Supernatural first aired September 13th, 2005. I was only 11 at the time, and growing up we didn’t always have cable. I watched Supernatural sporadically on YouTube (when we had internet), or when we were at my grandparents’ I’d commandeer the TV like I did with Charmed and Walker Texas Ranger. My grandpa Kopanke didn’t like Supernatural, Charmed or Walker Texas Ranger, but he knew that I liked (read: loved) the shows so he’d watch them with me. It wasn’t until after high school and with my BFF Angela that I really watched Supernatural from the beginning. (Here we discovered that we had a strange attraction to Dean Winchester when he was covered in blood….)

Then, when I first moved to Little Rock, I spent the first two weeks watching Supernatural from the beginning to the latest season at the time which was season eight. I watched seasons one to seven, which we had on DVD, then hurried to find season eight so I’d be caught up in time to watch season nine on The CW. To put it in perspective, I’ve been watching Supernatural for the better part of 15 years, and honestly, I have no idea what I’m going to do come fall when there’s not a new season.

Supernatural follows two brothers, Sam and Dean Winchester as they hunt demons, ghosts, monsters, and other supernatural beings. As a very general summary, that doesn’t cover it. Not even a little. (Here is where if you haven’t watched Supernatural up until season 15 then stop reading now. Because all the spoilers ever are happening.) Considering that the brothers face the seven deadly sins, Lucifer, the Mother of All, God’s sister (yes, you heard that right), princes of hell, a really douchebag scribe of God, alternate universes, and eventually, God himself. Not to mention their own inner demons (and in Dean’s case, being a literal demon). In simplest terms, Supernatural is about two brothers. It’s about family. It’s about the people Sam and Dean meet along the way who became family (and admittedly most of them are dead….) Because like a wise old drunk said, “Family don’t end in blood.” And in a way, it’s about us too. The fans. Without us, Supernatural wouldn’t have had 15 seasons.

Supernatural was meant to end with season five. Season five ended with Sam saying yes to Lucifer, taking a swan dive with the fallen archangel still possessing him and grabbing Michael who was possessing Adam Milligan, aka, the forgotten Winchester brother. Castiel died but came back thanks to God and he healed Dean and brought back Bobby. Then Dean hopped into his Impala, and did what his brother asked him to do. Dean met up with Lisa and her son Ben (tell me that’s not his son, please, if Ben isn’t Dean’s son, I’ll eat a shoe) to live an apple pie life. Considering how the series actually ends, that’s a bit ironic. Rumors also say that the producers were going to end with season ten which would’ve sucked since season ten ended with such a cliffhanger. Dean nearly killed Sam to appease the Mark of Cain but instead, Dean turned around killed Death. Rowena took off the Mark and the Darkness erupted and the boys were stuck in the Impala. I don’t think think I’d be happy with either of those endings, honestly. But I am happy with the season 15 finale.

The second half of season 15 was delayed thanks to the pandemic. (And one day, I’ll be able to write a post without mentioning the pandemic.) The last seven episodes weren’t released until fall, and due to the restrictions, the producers, writers, etc., had to do some creative reworking to keep their production crew and actors safe. (On the other hand, the delay did allow me to get caught up since I got behind due to school and work.)

How did Supernatural end? (SPOILERS.)

Well, it ended with God, or Chuck has he was called, being stripped of all his powers and turned into a human. Could the brothers had killed him? Oh yeah, considering he’s been fucking with their lives since they were born, I wouldn’t have blamed the boys if they killed him dead. Instead, they left Chuck alive to live out a miserable human life where he would be forgotten. Poetic justice. The man who loved stories and always looking for he next great one (I wondered where Metatron got that from…) would now be nothing but a little footnote. Jack, Lucifer’s son, became the new god and left to allow people to make their own choices. True free will rather than the falsity that Chuck offered. Sam and Dean seemed to finally have a chance at a new life.

Personally, at the end of “Inherit the Earth” when Jack leaves and the boys get in the Impala, I thought that was the ending. It was open-ended. It made us think that the boys went back to hunting. Maybe Sam settled down with Eileen now that she was back from being Thanos-snapped. Sorry, Chuck-snapped. Now, in the episode before “Inherit the Earth,” called aptly, “Despair,” Castiel gave this beautiful speech and then gave his life to save Dean. (See below.) He said the three words that everyone in the Supernatural fandom has been begging to hear. “I love you.”

Now, personally, I don’t care if the confession was platonic or romantic. This moment right here. It’s beautiful no matter how you read it. Perhaps Dean called Jack back and demanded that he bring Castiel back. And it was those three again. Sam, Dean, and Castiel. The original Team Free Will. Just as it was before.

Then I remembered that there was a last episode, and I wondered how they could do anything else when “Inherit the Earth” was such a great ending to a fantastic show. “Carry On” came out, the title taken from the song by Kansas which has become the anthem for Supernatural, and while I wasn’t disappointed, I was upset.

Sam and Dean go to Pie-Fest (that’s a thing??) and it’s cute and brotherly. They find a hunt. Vampires. They find the vampires. Dean get impaled by rebar. Yeah, you heard that right. Dean gives a tragic goodbye to his brother Sam. He asks Sam: “Tell me it’s okay.” And I cried. You cried. We all cried.

A part of wishes that I had never watched “Carry On” because I could live in happy ignorant bliss that Team Free Will was together and happy. Truthfully though, could any of us imagine another ending for Dean? He was always going die in a hunt. That’s who he is. Now, mind you, I hoped it’d be like 30 years from then and in a more badass way. Dean deserved better than being impaled by rebar. Sam burns his brother on a hunter’s pyre alone. I wish that Jody and her girls, Alex, Claire and Kaia, Donna, Eileen or somebody had been there for Sam. Dean wakes up in heaven and meets Bobby who mentions his parents are down a few ways. Bobby name drops Castiel, saying that his boy (Jack) and Castiel have been rebuilding heaven. Now, considering the raw beautiful confession we got from Castiel, I think we all were disappointed when Castiel didn’t show up and we didn’t get a tender moment of Dean hugging him. Whether that was because of the pandemic or the writers, I’m not sure. Dean gets in the Impala, and he drives. We go back to Sam and find out he’s married. Whether it’s to Eileen, we don’t know since we never see her face. He has a son and names him Dean. Sam lives a long life and eventually, he dies. He wakes up in Heaven and finds Dean.

And that’s it.

Now, like I said, I’m not disappointed. Are there a few things that I wish were different? Yes. I wanted Castiel. I wanted a huge reunion with Bobby and his boys. I wanted Ellen, Jo, Ash, Missouri and all the others that they have lost. But in the end, the boys were together in heaven. It was about them. Brothers. Perhaps not the way we all wanted, but after all the shit they’ve been through the past 15 years, they deserved heaven. And honestly, Dean dying in a hunt was true to his character. Just like Sam settling down and getting out of hunting was true to his character. Was it a perfect ending? Perhaps not, and I could nitpick like all the people (read: trolls) on Tumblr who gave me a headache did. (It got so bad trash talking the show and ruining it, that I had to delete Tumblr off my phone.) So, yeah, maybe it wasn’t a perfect ending, but I’m satisfied.

I am going to miss the Winchesters. Terribly. Like I previously stated, I’m not sure what I am going to do when a new season of Supernatural doesn’t come out. To commemorate the end of the series, I got the anti-possession tattoo on my right ankle. (See below.)

That’s not to say we won’t be seeing Jared Pakalecki and Jensen Ackles again. Jared Pakalecki will be in The CW’s reboot of Walker Texas Ranger, now shortened to Walker. It should be out January 2021. The trailer is below.

Jensen was confirmed to be in season three of The Boys before Supernatural even wrapped up. If you haven’t watched The Boys, then you should. It’s superheroes but basically if superheroes were really the bad guys. It’s awesome. Check out the trailer for the first season below. Jensen will be playing a character we only know as Soldier Boy, who is apparently is worse than Homelander, which trust me, will be a feat.

I’m looking forward to Walker and to see what The CW will do. I watched the original series when I was kid. Jensen playing a bad guy will be awesome in The Boys because well, I always had an unhealthy attraction to Dean when he was a demon. (Who didn’t though, honestly?) Until those shows come out, I will continue to rewatch Criminal Minds and Charmed. Probably watch Supernatural from the very beginning.

Goodbye, Sam and Dean. And thank you. For everything.

-K