Mixed Feelings, Review: Supernatural

I will be the first to admit that I am an avid fan of the TV show Supernatural, previously owned by WB, but the now CW network.  When my aunt first showed me the promotional pictures her department was doing for the show, I was a skeptic due to the seemingly dark nature of the show, but after getting past my personal misgivings, I fell in love with the show from the first episode on.

Supernatural is an amazingly well-written show. With gifted minds as Eric Kripke and Ben Edlund behind the scenes, it is startling how far the show went from the monster-hunting debacle to the anti-Apocalypse-driven brethren.  Reading back on some quotations, I was startled on the dark path the show had taken.  The tone of the show shifted from the snarky bantering duo to two desperate brothers seeking an end, one wanting peace, the other redemption.  My family has always found it odd that I am drawn to such dark stories.  They call it too 邪, I suppose that would be "evil," but it is not so much the content of it as it is the dynamics.  Whereas a majority of television today focus on the superficial relationships, teenagers jumping into bed with one another, this show speaks of the bonds between family members, whether by blood or by circumstance.

With the past 2 season arcs delving into a lot more biblical content, angels, demons, revelations, the apocalypse, I have had mixed feelings about this.  While I am indeed not happy with their interpretation of angels as almost fickle, unfeeling creatures, it did bring to light some questions I have always had.  How does an angel fall from grace?  They too exhibit free will.  How then are they governed?  And how are they measured for salvation?  Watching this show is addicting, and dangerous for those who only blindly follow the lore.  It does not do Christianity justice, and if you knew little of Revelations, the smattering of truth here and there could easily confuse you.  However, I must say though that it brings to light a lot of things in its reinterpretation of the book of Revelations.

Revelations constantly reminds us to stay alert, and to be on guard for the coming signs of the end times.  And yet, these "signs" are often so abstract that we wonder is it just a symbolic representation of what is to come or a prophesy of the actual manifestations of these "signs"?  Supernatural does a good job then in that it makes you wonder: are the End Times already here?  And with the recent earthquakes, I would say that the signs are manifesting for its onset.  I think it then serves as a good reminder that perhaps we are already smack dab in the middle of it, but don't even realize it because these signs are hidden among us.  We often put off these warnings as signs way down the line in the future, but if things were as Supernatural puts it, happening in the here and now around us, would we act so nonchalantly?  It makes me care more, and to reflect on my actions and priorities in light of what is to come.

This is definitely one of the major pluses of the show for me personally.  It is entertaining, but it also serves as a good brain tease, getting me to think and to delve more into my Bible.  However, the episode last night, while equally entertaining left me with a bitter taste in my mouth.  I am tired of the show's direction in pounding the two main characters with set back after set back, and now that they have found the so-called "mouthpiece of God," the portrayal of God the Father as some deadbeat dad did not sit well with me.  That is one of the major negative points of the show, the fact that it portrays God as having forsaken the human race, or as some distant Father.  It takes a very dogmatist appeal to it, and I did not like that.

No, the Father is very real, and is with us everyday.  He loves us dearly, cares for us, watches over us, and sacrifices for us.  To say that God is a "deadbeat dad" was downright offensive.  The fact that the writers took liberties with what God's attitude is with towards the Apocalypse downright bothered me.  In Season 5 Episode 16, the episode I watched last night, the angel said that God quite frankly doesn't care about the Apocalypse because it had nothing to do with him.  But in fact, the Apocalypse has everything to do with Him!  It is about Christ's return, of His wrath poured out against those that do not repent, and is of the day when Christ conquers Satan and brings a new heaven and earth for those who believe.  It all sounds so cultish or like crazy-talk, but Revelations is really a period of hope, that although we may experience all this temporary pain, peace is to follow.  Regardless, the Apocalypse story arc in Supernatural is drawing to a close in the next 5 episodes, or so the writers purport.  I still look forward to it, and am hoping that this whole "deadbeat dad" character was merely a ploy to further the story and not how they will actually portray God.  As a nation, people have become so entangled with their own lives that they no longer believe in a god of any sort.  It's so tragic and hopeless.  I hope the writers take a more uplifting note from there and give people some hope of some sort, at least to the fans that are way too obsessed with the lore.  They could use some hope.