Supernatural was a dark fantasy drama that lasted from 2005 to 2020, running for a total of 15 seasons in all. The program ran on The WB for its debut season and spent the rest of its TV runtime on The CW.
Remarkably, a series that aired alongside shows like Smallville, Gossip Girl, One Tree Hill, The Vampire Diaries, and many more outlasted them all by a long shot, recently concluding its 15th and final season in 2020. Supernatural was something truly special, considering it stood the test of time, which not many shows can lay claim to.
We just finished watching the first season once again, and some parts of the second season, and realized how special the series was, and concluded that several aspects of Supernatural made fans want to keep coming back for all those 15 seasons. Here’s a bit of a retrospective on the series, and some reasons why it was such a massive success.
We’re issuing a bit of a disclaimer right now, SPOILER ALERT on the first season and some of the second season of Supernatural. With that out of the way, let’s get right into it.
The Bond between the Winchesters
From the first episode of the series, the audience already had the sense right off the bat of how strong the bond between Dean and Sam Winchester truly is, even though they haven’t seen each other in years up to that point. Played by Jensen Ackles and Jared Padalecki respectively, Dean and Sam stood by one another, and lean on each other when the going got tough, which was most of the time.
Watchers gravitated toward this brotherly bond, and as the series would go on, it was even more apparent that there will be trouble and casualties along the way. However, as long as Sam and Dean got each other’s backs, no being, spirit, or entity was ever too much to handle.
To be honest, we thought both characters would be one-dimensional. Sam is the stuck-up stickler of a younger brother. Meanwhile, Dean was your average womanizing meathead jock. We were so glad that we were wrong.
Sam can be impulsive, and reckless even, while Dean has a softer spot even though he’s not the type to wear his heart on his sleeve. Both Jared Padalecki and Jensen Ackles were tremendous choices for their roles, as the Winchester brother never came off as one-dimensional.
It was Self-Aware
While Supernatural never explicitly broke the fourth wall, it was self-aware and incorporated aspects of the real world into its storylines. “Ectoplasm,” referencing Ghostbusters, to holy water and levitation, a clear reference to The Exorcist, Supernatural operated in the “real world” which made it all the more compelling.
If you’ve been watching scary movies and shows all your life and have a preconceived notion of the entities you see on Supernatural, throw it all out the window. A prime example of this is when the Winchester boys faced off against a couple of Vampires.
In popular culture, we were conditioned to believe that garlic, crosses, wooden stakes, and sunlight kills the bloodsuckers. However, John Winchester, played by Jeffrey Dean Morgan, quickly denounced those beliefs and said that the only way to kill these creatures of the night was beheadings. Easier said than done considering how hypersensitive and fast they all are.
These nuances made the show something worthwhile to watch because you always look out for the next “lore-breaking” method in which Sam and Dean will vanquish the fiend that creeps up.
Somewhat Self-contained
It’s a bit odd to compare Supernatural to a series like the 2010 reboot of Hawaii Five-0 because thematically they share no similarities. However, what they do share is most of their episodes are, for the most part self-contained.
Sure, there’s a central plot in both shows, but if you happen to catch it on TV and haven’t watched it before, it’s another supernatural being to vanquish for the Winchester brothers.
You may not understand some dialogue or foreshadowing, but you’re going to enjoy seeing how Sam and Dean take on another monster or spirit.
If you’re a fan of “Supernatural,” what did you love most about the series? Tell us in the comments!
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