I love this show, I watched it several times through and through and you get a lot of value because of the high episode count per season as well as the mind boggling 15 seasons run.
This show has a lot of style and makes a case for itself by focusing on horror, as well as the interwoven character play form the main ensemble who get more and more wrapped up into a bigger story each season that follows.
There are a few issues, such as the pretty poor seasons 6 and seasons 12, which I am struggling to enjoy. However even in those seasons which I don't admire so much, there is progression in the characters, there are loads of fond 'monster of the week' style episodes (more on that later), and there is a plot that continues from the season before it, to the season afterwards.
The original book series had enough material for the first 5 seasons of this show. That's how it was planned out and made. Because of high demand, they continued the show. Purely for love of the cast, love of the themes in the series, and love of the audience. That is great, because for me this show is very entertaining with a mixture of witty humour, clever dialogue. Interesting monsters, and a demonic / Lucifer fallen angel plotline running throughout the entire thing.
The high episode count per season means there are a lot of monster episodes, which are more closed off to the main plot of each season, but are written well enough to lampshade as to why and seamlessly fit alongside the other episodes. These are not filler, but more a breathing room to let the story simmer while we get more horror/ghost stories/supernatural lore and backstory. This is one of those that has done this very well, barring maybe 3 episodes that the viewers hated and rated very low. Aside from those, the entire run has an impressive following and is well received (I'll get to the final episode in a minute). There isn't a single other show that has an impressive episode count with such high quality cinematography, settings, choreography, that this show has.
The acting is consistently very good in this show, only a few times I might have had a second thought; but particularly all the difficult work was handled expertly and they did a very good job convincing me to suspend my disbelief with all the supernatural elements in the show. My favourite characters being Dean, Bobby, Castiel, Charlie, Garth, The Trickster (Gabriel), Lucifer, and Jack, and Jo (from the early seasons). And even beyond that a large number of supporting characters were excellent and original and enjoyable as well. So many stories, and plots in 15 seasons, that I just want to watch the whole thing all over again.
The tonal shift after season 5 was a tad odd, but the show runner and writers need to create new material out of nothing. The new stuff they added over the seasons 6 to 10 were brilliant and staggering in scale. They did well there. Season 7 is one of my guilty pleasures, though maybe a little different to the rest of the run. Seasons 11 to 15 go even more nuts with the grand plot, and wrap in some complex character work with the 'Chuck' character. Seasons 11 to 12 try a little too hard to make the show a bit more action style, and I'm glad they dialled this back. In my opinion the final 3 seasons, of 13, 14, and 15, are excellent and some of the best in the entire run. The development of the Jack character is one of the best I have ever seen in a show and takes 3 seasons to bloom. The final season wraps up all the new plot lines and ends very well, with the penultimate episode.
The final episode is written more as a goodbye to the fans, and is a little disconnected from the rest, but the final farewell was touching and emotional. I was unsure about this at first, but really this was the only way the show was going to end, but I wish they upped the quality of the vampire hunt in the last episode, it came across as a bit limp and throw-away.
10/10 because of how enjoyable it is, how self aware and humble it is. A few poorer written episodes here and there (usually hand held camera style), and the removal of Crowley from the show in season 12 was a big fail idea (Mark Shepard stated he would have loved to continue the run). So it loses a few marks here and there, might be almost a 9/10, but otherwise this show is my guilty pleasure and I love the entire cast and the production team who made this, and made it good enough for so many years.
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