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my-sherlock221b · 3 years

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Supernatural Rewatch Ramblings: Wendigo

Wendigo

The long line of the MoTW series in Supernatural starts off with the Woman in White which is fairly well- known legend/ myth in most countries. Then we get this one next which claims origin from the Native American mythology.

Here is a review of the Wendigo episode with thoughts from me and @soulmates-for-real

I have always wondered why they were not so inclusive or better at being inclusive as a show. Yes, they did have many women and people of colour in important and strong roles, both positive and negative (though they could have done so much better!). But they steered clear from some of the huge mythology lores like that from Native Americans, Hindu, Latin American cultures. This may have been a wise political strategy to avoid conflict and so they stuck to the Judeo- Christian core but still managed a rather radical take on it!

Spoiler alert:

*God was the final villain?! Who would have guessed? And that the angels were dicks, relentlessly, and demons were in fact ex-humans.*

So back to Wendigo.

What a monster the Wendigo is!! In later seasons when we got only angels and demons and some vampires etc the other monsters were monsters in and of themselves. Like they were born that way—needing to eat human pituitary glands or whatever.

But Woman in White and Wendigo, and even Dead in the Water, or the Shapeshifter --the monster was created by circumstances. Betrayal and infidelity leading to murder suicides, extreme starvation leading to cannibalism and eternal hunger.

Far more terrifying than someone who is born a ghoul perhaps.

So here we are in Wendigo, at the forest/camp site with these fake, charming, rather useless camp rangers who carry M&Ms (nice touch and throwback to E.T. !), don’t wear shorts ( which anyway seems like a weird thing to wear when there is grass and stuff—why would you want to expose your legs?!), can’t see bear traps ( Seriously Dean?! ).

Sam is still restless and bristling at Jess’s death, as well as angry at Dad. All those years of separation do not seem to have given him any peace in his relationship with his father. Now to add massive insult to his already injured sense of self—he has lost his girlfriend in exactly the same way as his father lost his wife—making them even more identical.

So he is cranky and unwilling to give in to any of Dean’s suggestions. He denies his own nightmares, refuses good advice and food and is generally misanthropic. While Dean on the other hand seems to be enjoying this like a happy jolly road trip. The monster is almost like a secondary priority now.

What is most important, (and this becomes even more obvious in a re-watch post finale)—what is THE most important thing is that Sammy is riding shotgun, is in front of his eyes and safe.

Miserable and bitchy but safe.

That allows Dean to dial back a bit and bring into focus what has always been, for him, the really important part of their lives—saving people. This is always more important to him that hunting things. So, when he finds out about someone’s brother being lost and the coordinates match what his dad has left, well there is no choice really.

They have to find a way to save him.

If they find Dad there, well, good, but that is suddenly not a priority for him at all. He turned up at Sam’s doorstep, and as we know from the finale, waited there for HOURS since he was unsure of his welcome, then broke in at 3 am or something like an idiot….but anyway…..all that was because Dad had been away on a hunting trip and hadn’t been home in a few days…blah blah blah.

The first contact Dean makes with Sam who left home to go to college is to recruit him to help find Dad—the same guy who told Sam that if he went away to stay away.

And then suddenly now that Sam is with him, finding Dad is like meh. If we find him somewhere by the wayside while you and I hunt monsters Sammy, then yeah sure, great.

If not…well….we have stuff to do you and I…saving people, hunting things. The family business.

And John Winchester….well, what can I possibly say about him without taking up pages in ranting?! Why did he ditch the first monster? Why was he in SUCH a hurry to leave that he left his journal behind??

My theory of course is that he had to run away from the Woman in White since he had been unfaithful to Mary ( yes yes I know it had been YEARS at that point, but hello, this man made his life a crusade for revenge and sacrificed his kids’ lives also to that darkness, so…yes, being with Adam’s mother was an infidelity and you can’t change my mind on that !).

So naturally John was afraid he would be killed.

But still….he left coordinates for the next hunt in the journal and just ran off?!

The other question is what the hell is happening in motels across USA? Guys like these can just check- in on fake credit cards, leave a room full of satanic and serial killer-y documents, sometimes dead bodies, lots of salt at the door and windows, and just disappear without checking out….

Though the police do seem quite alert and swift in action in the Pilot compared to some of the laidback and clueless ones we see later.

What is most interesting is to see the character of season 1 Dean emerge.

He sass, he boss, he flirt, he lie, he charm, he fight, he save.

In fact, the very first time I saw Supernatural, it seemed that Dean occupied so much of the narrative space that I barely noticed Sam except as a foil to and a brother to Dean.

Now in the re-watch what is fascinating in retrospect is to watch Sam slide into ‘the life’ without a hiccup. He reads the journal, he figures out it’s a wendigo, he gets the civilians to cooperate, he also fights and saves.

And that look he gives Dean in the car?

Well, those who missed the signs in Pilot and didn’t ship Wincest from day one, surely started doing it then!

https://www.geekgirlauthority.com/supernatural-rewatch-s01e02-wendigo/

This is also the first episode that gives a clear parallel to the Sam and Dean relationship through the B plot. When Haley says she MUST go to find her brother –Dean nods in instant understanding while Sam is pissed off at having to ‘babysit.’

We see this in many more episodes in the future, and what is fascinating is to see Sam gain insights into his brother with every such parallel. To recognize what being the big brother has meant to Dean and how much he has done and given and even suffered for that. We will discuss this in more detail in the next episode review! ( Dead in the Water)

The chemistry and ease, almost a fluid sense of flow between the two actors is unmistakable in this episode. Even as Sam is really being a bitch and Dean is being a jerk, there is a definite undercurrent of something holding them together. It may be all about revenge for Jess’s death and finding Dad for Sam, but he will still stick with Dean and want to protect him as fiercely as Dean wants to protect Sam.

Sheila O’Malley has given a detailed explanation for the acting styles of Jared and Jensen and what she said about Jared is spot on and brilliant. He does what she calls active listening.

It is amazing how once you realize that you notice it all the time.

The reason why Dean can manage such perfect comedic timing or non- verbal communication is because Sam is always ALWAYS tuned into him. Listening, watching, reacting, observing.

Once again, for those of you interested in the meta and more erudite and informed reviews that this one 😊 do read what Sheila O’Malley has written.

Here are some excerpts which will entice you!

“David Nutter, who directed the pilot, also directed episode 2, and there’s a new DP here, the phenomenally talented Serge Ladouceur, who is still shooting the show. If the DP for the pilot, Aaron Schneider, helped establish the dark mood and horror-movie feel of the series, then Ladouceur just helped deepen and strengthen that continuum. The look of the show has changed, by Season 9. I would say that it has a more glamorous look now, more colorful, while certainly still very dramatic (even melodramatic). Supernatural is (and has been) one of the best looking shows on television.”

“The ranger comes in to talk to them, and they pose as environmental studies majors at the university in Boulder. Sam says they are “working on a paper”, clearly improvising, and you can watch the glorious schtick of Jensen Ackles as he adjusts to the new information of who he is supposed to be pretending to be. God is in the details, people, and it’s the detailed scene work of both Ackles and Padalecki that keeps this show going. David Nutter referred to Jensen Ackles once as a “meticulous actor” in terms of his preparation for every scene, no matter how small, and it pays off. He knows what the fuck he is doing. So does Padalecki. I couldn’t give two shits about the demons. It’s that DYNAMIC that is so entertaining and watch-able.”

And here are some thoughts on the episode from @soulmates-for-real, my partner in crime for the rewatch 😊

Except the fact that Sam is quite secretive about his nightmares but his body language is quite open and his expressions easy to read. On the contrary, I saw Dean posturing a lot with other people, pouting, flirting, making eyes...trying to be all nonchalant. But when it comes to Sam we see a different Dean - the more antsy and angsty Sam gets, the more intensely Dean reacts to him and you can see Dean's concern shining through. Leading to Sam coming to some kind of resolution and giving Dean 'that look' at the end!

#spn #supernatural #spn meta #spn reviews #j2 #wincest #fandom

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moviegroovies · 3 years

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confession time: for someone who (semi) actively runs a movie blog, i really haven’t seen a lot of classic movies.

(i know this comes as a shock for those of y’all who have been subjected to nothing but my half-baked thoughtpieces on bad 80′s horror for the past couple of years, but bear with me.)

to be honest, even this review doesn’t REALLY represent me making an active choice to remedy that so much as it does me pulling a long con where i endear myself to marilyn monroe by watching her movies to get myself excited to watch the miniseries blonde (2001), for abnormally pretty, young jensen ackles purposes*, but let’s not dwell on all that. the practical result is the same; i watched some like it hot (1959). now, i hope y’all are ready for a few some like it Thoughts™:

first, idk how much attention y’all have been paying to the loose bits of personal lore i occasionally scatter within my reviews, but one thing about myself that i feel i’ve been pretty open about is the fact that i’m trans. this being so, and knowing not a whole lot about the movie beyond the very basic premise “1959 extended man in a dress gag,” i can’t say i went in with the highest of expectations. imagine my surprise, then, when the gender aspect of this movie was... actually pretty good? i mean, full disclosure, it’s not exactly gender studies, but it’s passable! it’s tolerable! there were even a few moments where i felt inclined to say the words “oh, GENDER?” out loud!

perhaps most impressively, i’d say the Cis Creator Cringe Factor of some like it hot was actually impressively LOWER than a lot of modern moves with genderswapping premises tend to be. like, i know that one definite explanation for that would be the fact that trans experiences are more widespread today, so modern filmmakers don’t feel comfortable playing with ideas like this without at least giving lipservice to them, while the era that bore some like it hot didn’t face the same “pressure,” but, okay. listen. compared to another movie i watched recently--freaky (2020), in which a teenage girl swaps bodies with serial killer vince vaugn, featuring one incredibly anvilicious scene where, upon being informed by a gay boy that she’s in the men’s bathroom, the girl’s best friend retorts, “she [vince vaugn]’s got a dick in her hand, and you’re wearing chanel no. 5. i think we’re past labels.”--some like it hot, a movie older than my father, was wayyyy easier to watch**. actually, you know what? yeah. listen to me. cis content creators? movie producers? i’m talking to you. DON’T EVEN BRING GENDER (or gender “identities”... which is an incredibly gross term, anyway) UP IF YOU’RE NOT PLANNING TO DO SOMETHING WITH IT. sincerely, this particular bad taste corner of the trans community :).

...anyway.

some like it hot, by contrast, did it right. YES, the premise of the movie was two presumably cis men in disguise as women. i’ll put that in the open. however, there was a certain... i don’t know if “respect” is the right word, but there was an avoidance, at least, of the usual predatory tropes. in fact, the worst behavior by far from either main character comes when joe manages to take off his female disguise, donning another, male persona and using things that sugar (marilyn’s character) confided in “josephine” to create a nonthreatening, desirable “millionaire” in order to trick her into sex. okay, like i said, it’s not gender studies, but, the humor in some like it hot comes from generally the right place. joe and jerry don their female disguises in a matter that in quite literally life and death for them (and it’s more than the creators ever thought of, i’m sure, but there IS an interesting analysis to be had of them needing to pass to live), which to a degree removes the usual pitfalls of male to female crossdressing as a gag; they’re neither doing it for lecherous reasons, nor to parody the female experience. this being a comedy, there is a degree of humor found in the situation, but it’s directed at jerry and joe, the characters, more than their disguises. the general assumption is that they both pass without question, as long as they’re wearing their ladies’ clothes; jerry once comments that he’s “not even pretty,” but it’s never an issue to contend with.

wrt the crossdressing, the worst moment for me, personally, was a scene on the train when jerry prepared to take off the disguise in order to sleep with sugar, and even this ends up comedically averted at jerry’s expense.

and speaking of jerry.

jerry is actually the most compelling part of the movie for me, especially viewing it through the lens of gender. while joe, who gets the girl and manages to spend large chunks of the latter part of the film in his second, male disguise, never thinks too much about what they’re doing beyond the survival aspect of it, jerry is the one who, erm, “gets into character.” joe’s female name is simply josephine; before they get on the train with the woman musicians, it’s assumed that jerry will be going by “geraldine.” however, when they give their introductions, the duo becomes josephine... and daphne.

as the movie progresses, this distinction grows more pronounced; when joe has to remind a smitten jerry on the train that he’s a girl, referring to their disguises, jerry miserably repeats the affirmation: “i’m a girl. i’m a girl. i want to die. i’m a girl.” later on, however, as joe’s relationship with sugar develops, “daphne” becomes acquainted with local horndog millionaire osgood, who he at first dislikes, but comes around to after being forced on a date as part of joe’s plan to trick sugar. after seeing jerry excited by the prospect of marrying osgood, a bewildered joe has to remind jerry why it’s an impossibility, and in the same miserable tone as before, jerry/daphne muddles through a new affirmation, one that definitely didn’t ring false to my trans ears: “i’m a boy. i’m a boy. i want to die. i’m a boy.”

hm. actually, now i’m thinking about a trans male reading of joe. he was the one at first resistant to taking the job (with the all-female band), when they only needed money, and not a place to hide from an upset mob boss, but also the one who seems to know more about the role when it comes time to get into character. while jerrydaphne gets increasingly comfortable with femininity as time passes, joe never performs it in anything but a perfunctory, necessary way, and sloughs the costume EVEN WHEN the danger of being found out has not yet passed, because pretending for such a long period of time is just untenable. something about passing for female being a safe haven and a burden for both closeted (re-closeted, in this case) trans men and out trans women?

anyway. by the end, though both osgood and sugar do find out the truth about the disguises, sugar seems to instantly forgive joe for his treacherousness (again, referring more to his actions as the shell millionaire than his escapade in drag), while osgood appears unbothered by daphne’s truth, leading to an ambiguous ending for the futures of the characters, and any realizations that might come later.

no, it’s not the “real transgender experience.” it (thankfully) never claims to be. BUT, being trans myself, there were some moments that made me feel linked to our protagonists, and relatively few, if any, that made me feel alienated. all in all, that’s a lot more than i hoped for going in, so that’s what i’m happy with.

watch some like it hot, y’all. it’s a good movie in a timeless way, and, as modern movies appealing to short-lived trends that will feel outdated next week (if not by the very time of their release) will show you, that’s more than it needed to be.

*since my original draft of this post, i DID watch blonde, and i don’t know if that’s technically fair game for this blog (not exactly a movie) or what, but 6/10. fairly well done piece of art but just BEATINGLY tragic, so proceed with caution. jensen ackles literally is THAT PRETTY though, so the jackles cut i give a strong 11/10. i am a homosexual. **i would like to clarify that this isn’t me telling you not to watch freaky. yes, some of the dialogue is tragically riverdaleian, but there’s also a scene where vince vaugn makes out with a teenage boy. so,

#some like it hot #text post #freaky (2020)#link #jerry/daphne #joe #transgender

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i-make-fun-of-spn-characters · 4 years

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Hi!! I just wanted to say that I love your blog sooo much, your posts always makes me laugh and they are the best. I've got a question: Do you think that Sam and Cas are more underrated than Dean is on the show? (Sorry if I misspelled something). Your blog is amazing💕💕

Thank ya!

Provided I understand your question, from my own perspective, I don’t really feel like any of the main characters are “underrated”, per se. If you mean that Dean is probably the most popular character out of the three, then yeah—that’s probably true, but I wouldn’t really say that means that Sam and Cas are underrated/not appreciated enough by fans.

I think the important thing to remember here is this: popularity isn’t a zero sum game. Having a favorite character doesn’t diminish the excellence of other characters. To illustrate what I mean...Someone can pick one MCU movie that is their favorite, but still think the other Marvel movies are really really excellent movies and still really enjoy watching them, right? In the same way, I don’t think Dean’s popularity means that Sam and Cas are underrated—just that a lot of people happen to really like Dean for one reason or another. Most of those people also think of Sam and Cas as really great characters. There’s just something about Dean that makes him a little bit more of a favorite to them. We can say the same of most Cas and Sam fans: The vast majority of them also like Dean a lot—there’s just that special something that makes Sam or Cas just a little more dear to their heart.

If it helps, I can give a few reasons why I think Dean is likely a popular favorite?

Dean serves a lot of familial roles besides just that of an older brother, which I think viewers often relate to and understand in very complex and often very emotional and personal ways.

Dean tends to headline comedic bits in the show (either with Sam as his straight man, or with Cas as a comedy duo, where they trade back and forth being completely exasperated with each other).

Dean tends to headline fight scenes and kills the bulk of the monsters with relative consistency throughout the series (They did the math) making him kind of the main “badass” of the group.

Dean tends to be at the center of highly emotional moments in the show.

Dean tends to enjoy the little things in life even when his life as a whole isn’t going great. He’ll intensely enjoy one of his favorite foods, make a corny joke and be unduly proud of himself; geek out about Scooby Doo or rock music or horror movies or cowboys. He’s also a mountain of snarky pop culture references. All of this makes him fun and endearing to watch for many.

He gives a lot of rousing speeches (less so in later seasons, but it’s one of the things earlier in the show that makes him a major mouthpiece establishing the show’s family themes and the Winchester’s underdog mentality).

From the show’s beginning, Dean’s love for his family is very overt, intense, and sacrificial, and is heartbreaking and moving to many.

Tbh I could write pages about this, but there’s a lot to appreciate about the complexity with which Dean as a character can be understood without his story ever becoming super expositional in approach, which is probably what I personally enjoy most about him.

Jensen is very handsome...which is not to say that Jared and Misha aren’t!! All three of them are highly attractive men. But when I go on Reddit, let me tell you... the number of guys admitting unprompted that Jensen Ackles makes them question their heterosexuality is not to be trifled with. He is a very handsome man, and that comes with its own appeal.

We could make similar lists about Sam and Cas! They might have some similar things (for example, Cas and Sam can also be VERY funny!!!), and then there would be other unique things on those lists that are specifically awesome about just Sam/Cas! And just me making this “reasons people like Dean” type list doesn’t make Sam or Cas somehow lesser... making a “reasons people like Sam/Cas” list wouldn’t make Dean lesser. =D

They’re all great characters—it’s just about what speaks to a person/draws them in.

#being serious for 5 seconds #mail

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dotthings · 4 years

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All right let’s do this. SPN 15.10. “The Heroes Journey.”

Look, I have now watched Jensen tap-dancing. A whole extended musical number of Jensen Ackles, dancing. WHAT AM I SUPPOSED TO DO NOW, ALL RIGHT I NEED TO GET A GRIP. WRITE SOME META. HERE YOU GO.

How very Joseph Campbell of you, Dabb. Except the irony here is it’s not Joseph Cambell style hero journey exploration that’s being highlighted here, those big mythic gestures--the call, rejection of the call, acceptance of the call, reckoning with the father and so on. This ep tapped into a different heroic theme that has a lot in common with superhero narratives. It’s not the powers, it’s not the mask, it’s not the really kevlar or mecha suit or the cape that makes a hero a hero. It’s who they are as a person when all that’s stripped away. Who are they without that. This ep gave me some some S6 Buffy vibes, or it symbolically pre-serum Steve Rogers’ed Sam and Dean.

It showed their courage and determination and refusal to give up even though they no longer has the same literally God-given, chosen ones blessed luck. It’s not that they didn’t know how to lock-pick or throw a punch or dodge a punch or what to do about monsters any more. They are still highly trained, but none of it was working. I think Chuck didn’t just remove the blessed luck, he gave them an extra zap of extra rotten luck just to be a stinker.

But they didn’t give up and this episode yet again makes it clear--Chuck can fiddle with environment around them, even do stuff directly to people, but he can’t make them feel, he can’t give them feelings they don’t have, he can’t control their thoughts. We started the season with Dean’s doubts about what’s real and whether anything he and Sam have been through has meaning, given the reveal of Chuck as puppet master, but Dean throws down here with a battle cry of it wasn’t all Chuck. It was us. The blood, the sweat the tears.

That’s how this storyline works and the show keeps indicating that’s how it works. They are not without free will. They don’t stop being themselves. They didn’t do everything because of Chuck. They made choices despite the manipulations around them, it was still all them, just trapped in Chuck’s rat maze.

Huh and just an aside maybe Dean really listened to Cas’s speech about that earlier this season, not just to Sam’s, ya think? Considering we’re past the deliberate Cas erasure stage, then we went through the reluctant begrudging actually speaking to each other stage, then we had the pretending not to look at each other yet constantly looking at each other stage, and then we had the ice melting and things are still a mess but the deep freeze is ended. All through that, Dean was thinking about Cas’s words. About how they made their own choices. And “we are.”

This ep self-referentially deconstructed SPN’s own conceits about Sam and Dean. They’re supposed to be these “sweaty overwhelmed hunters” (Kripke) and supposedly regular guys. And yes that has been a massive part of the appeal to me all along, I was never a big fan of Sam and Dean as Chosen Ones or the only guys who can do this. The point is they’re regular guys who are trained and honed into the warriors they became. But here’s the thing, SPN never really did that. The grit was soft focus, Sam and Dean cloaked in fantasy. Perfect teeth, perfect hair, perfect manicures. We saw some dirt, some blood, but they’re also the highly marketable leads on a CW genre urban fantasy horror tv series. They didn’t get colds, or cavities, nor did Baby ever break down. I know Baby is an amazing car but if we’re going to talk realism...she would break down at least sometimes. Have they even so much as run out of gas and had to walk 10 miles?

So there has always been this heroic glow around them, an idealization the show itself used, the way they’re filmed and shot. And that’s the thing about many hero narratives...would we really want it another way for some things? Some hero narratives are more genuine gritty. SPN...never was. It occupied a liminal space. It’s gritty...only so far. They’re just regular dudes...not exactly. Not just in the lack of everyday people realism, but their entire story, their whole existence, was revealed in S4/5 as engineered by Heaven. Surely it can’t be a shock the reveal at the end of S14 their whole existence...as engineered by Chuck. SPN already ripped that open, the difference is how far up the power chain the manipulation went. Turns out it went up to the deity CEO not just squabbling angels. They were Special. Chosen. Destined. Play your roles. The Boy with the Demon Blood. The Righteous Man. I have always been a lot more interested in heroes who aren’t the Chosen Ones (although I am a big Buffy fan). I liked that Sam and Dean were regular guys. Which...they are. With the god luck, without the god luck, they are.

They’re no less themselves, they’re not less Sam and Dean, they didn’t retroactively lose their free will, because of the reveal of Chuck as puppet master. They didn’t stop being Sam and Dean because the god luck was taken away. This ep captured that spirit, through the lens of an off-center, comedic meta episode, but that right there, is Sam and Dean’s spirit.

Isn’t it interesting, the ringmaster came up with a marketing hook for Sam and Dean in the fight cage, “The two of you against the world,” when what actually ends up happening is Sam and Dean go all out to save themselves, but it doesn’t actually work, and their friend Garth saves them. Because along with the whole thing about it not being the mask or the costume or the powers that define superheroes, there’s the thing about how heroes need their friends, sometimes they need an assist.

Sam and Dean, alone against the world...ok in some respects, SPN works within that trope, the mythic appeal of that dynamic, part of the hazy glow of fantasy that surrounds these characters, but what have we seen on SPN time and again, and again, and now again in its final season, where it’s a theme shown even louder and it’s been pretty loud for a while.

I can't do this alone Yes you can. Yeah, well, I don't want to.

Think that was just the brothers, off into infinity, no, while that’s a great Sam and Dean moment, that was just the opening notes of this song, it began there with them and kept expanding to include them and their friends and their family. It was all there right from the start. First it was John, not just Sam and Dean. Then it was Bobby, not just Sam and Dean. Then it was Sam, Dean, Bobby, and the Harvelles. Then it was Sam, Dean, the Harvelles, and Cas. Then Team Free Will. Charlie. Garth. Jack. Eileen. Or the Wayward Sisters who, like Garth, saved Sam and Dean because even heroes aren’t 100% perfection who can always save themselves, sometimes they do in fact need some help.

Here’s something else the ep showed us. While Sam and Dean have done all they did with this extra god chosen good luck, all the other hunters took the risks and did a dirty, terrifying, exhausting endless job without being blessed the same way by Chuck. Chuck didn’t care about them, not like he does about Sam and Dean. They are brave and needed and necessary too. Oh I see you, SPN. I see you.

Dean’s utterly sappy soft look watching Garth dance with his wife, continuing on that theme of that longing for...something, someone.

Can’t go wrong with Sam and Dean and babies. Big Sam holding his namesake baby Sammy. MY HEART.

Dean holding baby Cas with Cas’s namesake being a supernatural creature with an intense stare was cute.

Baby breaking down just feels so...emblematic. Because I agree that a show that runs this long will have trouble sustaining itself indefinitely and will decline, it’s an inevitable tv thing. I don’t agree it’s in decline right now or that the quality has sunk. In fact S15 is reminding me repeatedly why I love it so much to the begin with. It’s calling me back in. I wouldn’t be seeing this through to the very end if the story wasn’t pleasing me and it is not only satisfactory, it’s startling me how much it resonates for me now, speaking as someone who’s had some highs and lows with engagement with the show and has criticized it and gotten frustrated, tried to quit, did quit, came back, several times.

This season is also reminding me how deeply I love Sam and Dean and their sibling bond, after some seasons that alienated me from that bond for various reasons, but S15 is...it’s me bursting into tears at random moments because of a Sam and Dean Thought. It’s like that. What even is this. I don’t know I just hope it continues.

#Sam Winchester #Dean Winchester #Sam and Dean: a work in progress #meta #Supernatural #spn #supernatural spoilers #garth fitzgerald iv #with slight nods to ships that i didn't insert the canon did #you'd have to be really REALLY intense about your denial to see what the show keeps pointing towards #the something...someone....

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weasley-gal · 3 years

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Goodbye, Supernatural!

* FINALE SPOILERS * FINALE SPOILERS * FINALE SPOILERS *

I have watched Supernatural from the beginning. Sometimes it has been truly great television: clever, funny, honest, and emotional. Other times – mostly when its creative team has taken too much cue from the loudest social media voices – it’s been less, but I’ve never not loved it.

The ending was hard to take. Small minded people will say, “It’s just a show,” but even “just a show” is never that. It’s people you invite into your home week in and week out. In the case of Supernatural, “just a show” became a bona fide community, #SPNFAMILY, a regular part of our lives for 15 years. The biggest and most important names regularly engaged with even the smallest, as mentioned, sometimes to their own detriment. Regardless, it’s awfully hard letting go of all that. Once new, original content dries up, fandoms may continue to limp along, but they’re never the same. This week we said goodbye to the biggest part of our community forever.

I am not a fan of finales that blow up their universes. I think many people want and expect it - hence the “final” bit of “finale” - but I prefer to think all my beloved characters are going on as they always have, just without me watching. I would have found Supernatural’s penultimate episode a much more satisfying finale than the actual finale, but I won’t complain about the way they chose to end it, simply because it’s the way *they* chose to end it.

When fans cried about Fred Weasley being killed off in the last Harry Potter book, J.K. Rowling answered, “It was always going to be Fred, though, wasn’t it?” Like, every moment of that character’s life, she knew exactly where he was heading. The writers of Supernatural are not, by far, as clever as J.K. Rowling, and I wouldn’t suggest there’s even a slim chance the finale represented the climax of a plan they had for Sam and Dean from day one. However, I told my sister six months ago, “They’re going to kill off Dean and give Sam the normal life he wanted in the beginning.” I knew it. I wanted to be wrong, but I knew it. Look back at those early episodes. That foundation was laid and was just waiting for someone to build this sad house upon it.

Following Thursday night’s two-part episode, the loudest voices online were, of course, the complainers. Twitter and Tumblr users were furious about the finale’s alleged failings, both large (Dean’s death) and small (the fact that Sam’s wife was never named or shown clearly). Protests about Supernatural in general have always ranged from fair enough to batshit bonkers, never mind an episode where they killed off the show’s (inexplicably) most beloved character. Supernatural tags were *not* a pleasant place to be after the show, and that hasn’t changed much. I’ve yet to read any professional reviews of the finale, though I suppose I will at some point…or not.

Like the X-Files before it, I think Supernatural was always best at “monster of the week” episodes. Like the X-Files before it, it sometimes bowed under the weight of its own mythology. If you told me even SPN’s writers couldn’t always remember the powers and constricts they’d assigned to each specific supernatural being or scenario, I’d have no problem believing that. The arc episodes could be muddled, confusing, and overly full of themselves, but those monster-of-the-week episodes never failed to please. I know I hold the minority opinion there, but that is a sword on which I shall happily die.

Neither Jared Padalecki nor Jensen Ackles will ever be among the world’s great actors. I’ll take heat for saying it, but it’s true. I think Ackles has fantastic comedic timing, but neither is blessed with superior dramatic chops. The show was lucky to fill itself with terrific supporting players, though, and, in the finale, both Ackles and Padalecki outdid themselves. For 15 years, I’ve cringed and/or rolled my eyes every time they’ve had to be Serious Actors, but even I was impressed with their work in that final episode. It gave the show an emotional wallop it couldn’t otherwise have managed, regardless of where the story went. I cried when I watched it, I cried more reading about it, and I cried when I watched it again the next morning. Giving additional credit where it’s due, for a show that once had to trim two minutes per episode to make budget, the hair and makeup department did a fantastic job aging Sam over the last 30 minutes of the finale. I daresay a show like Fargo has all the budget it wants, yet when they age Chris Rock, he looks rather like someone attacked him with Christmas-tree flocking. Every stage of Sam’s aging looked very authentic. Well done, hair and makeup!

It’s hard to remember, way back in the beginning, when every season’s end brought the question of whether the CW would see fit to renew Supernatural for another year. Fans wrote letters and sent emails. We signed petitions. It seemed like every year, for the longest time, until the show somehow became the cornerstone of the CW. If the showrunners had said, “We’d like to do 40 seasons,” I think the CW probably would have said, “Well, alright then!” I’m sad it ended. I don’t love the way it ended. But I’m grateful to all involved for giving us this show and the family it built, and I respect their right to have ended it on their own terms.

This got long, as my writing tends to do. I didn’t mean it to; I just wanted to say a few words about what Supernatural has meant to me, and probably will continue to mean to me. Of all the famous people I’ve met – and there are many, from US Presidents on down the line – the only meetings commemorated with framed photos in my house are Mark Messier (I mean…) and Jared and Jensen. I’m happy I could be a part of #SPNFAMILY. I’m glad we will be family forever, even if it’s going to be very different now. Thank you, Supernatural. 🖤

#supernatural #spn #supernatural finale #spn spoilers #spoilers #spnfamily #carry on

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impala-dreamer · 4 years

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You Told Me To Write It So I Did

The sun shone high over the expansive backyard, where the kids played quietly together in a fenced off area as Rhi and Beka relaxed on their puffy sunloungers. Beside them, copies of their latest bestsellers, along with a few hundred dollar bills pinned by margaritas.

Beka picked up her drink with one hand, pulling her sunglasses down just a touch to watch the fit twenty-something pool boy going about his work. She absolutely didn’t hire him because he looked like Jensen Ackles. Her husband didn’t mind her oogling either - not when she’d just bought him the car of his dreams.

“This is the life,” Rhi sighed, her crisp British accent making Beka smile. “Just time to do absolutely… nothing.”

“This time last year, we were struggling bloggers, babe,” Beka replied. “All that hard work paid off. Now all the haters can just -” She wiggled her fingers in the air in a shooing motion and both women laughed, sitting their ridiculously alcoholic drinks.

“That reminds me,” Rhi muttered, sitting up and grabbing her phone, sliding onto the floor. Realizing her wanted to take a selfie with her, Beka sat up, lifting the peak of her comedically-sized sunhat so her face was more visible. “For all the haters,” Rhi announced and Beka laughed.

“Send that to me,” she instructed. “I need to make sure my mother sees it.”

Her phone buzzed a second later as the photo came through, and Rhi returned to her seat, laying back with her hands behind her head. “We should probably write,” she lamented.

With a snort, Beka looked at her. “Who’s going to make us?”

“Oh!” Rhi laughed at her mistake. “I keep forgetting. I’m my boss.”

“Damn fuckin’ straight.”

Lifting her drink, Rhi smiled at her friend. “To us. And the hot, sunny beaches of Hawaii.”

*** this counts as my drabble for your quickie thing. Who wouldn't want to be rich and hanging out with yours truly?!!! #pleasebekind2020 lol

Absolute perfection, @kittenofdoomage . From your fingers to Chuck's ears 😂

#love you #lol #submission

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incarnateirony · 3 years

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Wow. lol-jackles seriously thinks Jensen's less attractive, popular, well known, and talented than Jared. Jensen's never going to rise above being 3rd on the call sheet unless a producer like Jared designs a role playing to his (read: limited) acting skills. Everything Jensen (and Misha) do/have/say is crap. But it's the hellers and AAs who are jealous and MEEEAN to poor Jared. True MAGA hypocrite, ignoring facts and living in some alternate reality they've created in their minds

P much

I find literally none of them attractive personally because, you know, they’re men and all that.

But all it takes is one look at Jensen Ackles, even if you’re not personally attracted, to understand that he’s the more classically attractive of the lot. He meets every media standard of attractiveness, like some perfect shake and bake bag of classic attributes of male beauty. I don’t know what universe anybody lives in to pretend otherwise or like Jensen would have a harder time finding work from his looks.

Much less his acting. I’m sorry. Jensen Microexpressions Ackles vs Jared Macroexpressions Padalecki is not a contest. Not remotely. That’s not being “AA”. It’s literally observing the basic functions of their acting.

Jensen doesn’t need to do shit like this

or this

He just doesn’t. Sam was equally over the top in 15.20. Again, he just was.

I think part of it is in the universe they built to shit down on Destiel, they had to shit down on Jensen’s micro work. They would rather imply, subdermally, that Jensen somehow underplayed Dean’s death in 15.20 than gave a solid (if directorially overdrawn) performance while Jared Manly Wail Dot Jpeged through it. Why? Because they also can’t recognize the same features of acting he applied in 15.18.

I swear to god it felt like they were acting two entirely different scenes with the energy in the comedically long 15.20 death.

Why? Because in both scenes, there was an I Love You with nothing back.

Given, they bro’ed the bro scene. Destiel fandom out here always “No Fear; Cas/Dean calling Each Other Brother: One Fear” and it was literally the bro scene that they crapped on by throwing “my baby brother” in when Destiel didn’t get that, despite all the other “When I first raised you out of hell/got you from school” “knowing you changed me/you didn’t take any of dad’s crap (so I learned not to)” and then they slapped the goddamn “my baby brother” on it and Sam also didn’t say it back and respectively, never ever has.

By bronly logic: Sam doesn’t love Dean, even as a brother. Unless of course, you only respect Manly Wail Dot Jpeg. And not all the nuance Jensen brings to his acting. (”No response; flat; underacted” etc.) -- understanding that would understand 15.18 instantly so can’t have that.

And that’s enduring even before 15.18.

We won’t even talk about the fact that Jensen is currently out-trending Jared on every platform--be it imdb star rating for how often he’s searched, or google--while Jared’s constantly headlining articles on a new buzzy show and Jensen is.. shoveling snow? Posted a picture on instagram? Made a few statements several months ago? Has a production company with zero actual announcements or current products while Jared has one that’s actively attached to Walker? Has a show role for a show that’s going to air in 2022, that got announced half a year ago? IDK. Shrug emoji.

The same people currently don’t understand that 0.2 is a smaller number than 0.3 in the same year on the same timeslot on the same channel too. Nothing they say is grounded remotely in reality. The whole world is a conspiracy against Jarpad to them, and that’s why people talk about Chaos Machine and not Stick To Your Guns, I guess.

They’re in flat denial that this current show is--as someone on SR (the site they convinced themselves I somehow personally made in 2009 just to fuck with Walker in 2021 [which I don’t own]) put it-- in “Walker Try Not To Round Down To 0.1 In Your First Season Challenge” mode with its current ratings trajectory. Ebb and flow tells us it’s going to hover its current 0.21-0.23 for a bit but start draining on the back end and does genuinely risk dropping under 0.151 at this point. And I hate to break it to them again, but 0.1 is a smaller number than 0.3 still.

Flat-out: even beyond who’s more attractive, or who’s better as an actor, or who trends higher online: Jensen just chose his career path far more intelligently.

He courted multiple possible media suitors (WB, Disney, Amazon). He came out with a role on an Amazon show and an exclusive deal with the WB for a studio that can put his work anywhere from on the CW to HBO. He’s diversifying his recognition base and portfolio.

Jared chose a path that is plugging him back on the CW, and actually makes his popup studio in association with it wholly dependent on its parent companies, rather than being an independent operation contracted into exclusivity. If and when Jensen’s contract ends, if he doesn’t feel it’s fruitful, he can do whatever he wants with Chaos Machine, while having a strong bedrock of existing product and notoriety under it. Stick To Your Guns is a limited vessel and reliant on its current clout ladder. Jensen will be able to walk wherever he wants after this. Jared will not. Not as a producer. Not with a media company. He’ll be back to being an actor seeking casting that has some production experience. Which he should, by now, after being in acting for like 20 years. Maybe Stick To Your Guns will survive past and Pedowitz will order another series aimed for a similar demographic to also be on the CW. Because Stick To Your Guns isn’t going much of anywhere else. It even platforming Walker on HBOMax is a CBS-WB agreement for how they’re peddling product with the Netflix deal broken. It’s not gonna actively create content FOR HBO.

Add in Walker being on the CW, and being all but uncancellable as a CBS product on the CW, he’s tied in for at least 88 episodes or until catastrophic failure, whichever comes first. That means 4-5 seasons with its current episode format. That means Jared will have spent his entire professional life on the WB/CW, known as a “stupid teen network”--while, at worst, Jensen may produce content for that network while also handling things for HBO and other WB platforms and performing on other media throughout.

Jensen and Jared both stayed true to SPN as a production--neither can be faulted for how much of their lives went into that and it’s generally an attribute. But one chose to step forward, out, and wider and the other just stepped laterally in the same space and that IS noticeable on a professional level. Again, that’s just reality. That’s going to be looked at by future media agencies. It just is. No amount of hollering on tumblr about the great AA conspiracy against Jarpad is gonna change that.

Jared has officially niched himself into a role where after this he’s pretty much gonna be forever cursed to play The Dad On That New Teen Show unless he does something DRASTIC after this. Period. Like end of story. That’s reality. Short of absolutely embarrassing collapse of Walker he’s not walking out of the show before he’s 43-44. Jensen was already shuffling contract work with his current clients at 41. And came out more independent for it.

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waywardnerd67 · 6 years

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Can’t Look Down

Summary: (Y/N) has a hard time on set filming Supernatural when the script calls for the stars to be unusually dressed. Characters: Jensen Ackles, Jared Padalecki, Misha Collins, Reader (cameos from Sam, Dean, Castiel & Harper-OFC) Pairing: Jensen x Reader Warnings: Fluff Word Count: 1874 A/N: Once again, @waywardbaby post something and instantly gives me an idea that I had to write down. This is all her fault and complaints *coughs* and compliments *coughs* should be directed to her. As always this is unbeta so all mistakes are mine. Likes, comments and reblogs are splendid and I will love you doubly for them! Enjoy! Special Note: This is a work of FICTION and should be enjoyed as such. I mean no disrespect to the Ackles Family as I love and adore them immensely.

(Y/N) was sitting in her trailer on the set of Supernatural reading over her script. She knew today’s filming was going to be slightly more distracting since they were filming an episode that was more comedic than serious also the main characters were going to be naked except for her. It was not like (Y/N) had not been on shoots where someone was assuming to be naked but never with three men who were as attractive as Misha Collins, Jared Padalecki and Jensen Ackles. The thought of seeing any part of Jensen naked made (Y/N)’s cheeks burn. There was a knock on her door as one of the PAs came to get her. “How are they today?” (Y/N) asked as the PA shook her head, “In rare form. It is like walking into a Frat House.” She shook her head as she grabbed her script following the PA to hair and make-up.

The mood on set was filled with awkwardness. Most of the male crew were joking around while any female crew were looking anywhere but the room they were shooting in. (Y/N) sat in her chair waiting for her scene when Misha and Jared came walking in with robes on. “Good morning fellas, how are we today?” She asked trying not to giggle as they narrowed their eyes at her. “Cold. Freaking Cold.” Misha said as he pulled the robes tighter around him. “Don’t listen to him, (Y/N). He just likes to hear himself complain. Are you ready for this?” He asked sitting down next to her. (Y/N) shrugged, “As ready as I’ll ever be I guess. Not every day I’m shooting an episode with three ‘naked’ men.” She used finger quotes as she spoke. Jared gave her a knowing look, “You know what I meant?” He said as she swallowed the lump in her throat.

Over the last couple of years of her character coming on the show she had developed a close friendship with the three stars. She considered Jared one of her best friends talking with him or Gen all the time. (Y/N) lived near Misha so she considered his family like her own, but it was Jensen that got to her. Being a fan of his before getting on the show and now talking to him all the time had formed into her having feelings for him. Jared and Misha were the only ones who knew about it as she did not want to complicate anything between her and Jensen. She looked up to Jared and he patted her leg, “You’ll be fine (Y/N/N).” She nodded as the director of the episode came on set and everyone started to take their places. As Jared and Misha were blocking one of their scenes, (Y/N) jumped when someone came up behind her putting their arms around her.

“Hiya (Y/N/N)!” Jensen said as she turned around smacking him in the arm. She paused as her eyes got wide seeing Jensen in nothing but a pair of tight flesh colored briefs. She immediately averted her eyes to the ceiling, “Uh, h-hi Jensen.” Her voice cracked as she tried to look anywhere but at him. “Are you okay? Why are you looking at the ceiling?” He asked as she could feel her heart pounding in her chest. “No reason. It’s a lovely ceiling really.” She said quickly as he nodded slowly walking towards Jared and Misha. “I’m never going to make it through today.” She muttered to herself as Jared and Misha were now taking off their robes to begin shooting. (Y/N) was on her mark getting ready to enter the library as her character, Harper, finds Team Free Will all naked for the first time. She heard the director call out action and she walked into the room pretending to read from a book.

“So, I think we are dealing with a witch.” Harper said as she looked up from the book seeing Sam, Dean and Castiel all standing there naked. “You think?” Dean said as she immediately turned around, “What the hell are you three doing?” She asked. “The witch must have put a spell on us and now any time we try to put clothes on they immediately disappear. We need to find her and break this curse as soon as possible.” She turned around looking up to the ceiling. “What’s the matter, Harper? After to see what we have to offer.” Dean said as he wiggled his hips. (Y/N) lost it starting to laugh as the director called cut. “I’m sorry, I just couldn’t… Jensen…” She was now laughing so hard her stomach was hurting and tears were streaming down her cheeks. Jensen looked around unknowingly, “I don’t know what she’s talking about. I’m simply just saying my lines.” He started circling his hips again and now Misha was laughing as well. “Alright, everyone take a moment to collect yourselves.” The director said.

(Y/N) walked away from the guys trying to get herself under control. “I’m sorry (Y/N). I couldn’t help myself and I’ll try harder to not get you so flustered.” She turned around seeing Jensen standing behind her wearing a robe this time making it easier to make eye contact with him. “It’s cool Jay. I’m sure this isn’t exactly comfortable for you either. I’ll try not to fangirl all over you anymore.” Once the words were out of her mouth she realized what she had said. Jensen’s eyebrows shot up, “Fangirl?” he asked as the director called them all back to set. “Hey, they need us back so… um we should go…” She mumbled walking past him to her mark again. She heard Jensen chuckling as he took off his robe getting in his spot. Finishing that scene went as smooth as it could with three practically naked men acting like children.

The next scene was the going to be the hardest as it was going to be the first time Harper and Dean admit their feelings for one another. (Y/N) had been dreading this moment since it felt like she was admitting her feelings to Jensen. She walked onto set seeing Jensen standing on his mark as someone touched up his make-up for the shot. Jared came up to her placing a reassuring hand on her shoulder, “You’ll be fine. Just play it out how you feel Harper would.” She smiled up at him and chuckled. “This would mean a lot more if you had more clothes on.” He laughed as he walked off set and she went to her mark. “And, action!” The director yelled.

Dean grabbed Harper’s elbow turning her around, “No. No running away this time. What is it?” he asked her as she looked up into his shining olive eyes. “Dean, I don’t… I can’t do this anymore. We dance around each other all the time flirting and joking but this is all too much for me. I know how you feel about relationships and this life. Where I disagree with you on it, I won’t try to change your mind on it.” She looked down as tears slipped down her face. “What are you saying, Harper?” He lifted her chin and she pressed her lips against his. “CUT!” (Y/N) pulled away from Jensen as the director came up to them, “That was great guys. Improving a kiss was a good idea.” As the director walked away she looked up at Jensen, “I’m sorry Jay. I just went where I felt Harper would go.” Jensen nodded silently and (Y/N) could feel her heart dropping. They stood awkwardly, the silence slowly breaking her heart until finally she walked off set.

She ate lunch in her trailer alone needing time to herself to calm down and gather what little courage she had left to make it through filming the rest of the day. She went back to set at the last minute so there would be no time for anyone to corner her. The next scene was a funny one that she hoped would lighten her mood. The director called action. “Dean, why are you standing behind that large watermelon?” Sam asked motioning with both his hands. “It’s the only thing big enough to cover my junk! How are you covering yourself with a book and talking with your hands?” Sam’s blushes, “This book had pictures in it…” he mumbles as Harper rolled her eyes. “Well at least you two are trying to cover yourselves unlike Cas.” She pointed over to the angel who was simply standing there comfortably. “This is much easier than wearing clothes. Clothes are restricting and confining.” Harper looked up as Castiel walked towards her, “We need to find a cure fast for this so I am able to look down again.” The director called cut as they all relaxed.

By the end of the day, (Y/N) was wound so tightly that she felt like corkscrew. She said goodnight to Jared and Misha not seeing Jensen anywhere. As she opened her trailer door she gasped seeing him sitting on her couch. “Jesus, you scared the crap out of me!” She said as she walked in setting her things down. “Sorry, I just wanted to talk.” He said standing up as she turned towards him. That is when she noticed him still in his robe and it was opened. Her eyed traveled down his body and then she quickly averted them to the ceiling. “Wh-What did you want to talk about?” She stammered as he chuckled. “Well, we can start as to your fascination with ceilings any time I’m around.” She giggled nervously as he gently grabbed her chin pulling her head down to look at him. She bit her bottom lip as she looked into his eyes and felt her cheeks heating up.

“Look, it’s no surprise to you that I’m attracted to you. I don’t think there is a woman on this planet who isn’t. It’s just hard to not stare at you being practically naked.” She watched as the corner of his lips lifted into a smirk. “So, what you’re saying is that you like me?” He asked moving closer to her as her breath hitch. She nodded as he trailed his fingers down her arms raising her hands up to his chest. “You like me a lot?” She nodded again as her fingers grazed down his soft skin feeling like they were on fire from the heat of his body. “So, if I said I wanted to kiss you right now, you would be alright with that?” She looked up at him stunned, “You what?” she asked as he chuckled.

“(Y/N), I’ve been flirting with you since you started filming with us. I thought I made my intentions pretty clear.” (Y/N) watched as he licked his bottom lip, “I like you and I want you.” His eyes darken waiting for her reaction. “Yes.” She whispered. “Yes…” he said questioningly as she wrapped her arms around his neck. She pushed herself up as her lips ghosted against his, “Yes.” She whispered and Jensen pulled her to him crashing her lips to his. He pulled back resting his head against hers, “I should really change so you can look down again.” She started laughing as he kissed her again.

My Nerd Herd: @waywardbaby @waywardrose13 @carryonmywaywardcaptain @anotherwaywardsister @ladywinchester1967 @akshi8278 @ericaprice2008 @mirandaaustin93 @spnbaby-67 @time-travel-bouqet @1967-essentialghoul @weirdoblogger69

#waywardnerd67 #one shot #can't look down #jensen ackles fanfiction #jensen ackles fanfic #jensen ackles x reader #jensen ackles fluff #jensen fanfiction #jensen fanfic #jensen x reader #jensen fluff #supernatural fanfiction #supernatural fanfic #supernatural #fluff

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sionnac · 6 years

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You know where it was that Supernatural really got me, really sank its teeth into me? It dares to be tender. That’s right, tender. Supernatural spoilers ahead. Beware. I mean, I’ve been spoiling left and right by now, but dude, Supernatural is a 13-year-old show.

I’m just gonna get right to the point. You want surprisingly tender? Look no further than Sam’s death in S2. Jensen Ackles, man, seriously. That guy just isn’t afraid to show intimate vulnerability on a level that’s honestly not common on tv.

After Dean runs through the gamut of emotions -- denial, desperation, horrified desolation (this one’s my favourite expression. TT__TT) -- he comes to a grinding halt at anguished tenderness. If you missed it, go watch it again. When the camera pans up, Dean, in all his unbearable pain, cradling his little brother, actually kisses Sam on the shoulder.

I’m sitting here struggling to think of another moment in which that occurs, a man kissing another man that is neither romantic nor played for comedic effect. I’ll get back to you on that. (Never.)

I mean, this show is a show with beheadings and guts and borderline psychopaths as its main leads. These men take out bullets with improvised medical gear and finish it off with alcohol splashed liberally over the wound. They snap dislocated shoulders back into place with their bare hands. They’re tough people in an unforgiving world. It’s not just empty posturing. They’re genuinely tough dudes.

But. BUT. This incredibly tough guy shatters when his brother dies, and because there’s nothing else he can do anymore, he kisses his brother, a deeply, tenderly, intimate act of a big brother desperately, futilely trying to give his little brother some comfort, any comfort at all. It’s a bold choice of character portrayal, to marry those two extremes, and, well, we have Jensen Ackles to thank for that. Jensen friggin’ Ackles and his perfect acting choices. I curse the day I turned my eyes in your general direction.

To dare to be that unabashedly vulnerable, that fiercely tender in the midst of all this badassery, this toughness, it’s what makes Supernatural a rarity among its peers, and it’s what makes it so very good.

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sammyhale · 7 years

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J2 PittCon 2017 Main Panel

J2 came running through the crowd from the back of the room.

Jared: Welcome to our wonderful dysfunctional family.

Jensen was yelling for Jim Beaver (also at the convention) to come back when he was in the glass walkway above the panel room.

Jensen teasing Jared: Hearing goes at 35...

Jared apologizes for back problems in ops. Jensen: What’d you do? Jared: I think I turned 35 and everything stopped working.

Jared: Are you done yammering, Mr. Ackles? Jensen: Never :P

Jensen thanks everyone for being here opening day of football season since Pittsburgh is the most sports city on the planet apparently lol.

Someone yelled that they love Jensen and Jared said, “I love him, too,” so another fan yelled that they loved Jared and he said, “I know” lol.

Danneel wanted to FaceTime Jensen during photo ops because Arrow was saying “Dada.”

Jensen’s favorite ep to film was Baby. Jared mentioned The French Mistake, Changing Channels, Hollywood Babylon.

In Hollywood Babylon, they got bigger trailers for the actors in the ep and J2 were like, “We’ll take them.”

Working with kids on set depends on the parents.

Jared says that sometimes kids would rather Game Boy...Jensen: Game Boy???

Working with kids is logistically challenging because they can only shoot so many hours. Jared says it’s tough when kids don’t seem into it but have pushy parents, but it’s great when the kids love acting. Jensen says it’s nice to have innocent energy on set. Child actors don’t overthink characters like adults do.

J2 talking at the same time :P

Jensen says watching father-child relationships on television affects him more now that he’s a father.

Fan: When is the s13 promo coming? J2: I imagine pretty soon. Maybe this week or next week. They’re not sure, though.

Jensen: We’ve lived these characters, and have people to remind us of our real life. Each other, our wives...

Jensen jokes that he hasn’t read a script since s3. Jared: He gets a flip book version. Jensen: Really trying to get popup.

Boys cracking each other up :)

Jensen: The Winchesters don’t live in a world with superheroes. They live in a world with real heroes.

Fan: Would you guys do an Arrow crossover? Jensen: Oh, sure. Let Misha go over there.

Jensen just called Stephen Amell a “crossover slut” and that he needs to “lock it up” on the Arrow crossovers lol.

Except each other, Jared liked working with Gabriel/Richard and Ruby/Gen. Jared said it was a lot of fun to have Richard around because such crazy things happen on set with Gabriel.

Jensen liked working with Briana. She helps stretch his comedic muscles.

Jensen just said posse magnet and Jared said: “You’re confusing reality with porn again” :P

Favorite lines? Jared: Low sodium freaks.

Reaction when they found out so many characters were killed in the finale? Jared: I don’t like it, but it makes great TV.

Jensen’s reaction was the same as when he reads a scene when he dies: “Meh. I’ll come back.”

If you could travel anywhere in the world where would you go? Jared: Vancouver and Austin because that’s where my family is. Jensen: *pretends to snore*

Jared would travel to Florence, Italy. Jensen would travel to one of the Scandinavian countries. Would also love to go back to Japan.

Every time the room starts to vibrate (like from helicopters flying by) Jensen looks for Transformers lol.

There were a lot of things behind the scenes during the end of season 11 that made things complicated with the last three eps.

They don’t usually shoot stuff they can’t use in an episode. Jensen says they’ve gotten it down to a science. Things are rarely on the cutting room floor.

There is enough gag reel footage for a 30 min. gag reel just from the first 2-3 episodes. They want the gag reels to be longer, but they don’t budget for it.

Jared: I’d watch a season of gag reels. Everyone: Us, too!

Fan asks a tech question and mentions Jensen may have more perspective because he directs. Jensen: I usually do hehehe.

Jared: I haven’t seen Magic Mike. Jensen: All the way through.

Jensen watches The Change-Up a lot. Jared sings along to Alvin and the Chipmunks when he puts it on for his kids and watches it even after his kids will go take a nap.

Jared’s favorite big bad character is Lucifer. Jensen agrees, then gives honorable mentions to Azazel and Alastair.

One of Jensen’s favorite scenes in s11 was when he was talking with Chuck.

J2 are open-mouthed about a fan’s amazing binge-watch of Supernatural.

Jared’s favorite dramatic TV show to binge is Breaking Bad. J2 both like BB.

Jared is fangirling over Jensen’s Eric Brady character :P

Jensen’s favorite show to binge is Arrested Development.

After mentioning a few shows they enjoy, Jensen says, “But that’s enough advertising for other TV shows.”

J2 haven’t pranked each other in a long time. It got too dangerous. They usually work together when doings pranks on other people.

Jared is waving his foot over Jensen’s crotch lol.

Their usual prank target is Misha. Recently made him mess up and when the director was like, “Misha, what’s up?” J2 were like: “Yeah, Misha!”

Jensen hit Jared in the balls when Jared was hugging Misha during filming on Friday. Jensen says that Jared then said, “I hope that was you, Misha.” Jared: I was trying to break him! Jensen says that Jared was squatting a little in front of him during the hug so he just brought his foot up a little... lol

Jensen: “I already worked with the actor I wanted to work with.” Jared: Aww!! Jared then hugs Jensen. Then Jensen says, “Actually, my Dad...” lol.

Jared would have loved to work with Robin Williams <3

J2 fist bump at the end of the panel :)

Info via: Fangasm, Michael, Cherie, Sil’s livetweet list

#j2 #jared padalecki #jensen ackles #pittcon #spnpitt #panel sum #long post #shpost

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aion-rsa · 3 years

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Supernatural: The Best Episodes

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This Supernatural feature contains MAJOR spoilers up to and including the series finale.

Over the course of 15 years, Supernatural aired an extraordinary 327 episodes, every single one of them starring the same two people, a quite incredible achievement (there were two attempts at backdoor pilots, but both featured Jared Padalecki and Jensen Ackles at least briefly).

In 327 episodes, of course, there have been some stinkers, and there have been moments of brilliance. Supernatural did scary episodes, gross-out episodes, funny episodes, tragic episodes, tragically funny episodes and episodes set on its own soundstage. Here are 25 of the very best.

25/327*. Carry On (Season 15, Episode 20)

*delete according to preference, and see “Dishonorable mentions” below

We’re being controversial right off the bat, as the series finale has fans split right down the middle between feeling pretty pleased with it and absolutely hating it. And for the many fans that hate it, they really, really hate it. If that’s you, we understand your issues with it – see our ��Dishonorable Mentions’ list.

But for others, while this ending was somewhat marred by coronavirus restrictions (which are surely to blame for Sam’s wife being blurred in the background instead of clearly shown to be Eileen, and possibly for the absence of Castiel as well), there were also moments of emotional catharsis and beauty. Heaven has undergone some drastic improvements since we last saw it and the afterlife is no longer strangely lonely and depressing. The music choices for the episode are perfectly on point – it almost seems strange we haven’t heard ‘Brothers in Arms’ before – and finally the promise of ‘Carry On, Wayward Son’ is fulfilled, as “surely Heaven waits for you”.

Best moment: Hearing the voice of Original Bobby (not Apocalypse World Bobby) for the first time since Season 11.

Quotable: “Always keep fighting” (Dean, to Sam)

Watch if you like: Tragic melodrama, great music, Bobby

24. Devil’s Trap (Season 1, Episode 22)

Supernatural’s very first season finale set the tone for many more finales to come. The arc plot kicked up a gear, Winchesters pointed guns at each other, and the whole thing ended in a nail-biting cliff-hanger. This episode sets up much of how the show will work, including the important detail that demons possess innocent humans, which led to our heroes spending some years trying to avoid killing them where possible (before they eventually gave up on that one). Most important of all, though, this is the episode that introduces Jim Beaver’s Bobby Singer, who would become the Winchesters’ surrogate father, and whose particular brand of caring, with a hefty dose of calling them idjits, was always entertaining with a warmth underneath the humour.

Best moment: Sam refuses to kill his father – the first of many times this sort of decision will be forced on the brothers.

Quotable: “The storm’s coming, and you boys, your Daddy – you are smack in the middle of it” (Bobby)

Watch if you like: Family melodrama, demon arc plots, Bobby

23. All Along The Watchtower (Season 12, Episode 22)

Death and life have always gone hand in hand in Supernatural, and nowhere is that clearer than in this game-changing season finale. We lose one of the show’s few regular characters, Mark Sheppard’s Crowley, along with a newer, highly likeable, recurring character, Courtney Ford’s Kelly Kline, both in moving self-sacrifices that honor the characters and their development. (Oh, and Castiel dies again too, but of course that doesn’t stick). On the other hand, we gain two new characters. We meet Apocalypse World Bobby, and while he can never really replace the Bobby the boys knew and loved, he brings some essential Bobby-ness back into the show. And Jack is born, Castiel’s (and later the Winchesters’) adoptive son, whom Cas is convinced will create a paradise in the future. This episode is full of great character work featuring numerous fan favourites, along with genuinely exciting plot developments that left viewers itching for the next season to start.

Best moment: Castiel took an online doula class in preparation for Kelly going into labour, but it didn’t cover quasi-celestial beings.

Quotable: “Whenever there is a world ending crisis at hand, I know where to place my bets. It’s on you, you big beautiful lumbering piles of flannel” (Crowley)

Watch if you like: Alternate universes, self-sacrifices, Bobby

22. Don’t Call Me Shurley (Season 11, Episode 20)

This episode has shifted down the list since we last ranked it, as the plot developments of season 15 have robbed it of some of its joy, but the episode itself still stands up. It’s well known that Supernatural is often kind of a grim show, and one of the pleasures of watching it is that, however crappy your life is at that moment, it’s not as crappy as Sam and Dean’s. There are occasional moments of satisfaction (like the killing of Azazel in “All Hell Breaks Loose”) and there’s certainly plenty of humour, but real, honest to Chuck, joy? That’s rare, and the best example (Dean’s Heaven) required both main characters to be dead. So there’s something really special about this Season 11 episode, in which God finally comes back (and reveals that He has, in fact, been helping out on the odd occasion all along). The rest of the episode, in which Metatron makes the case for humankind to God, is a philosophical and meta-fictional treat as well, but it’s that conclusion that really makes it something to remember.

Best moment: Dean pulls his old amulet out of Sam’s pocket – signalling that God has returned.

Quotable: “You know what humanity’s greatest creation has been? Music. That, and nacho cheese” (Chuck)

Watch if you like: Philosophy, happy endings

21. Lebanon (Season 14, Episode 13)

Supernatural’s 100th episode (“The Point Of No Return”) was an arc-plot heavy drama; it’s 200th (‘Fan Fiction’) was a delightful and comedic take on the show. For this, the 300th episode, the series went in a different direction again, and focused on the Winchester family unit, bringing Jeffrey Dean Morgan back as John Winchester for the first time since the season 2 finale. Sam and Dean’s whole story has been driven by their broken family life, and before this the closest they’d come to being together as a family was a brief car ride with their parents’ unknowing younger selves while time travelling. Here, they get to spend some proper time together as a family, before it’s inevitably cut short – and as a bonus, we get to see Zachariah (not seen since the 100th episode) and Scary Castiel again as well.

Best moment: All four Winchesters, all alive at the same time, have dinner together. It’s lovely.

Quotable: “Now you live in a secret bunker with an angel and Lucifer’s kid” (John)

Watch if you like: Jeffrey Dean Morgan, family dinners, anniversary episodes

20. Roadkill (Season 2, Episode 16)

Many of the episodes on this list are major arc plot-related episodes, or hilariously funny format-bending episodes, or both. But it’s also worth celebrating episodes that offer just a really good Monster of the Week, and this is one of them. Supernatural was inspired early on by urban legends, and this episode is a sad, scary and effective take on a classic, the Vanishing Hitchhiker. Guest star Tricia Helfer does a great job as Molly, whose perspective we follow throughout the story, keeping her true predicament from both her and the audience until the twist ending. The episode’s conclusion was also the first time we saw a suggestion of something potentially positive waiting for human souls after death, giving all the many, many dead characters on the show a glimmer of hope.

Best moment: The reveal of Molly’s true nature isn’t really a surprise if you’ve ever read a ghost story, but it’s very well done.

Quotable: “Follow the creepy brick road” (Dean)

Watch if you like: urban legends, scary ghost stories, plot twists

19. Scoobynatural (Season 13, Episode 16)

By Season 13, inevitably some viewers had drifted away from the show, as people will when something runs as long as Supernatural has. “Scoobynatural” had a concept so enticing, it brought some of those viewers back (only out-performed in the ratings that year by the season opener). Not only was the idea of Sam and Dean in a Scooby Doo cartoon too good to miss, Supernatural also has an excellent track record in comedy episodes. These can be hit and miss on most shows, but Supernatural’s comedy misses are few and the hits are plentiful enough that six of them are on this list. Viewers trusted the show to make this work, and that trust paid off – the episode is both very funny and touching, as all the show’s best comedy episodes are.

Best moment: Sam and Dean trying to explain to the Scooby Gang that no really, ghosts are real.

Quotable: “We’ve been stopping real estate developers when we could have been hunting Dracula? Are you kidding me?! My life is meaningless!” (Fred)

Watch if you like: Scooby-Doo, crossovers

18. No Rest For The Wicked (Season 3, Episode 16)

The writers’ strike cut Season 3 short (yes, Supernatural has been going that long), which meant the planned story arc, in which Sam and Dean desperately tried to find a way to get Dean out of the deal he made with a Crossroads demon, also had to be wrapped up in fewer episodes than anticipated. The solution was truly shocking – they failed. Dean was sent to Hell and viewers were left with an image of him being tortured and screaming out Sam’s name. OK, no one really thought he was going to stay there for ever, but it was still a bold move.

Best moment: Sam joining along in a singalong to Bon Jovi’s “Wanted” with his brother, knowing they only had a few hours left.

Quotable: “Family don’t end with blood, boy” (Bobby)

Watch if you like: Dante’s Inferno, soft rock anthems

17. All Hell Breaks Loose, Parts 1&2 (Season 2, Episodes 21&22)

Like “No Rest For The Wicked,” this was a real watershed moment for the show. Sam’s death and the deal Dean makes to bring him back set in motion just about every major storyline since. But these episodes don’t make the list just for that reason. The “only one can live” set up Sam is dropped into is always an intriguing premise, and these two episodes make up a dramatic, satisfying season finale in which the bad guy of two years is dispatched, the Winchester men get some closure, and the mythology gets a bit more development.

Best moment: Sam’s first death. The regularity with which the Winchester boys die and come back to life is a long-running joke and has even been the focus of more than one episode over the years, so it’s easy to forget just what a huge, horrifying moment that first death is, back when they used to take it seriously.

Quotable: “That was for our mom, you sunnnuvabitch” (Dean, to Azazel’s dead body)

Watch if you like: The Hunger Games, Jensen Ackles emoting

16. Abandon All Hope… (Season 5, Episode 10)

Season 5 was Supernatural creator Eric Kripke’s final season as show-runner, and it was written to be the final season of the show. The story arc followed the boys’ attempts to stop the oncoming Apocalypse and recapture the Devil himself, with the stakes getting higher and higher as the season wore on. “Abandon All Hope…” is a turning point, hammering home the seriousness of the situation by killing off half the regular supporting cast, after which the story became increasingly grim until our heroes faced an impossible choice in the season finale. It’s also the episode that introduces Mark Sheppard as Crowley, King of the Crossroads Demons, who immediately cements himself as much more fun than your average demon.

Best moment: Ellen staying with a mortally injured Jo as they sacrifice themselves to save the boys.

Quotable: “Your choice. You can cling to six decades of deep-seated homophobia, or give it up and get a complete bailout for your ban’s ridiculous incompetence” (Crowley)

Watch if you like: Mark Sheppard as Crowley, tear-jerkers

15. Nightshifter (Season 2, Episode 12)

Sam and Dean spent much of the first few years of the series on the run from the law, despite having several police officers in their debt. This would continue until the police thought they were dead, only for the pair of them to turn up again, and the threat of jail time if they were ever caught and identified never quite went away. This episode, in which a shape-shifter is carrying out bank robberies, really notches up the tension as they come to the attention of the FBI in the worst possible way, as well as observing the tragedy of a well meaning civilian caught up in something he doesn’t understand.

Best moment: The brothers escape to the tune of “Renegade,” by Styx.

Quotable: “We’re not working for the Mandroid!” (Sam, to Ronald)

Watch if you like: Bonnie and Clyde, The Lone Gunmen

14. Death’s Door (Season 7, Episode 10)

The decision to kill off Bobby permanently in season 7 was controversial, to say the least, but it’s hard to deny his final episode as a living member of the team is a great one. Poor Bobby’s backstory is revealed to be even more tragic than we already knew it was, but more importantly, his bond with the boys and the reasons their relationship is so important both to them and to him are explored. It also prompts the show to explore a fairly obvious question – we’ve seen plenty of ghosts on the series whose bodies were burned, so even with hunters’ funerals, how is it we haven’t seen more beloved deceased characters return after death?

Best moment: Bobby giving his alcoholic father a proper telling off in his imagination.

Quotable: “As fate would have it, I adopted two boys, and they grew up great. They grew up heroes” (Bobby)

Watch if you like: Bobby and Rufus, daddy issues

13. Dark Side Of The Moon (Season 5, Episode 16)

The earliest episode to acknowledge how often the boys have died and come back to life, “Dark Side Of The Moon” sets its cards on the table by abruptly killing them both in the first few minutes. We finally get to see what happens when you go to Heaven in the world of Supernatural, and it’s a little weird and oddly lonely (with the exception of “soulmates”, everyone is off in their own little worlds – thankfully this is eventually rectified) but it’s a satisfying journey nonetheless. Not that Dean or Castiel would agree, as this is the episode in which they give up on searching for God, having been told He isn’t interested.

Best moment: Dean’s Heaven – playing with fireworks with Young Sam. It’s a truly joyful sequence.

Quotable: “Gentlemen, I don’t mean to be a downer, but I’m sure I’ll see you again soon” (Ash)

Watch if you like: Family drama, nihilism

12. Baby (Season 11, Episode 4)

The Supernatural team have always been clear that the Impala is the third main character on the show (sorry, Castiel) so this Season 11 episode shifts focus to tell a story entirely from the car’s point of view. No, this isn’t a Herbie or Transformers situation – rather, the entire episode is shot from inside the car. What this means for the story is that we get to see different parts of Sam and Dean’s day – while they’re off investigating, we see the Impala get taken for a joy ride by a car park attendant, and Sam and Dean’s traditional emotionally-charged conversations are given a little more space to breathe. This is how you shake a show up while keeping its unique feel after eleven years.

Best moment: All of Castiel’s hilarious phone calls.

Quotable: “Never use Swayze’s name in vain, OK? Ever” (Dean)

Watch if you like: Classic cars, Bob Seger’s “Night Moves”

11. What Is And What Should Never Be (Season 2, Episode 20)

Towards the end of season 2, as the series started to grow in confidence, Supernatural started to do slightly more experimental episodes that took us away from the straightforward “Sam and Dean hunt a monster” set-up. The first meta-fictional episode was the fun “Hollywood Babylon,” while this was an early glimpse of an alternative timeline – or, rather, an hallucination of Dean’s under the influence of a djinn. The result was a fun “what if” scenario and a lovely penultimate appearance from Adrianne Palicki as Jessica, but it culminated in a truly heart-breaking moment for Dean as he confronts everything he, Sam, and their father have had to sacrifice in their attempts to help others, and is forced to choose life at the expense of happiness.

Best moment: Dean breaks down at his father’s grave.

Quotable: “Look, whatever stupid thing you’re about to do, you’re not doing it alone. And that’s that” (Sam)

Watch if you like: Alternate timelines, wishes gone wrong

10. The French Mistake (Season 6, Episode 15)

In this episode, Sam and Dean are pulled into a parallel universe where they are the actors Jared Padalecki and Jensen Ackles, the stars of the TV show Supernatural. The story takes the highest of high concepts and makes it work beautifully, including an appearance from Padalecki’s real life wife and former co-star Genevieve Padalecki and Misha Collins sending himself up gloriously. There’s even a clip of a much younger Jensen Ackles on Days Of Our Lives thrown in. A joy from start to finish.

Best moment: Sam and Dean trying to act. They are not good at it.

Quotable: “You married fake Ruby?!” (Dean)

Watch if you like: High concept comedy, Misha Collins

9. The End (Season 5, Episode 4)

What better way to raise the stakes early in the season than to flash forward five years and reveal what the world will look like after the Apocalypse has come about? Funny and heartfelt in equal measure, this is a classic alternate timeline story with a twist. It is also a really important episode in the development of Lucifer as a character, here played with squirming intensity by Jared Padalecki, who gets to sit out most of the story while Jensen Ackles pulls double, only to come and steal the show at the end. It also features some advice from Chuck (i.e. God) to hoard toilet paper, which turned out to be remarkably prescient.

Best moment: The reveal of Hippie Future Castiel, who has taken a surprising attitude towards the end of the world.

Quotable: “When you get back there, you hoard toilet paper. You understand me? Hoard it like it’s made of gold. Cause it is” (Chuck – some people clearly took this advice too much to heart in 2020)

Watch if you like: Dystopias, toilet paper

8. Fan Fiction (Season 10, Episode 5)

The show’s 100th episode was an important moment in its then-current story arc, but it was the 200th that really celebrated in style. Watching a girls’ school put on a musical version of the Supernatural story (the Kripke years) sounds like a terrible idea but they pull it off brilliantly, making an episode that is both funny and sweet. Most of all, though, this is just a treat for long-term fans, full of call-backs, references, and in-jokes, and that finally ties up a loose end from “Dark Side Of The Moon” in an emotionally satisfying way.

Best moment: The lovely cover of “Carry On, Wayward Son” at the end of the show.

Quotable: “That is some of the worst fan fiction I ever heard!” (Marie, on hearing what happened after the end of Season 5 – a popular take on just about everything that’s happened since then in some quarters)

Watch if you like: Musicals, subtext

7. The Monster At The End Of This Book (Season 4, Episode 18)

Neither “Don’t Call Me Shurley” nor “Fan Fiction” would have been possible without the episode that introduced Chuck in the first place, though back then he was nothing more than a cowardly writer and (apparently) reluctant prophet. Supernatural had done a few meta-fictional episodes by this point but “The Monster At The End Of This Book” was the moment they took it to new places, creating the fictional Supernatural universe within the Supernatural universe and allowing the show to explore fandom, fan fiction, fan conventions and fan musicals further down the line. The whole concept is a real treat for the show’s real life fans.

Best moment: Sam and Dean discover online fandom and slash fiction.

Quotable: “They do know we’re brothers, right?!” (Dean)

Watch if you like: Fan fiction, meta fiction

6. Faith (Season 1, Episode 12)

This low-key Season 1 episode may seem like an odd choice for the sixth best episode ever out of 327. But there are two reasons for singling out “Faith” here. One is to highlight just how good Supernatural’s early ghost stories were. We could fill a whole list with classic examples of spooky tales done really well from the show’s early years (“Dead In The Water,” “Bloody Mary,” “No Exit,” “Playthings”). “Faith,” though not strictly about a ghost, centres around a faith healer’s wife controlling a reaper. But “Faith” is more than a good yarn done well. It’s also the episode that showed what the series could be, as it started to deal with the deep and complex philosophical themes the show would later explore in more obvious, explosive ways. There’s also a great guest performance from Angel: The Series’ and Dexter’s Julie Benz, and poor Dean finds himself dying from something fairly mundane – not for the last time.

Best moment: “Don’t Fear The Reaper” is put to great use here as the reaper hunts down a jogger.

Quotable: “You better take care of that car, or I swear, I’ll haunt your ass” (Dean)

Watch if you like: Theology, Blue Oyster Cult

5. Mystery Spot (Season 3, Episode 11)

The best comedy episodes of Supernatural are not only side-splittingly funny (and they are), they also have a dramatic punch, an element of real drama behind the comedy. “Mystery Spot” is based around a twist on the Groundhog Day concept, in which Sam has to relive a day on which Dean seems doomed to die over and over and over again, unable to prevent it. Dean’s many, many deaths caused by all manner of strange things (just how did he manage fatally to slip in the shower?) are very funny, but Sam’s increasing difficulty in dealing with the situation, and then his terrible three months without Dean (this was the first time that had happened since the series began) bring sincere emotions to the table as well.

Best moment: Sam working out that the Trickster is behind everything.

Quotable: “OK, look. Yesterday was Tuesday, right? But today is Tuesday too” (Sam)

Watch if you like: Groundhog Day, Final Destination

4. Pilot (Season 1, Episode 1)

Not too many shows can claim their pilot as one of their best episodes. But Supernatural’s Pilot really is a great episode of the show. It kicks off the series’ major plot arc, of course, but it also introduces the show’s humor and heart. On top of all that, the Pilot also features a classic Ghost of the Week that’s spooky and sad and ghoulish, as all good ghost stories should be.

Best moment: Our introduction to Dean’s “mullet rock” music collection, including two classics from AC/DC (“Back In Black” and “Highway To Hell,” of course).

Quotable: “We got work to do” (Sam)

Watch if you like: Mullet rock, ghost stories

3. Swan Song (Season 5, Episode 22)

The episode that would have been the series finale, if the show hadn’t been renewed and taken over (first by Sera Gamble, then Jeremy Carver, and finally Andrew Dabb and Robert Singer). “Swan Song” would have made a great finale as well – it’s thrilling, satisfying, tragic and funny all at once. The main reason it’s not higher on this list is that it is a little bit of a downer – if the series had actually ended there, there would have been a lot of Fix Fic out there online, sorting it out. Granted, that’s true of the series’ actual finale as well, but honestly, think about it, and take out the sequel hook shot of a resurrected Sam at the end of “Swan Song” which presumably wouldn’t have been there – this one is even more depressing.

Best moment: The opening narration, describing how the Impala has always been the boys’ real home.

Quotable: “Hey! Assbutt!” (Castiel, to Lucifer)

Watch if you like: Supernatural. Honestly, this one is the conclusion to five years’ story-telling – don’t start here!

2. Changing Channels (Season 5, Episode 8)

Is this the funniest comedy episode of Supernatural? It’s a tough contest, but the genital herpes commercial Sam is forced to star in might just give it the win. But “Changing Channels” is more than comedy. The reveal that the Trickster is actually the Archangel Gabriel in disguise really shouldn’t work, but somehow it does, and it brings a new dimension to the Trickster’s previous appearances (especially “Mystery Spot”) as well as a solid conclusion to this one. But really, the episode’s greatness lies in the fact that it’s just. so. funny.

Best moment: The Impala/Sam as KITT from Knight Rider.

Quotable: “Should I honk?” (Sam/the Impala)

Watch if you like: Grey’s Anatomy, CSI, Knight Rider, cheesy sitcoms, Japanese game shows, adverts for genital herpes treatments

1. Lazarus Rising (Season 4, Episode 1)

What with running for 15 years, Supernatural went through a fair few major upheavals and shifts that sent the show in a new direction, and several of them are on this list. Nothing, though, beats the appearance of real, possessing-someone-else’s-flesh-and-blood angels on the show. This was the episode that made Supernatural what it has become, for better or for worse.

But that alone isn’t the reason we’ve put it at Number 1 of 327 episodes. The episode is hugely emotionally satisfying – although Sam and Dean had both come back from the dead before by this point (Dean technically dozens of times) Dean coming back from being buried for months is undeniably huge. The series needed to show how much of a big deal this was, and they did. We immediately learn that angels are terrifying and that wherever they go, collateral damage follows (it’s easy to forget that the first thing Castiel does on this show is burn out an innocent woman’s eyes).

And then, we finally get to meet an angel face to face. Castiel, in his first appearance, is genuinely something to behold. The deep voice, before it became the subject of in jokes and deadpan comedy, was originally intended to convey gravitas and power, and it works. This is a force like nothing the boys have encountered before, and it is awesome in the classic sense of word – full of awe.

Later, of course, Castiel would become the third member of Team Free Will and one of the most important characters on the show, next only to Sam and Dean. Misha Collins has made the character funny and loveable and awkward and generally indispensable. We wouldn’t change Castiel for the world and certainly don’t mean to suggest that it’s all downhill from his first appearance. Indeed, that later legacy is part of what makes this episode so special.

But really, it’s that entrance we can’t get enough of. We get shivers every time.

Best moment: Castiel’s entrance, of course. Though the rest of the episode is very good as well.

Quotable: “I’m the one who gripped you tight and raised you from perdition” (Castiel’s first line)

Watch if you like: Castiel, angels

Honorable mentions

There were so many great episodes we didn’t have room for here – “My Bloody Valentine” (gory and funny in equal measure), “It’s A Terrible Life” (a classic Angel Shenanigans of the Week story), ‘The Born-Again Identity’ (Castiel’s return after it looked like they really had killed him off this time), “Houses Of The Holy” (the first references to angels on the show), “Everybody Hates Hitler” (a solid adventure during the course of which the boys discover the Bunker that has become their home), and “LARP And The Real Girl” (probably the best and most fun episode featuring fan favorite Charlie, played by Felicia Day) are just a few of the other greats.

Dishonorable mentions

We don’t want to spend too much time focusing on the negative, but we should probably acknowledge that, in 327 episodes, the show has occasionally got it wrong. Generally speaking, any time the show decides to feature dogs (the domesticated variety, not werewolves) the results tend to be less than excellent – “Man’s Best Friend With Benefits” is a real low point, and while many fans love “Dog Dean Afternoon,” we find it cringe-worthy. “Bugs” and “Route 666” (the one about the racist truck) are the two most often picked on by the writers themselves as examples of terrible episodes, though since both are from Season 1, they’ve long receded into most viewers’ long-term memories.

And of course, there’s “Carry On.” For every fan who found it a flawed but satisfying ending, there’s another who ranks it somewhere up there with Game Of Thrones’ and How I Met Your Mother’s finales in the All Time Terrible Series Finales Hall of Fame. There were too many people missing (largely the fault of COVID-19, but that doesn’t really help), especially Castiel and Eileen, whose absences were palpably felt. To leave Misha Collins and Castiel out all together after years of him sharing show-leading duties with Padalecki and Ackles seems very wrong, and many fans were disappointed that we never really see Dean react to Cas’s confession of love for him in ‘Despair’. Dean’s abrupt death felt anti-climactic to many, and the fact he was robbed of the chance to live a life free of Chuck was frustrating. And on top of all that, Sam’s grey-haired wig really was quite terrible. So all in all, while we would still say that for us it felt like a fairly well played conclusion to the story, we can understand that for many, it belongs at the top of the list of Dishonorable Mentions.

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Did your favorite episode of Supernatural make the list? Let us know in the comments below…

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