Life lessons from Dean & #Supernatural (Written in October 2020)

      I have slowly been making my way through 15 seasons of "Supernatural". My unofficial goal is to be caught up when the final 7 episodes air in real-time starting October 8th.  Is "Supernatural" the best show ever and everyone should watch it? Not necessarily. That being said what it does do it does very well and it rides a fine line between being hokey and being endearing and I think that is why I like it. What does it do well? Every episode is different although some episodes as well as seasons have story arcs but the characters of Sam and Dean Winchester remain constant. What they do seems improbable but they are very much human even if they do visit Hell and Purgatory and die several times. The beauty of the Winchester's is that they come back from Hell and are reborn after every death and there are metaphorical lessons in there for all of us.

      Supernatural follows 2 brothers, Sam and Dean Winchester, who are Hunters and that's Hunter with a capital H who track down and eliminate hostile paranormal  entities and beings of Urban Lore. One of the things I absolutely love about Supernatural is that it treats the entities of folklore and urban legend as if they are real and always have been. It's never a question of IF a werewolf or vampire or rugaru (sp?) an obscure Romanian creature, is real. The premise (if you will) of Supernatural is that they are and they often prey on humans in the real world. Hunters, Supernatural style, are an accepted profession much like being a Doctor or a Nurse. Being a Hunter requires training and knowledge and acceptance of the Supernatural world. Sam and Dean got much of their training from their own father and an old Hunter friend of their father's, Bobby Singer. Bobby Singer acted as a continuing Mentor and collaboration after Sam and Dean's father was killed early in the series. 

     Last night, I began my binge by finishing an episode I started watching a night or two earlier, Season 7, Episode 9 entitled "How to Win Friends and Influence Monsters". At the end of this episode, Bobby gets nabbed, while on a stakeout with Sam and Dean, by the Leviathans, the creature Arc of Season 7. Leviathan have oil-like black goo as the "blood" inside of their bodies and heads with huge mouths full of pointy teeth. When Sam and Dean discover that Bobby has been kidnapped, they both realize they are up against Leviathans to retrieve Bobby. Leviathans are creatures for which Sam and Dean have no previous hunting experience. They are in uncharted territory as far as how to kill one permanently. Sam's response to Dean is something to the effect of Bobby is being held by 4 Leviathans and they've never killed even one and that he and Dean need to regroup and figure out what to do. Dean's response to this is to attack going in through the front door. If you have ever watched Supernatural at length, you know this is Dean's style. Despite the considerable odds stacked against he and Sam successfully retrieving Bobby from the lair of Leviathans, Dean wants to proceed by attacking the situation head on. Dean is brave to a fault and so is Sam but in Dean the quality is more overt.

      Probably due in large part to the 2 actors portraying the 2 brothers, the characters of Sam and Dean never become stock characters which they definitely lean to at times. Sam and Dean continue on as their fallible human selves in their world inhabited by Supernatural beings. They get mad at each other and quit talking to each other and sometimes go their separate ways but they are willing to be open to what the other is saying even if they don't want to hear it.   

     Maybe, we all should approach difficult situations like Dean with bravado and heart even when the odds are stacked against us? Maybe, we should all try to be more like Dean and, even when the odds are stacked against us, go in through the front door to face our personal Leviathans. Actually, I am watching Season 7 Episode 13 "Plucky Pennywise's Magnificent Menagerie" towards the end of which Sam is being tortured by two clowns. They are beating him up and teasing him mentally. I've seen both Sam and Dean get zapped and felled by witches. But, they never give up. Sam seems to be be being bested by the creepy clowns and especially, mentally, the clowns seem to have the edge but Sam keeps getting back up when they knock him down.

      Sam and Dean always get back up when they are being tested by any baddie even the King of Hell, the most remorseless baddie of all. They get back up, throw another punch row or find some salt or an iron bar and they ALWAYS have their special demon-killing blade with them. They are also very resourceful. Sometimes, the situation seems ludicrous as in there is no way a mere human being can best a God, an Angel, the King of Hell. Sam and Dean don't think about those odds. They just keep getting up and trying to survive. About the only thing they do, that I don't admire, is, sometimes, they get badly hurt and they never allow themselves adequate time to rest and recuperate. But, they are young men afterall.  They get bitten by weird creatures, slashed by knives and Dean actually got his leg broken this season. Sometimes, it is important to rest. However, unwittingly, I have become immersed in the culture of the Winchester brothers and what makes them so endearing. My intention was to enjoy a show I've heard about and never watched about paranormal stuff. Sam and Dean are both admirable characters. You really get to know them over time. The brothers, ultimately, always come first with each other. They both try to have relationships periodically and take a break from hunting. One thing that really affected me surprisingly and deeply was Season 6 Episode 1. Sam had been in Hell while Dean tried to have a normal life with a with a woman named Lisa and her son, Ben. The episode began with Dean going through the motions up to and including Taking out the garbage to the song "Beautiful Loser" by Bob Seger. I can't watch a show and not become emotionally involved with the characters.  In fact, if I don't, I consider the show a fail. It's obvious Dean cannot live a conventional life. 

     Some would say I have become too invested in this show and the characters of Sam & Dean but I like how their relationship comments on real life. Maybe, it's because Jared and Jensen play Sam and Dean so long that they become the characters or, maybe, the characters are ultimately parts of themselves to begin with. The success & viability of the characters is probably a little bit of both. Dean's bravado in often seemingly hopeless situations is inspiring. Sometimes, in real life, you need to be like this. And, Sam's quiet support & levity is equally important. 

     Sometimes, in life, you have to know when it's time to fold 'em. Sam and Dean do that well. Sometimes, like Sam, you have to spend some time in Hell or Purgatory. Sometimes, it's by choice. Sometimes, life just gets the better of you and you go to dark places that scar you forever. Like Sam and Dean, you can come out the other side. Sometimes, like Dean found once, escape from Purgatory is a sliver of time.