I wrote about Supernatural for Girls in Capes’ first Problematic Favorite issue last year, and I remember ending it with a hopeful note that maybe things would get better. Female characters wouldn’t be killed after two episodes; the show would feature more POC characters; the Dean and Cas queerbaiting would come to an end.
For a split second, I thought this might actually be the case with season ten. The show was strong right out of the gate, we were being treated to an interesting storyline with demon Dean and the Mark of Cain, we had strong female characters (who didn’t get killed off right away, imagine that), and it just felt… better.
One of the things that Supernatural takes the most pride in is that it appreciates, listens to, and respects its fans. I can see this in some respects, sure: the series’ 200th episode, “Fan Fiction,” was essentially a love letter to fans of the show, and I’d be lying if I said I didn’t watch it through tears, because I was just so goddamn happy. The episode could’ve been a train wreck, and most of us were nervous that it would be, but Robbie Thompson crafted a gorgeous episode full of musical numbers, callbacks to characters long forgotten (uh, guys, Adam?), and shout-outs to the fans and different ships that really did show that fans were held in high regard. For the most part, we felt cherished, respected, and appreciated, and honestly, it was the most wonderfully unexpected hour of Supernatural I’ve seen in a long, long time.
To add onto the positivity from “Fan Fiction,” a kickass female duo in the form of sheriff Jody Mills and Donna Hanscum were introduced in episode eight, “Hibbing 911.” Jody had already helped the Winchesters several times in past seasons, but seeing her team up with Donna, have the two of them save the Winchesters, and just kick ass in general (while also ensuring that an episode of Supernatural would pass the Bechdel test!) was rad. They quickly became fan favorites—rightly so—and will hopefully be making reappearances in season eleven.
Could it be that TPTB had decided to show their fans respect from then on, to stop needlessly fridging characters just to cause the Winchesters pain, and just… be better?
Of course not. Despite everything listed above, Supernatural is still, to the surprise of no one, pretty much the definition of a problematic favorite.
In “Dark Dynasty,” episode 21 of season ten, TBTB decided to kill off fan favorite Charlie Bradbury— who was also one of the few remaining female characters on the show. Played by Felicia Day, Charlie was seen as sort of an ambassador between the fandom and the show. A geeky, energetic, openly gay character we could all relate to; she was us, and we were her. Killing her off—and in such a graphic, unnecessary way—was a shock to our system, and in a way, felt like a personal attack against the fans.
In season nine, we had struggled through the shock-value death of Kevin Tran, one of the show’s only minority characters, but we would always have Charlie. Or so we thought.
In addition to the fact that Charlie’s actions leading up to her death were ridiculously out of character—Day and Thompson, who created Charlie’s character, spent a lot of time on set challenging executive producer Robert Singer’s decision by offering alternatives and ways Charlie could escape unscathed—her death was also the textbook definition of a fridging, a major problem that Supernatural seems to have no desire to fix. She was killed by the Stynes in order to further Dean’s man-pain and for him to seek vengeance for her death.
There’s always the saying that “Nobody’s ever really dead on Supernatural,” and some people have faith that Charlie will come back this season, whether it’s as a ghost to help Sam and Dean, or as a witch in Rowena’s coven, but the plain and simple matter is that she shouldn’t have been killed at all. As Supernatural fans, we’re used to characters we love being killed, but Charlie was different. Charlie was personal, and it’s hard to forgive something this bad. Nothing is ever going to make Charlie’s death sting less, but this video of the cast leaving executive producer Jeremy Carver alone to fumble over a fan’s question about why they killed Charlie is pretty wonderful.
I could write another thousand words about how the romantic connections between Dean and Castiel were blatantly obvious in season ten only to be shoved aside again in the last twenty minutes of the season finale, but that’s a story for another article. Suffice it to say, though, that it’s just plain awful to once again get your hopes up for something only to be laughed at and have your feelings disregarded.
I want to end this with a paragraph of cautious optimism like I did for my last Supernatural article, hoping that somehow Supernatural will use its eleventh season to treat its female characters with dignity and respect, stop with the queerbaiting, stop using man pain to drive the plot, and have POC characters, but who am I kidding? I honestly don’t think that’s going to happen, and I’d feel weird writing otherwise.
Back in earlier seasons, Supernatural was filled with suspense, horror, and mystery. Nowadays, the only real mystery with the show is why I still watch it, and I doubt that’s going to be solved anytime soon.
Whatever, I’m just gonna go watch “Fan Fiction” on repeat.
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Allison Racicot is the Audiobook Reviewer at Girls in Capes. She’s a recent graduate of Emerson College in Boston, and has a degree in Writing, Literature, and Publishing. She spends too much time listening to podcasts and getting overly attached to fictional characters.
