I wrote a post about Supernatural awhile ago. I thought I had talked about all my thoughts and feelings regarding the show, but with the show ending, new feelings have come up. I’ve found that I want to talk about a lot more haha. A lot of them are going to be negative. I also might throw some random spoilers in there, so just a warning! Also, these are just my personal thoughts and feelings.
I found this show during an incredibly hard time of my life. I will always be grateful for what this show gave me. I think I’ll always love it. I hold it close even when I think about all the things about it that make me angry. It has so many good things about it. That’s obvious, it’s been on for 15 seasons.
But it also has things that make my blood boil the longer I think about it. Let’s see if I can make some of them coherent.
This show has 15 seasons. It’s been on for 15 years. There has never been a single female main character. All the female main characters get killed off. The ones that stick around for longer are very obviously side characters. They killed off a deaf, female character. And it wasn’t even to further an emotional development, she didn’t even get that. It was random, and quick, and her death didn’t even forward the plot very much. Wow, I’m still furious about that. She didn’t deserve to die. It was rushed and hasty and her character deserved so much better. We’re lucky if we get the Wayward Sisters for more than one episode per season. Sure, girls are around with individual cases. I love seeing them! But they’re there for that episode and then either disappear forever or come back and get killed off. Why wasn’t a female hunter a main character at any point during this shows runtime?
Gosh, they still make Cas be separated from the brothers most seasons. I found it hard to call him a main character sometimes. It’s almost like they’ve been afraid to add another main character besides Sam and Dean. Let someone else in. Sure, Jack came in and I adore him, but that’s after more than a decade! (I have not watched season 14, but I read a few spoilers and I’m definitely not loving where they took his character. Why did they do what they did? Why did certain things happen? It feels like they used Jack to set up more stuff for Sam and Dean for the final season, which I’m not a huge fan of.)
This show has barley changed in the 15 years it’s been on. It hasn’t evolved with the times. It’s still the same characters, the plots have gotten bigger, almost to the point where it feels like the show can’t hold them. It didn’t add new characters, it didn’t make it so this show could be timeless and move forward without Sam and Dean. This show stuck to what it knew and that is part of its downfall. There’s no new main characters and there’s limited diversity, so it feels like growth is minimal. They barely let the emotional storylines breath. Sam, Dean, and Cas have so much trauma and they aren’t given the time to deal with it. They have one conversation and huge things are supposedly resolved, until something new comes up. Adding more room for emotional development could have given this show so much more depth.
And then there’s the issue of queer characters. This is a sensitive subject and there’s definitely things at play that are not at fault of the actors or the show. I’ve seen how toxic the fandom can be. I think this caused some things to be lost in the shuffle. But I feel like this whole thing, that’s spanned YEARS, could have been handled a lot better. Yeah, I consider Destiel to be queerbaiting. It used to be the biggest queer ship ever. And it wasn’t even canon. It can’t have that much buzz and not have the people making the show not notice. It practically made the show in a way. It’s a ship that could have meant so much to so many people. It could have been amazing and touching and incredible. But no, over a decade and nothing. No official statement, no conversation, no nothing. I know one of the actors is uncomfortable with it. They’re best friends. I guess I can understand that in a small way. (But also aren’t you an actor? You pretend?) I look at how Clarke and Lexa played out and how gracefully the actors handled that. And how they wanted to make the relationship as special as it could be. I can’t help but sideeye just a bit. This uncomfortableness was probably amplified by how sexualized this ship became. That I can 100% understand. But, they had to have seen the conversations about how fans wanted this relationship to be sweet, and not all about sex. We wanted Cas and Dean holding hands. Falling asleep, fully clothed, together. Loving each other romantically, in a non-sexualized way.
This sideeyeing also comes to the fact that no official statement was made. I’d be able to shut up and move on if someone made an official statement saying “Hey, this sexualizing stuff is uncomfortable etc.” There was nothing like that. There were jokes brushing the ship aside but still confirming they knew. There were comments at cons like “Destiel doesn’t exist”. You have to give more than that. People deserve more than that.
There was also a comment made about why two guys can’t just be friends. Which, cool! Yes, boys should be able to be comfortable and touchy with each other! But Supernatural was literally built on broness. The show isn’t hurting for heterosexual male friendships.
I came into this show a bit into season 11. I haven’t watched for very long compared to some people. But honestly, it hurts a bit to think this show is going to end without this ship being canon. I could see how much it meant to people, based just on small glances and subtext. I could have been such an amazing relationship.
Then again, I know very little. There very well could be things I don’t know. From a public perspective, the whole thing is frustrating from a lack of solid communication. I can’t help but look around and wonder how I’m supposed to feel about it all.
It feels weird that this show is ending. It feels weird that its ending the way it is. I wish everything about it could have had more growth across the board.
With all that said, the last season sounds interesting. It feels like it’ll be a good plot to end the show on. It feels kind of fitting. I’m not sure if I’m going to watch it live. I do know that I will always love this show and I will miss it when it’s gone.
Also, I would just like to note again that these are my personal opinions! I’m just stating things that I’ve seen and things that I feel.
Thank you for reading!
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