In the first episode of the third season of Supernatural, Dean, Sam, and Bobby must contend with the ramifications of the opening of the Devil’s Gate and Dean’s deal. Intrigued? Then it’s time for Mark to watch Supernatural.
The most satisfying part of “The Magnificent Seven,” which is a stellar opening to this season, is in its potential. Kripke has taken Supernatural‘s mythology and expanded it, giving it a scope that is both immense and personal. As we learn more about the world of Hell and the demons that live in it, all it makes me wonder is what else is there? How much of legend and myth in our world is true? If “The Magnificent Seven” posits that the Seven Deadly Sins are actual demons, how much more of Christian theology can have a place within this world? Is Satan real? What about God? What about all the other demons and angels and names for them – Beelzebub, Azazel, Michael, Raphael? Jesus??? And where’s the gay angel dude? (I FORGOT ABOUT MISHA COLLINS.) What’s even more fascinating is the fact that show has never said that one religion or cultural belief was real. Most of them are. So will we see more beings or creatures from Islam or Hinduism or paganism? What else can you write stories about?
That’s what I mean by potential. Kripke and his cast have opened up a world of possibility in doing this. And look, even though I’m an atheist, I’ll always be obsessed with religion and Christian history. I’m an ex-Catholic who loves a lot of the stories I was told in church, even if I don’t really believe in them in a metaphysical sense. Oh god, I WANT MORE. SO MUCH MORE. Hell, if they’d chosen to give us a small serialized plot regarding the Seven Deadly Sins this season, I would have been absolutely on board for it. But now that they’ve all been sent back to Hell, that means there can be so much more.
But that’s not the sole reason why I loved this premiere. Not by a longshot! There’s an emotional continuity that’s important to Dean’s growth and Sam’s behavior. Plus, more Bobby. And Tamara. And that one woman???????? WHO THE FUCK WAS THAT???
It’s clear that the opening of the Devil’s Gate has had far-reaching consequences for the main characters and the world at large. As the demons spread across the United States and then do nothing at all, the Winchesters and Bobby are faced with an unknowable enemy. Actually, scratch that – unknown enemies. Understandably, it makes them nervous! How could hundreds of demons enter our world and then do nothing? It makes no sense, and it also inspires UTTER FEAR. There’s been so much talk of an oncoming war that I can’t help but feel that the demons are simply biding their time. But why? What are they waiting for?
So Bobby and the boys (oh my god, my new band name) jump at the chance to investigate the very first omen of demon activity that they find post-Devil’s Gate: a swarm of cicadas and crop failure. Now, I feel like I need to explain what I talk about in the video for this episode, which is the fact that the first time I heard a few cicadas making their sound, it TERRIFIED ME. I thought something was horribly wrong! There are a few species here in California, and I’ve since learned that we actually have dog-day cicadas that emerge yearly, but their sound is different from what you hear in this episode. Anyway, I don’t know how people deal with that sound en masse because it frightens me.
THIS WAS CLEARLY SOMETHING I NEEDED TO TALK ABOUT, since it is in the episode for maybe fifteen seconds. Regardless, the swarm leads the men to one of the most confusing discoveries of their hunter careers: a family who starved/dehydrated to death. With food and water just feet from them. It made absolutely no sense, and it didn’t help that there was no sulfur or sign of demon activity elsewhere. Still, the omen was obvious enough to bring in two other hunters, Tamara and Isaac. I can’t believe I didn’t even consider this, since the show had already established that the hunter community was just as in-tune with supernatural activity as the Winchesters. It makes sense that they’d find out that the Devil’s Gate had been opened, and it also makes sense that they’d resent the people who didn’t stop it. I mean, they just made all their jobs harder! Of course, we know they didn’t do this on purpose, but hunters have it hard enough as it is. Plus, if demons like these escaped, what other horrors got out?
It was nice to meet another set of hunters, and I admit that I was convinced that they both would die before the end of the episode. The horror genre has never had a great track record with characters of color, more specifically black characters. They never seem to survive, and they often sacrifice themselves so that the white characters can continue in the story. So consider me surprised that Tamara manages to escape this fate in this episode. I mean, given that she’s both black and a woman, it’s kind of a miracle in its own right that she survives. Fridging is built right into the main narrative of this show (with Jess and Mary’s deaths) and happened as recently as Madison last season. Unfortunately, Isaac isn’t so lucky, though I do understand why his death had to happen. It’s how we discover that the bar where Tamara and Isaac are staking out Walter IS FULL OF DEMONS. Even worse, they’re able to compel people to do horrible things, like starving themselves, VICIOUSLY MURDERING SOMEONE OVER A PAIR OF SHOES, or drinking a container of drain cleaner. Which… should not make someone bleed that fast? That didn’t make sense.
It allows the writers to give us that incredible scene where Envy, inside Walter’s body, talks about how the origin of the Seven Deadly Sins is rooted in human nature. Without Isaac’s death, we wouldn’t discover why Tamara herself was full of wrath. Her daughter was killed by demons. OH GOD. And it’s the necessary backstory to explain why she’s so quick to break the line of salt and stake Wrath, who was within her dead husband. Anger and fury is what motivated her to become a hunter in the first place.
But anger isn’t enough to fight these demons, and “The Magnificent Seven” is great at conveying just how much these characters are in over their heads. As Bobby points out numerous times (loudly, I might add, since NO ONE SEEMS TO WANT TO LISTEN TO HIS EXCELLENT ADVICE), the hunter community is ill-equipped to fight demons like this. They’re in over their heads, and it’s not just a matter of numbers. I mean, there’s that, too, since the hunter community isn’t exactly full of thousands of willing hunters. We’ve never gotten a solid number, but there can’t be more than a couple hundred, and I imagine that’s a fairly liberal estimate. But there’s also the issue of pure power. The only weapon that these four hunters have is the devil’s trap and an exorcism. It’s time-consuming and emotionally draining. How the hell are they going to trap hundreds of demons and exorcise them all?
WHICH IS WHY I AM VERY INTERESTED IN WHO THE FUCK THAT WOMAN IS WITH THE KNIFE THAN CAN KILL DEMONS? WHO IS SHE? I THOUGHT SHE WAS ONE OF THE SEVEN DEADLY SINS, BUT IT’S NOW VERY OBVIOUS THAT I CAN’T EVEN COUNT, BECAUSE IF I’D DONE SO, I WOULD HAVE DISCOVERED THAT THERE WERE EIGHT PEOPLE, NOT SEVEN. WHO IS SHE? WHERE DID SHE COME FROM? WHY IS SHE FOLLOWING SAM WINCHESTER? HOW DID I LIVE MY LIFE WITHOUT HER IN IT????
This does leave me with the one thing I haven’t addressed yet, and I saved it for the end on purpose. Oh my god, Dean Winchester. I really should have seen this coming, as the show was clearly pointing in this direction. Dean would absolutely not mope (at least not yet) over his decision. It’s not like him! He’s too full of pride. But it’s not just that. We learned over the course of the last season that Dean is tired. We know from “What Is and What Should Never Be” that it’s Dean who finds a life without hunting appealing. So it makes sense that he’d live his final year of his life pursuing anything and everything that makes him happy. Sex, killing evil beings, and spending time with his brother. Well, and bacon cheeseburgers for breakfast. (DON’T JUDGE, BOBBY. DON’T JUDGE.)
The problem is that Sam has reversed roles with Dean. It’s Sam who wants to save his brother, but this time, Dean’s not so willing. Throughout “The Magnificent Seven,” it seems obvious that Dean truly doesn’t want to be saved. His big speech at the end confirms it, even if Sam objects to the pain it’ll cause him. Gods, Dean even admits that resurrecting Sam was selfish, and he says that he doesn’t care. Of course, there’s also that part of the demon’s deal that stipulates that Dean can’t weasel out of the agreement or Sam dies. However, the Crossroads Demon didn’t say that Sam couldn’t find a way out, so… maybe? Maybe Sam will do it without telling Dean? I don’t know, y’all. This is a tough one, and I can’t think of an answer just yet. But I admit that there’s a part of me that’s fascinating by Dean being happy. Well, at least he appears happy. We’ve seen how remarkably good he is at hiding his true emotions, so it’s possible that’s still happening. Ah, I DON’T KNOW. I AM NOT EMOTIONALLY PREPARED TO DEAL WITH THIS JOURNEY. But you better believe I’m already excited for this season!
The video fro “The Magnificent Seven” can be downloaded here for $0.99.
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