This season so far, I would say some of the best episodes we've had were the episodic / single-episode stories. Like what might be seen a lot in season 1 of Supernatural; we would be introduced to a new enemy or conflict at the start, and at the end of the episode everything had to be wrapped up and solved. The reason, I think, that these types of episodes can be great is that nothing feels as though it is dragging on for too long. We all remember the Leviathans and Dick Roman, who (to many fans) overstayed his welcome because he was in the show for an entire season and then killed off in all of 30 seconds. I bring this up because this season the writers have done a much better job at giving us variety. In the last episode we were reintroduced to the idea of other gods and goddesses, who have all but been forgotten in this show. It is wonderful to see other creatures and ideas brought in, so we don't always know what to expect. And to have everything wrapped up at the end of an episode is often relaxing. Good guys kill the bad guys and we all go home happy.
Goodbye Stranger is NOT episodic, and it is certainly not relaxing in any way, shape, or form. This episodes ties in to the overarching story that has been occurring throughout season 8. We have the demon tablet which is needed in order to close the gates of Hell, and we have an angel tablet which is still a mystery to us and the characters. The main villain this season has of course been Crowley (the king of Hell), and I'd say Naomi stands in line for being an important if not main antagonist.
It varies with each person, but I think that neither Crowley nor Naomi have 'overstayed their welcome' since, as I mentioned, we are given some breathing space in between the episodes that involve these two. It gives us a chance to wonder "where the hell are they? What are they doing?" rather than "greeeeat. Them again." Both Crowley and Naomi make an appearance, as does our lovely angel Castiel...who is not so lovely, actually.
As seen in previous episodes, Castiel has been manipulated by Naomi into doing horrible things, and he never seemed to be entirely aware of what he was doing or why. It seemed to be more of a situation he acted upon, but didn't really want to. From the get-go in Goodbye Stranger, we see that the manipulation Naomi has upon Cas is a bit stronger than it ever was before.
The Winchesters are investigating a case involving demons when they end up crossing paths with Castiel and "work together" with him in an attempt to solve this problem faster. With Naomi and Crowley both involved, this simple demon case could prove to be more than either expected.
One of the potentially great things about episodes like this is that we don't need to introduce new characters like we would in a single-story episode. Introducing and developing characters can really eat away at the 45 minutes we have per episode, giving us a rushed and unfulfilled ending. In Goodbye Stranger, we are RE-introduced to several characters, and because we already know them it saves us that time needed to give all of the background info on them and use that time for the actual plot. For those of you who watched the promo, you'll know that Meg is back. The last time we saw Meg was the end of season 7 when our group of heroes faced Dick Roman. Meg had a wonderful part in this episode. I truly enjoyed having her in season 7 to take care of Castiel while he was a bit...insane. Her character really grew on me, so I was thrilled to have her back this episode.
All of the characters had equally important parts. And unless my mind is trying to make connections that don't exist, it seems that we're getting to the end of the season where they are starting to explain all of the random and unsolved events that have taken place throughout season 8. This is the time when we will discover whether the writers are brilliant planners that have woven their mysteries within these random plots to then have everything tie together at the end...or we will discover that the writers are just making random plots with unresolved conclusions. It seemed that some of the statements and questions brought up in Goodbye Stranger were too big to be coincidence, and they certainly didn't go unnoticed. This leads me to believe that many of the 'unimportant' or forgotten mini-plots that take place at random times in season 8 are actually crucial events. Because of this, there are so many questions we are dying to know the answer to, but will have to wait and find out.
I hold to my statement from before: SOME of the best episodes have been the episodic plots; but I think Goodbye Stranger is definitely a runner- up for best episode this season. I don't think I've ever been more tense or worried for our beloved characters as much as I have this entire episode. It was nicely paced from start to end and the progression of plot was enough to get me excited for the remaining episodes of season 8 as well as season 9. Loved it! 9 / 10
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