Bringing Back God...or Chuck

In a recent article, Rob Benedict talked about the difficulty of bringing his character back. "It’s so self-conscious…" he says. "It’s kind of hard to just have him walk through the door and be like ‘Hey, how’s it going'?"

I don't think it's hard at all! You just have to love Chuck and Rob Benedict enough to be motivated to find the solution. :)

I think Chuck was not meant to be God from the beginning of his story thread. I just can't buy that God would sit alone in a ratty bathrobe and dial up porn while drinking bad whiskey. Yes, he took on a role to hide his true identity from the boys, but when they weren't around, who was he playing for?

Therefore, I think Kripke came up with that very fitting closure to his tenure as showrunner well into the season. It made "early Chuck as God" a little unbelievable, but now it makes bringing Chuck back super easy.

I don't think they have to bring Chuck back as God, or bring the "real" God onto the show at all. So far, God's presence—except for that one episode in the final moments of the Big Battle—has been off screen. He's done incredible things, like bringing Cas back (twice, really, and geez, this is how Cas repays him?!), but all from afar. Gentle nudging of events, not direct interference. Cas isn't the first being to declare himself lord and master, so God really doesn't have to change his behavior. If he wasn't going to jump in to prevent the apocalypse, he's not likely to show up for this poser.

Sam and Dean don't know that Chuck was "God." As far as we've seen, they haven't tried to find or contact him since Sam went into the pit. They can do a quick explainer, of course. Dean saying, "Dude, I tried to call you like fifty times." Or they can just admit to having been so wrapped up in their own issues they didn't think about him.

But what do Sam and Dean think happened to Chuck? (Rhetorical question.) If God only took Chuck's role for a short time, where did Chuck go during that? Maybe he was sleeping some real, awesome, dreamless sleep while God took over his prophet duties. Maybe, when he woke up, he realized he could have his life back. Or actually have a life. He wrote a new book, all his own ideas, and sold it and became a bestseller. In the meantime, he worked in a toilet paper factory (because it takes a long time to get from Page One to NY Times Bestseller list).

Okay, that established, what kind of storyline could draw Chuck back to the screen for us? Throw out some ideas!

Lingering Questions

So it's the first week of a long summer without any new Supernatural episodes. Thursday night feels...odd. But while I was reading a recent Entertainment Weekly special section on LOST and its upcoming series finale, when they mentioned the lingering questions everyone has about the show it made me start thinking about the same thing for Supernatural. So here are some of my lingering questions:

1. Of course, the first one is what Natalie explored on Wednesday: Who is Sam now? I'm not sure I have a theory yet. I was just so surprised to see him at the end of the episode.

2. Doesn't Crowley still have Bobby's soul? If Crowley's around next season, will he still be on the boys' side or start making trouble for them like demons do?

3. What will Castiel do in heaven if he goes back there? Will we see him? If so, how often? I hate to say it, but I'm not sure the show with just the boys will be as satisfying anymore. I like what these great secondary characters like Castiel, Bobby and Crowley bring to the show and bring out in the brothers.

4. Does the entire road to the apocalypse just start over? Someone said (Was it Zachariah?) that this apocalypse wasn't the first one, that the earth had been wiped clean before. Does that mean we could go back to the type of monster-of-the-week episodes we had in Season 1? I'm not sure we could do that without it maybe feeling like a letdown after the past couple of seasons, but I could totally be wrong.

5. Will we see Papa Winchester again?

6. Do we ever get a definitive answer about whether Chuck is God? I'm not sure I like the whole portrayal of God as a figure who sits back and just gets his amusement from moving humans, demons and angels around like cheese pieces. Plus, I really wanted Chuck to just be the goofball Prophet Chuck.

5. Are the spoilers right? Or are they just messing with us? The text is hidden on the rest of this item so those avoiding spoilers can continue to do so. I saw a spoiler that says next season starts several years in the future, with Dean living that apple pie life but perhaps being dissatisfied with it. If Sam is really Sam, is he living that kind of life too? What could they possibly be doing? Is Dean a car mechanic? Working at Bobby's junkyard? Is Sam an attorney? Do they have kids? Wives? And just how far into the first episode of the season is something light-flickeringly weird going to happen to launch them back into the hunting life? How will they feel about that? Resigned? Restored? Useful again?

What are your theories and thoughts about the above questions. What are your lingering questions about the series?