The way I see it is this: they want to take the episode in an unexpected way (and possibly mirror season 6, like @naruhearts was saying the other day), so we are back to souped up supermonsters as a plotline, and, look, between the Leviathan and the whole Jefferson Starships thing I don’t know how I feel about that yet. 

But most of all I feel like in order to accomplish some of the things they laid out in this episode, they just threw a whole lot of preexisting canon out, and when shows do that, they’re conceiving that the finished product outweighs the need to stick to canon. i.e. Wouldn’t it be SO COOL if we brought Gabriel back, we’ve never brought him back before. Well okay, how will we come up with a way to bring him back without altering canon too much. Well okay, the fans had this awesome theory, we could do something with that. FINE.

The issue comes here I think in that they wanted to do these things specifically: set up the vampire thing, get Jo working with TFW somehow, show how deep in a hole Cas is (fail btw), have Sam do his sparkly moment with the ‘There will be no King of Hell’, that sort of stuff. Oh. And give Mark P something to do because FANS LOVE HIM. Or something.

But none of those things were worth it. (Maybe Sam.)

None of those things were worth destroying established canon to achieve. None of those things were worth making characters look stupid to achieve.

Angel theories broken: Angels can see demons true faces The vessel once destroyed allows the dead soul inside to go to its final destination. Lucifer’s vessel isn’t a real vessel it’s a mock up (already contrived). Archangels (and angels) burn out the people they possess. Angel blades kill the host as well as the angel. (And don’t even get me started on the archangel blade existing in the first place). Cas just don’t got the juice any more. Ever. He talks the talk, but then he what the fucks the rest of it. Oh and everyone has a pair of angel restraining cuffs, because WHEN DID THOSE HAPPEN? Like, I literally can’t remember when angel restraining cuffs became a thing. They just started happening nbd. But demons have them.

So just. If one of those things had happened to move the plot along, fine. But all of them? ALL of them? And Michael’s WEIRD motivational alignment? Like. I am giving it a break because I KNOW it has to pick up from where season 13 left off and that was an unenviable starting point, but I just.

Other things that were frustrating: why were there odd sound effects and directing choices in the fight scene? Why was Cas such a wet blanket?Kip the demon--he was rubbish. Sam already knew he didn’t have to fight him, that his demon followers would chicken out, it was just set up that way. Why did we see an angel from an angel’s POV for the first time ever? Why was Cas such a wet blanket? Why can’t people use their words, like seriously Cas, anyone with half a brain knows Jack is going to do something stupid since you had to get out the door before you ran out of time on screen. What the fuck, Cas? What the fuck?

No but. I’m sure I’m going to like bits of it when I watch again. The finale wasn’t so bad watching it again before the new ep showed. (sound of glass breaking) and I will let this one settle down a little. I just wish there wasn’t so much I’m mad at. Castiel’s issues and Nick would be HUGE all on their own, they’ve bad, and contrived just because they a) don’t know how to keep Cas from being OP without literally tying him down and b) have to keep Mark around because of audience feedback (how about the sound of me grinding my fucking teeth, CW?) But it’s the lore problems, ultimately, that really have me down.

The destruction of canon for the sake of a contrived plot is BAD SHOWWRITING especially with a series like this where the whole universe relies on the established lore. Lore IS the show, and to forget that in order to take the plot in an “unexpected” direction does a huge disservice to fans, and makes you look like an awful writer. I would rather move in a predictable direction and stay true to canon than change everything and take you somewhere you don’t want to know.

It’s like that game that Joey is going to be the host of in Friends, Bamboozled, except that the nonsensical rules of the game do actually make sense when you get to the bottom of it. There’s no sense to be made here. It just gets more and more tossed around like an old chew toy until the original lore is pointless and sticking to it makes no sense so why bother, right?

But lore is the show. Lore is why ghosts hate iron and demons get burned by holy water and angels need to be killed with angel blades. Lore is the rules by which everything else makes sense, and a good writer can tell a good story within those rules. It’s not like it’s a mystery or a challenge, that’s precisely what a lot of us as fanfiction writers DO. All the time! So is it so much to ask from the people who actually make the show? I don’t think so. And I resent someone changing the rules on me constantly just so they can stroke Mark P’s ego, or bring back a character who they’re only going to kill again in two episodes anyway. It’s tiring. I’m tired of it. And shame on you, Dabb, for playing the Bucklemming game here. You’re the one who should be holding the ship together, not conspiring to help it spin further apart!

Most of all, though, starting out on this footing is an issue, because it implies that all bets are off, and the writers (and showrunner, remember), will do whatever they want to tell the story they want to tell, and rules of the universe be damned. We’re already likely to get 1/4 of the eps this season written by BL, isn’t that enough destructive power? It doesn’t fill me with a lot of hope that things will shape up, and overall, it was a bad start for me.