Review: Supernatural 7.10 Death's Door

It's sad. Who's left?

Supernatural writers like to torture their fans. It's known. I am not the only one to say this, but this review is hard! It isn't my intention to turn this review into a Bobby tribute. I may fail.

Dean and Sam aside, every now and then Supernatural would put Bobby's life in grave danger. How many times have we associated Bobby with spoilers on the death of an important character over the course of the series? But every time it was someone else and Bobby was always fine.

No one could ever escape death on the show, including Dean, Sam, the Impala, Cas, even Eric Kripke himself! Coincident or not, I was watching Salvation last night. That was Bobby's first on-screen appearance, but he'd been around way before that episode. When John Winchester wasn't here, Bobby was always there as the father figure. When crap happened to Dean and Sam, Bobby was always there to remind them to stay cool and to help them. He was always there as 'the Costner to their Houston'. Bobby was always fine. Bobby was an integral part of the show's journey.

"Storm's coming. You boys and your daddy are smack in the middle of it." -- Bobby Singer, Salvation 

7.10 Death's Door provided plenty of suspense. Sera Gamble did an amazing job with the script, it was a near perfect job. The dialogues were very meaty, which I love! This episode is up there with last season's The Man Who Would Be King. Death's Door is the Supernatural version of External Sunshine of a Spotless Mind and Inception. This episode took us beyond the wall even Bobby didn't want to go there. On one hand, it was really heart-warming to see what's inside Bobby's subconscious -- his memory of Rufus; taking young Dean out to play baseball; trapped in the middle of a Dean and Sam fight about Chuck Norris and Jet Li. Death's Door also showed us something we've never seen before -- the darkest and saddest events that made Bobby the person and the hunter he was. We always knew about Bobby's past -- about his wife and his drunk dad -- but this time, we witness the details of the lingering darkness in his life. Heart-broken stuff!

Dean and Sam represented two states of minds we are in. Sam was prepared to say goodbye to Bobby. He was scared and he had to find the spot that gave him pain. This wasn't a dream (or nightmare), this was real. Dean, on the other hand, was in denial. He was angry (hot!), he'd enough of burying friends. How awesome were Jensen and Jared in displaying the sorrow, frustration and pain? Dean and Sam took the supporting role in this episode but Jared's puppy eyes couldn't be more sad and Jensen's acting couldn't be more powerful!

"He is not gonna die. It's one bullet. He is gonna be fine because he is always fine. Why are you talking to me like he is gonna die? I do my job, do your job. Save him!" -- Dean, Death's Door

Jim Beaver delivered his best performance as Bobby Singer. Jim always delivered but this time.. WOW! I am too sad to think about this, but I have to ask myself -- was the episode supposed to be a hero send-off? Season seven took a LOT of things away from Dean and Sam -- the safeheven of Bobby's House (the Panic Room along with it), the Impala, weapons, knowledge and Cas. And now Bobby? Really? Could this be the last time we saw him?

Uncle Bobby was selfless, he loved the boys. He wasn't doing this for himself, he did it for the boys, they were the reasons for him to stay alive. Remember Bobby's speech in Point of No Return? He spoke of a bullet he was meant to kill himself with, but he promised Dean he wouldn't give up.

"I have two adopted boys, they grew up great, they grew up heroes."-- Bobby, Death's Door

What about Dick? What about him, right? He is Dick who is a dick! Scare and stupid. You know Dean and Sam will win and send Dick back to whatever the shit hole he's from. Better, he can go to Hell where Crowley can torture him forever.

Death's Door evolved around Bobby's desperation to open the right door to get the numbers, 454895, to the boys in waking world. (These numbers better be as important as 4, 8, 15, 16, 23 and 42!) What do they mean? Where is the story going from this point forward? What about Cas? Will he return? Dean and Sam have lost so many friends, how much more pain can they take? How much more pain can fans take?

One final thought. Sera Gamble is a skilled writer of human emotions, Bobby's memories were well thought-out. Supernatural does really really well when it comes to presenting the depth of characters to their viewers, this is one of the strong points of the show. It's a quality not many shows have. As a hunter like Bobby, it's a luxury to have good memories. Good memories made him human, good memories kept him going. Oh God, I don't want to say it but… it was a good wrap up of the character Bobby. No loose end. He'd helped, he'd done enough in his life. (Cue.... My Heart Will Go On.) Idjit!

It's not a very long hellatus this year. All new Supernatural returns on 6th January 2012 with 7.11 Adventures in Babysitting.