SUPERNATURAL Season 7 Finale – Survival of the Fittest Review

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Welp, I’m not entirely sure how it did it, but Supernatural managed to pull off a better than decent finale, seemingly with little effort. If I were to watch just “Survival of the Fittest” and nothing else from this season, I would assume the episodes leading up to it were just as exciting. It’s fine a work of trickery, but it’s not without its problems. Sure, this was great. I was thrilled nearly the entire time, and things ended in a very promising way. I’m actually marginally excited for where Season 8 could go, but no matter how well the finale turned out to be, it couldn’t clean the stink of its past mistakes.

The big detractor is Bobby. His ghostly state was promising, but aside from a single incident of rage earlier in the season, he hasn’t had a chance to show off how powerful he could be as a vengeful spirit. For the most part, the idea has just been dangled in front of our faces, like a carrot leading a horse, causing us to obediently follow the story for some kind of big pay off. Instead of getting what we truly wanted (Bobby absolutely desecrating Dick), Bobby is taken out of the picture early in the fight. After possessing a maid and running into Sam (who Bobby almost kills in his rage), it becomes pretty clear Bobby can’t live as a ghost without putting his friends and others in danger. He opts to do the right thing and have his last remaining anchor to the world destroyed: the flask.

For the second time this season, we have to say goodbye to Bobby Singer. Obviously, this isn’t going to be as heartbreaking as the first time. He’s already dead, so how much deader can he get? Still, the show manages to at least make the scene satisfying by not showing Bobby’s form bursting into flames, as is customary for a dying ghost to do. Instead, the camera focuses on Sam and Dean as they watch their friend/father figure fade away, moving on to the afterlife. It really is a sweet moment, but it happens way too early in the episode. It left me feeling like Bobby’s time as a ghost was pointless. And maybe it was. What did it accomplish in the end? Bobby didn’t get to help fight Dick in the slightest, so what good was there in bringing him back?

related: SUPERNATURAL SEASON 8 – WINCHESTER BROTHERS WEDNESDAYS

Thankfully, I have no complaints from the rest of proceedings. The scenes between Crowley and Dick were great. It’s fun seeing two monsters negotiating (I had a good chuckle when Crowley rolled out that obnoxiously long contract). There should have been more scenes of these two together throughout the season. They have a great rapport. Despite a rather messy storyline, this season has had some great guest stars. Mark Sheppard will for certain be back next season, but I’m sad James Patrick Stuart’s time is over. He truly was a fantastic villain. All that charisma oozing from him made him unforgettable in my eyes.

From there, the episode plays out exactly how you would expect it to. No real surprises; just straight up, old-fashioned Supernatural fun. It felt very streamlined and to the point. It’s not a method of storytelling that always works, but I think in the case of Supernatural, less is more. No, what really elevated the episode, in my eyes, were the various cliffhangers. After Dick is killed, Castiel and Dean seemingly disappear, leaving Sam alone with Kevin and Crowley. Though he may have helped the Winchesters stop the Leviathan, Crowley still has his own agenda. He takes Kevin away, simply saying he needs a prophet. He disappears, leaving Sam completely alone, in a building surrounded by demons. Meanwhile, Dean wakes up to Castiel telling him Dick’s death/explosion has transported them to Purgatory, the home of all the monsters. Just as he’s digesting this new, terrifying information, Castiel disappears and now Dean is also by himself, surrounded by unknown monsters.

It certainly sounds exciting, and with the new showrunner for Season 8, we could be looking at a whole new show. It’s a long shot to be sure, but it’s not impossible for Supernatural to turn itself around.