I'm a bit surprised by all the praise for this episode. My expectations must have been really high considering how the last season ended. It started off strong with the brothers and Castiel fending off the undead souls. The callbacks to The Woman In White and Bloody Mary were nice, but a few nostalgic moments doesn't make the episode great.
God mentioned to Sam and Dean that this was "the end." I'm not really getting those vibes based off this first episode. It starts out with that tense scene, but is then ruined when a demon takes over Jack's body and zaps all the ghosts away. I also found it quite ridiculous how Sam and Dean put their trust in a demon they barely know who's inhabiting someone they cared for and just died. Castiel is the only one that gave a damn and he's an angel! It was completely out of character and certainly wouldn't have gone down like that in the previous seasons.
The worst part for me is that a majority of the episode takes place during the daytime. It totally killed any tension the episode had after that. Remember the scene in the pilot when The Woman In White appears on the highway and scares Sam? How about the scene in episode 5 where Bloody Mary emerges from the mirror to kill Sam and Dean? Let's be honest. Would these scenes be nearly as effective if they were set in the daylight? It was a nice callback, but it should have been treated with more care. It just felt half-assed to me.
The writing is subpar and inconsistent. There's a scene where Sam is investigating a house and gets attacked by John Wayne Gacy (clown ghost). The ghost succeeds in wounding Sam. In the next scene on the road, the same ghost attacks him again except this time he decides to punch and kick him. A minute later, he has the knife out again, but Castiel saves Sam's life at the last second. The Woman in White catches Dean off guard and instead of killing him, she just knocks him out and focuses on the demon. This gives Dean time to hit her with the crowbar. These ghosts are very stupid. Once again, this wouldn't have happened in the previous seasons. The final scene where the ghosts RUN after the heroes was the icing on the cake for me. Did the ghosts forget they can teleport? Enough said!
It wasn't all bad though. Jared Padalecki, Jensen Ackles, and Misha Collins are at the top of their game. They make this show watchable despite the awful writing. The other scene I liked besides the cemetery was the trunk scene at the end of the episode. Nice callback! Overall, I was very underwhelmed by this episode considering this is the final season. Maybe I'm nitpicking too much, but I just expected more. 7/10 for me.
God mentioned to Sam and Dean that this was "the end." I'm not really getting those vibes based off this first episode. It starts out with that tense scene, but is then ruined when a demon takes over Jack's body and zaps all the ghosts away. I also found it quite ridiculous how Sam and Dean put their trust in a demon they barely know who's inhabiting someone they cared for and just died. Castiel is the only one that gave a damn and he's an angel! It was completely out of character and certainly wouldn't have gone down like that in the previous seasons.
The worst part for me is that a majority of the episode takes place during the daytime. It totally killed any tension the episode had after that. Remember the scene in the pilot when The Woman In White appears on the highway and scares Sam? How about the scene in episode 5 where Bloody Mary emerges from the mirror to kill Sam and Dean? Let's be honest. Would these scenes be nearly as effective if they were set in the daylight? It was a nice callback, but it should have been treated with more care. It just felt half-assed to me.
The writing is subpar and inconsistent. There's a scene where Sam is investigating a house and gets attacked by John Wayne Gacy (clown ghost). The ghost succeeds in wounding Sam. In the next scene on the road, the same ghost attacks him again except this time he decides to punch and kick him. A minute later, he has the knife out again, but Castiel saves Sam's life at the last second. The Woman in White catches Dean off guard and instead of killing him, she just knocks him out and focuses on the demon. This gives Dean time to hit her with the crowbar. These ghosts are very stupid. Once again, this wouldn't have happened in the previous seasons. The final scene where the ghosts RUN after the heroes was the icing on the cake for me. Did the ghosts forget they can teleport? Enough said!
It wasn't all bad though. Jared Padalecki, Jensen Ackles, and Misha Collins are at the top of their game. They make this show watchable despite the awful writing. The other scene I liked besides the cemetery was the trunk scene at the end of the episode. Nice callback! Overall, I was very underwhelmed by this episode considering this is the final season. Maybe I'm nitpicking too much, but I just expected more. 7/10 for me.
