Supernatural Fans Won’t Watch Any Other Fantasy Fiction Series

"Sammy... where are you. Sammy?" Dean Winchester shouted at the top of his lungs as he finished chopping the head off the last vampire in the barn nest.

"Dammit, Sammy...I know you're here man, but you've got to help me out bro." Dean shouted again.

There was a fluttering sound and Dean spun around, ready to fend off any other creature of the night in his search for his younger brother Sam Winchester, but it wasn't an evil creature. It was Castiel, one of many angels that had been appearing as of late.

"Sammy's not here, Dean." said Castiel in a low, calm voice, "He's gone."

"What do you mean he's gone? I saw these vamps drag him in here." Dean said angrily as he started kicking open doors inside the barn.

Castiel replied, "I'm afraid Lucifer has Sammy, Dean. They're gone."

This episode was my first introduction to Supernatural. I had walked into my teenaged son's bedroom to tell him, "lights off." It was a school night and it was time for bed. He begged to stay up until the end of the episode and I saw no harm in that, so I joined him and sat on the foot of his bed and watched while Dean and Castiel battled werewolves, witches and vampires in their search to recover Dean's brother from the vicious archangel, Lucifer.

Monsters, Demons, Angels & Things

Inside an hour-long episode, Dean and Sam Winchester faced adversity against overwhelming odds, involving realistic, sometimes fabled monsters to be reunited and live to fight another day or episode. Thus began my 15 season association and fandom of Supernatural. I have always been a fan of the science fiction and fantasy genre going all the way back to Issac Asimov and the old Boris Karloff and Bela Lugosi Saturday matinee movies. By the time Star Wars and Lord of the Rings came along, I was what you might call a fully involved fan. And yes, that means I even played Dungeons and Dragons way back in the day.

When we had finished watching Dean reunite with Sam and I had tucked my son into bed for the night, I retired to my den to do some homework on Supernatural. I wanted to know how a show as intense and well-written as this had eluded me. I had believed that I was up to date on the latest popular fantasy fiction shows but apparently Supernatural had escaped my attention. A quick check of Netflix revealed this show had been a regular on television since 2005. Here it was 2021 and I was just now watching my first episode. For 15 seasons, Sam, Dean, and Castiel, along with a cast of others battled creatures and monsters that lived in our world and more that didn't.

What was the secret of its success? The series made the show believable by placing the scenes in everyday America. Two brothers lose their mom to a demon at a young age and their father abandons them in search of that demon. The father wanted to enact revenge on the yellow-eyed monster that had burned his wife while she was alive, killing her, while she checked on Sam who was still a baby in his crib. Sam and Dean were left to fend for themselves and since Dean was considerably older than Sam, he became Sam's surrogate parent.

Hunters

They quickly learned their parents belonged to a fabled group called hunters. These hunters were self-appointed vigilantes who sought out monsters, demons, and creatures all over the country and executed them to prevent them from preying on innocent victims. Sam and Dean befriended hunters who were sent by their dad to look after them and these hunters, especially Bobby, taught them the trade. It wasn't too terribly long before Sam and Dean's reputation was renowned both in the hunter community and the demon world, but also in the law enforcement community.

Part of their cover was to pretend to be members of law enforcement in order to get local authorities to give them access to files and information they could use to locate monsters who had committed atrocities. It wasn't uncommon for Sam and Dean to pretend to be FBI or Secret Service agents, State Police officers, even Game and Wildlife agents. The hunter community even had a telephone network set up to provide real cover stories for any real police agency looking to check up on Sam and Dean. Before long, Sam and Dean had networked with several Sheriffs and Police Chiefs and were on their emergency call list if ever a demon or monster popped up in their jurisdiction.

Why This is the Best Fandom Favorite?

Fans of fantasy fiction are a difficult group to keep entertained. Once a storyline becomes predictable, fans start to disappear. No one wants to watch a show where they have already figured out the ending five minutes into the opening. Besides, most fantasy characters can only do so many things before fans begin to tell themselves this storyline is so far out there, it's way past incredible and borderline dumb or worse, didn't they just do something similar a few episodes ago. Admit it. We've all been there. If you don't believe me, look at most fantasy world stories. With the exception of Star Trek, most end within a few years of beginning or the storyline ends, and then 10, 20, or even 30 years later, new writers pick it up again but with completely new characters set further ahead in time.

That's the beauty of Supernatural. Just when you thought they could only kill so many vampires, werewolves, ghosts, ghouls, goblins, and demons, the storyline expands to include a twist that is not only plausible and believable, it provides the necessary jolt to keep this series going for a full 15 seasons. What was that twist? What new creatures and monsters did Supernatural invent for Sam and Dean to go after and kill? Enter Castiel!

Like I mentioned in the opening dialogue, Castiel is an angel, but he didn't start out that way. He was originally just a man, a very religious man, raising his family. Like demons, angels were spirits. Unlike demons, angels couldn't just come along and possess a human. They had to ask permission first. And like demons, they needed humans, both the angels and the demons referred to humans as meat suits, to accomplish things on earth. Demons wanted to terrorize and make deals for souls and angels wanted to intervene and prevent that from happening. It was all about the system and the system was very competitive. Angels and demons didn't like it when one got a competitive advantage over the other.

Gods, Multiverses, & Other Worlds

If this storyline isn't enough to grab your attention, wait. There's more. Once Sam and Dean are introduced to angels, they become aware of a vast new world that includes gods(think Thor, Pluto, and yes, the Christian God), multiverses, different worlds, different tactics, etc. They all had one thing in mind. They all wanted to control humans for their very own, personal reasons.

Sam and Dean waded through the mire of each ancient legend, history, and lore to uncover devious plots. Along the way, they discovered that heaven, hell, and purgatory were all real places but with very different agendas than what one was led to believe. Sam and Dean were always successful in defeating their opponents although sometimes, they died, were resurrected, or made a deal with Death and came back smarter, more agile, and with additional tools in their quest to make earth a safe place for humans.

Men of Letters

Towards the end of the show, it is revealed that Sam and Dean are actually legacies of the ancient hunter group called the Men of Letters. This group has existed throughout time to manage humans' role in the battle between good and evil. The group even had underground hidden bunkers that contained advanced electronic tracking devices so that members could track any breakouts they needed to intervene in. This plot twist also put them on a direct course for conflict with the Christian God and his sister, the Darkness.

Could it get any more suspenseful? I think not! Without revealing any spoilers, in case there are readers here that haven't seen the series yet, Let me finish by suggesting, like myself and everyone else I've introduced to this show, you will be more than surprised at the ending which includes a very well thought out good-bye from the entire cast.

Now, I intend to submit this to the Fandom Favorite Challenge. Will it win or will it place? I have no idea. Should it win? Absolutely! The only reason Supernatural doesn't win is because of my ineptitude at describing what a wonderful show this really is.