my ranking of all the seasons of spn + my favorite episode from each season (pt. 1)
in the span of two posts, i’m going to rank all of the seasons of supernatural, list my favorite episode from each season, then go into my reasoning for my ranking. in this post, i’ll be talking about the seasons towards the bottom of my list.
15. 6 (favorite episode: 6x15, “the french mistake”)
*french mistake bob singer voice* season six... season six somehow manages to have two of my favorite episodes (”the french mistake” and “the man who would be king”) yet be my least favorite season. how, you might ask? i think the problems with season six center around the fact that it’s the first post-kripke season. given that the show was supposed to end with season five, the season five finale, naturally, ties things up very nicely with a narrative bow. but then... the show keeps going. this is not to say, of course, i wish the show had stopped with season five. my point here is that for all of season six, i would argue, the show lacks voice and direction (did they ever *really* find it again? that’s an argument for a different day). i didn’t mind season six so much the first time i watched it, but i found re-watching it almost unbearable. first and foremost, i find it visually unappealing; it’s unattractively gritty in parts, oversaturated in others, and the color-grading is downright bad (look to whatever was going on in “caged heat” as an example. it looks like they’re inside a dirty fish tank). furthermore, i don’t enjoy it plot-wise, mainly with regards to the campbells (frustrating) and the alpha monsters (boring). i don’t *love* cas’ plot line in this season, but i do think it makes for a great character study and some delicious conflict (a highlight of the season: the superman/kryptonite moment when dean figures out cas has been betraying them). i would say my four or so least favorite seasons are pretty muddy and subject to change, but season six might just take the cake.
14. 15 (favorite episode: 15x05, “proverbs 17:3″)
if i had to describe this season with a phrase, it would be “comically bad.” first: cinematography. the soap opera-esque orange-ness of the later spn seasons really comes to a head here, not to mention how uncompelling the visuals are (like, ghosts in broad daylight? really?). plot-wise, i think it goes without saying that my issues mainly lie with “despair” and “carry on”; i could say a lot on that topic, but to sum it up, this season felt like they took everything they’d built up to and managed to do the opposite of what would make narrative sense. plus, the season felt like a speedrun through how to kill off/keep offscreen any character that wasn’t sam. this is not to say season fifteen doesn’t have *any* redeeming qualities. i love 15x05′s homage to wes anderson, the dean/cas divorce arc, the line “you asked what about all of this is real. we are,” the prayer scene in 15x09, and the fact that amara reads murakami in a hot spring in iceland. but none of that can put out the fire that is the rest of the season.
13. 11 (favorite episode: 11x04, “baby”)
like season six, i enjoyed season eleven the first time i watched it but not my second time around. mainly, i find the darkness plot line completely uncompelling. there’s really not that much else to say about it; it’s a perfectly mediocre season, imo. my only case for season eleven is casifer; i love any time there’s a variation of cas (i.e. jimmy, endverse!cas, empty!cas, etc.) because misha does such a good job of acting it. the scene in 11x14 with the line “...i will tell him the truth, sam. i’ll just say, ‘dean-’” is a prime example of this. the way he channels lucifer’s essence in his mannerisms, voice, etc. is really quite impressive and very fun to watch.
12. 3 (favorite episode: 3x10, “dream a little dream of me”)
if you’d asked me what my least favorite season was after the first time i watched spn, i would’ve said, without a doubt, season three. i thought it looked chintzy (some of it is oddly saturated and a lot of it just looks bad, with “the magnificent seven” and “sin city” specifically coming to mind ) and that it was just a weird, liminal season. however, upon rewatching it, i’d say it has a number of good episodes (like “dream a little dream of me” and the iconic “mystery spot”) and, mainly, i think it has a solid arc (dean coming to terms with the fact that he’s going to go to hell). overall, it’s definitely not my favorite, but it’s also not as close to the bottom of my list as i would have previously placed it.
11. 2 (favorite episode: 2x20, “what is and what should never be”)
my love for kripke era spn mainly lies in seasons four and five; that being said, i do have a fondness for seasons one and two. i think they’re very solid introductory seasons. what i liked most about them when i first watched spn was how formulaic and repetitive the monster-of-the-week episodes were (there’s a case, they find the monster, they kill it. boom.), but there’s also an overarching plot line for the season to keep you hooked. for season two, i really enjoyed the whole azazel’s army plot line, and i love the final two episodes of the season. i think you can divide kripke era into three parts: seasons one and two, season three, then seasons four and five. each part, i feel, has its own arc that ties up nicely while also feeding into the overall narrative. thus, i find season two satisfying in that regard.
10. 1 (favorite episode: 1x12, “faith”)
i like season one for all the same reasons i like season two. while i find the plot of season two to be more gripping, season one earns its place higher on my list because of how iconic it is. i really love sam and dean in these seasons, and i think these two seasons epitomize their relationship and camaraderie. i think season one also, perhaps, best reflects kripke’s on the road vision of gritty americana and a seemingly tough and masculine dean.
9. 10 (favorite episode: 10x22, “the prisoner”)
i find season ten to be another perfectly mediocre season. i don’t really enjoy the mark of cain plot line, though i do think it lends itself to a compelling character study of dean and his emotions (especially when he kills the people with whom claire was living, his response to charlie’s death, and when he beats cas up in 10x22). specifically regarding “the prisoner,” the fight scene is one of my favorite scenes in the whole show (lol); first, i love the dialogue, especially cas’ lines: “maybe you could fight the mark for years. maybe centuries, like cain did. but you cannot fight it forever. and when you finally turn, and you will turn... sam, and everyone you know, everyone you love... they could be long dead. everyone except me. i'm the one who will have to watch you murder the world”). i also think the editing is brilliant when it’s made to look like dean slams the blade into cas, when he really just slams it into a book.
8. 12 (favorite episode: 12x12, “stuck in the middle [with you]”)
okay, i love a lot of things about season twelve. mainly, i think the exploration of dean’s relationship with mary is extremely emotionally evocative. my favorite lines in the season are “i hate you. and i love you. ‘cause i can’t- i can’t help it” from dean in 12x22 and the exchange “i am your mother, but i am not ‘just a mom.’ and you are not a child” (mary); “i never was” (dean). there are also a number of episodes i love in this season: “first blood,” “lily sunder has some regrets,” “regarding dean,” “stuck in the middle (with you),” “who we are,” and “all along the watchtower.” however, i am staunchly not a fan of the british men of letters plot line (especially in the beginning of the season when toni tortures sam), and while i do love jack, i feel like they could have gone about his conception in a... different way. a way that doesn’t involve lucifer inhabiting their oc president. i’m all for campiness, but that felt like a bit much.