Supernatural explores new dimensions opening up new possibilities, surprises and more danger.

• Supernatural factor: ★★★★★
• Demons factor: ★★★★★
• Epic factor: ★★★★★
• Scare factor: ★★★☆☆
• Originality factor: ★★★★★
• Entertainment factor: ★★★★★

The thirteenth season of Supernatural is pushing the boundaries to whole new levels. This season Supernatural reinvents itself by adding another dimension, a new supernatural being called a Nephilim who is neither good nor bad but very powerful. Mary’s role is more separated from Sam and Dean and quite literally actually. We get Bobby and Charlie back! But we lose a dear frenemy. 

And the angels who were defeated in previous years are also back again raising havoc from one dimension to another. It’s going to be an action packed, fun, fresh and delightful season, with old and new enemies and friends, hard decisions, magical episodes and a road trip that takes us to another dimension. 

Supernatural is created by Erik Kripke. It stars Jared Padalecki, Jensen Ackles, Misha Collins, Alexander Calvert, Kim Rhodes, Briana Buckmaster, Ruth Connell, Samantha Smith, Mark Pellegrino, Jim Beaver, Richard Speight Jr., David Haydn-Jones.

This thirteenth season consists of 23 episodes with each a duration of 42 minutes. It has a continuous story arc about guiding Jack, getting Mary back and holding off new-old bad guys who want to conquer our dimension. It’s going to be a busy year for Sam, Dean and Cass.

Plot

After Jack was born, Lucifer found him and wanted to claim him. But Sam, Dean and Cass came up with a brilliant plan. When Jack was born and growing rapidly into a young man, a portal opened to another dimension. The plan was to throw Lucifer in, before it closed, to get rid of him once and for all. With the help of Crowley, Rowena and Mary they almost succeeded. But that wasn’t the only devastating thing that happened. Everything misfired. Lucifer killed Cass and Rowena. Crowley sacrificed himself to trap Lucifer and close the portal. Mary gave Lucifer the final push, but not before Lucifer got hold of her and pulled her in with him. 

Now they have to worry about Jack being good or evil and to get Mary back. Mary finds out that in the other dimension she never closed the deal with Azazel. So John died and Sam and Dean were never born and nobody could stop the Apocalypse from happening. While there are still a few people left amongst which Bobby and Charlie. The fight between the demons and angels is still going on with Michael as the biggest and dangerous enemy of them all. 

Meanwhile Sam and Dean get help from Donatello and have to deal with a new enemy, Asmodeus the fourth Prince of Hell, who imprisoned Gabriel a long time ago. So Gabriel wasn’t really dead. And he is not the only one. Rowena seemed to have been killed by Lucifer but had a protection spell up her sleeve. And Cass was resurrected by Jack and came back from The Empty. Ketch turns out to be alive as well and working for Asmodeus. But when he shifts sides, they put together a new strong team to get Mary back and to fight whatever is coming for them from new dangerous places, like The Empty, The Bad Place and the other dimension with all the angels and demons and Michael.

Continue reading below this announcement.

Short Review

Although building upon a solid and amazing lore, this thirteenth season of Supernatural reinvents itself and feels fresh, exciting and new. New friends and enemies surface who actually are all too familiar, but different. The new team is cause for new dynamics that keeps things fresh and interesting and nobody ever gets too comfy. 

The road so far is being woven into this whole new narrative with an important new character, Patience, the granddaughter of Missouri Moseley, from Lawrence who is also a powerful medium. While Jack befriends Kaia Nieves, a powerful dreamwalker who can open portals to other dimensions, but also to a Bad Place.  This opens up whole new possibilities. While still building upon and using the biblical lore, other sources are tapped into as well, which makes the Supernatural universe infinite. It also creates possibilities to reunite with old friends like Bobby and Charlie, different but still the same. Of course Donna, Jody, Claire and Alex also show up and don’t want to miss out on the action, with both girls being fierce. 

With Mary, the return of an even more badass Charlie and Donna, Jody, Alex and Claire and now Patience and Kaia, there’s so much more girl power in the story, which is very appreciated. And don’t rule out Rowena, for she is the fiercest of them all. And in the end the two coolest red-heads are joining up again!

Rowena is cause for a lot of humor, surprises and trouble, just like the new and improved Ketch and the new Gabriel. They are the very fun but unreliable factors that keep things interesting. It’s smartly done, so it never feels too cosy, but there’s always something going on that adds a lot of liveliness.

Meanwhile Jack is the symbol of the posed question if evil and good are being born or created. Sam thinks Jack can be good, while Dean thinks he’s evil because he is the son of Lucifer. It’s the story of their lives and they are very consistent. Jack is a great addition to both the storyline as a theme that played a major part from the beginning. He’s a fresh face and character who is interesting, and claims an import part. But Jack is also very powerful and maybe he can defeat and vanquish evil for good. What helps believing the thought that good or evil are created is that more and more villains are making amends. First Crowley, then Rowena and Ketch and Gabriel aren’t selfish anymore. It feels like this season is already working towards an ending, which however can go either way. 

While helping Jack and rescuing Mary are the big story arcs, there are a lot of fun monster-of-the-week episodes to enjoy. They have to deal with a wraith, a shapeshifter, a mad doctor, a ghoul, witches, they have to pull off a heist. They have to deal with dreamwalkers, a vampire and Lovecraftian monsters from another dimension.

But the most special episode, probably of the whole series so far is the ‘ScoobyNatural!’  episode. Sam and Dean and Cass end up in a cartoon. And in Scooby Doo no less! It’s great fun and a real existing episode from ‘Scooby Doo, Where Are You!’ called ‘A Night of Fright is No Delight.’ It’s brilliantly done and a big surprise. Also note that when Sam and Dean were kids and John was out hunting things, they watched Scooby Doo on tv. It’s their dream come true. 

This season has a very Supernatural ending where Dean makes a terrible deal and seems to be none the wiser after all that they have been through all these years, but that stirs things up for next season. 

My favorite part

Well, it’s hard getting used to do without the sarcasm and cynical remarks from Crowley. He certainly is being missed and it will never be the same without him. The new established team makes up for that a bit, but nobody can replace Crowley. But there are a lot of happy reunions with Bobby, Charlie and Gabriel. 

The Scooby Doo episode was a brilliant feat and it is amazing that Supernatural still can come up with surprising new episodes, new worlds, new story arcs that never seize to amaze. 

It loved the ending though. With Rowena and Charlie getting along, without their troubled history, they are both powerful and fierce red-heads who are both wonderful. And there’s even a little romance between two other characters. Sadly another great sacrifice had to be made. But there are also great wins, but don’t get too comfy, not all evil is vanquished with Michael on the loose, things can get pretty dire. 

Read more about Supernatural:

• Supernatural season 1 review
• Supernatural season 2 review
• Supernatural season 3 review
• Supernatural season 4 review
• Supernatural season 5 review
• Supernatural season 6 review
• Supernatural season 7 review
• Supernatural season 8 review
• Supernatural season 9 review
• Supernatural season 10 review
• Supernatural season 11 review
• Supernatural season 12 review
• Supernatural season 14 review