Review: Supernatural 7.01 Meet the New Boss

Dean, Sam and Bobby watching the news about the space junk.

The wait is over. This may or may not be the moment you've been waiting for, but a brand new season of review has begun. Enough about me… What about that space junk hey?! Did it land in Canada? As long as it didn't land on my roof because I have Supernatural to watch.

Sera Gamble penned the season premier of Supernatural, Meet the New Boss. The episode was directed by Phil Sgriccia. Meet the New Boss is pretty much everything I want a season premier to be. It is definitely the best season premier since Lazarus Rising and Sympathy for the Devil. It captures my imagination and curiosity. The vibe is very similar to season four and five. Meet the New Boss sets the tone and the direction for the rest of the season perfectly -- we are going to a very very dark place where Dean and Sam will need to find new ways to overcome danger and fear.

Unlike season six, season seven has already established the big bad from the get go and I like it a lot! In season six, the big bad wasn't revealed until later and just when we thought the Mother was IT, the writers threw us the curve ball. I am not saying the writers won't throw us another curve ball this seasons (and in fact, I like it), but it's refreshing to see the direction is defined -- the big bad for season seven is revealed, Leviathan, the biblical ancient beast.

When it comes to Supernatural, the story idea must be based on an existing lore, that's the rule set by Eric Kripke. I thought to myself, what can the writers possibly come up with this year? We have seen many kinds of supernatural creatures including demons, angels, even ghouls and fairies! But the creative team never cease to be awesome. I think they have picked the best monster for this season. According to Death, God created Leviathan long before he created angels and humans, but God sent it to Purgatory because it was dangerous beyond control, like ... the Stay Puft Marshmallow Man. Leviathan was mentioned in the Hebrew Bible as well as Jewish, Middle Eastern and Christianity literature. Leviathan was a sea monster and one of the seven princes of Hell and gatekeeper of hell. I am so ready for many badass actions!

Meet the New Moss is essentially about establishing the big problems Dean and Sam have to deal with this season. Godstiel had no intention of smiting Team Free Will -- simply because the CW has no intention of ending Supernatural yet, and because the cast is hot and adorable. Gostiel wasted no time to smite those we secretly wanted him to smite -- corrupted politicians, priests and motivation speakers. That was clever. I think the creative team nailed this one, they have once again brought us something not cliche. And there is something VERY Supernatural, VERY Kripke about these smiting targets! Apart from the smiting, what I really like about Godstiel is that he was also helping people -- the blind man scene was very very good.

To establish his position as the new boss, Godstiel went to the King of Hell, Crowley, to give him a job and a chance of survival. Crowley, who had been hiding in a trailer from Godstiel, wasn't complaining because he just wanted to survive and maintain his position as the King of Hell.. may be to get a new tailor or go to therapy.

Godstiel is dangerous and he doesn't even know it. Dean and Sam needed to come up with a solution quickly to destroy Godstiel before he eventually destroyed the world. The brothers summoned Crowley and demanded him to give them the spell that could bound Death, who claimed to have the ability to reap God back in season five. It's a dangerous move, but like Sam said, a spell is a spell. Good one Sammy! I like the fact that the show is giving Dean and Sam more help. Before they didn't really have anyone to go to except Bobby, the majority of their hunter friends were killed by Meg in one episode back in season one, and they don't have many allies who are still alive. Having Crowley around is a good thing, and we love Mark Sheppard! A few more hunters will be introduced this seasons, I hope they don't get killed too soon, I guess we'll wait and see.

Oh.. Hello Death! I love Death! I think Julian Richings is an awesome actor! I cannot think of any Death in popular culture who is as good as Julian! This is why he gets invited to fans conventions!! I love that Dean paid attention to the details, there is only one way to talk to Death -- pickle chips and milkshake. Team Free Will summoned Death, who was bounded by a spell Crowley gave them. They wanted Death to kill Cas. Just when I thought this bounding Death plot will go on for a bit, it was resolved very quickly in the episode. Godstiel showed up and confronted Team Free Will and Death. This is the one scene I most looked forward to after I saw the promotion photos a few weeks ago. I thought Julian and Misha really nailed this scene. Death was calm and collective, Cas was justifying his action like a child and he was pissed because nobody understood him. Death didn't get to kill Cas because he effortlessly unbounded Death. Cas gave Dean the dirty look and then he disappeared to do more smiting. Guess he was in a hurry!

Death wasn't going anyway without eating pickle fries and milkshake Dean bought for him. Death was pissed, but he wasn't yelling, just honest words and death stares (and he owns those death stares). I love it when Death gave Dean a lesson, Dean was always scared but Death always helped. His agenda? I don't know, but I think Death secretly loves Dean, like Snape loves Harry, you know?

Death told Dean how to resolve the Cas solution, which wasn't hard to do apparently. To clean up this mess, the boys must get Cas to release those souls back to Purgatory, quickly. My favourite part is when Bobby said eclipse was over, and Death said he'd just make another. Death seems to be powerful than we thought, he has this God-like power. Am I the only one who thinks Death and God could be the same entity? Just saying!

We soon found out there is something wrong with Cas and he knows it too. The souls inside his body wanted to get out and his meatsuit was melting. It was just a matter of time he exploded. This episode has some very cool special effects, which doesn't happen often in the season premier, perhaps they get more budget this year? I was really impressed with the Voldermont-tried-to-get-out-of- Cas' body special effect. Cas was also hearing voices too, for a second I thought it was the voice of God, but it's more like the voices of the souls inside his body. By the time Cas realised he was no God, he needed help. For the first time in a long time, in my view anyway, he asked Dean and Sam for help. That was the best decision Cas made since the season four finale. It gave us one comfort -- our adorable angel Cas was back, although not for long, but he was back and he was very sorry. But of course good things don't happen to good people. When Cas was ready to release all the souls back to the Purgatory, it was too late. The ancient beast, Leviathan, was unleashed and it cannot wait to play Charlie Sheen… or do you prefer the Joker? Mwahahaha…

Before I continue, let me get one thing out of the way. If I don't say it sooner, I will never forgive myself -- I just want to say… Jensen Ackles.. you are so hot. Your hair is longer and it's so hot. You're wearing that jumpsuit fixing your baby the Impala, is so hot.

OK.. where were we?

Sera and Bob have warned us a few days ago in an interview about Dean's state of emotion and the weight on his shoulder. Dean has crap load of problems to deal with this season -- Sam, the Impala and CrazyCas. The weight on Dean's shoulder will get heavier and heavier. It's like a really bad migraine, it tortures you slowly. The world is always going to end bloody, so all Dean can do is to fix the Impala; watch some Asian cartoon porn; wait for Sam to wake up and then give him a beer. The brothers have no weapons of any kind to destroy Godstiel, but if he is not looking for them to smite them, they ain't looking for him.

Dean is relieved Sam's souls are all back in one piece. If there are complications, he will deal with it (and he will be dealing with Sam's damaged soul a lot this season). The big brother never gives up on the little brother… that's what we like to see. And we love seeing Dean and Sam working on the Impala together.

When it comes to Castiel, it's like Dean has already given up on his angel friend. But not being to help his friend is also killing him. But I think in the end he forgives Cas and I believe he will do everything to save Cas who is still inside that meatsuit, battling Leviathan.

Ten minutes into the episode and we've already seen Sam hearing things and having illusions of hell on a number of occasions. Sam's soul has been ripped to pieces, toyed with, his soul is so damaged. Poor Sammy! He is scared, but he doesn't want to tell Dean, and he is even seeing Lucifer (by the way, Mark Pellegrino's guest appearance surprised me in a way no words can describe it! You sure kept it a secret!). Lucifer is so awesome, this statement is so wrong in many ways, but yeah he is so badass! Telling Sam, perhaps this was his best torture yet, making Sam to believe he is free but he is not. BOO! Sam may or may not believe it, but we will find out next week! Sam just disappeared at the end of the episode, wondered if he left to get a burger or something?

What I like about Sam in this episode is that he brought compassion to the episode, he doesn't see Cas as God or enemy, he still sees him as a friend who needs help. He was in Cas' position before -- the road to hell is paved with good intention. When he prayed to Cas in the junkyard, that was a beautiful scene. Notice how dark the entire episode was, and the junkyard scene was shot outdoor with the beautiful sun in the background. Perhaps suggesting the light at the end of the tunnel for Cas? I love when Sam said "Let us help." I think Sam is more puppy-eye-y than usual, while Dean is like: "Can we catch a break? We never catch a break.. Ah! I need some Asian cartoon porn."

The palladium core in the arc reactor that keeps him alive and powers him is slowly poisoning him... oh wait.. that's Iron Man 2

Misha Collin nailed his performance in this episode!! The character transition from normalCas to crazyCas in the same scene was good enough to give him an award for the Best Supporting Actor I hope I'll see CrazyCas more. This is a brilliant opportunity for Misha to have fun with his acting. I cannot wait to see more!!

What about Crowley? In this episode, we saw him from hiding in the trailer to getting job back, and then he was conspiring against Cas with Team Free Will. But now Cas is sort of gone, Leviathan is unleashed. What would Crowley do?

Let's quickly talk about the new opening title card, which I love, by the way. It's black and white, perhaps suggesting everything is just black and white? Last time, I spent the whole season trying to figure out what the mirror effect meant!

Overall, Meet the New Boss was ten kinds of awesome! The episode featured so many storylines, it was full on! But the pace was really good, you don't feel they were rushing things. So, well done from the creative team! I can feel it, season seven is shaping up to be a great great season.

Next week's episode -- Hello Cruel World -- is written and directed by one of my dream teams -- Ben Edlund and Guy Bee. Don't miss it!! [Spoiler] Mark Pellegrino returned!!





One more thing before I love you and leave you, I was listening to Nerdist Writer's Podcast with Ben Edlund as one of the guests. He was talking about The Tick and how he got into mainstream TV writing etc.. It was really good. I highly recommend it!

Peace out! V_V