Supernatural (TV Series) As Time Goes By (2013) User Reviews

Beautiful

[Shane3182 · 9/10 · 30 January 2013]

After a fun, light-hearted episode last Wednesday, I think we all knew this was coming.

Sam and Dean have a very surprising visit from a man who says he's from the past. As the promo already announced, this man is Henry Winchester, Sam and Dean's grandfather (John's father) who is being chased down by a demon called Abaddon, and the three Winchesters have to work together to find out why, and most of all how to defeat it.

I will say this now, in my honest opinion, As Time Goes By is one of the greatest episodes we've had this season. There have been some great episodes so far and I have enjoyed this season immensely, but this episode was different. This, to me, felt like an episode we might have seen from season 4 or 5, before the whole issue with the Leviathans and Crowley. This is not a case of "Winchesters, the angels need your assistance right now", they are not asked to do this by the angels; and Crowley (for once) is NOT the man behind this. There is no Castiel, no Crowley, and no Naomi at all. It seems like this entire season has been revolving around those three. So, for anyone who dislikes the course season 8 has taken, you might enjoy this!

The setting itself is darker at times. It appears as though the directors / editors of season 8 want to make this season brighter. Literally brighter. Many of the scenes have taken place during the day, bringing out the colours really vividly, and it has struck me as odd. Since, in previous seasons, the makers of Supernatural have favoured darker settings, where even during the day the lights are harsh and cold, giving us a sense of how 'dark' the situation was. So, As Time Goes By does not only seem like an older Supernatural episode, it also at times has the same dark settings that previous Supernatural seasons had.

We never knew much about John Winchester's father, in fact we knew next to nothing, and even if he's only brought in for this one episode, we learn just what type of man he was; and whether that is a good or bad revelation is up to you. I feel that I can't say much about him without giving anything away, so I shall leave it at that.

The brothers, after a long time of fighting, finally came to a sort of conclusion in last week's episode where they decided it was time to stop arguing. I was worried that the writers wouldn't keep true to this, and would still bring up the conflicts involving Amelia and Benny. I'm not saying those two will never be brought up again, but for now, those issues are in the past; Sam and Dean hunker down and work together as brothers again, like how it was prior to season 4, before the whole situation with Ruby, Lucifer, or any of the angels. In this episode the brothers cooperate with each other, help and support each other, and most of all care about each other. I sincerely hope this keeps up. It has pained me to see Sam and Dean become like enemies when they once were so close.

Absolutely one of the most emotional episodes we've had in a long time. We've had characters get hurt and die this season and those are sad. But when it comes to the Winchester family, I think that is a bit stronger than what we've been faced with lately. We know Sam and Dean (as well as their father, John) from the very beginning, it all started with them. It progressed into something much greater, but everything in this show started with the Winchesters, and this episode showed another piece of the missing story that lead John, Sam and Dean to where they are now. It is beautiful, painful and tragic, but altogether amazing.

9 / 10

One of the most consequential later season episodes. It works but shifts the feel of the show

[CubsandCulture · 10/10 · 2 September 2020]

The introduction of the Men of Letters as both a chunk of mythology and the Bunker (formally introduced here, substantially next episode) as a location is one of the largest shifts in the show. It is probably the most consequential decision Carver made during his time as a showrunner. I ultimately like the direction the show went with this stuff but it is worth pointing out. Up until this point the show had very much a drifter, on the road vibe. It was strongest in the first few seasons but it was present throughout the seasons until this development. The Bunker really became a standing set, central location for the show and a ton of episodes play out within its walls. It makes the later sessions feel more contained as if the boys have settled down. (Which in a sense they did). They tried this base of operations thing before-the Roadhouse in Season 2, Bobby's junk yard on and off in seasons 3-6-but they never stuck and were never used as extensively as the Bunker. (It might be a budget thing) Furthermore, the Men of Letters, an occult secret society, ends up giving the show a Lovecraftian vibe and the lore has become less folklore, urban legends and more Old Ones Mythos. So as the stories have gotten more cosmic as the location of the stories have gotten more domestic. It is an interesting irony.

With all that being said this a wonderful episode. It introduces or extends a ton of concepts in the show logically and effortlessly. Henry is a wonderful character; the upstairs, downstairs clash with the brothers fits. Abaddon is a great femme fatale. She more than holds her own with the other antagonists ala Lilith, Yellow-Eyes, etc.

This has everything that makes the show great while helping to reinvent, revive the show's tone and in a sense premise.

Supernatural Bounces Back!!

[TitanOlympus · 10/10 · 5 February 2013]

Well this is what made the show the best of the best, Here comes a demon even more powerful than Yellow eyes(knife couldn't kill her), i see supernatural returning back on the track of GOD, Lucifer and that exciting angel stuff like in the old seasons,Leviathans were boring, haven't missed an episode ever and bringing back a demon more powerful than yellow eyes and linking the story back to John and Winchester family with the spice of magic and men of letters made it one of the best supernatural had produced, what i would like to see is if the writers could bring back John Winchester for a while(every episode with him rocked) for a further twisted plot involving angels, demons, Lucifer and GOD, like the Winchester brothers require their fathers knowledge and presence for saving the world once again from the wrath and rise of Lucifer. i see the show is starting to get back on the THE SUPERNATURAL road after a bit of a bumpy ride through the bushes, episode rocked guys, plz don't let this series end, season 9, 10 .......keep em coming

The Winchester Legacy

[sujay-sharma006 · 1 February 2013]

This is by far , one of the best episodes in the supernatural series . An unexpected visit by a veteran Winchester , who is surprisingly not a hunter and turns out to be someone whose line of work seems to as that of a wizard except a more fancy phrase . Time travel episodes of the supernatural series so far have always been gripping , however bizarre and unrealistic they might seem to be in the end . Though i still don't get the theme of this season , its been pretty random ever since Dean escaped purgatory . The episode begins with a recap of all the seasons so far in a very concise manner , enticing the viewer that something enthralling can be expected and succeeds in delivering such a promise .But where was Castiel , he could have helped obtain the Angel Feather?So is the next episode gonna show Sam placing that Box in a Holy Hole ?Or are we just gonna turn a blind eye to such an action and move on to another random event ?

One of the Best Episodes

[readonly-26204 · 10/10 · 19 January 2021]

I loved this episodes. Dean, Sam and Henry were so on point and awesome that it was one of the best episodes ever. The discovery of the Winchester history and the introduction of new demon enemy.

I appreciated how the boys and grandfather slowly got to know each other. Dean always the emotional one, Sam the logic and at time distance-we can see where Sam got it-from grandpa.

Of course, the introduction of the Men of Letter. Great episode.

New Info

[danajs24 · 9/10 · 20 August 2016]

In this episode we're introduced to quite a lot of new information. One, we meet a new big bad guy in Abaddon, a knight of hell with a few more abilities than regular demons. We don't get to see her origin, so I'm assuming this is coming in the future. Sam and Dean also meet their paternal grandfather, a man of letters, which appears to be the much more organized version of hunters. Grandad shows the boys a few tricks, and also gives them a key to the men of letters hideout. Quite an entertaining episode all in all, and Abaddon seems to be where the show will be going for the next few episodes at least. Of course this is kind of a let down, as Lucifer has already been taken care of, and a knight of hell is definitely less than him.

If there is a key then there must be a lock?

[shwetafabm · 8/10 · 25 June 2020]

More family history and time travel Abaddon was cool The whole men of letters thing is a good addition Personally tho i think the time travel thing us getting overdone tho

Great episode - but something's need to be said

[wendelkassio · 9/10 · 10 October 2023]

"Saving people, hunting things". Maybe then, now is more like if convenient for the brothers.

Hate if you want, but check facts first:

> Adam Winchester (their brother): in the cage with Lucifer and Michael, but no one really cared.

> Henry Winchester (John's father, the boy's grandfather): the weapon used to paralise Abaddon was a gun, which would be used from a long distance. I question the need for him to be a martyr and let him be this close for a certain death, if Dean really cared about his life, he would have come up with a plan.

> Kevin's mother: Dean did not think twice before trying to kill her. For him, the end justifies the means.

> Samuel Campbell (Mary's father): he stood up against the boys in other to try to bring Mary back. In this case, the end does not justify the means, at least for Dean and Sam. In addition, a hypocritical speech about the natural order of things.

> Innocent people no longer exorcised, but all killed with the knife: the exception of course lies on the lives of the ones they really care.

I am fine with that, that's what makes a great show, they're human and as such, not flawless. But better if they just cut the hypocrisy out for a change.

Supernatural bounces back!

[mm-39 · 7/10 · 31 January 2013]

Supernatural bounces back with As Time Goes by episode. As time goes by shows a story which goes full circle. Past events are explained by present actions when Sam and Dean meet their missing grandfather (Henry Winchester) who travels from 1958 to present. The episode explains that fate can not be cheated with the ending. This episode give the character development of Sam and Dean which behave different towards their grandfather. Dean is more emotional, and Sam more logical. One sees that the Winchesters were called to a higher order, but fate made them hunters. The Winchester side is the higher order, and the Campbell side is more hunter. I let you decide which brother is which. A memorable episode! I give As Time Goes by a seven out of ten.

Swan song?

[m-camionvole · 5/10 · 13 February 2016]

I never thought I would ever find Supernatural boring but this season is really mortally boring. There's no plot besides this Kevin Tran thing lingering in the back, Dean thinks he's a wonder with his heavy fake tan and throws faces and nasty jokes to everyone all the time, Sam is dealing with some stuff, again, but less convincingly this time, Castiel is not enough on screen but comes just to add a layer to that old humorless-angel and naive behavior, Crowley has no more trick in his sleeve ...

So they count on other character to put some kind of rhythm in it, such as Garth or Charlene (?) but that's not enough when titans like Bobby or Lucifer are no longer here to support the adventures of Sam and Dean.

Even in this episode, where we meet an important member of the Winchester family, which would be impossible in real life, I wasn't convinced. Now that every Winchester has been met, what's left to boost the story? The grandma? However, the character of their grandfather (father side)was pleasant. We apparently have to believe that everyone in this family was a model-type man, and there's the fact that a man living in the fifties, with a very correct language, understands perfectly Dean's mumbling and slang. Okay. But besides that, the story was nice to watch.

It also brings an important question : will there be a legacy to Sam and Dean? Winchesters and Campbells were married and had children but it seems impossible for these two. Will it be on their shoulders to eradicate every single nasty thing on earth?

I hope the show will bounce back because that's a real crime to waste such good material.

I have a Doubt.....!!!!

[hariharthaker · 1 February 2013]

As being a Fan of Supernatural, I might have found a discrepancy in this episode,....

in Season 4 Episode 3 "In The Beginning" (aired : Oct 2nd 2008), When Dean was sent in the past year 1973, when he first encounters his Father John ( Young John Winchester (as Matthew Cohen ) ) in a cafe, at that time, one old man walks in to the cafe and calls out John's full name, when Dean (Jensen Ackles) realizes that's his father, The old man says that "Give my best to your old man" ?? and at that time John looks like he is 28-30, and in this episode Season 8 Ep 12, it's shown that his father walks away when he is no more than 7 or 6, so did this event totally Butterfly Effected History ?? or something else is going on ??

Too much retconning

[hnt_dnl · 3/10 · 16 April 2022]

Obviously, the high rating for this episode is simply because it is about the backstory on the Winchester clan, but frankly this episode feels like a retcon. Plus it's not very good. First, the actor who played Henry Winchester was incredibly stale and monotone, continuing the trend of awful guest acting in Season 8. He didn't feel like someone from the 1950s, just a modern actor doing cosplay. Second, why do writers feel the need to redeem EVERY character? What made the Winchester family saga compelling over the years was that John came from a broken home with absentee parents and was left to his own devices while Mary actually had a good and positive upbringing from 2 loving parents, despite being them all being hunters. John was a NORMAL person who turned hunter, but all of a sudden it turns out that his father wasn't a deadbeat and he disappeared because he travelled in time to 2013 and never returned. One of the best aspects of the early seasons of this show was despite the supernatural focus was also how gritty and grounded the Winchester family dynamic was. After losing Mary, John degenerated a lot into what his father was because he lost the one person who humanized him and lost her in the most brutal way possible. Yet the writers felt the need to force some redemption arc for John's father just because he's a Winchester and in doing so, further undermines the more relatable aspects of the show. Bad parenting and abandonment is a thing. There is no need to retcon that. It's the negative aspects of characters as much as the positives that make them relatable and human. The whole point of the Winchester dynamic was that each generation learned from their parent's mistakes. But now all of a sudden John's father was actually a better father than he was. Not only that, his father was fully aware of the supernatural even before he was. Earlier in the series, there was an episode where we saw Bobby as a spirit re-living painful childhood memories of his abusive father and enabling mother. It was a powerful moment that resulted in genuine viewer sympathy. And unfortunately, I'm also certain that based on this high rating, this forced filler subplot of Sam and Dean's grandfather secretly being a good man drew viewer sympathy as well. But there's good writing of tragic backstories and bad writing for backstories. This episode is most definitely an example of the latter.

Awful episode, introducing the men of letters.

[m-47826 · 2/10 · 6 September 2022]

There's something really wrong with a show, when you stop rooting for the leads. This eight season feels like sabotage. The Winchester's boys drama and melodrama is irritating, useless characters stick around for what seems to be fan service. And the standalone episodes are not even good ways to take our minds off this year's boring arc. As Time Goes by, was ruined by Sam and Dean. The way they got on Henry's case, was stupid and made them look bad. Exactly what Henry's impression of hunters was. Dean was the biggest self righteous D bag there. Didn't he was the one fan girling over a demon two episodes ago? And abandoned his own family last year?! The more I re-watch season 8, the less it adds up with the previous seasons. And it's making me hate it even more. But I like this new plot. I liked the Henry character, and it's sad he was killed off, only it explains why he « abandoned » his own loved ones. And Abbadon is a nice change from whiney Crowley.