“I call it being a professional. Do it right. With a smile. Or don’t do it.” – Frank
They did it. They killed Bobby.
I’m still firmly in the denial stage of my mourning, so I’m clinging to any shred of possibility for a return, including analyzing Jim Beaver’s Twitter feed for any mention of being in Vancouver. Because, you know, it’s not like any other television shows are filmed there.
More than any other supporting character’s death, Bobby’s has managed to alter the entire landscape of the series. Showrunner Sera Gamble described her intentions for Season Seven as a back to basics approach, an effort to return Sam and Dean to the isolation of the first season, in which the tone is very much Them versus Everyone Else.
However, Bobby’s death pushes the Winchester brothers into a far deeper solitude than we’ve seen before. In season one, John Winchester was always just a cryptic text message away, largely unseen, but still very much present. Other hunters were routinely name dropped, contacts referred to, an implied network of resources constantly sitting in the background. Over seven seasons, we’ve seen that network eroded by death, by conflict, and sometimes by the brothers’ own actions. With Bobby Singer dead, Sam and Dean are finally, truly and deeply alone.
While I don’t think the series can function in the long run without a supporting cast of some kind, I am excited about the immediate repercussions of Dean and Sam’s isolation. The boys have been wallowing in their self-pity for the better half of the season, which, you know, is standard for Supernatural, but there’s only so much weeping into a bottle of beer that an audience can take.
In the post-Bobby aftermath, much like the time period after John died in the beginning of season two, Dean is angry and bent on revenge while Sam is all puppy-dog faces and trying to stay clear of Dean’s warpath. When one of the dearly departed Bobby’s cell phones gets a call from a scared hunter’s kid whose dad is missing, Sam feels obligated to help her. Dean balks at the fact that Sam is willing to focus on something that doesn’t ultimately lead to slaughtering Leviathan and the two go their separate ways.
Dean meets up with Frank Devereaux, the delightfully delusional conspiracy theorist from Slash Fiction, to decode the mystery behind the numbers that Bobby scrawled on Sam’s hand. They turn out to be coordinates to a parcel of land in Wisconsin that was recently purchased by Roman Enterprises, the company currently headed by Leviathan Grand Pooba, Dick Roman. They run off to investigate and Frank shows Dean some tough love (okay, maybe not love) concerning the proper response to a loved one’s death. Finally, finally someone calls Dean out on his abuse of the Epic Man Pain trope and Dean? Dean takes it to heart.
- Dean: I’m not going to quit. It’s not even an option. I am not going to walk out on my brother.
- Frank: Okay then fine. Do what I did.
- Dean: What – go native? Stock up on C-rations?
- Frank: No cupcake. What I did when I was 26 and came home to find my wife and two kids gutted on the floor. Decide to be fine til the end of the week. Make yourself smile because you’re alive and that’s your job. And do it again the next week.
- Dean: So fake it?
- Frank: I call it being professional. Do it right. With a smile. Or don’t do it.
Careful, Frank, endearing oneself to the Winchesters is the quickest way to violent death on this show.
Meanwhile, Sam gets himself kidnapped due to the misinformation he was given about this week’s monster-in-hooker-heels. Dean puts on his professional pants and runs off to rescue him and the sassy hunter girl’s missing dad. She, in turn, saves him by disobeying orders to stay in the car. Everyone gets to live this week. Huzzah.
Later, in the car, the brothers Winchester discuss their respective man angst. Sam is “not okay” and Dean is “fine,” but it’s a Winchester definition of fine, so it doesn’t really count. They decided to keep working because as Dean puts it, channeling Frank’s “guidance” from earlier, “We are the professionals.”
Sam shoves a cassette into the tape deck and curls up to sleep against the passenger window and the camera zooms in on Dean’s face as Traffic’s “Dear Mr. Fantasy” fills the car. He smiles into the camera, invoking season one, where Sam in the passenger seat, classic rock on the radio, and a hunt on the horizon was all Dean needed to be content.
The smile quickly falters and Dean struggles to maintain it until the closing credits start. It’s easily one of the best scenes of this season so far, an eloquently executed reminder (Jensen Ackles, why are you so awesome?) that despite the intentions of the writers in our world and the Winchesters in theirs, there is no “back to basics.” There is no going back.
Some stats and info about Supernatural, “Adventures in Babysitting”
TV SHOW – Supernatural
SEASON/EPISODE – Season 7, Episode 11
AIRED ON – January 6th, 2012
NETWORK/STREAMING SERVICE – CW/Netflix
GENRE – Drama, Teen Dramas, Horror, Fantasy
CREATED BY – Eric Kripke
CAST – Jared Padalecki, Jensen Ackles, Misha Collins, Mark Sheppard, Jim Beaver, Alexander Calvert, Mark Pellegrino, Samantha Smith, Ruth Connell
This review originally appeared on TV Geek Army.