Supernatural

By Sophia Doshi

Some love it for Jensen Ackles & Jared Padalecki and others love it for the classic rock. Why do I love it? Both, and I also like the spookiness (although it got progressively less spooky as the seasons went on). This show has had me hooked for years now; whenever people ask me what my favorite show is, my first response is Game of Thrones and my second is unfailingly Supernatural. It's completely addictive because of its characters, stories, and overarching plot. Two brothers who are fortunately easy on the eyes take after their mysterious father and go ghost-hunting together. Their mother is dead, and surprise! Sam's (Padalecki) girlfriend dies in the same way as his mother. Angels hate them, demons hate them, and Death hates them, but it's all okay because every two episodes, they get laid. They spend their lives on the road in Dean's (Ackles) '67 Chevy Impala rocking out to Scorpions, Cheap Trick, Bon Jovi, Black Sabbath, AC/DC, and more. If you need one more reason to watch the series, the unofficial theme song is "Carry On Wayward Son'. A great source for all of the songs featured in the show is the Supernatural Wiki. Every season, they both question their sanity but keep chugging along, regardless of the horrors they face. It's an incredible show, with themes of brotherhood, perseverance, grief, guilt, and the struggle between free will and destiny. 

Most shows get old after so many seasons, but this is not the case for Supernatural, as every episode has a different storyline that all ties into a season-long plotline. I also appreciate that in this show, the supernatural elements aren't just based on religion, specifically Christianity, but a range of elements. Cryptids, urban legends, cultural entities, and many other baddies are in this show (including clowns, which Sam is deathly afraid of, and I am too). I also appreciate how the show plays off the ignorance of 'normal' people in the show to these monsters; it's impressive how the plot armor masks all of these crazy things happening in the background as the world just goes on. 

There is also the question of how different Sam and Dean are, yet how well they work together. Of course, since they are brothers, the term "opposites attract" doesn't work here. Sam is sensitive, intellectual, empathetic, and haunted by his past (no pun intended). Dean is hard, protective, street-smart, and follows the whole 'hit first, think later'. They are good for each other, as they balance each other out and in the process, look after each other no matter who or what gets in between them. Yet they have this self-destructive idea in their minds that they are fully responsible for one another—for Dean, from a very young age, his father (played by Jeffery Dean Morgan) forced a caretaker role on him to look after Sam. No child should ever have to be a caretaker when they should have imaginary friends or play outside on sunny afternoons. Sam believes he has to save Dean from himself, and seeing Dean get hurt over and over takes a toll on Sam's mental and emotional health, so much so that he gets romantically involved with the demon Ruby (played by Genevieve Cortese, who is Padalecki's wife). Of course, Dean blames himself for Sam's demonic tendencies, when it really isn't his fault. That is the beautiful tragedy of this show: two brothers who believe that their destiny is not only to fight literal Hell but also to keep each other from toeing the line from becoming a part of Hell itself. 

I really love this show, and I can't recommend it enough to people who are interested in it. Watching Padalecki and Ackles grow up as actors on set together, as well as become more comfortable in their characters, is a very (bitter)sweet thing. I cried during the final episode where Sam joins Dean in Heaven, which is the most peaceful they've ever been. The cast and crew join them and wave to the camera for the final shot of the series, which left me sobbing and blowing my nose. You would've thought that someone died by the way I was crying (which someone did, and that someone was Dean). 

Watch Supernatural. You'll thank me later.

Cover image from Wallpaper Cave