Supernatural, did it get better after a few years, or are the first 2 years and next 13 largely the same?

Cafe Society
1

Continuing the discussion from TV series where an actor left, then later came back (possible spoilers) (Not Soaps):

With 15 seasons and 327 episodes, I would love to be able to get into this show. It seems like my type of show overall. But the first few episodes never pull me in. I’ve tried 2-3 times I think.

I had similar issues with How I Met my Mother and when it finally clicked it became one of my favorites.

Next Generation started weak but improved as it went on. I think it was something about Riker growing a beard or maybe it was less Wesley Crusher. Sorry Wil Wheaton, but your character did hurt the show.

Even 30 Rock took some effort to get going for me. But it improved fast thankfully.

2

My wife was a huge Supernatural fan, and I watched nearly every episode by way of osmosis.

As with a lot of series, it took a little while to hit its stride, but if you’ve made it through the first two seasons (as per your title, not the “first few episodes” in your post), and you don’t like it, I doubt that you are going to like it by watching more. They add characters and change the subplots over time, but the basic plot is consistent. (That said, the addition of Misha Collins as the angel Castiel was a net plus.)

Also, even in my wife’s opinion, they kept it going far too long. She ground her way through to the end, but after about season 7 or 8, it felt like they were just rehashing old ideas: how many times can you save the world from supernatural beings?

3

I’ve only watched a total of 3-4 episodes and they’re from the first 2 seasons.

Some shows take more than a season to hit their stride or even radically change like MASH did after season 4.
Big Bang Theory was much better season 2 than season 1 is another example.

Fringe was good from the start but became great in season 2.

Agents of Shield was good season 1 and then went for me at least, shitty.

4

The series isn’t purely episodic; it does have overarching, season-long story arcs in most, if not all, seasons – though it is, sometimes, simply just a “monster of the week” show. Watching a couple of episodes over a couple of seasons likely doesn’t let you see/understand the story arcs. But, if the overall concept, characters, and actors aren’t grabbing you, that may not make much of a difference.

5

Gotcha, so probably little hope for me. Oh well.

6

I watched every episode, but with a caveat: it was a show I watched with one eye while doing other stuff-- chores, rote tasks on the computer, working out on the elliptical, that sort of thing. That said, I think I did follow it pretty well and enjoyed it overall.

Yes, similar to ‘The X-Files’, they had ‘Monster of the Week’ episodes, and they also had multi-episode and even multi-season plot arcs. Unlike ‘The X-Files’, the multi episode / season plot arcs were fairly interesting (IMO) and much easier to follow. And yes, there were some interesting sub characters, like the angel Castiel, very well played by Misha Collins that kenobi_65 mentioned, and a Brit demon named Crowley. I liked that every ‘Monster of the Week’ (with maybe a couple exceptions) was based on an actual mythological character. So the writers did a bit of homework.

It’s all a little silly for the most part, but a good kind of silly, I thought. The supernatural aspect allowed for some interesting plot developments. One episode that stands out in particular is when the brothers somehow got transported to a dimension (our dimension?) where their life was all just a TV show, with actual info about the actor’s lives, and a lot of meta-comedy came out of that.

7

Try the third season episode “Ghostfacers”, which parodies ghost hunting shows. One in particular.

8

Yes, Supernatural improved. It probably was at its best around seasons 4 and 5. It dipped in quality for a bit after season 5, but ended up being solid again for most of its run.

It’s a great show.

9

I think they jumped the shark when they got into the Leviathan (chompers) story-line. Running out of ideas. It did get a little better after that though. Kinda pulled out of that death spiral. Enough that if you like it then it is worth it to keep going.

Bummed it dropped off of Netflix.

10

In fact, the first 5 seasons were one big story arc, and arguably finished the series. Then they had to come up with 10 more seasons after that.

11

I actually enjoyed the MotW flavor of the early seasons more. Once it largely went full giant plot arc, it got more tedious for me since everything was in service of the Big Story and I just wasn’t that invested in what they were selling. I dropped off after they failed to stop Satan from opening the portal to Hell. since it didn’t seem like they’d be going back from that to chasing errant rusalkas based on small town newspaper articles.

12

In the final episode of each season they show a recap of “the road so far” with the song Carry On My Wayward Son. Here are all of them.

13

Except the first season, where it was the second to last episode.

14

Would you all say @kenobi_65 post is accurate? Not much hope for me liking the show?

15

I don’t know what episodes you saw, but I can’t think of any reason they wouldn’t give you a good idea of what the show is, and you shouldn’t expect much difference from the rest. It isn’t a show that underwent any big shifts (like, for instance, different seasons of Buffy).

16

I thought it was great, but the first season didn’t impress me much. There are some fantastic characters that come in later seasons (Castiel, anyone?) The only thing I’d note is that this series does not take itself seriously at all, and for a while it really is terrific fun, especially when they start doing parodies.

I just grew tired of the same dynamic over and over. It was always, “I’m doing something bad, I’m gonna hide it from my brother, whoops I caused another apocalypse.”

I don’t think we watched all 15 seasons.

17

I’ve caught it here and there on hotal cable, but simply couldn’t get drawn in, at all. The mythology I specifically found to be uncompelling, perfunctory, and mundane (but the budget likely couldn’t handle showing Heaven and the other realms in all their glory-or horror every other week). I also disliked both main protagonists/performers; the fate of the world depends on these two hapless jokers? Tl;dr I simply couldn’t suspend my disbelief and get pulled into the show’s universe.

18

I may have been influenced by Jensen Ackles.

19

This is my favorite show of all time. I got my wife hooked on it when we started dating and she loves it too.

The show does change quite a bit over the course of the series. The first couple of seasons are smaller in scope then what happens later on. Initially, they are investigating individual incidents and helping people as they go, in that genre of show where a person travels from place to place, helping people and moving on. Kind of like Kung Fu, or The Lone Ranger. Later, the show gets much bigger in scope, until later on they are essentially the most important people in the world. I’m not exaggerating about this, but I won’t go into details because it would involve massive spoilers.

The show’s overall arc is very similar to The X-Files. Originally, it was very much a “creature of the week” format. Then they got into more of a larger arc. That show got bigger in scope as well over time (though not nearly as dramatically as Supernatural; then again few shows do change as dramatically). But both shows do get broader and focus more on longer, season-long plotlines, and the occasional “goofy” episode every now and then to change up the pace.

Incidentally, my favorite episodes of Supernatural were sillier ones. My favorite episode of all time is “The French Mistake”. If you are familiar with the film Blazing Saddles, the title of that episode is a reference to a scene in that movie where the characters literally break out of the film into the “real world” on screen, and that happens in a similar way in that episode. Other episodes along that line were “Changing Channels” and “Mystery Spot”. (The song “Heat of the Moment” by Asia was changed forever for me because of that latter episode, and I think just about every other Supernatural fan knows what I mean.)

I would say, though, that if the first couple of seasons of The X-Files aren’t enjoyable to you, the rest of the series probably won’t be, despite the major changes it underwent. And the same for Supernatural. I doubt that whatever you don’t like is going to be “fixed” later on, because it is still the same show.

I got to meet Misha Collins in-person at a convention, and got my photo taken with him. He is just as hilarious and charming in-person as he is on TV. He was my favorite celebrity to meet, and I’ve met folks like Norman Reedus, Nathan Fillion, and Tom Welling also. (There was a delay in getting photos done, and so Misha started joking with us to pass the time.)

20

Introduction of Castiel might have been the “grew a beard” moment for the show. Season 4, episode 1.

I mean, it was great up to then, but he really helped take it up another level.