What I’ve Learned From Supernatural (So Far)

So I know I’m late to the party – 15 years late – but I’m here. Over the holidays, my partner and I decided to start binging Supernatural. Admittedly, I’ve avoided getting involved in this show mostly because I witnessed first hand how crazy intense the Supernatural fandom was online (hello tumblr days). But I’m no stick in the mud, so I finally caved and began watching the show ad nauseum.


This is What I’ve Learned (So Far)

**SPOILER WARNING**


  1. This is not a show built for marathons – In just over a month, we’ve managed to watch five full seasons of Supernatural – a whopping 120 episodes roughly – and boy was that hard. About season three, we were able to accurately guess the dialogue before it happened and could laugh about how lackluster it was. This show was designed to be watched episodically – week by week, year by year.
  1. Not all deaths are created equal – Like in Game of Thrones, it’s important for regular characters to have a good, satisfying death and I assume it’s the same in Supernatural. Bela, one of the regular secondary characters, had one of the most disappointing deaths so far. So much so that I actually had to google and make sure she was actually dead. Ruby, on the other hand, could have had a more drawn out death sequence because she was the WORST.

  2. Sam and Dean are kind of dumb – Hear me out. Sam was fooled numerous times by cute-but-demon-or-evil girls (Ruby, Bela, Lilith) and he’s the one who went to college! Dean, bless him, is a simple man who thrives on simple pleasures – beer, meat and ladies, but still knew right off the bat that Ruby was bad news. Both boys found themselves in stupid situations multiple times throughout the seasons – primarily because of their stupidity for each other.

  3. Bobby is the best hunter – Hands down, Bobby is the only hunter worth a shit and this is shown again and again throughout the show. While he does get a fair amount of screen time, it’s always as the plucky sidekick. In season five, Bobby singlehandedly expels a demon out of his own body while possessed and NO ONE cared for more than a few minutes. That is some badassery if I’ve ever seen it.

  4. Yellow Eyes is scarier than Lilith – Yes, Lilith was awesome and I wish we could have spent more time delving into her character, but Yellow Eyes – what a villain. Carried through six seasons on loose lore, occasional sightings and a burning hatred, Yellow Eyes was the villain that kept giving. As new villains and characters were introduced, I kept coming back to Yellow Eyes and wishing that he would join in on the fun again.

  5. An actors rite of passage – I am fully convinced that at some point if you were trying to become an actor in the 2000’s, you ended up having a cameo on Supernatural. Half the fun of watching the show is going, ‘Oh hey, that’s so-and-so from (insert show title)’ or whichever show. From Jared Keeso of Letterkenny to Dylan Minette of 13 Reasons Why to Ashley Benson of Pretty Little Liars – everyone has been on this show.

  6. When in doubt, salt and burn the bones – For the first few seasons, every ‘evil’ encountered was able to be remedied by you guessed it – salting and burning the bones. It’s kind of up there with how every person sick on ‘House’ always seemingly had lupus at first. Obviously as the villains and demons started to become stronger and crazier, the methods had to change, but when in doubt, salt and burn the bones. You’ll probably be okay. 

While I am only a third of the way through the series, I’ll continue updating as new points come to light. If you’re looking for something lighthearted and fun to turn on in the background while doing laundry, this is not it. But this show can help pass the time regardless.

An Ode to Jenna Marbles

If you’ve spent any amount of time on the internet – specifically YouTube or Tumblr – in the last decade, at some point you’ve probably run across Jenna Marbles. Considered to be a part of the original group of YouTubers, Marbles posted her first notable video in 2010 titled ‘How to Trick People into Thinking You’re Good Looking’. Instantly a star thanks to her witty humor, adorable pets, fun skits and relatable content, Jenna Marbles has continued to make thousands laugh every ‘Wednesday-slash-Thursday’, until now. 

From make-up tutorials to dog birthdays to drunk crafts, Jenna Marbles has been a constant in my life for a decade. There was a time recently, when I was deep in the waves of a gnarly depression spell, where the weekly videos she posted were the one thing I could count on to give me a brief moment of happiness. Just five minutes where I would feel okay – a few lighthearted laughs at whatever antics she pulled. Even if it was one of her less exciting videos where she dip-dyed Crocs just for the hell of it – it was everything to me. 

Her content has changed dramatically over the years. Starting out she was a foul-mouthed ranting 22 year old in the Wild West of the internet. She made some problematic videos which were removed over the years as she transitioned into her new style. She’s since become a much more calm, mindfulness-minded *32 year old lady*.

Jenna decided to leave YouTube, social media, the whole shebang, at the beginning of the summer this year after many fans brought back long-deleted videos where she was being problematic. She posted one of the most realistic and relatable apology videos (that has since been removed) that I’ve ever seen and trust me, I watch them all when I’m bored – shout/out James Charles for the never ending stream of them. This is my ode to Jenna Marbles.

Jenna,

You’ve allowed us unfiltered access to your life for a decade; through break ups, new pets, new homes, everything. You’ve created endless jokes and relatable content for a sea of greedy fish. While I’ve never met you and never will, you provided a light during the darkest times of my life and for that, I will be forever grateful. I hope that you feel as much love and happiness as you’ve given to us over the last ten years, even if you decide to never return to the internet world. 

Always a fan,

Bailey