Supernatural is one of those TV shows that has a pretty massive fandom. There are TV shows that are cool to check out every once in a while... and then there's this show, which has forums galore devoted to each and every single aspect of it. People just love the story of brothers Sam and Dean Winchester and for 12 seasons and counting, fans have enjoyed following along on their supernatural adventures. It's almost too much fun to watch the boys drive their car throughout the United States and solve mysteries and exchange banter.
That being said, every show that has been on the air for five-plus seasons has its flaws and fans often notice certain problems that are either only in a few episodes or keep cropping up. But nothing's perfect, and Supernatural's loyal fanbase totally gets that, so the fans tend to ignore this kind of stuff and keep watching. In the case of this show, there's really nothing that could cause fans to stop tuning in because the show is just too good. Fans definitely choose to ignore the following 7 problems in Supernatural... because, well, there's really nothing better than curling up with a new episode of the TV drama starring Sam and Dean. (And fall 2018 and season 14 can't come fast enough.)
GHOSTS ARE CONFUSING
Do you believe in ghosts? Some of you might be all like "No way, because ghosts aren't real and everyone knows that." While others might have a spooky supernatural story and think that they are totally a thing. It's very subjective.
One thing is for sure, though: if there are ghosts on a TV show, we want things to be as logical and make as much sense as possible. Okay, so you might say that ghosts don't make sense in general, but this is all about that rules that are created for the world that a TV show takes place in.
On Reddit, a fan wonders about the ghosts and the lack of explanation between different types: "In season one we were told that poltergeists were creatures made up of negative energy that were attracted to places of tragedy. They aren't the same thing as ghosts, and k—g a poltergeist requires you to somehow negate its energy (either with a spell, blessing, or the opposing energy of another spirit), not destroy its body or anything tethering it to the Earth, like how you get rid of a ghost. But then in season five, 'Swap Meat,' the brothers investigate another poltergeist appearance, and it ends up being the ghost of a dead witch. The brothers make no distinction between the poltergeist and a ghost in this episode."
ZOMBIES ARE CONFUSING, TOO
The same fan wonders about the zombies on the show. As they put it on Reddit, in the second and fourth seasons, an explanation is given that if you want to get rid of zombies, you can follow them to their graves. In the fifth season, the explanation was "headshots." So the fan says, "While it's possible that these were a different type of zombie and therefore vulnerable to headshots, this was the first time the brothers had encountered these types of zombies. So either the weakness was wrong, or the brothers instantly knowing the new zombies' weakness was wrong."
This is a really good point and probably not something that fans really know the answer to.
But, let's be real here, when are zombies not totally confusing?! It's not like this is something that we know a lot about. All we have are shows like The Walking Dead but it's anyone's guess what actually gets rid of zombies on this particular show.
That being said, this is something that fans can acknowledge but also shrug and move on from. Yes, it's confusing and frustrating, but is it super important? Will it ruin our ability to love this show? Nope, not at all.
SOME CHARACTERS NOT STAYING GONE
There are always going to be things on a TV show that fans find to be super annoying. It's just not possible for everyone to be happy. Art is so subjective and people are always going to have an opinion. That can be both frustrating and also kind of liberating for the creators.
A fan said on Reddit that they get irritated with this show because of, "Bringing characters back from the dead just to appease loudmouth fans." It seems like some characters don't stay gone on this show and come back, and not everyone is thrilled with that.
A lot of shows do this and sometimes have a character come back as a ghost, which kind of makes sense since, if you suspend your disbelief and think that ghosts can happen, that's better than the person magically coming back.
On a show like Supernatural, it seems both confusing and logical that characters wouldn't stay gone. Even if some of us are annoyed with this, we can still enjoy the process of watching the show and just move on and ignore it because we love so many other things about it. You kind of have to pick and choose your battles, you know?!
THE WAY THAT CHARACTERS FIGHT
Epic fights between humans and mysterious, magical creatures is basically a main reason that people watch certain genres, like horror or action, whether we're talking movies or television shows. We definitely don't see that kind of stuff every day (which is probably a good thing...) so this makes for a special kind of entertainment.
When it comes to the fights on Supernatural, one fan posted on Reddit that they're not that into them: "I also get really annoyed that every fight just turns into a basic fistfight. Early on in the show, against werewolves, vampires, that kind of thing, sure, I guess I can see that. Now though?"
The distraught fan continued saying, "You're seriously telling me that Sam and Dean can just fistfight angels? No. After all of the hype about angels being cosmic level powers, you're going to tell me they can just be punched and knocked around like a normal person? When these cosmic level beings fight each other, like we've seen before, they also just resort to a normal fistfight? Where are the special powers and abilities?"
This is definitely a valid point and most likely something that other fans have thought about, too. And yet it's something that can be ignored because it doesn't change how good the show is.
A TIMING ISSUE
The time period of a show can be super confusing and complicated. That seems to be why so many shows to decide to have time jumps. Everything from Pretty Little Liars to One Tree Hill has done a time jump at some point, usually having the characters be five years into the future, which allows them to skip things like college or the growing pains of young adulthood (even though those things make for great TV).
A Supernatural Wiki wonders about the timing of the show. They mention that season one was on the air during 2005 and 2006 and that was also when the storylines happened, and every season seemed to last for one year... up until the fifth season.
Basically, there was a year that we didn't see on the show, because Dean was rooming with a character named Lisa for a calendar year between the fifth and sixth seasons. That would mean that the new season would start a year later... but it didn't.
This is confusing for sure, but it's also something that can be ignored pretty easily since the characters and everything else remained the same. It's not like it magically became a totally different show.
ONE WORD: PURGATORY
Putting something like purgatory into a TV show is going to have some lovers and non-lovers. Some fans will say that it's a brilliantly creative idea and that the writers and producers can totally do no wrong when it comes to creating that world. Others will wonder what they were thinking and think that it's all kinds of confusing.
Supernatural has a storyline involving purgatory, and it's gotten some fans kind of worked up. One posted on Reddit and commented, "A back door to purgatory?... a backdoor, a way out it you will, of a place that is meant to be the stew pot of sinners and a cesspool of monsters? Why would that even exist?"
They further their reasoning by saying, "What possible reason would there be for that? Faulty writing with absolutely no reasoning for any of it. It's never explained WHY it's there, just that it is there. And then there's one that leads into Hell? Really? Okay no."
This seems like a part of the show that fans feel passionately and strongly about, yet at the same time, it can be ignored and fans can still enjoy the experience of watching the show. We totally get that not everything will make sense at all times when it comes to a TV show.
IT CAN FEEL STAGNANT
It's basically inevitable that after a few years of tuning into the same TV show, we're going to find it, well, boring. It sucks to realize this and it can even be kind of weird to say those words because I never thought that I would approach my fave television series that way. It's kind of like insulting a good friend. It's just not something that I ever thought I would do or say.
It seems like some fans have felt that way about Supernatural. As one fan put it in a Reddit thread, "If you don't like the show, stop watching. I still love it. Is it campy? Sure. Does it suffer from stagnation sometimes? Sure. But its a decade-old show. What do you expect?"
That's a really great way of putting it. Yes, a show can feel "stagnant" after several seasons, but fans are still going to watch. And fans can just ignore that fact because even if they find a few episodes or even an entire season or storyline kind of boring, it's not the biggest deal ever. They can still find things to love about the show. (Okay, now we really need season 15, please and thank you.)