Top 19 moments in Supernatural
In celebration that there’s less than a month left for season five, I present you:
Part picspam, part meta, part squeeing. Why top 19? Just because. Or possibly because when I started doing this, there were 19 days left till the start of Season 5. Whatever the reason, I didn’t feel like shoving another episode in here to make it even. So you get 19.
SPOILERS FOR ALL FOUR SEASONS
19. The end of Devil's Trap (Season 1)
Music: Creedence Clearwater Revival's Bad Moon Rising
JOHN: I’m surprised at you, Sammy. Why didn’t you kill it? I thought we saw eye-to-eye on this? Killing this demon comes first - before me, before everything.
SAM: (Looking in the rearview mirror at a wounded Dean) No, sir. Not before everything. Look, we’ve still got the Colt. We still have the one bullet left. We just have to start over, alright? I mean, we already found the demon.....
Really, I love the whole episode. What’s not to love about John being possessed by Yellow-Eyes? Jeff was creepy, and played the part very well. But really? It’s the end that always gets to me. We get this lovely, almost subtle moment between the brothers how Dean - how family - comes first for Sam, even before the demon he’s been hunting all year long. And suddenly, as we’re getting to enjoy CCR’s music - which I was practically dancing to, because I love that song - suddenly, we get an eighteen wheeler crashing into our three boys, making the Impala junk. Cue Sam screaming for Dean as Dean’s already in a coma, cue four months of a cliffhanger. I might have probably fell for this show right here.
18. The end of Faith (Season 1)
Religion is such a controversial topic everywhere, I am always slightly surprised when it is touched on the show. Faith was the first episode to do so - in a very Supernatural way, of course, which is why we have Reapers as well as faith healers traipsing all over the place.
What I like about this episode is how Dean gets ill - hunting gone wrong. Just like that, which is, let’s be frank, probably the way the boys will go for good one day. There is no bad monster playing mojo on Dean, no: Dean simply gets electrocuted.
Later in the episode we have what is one of the best uses of music in the series which is - cheer with me here - Don’t Fear The Reaper! The reaper chasing the girl was creepy enough - especially when the Reaper looks like this and not like Tessa - but then you very softly start to hear Blue Oyster Cult, as if the song had been made for this scene, it makes this scene perfect, simply absolutely perfect.
The end of the episode is one of my favorites of the whole series, which is why I included Faith in this top 19:
DEAN: Uh, you know, I’m not much of the prayin’ type. But I’m gonna pray for you.
LAYLA: Well. There’s a miracle right there.
Julie Benz played Layla perfectly, her voice had the right cadence and everything to make the scene doubly as touching. Jensen as Dean is always awesome - yes, I’m biased here - but he still delivered his line in a way that never fails to make me smile: Dean, who only reaches as far as would like to believe in God, is going to pray for Layla.
I love this show.
17. Casey and Dean in Sin City (Season 3)
First, dialogue:
CASEY: All you got to do is nudge humans in the right direction. Some whiskey here, a hooker there, and they'll walk right into hell with big,fat smiles on their faces. Your kind is corrupt, Dean. Weak. Our will's stronger. That's why we'll win.
DEAN: And that's how it ends?
CASEY: No. That's how it begins.
(…)
DEAN: Demons lie.
CASEY: Some do. Some are true believers.
DEAN: Believers in what?
CASEY: You think humans have an exclusive on a higher power?
DEAN: You have a god?
CASEY: Sure. His name's Lucifer.
DEAN: You mean the devil?
CASEY: Your word, not ours. Lucifer actually means "light bringer." Look it up. Once he was the most beautiful of all god's angels, But god demanded that he bow down before man, and when he refused, god banished him. Tell me, Dean. How do you like bowing before lesser creatures?
DEAN: Lucifer's really real?
CASEY: Well, no one's actually seen him, but they say that he made us into what we are, and they say that he'll return.
DEAN: Oh,yeah? And, uh, you believe that?
CASEY: I've got faith. So, you see? Is my kind really all that different than yours?
DEAN: Well, except that, uh, demons are evil.
CASEY: …and humans are such a lovable bunch. Dick Cheney.
DEAN: He one of yours?
CASEY: Not yet. Let's just say he's got a parking spot reserved for him downstairs.
Let’s shove two things aside and give them for a fact: the great writing and that Sasha Barrese (Casey) and Jensen had great chemistry. One of the things I love about this episode is that fact that it gives demons a whole belief system, a whole background. They’re not just evil creatures slashing out just because: they do it because they have a God they believe in, and follow. Casey gives us a little glimpse into the true inner workings of being a demon: there are believers, Azazel wasn’t widely loved but kept ‘peace’ so they tolerated him, many were ready to follow Sam. What makes me love Sin City is that it gives the bad guys a reason, mostly because I’m tired of creatures and people being evil Only Because.
This is what I love about this show, too: answers don’t come twenty minutes before the series finale. Answers are delivered constantly, we are not left to wait.
One final thing about this episode: in the same episode we first hear of Lucifer, Sam and Ruby have this little exchange:
RUBY: This won't be easy, Sam. You're gonna have to do things that go against that gentle nature of yours. There'll be collateral damage...but, it has to be done.
SAM: Well, I don't have to like it.
RUBY: No. You wouldn't be Sam if you did. On the bright side, I'll be there with you. That little fallen angel on your shoulder.
Foreshadowing FTW? Considering the events of season four, and that this is very early season three - colored me amazed.
16. All of Asylum (Season 1)
I’ll admit it, there is only one reason why I’m including this episode: the abandoned hospital. Okay, several reasons because it’s a good episode. But the main reason? Oh yes. Abandoned hospitals and me have a love/hate relationship going on. I’d love to go inside one and yet they creep me out more than possible.
It’s not the only reason I’m including it here. We have Sam and Dean fighting, and we have John calling them. But really, it’s a scary episode. That’s all.
15. All of Something Wicked (Season 1)
MICHAEL: You said you're a big brother.
DEAN: Yeah.
MICHAEL: You take care of your little brother? You'd do anything for him?
DEAN: Yeah, I would.
MICHAEL: Me too. I'll help.
There is something about this fandom and the Wee!chesters. We love them to death and I think we all went crazy when this episode first aired. We got our first glimpse at how Dean’s life was: having to be there for Sammy all the time while John was away hunting monsters. Dean wasn’t a son, most of the time, he was a soldier. Sammy, on the other hand, was a son for many, many years.
The thing that gets to me is how much affected Dean was left by this episode, how it took part in shaping what he is. Sammy comes first, always. It makes me wonder what else there could’ve been in their childhood, other incidents like this. When he had to hide from Sam what John really did, and how it all changed when Sam found out and they started training him.
Besides, Michael was cool. Being all smug about Dean asking for ‘two queens’. Cheeky little bastard.
14. Flashbacks in A Very Supernatural Christmas (Season 3)
More Wee!chesters! And this episode is doubly good. Why? Because Kripke & Co had been pestered at cons and interviews for years about Dean’s amulet. What was the deal with it? Was it protecting him from something, maybe a leftover of a spell or a hunting gone wrong?
The answer was so much simpler and so much better than anything we could have imagined: it was a gift from Sam, on the night he first found out what John really did:
YOUNG DEAN: First thing you have to know is we have the coolest dad in the world. He's a superhero.
YOUNG SAM: He is?
YOUNG DEAN: Yeah. Monsters are real. Dad fights them. He's fighting them right now.
And little Dean, who was already dealing with his plate being way too full for someone so young, paints John as the coolest person ever in the world - which he was, unless you had to deal with him treating you like a soldier, not a son.
Besides, this is a Supernatural Christmas episode. That’s enough to include it in my top 19 for sure.
13. The end of No Rest for the Wicked (Season 3)
I’m gonna be brief here: we, ladies and gentlemen, are watching a show which actually sent his main character to hell. He ended up as a ‘hell hound’s chew toy’, ended really dead, and didn’t avoid death by any sort of dodgy last minute spell or deal. Dean went to hell (which was just about everything I repeated for a day after watching this finale.)
Another thing that makes me love this episode: a clean start. You don’t get much more than a clean start than by kicking your main character to hell.
12. All of Mystery Spot (Season 3)
Oh, Mystery Spot. It started with such levity, so light and happy. And then Dean died. Over and over and over again. It’s episodes like this, which deceive you from start till end that really make the show: you expect one thing and yet it takes you down another whole different road (Roadkill comes to mind, too, which ended up as runner up for this top 19.)
We see Sam, six months alone, with Dean dead, hardened, bitter, hunting the Trickster (amazing son of a bitch) and yet when push comes to shove, when he has the trickster in front of him… Sam begs. Got to say, it gives me hope for our Sammy.
11. All of The Monster at the End of This Book (Season 4)
DEAN: [Reading on the computer] There are 'Sam girls' and 'Dean girls' and... what's a slash fan?
SAM: As in Sam/Dean... together.
DEAN: Like together-together?
SAM: Yeah.
DEAN: [Horrified] They do know we're brothers, right?
SAM: Doesn't seem to matter.
DEAN: Oh, come on, that... that's just sick...
I hear there are people who didn’t like this episode. I am NOT one of them. What’s not to love about a show that practically goes wink-wink, nudge-nudge at its fans for their wincest-y ways? The boys weren’t too happy to learn some of us rather like the picture they paint together, but I was giggling from start to end.
Also:
CASTIEL: Dean.
DEAN: What?!
CASTIEL: You must understand why I can't intercede. Prophets are very special. They're protected.
DEAN: I get that.
CASTIEL: If anything threatens a prophet, anything at all, an archangel will appear to destroy that threat. Archangels are fierce. They're absolute. They're heaven's most terrifying weapon.
DEAN: And these archangels, they're tied to prophets?
CASTIEL: Yes.
DEAN: So if a prophet was in the same room as a demon --
CASTIEL: Then the most fearsome wrath of heaven would rain down on that demon. Just so you understand... why I can't help.
DEAN: Thanks, Cas.
Can I say it? Can I? Sneaky Cas FTW! Yes, I’m a child, I know. But this little exchange says so, so much about our dear Cas. He likes Dean, he doesn’t like the plan they’ve got for him and he’s trying to help Dean.
Sadly, this is what gets him carried off to ‘Bible Camp’. One little help so Sam won’t do the horizontal tango with Lilith and poor Cas gets carried home.
Season five looks a hell of a lot interesting now.
10. Sam’s death in All Hell Breaks Loose Part 1 (Season 2)
DEAN: (to Sam as he's dying, seeing the wound) Hey, hey, look at me. It's not even that bad. It's not even that bad, alright? Sammy? Sam! Hey, listen to me, we're going to patch you up, okay? You'll be as good as new. I'm gonna take care of you, okay? I'm going to take care of you; I've got you, because that's my job, right? Watching after my pain in the ass little brother. (Realizes Sam is already gone) Sam? Sam? Sam?! Sammy! No. No, no, no, no. Oh god. (pulls Sam's body against his) Oh god. (pause, then shouts) SAM!
Oh, there really isn’t much I could say here that we all haven’t said and felt already. Here we have Dean’s biggest nightmare actually coming true. It makes me cry every time I watch this episode. Jensen does it so, so well.
What I can do, though, is rec you this video by YouTube user SecretlyToDream. It's short and amazing, go watch it. This is going to say all.
09. All of The Rapture (Season 4)
Ah, the episode that I like to call ‘How Many Expressions can Misha fit in forty two minutes?’ We’ve seen him with a neutral expression all season long, sometimes he looks confused or exasperated (usually at Dean) and in this episode, it’s like Misha stretched his acting legs and wrapped us all even tighter all around his little finger.
Whenever we have one actor playing two different roles, they are never truly separate. I mean, if they’ve been at the role for a long time, the original character will seep in. Not here. Jimmy was truly Jimmy, not Castiel. No mannerisms, no speech, no voice, no expression of Jimmy reminded us of Castiel. In this show, where angels and demons take hosts, it’s easy to forget the face we’re seeing isn’t really the creature’s. Whenever the human is left behind, we have trouble forgetting this is the human, not the creature. And yet, in five seconds flat, Misha made Jimmy all his, all Jimmy, as if Castiel had been portrayed by another actor altogether.
This episode is also a shout out to the great casting of this show - few people could have done this so well.
And that fact that I’m a minion has nothing to do with this. XD
08. Castiel’s entrance in Lazarus Rising (Season 4)
I love the whole episode, really - what’s not to love about Dean getting out of hell? But the reason I’m indicating specifically Castiel’s entrance is because it is unarguably the coolest introduction to a character ever.
Let’s revise: Ruby had a cool intro, saving Sam in The Magnificent Seven. Bela was a waitress. Ellen, Ash & Jo shoved guns at the boys (albeit Ash slept through it). Bobby and John I’m not counting because they’re as part of the show as Sam and Dean are.
We have a light show, sparks, shooting, stabbing, and this guy stays impassively through it all. If that isn’t cool, I don’t know what it.
07. The end of Nightshifter (Season 2)
Music: Styx's Renegade
It is such, such a perfect ending. The moment we see Jared’s long legs in the SWAT gear we know the boys have managed to escape, further confirmed when they get to the Impala. On its own it would be just a cool scene, clever writing. But through it all we hear Styx’s Renegade:
Oh momma I'm in fear for my life from the long arm of the law
Lawman has put an end to my running and I'm so far from my home.
The spoken words are perfect, timed perfectly for when the boys are running; when the beat starts just as the boys start the car, that makes this whole scene amazingly perfect and one of the best endings ever to an episode.
06. The end of Everybody Loves a Clown (Season 2)
I remember back when this episode first showed - we were all hung up on this scene: Dean destroying his baby. Dean being bad enough to destroy his baby, our beloved Impala. Is it rational? No. Is it logic? No. That’s grief for you, and that’s what makes this a perfect scene for a guy who’s in mourning.
What I also love about this episode is how Sam’s hair and clothes reflect how bad he is feeling. He is the very picture of someone who’s going through more important things to care about anything else.
05. The beginning of Bloodlust (Season 2)
Music: AC/DC's Back In Black
Our Impala is back! Seriously, the moment the song started we all just knew what was going to happen. Dean is happy, Sam is happy, the Impala is happy at not being, you know, twisted metal. It’s just a happy scene, such a lovely and perfect scene.
This is the type of scene that makes me think about this show and other shows: I can’t stand shows which are doom and gloom all the time. I watched series where the biggest criticism I have to make (in my own opinion) is this: get a little levity on the show. Supernatural is a pretty dark show, what with mom dying on the ceiling, one brother going to hell and the other one on his way to become a demon, and still, it does not fall into Doom and Gloom all the time. They crack jokes, they have funny episodes, and they have scenes like this, in which everything is practically perfect.
04.The end of Houses of the Holy (Season 2)
Music: Bob Dylan's Knocking On Heaven's Door
SAM: (...) I needed to think that there was something else watching too, you know? Some higher power. Some greater good. And that maybe . . .
DEAN: Maybe what?
SAM: Maybe I could be saved. (nervous laugh) But, uh, you know, that just clouded my judgement, and you're right. I mean, we've gotta go with what we know, with what we can see, with what's right there in front of our own two eyes.
DEAN: Yeah, well, it's funny you say that.
SAM: Why?
DEAN: Gregory's spirit gave you some pretty good information. That guy in the car was bad news. I barely got there in time.
SAM: What happened?
DEAN: He's dead.
SAM: Did . . . you?
DEAN: No. But I'll tell you one, thing. If . . .the way he died, if I hadn't seen it with my own two eyes I never would have believed it. I mean, I don't know what to call it.
SAM: What? Dean, what did you see?
DEAN: Maybe . . . God's will.
This is probably the most personal of my choices in this top 19. I’m a spiritual person, so the end of this episode never fails to make me cry (I’m tearing up as I write this, actually). We have one brother being disappointed, maybe a tiny little less of a believer. And we have Dean, the skeptic, Dean the non believer, Dean, who was shaken to his very core by something he watched, he witnessed, he felt and is now actually contemplating God.
Knocking on Heaven’s Door makes for me what would normally be a touching scene an actually incredibly powerful one. It is haunting, and beautiful, and perfect.
03. All of In My Time of Dying (Season 2)
Oh, who could ever forget In My Time Of Dying? There were so many epic things. The first I’m going to mention, though, is Kim Manner’s stellar directing. As an X-Files fan I’ve known the man’s work for years (John Shiban’s too) and I was so very pleasantly surprised when I heard he was working in Supernatural. I bet Kripke & Co were too, the man was nothing short of a genius. His work is very lovingly exemplified by this episode: from the scene in the outer hall just after Dean almost dies, to the Ouija board scene, to Sam discovering John’s body, the camera isn’t just showing you the episode, it takes your hand and guides you through it.
And boy, did we need guiding in this episode. We got angst pouring out of every pore here. From Sam and John fighting over John and Dean only being able to watch (and yell, and Swayze his way thorough the episode) to Sam not wanting to scrap the Impala as if Bobby had been talking about Dean himself - which he kinda was, I suppose, the Impala is a part of Dean.
The very end is just heart wrenching. In what John knows are his last minutes of life he consciously stops fighting with Sam and apologizes to Dean, who 'made you grow up too fast'. Arguably, he deserved another type of death: he’s been in the war, and he’s hunted monsters most of his adult life. And he goes by making a deal with the thing that killed his beloved Mary. Maybe he should’ve gone fighting, I think.
And still - I’m thinking this as I type - didn’t he? He went down making a deal, fighting for his son’s life, the son he had piled piles of shit on all through his life. He goes down protecting his family, making sure Dean is alive and Sam isn't left alone.
He apologizes for laying so much on Dean's shoulders - just before adding the worst load yet. Oh, John.
02. All of On The Head of a Pin (Season 4)
Oh, where to start? There are so many things about this episode I loved this will be epically long if I mentioned them all.
The first of which - the inner workings on Angels. I liked seeing the sorrow on Castiel’s face at his fallen sister, the issues that he still has with Anna, and the sadness at Uriel’s betrayal. (With brothers and sisters like that, the Winchesters look like the Ingalls) What can I say? We’ve been introduced with another race of creatures, the angels, and I’m curious about them. This episode (and the little tidbits Cas has dropped all over the season) make for one interesting race, albeit one I would not like to meet up close. Unless it’s Anna or Cas.
One of the other reasons for my liking this episode? The brilliant, brilliant casting. Christopher Heyerdahl, a face and talent well known for anyone familiar with the Stargate franchise, was oh-my-god so creepy, so good in this. Chris Heyerdahl’s talent is no surprise to me - he’s played a space vampire, an alien native and Jack the Ripper and he’s made each and every role his own. Like Misha playing Castiel and Jimmy (and other roles I’ve seen him in) you don’t see Chris, or the other roles you’ve seen him in. You see Alistair here, and boy do we. This dude gave me the creeps. Bad.
On the relationship front I adore just about everything - Anna coming to Castiel’s aid, Sam saving Dean (and Cas) from Alistair (albeit by doing things no one is too happy about), and Dean and Cas’ relationship: Cas cares for Dean, maybe a little bit too much, which later on the season brings him trouble.
I had trouble selecting caps for this episode. There were just so many good ones - I feel like I should commend the director (Mike Rohl) because this was just beautiful.
01. All of Lucifer Rising (Season 4)
Lucifer Rising is such, such a complex episode I’ve divided it: The Dean & Bobby teaser, Sam’s Journey, Dean’s Journey and The Green Room. To cover it all in one little paragraph would be impossible.
DEAN & BOBBY TEASER
BOBBY: You stupid, stupid son of a bitch! Well, boo hoo, I am so sorry your feelings are hurt, princess! Are you under the impression that family's supposed to make you feel good?! Make you an apple pie, maybe? They're supposed to make you miserable! That's why they're family!
DEAN: I told him, "you walk out that door, don't come back" and he walked out anyway! That was his choice!
BOBBY: You sound like a whiny brat. No, you sound like your dad.
The last part made me cheer very much out loud because the moment Bobby said ‘You sound like a whiny brat’ I instantly said ‘No, he sounds like John’. Which of course proves I watch too much of this show. :D
Anywho - let’s hear three cheers for Bobby here. I could not have defined family better. You love them with your heart, but they can drive you up the walls. Thank you, Bobby.
The teaser is also the place for the coolest transition ever in history - one moment’s we’re staring out in the Singer Salvage Yard, the next we’re somewhere where it’s far too fancy for the likes of our boys. (I do hope Cas told Bobby Dean would be okay)
Not only that - there is Cas, who looks positively pained at being there. Lovely teaser.
SAM’S JOURNEY
I’m including creepy-ass Azazel possessing the priest in Sam’s journey because - well, why not? That’s how it all got started. Lucifer needed babies, and Lilith. Azazel took care of it all, and this is where it ends - or rather, where it begins.
Sam journeys on in what he thinks is the only way there is to save the world, but he is so blinded - or rather, has been blinded - that he doesn’t see the tiny little signs along the way. Dean would never leave that kind of voicemail to his baby brother. Ruby seems just a little too perky about this all. Sam spirals down and ends up scarier and scarier, while Ruby grows happier and happier.
I have to admit, I rather liked the way it ended: Ruby dead, her true colors revealed, both brothers feebly rejoined.
Until the floor erupted with light, that is.
RUBY: You opened the door. And now he's free at last. He's free at last!
SAM: No, no, no. No, he -- Lilith -- I stopped her. I killed her!
RUBY: (fervently) And it is written that the first demon shall be the last seal. And you bust her open. Now guess who's coming to dinner.
SAM: Oh, my god.
RUBY: Guess again.
DEAN’S JOURNEY
CASTIEL: What is so worth saving? I see nothing but pain here. I see inside you. I see your guilt, your anger, confusion. In paradise, all is forgiven. You'll be at peace. Even with Sam.
DEAN: You can take your peace... and shove it up your lily-white ass. 'Cause I'll take the pain and the guilt. I'll even take Sam as is. It's a lot better than being some
Stepford bitch in paradise. This is simple, Cas! No more crap about being a good soldier. There is a right and there is a wrong here, and you know it. (CASTIEL turns away) Look at me! You know it! You were gonna help me once, weren't you? You were gonna warn me about all this, before they dragged you back to bible camp. Help me -- now. Please.
CASTIEL: What would you have me do?
DEAN: Get me to Sam! We can stop this before it's too late.
CASTIEL: I do that, we will all be hunted. We'll all be killed.
DEAN: If there is anything worth dying for... this is it. (CASTIEL looks away) You spineless, soulless son of a bitch. What do you care about dying? You're already dead. We're done.
CASTIEL: Dean --
DEAN: We're done!
I find it amazing (and sign of good writing, too) how Dean’s episode consisted of being stuck in a room. That was it. He didn’t go anywhere, he was simply there. And still, it was not boring or repetitive, it was so very interesting. Zachariah, with the quirkiest sense of humor one could ever imagine for an angel, is a rather pompous ass - not that we didn’t know this before. Castiel has very obviously been beaten into submission after bible camp, looking pained to be there and do the things he does, but still doing them because he’s under orders.
Dean feels betrayed by Cas to the point of trying to hit him (Best scene ever, thank you very much) and to the little exchange I transcribed up here. It’s Dean who pushed Cas into deciding for himself, now, because then it will be too late. I have the inkling that had Dean not said ‘You’re already dead. We’re done’ as if breaking up whatever bond they had, then Cas would not have sprung into action so soon.
I have the feeling I could make a picspam about Castiel’s journey in this season, and how meeting Dean has uprooted his every belief - or at least, has given him the necessary push to do the thing he believes is right.
THE GREEN ROOM
(This set of images are not modified or colored, so as to show the change in lighting better.)
I have to admit that, for the first spot, I was torn between this episode and In My Time Of Dying. Like I said, I’m familiar with the work of the brilliant, brilliant man that was Kim Manners, and was seriously about to make In My Time of Dying my first episode.
The green room, though, is probably what weighted more in my choosing Lucifer Rising. Let’s be frank, the first viewing of the episode, I was squeeing so hard I didn’t notice the change in light and the paintings until Kripke shoved it to my face by making Zach and Dean stand in front of one.
On the second, viewing, I was stunned. It’s such an easy thing to miss - as proved by me, thank you very much - and yet it’s so pivotal to the scene. As the truth is revealed, the light dims, and goes from warm and almost fuzzy to cold blueish, the paintings scary and gory when they had previously been tranquil and relaxed.
There is so, so much more I would like to mention that makes me love this show. Roadkill, for example, who totally floored me when Tricia Helfer’s character was actually a ghost. Or It’s A Terrible Life and What Is And What Should Never Be, with their alternate realities. I should’ve mentioned the Ghostfacers and how much Heart made me cry. But this is long enough already!
18 days and counting, people!
* Caps from this place & some by me, modified by me. Don't take, don't hotlink. If you want the cap, either raw or modified, ask away.