March 2025 Supernatural Viewing Diary Season 10, working backwards

Supernatural, Season 10, episode 1 “Black” (2014; d. Robert Singer)
Castiel is again starting off the season in a sickly state. He doesn’t have red burning eyes but he appears to have developed tuberculosis. I totally forgot about Cole. Wow, that character was a dead end, huh. I had also totally blocked out Hannah and her rolled-up jeans (which made me irrationally angry). One look at her and I remembered the three bean surprise and I wanted to punch a wall. Not crazy about Sam’s hair.

Supernatural, Season 10, episode 2 “Reichanbach” (2014; d. Thomas J. Wright)
The Castiel-Hannah road trip is deadly. Demon Dean is fascinating but the two new characters introduced – Cole and Hannah – just don’t really work. It’s weird to have Cole – who doesn’t really play much of a role moving forward – show up in the first episode, as though he’s going to be one of the adversaries of the season …. only to have it be just a side thing, an obstacle to Sam finding his brother. And Hannah I suppose represents the purity of angels, their black-and-white thinking, “learning/growing/changing” from her time with Castiel. But Hannah has no resonance whatsoever. I suppose they were trying to beef up Castiel’s side of things – but it feels random and superimposed. “We have to give Castiel something to do.” Sigh. Okay, if you feel you must. I don’t like Cole but he and Dean have an awesome fight.

Supernatural, Season 10, episode 3 “Soul Survivor” (2014; d. Jensen Ackles)
Crowley being bored out of his mind post bro-romance is just not a good choice. Especially not when it lasted so long. A whole season. Some of the details aren’t clear to me but I know Crowley was neutralized. I don’t remember at this point when Rowena entered the action. This season, perhaps? Which means that they basically created her to give him conflict with someone OTHER than the brothers. I don’t understand the choices.

Supernatural, Season 10, episode 4 “Paper Moon” (2014; d. Jeannot Szwarc)
Have they ever worn sunglasses before in this whole entire thing? Except for as the douchebag cops in the fake television show?

Supernatural, Season 10, episode 5 “Fan Fiction” (2014; d. Phil Sgriccia)
I haven’t watched this one in a long time. So many good moments. “A bar. Or a liquor store. Or both.” Dean jamming out to his mother dying. I can’t take it.

Supernatural, Season 10, episode 6 “Ask Jeeves” (2014; d. John MacCarthy)
I’ve seen this one disparaged on social media in SPN spaces, and the disparagement is said in a tone of “well, we all know nobody likes this one.” I hate (love) to be a contrarian but I LOVE it. That ENSEMBLE. The ridiculousness of it. The Flowers in the Attic-ness of it all: evil matriarch, girls with names starting with “C” locked in the attic, a dead body in the attic – all V.C. Andrews. Clown College Colette. So STUPID and so FUNNY.

Supernatural, Season 10, episode 7 “Girls, Girls, Girls” (2014; d. Robert Singer)
Oh, Hannah. Why are we spending so much time with you? This plotline will please no one. I’m sure the Castiel/Destiel fans despised it. This endless road trip has zero to do with Sam and Dean and makes the whole episode stop dead. I’m supposed to care about Hannah’s backstory?

Supernatural, Season 10, episode 8 “Hibbing 911” (2014; d. Tim Andrew)
“Jodeo.” “Jodes.” The sudden explicit attraction between Dean and the baby-faced sheriff: hostility masking (not well) “I want you. You’re hot.” The show used to just plop these little un-explored and yet enriching moments of psychological weirdness or subtext – separated from the plot but connected to the main characters. It also reminds us that Sam and Dean are real people out in the real world and real people have strong reactions to them. Of COURSE you’re going to be attracted to Dean. And maybe lash out at him – quietly – to combat your feelings of “Jesus Christ, buddy, I thought I was straight five minutes ago, but … ”

Supernatural, Season 10, episode 9 “The Things We Left Behind” (2014; d. Guy Norman Bee)
That guy Randy is a monster. We’re starting an arc that will, unfortunately, end with Wayward Sisters.

Supernatural, Season 10, episode 10 “The Hunter Games” (2015; d. John Badham)
The beginning of the Rowena takeover which is also the beginning of the Crowley diminishment and I don’t like it. Also Dean is having an absolute meltdown at the bunker and that’s all I care about and they keep cutting away from it to Rowena simpering around in full makeup. By the way: Season 10 is EXCELLENT for Dean mirror moments.

Supernatural, Season 10, episode 11 “There’s No Place Like Home” (2015; d. Phil Sgriccia)
The whole season, really, is about getting the mark off of Dean. It’s not something outSIDE of the brothers, heaven and hell and Hannah be damned. The real conflict is what are we going to do about the mark of Cain. And so what happens then is you get monster hunts, just like the days of yore, but you have this added intepersonal tension, where the real drama is Sam being worried and Dean losing control. Sam is right to worry. Charlie and Oz, etc., doesn’t really go deep but it doesn’t matter because the whole thing is about Dean beating Charlie up, losing himself in it. It’s so awful.

Supernatural, Season 10, episode 12 “About a Boy” (2015; d. Serge Ladouceur)
I’m particularly partial to the small scene at the bar between Dean and Tina. As I keep saying, it does multiple things at the same time. And it’s a short scene, maybe a page.
1. Dean is drinking instead of working the case. He is not doing well. The Mark is working on him.
2. It quickly establishes – in a fairly in-depth way, considering it’s probably 10 exchanges – who Tina is. Tina needs to be a developed character, a sister-in-spirit to Dean, and then it will pay off at the end.
3. Casting the right person for Tina was important. She can’t be a 25-year-old hottie. She has to have been around the block. She’s “age appropriate” for Dean.
4. They very quickly establish a connection, which she clocks before he does. She sees him. “before you fall in love with me…”
5. This whole plot could be said to show an alternate path: 13 year old Dean doesn’t have the Mark. Having this be on Dean’s mind is the only way this whole monster-hunt episode is connected to the wider arc.
So it’s all very well-planned. The episode is doing a LOT. Plus we get teenage Dean again. He was so good in “Bad Boys” and it’s good to see him again.

Supernatural, Season 10, episode 13 “Halt and Catch Fire” (2015; d. John Showalter)
Supernatural keeping up with the times. Hashtag-blessed. “I just favorited your post.” “OMG.” Silly. The acting of the supporting cast is … not the best. Dean schtick. Dean Burlesque.

Supernatural, Season 10, episode 14 “The Executioner’s Song” (2015; d. Phil Sgriccia)
This is the season where Hell becomes insufferable and corporate. Member the visions of it earlier? Dean suspended over the abyss? The endless waiting in line? Now it’s demons rattling off percentages and Crowley is bored playing video games. I’m mainly irritated that THIS is what they decided to do with Crowley. He is yet another casualty of Rowena’s presence on the show. Like we’re supposed to care about Rowena’s Grand Coven bullshit – as Crowley stands next to her, deflated. I remember thinking when I first saw this that the fight between Cain and Dean was anti-climactic. While that may be so … what I’m present to now is how well it’s choreographed and how beautifully they both perform it. It’s not your garden-variety fist fight. It’s really thought out: who has the power, who is weaker, the emotions of both – it’s all in the choreography. These guys are not amateurs.

Supernatural, Season 10, episode 15 “The Things They Carried” (2015; d. John Badham)
Member how much we all despised Cole and his “Dean-o” and “Sammy”? Then of course came all the stories of his behavior at cons and then his wild attempt to take Misha down with crazy slanderous posts on his “website”? Like wow. Poor Misha fans were freaking OUT, probably terrified that this would leave the fandom and make it to mainstream media. I don’t blame them. Maybe monitor someone’s social media profile before hiring them. Yikes. Unstable. I am not sure what Cole’s purpose was. Does anyone have any insight? He shows up, he traps Sam, trying to get to Dean. He and Dean fight and Cole loses. He returns, determined to try again, having figured out the whole demon thing. He is bested AGAIN. And now he comes back again. Like, what is the purpose of having him on 3 episodes in one season? I don’t get it in terms of the purpose in the story. Also, this may very well be the grossest monster in the entire history of the series.

Supernatural, Season 10, episode 16 “Paint It Black” (2015; d. John Showalter)
I can’t believe I just watched this again. It’s so embarrassing. The nun farting out … another nun … hilarious. Dean’s confession scene is so good but the rest is as bad as this show ever got. The Italian accent, the Renaissance-era flashback, the pirate shirt, and a narrative I can barely follow because it’s too dumb and too long. Meanwhile, I always wish there was more sex on the show, at least an intimation of it – and so here they gave me what I supposedly wanted and I was like “No, please, I’m good. Stop.” The Rowena sections are ENDLESS. I actually carefully got a screengrab of the ABSURD nun-fart and it’s even funnier frozen.

Supernatural, Season 10, episode 17 “Inside Man” (2015; d. Rashaad Ernesto Green)
Rowena’s takeover of Supernatural was swifter and more complete than I remember from my first watch. She has so much screen time (mostly boring) and Crowley plays bored second fiddle. There is a Macbeth/Lady M thing going on, “BE A KING. KILL HIM.” etc. but … I just don’t care. Maybe they (ie. The Show and its Runners) were concerned about the lack of women on the show and so felt they were doing their due diligence by centralizing Rowena in every other scene? I’ve said this before: I don’t like Supernatural because of its equal representation. I have so many other go-tos for that. So many great women directors, movies about women, movies centralizing women. Not every piece of art has to do the same thing. This isn’t a dis against Ruth Connell. I know she’s really loved among the fan base (excluding yours truly) but already we see how much she’s breaking the show. All that shouted Latin. All the screen time. Every. Episode. Even Castiel isn’t in every episode. First appearance of the dreaded purple Rowena light.

Supernatural, Season 10, episode 18 “Book of the Damned” (2015; d. P.J. Pesce)
Dean is wearing a hoodie sweatshirt. What is this, About a Boy part 2? Aaaand here come the Southern Frankenstein family! If the Steins are after Dean, then why does he drive right back to the cabin, leading them to it? I don’t like it when they make Sam or Dean dumb in order to further the plot.

Supernatural, Season 10, episode 19 “The Werther Project” (2015; d. Stefan Pleszczynski)
BENNY.

Supernatural, Season 10, episode 20 “Angel Heart” (2015; d. Steve Boyam)
Claire Novak gets her own episode. I so wanted to be on the Claire train. I do think it was an interesting idea: Castiel, after all this time, coming to the realization that his actions, as an angel, negatively impacted this young girl’s life, and feeling responsible for it. I like this aspect of it (theoretically). But in reality … This is nothing against Kathryn Newton. It’s not her fault they put too much makeup on her. She’s inexperienced and she’s best in scenes where she’s forced to not ACT, but RE-act.

Supernatural, Season 10, episode 21 “Dark Dynasty” (2015; d. Robert Singer)
Irritated that Charlie and Rowena couldn’t stop arguing. Charlie couldn’t put on headphones? She had to go off by herself – and sit AT THE WINDOW – even though Frankensteins were after her? Again, I don’t like it when the plot requires smart characters to act dumb. Rowena is so powerful she can dematerialize and make people’s heads boil but she can’t get out of those chains? So how powerful IS she? I mean, by the end she can move space and time. Over it. Killing Charlie was stupid. The Steins were stupid. We never ever hear about them again. They have nothing to do with anything. If Charlie has to die, at least let it be at the hands of Abaddon or Crowley or whatever, something connected to other things. Here, it’s just random.

Supernatural, Season 10, episode 22 “The Prisoner” (2015; d. Thomas J. Wright)
We came so close here to burning the bunker down. I was hoping!

Supernatural, Season 10, episode 23 “Brother’s Keeper” (2015; d. Phil Sgriccia)
Death!! Billie was fine but one-note. Death had FLAIR. And so we have Dean kill death – after the incredible scene between the brothers – with Jared absolutely crushing it – and it’s a cliffhanger: what will happen now?? We cut to Rowena and … Oscar? Some Polish person from 300 years ago whom she loved? This kind of shit will eventually engulf the whole entire show.