‘Supernatural’ Got Better After This Big Season 4 Change

The big picture

• The first three seasons of
  supernatural
  lacked angels, changing in season 4 with the introduction of Castiel.
• Series creator Eric Kripke was initially hesitant to include angels, but their addition revitalized the show.
• While the Angels added depth, later seasons exaggerated the mythology of the Angels, resulting in repetitive storylines.

While we eagerly await more news about the possible return of supernatural on television screens everywhere, fans continue to watch the horror/fantasy series over and over again. We can't get enough of Bro's Winchester. But until Jared Padalecki i Jensen Ackles fully commit to the show (or at least get the Impala going again), one thing to note when revisiting the early seasons of the show is that the first three seasons didn't feature angels. Well, at least Sam and Dean didn't know. It wasn't until season 4 Misha Collins first appeared as Castiel and the whole show changed as a result. Back in the day, series creator Eric Kripke was originally he hesitates to include angels, heaven, and the good side of the spiritual realm, but we're glad it finally came. After all, supernatural it probably wouldn't have lasted as long without the angels on Sam and Dean's shoulders, and it certainly wouldn't have been as entertaining.

“Supernatural” teased angels long before they were officially added to the Canon

It's funny to look back on the early years supernatural now and notice the absence of angels, heaven, and other concepts introduced in the back half of Eric Kripke's important tenure on the series. Season 1 barely references divine intervention or the concept of angels, except for a few episodes like the aptly named “Faith.”Season 2 took the idea a step further with the episode titled “Houses of the Holy” by Led Zeppelin. in which Sam and Dean investigate the deaths of several local residents who were killed by people who claimed to have been instructed by God. As Sam and Dean debate the importance of faith and the existence of angels (Sam is a believer, Dean is not), it is eventually revealed that an angel is not directing these murders after all. Instead, it is the spiritual intervention of a dead priest who happens to be behind it all.

Interestingly, the episode ends with Dean admitting defeat. Dean is shocked that he begins to believe in the concept of divine intervention, and even encourages Sam in his wavering faith. However, the rest of the season and the third don't make much use or mention of angels, God or heaven not anymore. “Angels and supernatural forces of good are much more elusive,” Kripke told TV Guide in 2007 about how supernatural forces interact with the world. “But in my opinion, and the opinion of the writers, if God is out there, he is not sending angels to fight battles; he's working his way through a very human, sweaty, overmatched, overwhelmed group of huntersThe creator of the series was clear then that angels had no business in the world of supernatural. Instead, the writers thought of Sam and Dean (and others like them) as angelic forces fighting the darkness on behalf of a higher power. Of course, that opinion eventually changed.

When the “Lazarus Rising” Season 4 premiere came out, fans were shocked to see a living, breathing angel on the show. Castiel entered with glowing, fiery wings and a heaven-sent mission to recruit Dean to the side of the angels in the war against the demonic forces of Lucifer (later played by Marc Pellegrino). “You can go back to the interviews I gave where I said I'm not going to put angels in this show, do it,” Kripke told Fanbolt in 2009.The angels evolved because we began to realize that we needed this kind of cosmic battle. We had the empire, but we didn't really have the rebellion.” While true supernaturalThe original three-season plan was adapted into a five-season plan that included angels and the biblical apocalypse, Kripke never strayed from the ending he first envisioned for the series—it just got bigger.

Creator Eric Kripke thought “Supernatural” should have included angels sooner

When the angels became a major plot point in season 4, supernatural he had already exhausted much of his demon plot. The yellow-eyed demon that killed Sam and Dean's mother was dead (by “All Hell Breaks Loose”), Lillith was on the rise, and Katie CassidyRuby wasn't the hit the network hoped it would be. Instead, season four worked tirelessly to bring the Book of Revelation to the small screen, pulling directly from the Judeo-Christian religion and pushing concepts of predestination, determinism, legal good versus illegal evil, and literal Revelation into the Winchester's messy narrative. By doing this, Kripke and company revolutionized the series and made the last two seasons of Kripke's tenure as intense as they could be. There was no doubt that this was a welcome improvement, especially considering how non-traditional the angels were portrayed.

Not unlike humans or demons, angels were given well-rounded personalities, questionable motives, and more power that Sam and Dean knew what to do with it. We've always thought that since there are demons, the Devil might be out there. Kripke himself points out that the plan was always to provoke the biblical Apocalypse with Satan leading the charge. Already in the first season of the show, this idea was implanted in the minds of the audience, but changing the script to include the idea that the Devil is one of the fallen angels (in keeping with the biblical narrative) instead of a piece of black eyes. the work itself only made it even more dangerous. As he did the idea that not all of God's angels are really on our hero's side. Considering the material that the supernatural the writers had to work after that season 4 reveal, it's a wonder they didn't introduce the angels sooner. And, in Kripke's view, they probably should.

“We always had the devil's plan, but the angels came in, and it was one of those things where, if anything, we felt stupid for not thinking of it earlier,” he said. supernatural creator revealed to the Chicago Tribune in 2009. “Because how do you have demons without angels?“Kripke went on to explain how they would like to have the budget Thelord of the ringsAngels vs. Demons-style fight sequences, but given his limited resources, he had to keep much of that action off-screen. According to Kripke, the angels were the missing piece of the puzzle this supernatural needed to thrive, and the series creator even noted that season 4 (at the time) was his favorite season in large part because of that. “We finally stumbled upon the formula saying it's two greasers and a muscle car,” he explained. “But the canvas they're on is demons and angels and battles and the apocalypse…” That's exactly what we love about this show, it's never been about the spiritual battles being fought, it's about the two brothers in the middle. of all of it

The mythology of angels was exaggerated in later years of “Supernatural”

As with the demon plots of season three, this cannot be denied the plot of the angel supernatural got tired at the end of season 5. To be clear, season five expertly uses heavenly forces amid the Apocalypse, and the finale, “Swan Song,” effectively serves as the best conclusion to supernatural out there (sorry, “Go on”). But with season 6, that was obvious the writers weren't sure what else they could do with the angels, and in seasons 10 and 11, it seemed like we were forever in a repeating loop of the same angel beats. Eric Kripke himself once noted that the showrunners after his departure (i.e It will be Gamble i Robert Singer) didn't know what else there was to do with angels, which is why seasons 6 and 7 took such an abrupt turn to monsters. Although it was a good idea, the angel plot kept repeating itself in the backgroundresulting in a shaky ninth and tenth season.

At the time of Andrew Dabb and the era of Robert Singer supernatural had started, it felt like the show was trying too hard to relive its glory days, but without the same TLC that made the Kripke era so exceptional. The truth is that supernatural it prospered in the long run because the angels were involved, but that didn't mean the Angels plot was always something to write home about. By retroactively making the Trickster (Richard Speight Jr.) and Reapers in angels, supernatural pulled off an impossible retcon that only made the show more interestingbut often failed to make new angelic characters beyond Balthazar (Sebastià Roche) in the remarkable sixth season. Sure, one could argue that Alexander CalvertJack (and the Nephilim in general) was an attractive new addition to the mythology, but in general the angels failed to capture our interest post-Apocalypse.

Still, in the later years of Kripke's tenure on the show, it was one of the most fascinating (if occasionally sacrilegious) elements of the original series, and arguably the best execution. “Swan Song” alone is a powerful ending to the Winchester saga, largely due to the inclusion of Michael (Jake Abel) and Lucifer. Without them, the lives and destinies of Sam and Dean would have been the mechanics of demons rather than angels. i demons, which would have been much less effective. Thank goodness Eric Kripke retracted his initial thoughts on the place of angels in the world of supernatural. Without his presence starting in Season 4, the WB-turned-CW series wouldn't have lasted more than a few more years. Even in supernaturalOn the worst days, we still prefer to go with Sam and Dean for a walk without them.

supernatural is available for streaming on Netflix.

Watch on Netflix