So I wrote a post recently about the best episodes of Community, and while I agree with my choices, let's put it this way, it wasn't the best post I've ever put together. So, for my Supernatural post I wanted to go into a bit more detail about each episode and why you should watch it, while trying to stay as spoiler light as I can.
This episode is ridiculous. No show has ever, or will ever, do anything like this again. This episode breaks the fourth wall and then smashes it over your head. There's meta, there's meta and then there's The French Mistake. This is Supernatural at its best, laughing at itself and doing things other shows could only dream of. The scene where Sam and Dean are acting may well be my favourite moment in TV ever. I don't think anything makes me laugh as much (except Photobooth). It's Jared and Jensen playing Sam and Dean playing Jared and Jensen playing Sam and Dean. I told you it was meta!
Changing Channels 5.8
This is an episode courtesy of The Trickster (i.e. the best kind of episode), where he sends Sam and Dean into an alternate reality where they're inserted into some popular TV formats (like Grey's Anatomy and Knight Rider), as well as referencing the show's own mythology by including some of the programs the guys watch on the show (make sense?). It's really funny, and I feel like this was when the writers started to really really get weird. Genital Herpes anyone?
Mystery Spot 3.11
OK, so I said Changing Channels was when the writers started to get really really weird, but Mystery Spot is when they first started to get weird. This episode is Supernatural's take on Groundhog Day, and honestly, it's fantastic. Like the real Groundhog Day, this episode starts off like any other, the boys chasing a monster of some kind, that is until something goes terribly wrong, and they are snapped back to the beginning of the day. The episode is equally funny, sinister, and actually really really sad. Altogether a great episode that I can happily watch over and over, although it's silly, it's also very well thought out and explained.
It's a Terrible Life 4.17
I like when shows do episodes like this, where the audience is completely in the dark about what's happening. Similar to episode 2.1 of OITNB, we know as much as the main character, which isn't very much at all. In It's a Terrible Life, the boys are shown a parallel universe in which they're not hunters, but office workers. As the audience we know very little about how the boys got into this situation until fairly late in the episode, and I like when an episode keeps you guessing.
The Girl with the Dungeons and Dragons Tattoo 7.20
I think we can all agree that Season 7 is not the best season of Supernatural. It's Leviathan-heavy, and Cas-light - not my cup of tea. However, Season 7 is also the season that brought us Charlie, and for that I will be forever thankful. Charlie is awesome, she's a self-proclaimed lesbian nerd, and one of the only female characters to stick around. This episode serves as a great introduction to Felicia Day's character, and sets up a lot of great things to come.
All Hell Breaks Loose Pt 1 2.21
This is the first serious, 'non-silly' episode on the list, can you tell I have a type? There is a heartbreaking moment in this episode, right at the end when Dean screams Sam's name. It gets me every time, Dean's emotion is just so raw :'( I don't think there's much more I can say about this episode without giving away too much. This episode is the culmination of the first two seasons' story-arc, and it does not disappoint.
The Monster at the End of This Book 4.18
This episode was the start of the writers' descent into meta. This episode introduces the Supernatural Books, a set of books that Sam and Dean discover that include their entire hunting history. Yep, books in the show, about the characters of the show, all named after episodes of the show. Not as meta as The French Mistake, but getting there. This was when the writers started referencing fans in the show, something that was continued through further episodes about the books, a fan convention, and, most recently, the 200th episode Fan Fiction.
Folsom Prison Blues 2.19
This episode is great, it doesn't follow the usual Supernatural format, in that I really didn't know what was going on for the first ten minutes, and could not see a single way out of it until right at the end. The way that the writers captured exactly how the characters would behave if they wound up in prison is great, mostly Dean acting like he owns the place. This is also the episode that brought us Dean's Blue Steel.
Part Two coming next week ...
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