Alright, everybody who has read my review of Season 6 knows that I’m not a big fan of that season (even though this may well be my favorite show on TV), except for the last part when Cas was revealed to be the new God. So here I am again, after one season, ready to lay down the verdict on the series that I’ve been watching for seven years now, all  while trying to be as spoiler free as possible.

Season 7 opens where the last one left off. Sam’s wall is broken by a meaner version of Cas, letting loose the horrors of the box on him — mainly Lucifer torturing him with memories of their time in hell, blurring the lines between his hallucinations and reality. But just when audiences begin to think that the new season will feature Cas as the new major villain, showrunners go the other way and reveal what type of monsters that Cas took in when he gobbled up the souls from purgatory — Leviathans, an ancient evil that God trapped in limbo who must be returned to their prison. Cas realizes his mistake early and agrees to send back the souls but the problem is the Leviathans manage to stay inside his body during the rite. They subsequently escape, setting into place their grand scheme to make a banquet out of humankind (literally, they eat people) into motion. With Cas out of commission, the Winchesters and Bobby are left to deal with the Leviathans, who have the power to shapeshift and eat people, with no solid strategy to kill them.

Even from the earlier episodes, I could tell that showrunner Sera Gamble finally had time to regroup and find a proper storyline to explore. From the writing and the pacing, the season seemed more organized. There were a couple of episodes that had nothing at all to do with the big picture, but those were alright compared to the mess that was Season 6, when the show was scrambling after the creative road ran out with the epic finale of Season 5 (which creator and original showrunner Eric Kripke intended to be the show’s series finale). Besides, some of the episodes were clearly just for fun like Party on Garth and Season 7: Time for a Wedding (which also featured the scrawny hunter Garth too, played by DJ Qualls).

Anyhow, the show seemed to be back to its element and I appreciated that. I would even go far as to say that the Leviathan’s plan to breed the perfect human (to be used as meat) caught me off guard and was actually kind of genius. The emergence of chief chomper and Leviathan CEO Dick Roman was also well done because actor James Patrick Stuart is equal parts charming and annoying, making his delivery of his lines more impactful. Dude has swag and even though his portrayal is irksome, I think he has done an outstanding job this season.

However, I missed Cas (Misha Collins) a lot because he was only in several episodes this season. But as usual I liked how he and Dean interacted, especially as they were out of sorts for the most part. I liked the part towards the end when they finally (gruffly) make up. I was wanting them to have a hug, especially since new Cas is kinda hippie like but I knew Dean would have none of it, even though deep down, he and Cas are best bros. I liked how Castiel’s character evolved  but I wasn’t a big fan of the Emmanuel arc so I was glad for it to be over quickly. This season, something bad also happens to Bobby which resulted in one of the show’s most poignant moments. His character sort of loses it a bit but being Bobby (Jim Beaver), he bounces back in the end and comes through for the boys — his beloved “idjuts.”

The only complaint I could possibly pose, was that the season ender was not as epic as I had hoped compared to its six predecessors — yes, even season 6 had a decent ending. I think what was wrong this time around was that the focus was no longer on the Winchester brothers.

True, they were still fighting evil at the cost of their lives, and that of their friends, and they were still  trying to save the world, but they were no longer at the center of the storyline. Unlike before, when the storyline clearly dictates that the Winchesters had a huge role in the apocalypse, the boys now seemed like bystanders who are trying to do good rather than pivotal and vital characters to the main storyline. Their sibling issues have also been put to rest so there wasn’t much drama there unlike in seasons 3-5. Another thing, since the season seemed to peg the main villains of the piece to be Leviathans, the slow establishment of the Leviathan storyline hurt the storytelling because by the end of the road, it only felt like the story was just beginning. At the end, I was like: That’s it?

In a way, this is good for the next season, but technically, this was bad for this one because I’m not sure that non hard core fans of the show would want to stick around on the basis of what was shown in the finale alone.

I love Supernatural. I believe that few hold a candle to this series because of its quality and its strong core writing (and of course fan base). However, I believe that the show is floundering a bit and losing some momentum. It happens. This season was good but it wasn’t great, mainly because of the weak finale. There were a lot of awesome episodes, though especially those that were written and directed by Ben Edlund but I have high hopes for season 8. I hear Sera Gamble will be handing over the reins to Being Human showrunner Jeremy Carver who used to produce for Supernatural. A lot of the fans are excited. I guess I am too, but at the back of my mind, I’m still worried because of what the transition did for Season 6 — but we’ll see. Fingers crossed!