With three episodes left in its seventh season, Supernatural is finally moving the Leviathan storyline to the front burner. This week’s episode finally revealed the big mouth master plan: making humans complacent by loading us up with grey pus-filled food, curing us of all diseases and marching us “into death camps on every corner.” As ghost Bobby pointed out, the Leviathans plan on knocking humans off the top of the food chain and turning us into an endless food supply. “The Girl with the Dungeons and Dragons Tattoo” did a nice job of setting the stage for the finale while still mixing in some action. I’m just not sure there’s enough time left in the season to make the Leviathans a compelling big bad in the same way Azazel (Yellow Eyes), Lillith and Lucifer were in seasons past.
The fact that this episode had to use flashbacks and voiceover explanations to reintroduce us to the Leviathans says everything about how subpar they’ve been as villains. It was as if the writers were saying, “In case you forgot, these are our villains for the season!” Looking back at Seasons 1 and 2, I never had to be reminded of why I was supposed to hate Azazel. The stakes for Sam and Dean to kill that evil bastard were clear – he killed Mary, had a hand in killing John and turned Sam into a demon blood-fueled freak. Oh, and then he made Sam and all the other wonder kids partake in his own version of the Hunger Games. But with the Leviathans, our one clear reason to want them dead – killing Bobby – has been watered down by Bobby’s reappearance as a ghost.
A new girl character, huh? I wonder if she’ll live past this episode.
My favorite part of this week’s episode was the introduction of Charlie, a spunky hacker who allowed the show’s writers to slip in a plethora of geek references. We got shout outs to Harry Potter ("It’s just me and you, H”), Lord of the Rings and Star Wars (wish we could’ve seen that tattoo). It was obvious right away that Sam and Dean really like Charlie and with good reason – she was independent, smart and brave. Dean put it perfectly: “She’s like the little sister I never wanted.” With all the strong male characters Supernatural has churned out during its run, Charlie was a nice addition to the shorter list of female characters who’ve kicked ass during the show’s seven seasons. She brought out inherent traits in Sam – his ability to relate to people on a personal level – and Dean (his heart for family) that was nice to see.
With Charlie’s help, the brothers were able to gain crucial insight into Dick’s plans and keep sensitive information about them from falling into Dick’s hands. They also hacked Dick’s email and intercepted a slab of red clay, the result of the Leviathans’ many archaeological digs. We’ll find out the significance of this slab in the next three episodes I’m sure, but Dick wasn’t happy about the Winchesters intercepting it and anger-ate the lackey responsible for the screw-up. Charlie got tossed around during the climactic showdown in the lobby but she ended up OK. Not alright was the state of Bobby’s spirit after a serious burst of rage that saw Dick get tossed like a rag doll. His actions led to a broken arm for Charlie and gave the brothers serious cause for concern. I wouldn’t be surprised if we see the flask get destroyed before season’s end… after a lengthy goodbye between Sam, Dean and Bobby, of course.
No ending in sight.
With most seasons, I have a pretty good idea of how the major story arcs will conclude. But with four major arcs left unresolved in this seventh season, I’m having a hard time figuring out how all the dots will connect this time around. Between the Leviathans and their grand plans, Bobby’s ghost possibly going vengeful, Castiel and Meg in the mental hospital and the Amazonian wonder girls (remember them!) all in play, these final three episodes will either tie everything together seamlessly or be a jumbled mess. I have faith in this show so I’m going to say that everything will tie together nicely. However, I don’t envy the writers who have to tie together the four aforementioned storylines in a way that doesn’t feel forced. It was suggested in the comments section of one of my recaps that the Leviathans could carry over to the eighth season. I would be in favor of that option over a rushed end to their storyline but I still hope we get a villain with a little more “bite” next season (pun intended).
Lines of the week
Dick: “You’re kinda completing me right now, Charlie.”
Dean: “You go Dumbledork.”
Charlie: “Your password is winning with two 1’s? Fail.”
Next week on Supernatural
This week we crested the big hill of the roller coaster. Next week starts the plummet downhill.
