by Natalie Murray ‘18

Every Thursday night at 9 p.m., I go to my basement, turn on the television to channel 503, and watch the newest episode of the CW’s twelfth season of “Supernatural.” And every Thursday night at 10 p.m., I regret my decision. I used to love “Supernatural,” but the most recent seasons have been a massive disappointment.

As for Season 10, I enjoyed the overall plotline and most of the episodes, but it often left me feeling as though there was both nothing and too much going on at once. However, it was infinitely better than Season 11, which was cringe-worthy and, quite frankly, boring. “The Darkness” was hyped up as the monster to end all monsters — a creature as old as God himself, a being that represented all things evil, a villain who wanted to destroy the entire universe. However, “The Darkness” ended up being a melodramatic, unsatisfying, and seldom scary villain whose existence revolved around plot twists that were supposed to be intriguing but ended up being laughable (i.e., being God’s sister).

Now, in Season 12, almost nothing has improved. Like Demon Dean, the British Men of Letters (an organization of British librarians who hunt monsters and other supernatural creatures) were the big plot twist in last season’s finale, but they had only a three-episode arc, and will likely be irrelevant until a few episodes before this finale. I also don’t see much of an exciting storyline to follow with them. Nothing short of a war between the British and American Men of Letters would be at all entertaining, and even a war would be corny and out of place. However, there’s no possibilities for interesting Men of Letters plots, nor is there any sense in the Lucifer storyline. The writers have clearly brought Satan back for a filler plot – one that I find to be not only incredibly boring, but also poorly written.

To be quite honest, there seems to be no plotline whatsoever. All that’s occurred so far is monster-of-the-week hunts, which were interesting in the first few seasons because it was all new and unexpected. However, Sam and Dean have had lots of hunting experience by now, so monster-of-the-week episodes are dull and unsatisfying. They usually identify a ghost or other common monster, but something randomly goes wrong, so the brothers have to change their plans. It’s all too predictable.

But if I hate the plot of the show and think the writers are terrible at creating interesting episodes, why do I still watch it?

For starters, the acting is still incredible. Jared Padalecki (Sam) and Jensen Ackles (Dean) both portray their characters extremely well and always deliver in emotional, humorous, or action-packed scenes. Finally, the emotional scenes between Sam and Dean are usually well-written, though on occasion, they can seem forced (as the writers may feel the need to throw in a deep and touching scene, even when it’s not necessary). Finally, I’m genuinely curious to see what the writers do. When you have watched so many seasons of one show, it’s difficult to abandon it.

So, while “Supernatural” still does have some redeeming qualities, it overall has become a boring and unappealing show. Though there’s been talk about ending the show after Season 14, in which they’ll reach 300 episodes, I don’t see a way that the writers can get two more full plotlines–nor do I have faith that the quality of the episodes will improve–and believe that they should end the show as soon as possible, putting “Supernatural” (and myself) out of its misery.

Grade:
D+