Supernatural. CW.
Season Nine of Supernatural started off with a bang. It picked up a few hours after Season Eight ended. After trying to complete trials to close the gates to hell finds Sam dying with Dean struggling to find a way to save his brother. Castiel after being tricked last season finds himself now human and every other angel losing their wings has fallen to Earth. To make matters worse most seem eager to find Castiel and kill him.Things are certainly ramping up for the season.
As always be weary of spoilers when reading reviews, if you haven't seen the premiere you could get spoiled if you read on. The first episode of the season had three story plots going on, let's take a look at each one.
As Sam is dying from the trials that he stopped before he finished he is confronted by figments of his mind. One of these figments takes the shape of Dean, no fan girls there was no hanky panky they're brother so no, fake Dean informs Sam that he's dying. Fake Dean urges Sam to keep fighting even so far as telling Sam he's the part of Sam that wants to keep fighting. Then Bobby shows us, probably another figment and not a ghost, and tries to get Sam to move on. Eventually this lead to a cabin and Fake Sam stabs fake Bobby, all very symbolic of that side taking over and forcing Sam to fight on. Sam eventually persuades the fake Sam to step down as he accepts his fate. Entering the cabin Sam meets fan favorite character Death as he comes to reap his soul. The symbolism is a little blunt but does go to show what Sam is going through easily. It's always fun to see Jim Beaver play Bobby. And both Fake Sam and Bobby make good arguments that compelling and very human.
Castiel is busy trying to find his way as he finds himself human. Castiel finds a fallen angel called Hael who is lost and confused. He tries to talk to her about this being a chance to be free and it ends badly. As it has been shown before angels don't really get that concept. Hael quickly knocks out the former angel and reveals her plans for him, and they are not good. In the end Castiel has to kill her to save himself, Castiel is devastated to find that he still has to fight the other angels. In the end Castiel has to discover what it mean to be human, to find ways to feed himself and get drink. He has to make choices he's never had to make before. This is an interesting direction for the character and I for one am interested to see how he takes to becoming human and having to deal with the angels now that he's powerless. Castiel continues to try and help angels and that mission only seems to have been harder as they want his head. It goes to show how trusting Castiel is, one wonders how he is going to deal with it all now. Misha Collins did a wonderful job in this episode playing Castiel, there are subtle displays of emotions coming from the usually stoic Castiel slowly hinting at some effects of the humanization will have on the former angel.
Dean watches his brother dying unable to do anything. He goes on a prays to anyone who can help and angels arrive. Yet the when the angels arrive they seem more than willing to let both brothers die as try to get the location of Castiel out of Sam after a beating. One angel by the name of Ezekiel does show up and try to help Dean. Weakened by the fall Ezekiel isn't at full strength and can't heal Sam but then an idea is suggested. Ezekiel will posses Sam and heal him from within as he heal as well but he needs Sam's permission. Dean says to do it as it is the only way to save his brother. Popping into Sam's head Sam is ready to go with Death as long as the pale horseman promises him that he will not be resurrected and no one will be hurt by him anymore. Dean shows up persuading him to keep fighting and when Sam agrees we find out it was really Ezekiel in disguise. Ezekiel posses Sam and start to heal him but gives Sam control over the body after he erases the memories of his near death experience. Dean goes along and lies about the events until he is healed or he can find away to tell his brother. Dean constant struggle to protect his brother comes into play so it's expected but the lengths he goes to are always a surprise. This situation reminds me of someone keeping someone on life support despite the person making their wishes clear to the contrary. Only time will tell how this plays off for the brothers.
Overall I was expecting more for the season opener and the story wasn't all that great. It was a good start on Castiel's story line and emotional effect it will have on him fighting off the other angels. Sam's plot didn't seem to go anywhere at the end but it might get picked up later in the season so we will have to see. Dean's plot was interesting and though not unexpected. They have gone down this road before, Dean does something drastic to save Sam and in the end it has a blow back. The writers have also touched on Dean keeping a large secrets before too so it's expected it will come out rather soon. This isn't new so it's not the most origional plot but I hope the writers do something new to keep the viewers interests. The angel hidden inside Sam seems like it's going to be an interesting storyline and there is already speculation that this angel is not all he seems. The episode had a lot of good stuff but overall it wasn't great, so the premier for season 9 get a 3 out 5. It was a lot of set up but what it started are interesting and things I'm willing to stick around to see.
No comments:
Post a Comment