TV REVIEW: Supernatural Season Finale “Do You Believe in Miracles”

Supernatural’s ninth season has officially come to a close.  We can argue back and forth over who or what was the ultimate foe this season or what arc took precedence over all others, but let’s be real.  The real plight this season wasn’t Crowley and Abaddon’s fight for power over Hell and it certainly wasn’t Metatron’s confusing quest to reign supreme over Heaven.  This season was a fight over who was obsessed with Dean Winchester the most.  If next season’s title card isn’t a silhouette of the elder Winchester with ‘Supernatural’ plastered over it then I’ll be sorely disappointed.

“Do You Believe in Miracles”? No, that wasn’t an actual question. That was the title of this week’s episode.  I can tell you who did believe in miracles, though, and it wasn’t an angel at all. In fact the last man standing, the one to watch a “miracle” happen right in front of his eyes, was none other than Crowley.  In the end, Crowley’s obsession with Dean took first place.  The King of Hell watched as Dean died and then was reborn as a demon (again, right?).

But let’s back up for a minute because other interesting tidbits did take place this episode.  After declaring himself God, Metatron was on a mission to make humanity fall in line. This included performing a few miracles on some homeless hippies and whatnot – his motives weren’t exactly clear.  However, he was clear that Gadreel had betrayed him and it was time for him and Castiel to finally pay.  Unfortunately, Metatron wasn’t taking into an account a little thing called sacrifice.  After being accosted and thrown into angel prison, Gadreel sacrificed himself for Castiel and the future of Heaven.  It only took Castiel flipping the switch on the very literal “Angel Radio” for all the other angels out in the world to hear Metatron’s true intentions.  It was back to Cas the angels flew.

Fortunately for Metatron his capture didn’t come without one last final act: disposing of Dean Winchester.  In a fight between the two, Dean’s Mark of Cain and First Blade pairing failed to slay the self proclaimed God as he stabbed Dean with his very handy angel blade.

A once again heartbreaking moment transpired between the brothers as Sam fought to keep Dean conscious.  It was a touching moment since the two had been at odds for most of the season.  But this is Supernatural; where death means a four-month hiatus for the Winchesters and an almost guaranteed safe exit from any snafu, including becoming a demon.

Don’t be upset.  We’ve seen this before in a sense.  Remember when Dean was very much in Hell and torturing souls?   Well, this is kind of the same thing.  But instead of being in a fiery pit of evil and bringing horrible pain to thousands of souls, Dean is on planet earth, and with a humanized Crowley nonetheless.  Let’s look at it this way: Crowley loves Dean Winchester and wanted his bestie back.  He took the initiative without Sam’s summoning and helped Dean return to the land of the living, only in an experimental kind of way. I wouldn’t be surprised if it’s Crowley next season who feels a glimmer of regret and helps place Dean’s soul, or whatever is missing, back into his body to de-demonize him.

And what about poor Castiel’s stolen grace? We’ve been teased that this would inflict great consequences on everyone’s favorite angel, but so far we’ve yet to really see the implications of this.  So he’s a little weak and he needs to replenish his grace? How hard will that really be? Especially now that Metatron is locked away and not actually dead.  It won’t be too hard for Cas to find his own God-given grace to power himself up once again.

Don’t get me wrong; I didn’t hate this season of Supernatural.  A few things seemed off to me, but overall I enjoyed the entertainment and the camp this season brought.  I was pleasantly surprised with some aspects and heartbroken by others (R.I.P. Kevin).  It’s hard to keep a show going after 9 seasons and Supernatural continues to reel viewers in someway or another.

Here’s to a smoother season 10 with a few less pop culture references (which is really hard for me to say since one of my favorite aspects of the earlier seasons of SPN was Dean’s weird and widespread knowledge of current and past pop culture). Here’s to hopefully seeing some old faces (Has my girl Charlie come back from Oz yet?).  And very last, here’s to another season of very good looking men who sometimes sport trench coats and solve supernatural crimes for a living.