I first started watching the cult classic surprise hit Supernatural in 2005. I was still in high school at the time and I was adverse to horror; mostly because horror scared the crap out of me and prevented me from sleeping for fear of nightmares. However, watching the Winchesters fight and kill the things that went bump in the night sort of made horror less... well horrific! If that wasn't enough, the comic relief was a surprise; a pleasant one. It made watching this dark, grim horror show seem less scary. So now not only do I still watch the show but I also write some horror stories myself. Yet I should get into why Supernatural has kept me watching these past years all the way to season 9.
First off, no one expected Supernatural to survive for as long as it did. Season 3 was on during the Writer's Strike where most TV shows were given the axe due to lack of writers. Yet Supernatural survived with it's 16 episodes. Dean went to hell but he didn't stay there. That's no way to end a story as epic as the Winchester Brothers! Sam and Dean really upped the anti on the laugh meter Season 3. "Bad Day at Black Rock" was my favorite. Sam and Dean getting into bad luck situations with Bella ruining their every turn. Dean's line: "I'm Batman" made me keel over in hysterics. It's Dean's one liners that kept the show from going real dark. Sure there were serious brother moments but those are also what kept me watching. At the core the show is about family and what you are willing to do to protect your family; blood or not.
As if the sexy, gun-toting Winchester's weren't enough, the producers added an angel into the mix. Misha Collins joined the Supernatural family in Season 4 as the heavenly messenger, Castiël. No one really expected Castiël to become so popular but the cute, sexy, surprisingly funny angel became candy in a trench coat for fans. Dean even gave the angel a nickname that we all call him by: Cas. It's short and sweet and you know you're a part of the Winchester inner circle when you get a nickname. Since Cas became a show favorite, the producers kept Cas on for the following seasons. Cas's natural love for humanity, compassion, and nobility made him likable but his total obliviousness to pop culture references, his innocence, and desire to help others made him lovable. Sam and Dean became like the older brothers to the clueless angel, helping him navigate the human world in all it's strangeness. Dean seems especially bonded with Cas since it's like having another younger brother to take under his wing.
Next to Dean, Cas is my favorite character (sorry Sam but you're #3 but you're ahead of Bobby). Season 6 was my favorite in terms of Cas's character change journey. Cas became the anti-hero where we all knew what he was doing was wrong but we know it was coming from the best intentions that sadly turned South, far South. "The Man Who Would Be King" episode should have gotten Misha Collins an Emmy but whatever! It's Prize-worthy to us fans! Cas tells us his side of the story this episode and we see how human he has become in his internal struggle to do the right thing as not only an angel but as an over all person.
The show's overall ability to make fun of itself is just incredible. It really has broken the mold in terms of its amazing sense of humor to point out its own flaws. Since there's such a lack of main alpha female characters on the show (every one of them gets killed off! Stop it, Writers!), there is a subtext of homosexuality in the show as well as incest. Usually with buddy shows or any show, there's an even male/female ratio for romantic ships, but with Supernatural it's almost completely male dominated. In Season 4, "The Monster at the End of this Book" was where the Winchesters came face to face with their lives in print. They find that there are books called "Supernatural" that centers on their lives. Dean also realizes what slash fans are and to our amusement he was NOT happy. The brothers find that while not incredibly popular, the series has a strong fan base, which is what the TV series has to thank for its success. Then there was "The French Mistake" that really had me in stitches with the actors in another universe where they have to play their characters playing themselves.
Even Cas has been included in these homoerotic jokes. "Cas get out my ass!" and "Cas... we talked about this...personal space..." were line favorites of mine. The demon Crowley, another character favorite, loves making homosexual innuendos. "Cas, so that's who's been poking my boys and not in the sexy way" is just one of the Crowley quips that have pleased the crowd. This has given up for debate about Crowley's sexual preference being gay but he certainly loves to keep us guessing either way; "Easy Love, remember our time in Mesopotamia? I'm a Lover not a Fighter..." then "There's my whore."
And then there was Dick. What I mean is Dick Roman, the head Leviathan in Season 7. I think they just named the character that just so they can get more into the said "dick" jokes. Homosexual subtext aside, Sam and Dean and even Cas are all straight as arrows. Still the show features some homosexual characters, most recently the charismatic, hacking genius lesbian Charlie. Charlie became a member of the Winchester Clan despite her plea to stay out of the horror show world that was Winchester. Dean joked that Charlie was "the sister I never asked for." Soon Charlie really did become the sister he never asked for but cherished. Dean even gave her a brotherly kiss on the head and had Zeke bring her back to life.
Another aspect of the show was the family theme of the show and that you don't have to be blood to be a family. The goal of season 1 was to find the elusive Winchester Patriarch, John Winchester. Dean, being a loyal son, wants to walk in his father's footsteps while Sam, the younger more rebellious son, wanted a normal life where Halloween was only once a year. At the beginning, the brothers were not close. That all changed further down the road. By Season 9, Sam and Dean will do anything to save the other, even die, which they've had multiple times! You couldn't ask for a stronger bond in a family. John Winchester was killed and that left a gaping hole in the boys but the cranky drunk, Bobby Singer, filled that hole pretty quick. Bobby became the surrogate father for the lost boys. To me, although Bobby had misgivings about being a dad (being that his own father was a mean drunk) he took the boys under his wing, filling their lives with more normal activities like throwing a ball around instead target practice with a rifle. I feel this helped Sam and Dean become more in touch with the outside world than other Hunters, which makes them more willing to try and save more people while most Hunters would probably focus on killing the monster despite the body count. The episode where Bobby died was so emotional. His efforts to get out of his coma to tell his boys some vital information and then his last words "Idjits" with a smile, I cried when he flat-lined. I think when John died, Dean saw John in a less flattering light but excepted that John did his best in raising his two sons.
And Bobby wasn't the only surrogate parent Sam and Dean lost. Ellen played mother to the Winchester boys. She sure acted like a mom, not afraid to slap these kids to their senses. Losing Ellen was probably like losing their mom all over again. I reiterate: Stop killing our Alpha Females!
Then there's the music. Supernatural proved that it was separate from the rest of the TV pack by featuring 99% of bands from the 60s to the 80s. "Carry On My Wayward Son" by Kansas is kind of the show's unofficial theme song. It doesn't just talk about Sam and Dean as two lost boys on the road but to all of our favorite characters. Eric Kripke got me into the old bands and I have to say that Miley Cyrus and Kanye West are nothing in comparison to AC/DC.
Overall, the characters are a psychologist's dream with father issues and dealing with PTSD. Sam and Dean have been to hell and back; literally! They fought demons, the Devil, Heaven and all it's angels, as well as every creepy crawly that stalks the night. They always come out of it scathed but one shot of whiskey, some Foreigner on the radio then they drive off in their black Chevy Impala to hunt again. This show is all American Western and that's part of what makes the show so worth fighting for. It's an Odyssey with no particular destination but to save the next person who needs help from the stuff of nightmares. I don't know if this show will go on for just 10 seasons or even to 13, I just know that I'll be very sad to see it go. Yet I'm happy it stuck with me from high school and even after I graduated college.
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