Supernatural ran for a whopping fifteen seasons with the fantasy drama series following the monster-hunting escapades of the Winchester brothers. By the time the series concluded its run, nearly every concept in its genre had been done to death. However, its meta approach to some concepts may have helped keep the Impala running for as long as it did.
Nonetheless, when looking back at the show’s now-iconic run, one season 4 episode stands out for pulling off a Deadpool-like move. The episode’s fourth-wall breaking idea might’ve hinted at the creative well running dry very early on during the show’s run. As a result, it is worth reflecting on this fan-favorite season 4 episode of Supernatural.
Supernatural made a Deadpool-like move in season 4
Supernatural premiered in 2005 with Jensen Ackles and Jared Padalecki playing brothers Dean and Sam Winchester. The series primarily revolves around the duo’s monster-hunting adventures as great world-ending events unfold around them.
In the show’s fourth season episode, titled The Monster at the End of This Book, the brothers discover their adventures are being published as cheesy novels by a man named Chuck Shurley, under the pen name Carver Edlund, a portmanteau of series writers Jeremy Carver and Ben Edlund.
The episode ripped a page out of Deadpool’s playbook by breaking the fourth wall and addressing the fictional nature of Sam and Dean’s adventures. While the episode was well-received, it might have been more memorable as a one-off entry. Instead, it set a dangerous precedent for the series to break the fourth wall frequently and dabble into some meta concepts.
Supernatural season 4 proves the writers may have started running out of ideas
While the season 4 episode introducing Chuck wasn’t the first to break the fourth wall, it did so in ways that directly affected the show’s canon. For example, Chuck was initially a Prophet of God, later revealed as God, acting as the primary antagonist in the final season.
Moreover, the fourth-wall breaking episodes became even more frequent in the fifth season, the final one to be helmed by original creator Eric Kripke acting as the showrunner. In season 5 alone, there were four episodes featuring similar meta narratives, more than any other installment until that point.
As a result, the season 4 episode that confirmed the fictional nature of Sam and Dean’s adventures can be considered the genesis of the show embracing meta concepts, which was a sign of the writers running out of ideas very early on in the show’s run.
Later episodes like Don’t Call Me Shurley and All in the Family produced mixed results with Chuck’s appearances, proving that the idea had become stale. Therefore, the moment the series acknowledged its meta-fictional nature in season 4, the writers were running on fumes.
Supernatural is streaming on Netflix.
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