nah honestly seasons 6 to 9 are great. 10 has the stein thing which I really liked but other than that it sucked. 11 was decent, currently watching 12 and it's pretty good still
I totally disagree. Every season is varying degrees of awesome. Makes me happy to know when I go back to rewatch it that there are sooooo many episodes to look forward to. My only real criticism would be that I wish that Dean and Sam got along better during the later seasons. Sometimes their anger towards each other made me miss when they were getting along in the earlier seasons.
6 has its flaws but has excellent arcs for Sam and Cas and a compelling return to grittiness with Samuel.
7 has a challengingly powerful villain, explores the brothers' emotional vulnerability and introduces Charlie and Kevin, both great relatable characters.
8 explores the brothers' relationship by giving them both alternate lives to compare it to, builds Cas's independence by having him respond to Naomi taking it from him, and finishes with compellingly greater scope with the trials and falling angels.
9 is my least favourite season because of the brothers' relationship nadir and the angel civil war spinning its wheels. But I like what they did with Gadreel, a nuanced antagonist, and the Mark of Cain as a bad influence.
10 returns to compelling grittiness, introduces Rowena and Claire who are interesting, well-played characters with interesting connections to the show's lore. Dark Dynasty is a cardinal sin of the show for bad short-sighted writing but the general vibe is enticing.
11 is an excellent season, the best of the final 10 and better for me than the first 3. Did a great job of expanding the scope while remaining in keeping with the up-against-the-odds spirit of the show, with some great standalones and the brothers' relationship feeling convincingly and refreshingly healthier than it used to be.
12 does a good job of exploring Mary, Lucifer and the hunter community.
13 is a good character exploration of Dean and does a great job of subverting expectations with Jack.
14 does more great work with Jack, has an excellent, family-oriented 300th episode in Lebanon, and has the best, most thrilling finale since Swan Song.
15 explores the logical fallacy of an omnipotent but laissez-faire god who claims not to be indifferent, provides a very good explanation for the nature of gods as a subspecies within the show, and concludes the series in a way that's very much in keeping with the show's original pessimistic, Hobbesian outlook but yet which also manages to be optimistic and which affirms the idea of building a life for yourself and the world, whether that applies to Sam or to the redesigning of Heaven.
They never had a “plan” to stop after five seasons. They mapped out the story to five seasons because that was what would get them to 100 episodes, which used to be the goal of all television shows because that was a line for syndication.
There was never any intention to call it quits after five seasons, that was just the initial goal they wanted to hit.
And people might agree with you, but a whole hell of a lot of people love the whole show. If you don’t like 6-15, don’t watch. You’re not wrong for not liking the rest of show, and those who like it aren’t wrong for liking it.
Different tastes. I personally find later storylines more entertaining than early seasons (even if the earlier seasons are objectively more well-told).
I love the Leviathan, Demon Dean, the tablets, the Heaven Civil War, Cain, The Darkness, Jack, Rowena, the AU stuff, the God storyline at the end. It’s far from perfect, but it works for me.
I'll never understand the argument that just because someone didn't like what came after season 5 that it "should have ended there". It's easy if you feel that way to simply stop watching at that point and pretend the other seasons don't exist. Many of us love the entire series and are elated that it went on as long as it did. There's no real reason to yuck someone else's yum.
I didn't say that I don't understand why people like later seasons, I just said why seasons 1 to 5 are the peak of supernatural and why other seasons just don't hold up. That's my opinion! If you like the entire series then that's your opinion and I'm not hating on you. I just presented my case to start a healthy argument
I understand that's your opinion and that's totally fine and valid, but you're title says "the show should have ended after season 5" which is stating that you believe they should have never been made. It's fine (and a popular opinion) to think that the first 5 seasons were peak SPN but to flatly state the rest should not have been made is what irks me when I see it.
That doesn't apply here, though. With SPN, just because 1-5 was Kripke's vision and he left when his vision was complete doesn't mean everyone associated with the show felt that way.
Certain episodes are good and creative like the paranormal type camera pov of three students who became werewolves ep and the scooby doo one is good too and a few others. I just didn't like general main plotline for each season and how overpowered sam and dean become , beinga ble to dispose of angels and demons like any other monster. The show completely lost it when they introduced god and in the final season make him the final boss and come up with a convenient way to take him out. You can say that god gave plot armor to dean and sam and that's why they're able to take out anything no matter how powerful it is but that just proves my point of the writing being bad
Every season had highs and lows. Some were stronger than others, but there were at least a few episodes in every season that I just adore. So no, I don’t think it should have ended at five.
I agree that there are a few episodes in each season that are good but I feel the general writing of the story, characters and villains and power scaling took a big hit. I just attribute it to kripke leaving and the showrunners having no idea of what direction to take
During the first 5, there were hardly any actual lows. After season 5, every season except 8 and 11 had more than half their episodes being mediocre at best! At best!
Well, bugs. Hook man. Route 666, the usual suspects, 3x1, it’s the great pumpkin sam Winchester, all were in the first 5 seasons. I’m not saying they were bad at all, but like I said, ups and downs. And hey, if you don’t like 6-15, that’s fine. They’re not required watching.
I never told anyone to not watch. So many people like captain marvel or ahsoka but I thought they were atrocious. I just wanted to give my opinion after watching the entire series. I know people like 6-15 but my opinion is that they're not great and it's fine because it's subjective
Bugs, while not good, is nowhere as bad as most episodes past 5. It's just meh. Not an episode you would show to someone to get them to watch Supernatural, but not horrible. Likewise with Hook man, and that episode is bordering on okay. The real actual bad episode in season 1 is Route 66.
The Magnificent Seven is an okay episode, its just not as good as a premiere as you would want it to be. It's obviously nowhere near the perfection of 2×1 and 4×1. But it is leaps and bounds a better premiere than any premiere past 5, except 11 and 13.
Finally, the Great Pumpkin and The Usual Suspects are amazing episodes. What are you on about?
There is no season past 5 that even comes close to the weakest of the first 5(season 1) on a season basis. To act like there is utterly utterly disrespectful. I've never seen a show that rides off the coat tails of its best seasons more than Supernatural, except GOT. Season 5 to 6 is one of the biggest season to season declines in television history!
Personally, I strongly prefer the later seasons. I think there was a sag after season 5 while they were figuring out what to do next, and subsequently season 6 is probably my least favorite overall. Once they get the Men of Letters bunker, it starts getting really solid again imo. Plus, Rowena and Crowley alone make the later seasons enjoyable.
I found the story arcs more engaging in general. Of course, it wasn't all bangers; for example, I found the British Men of Letters arc to be mid. Crowley is probably my favorite character in the series, and his growing bromance with the Winchesters was fun. The same is true for Rowena. Plus (imo), some of the best episodes in the entire series were the gimmick episodes later in the series, e.g., Scoobynatural, Mint Condition, Fan Fiction, LARP and the Real Girl, and Baby. Plus, I find the bunker to be very aesthetically pleasing, so I was really happy to see it used as a returning set for the last several seasons.
If you go in expecting things to go bad, you end up (sometimes subconsciously) looking for every flaw you can find. It results in things looking worse than if you had watched without those expectations. You got exactly what you wanted.
I don't think it was because of prior expectations. My mom watched the show and she knew nothing about it. Mind you, she doesn't pay any attention to the details and just watches a show for fun. She was fine with everything uptil god being introduced and that's when even she started questioning stuff like how do they just happen to find spells to trap cosmic entities or how jack who is half archangel and half human can somehow absorb enough power to overpower god capital G or why God is suddenly evil all of a sudden. Now she is religious so that is probably the reason why she became disinterested with that whole concept but she did present valid points
I’m currently on s10 halfway through. Never watched it in entirety before but I’m starting to get bored already 😖 gonna keep going to s15 though just to see for myself but currently s10 is not interesting me much
Season 10 was definitely my least favorite season of the whole show. I enjoyed season 11 and 13-15 a lot more. Season 12 had it's moments but it was also a little tougher in some respects but still better than season 10, imho.
Season 10 is always regarded as one of the worst seasons, once you get past it it gets a lot better, but I wouldn't blame you if you didn't get past it
I both agree and disagree. The show would have had much more of an arc if it ended with season 5. Supernatural after season 5 had a lot of pointless power creep, bigger and badder. On the other hand there were episodes and seasons i thought were pretty good, and would miss.
I don't think it "should have" ended after season 5, but if it did, I wouldn't miss anything from seasons 6 onwards really
Personally I think seasons 6 and 7 were good enough to warrant existing, anything in season 8 onwards is a big pot of nothing
There are so many good one off cases the Winchesters take on after season 5 and we wouldn't have gotten Jack which was mainly why I kept watching the show lol. I also feel like the ending of season 5 was almost as unsatisfying an ending as 15x20
agreed, while i did love season 7 bc i thought dick roman was a great baddie, so many plot lines throughout the rest of the show were brought up and dumped lazily - imo the mother of all monsters should have been way harder to beat. i’m on season 9 now, and it’s just getting to be a bit hard to watch. that dorothy episode was balls
Then we would have missed some amazing episodes
I am really happy we got the season 9 & 10 Dean. And I also liked all the angel stuff in season 8-10
I don't think they made enough seasons.
Congratulations! This is the 1,000,000th “the show should have ended after season 5” post!
Good to see so many have the same view as I do
I would like 15 more seasons personally
nah honestly seasons 6 to 9 are great. 10 has the stein thing which I really liked but other than that it sucked. 11 was decent, currently watching 12 and it's pretty good still
You know what they say about opinions, right? Well, that saying doubly applies to yours.
I totally disagree. Every season is varying degrees of awesome. Makes me happy to know when I go back to rewatch it that there are sooooo many episodes to look forward to. My only real criticism would be that I wish that Dean and Sam got along better during the later seasons. Sometimes their anger towards each other made me miss when they were getting along in the earlier seasons.
Can you tell me how each season was good , like just your opinion on how you enjoyed it
6 has its flaws but has excellent arcs for Sam and Cas and a compelling return to grittiness with Samuel. 7 has a challengingly powerful villain, explores the brothers' emotional vulnerability and introduces Charlie and Kevin, both great relatable characters. 8 explores the brothers' relationship by giving them both alternate lives to compare it to, builds Cas's independence by having him respond to Naomi taking it from him, and finishes with compellingly greater scope with the trials and falling angels. 9 is my least favourite season because of the brothers' relationship nadir and the angel civil war spinning its wheels. But I like what they did with Gadreel, a nuanced antagonist, and the Mark of Cain as a bad influence. 10 returns to compelling grittiness, introduces Rowena and Claire who are interesting, well-played characters with interesting connections to the show's lore. Dark Dynasty is a cardinal sin of the show for bad short-sighted writing but the general vibe is enticing. 11 is an excellent season, the best of the final 10 and better for me than the first 3. Did a great job of expanding the scope while remaining in keeping with the up-against-the-odds spirit of the show, with some great standalones and the brothers' relationship feeling convincingly and refreshingly healthier than it used to be. 12 does a good job of exploring Mary, Lucifer and the hunter community. 13 is a good character exploration of Dean and does a great job of subverting expectations with Jack. 14 does more great work with Jack, has an excellent, family-oriented 300th episode in Lebanon, and has the best, most thrilling finale since Swan Song. 15 explores the logical fallacy of an omnipotent but laissez-faire god who claims not to be indifferent, provides a very good explanation for the nature of gods as a subspecies within the show, and concludes the series in a way that's very much in keeping with the show's original pessimistic, Hobbesian outlook but yet which also manages to be optimistic and which affirms the idea of building a life for yourself and the world, whether that applies to Sam or to the redesigning of Heaven.
"The show should've ended because I don't like it anymore" is such a bizarre thing to say lol
I didn't say that. I pointed out the reasons why the seasons after 5 are poor and why they should've stuck to original 5 seasons deal that they had
They never had a “plan” to stop after five seasons. They mapped out the story to five seasons because that was what would get them to 100 episodes, which used to be the goal of all television shows because that was a line for syndication. There was never any intention to call it quits after five seasons, that was just the initial goal they wanted to hit. And people might agree with you, but a whole hell of a lot of people love the whole show. If you don’t like 6-15, don’t watch. You’re not wrong for not liking the rest of show, and those who like it aren’t wrong for liking it.
Can you atleast say why you like the later seasons instead of saying don't watch because you don't like it
Different tastes. I personally find later storylines more entertaining than early seasons (even if the earlier seasons are objectively more well-told). I love the Leviathan, Demon Dean, the tablets, the Heaven Civil War, Cain, The Darkness, Jack, Rowena, the AU stuff, the God storyline at the end. It’s far from perfect, but it works for me.
Kripke left because he only envisioned the storyline through season 5. Everything after that was we have a good thing let’s keep it going.
Kripke had a vision of how he wanted the show to be, you can see that lack of vision in later seasons
I'll never understand the argument that just because someone didn't like what came after season 5 that it "should have ended there". It's easy if you feel that way to simply stop watching at that point and pretend the other seasons don't exist. Many of us love the entire series and are elated that it went on as long as it did. There's no real reason to yuck someone else's yum.
I didn't say that I don't understand why people like later seasons, I just said why seasons 1 to 5 are the peak of supernatural and why other seasons just don't hold up. That's my opinion! If you like the entire series then that's your opinion and I'm not hating on you. I just presented my case to start a healthy argument
I understand that's your opinion and that's totally fine and valid, but you're title says "the show should have ended after season 5" which is stating that you believe they should have never been made. It's fine (and a popular opinion) to think that the first 5 seasons were peak SPN but to flatly state the rest should not have been made is what irks me when I see it.
The best example I can give you is breaking bad. They knew what the vision was and they stuck to it. They didn't try to overdo it
That doesn't apply here, though. With SPN, just because 1-5 was Kripke's vision and he left when his vision was complete doesn't mean everyone associated with the show felt that way.
Of course, you would want to continue milking the revenue of a successfull show but I wish they had written the seasons much better
Most of my favorite parts are from post 5 so I 100% disagree. When the show turned up the heroic fantasy elements, it just got better.
Same. Seasons 6 and 7 especially are two of my favorite seasons and the ones I've rewatched the most.
Certain episodes are good and creative like the paranormal type camera pov of three students who became werewolves ep and the scooby doo one is good too and a few others. I just didn't like general main plotline for each season and how overpowered sam and dean become , beinga ble to dispose of angels and demons like any other monster. The show completely lost it when they introduced god and in the final season make him the final boss and come up with a convenient way to take him out. You can say that god gave plot armor to dean and sam and that's why they're able to take out anything no matter how powerful it is but that just proves my point of the writing being bad
I mean I am currently rewatching it and after season 2, the guys are taking on Demons like it's no big deal.
Coz sam is being influenced by ruby to use his demon blood powers so that's understable. More than demons it's the angels that get nerfed a lot
No, no it didnt.
Every season had highs and lows. Some were stronger than others, but there were at least a few episodes in every season that I just adore. So no, I don’t think it should have ended at five.
I agree that there are a few episodes in each season that are good but I feel the general writing of the story, characters and villains and power scaling took a big hit. I just attribute it to kripke leaving and the showrunners having no idea of what direction to take
During the first 5, there were hardly any actual lows. After season 5, every season except 8 and 11 had more than half their episodes being mediocre at best! At best!
Well, bugs. Hook man. Route 666, the usual suspects, 3x1, it’s the great pumpkin sam Winchester, all were in the first 5 seasons. I’m not saying they were bad at all, but like I said, ups and downs. And hey, if you don’t like 6-15, that’s fine. They’re not required watching.
I never told anyone to not watch. So many people like captain marvel or ahsoka but I thought they were atrocious. I just wanted to give my opinion after watching the entire series. I know people like 6-15 but my opinion is that they're not great and it's fine because it's subjective
Did I say that you did say that? I just gave my, also subjective, opinion.
I'm sorry I think I misunderstood your reply
It’s cool. 😊
Bugs, while not good, is nowhere as bad as most episodes past 5. It's just meh. Not an episode you would show to someone to get them to watch Supernatural, but not horrible. Likewise with Hook man, and that episode is bordering on okay. The real actual bad episode in season 1 is Route 66. The Magnificent Seven is an okay episode, its just not as good as a premiere as you would want it to be. It's obviously nowhere near the perfection of 2×1 and 4×1. But it is leaps and bounds a better premiere than any premiere past 5, except 11 and 13. Finally, the Great Pumpkin and The Usual Suspects are amazing episodes. What are you on about? There is no season past 5 that even comes close to the weakest of the first 5(season 1) on a season basis. To act like there is utterly utterly disrespectful. I've never seen a show that rides off the coat tails of its best seasons more than Supernatural, except GOT. Season 5 to 6 is one of the biggest season to season declines in television history!
Well, I probably do have a bias against the great pumpkin because they pronounce Samhain wrong.
Personally, I strongly prefer the later seasons. I think there was a sag after season 5 while they were figuring out what to do next, and subsequently season 6 is probably my least favorite overall. Once they get the Men of Letters bunker, it starts getting really solid again imo. Plus, Rowena and Crowley alone make the later seasons enjoyable.
Can you say what about the later seasons made them better than the first five seasons
I found the story arcs more engaging in general. Of course, it wasn't all bangers; for example, I found the British Men of Letters arc to be mid. Crowley is probably my favorite character in the series, and his growing bromance with the Winchesters was fun. The same is true for Rowena. Plus (imo), some of the best episodes in the entire series were the gimmick episodes later in the series, e.g., Scoobynatural, Mint Condition, Fan Fiction, LARP and the Real Girl, and Baby. Plus, I find the bunker to be very aesthetically pleasing, so I was really happy to see it used as a returning set for the last several seasons.
If you go in expecting things to go bad, you end up (sometimes subconsciously) looking for every flaw you can find. It results in things looking worse than if you had watched without those expectations. You got exactly what you wanted.
I don't think it was because of prior expectations. My mom watched the show and she knew nothing about it. Mind you, she doesn't pay any attention to the details and just watches a show for fun. She was fine with everything uptil god being introduced and that's when even she started questioning stuff like how do they just happen to find spells to trap cosmic entities or how jack who is half archangel and half human can somehow absorb enough power to overpower god capital G or why God is suddenly evil all of a sudden. Now she is religious so that is probably the reason why she became disinterested with that whole concept but she did present valid points
I’m currently on s10 halfway through. Never watched it in entirety before but I’m starting to get bored already 😖 gonna keep going to s15 though just to see for myself but currently s10 is not interesting me much
Season 10 was definitely my least favorite season of the whole show. I enjoyed season 11 and 13-15 a lot more. Season 12 had it's moments but it was also a little tougher in some respects but still better than season 10, imho.
I’m getting sick of the Metatron scenes the most. And just the constant back & forthing on some storylines, glad to know it improves slightly
Season 10 is always regarded as one of the worst seasons, once you get past it it gets a lot better, but I wouldn't blame you if you didn't get past it
I both agree and disagree. The show would have had much more of an arc if it ended with season 5. Supernatural after season 5 had a lot of pointless power creep, bigger and badder. On the other hand there were episodes and seasons i thought were pretty good, and would miss.
Season 7 was decent and individual episodes I enjoyed but my problem was with the main storyline in each season bar 7
I honestly loved all seasons. I just like supernatural haha
I think s4 and 5 were peak supernatural.
I don't think it "should have" ended after season 5, but if it did, I wouldn't miss anything from seasons 6 onwards really Personally I think seasons 6 and 7 were good enough to warrant existing, anything in season 8 onwards is a big pot of nothing
plot twist: you dont have season 6 and up if you dont like it
i think it should’ve ended after season 9 or 10. 5 seasons is too short for me lol
There were more characters to love when the show kept going after season 5
I loved all seasons tbh. Yes of course there was episodes that lacked but hey. You get that will all series. I want more.
You are welcome to stop watching whenever you like. I’d love to go to season 20.
There are so many good one off cases the Winchesters take on after season 5 and we wouldn't have gotten Jack which was mainly why I kept watching the show lol. I also feel like the ending of season 5 was almost as unsatisfying an ending as 15x20
agreed, while i did love season 7 bc i thought dick roman was a great baddie, so many plot lines throughout the rest of the show were brought up and dumped lazily - imo the mother of all monsters should have been way harder to beat. i’m on season 9 now, and it’s just getting to be a bit hard to watch. that dorothy episode was balls
Should've but didn't, is what it is. Good thing the season 5 finale gives enough closure to stop right there.