Are you my sister? LOL
My sister
literally said the same thing to me yesterday! She said Season 4 should have been about Sam becoming the Ruler of Hell w/Ruby at his side, and Dean getting Sam back from that, which would have played into John's message of saving or killing Sam. I had never thought of that scenario until my sister said it to me yesterday. We were complaining about the current status of the show. It's funny that you would have also been in support of that playing out. I would have been fine w/that myself. I do think Kripke was afraid to let Sam go "totally" evil, and some viewers may not have been able to move past it but it would have worked for me!
I also agree that every season (prior to 6 & 7) has had a larger, overarching personal arc/storyline in btwn the MOTW episodes. That's the reason, I feel, many disliked these past two seasons. To me, those personal arcs gave the show meaning and heart. I enjoyed Season 6, for the most part, myself but feel the first half was stronger than the second half. That's largely b/c the first half was personal to the boys. What was wrong w/Sam? Where was Sam's soul? How could it be retrieved? Because of the personal nature of the "larger" problem, to me, it was as compelling as the search for John or the YED. The Mother of All in the 2nd half was weak. MOA wasn't targeting the Winchesters. She was just . . .whatever she was. Sam's memories were behind a wall so nothing was happening there on a personal level, and Dean's neverending drama w/Lisa and Ben just wasn't very interesting. I wasn't invested in his relationship w/them to begin with and honestly couldn't have cared less if he stayed w/them or left them.
This season, the Leviathan became boring shortly after they were introduced. I found them interesting in 7.01, 7.02, and 7.03, but that was it. They went from interesting creatures w/an interest in destroying the Winchesters to boring creatures who just wanted to eat people. Ummm . . . who cares? At one point, they seemed really interested in getting the Winchesters but I guess that was just b/c Castiel thought they were good hunters or something?!?!? Who knows! I pray they will NOT return! Nothing about them was interesting.
To me, this show works best when the problems the Winchesters are facing are personal in nature and have something to do w/them. Finding Dad. Sam's Powers. Finding YED. Saving Dean. Dean's self-esteem issues. Saving Sam from himself. Dean's issues from Hell. Getting Sam's soul back. We got none of that this year. Sam's hallucinations and problems were disregarded and not shown. until the very last minute, removing any urgency from the story. Dean's depression was shown, but the story wasn't well-told or executed. To this day, I have no idea what brought on Dean's sudden, inexplicable depression this year!
I think the show needs to go back to being about the brothers. Someone needs to think of an overarching story for the year and how they want to execute it. If that's Dean/Cas in Purgatory for half the season, fine. Just think of a story for Sam and put it all together. I don't want to not see Sam while Dean's in Purgatory. I'd rather both brothers be together, but that's just me! I just want to feel like some thought was put into the story and the show.
Thanks for the "Dead or Alive" clip! Great scene but also sad b/c it reflects how far the show has fallen FOR ME. I know others are still enjoying each episode, but I haven't this season. For me, this was the WORST season of Supernatural ever.
Oh, and the LOST finale was sucked a lot! That was a huge waste of time! I would never encourage anyone to watch that show. I stuck w/it to the end hoping some explanations/answers would be give . . . . . boy, did they fool me!
Spoiler Notice
Why Supernatural Has Slipped Lately, General
