Supernatural: Do You Believe in Miracles

Filed under: Recaps & Reviews

Queue up Kansas and get ready, Supernatural's ninth season is coming to a close.

After Dean almost put an end to Gadriel last week with the First Blade, Sam and Castiel have to stop him from finishing the job. They get Dean to a safe place in the bunker but have to take the blade away from him for safe keeping. Gadriel makes a messy exit but the two manage to find him with Castiel sacrificing some of his grace to save his friend. Unwilling to be benched during the big game, Dean summons Crowley to bust him out and help him track down Metatron. Speaking of the heavenly douche himself, Metatron is now able to tap into the angel airwaves and communicate with every angel at once. He tells them all that he is locking the gateway to heaven and taking some time away but will be back soon to tell them all the good news. He uses this opportunity to visit the people of earth and perform miracles where they can be seen. If enough people bear witness to his great deeds, they will inevitably embrace him as their new god. With Dean and the First Blade gone, Sam and the others are in a tough spot and need a new plan. Surprisingly, it's Gadriel that suggests that Dean may be their best hope of defeating Metatron with the First Blade. In order to give Dean a chance, Gadriel and Castiel must get into heaven and destroy the angel tablet that gives Metatron his godlike power. If they can do that, Dean might just have a chance to destroy him. Sam meets up with Dean and Crowley after following the same clues, ending up at a homeless camp where Metatron has begun to gather followers. Sam knows what Dean has to do but no matter what, they are brothers and he'll be at his side. Dean agrees and says that he will do whatever he has to; no matter the consequences. Then he knocks out Sam and heads into the camp to face Metatron alone.

It's been a long season but Do You Believe in Miracles didn't disappoint. From the opening moments, the episode hit the ground running with a brisk pace. Dean was trying to kill Gadriel, then was thrown into confinement and then quickly escaped. While this was happening, Sam was with Castiel tracking down Gadriel, healing Gadriel and then finding Dean gone. All of this made for an exciting episode but it never gave the story time to breathe and let everything sink in. With that in mind, the past few episodes were not as strong as they could have been. If there had been an episode where Sam was with Castiel and Dean was with Crowley in the mutual pursuit of Metatron, we could have seen how different Sam and Dean's perspectives have become. Do You Believe in Miracles had a tight story but I wish the episodes leading up to this carried some of that excitement rather than putting it all on the shoulders of Do You Believe in Miracles.

It may have been unexpected but Dean's sudden death at the hands of Metatron played well for the story. Sam and Dean have been at odds more often than they have been together for most of the season and for that brief moment, they felt like brothers again. Sam wasn't the damaged guy that Gadriel had to fix and the Mark of Cain didn't matter; it was just Sam and Dean Winchester being brothers. Hats off to Jared Padalecki and Jensen Ackles because it wasn't the angst or either of them trying to save the world yet again, it was how they were trying to save one another in the only way they knew how.

Overall, Supernatural had a rocky season nine. The quality of episodes varied wildly and the central story was stretched too thin. I commented often on that but it was evident in the finale. We were always reminded of the civil war amongst the angels but that never came to fruition either due to a lack of time or that it was forgotten altogether. Instead, the war came down to Castiel and Metatron but Castiel hardly felt like a strong protagonist because Metatron was always a step ahead. Because of that, this season had a dreary cloud hanging over its head as our heroes rarely had a win and when it happened, it was against vampires or other demons which hardly rate against the angels. A highlight for this season was definitely the storyline with the Men of Letters. For the first time in years, we were surprised by the history of Sam and Dean in a way we never expected. Suddenly they had a home and a place they felt safe but that was changed when Gadriel killed Kevin. Kevin's death weighed heavily on Dean but we hardly saw Kevin before he was killed. When his death happened, it felt empty and just for shock value. I was more surprised that Gadriel took his own life to free Castiel as he had finally redeemed himself for his mistake so long ago.

Whatever happens next, Do You Believe in Miracles leaves Supernatural in an exciting place to start season ten. Castiel's grace continues to dwindle and his life gets shorter as it goes. Even as his life hangs by a thread, the angels still look to him for leadership. Sam is reeling at the death of his brother after his sacrifice and is willing to make a deal with Crowley to change fate. Crowley spoke to Dean's corpse as he lay on his bed, not knowing fully what the Mark of Cain is capable of. Not having an angel to pull him back from oblivion, Dean is revived as a demon but how much of him will come back is anybody's guess. All we know is that Dean gave every ounce of his being to destroy evil, but what happens when that evil decides that even death is not a release from its grasp? All questions I hope we get answers to in season ten.

I hope all of you enjoyed my reviews this season as I had a great time writing them. As always, if you have something to say, leave a comment below or if you would like to talk Supernatural, send me a tweet @Extra_Lives.

Tags: Supernatural, Dean Winchester, Sam Winchester, Castiel, Crowley, Jensen Ackles, Jared Padalecki, Misha Collins, Mark Sheppard

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