The Five Year Plan

We’re more than halfway through Season 4 of Supernatural and most fans will agree the show has really broken out. Not only are the writers penning creeptastic, old school episodes (Family Remains) like those from season 1, they’re also expanding the overall mythology and character growth.

If you’ve been following our discussions here at Supernatural Sisters you know we’re predicting something wicked this way comes, and we’re not talking about your run-of-the-mill siren or ghost. The overall feel is that the Winchesters are heading for a dark showdown--even with each other--and not only does the fate of mankind hang in the balance, so does any hope of the boys having a future.

As the show amps up, and heads into a holy war, we’re left to ponder how Kripke is going to wrap things up. It’s well known that the genius behind Supernatural has always had a five year plan for his paranormal warriors and exec producer Sera Gamble has reiterated this several times. Last year she told Sci-Fi Wire it had “been in place since the show began."

But why? Isn’t there more story to tell? According to Cynthia of SF Universe, at last year’s L.A. Con Kripke said, “Season six would be the boys go to Hawaii and meet Vincent Price and then Dean would get on a motorcycle and literally jump a shark.” The horror! While we all want more Winchesters, we certainly don’t want to see Dean pull a Fonzie.

Yet in typical Supernatural wink-wink irony, episode 4.19 is called Jump the Shark and supposedly introduces a third Winchester. Hmm…. I sense a poke from the writer’s pencil, but Natalie will give us the full scoop on that in March.

In the meantime, we have to 1) hope the CW renews Supernatural for a fifth season (THEY BETTER!!!) and 2) realize if they do it will be the last season. Kripke told E! online fans, “… you want to go out on top—when you're still creatively effective—and you tend to inevitably get a little floppy in the storytelling when you go too long. So you want to pull the plug on the patient before you get a little too deteriorated. Also, this kind of a story, that has an epic sweep and has heroes and demons and the end of the world, you want the saga to come to an end definitely, and you want to watch a final episode that doesn't peter out like a limp balloon. You want it to end so when you cut to black, you can truly say, ‘That is the end of that story.’ So, I'm really campaigning hard to do that.”

I’ll admit the idea of one more season leaves me feeling mournful. There seems to be so much more story to tell and I don’t want things rushed. However, I fully agree that storylines can be dragged out too far and shows often lose their creative punch. As a fan I want the show to go out on Kripke’s terms because I trust his vision, and he says he already knows what the final scene will be, but the idea of losing the Winchesters is unthinkable.

So, how do you feel? Should Kripke stick to his five year plan? Give us more Supernatural stories? Or, as the rumor mill has suggested, do a spin off?