5 Supernatural Episodes So Bad, Even the Creator Wants to Salt and Burn Them
Some episodes are considered classics. Others are loathed even by Eric Kripke himself.
The story of the Winchester brothers over Supernatural ’s 15-year run has delivered horror-inspired scares, a plethora of meta-jokes and, of course, a fair amount of emotional rollercoaster. But with so many episodes, the quality of the writing couldn't always be consistent: even today, fans argue about which episodes are better or worse, how much the quality dropped after original creator Eric Kripke left, and at what point the remaining writers took a wrong turn.
Speaking of Kripke, he understood Supernatural episodes couldn't be successful all the time.
'Sometimes, you try things that just don't work at all, and because of our time and budget, you don't have the time to go back and re-do them, you have no choice but to air them in their deformed state, and so you have to live with millions of people watching your mistakes,' he told TV Guide back in 2008.
Even Eric Kripke has episodes that he personally doesn't like, and oddly enough, many of the ones listed are universally loathed. Let's take a look at which ones the Supernatural creator himself considers a waste of time.
5. No Exit (Season 2, Episode 6)
This one is by no means considered outright awful, but only as a stand-alone story. In the context of the plot's continuity, however, it becomes quite clear why the showrunner disliked the episode so much.
The concept revolves around the ghost of 19th century serial killer H.H. Holmes and alludes to pervasive patriarchal brutality against women (ectoplasm as semen is definitely a bold statement), but this intriguing underpinning is undermined by the very shallow romantic arc between Dean and Jo, which neither reveals the essence of their dynamic nor provides anything beyond fan service.
4. Red Sky at Morning (Season 3, Episode 6)
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Prior to this year's unprecedented WGA strike, the industry took a huge hit from the 2007-2008 writers strikes. And that had a huge impact on the quality of Supernatural. Aside from the fact that fans were pissed at Bela, one of the most divisive characters, the storyline itself, with the ghost ship appearing in the salt water, proved to be too silly and lacking in horror. Even Chuck in later seasons recognized this moment as one of the worst in his 'fanfic'.
3. Hook Man (Season 1, Episode 7)
Reminiscent of Candyman, the episode Hook Man fits perfectly into Kripke's original vision of placing a heavy emphasis on the urban legend-inspired horror component of the series. While the story was a great homage to the slashers of the 80s and 90s, the episode failed as a standalone story.
2. Route 666 (Season 1, Episode 13)
Route 666 had the potential to be one of the most thoughtful and frightening episodes ever made, but it turned out to be incredibly trivial, pointless, and lame. The story of a possessed truck traveling the roads of either Mississippi or Missouri (the writers never decided which) and killing black people because of his unrequited love for a black woman is completely nonsensical and problematic.
1. Bugs (Season 1, Episode 8)
Rounding out the list is a widely panned episode, and everything from the ridiculous plot to the inconsistent editing contributes to this. The premise of Native Americans taking revenge on whites is not new, but it is still intriguing. However, the use of non-Native American magic, a huge number of plot holes, and absolutely no development made this episode the worst in the opinion of both Kripke and fans.
Source: TV Guide.