Supernatural found new life by killing bad habits

[TMC]

http://www.avclub.com/article/supern...-habits-234296

By Alex McCown

Apr 7, 2016 12:00 AM

Supernatural, the long-running CW show (formerly on the WB, that’s how old it is), was intended as a five-years-only affair. As it approached the half-decade mark back in 2009, creator and showrunner Eric Kripke insisted he was done: “Despite what the network and studio may or may not want, I don’t have more than five seasons of story,” he told Entertainment Weekly at the time. Star Jensen Ackles sounded equally skeptical about the possibility of continuing the adventures of Sam and Dean Winchester, monster-fighting brothers. “They’d have to back up a Brink’s truck,” he said. “We don’t live at home. We don’t sleep in our own beds. Our families aren’t here. Our friends aren’t here. Our girlfriends aren’t here.”

Apparently, The CW delivered that Brink’s truck, because Ackles and costar Jared Padalecki re-upped for another couple of seasons, which then stretched on… and on… until the current season, the 11th for the show. And those seasons, for the most part, have seen diminishing returns. This isn’t shocking: Most series inevitably spin their wheels as they age, and a semi-procedural about brothers fighting supernatural evil is no different. By the 10th season, the series had done everything but break the fourth wall to ask the audience, “What should we do now?” (Although the musical episode—one of the series’ best installments—came close.) It seemed like Supernatural’s narrative was hitting a mystical wall.

Until this year. The Winchester brothers are fighting season 11’s big bad, named Amara, who (spoilers for the current arc) turns out to not just have godlike powers, but is actually God’s abandoned, pissed-off sibling. An intriguing premise, but structurally, the show is hitting many of the same beats as previous years, and Amara doesn’t stand out tremendously from villains past. What’s remarkable, instead, is the creative resurgence the new season has undergone, remembering what made Supernatural entertaining in the first place.

In doing so, it serves as an exemplar of how to keep a long-running show fresh: Kill off the bad habits that Supernatural leaned on in place of solid storytelling. There are four main lessons to be learned from the 11th season, ones other shows would be wise to attend to as they grow long in the serialized tooth. Each involves a particular habit common to programs with lengthy shelf lives—habits that are almost always a mistake, whether they’re picked up by a network sitcom or a WB-to-CW drama about two brothers fighting magical evils.