By Chaos

The Season Six premiere of Supernatural has had fans a twitter for months. Who was outside the house, was it really Sam, did Dean really leave his old life and of course the biggest question of all, where do we go after the Apocalypse. 

That really is the question, when you have reached the proverbial end of the world, what happens? Can and does life just go one for the players in that pivotal moment?
Apparently is has, at least for Dean Winchester (Jensen Ackles) . After watching his brother dive into hell he left to live the normal life he, supposedly, always craved. Sam(Jared Padalecki)  was in the pit, or so Dean thought, although viewers knew better, since we had seen him lurking beneath the streetlight outside of Dean and Lisa's (Cindy Sampson) home.


Season Six picks up one year later. Dean is domesticated, working a regular job, living with Lisa and her son Ben (Ben Braeden). But, even as the show opens we are given hints of what once was as scenes of domesticity are overlaid with scenes of his one time hunter's life. And, even as he thinks things are normal his life is shattered with the reappearance of an old enemy--and then..

Sam.

His brother, returned from hell,who not only is alive and well but has been back for a year hunting with their mother's family, notably Grandfather Campbell (Mitch Pileggi). Sam and the family have been after a djinn that has infected Dean, the whole yellow-eyed demon was just part of the djinn created nightmare.  Dean joined the hunt after tucking Lisa and Ben safely away with Bobby (Jim Beaver) who has also been aware that Dean was alive, but they left him alone so he could be happy.

The episode was missing something, actually a lot. 

First and most importantly? The reunion of the brothers was... flat. It was drawn out, it felt odd. Surely there is a reason the writers are handling it that way, but after the build up it was something almost "meh" in its moment. It has nothing of the impact of Dean's return from hell or Sam's return from the dead, or Dean's return from the dead in Mystery Spot. The chemistry between Sam and Dean seemed completely missing, in fact the reunion with Grandpa Campbell had more emotion tied to it. 

The addition of the cousins was an element that was really unneeded and they seemed almost cookie cutter shift characters. The comment that Dean should leave the hunting to the professionals was out of place, even if Dean had been retired for a year, they had to know what he had been doing before, and if they really were so amazing, where were they all this time as the world was ending?

Bobby's reaction when Dean, with Lisa and Ben in tow, turns up was also lacking in emotion. Bobby had known that Sam was alive, but didn't want Dean  know because he was as happy as a hunter could get.

Right.

The storyline itself seemed to get bogged down in the introduction and reintroduction of characters and the point of the djinn, why it was different--and why it was taken by the Campbell's--was lost in the rest.  It felt like something tacked on to get the rest moving in a "supernatural" way.


The oft-repeated "we didn't tell you Sam was alive because" got a little wearing after a while. And Dean's reaction to that seemed flat too.  When Sam told him that if Dean had known he was alive he would have just started hunting with him, and Sam wanted him to have the happy family life, Dean should--well the Dean we have come to know for five years--would have pointed out that it was his decision and not Sam's or Bobby's or anyone else's. Leaving him believing that Sam was not only dead but in hell seems a little cruel. In the end, their concern was shown to be pointless as Dean DID choose to return to his family life.

Of course, maybe he figured out something was wrong with Sam. Again, the Sam we have come to know over five years was not there. Every scene was played with the same half smile on his face.  Sam came back from hell a changed man, of course he did, and this is Sam, not Lucifer in his body, but there is something wrong with Sam.


The idea of this episode mirroring the pilot was driven home with Deans vision of Lisa burning on the ceiling, but why? Why was that even a part of it? It was pointless and just a way to make the idea fit.

All in all, it was not the best episode of Supernatural ever, and a kind of flat beginning for new captain Sera Gamble.  The new characters are mostly a miss, and Sam and Dean don't feel right, feel like the characters that they have been. Yes, events change people, but they have been through a lot and been Sam and Dean--those two last night? They were not Sam and Dean.