some seasons of Supernatural are better than others, and there were certain episodes that are hard to watch throughout the fantasy shows run.
While some episodes of Supernatural were notoriously bad, like the ever-famous “Bugs,” there are a number of reasons why some of the show’s episodes can be hard to watch at times, despite its endeavors to keep things interesting. Boring episodes, bad writing decisions, emotionally painful moments, and uncomfortable topics are all factors that make many Supernatural fans skip an episode or two when rewatching. So here are just 10 of those Supernatural episodes that, for whatever reason, remain difficult to watch despite being a fan of the show.
10 Raising Hell
Season 15, Episode 2
As the second episode in season 15’s three-part introduction, “Raising Hell” actually raises a lot of problems to do with the show’s pre-established lore and suffers from too many ing characters populating the Supernatural episode. After Chuck released the souls from Hell in the previous episode, “Raising Hell” sees the Winchesters, Castiel, and a Jack-possessed Belphegor (with the addition of Ketch and Rowena) having to contain a town full of ghosts from previous seasons. While this presented a brilliant opportunity for a deserved throwback in the final season, it did mess with ghost lore.
While this can be explained away by Chuck changing the rules just because he can, the episode still suffers from bad writing.
Previously, ghosts that remained in the veil for too long became vengeful, essentially losing their humanity and senses, doomed to repeat their trauma. However, the ghosts that reappear in “Raising Hell” are much calmer and don’t seem to have the same powers as before. While this can be explained away by Chuck changing the rules just because he can, the episode still suffers from bad writing. Everything scary about the ghosts is diminished by their calm meeting about revenge and their slightly worse costumes, making it a hard Supernatural episode to sit through.
9 Man’s Best Friend With Benefits
Season 8, Episode 15
Looking back, there are some moments in Supernatural which have aged poorly, such as Dean’s comments about underaged girls in the early seasons. “Man’s Best Friends With Benefits” is an entire episode of poor choices. When a police-officer-turned-witch called James has nightmares about murdering people, his familiar calls Sam and Dean to help. However, due to his new profession as a witch, the Winchesters are reluctant to help.
Supernatural Episodes Where The Human & Dog Line Is Blurred |
|---|
Season 6, Episode 8, “All Dogs Go To Heaven” |
Season 8, Episode 15, “Man’s Best Friends With Benefits” |
Season 9, Episode 5, “Dog Dean Afternoon” |
“Man’s Best Friends With Benefits” is a somewhat problematic episode because of the familiars. As humans that can turn into animals (much like skinwalkers), there are complications when it comes to love interests. Considering James and his familiar have a sexual relationship, and Portia never confirms if the dog version or human version came first, it poses an uncomfortable question of bestiality. Furthermore, the subtle implications of a Black woman wearing a collar and serving a white man, and a gay man being a cat familiar showcase poor choices in casting and writing decisions that many found borderline offensive.
8 Bitten
Season 8, Episode 4
In the wake of the Ghostfacers, came “Bitten,” a found footage episode which told the story of a group of college students encountering werewolves. Much like “Bloodlines,” Sam and Dean take a backburner role in this episode, instead featuring as unknowing participants in the documentary. While the lack of forefront Winchester involvement has been a successful approach in the past, “Bitten” is a hard episode to sit through for a number of reasons.
“Bitten” offered a fresh outside perspective on the Winchesters and its format made it a standout episode in the season
“Bitten” offered a fresh outside perspective on the Winchesters and its format made it a standout episode in the season, mirroring that of the Ghostfacers. For that reason, many enjoyed the episode. However, Supernatural season 8, episode 4’s shaky camera was somewhat nauseating at times and the dialogue and acting for the college kids was cliché, so it was hard to focus on the interesting character study it tried to do.
7 Dark Dynasty
Season 10, Episode 21
Charlie Bradbury’s death makes “Dark Dynasty” really difficult to sit through despite the rest of the episode being somewhat interesting. The introduction of the Styne family was a cool element to the season due to their Frankenstein-like abilities. However, this plot point was quickly overshadowed by Charlie’s shocking death, especially as Supernatural has a habit of killing its female characters. In fact, many of the actors were actually against killing Charlie off because she was such a fan favorite.
Writers Eugenie Ross-Leming and Brad Buckner had a habit of killing off characters in the 21st episodes, including Abaddon (season 9), Charlie (season 10), Metatron (season 11), and Eileen (season 12).
Charlie’s death was one of the most traumatic and shocking moments in Supernatural because of how she died. When Sam and Dean reached the motel that she was staying in, they found Charlie dead in the bathtub, covered in blood. This image was a far cry from the character’s usually sunny disposition, and the Winchester’s heartbroken and disturbed expressions only add to the scene, making the episode difficult to watch.
6 All Dogs Go To Heaven
Season 6, Episode 8
Skinwalkers are notoriously terrifying supernatural creatures from Native American legends, which is why it is a shame that Supernatural didn’t quite capture their essence. The first and only skinwalker in Supernatural is introduced in season 6’s “All Dogs Go To Heaven” in which a pet dog is revealed to be a man who is taking revenge on his owner’s enemies. The episode is really strange and somewhat hard to watch at times due to the issues posed by a human disguising itself as a dog, so it is no surprise that it is widely disliked.
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The uncomfortable aspect of “All Dogs Go To Heaven” is that the skinwalker is in love with his owner, which leads to him watching her undressing while in dog form, among other things. Supernatural could have gone down a really creepy route with the skinwalker story, so to reduce it to a complicated love story with problems regarding bestiality, reduces skinwalkers to a bad monster in the show. Furthermore, the skinwalkers never appearing again due to bad reception also left a plot hole regarding the alpha’s future planned takeover.
5 Carry On
Season 15, Episode 20
As with any show, it was difficult to see Supernatural finally come to an end in 2020 after 15 seasons, however, the matter was made worse by the COVID-19 pandemic. It was inevitable that Supernatural would end with all of its major characters dying, especially since Sam and Dean’s shared Heaven had been teased in the past. Yet the death of Dean Winchester was particularly hard to sit through, not only for its emotional element, but also as many fans disagreed with the small-scale manner of his death.
the finale felt disappointingly empty, as only Bobby appeared in Heaven to greet Dean
As a result of filming restrictions, Supernatural’s finale had to be rewritten. The original planned ending would have included a large reunion of Supernatural’s cast in Heaven, but COVID-19 guidelines meant they couldn’t realistically do that. Instead, the finale felt disappointingly empty, as only Bobby appeared in Heaven to greet Dean, but the most unforgettable moment in Supernatural’s finale is still Sam Winchester’s awful wig.
4 Let The Good Times Roll
Season 13, Episode 23
Considering archangels are some of the most powerful creatures in Supernatural, “Let The Good Times Roll” was a letdown. A Michael and Lucifer fight has been teased on Supernatural since season 4 introduced the angels, but season 5’s apocalypse arc ended with an emotional showdown instead, which was fitting. Therefore, when alternate universe Michael appeared from an apocalyptic universe where that fight did happen, there was potential for Supernatural to finally deliver on that action-packed showdown.
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Unfortunately, whether it was due to budget or bad direction, “Let The Good Times Roll” was ironically a bad episode. While most of it was fine, season 13’s finale brought about one of the worst fight scenes in Supernatural, as Jensen Ackles and Mark Pellegrino awkwardly glided around on what were obviously wires, wreaking zero the amount of damage predicted in the apocalypse story arc. Furthermore, the strange decision to include a homage to Michael Jackson’s “Thriller” with a Michael-possessed Dean at the end felt extremely left field, making the whole episode hard to watch.
3 Breakdown
Season 13, Episode 11
There are countless times that Supernatural approaches uncomfortable topics throughout its 15 seasons, but this episode is particularly difficult to watch due to its graphic and somewhat realistic nature. When Donna calls Sam and Dean to help find her missing niece, they discover that Wendy Hanscum has been kidnapped by a man who sells human parts to monsters via an online auction. While it is not the first time the show has introduced a human villain, “Breakdown” showcases the darkest side of humanity, making it one of the scarier Supernatural episodes.
The worst part of “Breakdown” is when Dean discovers that Donna’s niece’s demise will be livestreamed while countless bidders request a body part.
While they search for the young girl, Donna and the Winchesters encounter multiple men who demonstrate concerning behavior which makes every woman cringe. However, the worst part of “Breakdown” is when Dean discovers that Donna’s niece’s demise will be livestreamed while countless bidders request a body part. From the leery men to the sadistic bidders, the concept of the episode makes it an uncomfortable ride, especially considering the auction is not far from reality in some places on the dark web.
2 Bugs
Season 1, Episode 8
While the early seasons do sometimes suffer – their budget was lower, concrete lore was not yet established, and the original Supernatural formula was a-horror-movie-a-week instead of the more linear story seen in later seasons – almost everyone will agree that “Bugs” is a really hard episode to watch. The Winchesters investigate a housing development built on Native American burial grounds, facing their worst enemy yet: bugs. Although the opening death scene was pretty interesting compared to the rest of season 1 (a guy gets eaten by beetles), the boss battle really lets this episode down.
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The concept was somewhat cool, but the execution made this Supernatural episode feel like a bad movie, making it difficult to sit through, especially on a rewatch. The bugs are very obviously just blurry CGI, and the episode feels the full effect of season 1’s budget. Unfortunately, “Bugs” is made even worse by the fact that Sam and Dean don’t really bring anything to the table, as their only method for defeating the killer bee swarm is to spend the night in the attic with a can of hairspray and a lighter.
1 Bloodlines
Season 9, Episode 20
Despite being a backdoor pilot episode, “Bloodlines” has cemented itself among fans as one of the worst episodes of Supernatural. The episode introduces a bunch of rival monster families in Chicago via a "Romeo and Juliet" style story which Sam and Dean happen to stumble upon. However, one of the biggest failings of this episode is the distinct lack of the Winchester’s themselves.
Unlike other shapeshifters in Supernatural, the ones in “Bloodlines” didn’t have to shed their skin to transform into someone else.
The majority of “Bloodlines” focuses on a group of monsters who are like a crime family, which poses an interesting concept for Supernatural, but it was disappointing in its delivery. The new characters were rather bland and there was no interesting hook to really deliver a spinoff from the episode, so it is no surprise that this Supernatural spinoff series failed. Instead, “Bloodlines” now has a legacy as one of the most boring episodes of the series, which makes it really hard to watch.
Supernatural
- Release Date
- 2005 - 2020
- Network
- The CW
- Showrunner
- Eric Kripke
Cast
Sam Winchester
Dean Winchester
WHERE TO WATCH
- Directors
- Philip Sgriccia, John F. Showalter, Kim Manners, Thomas J. Wright, Charles Beeson, Guy Norman Bee, Richard Speight Jr., Mike Rohl, John Badham, Steve Boyum, Amyn Kaderali, Jensen Ackles, Tim Andrew, Eduardo Sánchez, Jeannot Szwarc, P.J. Pesce, Nina Lopez-Corrado, James L. Conway, amanda tapping, J. Miller Tobin, Stefan Pleszczynski, John MacCarthy, Jerry Wanek, Ben Edlund
- Writers
- Meredith Glynn, Davy Perez, Raelle Tucker, Cathryn Humphris, Brett Matthews, Nancy Won, John Bring, Ben Acker, Daniel Knauf, David Ehrman, James Krieg, Trey Callaway
- Franchise(s)
- Supernatural
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