Well, it’s time to discuss shows in the tv graveyard known as Friday nights. You’ll notice that while there aren’t many (there are two), we had a lot to say about both of them. We have one more post in this series, covering weekend and random shows so make sure you come back and check that out.

As always, SB’s thoughts are in blue and mine are in purple.

Supernatural

I have to say … I REALLY enjoyed this season of Supernatural.  Season 6 eventually came around, but until the very end where it all tied together, it was a bit of a shit show, and I don’t think the transition from Kripke to Sera Gamble was as seamless as everyone had hoped.  But, that said, I do think she delivered a great season and proved her value.  This year had everything I look for as a Supernatural fan–cool monsters of the week, brotherly bonding and teamwork (and less estrangement), funny lines, gross-out moments that make you almost puke, scenes that make you cry actual tears (Sam taking Bobby’s hand and thanking him for everything while he was in a coma), Metallicar porn, and best of all … WEIRDO CAS.  God, I love him so much.  When he made Dean pull his finger … it was like a spiritual (sexual?) awakening for me.

I think the other really good thing about this season (especially after the last) was just how well the Leviathan story worked.  And I like that even though Dick Roman is gone, it’s not fully wrapped up yet.  And oh my GOD, perfect set up for next season.  I’m really excited about it.  And Dick was a good villain, because he was funny and creepy and weird, and definitely scary.  But also because of the dick jokes.  Did you guys catch in the last episode when the newscaster on the TV in the background asked why Dick is so hard to beat?  HAHAHAHAHA!  I feel like the show had a really good time with that this year, and as a result, so did I.  This was a good season.

We haven’t really done this for any of the other shows, but can we take a minute and discuss my wishlist for next season?  I’m REALLY excited for Jeremy Carver to come back, and I think it’ll be awesome.  And I hope it’s not the last.  You just really never know with this show.  I’ve been preparing for it to be the last season since S5, but I honestly kind of feel like the boys like their lives how they are, and if they feel like the show still has good stories, they’ll keep going.  BUT, if for some reason this is the last season, I REALLY want to see John Winchester again.  Show, do not keep holding out.  Or JDM, do not keep holding out.  I mean really, you’re not THAT busy.  And before the show ends, I REALLY want to see Missouri Mosely again.  I loved her and I’ve been waiting for her return since the first season.  I guess that’s it, really.  Just two things.  You can do it, Show!

Obviously since I’ve been recapping the show all season, I’ve already said a lot about it. But in case you haven’t been following, I too, was a big fan of the hard-to-beat Dick (hee) and the leviathan arc in general. To me, it’s the most interesting and scary monster to be introduced on the show in a while. So I’m also glad that it’s not over yet. More bibbing! More organ-chomping! I’m also a Cas fan, and Mischa Collins has been absolutely KILLING it all season. He’s so good at being the weirdest guy in the room, even when he’s just a voice on the phone (his panicked call to Meg about being surrounded by pissed-off dogs at a track was hilarious). I can’t wait for even more of it next year.

I also agree that Sara Gemble did a great job all season (well, I still maintain that the Bobby thing should have ended when he died in the hospital, especially since Revenge-y Ghost Bobby amounted to nothing more than a way to extend Jim Beaver’s presence to the end of the season). I loved the monsters, crazy Sam, the end of crazy Sam, Rainman Cas, Purgatory, Dick, Crowley….it was all great. And the Bobby thing was really fantastic too, right up until it wasn’t. I am so excited to see what Jeremy Carver will do to build on all of this goodness next year. If the season manages to be even half as hilarious, disgusting and twisted as ‘A Very Supernatural Christmas’ (which he wrote) we’re in for a very good time.

Oh, and I have to co-sign SB’s requests, especially the return of JDM. I’ve been wishing for this forever. There was a piece about him in EW recently, and they asked him about his work on SPN. He said that he loved it and that he’d go back in a heartbeat, but he didn’t seem to think TBTB were into it. To which I say, PERPOSTEROUS! Unless he killed a (very close) relative of someone who works on the show WHILE SOBER, it would be absolute lunacy not to make that happen.

Grimm

As I said when we did the mid-year roundup, this show really came out of nowhere for me and became one of my favorite shows on TV.  And as the season went on, it not only stayed consistently good, but really got even better.  The show has evolved past monsters of the week, which I think was sort of the plan all along.  I just … you guys, if you aren’t watching this, and you like genre shows at ALL … if you were ever a Buffy fan, or you wanted to check it out but it was on at the same time as Supernatural, that’s not going to be a problem next season with SPN moving to Wednesdays, and I really recommend catching up on this.  It’s GOOD.

A couple of positive developments have occurred since the halfway point of the season, starting with the recurrence of various characters, “monsters” especially.  Grimm operates in a world where there has quickly been a hard line drawn about Grimms killing monsters–they do, all of them.  But Nick doesn’t see it that way, and he knows that there are good “wesen” (the show’s word for monsters/creatures), and he’s cool with leaving them alive.  Obviously we’ve loved Eddie from the beginning, but now we also have Rosalee, who will be a regular cast member next season and I ADORE her.  I was so excited when that was announced.  She’s kind of a Giles/Willow type character, who has a lot of knowledge and research resources.  But I really think that my favorite recurring “good guys” are the beavers.  You guys, they’re HILARIOUS.  And perfect.  If this show ever decides it needs a spinoff, I vote for the beavers.  (But also, please don’t.  I like them where they are.)

Some other good things?  Nick’s skills and Grimm swagger have been developing slowly but steadily over the course of the season, in a really believable way.  There have been hints of a larger, probably sinister plot going on involving Renard and reapers, and of course, the Hexenbiest has been a recurring villainess, so that all adds nice layers of darkness to the show without getting mired in it while keeping us guessing.  And the show has been playing in a very real way with the people closest to Nick finding out what’s going on.  Wesen mention things in front of Juliette or Hank, beavers fill Nick’s living room with various gift baskets (DYING OF BEAVER LOVE … no wait, I mean … no, that’s what I mean), Wu gets tangled up in a spell and wakes up to Rosalee and Eddie standing over him, and so on.  You get the feeling all season that they all WILL find out, but when?  And how?  And should they?

And that all led up to, of course, Nick telling Juliette what was going on, and her thinking he was batshit insane (because seriously, who WOULDN’T think that?).  It was all around just a cool season finale and next season looks awesome.  I really, really can’t wait, and I really, really recommend that if you’re not watching this show, you give it a shot over the summer.  I’m sure it’s online somewhere, so bump it up on your list and join us in nerding out over it next year.

I have heard the internet rumblings about how good this show is, and they’ve only been getting louder as the season has gone on. I know I should be watching it, but I’m not. Yet. I trust SB – she made me a TVD convert and for that I am thankful. And, she’s an SPN superfan so clearly her taste in genre shows is impeccable. I guess the main reason that I haven’t jumped in yet (besides the general onslaught of really good tv we’ve had this year combined with the mandatory limit on the number of hours per day) is that in my mind, Grimm and Once Upon a Time are very linked since they are both about fairy tales and they debuted at the same time. And to me, OUaT looks really stupid. I’m sorry if you watch it – I am totally basing this opinion on very random things I’ve seen online, but I just don’t think it’s for me. Grimm seems way more up my alley though, so I guess I’ll have to make the time for it at some point. Even though it suffers from that thing that all genre shows suffer from: when someone tries to describe it to a person who’s never seen it, it sounds totally, insanely laughable. I was in hysterics reading SB’s thoughts on the show (‘beavers fill Nick’s living room with various gift baskets?????’). But if she’s that enthusiastic about something that sounds that ridiculous, I feel it’s my duty to at least check it out.
That’s it for us with respect to Friday shows – now it’s your turn, so hit the comments!