Name: Revisiting "Supernatural" after all these years
Item: Supernatural
Author: @netflixr

I recall when Supernatural first came out and it was a surprise hit. The reason why I say it was a surprise is because it first aired on "The WB" in 2005 and at that time basically everything on the WB was trash and destined for failure. I guess lightning only has to strike a couple of times in order for a network to keep chugging away and Supernatural was one of those bolts of lightning.

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I probably don't really need to explain this one so I will keep this brief. Brothers Sam and Dean Winchester were brought up in a family of demon hunters and they keep the family business going after their mother and later father, are killed by demons. Each episode is kind of self-contained in that there is a complete beginning, middle, and end to each story contained therein, but there is also an overlaying story for each season, as well as one that develops and concludes (so I've heard) over the astonishing 15 seasons that this show was on the air.

Let's take a minute to admire how amazing it is for any show to go on for 15 years. Law & Order, CSI, and NCIS are a few that made it that far, but for the most part series die out long before this mark.

I loved Supernatural back in the day even though I was late to the party and just ended up waiting until seasons were over and buying them on DVD (remember those?) so I guess you could say I was a "binge watcher" before binge watching was really a thing that just everyone could do with streaming. I preferred to wait until the season was over and commercially available than to wait for it to air at a particular time of day on a particular day of the week.

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At the start of season 2, Sam and Dean's Dad sacrificed himself to some demon that we, the audience, don't know a great deal about, in order to save his son Dean's life. This is recapped and build upon in episode 1 but from that point forward they only kind of reverence it every now and then.

This is one strength of Supernatural and probably a big part of the reason why they were able to keep it going for so long. If you join in during any particular episode, you are going tobe treated to a story that honestly, never has anything to do with anything that happened before this episode for the most part. Each episode gives you a brief lead-in as to why the brothers are where they are, and then they quickly get to summarizing how it is they plan to move forward to solve this particular paranormal problem in the little part of American they happen to be in at the time.

Forget about logistics, forget about how it is that Sam and Dean are able to traverse the country to quickly in one of the least fuel-efficient cars of all time and definitely don't concern yourself with how the hell the car is so perfectly clean all the time even though we never see it get washed.

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Here is basically how every single episode of Supernatural works. Dean and Sam are moving on to somewhere in the car and one of them explain to the other why they are going to where they are going. They get into a sibling fight of sorts that gets a bit heated, then when arriving at wherever they were going to investigate they are brought back together by one of them seeing some sort of clue that leads them further on their quest to kill more demons and eradicate supernatural stuff from the human world at all times.

Then they become best buds again while they work as a team to gather the information necessary to find and eliminate this supernatural something or other. There are a few twists here and there such as the Vampire hunter they encounter, not the vampires, being the actual problem, or a spirit that is actually beneficial and therefore they let it go. But for the most part we spend 10 minutes setting up the episode and the brothers arguing with one another, 20 minutes acquiring data that leads to the discovery of the lair of said demon/supernatural other thing, and the last 10 to 15 minutes is spent on eliminating it and the brothers becoming best buds and high-fiving normally over a very sensible amount of beers at a local dusty side of the road bar.

EVERY SINGLE EPISODE

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To many, this might seem a bit boring but to the masses, it must have been just entertaining enough to keep them going. These days, since we are spoiled for choice about what to watch I like to keep Supernatural on deck because even though it is extremely predictable, it is always entertaining. Sometimes they will encounter a legend that you forgot exists, such as alligators in the sewers or a man who turns everything he touches into gold. They come up with something new all the time and I get truly amused when they brothers seem confused by something new but always say "check Dad's journal" which is like 150 pages long but somehow, always has something that is specifically about the very thing they are faced with. I guess Dad was very concise with that notebook.

I believe that Supernatural will go down in the annuls of history as a series that was for the everyman and it doesn't take a whole lot of brainpower to get involved in it. This doesn't mean that you are a dummy if you enjoy it, I'm just saying that for a lot of people, including me, we sometimes just want to switch off and have something entertaining in front of us that is easy to understand.

Supernatural is definitely that and I keep it on my "continue watching" part of my streaming services at all times because of this.

photodune-6774981-recommended-grunge-red-stamp-xs-643x272.jpg _{You can legally watch this series just about anywhere man. Including Prime, Peacock, Netflix, TNT and AppleTV}

Comments · 7

@darth-azrael(73)· 8d

This is a series i have never watched. I have seen the first two or three eposodes but it just didnt really draw me in. I will probably come back to it at some point.

@thefed(68)· 8d

I oddly enough had a ex girlfriend who loved this show.

Seasons 1-5 were great, it should have ended after that as it was the original and fully planned 5 season story.

Season 6 and 7 had weak villains and very corny also. The storyline in season 8 brought back attempt at a more important story but it just seemed to jump the shark especially its final season when God himself was the new big bad. It just was ridiculous.

Also the writers in later seasons didn’t care about sticking to cannon at all and many aspects of the lore would just get retconned.

It’s a shame because the Actor played Dean could have been a A list movie actor it the show had ended after 5 seasons in 2010. Rumor is he was first choice for Marvel’s Captain America but he couldn’t do it with his tv show duties. Now he’s too old to likely make it to the A list in movies.

@noemilunastorta(79)· 10d

I honestly didn't watch it before I start to watch it now and it's such a cool TV show!!❤️

@passenger777(76)· 11d

When it comes to watching TV shows, for some reason we always fall into this misconception. We tend to prioritize new seasons of shows, as if newly released series were somehow more successful. Yet, as you mentioned, many older shows have kept viewers glued to their screens for 15 to 20 seasons. Take the very old comedy series How I Met Your Mother, for example. In my opinion, it’s one of the shows I’ve really enjoyed in terms of comedy and human relationships. I think that if the producers write scripts that tell a separate story in each episode, they can keep viewers glued to the screen. We can’t keep watching a series we started in the middle without knowing what happened at the beginning. But any series featuring people fighting supernatural beings also catches my attention. I’m going to check out this one.

@yasmarit(73)· 11d

es una de mis series preferidas, me encanta los personajes, como actúan, la trama, todo en si me gusto de principio a fin, buen post

It is one of my favorite series, I love the characters, how they act, the plot, everything in itself I liked it from beginning to end, good post

@urielkinnear(56)· 11d

Supernatural was awesome! I particularly love the standpoint of the creator of the show where they tried to change the formula and remove the music and they were given a quick and painless answer, no.

Some of the over arching storylines in the later Series' are superb, especially when Angels and the like get involved. Yes there may be a requirement for you to detach your brain for a while from time of time but what Series doesn't require that, it's part of the fun!

If I was ever going to buy a boxset this would be the one, although Amazon Prime Video has the full Series on Streaming so no need right now :)

!PIZZA !HBIT

@x-rain(79)· 12d

This is all correct if you only watched the first seasons only. Answering critically.

If you go further, you'll see a bigger picture. If you are on season 6, and think "now I understand" - lol - don't hurry with the conclusionы.

Supernatural is an original explanation of the Bible and the Apocalypse. If you watch more seasons and you'll see the way they explain Christianity, and this interpretation will never abandon you, as it's too convincing and exciting.

Dean and Sam start as just guys traveling in the US and shooting ghosts and ghouls but after several more seasons, you'll ask yourself "are they actually humans?" Can they even die?

Definitely, they aren't just simple guys. Even their birth was planned - not by their parents. Or another fact - Sam's life after his leaving his dad and brother was fully faked by demons. Slight spoilers, just to give a broader perspective.

Those stereotypes will fall apart if you continue watching - cynical Dean driving an old car, listening to old rock, wearing an old leather jacket, behaving like a macho, and Sam, a university guy, eating healthy food, reading smart books, with liberal values - these will fall apart. Sam is sympathetic, empathetic, kind, but actually he is the one who will be carried away towards evil, while simple Dean will be saving him from that, learning on the way compassion, empathy, forgiveness.

Easy show to watch - that's true, it's like a comic book. But within its genre, it has deep philosophy - while so many TV shows focus on money, sex, success and childlike saving the world with pure black and white on the scales, Supernatural raises the question many of us know from Crime and Punishment - does the end justify the means? Supernatural is literally fantasy Crime and Punishment.

Being morally tortured from inside, feeling painful guilt for mistakes, and being murderers for the common good is a signature of Supernatural.

They have silly episodes, they have weak places, but overall, it's an epic show. Marvel series, they were selling as stand-alone movies, are much, much weaker, with a very bad plot, with just separated parts that were really fun (like, Guardians of the Galaxy and some others).

I think people will keep watching Supernatural, unlike many other shows. It's unique, it's deep, and it has its style. Guys invested so much energy and talent in it - it happens so rarely.