collven

I'm hoping it's not just a huge oversight by the writers. Since Lucifer mentioned that the cage was damaged when The Darkness appeared, it's possible it's not the same cage that Lucifer and Michael were stuck in and Michael is still in the real cage.

PhantomStranger

I think they are ignoring Michael completely. It was nice to see they finally brought Lucifer back. I guess they were saving his return for some kind of final arc whenever the show would end, but that ship sailed long ago.

Dean and the Darkness look slated to eventually get together.

Manco

I was wondering what happened to Michael too. I guess that wasn't the real cage Lucifer was in? I think they'll say if anything that it was some kind of holding cell he was in and Michael is still back in the cage.

I think if Lucifer can communicate outside the cage then so can Michael. I think at some point that band of angels will break him out.

hanshotfirst1138

To be honest, I as thinking that they couldn't get the actor for Michael/Adam, and we're just ignoring it and hoping we wouldn't notice.

hanshotfirst1138

Seriously? That one line is all we get about Michael? That's a bit of a lame cop-out. Still, hell of an ending.

PhantomStranger

That was the best episode of Supernatural we've gotten in several years. They finally killed off a certain character and everything was flashing back to Sam's decisions over the years when the show was still in its prime.

candyrocket786

Loved the nod to Fox's Lucifer.

"Move to LA....solve crimes."

PhantomStranger

That line cracked me up. Lucifer premieres on Monday.

Pointyskull

Heard the line, totally missed the connection.

candyrocket786

Damn... it's been pretty quiet is this thread.

Still enjoying the hell out of this season.

Troy Stiffler

I'm four episodes behind.

Funny, I just started watching this show last summer on Netflix. Now I love it. Though I did skip season 5-10. But it's not hard to catch up. Maybe I would have been tired with it by now.

Geddlo

It's after season 5 where things started going wrong. You should definitely watch S5

Kdogg

Seasons 1 -5 are some of the best, cohesive story telling on television. Then it's a big drop in quality until season nine when it gets good (not great) again.

Koby

The last couple episodes have basically been filler to pad the season out. :/ Not much to really talk about.

Pointyskull

Yep. They were passable - but nothing above bar.
Humor was pretty solid, though.

That's the trouble with old school "full seasons". Too much room for filler.
I would love to see this show drop to 10 eps. Seems like it would tighten up the narrative a bit...

starseed1981

Really? The Sera Gamble years were awful (like Buffy season 6 awful). But season 8 is, imho, the best season of the show so far.

DJariya

Seasons 6 and 7 were overseen by Gamble, which he seems to be talking about. 8 through present is Jeremy Carver.

I also noticed that Robert Singer, who inspired the character Bobby Singer, is no longer credited as Executive Producer. He was there since day 1. He also directs a few episodes here and there.

I haven't had too much to say about season 11. it's been watchable and entertaining, but nothing really OMFG that I have to make a mad dash to my computer and talk about it to mostly deaf ears. I know this show is really long in the tooth for most now and it doesn't have the same kind of fan base during it's peak years 1-5.

TGM

Year 1 was pretty bad. Just a rehash of scripts of various horror movies. 2-5 is where this show really shined.

PhantomStranger

Season one was a pretty mindless monster hunting procedural. Supernatural got better when they started developing the backstory and the Winchesters' surrounding characters.

hanshotfirst1138

Cat's out of the bag. Collins is having an absolute blast. Given how wobbly last season was, and given that we're now into the 11th year, this season has been surprisingly pretty good.

I still think "Appointment in Samsara" is one the best episodes the show did.

PhantomStranger

Generally the Gamble years were poor Supernatural. There were some fine episodes in her run but no sustained excellence. I have no idea why the CW allowed a female showrunner on what is essentially a guy's show.

Strapped4Cash

I agree with you.

I don't know, but a couple of reasons come to mind as possibilities. One is that, in the book world at least, women sometimes write in a style that makes readers think they're men (and vice versa).

Also, virtually every regular non-sports program on the five networks is watched by more women than men. I haven't seen a breakdown in a long while, but last I did there were something like 3 shows which had a higher percentage of male viewership than female, and even those weren't by much. Chuck was one, and I'm pretty sure that SPN wasn't.

Some women like the show, lots of women seem to like watching Sam, Dean or both. Given that, trying a female showrunner might have seemed worth attempting.

Kdogg

I think Kripke leaving had more of an impact than the studio thought. During her run I thought Gamble was terrible but I love her new show The Magicians so she's not without talent.

PhantomStranger

I love The Magicians as well, it's been great in season one. That is a much different show than Supernatural. I still believe certain material doesn't translate well across gender lines in Supernatural, it's one of the last pure guys show left on television. That has softened a bit since Kripke first left.

hanshotfirst1138

With Lucifer controlling Hell, I think Crowley is going to play "enemy of my enemy is my friend" with Sam and Dean again.