Watch out, world. In just one short week, Supernatural will be returning to a television or computer near you for its tenth season. “But how?!” I hear you saying. “How did they get a tenth season?!”
Nobody knows how. They probably made a deal.
Tag Archives: Crowley
The Road So Far: “Road Trip” Review
WARNING: SPOILERS BELOW! READ AT YOUR OWN RISK, IDJIT!
Another Tuesday, another episode of Supernatural. Honestly, we here at Lady Geek Girl and Friends have made our frustration with the show pretty clear, so we’re just going to review this episode and the finale and focus on shows like Teen Wolf and Sleepy Hollow instead. We’ve been pretty down on Supernatural, but it doesn’t seem like the show will ever get any better. If it does, we’ll be back. Until then, let’s look at how Dean reacted after the events of last episode.
Spoilers after the jump!
The Road So Far: “Devil May Care” Review
WARNING: SPOILERS BELOW! READ AT YOUR OWN RISK, IDJIT!
This episode had Abaddon in it, so it was already superior to last week’s. But on the whole, how did “Devil May Care” measure up? Hit the jump for my review.
The Road So Far: “The Great Escapist” Review
WARNING: SPOILERS BELOW! READ AT YOUR OWN RISK, IDJIT!
The season is winding down (winding up, really—with suspense building for the finale in just two short weeks and with no more hiatuses in between!). “The Great Escapist” had Castiel, Crowley, Naomi, and more, but was it any good? Hit the jump to find out.
The Road So Far: “Taxi Driver” Review
WARNING: SPOILERS BELOW! READ AT YOUR OWN RISK, IDJIT!
So this is the last episode we’re going to get before Supernatural goes on hiatus for a few more weeks. Was it any good? Hit the jump to find out.
The Road So Far: “Goodbye Stranger” Review
WARNING: SPOILERS BELOW! READ AT YOUR OWN RISK, IDJIT!
Okay, so for all that this episode was above and beyond upsetting to all of my feels ever, it was also really good. Remind me to shake Robbie Thompson’s hand if I ever meet him—he’s not written a crappy episode yet.
The Road So Far: A Little Slice of Kevin Review
This episode, oh my Chuck, people, this episode is brilliant. I have had a really hard time writing this review because this was just one of those episodes that make you really emotional.
But I’ll try to control myself, so let’s press forward to talk about the return of Mrs. Tran, Kevin, and of course, Castiel.
This episode does a lot in a really short amount of time, so let’s move quickly.
The Road So Far: “What’s Up Tiger Mommy” Review
WARNING: SPOILERS BELOW! READ AT YOUR OWN RISK, IDJIT!
Wow, just wow, I was so impressed with yesterday’s episode that I thought Ben Edlund wrote it. Edlund is my favorite Supernatural writer and usually if after I watch an episode I say, “That was amazing,” and then check who the writer is, it’s him, but this time it surprisingly wasn’t.
It was actually written by Andrew Dabb and Daniel Loflin, who are usually hit or miss for me lately. They have written awesome episodes like, “Yellow Fever,” “Dark Side of the Moon,” and “Plucky Pennywhistle’s Magical Menagerie.” But then they wrote two of my least favorite episodes of season seven, namely, “The Girl Next Door,” which killed yet another interesting female character for the hell of it, and “Season Seven, Time for a Wedding,” which forever ruined Becky for me. Surprisingly, the thing I hate about those episodes–their portrayal of female characters–is what I loved about this one.
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The Road So Far: Supernatural Season Eight Premiere
WARNING SPOILERS AHEAD!
The boys are back in town and ready to hunt some monsters and save the day. Well, they might be. Dean’s got a new monster pal, Sam’s got a dog, and Cas is trapped in Purgatory. Hmmm… the way things are shaping up you might actually want to go to Kevin Tran to solve your monster problems.
Anyway, I’m getting ahead of myself. Let’s talk Supernatural!
As those of you who have read my past Supernatural reviews know, I wasn’t overly found of season seven. Certain episodes were good, but the overall plot and lackluster villain was just uninteresting. Despite that, after hearing more about the season eight plot from SDCC interviews I was actually pretty excited about season eight.
So what do I think about the premiere? Well, I’ll tell you.
Oh, My Pop Culture Jesus: Let’s Make a Deal!
Selling your soul in exchange for something is a plot trope older than the story of Johann Faust. In pop culture it’s primarily conceived of in Christian terms—sell your soul to the devil, and you’ll never get to heaven but you’ll have something you want on earth, whether that’s fame, talent, love, money, or some other fifth option.
People’s motivations in selling their souls are tremendously varied. Although we usually conceive of the sellers in these transactions as selfish and impatient (why wait for a potential eternal reward when you can get what you want now), but in reality a lot of the stories about these demonic bargains have their roots in tales as varied as revenge, romance, filial love, and desperation.
So let’s look at some of these situations, starting with Supernatural. Although I know we consistently beat this poor show to death nearly weekly in OMPCJ, it’s really the show’s own fault for being such a wealth of religious themes. Anyway, in Supernatural souls are hot currency. These exchanges are usually made at a crossroads, but any demon can make a deal, and the Winchesters are really, really bad at avoiding them. Over the course of the show John’s sold his soul to bring back Dean, Dean’s sold his soul to bring back Sam, Sam tried and failed to get a refund for that, Bobby ‘pawned’ his soul to find Death and get his legs back, Mary unknowingly sold off Sam to bring back John… A big antagonist/sometime ally in the show is Crowley, a demon who is King of the Crossroads, and a masterful dealer when it comes to getting what he wants in the fine print. Supernatural soul-selling is a value-neutral transaction—people from all walks of life can and do sell their souls for any and all reasons, but when the main characters knowingly do so, it tends to be last-act-of-a-desperate-man stuff, seized upon when there are no other viable options left. And collecting on these deals is unpleasant: once whatever terms you and your demon financier agreed upon have been fulfilled, if your soul’s in the balance, you’re dragged to hell for eternity by hellhounds. Fun.
Next let’s diverge from our usual pop-culture fare and look at a musical. A soul-based transaction is at the heart of the conflict in the show Once on this Island. A peasant girl named Ti Moune discovers a wounded nobleman who has crashed his car in a storm. She falls in love with him, and bargains her life against his to keep Papa Ge, the god of death, from claiming his soul. Ti Moune also dies at the end, but the force of her love so impresses Papa Ge and the other gods that they treat her kindly in death and let her legacy of love live on. This is an interesting take on the demon-deal trope, as it’s not set in a primarily Judeo-Christian mythos.
Finally, let’s look at the manga that inspired me to choose this topic: Black Butler. This story focuses on Earl Ciel Phantomhive, a sharp and proud young boy who was sold into slavery after his parents were mysteriously murdered. He makes a deal with the demon Sebastian Michaelis to gain the power to seek revenge on his parents’ murderer: Sebastian will serve him as a butler and help him achieve his vengeance, and then Sebastian gets to consume Ciel’s soul. This story is interesting for a couple of reasons. First of all, the way the story is told, we as an audience support Ciel’s decision to make the deal and root for him to fulfill his mission (which of course will end in his death and damnation). Secondly, the terms of the deal are interesting as well; in this story, the demon is totally willing to be subservient to Ciel for as long as it takes, and he is faultlessly loyal to his master, staying by his side for the duration of their agreement. There is no fine print or loopholes in their deal from out of which Sebastian tries to sneak.
What other soul-selling storylines exist in pop culture? A fiddle of gold against your soul you’ll tell me in the comments 😉
That’s all for this week’s Oh, My Pop Culture Jesus! Tune in next time and get some religion!
Lady Geek Girl and Friends 