories, a certain purity that I really enjoyed and that most fans I’ve talked to enjoyed. It seems like such a simple story compared to what’s going on now, but it was so very powerful, powerful enoughto generate enough energy to create three more seasons. So let’s go back to that, I say, as much as we can.
Hey, if Sam and Dean are there…I’m there. I do hope that they’ll go back to some kind of “saving people, hunting things” kind of format, but whatever they do, I’ll watch. I would think that something could come out of the apocolypse that gave them a mission. Maybe The Dad is now alive, but with amnesia, and they have to find him. Maybe Castiel. Maybe Lucifer is still roaming the earth, but with no support from his demonic troops, so they have to find him and send him back. There are lots of things they could do.
But you know what? Even the worst episode of Supernatural (and I’m voting “Bugs” for that one, since I will not acknowledge that the episode with Jo in the lead hunting america’s first serial killer in Baltimore ever happened)…even “Bugs” is better than about 70% of other dramas out there, all of the reality shows, and 99.9% of sitcoms. So yeah, I’ll be tuning in Thursday nights at 9 p.m every week. (and also, on TBS at 10 every morning that I”m home…)
It’s so funny you mention Bugs. A lot of people disliked that episode, and for good reason, the “instant morning” among them. But what I really enjoyed was the bits that showed us stuff about Sam and Dean’s past, and just the brotherly interaction. It’s the little things you treasure, you know?
But yes, even the worst of Supernatural (with a few exceptions – Yellow Fever anyone?) is more fun to watch, and why I keep tuning in. At the same time, I have expectations. I want it to be as good as it was when it began. Not that it has to be the same, just that it should have the same quality, the kind that sucked me in in the first place.
As others have mentioned, Kripke has previously said that after you go big, you go "intimate" and implied that they would look to a more Season 1 like atmosphere. I also seem to recall his much vaunted 5 year plan being mentioned long before 2008, but hey, I could totally be wrong. Even if I'm not wrong, there's two important things to remember:
Kripke lies. Especially about story lines and plot points (see his statements that were made prior to Season 4 about not using angels in his show).
Kripke won't be in charge any more. Sera Gamble will. Which could be good and could be horrible and unfortunately we won't know until we watch it.
I think Kripke drastically altered his hallowed five year plan a long time ago. I know for a fact that he altered it to included more of the Soap Angel, but I suspect that was not the first alteration. Frankly, I don't think he had a plan for getting Dean out of Hell, so either he never intended to send Dean there to begin with, or his 5 year plan was actually just a 3 year plan with a side of play it by ear. Once he went there, he had to get back from there, and that's where things started falling apart. In my opinion at least. I know the critics have loved it since then, but since when is critical acclaim such a fabulous thing in non-financial terms? Did we not love Show just as much for the first three seasons when the critics were "Supernatural who? We can't be bothered to look at shows on the CW." If I recall correctly, we did. So who gives a flying fish what the critics think? Except, we have to, because without them Season 4 might have been the last. So I believe this is something they call having us over a barrel.
As I stated before, Kripke lies. So do I trust him to resist temptation and finish up the apocalypse storyline this season? Hell no. I have no reason to trust him, when he's already proven, more than once, that he'll change his mind, no matter how firm his former stance was. Gamble I trust a bit more, but just a bit. I've always felt that she cared more for the characters, and less for the spectacle than Kripke did. And I can't see how it wouldn't be to the best interest of the characters to clean this mess up. I also have hopes that Gamble will rein in the Dean show trend, and make things about the brothers, plural, again. But like I said, I don't trust her very far.
Personally, I was hoping Season 6 would be a no go. I don't think it's in Show's best interest. I think to go out while everyone, or mostly everyone, still loves you is far preferable to overstaying your welcome. Yes, Smallville, I'm looking at you again. I guess I learned this lesson the hard way. I was a HUGE Roswell fan back in the day and we fought tooth, nail and Tabasco bottle for the third season of that show. Even got another network to pick it up and save it. And it was CRAP. The second season was iffy as it was, with a lot of loose ends I don't think the writers ever had a plan to tie up, but the third season was cringe worthy. So I'm very leery of a show I love outliving its usefulness, and I'm afraid that's exactly what Supernatural will be doing with Season 6.
Sera Gamble will be in charge? I’d not heard that one, which could be a very good thing because she loves Sam, and, what’s more, she loves to tie him up! So I could go for that, I could.
I personally think we loved Show more when the critics were going “Supernatural, who?” It was ours and belonged to us and the critics and the ratings be damned, we were watching it. Now, so many people have told me, (some version of) “I don’t really care about the story any more, I just watch Sam and Dean,” or “I am watching because I’m one of those people who has to finish watching a show or reading a book – even if it SUCKS.” So we’ve got dedicated fans, and devoted fans, and unhappy fans, and all that doesn’t mean a squirt of piss to the people for whom Show sells soap and makes money. But then, if it’s making money that keeps it on the air, can I really argue with that? No…not if it brings me more Sam and Dean, right?
Overall, I keep having an argument with myself, and many of the points you raise come into it. Like was it worth every bottle of Tobasco you sent in to get an additional seaon, if that season was crap? Yes and no, right? I hate the idea that Show has really jumped the shark, and, as you say, outlived its usefulness. To your point, that’s how MASH went out, on a high note.
The story really has to go back to the basics here, something pure, something more true to the idea of the brothers. I’ll keep saying that till I’m blue in the face, I think. Maybe someone will hear us.
That's the buzz, that Sera Gamble's taking over. I agree, it could be a really good thing, but ever since Raelle Tucker left Ms Gamble's been unpredictable. She always loves Sam, and I don't think he'll get pushed aside as easily, but sometimes she loves to do certain things (like get him naked and in bed with whatever female is close at hand) a little TOO much. Not complaining about the view she gives us, not at all (and a shoutout to Jared for making that view SO beautiful with those muscles of his), but it shouldn't always be about sex, which is a trap she seems to fall into fairly easily.
I'm with you, the show was a thousand times better before the critics caught on. I'm definitely in the unhappy fan category, as you well know, and for me personally, the devotion has been waning, pretty seriously, lately. I'm not going to argue with making more money…as long as it brings us more Dean AND Sam, not what we've gotten in the past couple of years. That's when my devotion began to wither, when I realized that I, as a fan of the brothers and Sam especially, no longer meant diddly squat to them.
I guess in all fairness it was worth the effort on Roswell, because it kept us from bemoaning the "what ifs" for the rest of time, a la the Firefly fandom. But on the other hand, it destroyed what we loved enough to save too. We lost either way, and had no way of knowing upfront that we couldn't win that one. I'm not entirely sure Show has jumped the shark yet. Yet. But that shark gets closer with every episode. MASH is an excellent example of what I was saying. I believe that was also the reasoning against another season of Home Improvement, at the time, was that they wanted to go out on top. You should leave them wanting more, not drag it out until they get bored and wander off. The frequent, and lengthy, hiatuses aren't helping their case one bit either.
I'll keep saying it with you. Back to basics, back to the brothers, and back to what we loved. I don't think anyone is listening, but I'll keep saying it as long as I stick around.
Ditto, ditto, ditto.
I love what you say here about Roswell, about how you saved what you loved but in saving it, you lost what you loved.
I was trying to say that a bit in my article, about whether having Season 6 would be worth the price we had to pay for it. And what price was that? If Show and the story get away from being about Sam and Dean, if the road we walk to get there means that Sam and Dean are grace notes rather than the central theem, then even watching Sam and his Samhair and Dean and that beautiful face of his won’t be enough. Yet I’ll still watch, but it’ll be a poor imitation of the real thing and gradually I’ll forget why I loved it in the first place. That’s what I’m afraid of.
Thanks for saying it with me and for understanding. I only want the basic story; I’m a meat and potatoes kind of girl, you see, and the more crap you pile on that steak, the less I’ll like it.
Heh, the five year plan that never was?
I admit, I hate the idea that both actors will be captive for another year because I do not believe the quality will be better. S1 and 2 are still my favorites. The plotholes these days has me laughing at, not with, show.
S3-5 has dragged on so long and gotten so predictable and soapy that I can't bear watching any longer. After wome stellar eps in S 3-4 ( about 6 in all ), this year, nada. I'm a Sam-girl and I still wonder where his story is going? Apparently, so are the writers.
With the ratings I'm utterly baffled why this was picked up at all for another year? Just because women 18-34 do still tune in? And does that mean they believe they can dish out anything because women are considered stupid? That's just disturbing to even think about! I cringe at the thought that the network thinks it's enough with two handsome leads to draw the females in. I simply refuse such treatment. When I heard about the scene with Dean dropping his pants and yelling "Pudding" in 5.11 – I knew the bell had tolled.
I agree, the soul is gone from the show, and i don't think it will come back. I think it finally jumped the last shark when show got all meta-ish on itself. It was funny for about 1 episode but that is enough. I do not want to know about the writers, the writing process, the fandom's wants. I wanted the show and I didn't get it.
Tell me about it – some people are insisting it was a done deal from the beginning and other people are stating that Kripke all but made it up to sell Show. The FYP and I are getting a divorce as soon as I can catch a plane to Vegas!
Yeah, S1 and S2 are benchmarks that subsequent seasons have yet to match. Sure, there were good eps, who can argue with Mystery Spot or In the Beginning? But I want more of what I was promised in the beginning and I’ll go on saying that till I don’t want to any more!
Sam’s story makes me sad, mostly because there’s so little of it. And it makes me even sadder to see, like SGP pointed out, the fact that Sam don’t get no lovin’ from nobody! Nobody cares that he lost Ellen and Jo too, nobody cares that he’s mired in self-recrimination, nobody seems to have a kind word for him. As for the Soap Angel saying Sam was his friend, that was some kind of mistake, because I’ve never yet seen the SA engage willingly or voluntarily with Sam for any reason. So Sam gets the shaft, and Dean gets all the good dialog. And lord knows, I love me some Dean, but watching Sam makes me weep like I’m one of those wailing women who cries at Hallmark commercials. Which I am. As for ratings, I don’t know nothing ’bout no ratings. Besides, good ratings almost couldn’t save Show, and now bad ratings don’t mean a thing because its a cash cow for the networks – so I’m totally confused and baffled and find I don’t look at ratings unless someone puts them in my hand, you know? The pudding line, yes, that one killed me too – who wrote that and thought it was a good idea? And the soul…gone. I think Whiskey said it a few weeks back: the only soul is in Sam’s eyes. I want Show too! And more Samhair, please.
The only solace I have in the treatment of Sam's sl is that it showcases what a good actor Jared is. His story has always been more shown, while Dean's has been told (and re-told like fifteen times) with teary confessions by the Impala. And then cringe-worthy scenes like Pudding in between. I wonder how much Jensen is shaking his head at the character at this point? I heard that Famine said he was dead inside and then he goes out to emote again? *facepalm*
So yeah, Jared is actually getting the better deal by getting harder parts to actually act – not having teary monologues. From an actor's POV, Sam's type of characters (darer, introvet and explosive amidst the normalcy) are more demanding to act and it must be more satisfying in the long run. Dean has been turned into an angsty Fonzie by now, all (stupid) quips and has by now become a sad caricature. In one ep he dreams about hot and slutty demons and angels, in the next he's dead inside? I admit, I lol'd when I read the recaps at times.
So yeah, as for future employment, i think Jared got the winning hand by playing Sam as he has and managing to keep the interest in such a neglected character. Takes one hell of an actor to manage that.
The sad part is that the network needs this show because they have a bad line-up to begin with. The last few new productions they have gotten on air have all more or less failed. Only Vampire Diaries is bringing in the ratings.
Show is an old milk-cow that manages, with a small budget, thanks to the leads. Forget SA, they tried to sell him but fandom is not always equal to general audience and they found it out by dropping ratings. The End was supposed to be the big Dean/Cas episode that got heavily promoted and it had very dismal ratings, second worst to this day if I remember correctly. So they make him the comic relief to hush outcries of indignation on too little SA/Dean. CW is just milking for all it's worth right now.
It's all business.
No that was me, Sylvia, who said the only soul left was in Sam's eyes. But I give enormous credit to Whiskey and her amazing posts.
I cry a lot for Sam too. I don't think I will ever stop crying.
Love this post, Sylvia. Your words are true.
I'm ok with a 6th season,only if we conclude the Apocalypse this season.. I like your idea about going back to 'the brothers.' I could deal with a season of the boys hunting, and learning to trust eachother again.
Thank you, and me too. It seems so simple a thing to do that, bring the brothers back together as friends, trusting each other. I think people in TV land sometimes think that complicated is better, but it’s just more complicated!
I didnt want a season 6 because right now I have no reason to believe the pattern of the last 3 seasons where each brother is written will change. The show is too Dean orientated since the third season now I love Dean but since the deal sl its got over zealous where he is concerned and to me the writers lost sight of not only who Sam is in the show but the brothers overall relationship.If they can step away from this and actually make it about two brothers and that Sams thoughts and reactions and feelings do count and he isnt there just for something Dean to soundboard off then it could work ? but I guess the proof will be in the pudding as the saying goes.
Oh, the pudding. Show will never live that one down! I think it was the least-effective bit of dialog I’ve ever heard!
But other than that, of course I agree with you. There should be equal amounts of both brothers, and the story should be about them. That’s what fans want. Sure, we like the monster of the week, and the guest-female who will hook up with one of the boys and then leave soon after. Sam and Dean, that’s what it’s all about.
Like others I've heard the sixth season will go more intimate like the early seasons.
I was under the impression they got renewed for two reasons. 1) Their new lead in gave them a boost in the W18-34 and Adults18-34 which were the demographics the CW want. 2) Too many of their new shows flopped on the CW this season.
Kripke said once that Dean was originally not going to hell – Sam was going to give in to his powers, go completely dark to save him. The writer's strike changed that and he ended up sending Dean to hell. Then he had to find something powerful enough to get him out so he decided on the angels.
It was nice to find out I am not the only fan who wouldn't mind losing the magical Bobby.
I don’t know a thing about ratings, I just know what I like, even though I don’t fit into the demographics for Show. As for the CW’s other shows flopping, sure I can see how that would make them appreciate Show a little more and realize they’ve got a solid cash cow going.
I’ve heard that bit about how the writer’s strike changed what happened to Dean and what Sam was going to go darkside and save him….he can still do that! We don’t need no stinkin’ angels!!!
Yeah, Magical Bobby has worn out his welcome, long ere this.
I really really wish Dean had NOT gone to hell. It seems trite and overused somehow. Like how does one come back from HELL? Also, IF u were gonna send dean to hell, excuse me, BUT SAMMY shoulda been the one to pull him out! Not some stupid angel in a trenchcoat with one expression. and yes, magical bobby needs to fall down a well. hopefully soon!
Actually, Kripke admitted at least a year ago that he never really had a 'five year plan'. He said that he had only said that at the beginning because he had such low self confidence that he never in a million years thought a show of his would last five years! So, this vaunted five year plan everyone keeps harping on in regards to a sixth season is not a valid argument. It never existed and Kripke admitted it himself. I am heartened by hearing that they will wrap the angels and demons thing this year and go back to basics.I would have been very happy to hear that Singer had taken over and Kripke was out. Kripke may be the creator and I do love him for that, but he has also broken my heart with his fickle ways. He admitted himself that he dropped the psychic kids storyline because he was bored with it; he changed his mind about having Sam save Dean from GOING to hell and blamed that on the writer's strike, which really doesn't make sense when you examine the facts. He said that all of Sam's stuff that they were going to do in 3rd season and cut out due to the shortened strike season would be addressed in the first half of fourth; it wasn't. Instead we got an angel introduced that was directly involved in Dean's story and we got Dean angst for the first half of the season, if not all. Sam's stuff was sprinkled throughout and wasn't even directly addressed until well into the 4th season.
Anyway, I would be happy if Singer ran things; early on it was him who said the heart of the show was the relationship between the brothers and not the monster or mythology. Kripke himself said at the Paley festival early in first season that if he ran things the show would be mostly guys getting their hands caught in garbage disposals (in other words, adolescent boy gore and humor) He later said that he couldn't believe he was in charge of a show that had gotten so deep into emotions and relationships and even spirituality. So, yeah, if Kripke steps back, I'm all on board
I guess I can't understand how anyone can see more of the show as a bad thing – maybe I am just so addicted to the boys I can't see straight, sort of like Sam with his demon blood love, lol. But seriously, I have been there since first season and the struggle those first few years to see the show renewed was epic. The thought that anyone can have any misgivings about an EARLY RENEWAL is stunning to me- we fought so hard for this show and renewals were always met with wild exultations of joy. I am still feeling that
Also, I was so afraid that if they went out this year, Kripke would opt for the big dramatic fade to black ending (either by having the boys die saving the world or surviving it. )The thought that the very last bit of SPN ever would be just a BOOM, DONE, they won, no follow up or anything, was heartbreaking to me. I want to see some follow up and would sacrifice a big splashy, 'oh aren't we dramatic to just end it with a bang' ending.
So, yeah, reading that they do intend to return to its roots is music to my ears. I really want the angel gone too, but I am afraid of the wank that that would produce – sigh. I have this sinking feeling they will throw him to earth and make him human somehow (which makes no sense since he would become Jimmy and not Cas, but because the writers and Kripke thing the fandom is SO CRAZY IN LOVE WITH MISHA AND CASTIEL, I fear they will bend logic to do it). That would make me cry, seriously. I don't want it to become the Jimmy/Cas and Dean show and you know it will. Castiel will never have a relationship with Sam; in fact, none of the so-called beloved recurring characters have ever had any kind of relationship with Sam, even the beloved Bobby. Sam was denied his goodbye to Ellen and Jo and in the very next episode it was Sam comforting Dean over his loss – what about Sam's loss? The most meaningful moments Bobby has had with Sam weren't really Bobby. I wouldn't mind seeing Bobby go either – I agree with you there. Sixth season needs to be Sam and Dean again, no one else and although I know the boys are tired, I think they can squeeze out one more season to put a nice coda on the series and end it the way it began – two brothers, hunting things, saving people, the family business.
I’m not really sure whether you’re agreeing with me or not, but I sure do love your passion for Show!
The point of the article wasn’t to say whether there was a plan or not, or what facts I’d learned from Entertainment Weekly or Ausiello, or even interviews from Kripke himself – because those facts change like mice scattering and there’s no way to pin them down. I just wanted to take a look at it, how it seems like this is an extra limb when the story was supposed to end after season five, and whether or not Kripke had a “plan” from the first or developed it later doesn’t matter. It just happened so fast!
At any rate, yeah, more of the boys, that’s always a good thing. I adore your description of Season Six….and don’t forget them driving off into the sunset! Still hunting…hunting forever. (And it’s so nice to find others who agree about the whole angel thing getting *really* boring. When is Sam going to come into his own?)
Well, I agree with you mostly, lol. I just want to point out that the linchpin of your essay (the five year plan) is really a myth. It never really existed
I can't pinpoint where Kripke said it, but I do know he did it on video and I am sure I have the vid somewhere 
He elaborated that he just threw that out there when he was pitching the show so the network would think he had a nice well thought out 'plan' and it would make him seem organized. The number five was arbitrary because it sounded good.
So, all am I saying is that since the major objection some folks have to a sixth season is that vaunted five year plan and the so-called sanctity of what Kripke wants is all a house of cards, their argument against a sixth season has no basis. They have to come up with some other reason to not want it, lol.
It was a lie??? *is shocked* **is pretending to be shocked**
That’s exactly what I think – there are so many concepts out there, and are they all true? Or just some form of artifice to promote Show? Who can say? How can you base an essay on false information!! Next, before you know it, we’ll have dogs and cats living together. Like I said, I was never really married to the FYP, it was just a jumping off point…what worries me more is what type of demon deal was made to give Show another season, when it always looked like Show was going to get the axe any second. Not that I’m really arguing with the chance for more Samhair, ye ken.
Five years is not arbitrary. Most shows syndicate best if they have 100 episodes available for syndication. I means that stations have about 3-4 months before the episodes recycle. At 22 episodes a year, it takes just about 5 years to get the optimum number of episodes to syndicate. I'm sure Kripke knows the math and that is why he said he had a 5 year plan. He has already changed so much, that I am not terribly worried about season 6. Sera Gamble actually LIKES Sam, even if it is half naked, and so Sam might actually get some attention for once. I personally hope the Soap Angel goes away, because, he's really not my thing. If he does stay around I hope he actually has a point other than the comic relief that he has been this season.
Oh Linda, I sooo agree with you on all points
It makes perfect sense that Kripke threw out that five year number because of the hope of syndication someday, even if he doubted any show of his would last that long, lol. And I really agree with you on the other points – more attention to Sam and please make the Soap Angel go away 
I'd be alright with the Soap Angel if he was only comic relief , which he has been, yes, and very effectively. Maybe it was last year when Show was pushing the SA at us as a main character, and kept putting him and Dean together over and over and completely forgetting Sam that left a huge bad taste in my mouth that still lingers. I can't blame Show for wanting to be proud of hitting the 100 ep mark, and surely syndication is a good thing for someone. I'm not going to be watching repeats on TV because I have the dvds; commercial free and available whenever I want them. But Show would have hit the 100 mark earlier on in S5 if not for the writer's strike, so the FYP is still a bit arbitrary, it seems. Just a number being bandied about to sell an idea. Well I'm glad they sold it and that the network bought it and that we now have Sam and Dean. It's just…where is the love? Where is the good story? I want that, and more of it, is all. And more, yes, naked Sam, half-naked Sam, fully clothed Sam, whether he's tied up or not! So I hope you're right about SG and that her love for Sam will save the day. And S6.
I've seen some fandom support for Singer becoming show-runner which confuses me somewhat. It's nice that he pointed out to Kripke in season one that the boys' relationship was the point, but that was 5 years ago, and it's not much to go on for supporting him as show runner.
More to the point, directors don't become show-runners, as far as I know. Writers do. I don't think writing one episode would put Singer in the running for the job.
Yeah, I’d heard that one too, about Singer. But see what I mean? There’s all kinds of sources and rumors floating around so the ones I made up are probably just as valid as any others. Whoever steps up to the plate, they need to understand, yes, that the story is about the brothers relationship and anything else is just window dressing.
Well, I don't think the show was in danger of getting the axe any second recently – maybe in the first two years or even the second to third pickup. But since then they have had early pick up announcements and more positive press from the suits at the CW and across the board. So, I don't see any kind of demon deal to get a sixth. It started looking more and more likely as early as last fall when fifth season started
I'm just happy for more of my show and of course, the return of Samhair – unless of course Kripke kills off Sam and Jared comes back as a spirit to guide Dean and Cas thru sixth season – oh god, I think I just threw up in my mouth a little
Okay. Thank you so much for making me laugh at an inappropriate volume in my workplace. Sam as a spirit guide? Please! Don’t give them any ideas!!!! Though, perhaps death would be better than cutting a single hair on that lovely boy’s head……still, as so many have said and I’ll repeat here, it’s the SAM and DEAN show, not the Dean and whoever show!!!! (And seriously, demon deals can sometimes be a long time in the making, so you never can prove it beyond a shadow of a doubt that the demon deal didn’t start right after S2 ended.)
i also may be the only one here who genuinely likes Bobby and Castiel. But because I came in late maybe I'm naive for them
I loved Bobby in the beginning but not so much anymore. However, I am still in love with Castiel. If there is a legitimate reason for an angel to be in season six I'd love seeing him next year.
I like the idea of the Show coming back because I'd like to see the aftermath. I like the idea of seeing what happens after something big happens…its like in movies, there's big fanfare and bang and boom and everything is tidied up in the end, but what comes after? I remember reading a review for the last True Blood season finale where they were bummed Eggs got killed and they'd hoped to see his character develop from the guilt of all the killing hehad done, even if he had been controlled to do it… but how do you continue to live after you suvive the end of the world? What happens when it's quiet? So I'm pretty psyched. I also got into the show late (season 3 or 4, I don't remember) so I've been playing catch-up and I'm grateful for just being able to be a part of it still.
Maybe because I came in later I'm more forgiving, even in looking back, I just like the idea that there is always going to be something to say as long as the world exists.
Hon, so by your own admission you don't know anything about what's going on, and yet you are spouting an article about how Supernatural has done a deal and sold it's show for money and broken promises? Don't you think that's a little… premature of you? I've read plenty and recently too. I'll fill you in. Speculation is all mine. All quotes are paraphrases.
I read an interview where Kripke said he had a 3 year plan. I read an interview where Kripke said he had a 5 year plan. I read an interview where Kripke admitted he makes it up as he goes along and adjusts as need be. I read an interview where Kripke said he woke up one day and said to his writing staff "hey! we're doing angels! (but they're dicks!)" even though he previously was always anti-angels by his own admission.
I read an interview (from the end of last year) where Kripke said "HELL, NO!! NO. JUST NO. I WILL NOT BE DOING S6 NO. THE SHOW IS OVER. IT'S MY SHOW AND MY ENDING AND IT IS OVER. IF THERE IS A S6, I WON'T BE THERE. I AM DONE. NO WAY!". Five months (or so) later I read an interview with The CW president Dawn where she said "Kripke is realising that he wants to do a S6. He likes it." Read between the lines: I forced him to like it whether he likes it or not *evil laughter*.
Then I read an article saying Kripke was stepping down as showrunner. Also Robert Singer and Jeremy Carver were leaving. Originally I heard most senior staff were leaving. Sounded like a bail.
Not too long after that I read an interview where Kripe said, "well, one story closes (S5), another starts (S6). Buffy came back after the apocalypse, we can too………………" Then I heard that Kripke couldn't attend the 100 episodes party for "personal reasons." Must have been freaking HUGE to miss your own birthday party.
The CW had Kripke on a 5 year contract, but had the BOYS on a 6 year contract.
Likely conclusion: The CW is forcing another season. Kripke is unhappy and perhaps others are too. As in "we own the boys and we own the show and we will continue the show with or without you and everyone else, we don't care. Unless you want the show to go to hell, we are hoping you'll stay."
CW sold the show's soul. No one else. Reason: The CW is in trouble, it cannot afford to lose Supernatural, even if it hates the show with all it has.
"Why not write a story about how Sam and Dean become brothers again? I know, shocker, right? Write a season where the all the episodes are about Sam and Dean learning to work together and to trust each other."
^^^ If we get this I will be ecstatic. This apocalypse storyline, with the boys as afterthoughts, has sucked the heart and magic out of the show. I want next year to be about the boys, their angst and their relationship.
I love that Sera is taking over next year and hopefully she'll rein in the Dean show.
And my Sam hair fetish is hoping for many glorious Sam hair moments too.
I'm cool with a sixth season in which Sam and Dean do nothing more than mow lawns and lay by the pool in lounge chairs, preferably shirtless, drinking tropical cocktails with little pink umbrellas in them as just rewards for averting the end of mankind. Pretty much anything that gives me more Sam and Dean is fine with me (unless it involves Paris Hilton) because it's the Sam and Dean characters that keep me coming back for more, not the story itself.
Seriously, if you magically slotted two different characters into Show, I would not have tuned in for four plus seasons and eagerly looked forward to a sixth season. I don't tune in to find out what's going down with those wacky Angels or just what kind of mischief the demons have got themselves up to or how, exactly, Lucifer is going to kill all of humanity. I buy the DVDs and watch each episode multiple times because I enjoy watching Sam and Dean deal with the stuff that gets thrown at them. As long as Season 6 doesn't change the Sam and Dean characters fundamentally, I'll be there to watch.
That said, I'd love to see a season-long arc that deals with some form of the boys passing the torch. Kind of the way Buffy finally got some semblance of a normal life by sharing her slayer powers with other potentials so that she was not longer The One, I'd love to see Dean and Sam find some kind of peace in passing along their skills and knowing that others out there will share the burden or even take it over. Not that I want the boys to learn they have some long lost illegitimate children out there (GAH!!), but some way for them to go on even after they're gone.