Even Supernatural's Creator Thinks These 5 Episodes Are a Waste of Time
We all love Supernatural, the cult show about the Winchester brothers' adventures and encounters with supernatural forces — but despite the fact that the show has become a true classic, there are quite a number of episodes that aren't executed in the best way, fans think.
In 2008, Supernatural creator Eric Kripke named the episodes that he would personally describe as the worst ones at the time. And while these episodes weren't always bad in the eyes of the audience, those were the ones that Kripke himself would have liked to reshoot.
First on the list is episode seven of season one, titled "Hook Man." Kripke's original intention was to give the show a horror-esque atmosphere, so many stories in the first few seasons were built around urban legends that inspired collective fear.
This particular episode was based on the age-old legend about the killer with a hook for a hand terrorizing the people of Iowa. According to fans, while the episode successfully referenced 80s slashers, the script left much to be desired.
"Hook Man" is followed by "Bugs," and that's literally the next episode in season one (seems like the creators weren't in the best shape at the time). Like Kripke himself, fans weren't pleased with this episode either. In addition to the colonial trope about Native Americans taking revenge after death using completely non-Native magic, the episode's writing with many plot holes and inconsistent editing were criticized.
Another one of the worst episodes is "Route 666," also from season one (episode 13).
It seems that the writers simply didn't know what they were doing here. The story takes place in either Mississippi or Missouri, and the main villain is a possessed truck (that's right) that kills black people (aha) because the ghost's ex-lover used to date a black person. This sounds like complete nonsense, and perhaps an episode like that shouldn't have been released at all.
Next up is episode six of season two, "No Exit." Oddly enough, the episode features one of the best plots in the entire series, built around the ghost of a 19th-century murderer named H. H. Holmes. The story is a great allusion to patriarchal brutality against women, but this fascinating subtext is undermined by the very weak romantic arc between Dean and Jo.
Last on Kripke's list is "Red Sky at Morning," episode six of the third season. Not the worst episode, but far from the best! And it's no wonder — the episode came out in the middle of the Writers Guild of America strike, and it was clear that the writers were focused on something else at that moment. The episode featured one of the worst characters, Bela, along with some ridiculous plot choices, such as a ghost ship appearing in salt water, even though ghosts are afraid of salt.