“Supernatural” is one of the longest-running TV shows of the 21st century. It ran for 15 seasons and over 320 episodes. Many of those hours were so great that we not only forgave the series when it stumbled, but are willing to suffer through the highs and lows to relive this hellish road trip one more time — but that doesn’t mean every hour is worth rewatching.
First-time viewers should click away now — every TV show you’re interested in finishing is worth watching in its entirety once (plus, we’re going to get into light spoiler territory here). As for everyone else, we’ve made a guide of the 15 “Supernatural” episodes you can skip without robbing yourself of what makes rewatches worthwhile. This isn’t just a list of the worst episodes of the series, some of which are worth watching to catch character development and plot setups you might’ve missed the first time. Instead, these are the forgettable episodes that are kept completely isolated from the rest of the show’s stories, and offer no new narrative rewards to anyone who’s already seen them once.
Wendigo (Season 1, Episode 2)
When “Supernatural” first aired, it seemingly had the potential to be one of the greatest horror shows ever made. Then, the second episode revealed where its weak points were.
In “Wendigo,” Sam (Jared Padalecki) and Dean (Jensen Ackles) have just started their road trip to find their missing father (Jeffrey Dean Morgan). Their first stop is Blackwater Ridge, Colorado, where innocent campers are being preyed upon by the titular monster, who is rather unfortunately rendered by crude 2000s TV-level CGI. As far as creature designs go, it was an admirably ambitious swing for the time, and a wendigo is a perfect fit for the “Supernatural” universe. This only makes it all the more disappointing that this one-off episode burned it so bad the show never brought one back.
Season 1 is made up of several hit-or-miss monster-of-the-week episodes, mostly following the same beats. There’s no reason to push through the most generic of them. Aside from introducing the show’s tagline (“Saving people, hunting things — the family business”), it doesn’t have an impact on the series. (It does feature a young Cory Monteith and Alden Ehrenreich, which might be of interest to some.)
Hook Man (Season 1, Episode 7)
We’re being as generous as possible with the standalone Season 1 episodes. A lot of them are a ton of fun. That said, there’s a reason why a third of this list is made up of episodes from the show’s first outing. “Supernatural” was still figuring itself out, and made a lot of disposable episodes while attempting to play it safe.
“Hook Man” easily falls into that category. It’s a surface-level urban legend riff built around characters we’ve never seen before and will never see again. The Winchesters go to Ankeny, Iowa, where a violently judgmental ghost zealously attacks those it believes are guilty of sin. The twist of who’s actually driving the Hook Man’s rampage is the only inventive thing about the episode.
It’s one of the few early “Supernatural” episodes Eric Kripke has all but denounced. It develops some of the mechanics around how monsters are actually weak against salt, but anyone rewatching the show likely doesn’t need to sit through “Hook Man” to be reminded of that.
Bugs (Season 1, Episode 8)
Speaking of episodes Eric Kripke openly disliked, “Bugs” is one of the major contenders for the series’ worst episode overall. It might even be the de facto consensus pick, given that it’s not only Kripke and many of the fans that believe this, but Jensen Ackles and Jared Padalecki as well. While the actors’ complaints largely stem from the fact that they were forced to shoot with an actual swarm of angry bees that wound up being replaced by bad CGI, Kripke realized through “Bugs” that “Supernatural” had been swinging too wildly in the creature department.
That’s basically the episode’s entire “legacy.” By mistakenly writing a story around gimmicky monsters, the writers learned that focusing on Sam and Dean’s relationship first and foremost would yield better results with their budget. The plot is so thin that it feels like it ends by accident. Nothing that happens carries over into future episodes, with the only callback being a few meta jokes from Chuck (Rob Benedict) about how bad it is.
Route 666 (Season 1, Episode 13)
Eric Kripke also seems to cringe thinking of “Route 666,” and anyone bold enough to rewatch it today will understand why. The nicest thing you can say about the episode is that its heart is in the right place. It takes the boys down to Missouri so that Dean can help his ex-girlfriend (Megalyn Echikunwoke’s Cassie Robinson) defeat a phantom that seems to be targeting Black motorists.
The issue is that, despite featuring real and disturbing subject matter (racism, hate crimes), “Route 666” doesn’t really have anything to say. Frankly, it feels as much like an episodic gimmick as the “Christine”-esque racist murder truck, given that “Supernatural” isn’t a show that fundamentally explores such themes. As for Cassie, she and Dean have little to no chemistry in their scenes. It would be hardly surprising that the show never explored their relationship again if this episode didn’t establish her as one of the only people he’d ever trusted up to that point. Overall, it’s the perfect example of a “Supernatural” episode you have to see once to believe it happened, then avoid like the plague with every rewatch.
Provenance (Season 1, Episode 19)
“Provenance” is the first episode on our list that’s not unwatchable, quality-wise. Many fans actually really enjoy it the first time they watch it. Whether or not an episode this self-contained and silly is worth your time the second go-around will come down to personal taste.
It’s also worth noting that it comes at an awkward point in the show, pacing-wise. Season 1 is headed for its final episodes, all of which are solid must-watches. If you’re a fan that knows what’s coming, a nonessential story about a haunted portrait might be distracting. Plot-wise, it follows the same formula as the rest of the season’s basic monster-of-the-week episodes (though, it thankfully reverses the flaw the show found in “Bugs” — by this point, Sam and Dean are the focal point, as they should be).
There are no new recurring characters or lore introduced in this episode (however, we do get to see Taylor Cole’s Sarah Blake in “Clip Show” with Graham Wardle’s Tommy Collins). Charitably, it feels like an attempt at pace control for the season. If you’re trying to get to the meat of the series fast, we’d argue you should skip this one.
Roadkill (Season 2, Episode 16)
“Roadkill” is the most popular episode on this list — and the one most likely to attract the ire of “Supernatural” fans in our comments section. Many of them feel that “Provenance” is good fun; “Roadkill,” on the other hand, is regarded by a significant portion of the fanbase as genuinely great.
Again, the decision to skip it ultimately comes down to a viewer’s personal taste, but we’d actually argue the case for watching “Roadkill” is weaker than “Provenance” unless you loved it the first time. It is the slowest of slow burns when it comes to standalone “Supernatural” episodes, and its impact is entirely carried by a now-cliched twist ending that simply won’t hit you as hard if you know it’s coming. Maybe there are those who feel this is precisely what gives the episode extraordinary rewatchability, so that you can see all the clues leading up to that moment — but “Supernatural” isn’t so subtle in its writing that you’d miss these on your first watch.
If you clicked on this list, you’re likely planning a lean rewatch of the show. There’s no world where a completely isolated episode that sidelines Sam and Dean is worth it — unless you’re already hell-bent on revisiting it.
Red Sky at Morning (Season 3, Episode 6)
“Red Sky at Morning” requires a less vigorous defense. In addition to being dismissed by Eric Kripke and lightly ridiculed in-universe in later episodes, it just has nothing to offer the season’s central storyline.
It’s the second episode with Bela Talbot (future “The Walking Dead” star Lauren Cohan), a thief introduced as a minor antagonist and foil for Dean, who has recently made a deal with a crossroads demon. “Red Sky at Morning” touches lightly on the aftermath of Sam killing that demon, but the subplot fights so much for focus with the forgettable monster of the week (a ghostly sailor) and the boys’ partnership with Bela that it’s hardly essential to the narrative.
Indeed, this episode is more important for Bela than anyone else, as it subtly teases her own deal with a crossroads demon to kill her parents. She appears in four more episodes after this one, all of which are easy to understand and enjoy without seeing “Red Sky at Morning.” Unless she’s your favorite “Supernatural” side character, this is an easy skip.
Criss Angel Is a D*****bag (Season 4, Episode 12)
The most frustrating part of “Criss Angel Is a D*****bag” is that it hides one important scene in a totally irrelevant episode. Sam and Dean take a complete break from the existential threats swirling around them to investigate Magic Week in Sioux City. They uncover a string of magical murders linked to three older magicians, leading to a meh twist that undercuts the only cool element of the episode. A magician paying for deadly tricks with other people’s lives is way more interesting than what actually winds up happening.
It’s all obviously meant to be a commentary on the fear of aging, which is itself supposed to be in service of one beat of character development at the very end of the episode. After playing a supporting role for most of the hour, Sam is inspired to team up with the demon Ruby (Genevieve Cortese) to hunt down Lilith. To bury something like that in an episode so formulaic and forgettable is inexcusable, and reason enough to take the small continuity hit to spare yourself during your second watch.
Swap Meat (Season 5, Episode 12)
“Swap Meat” is fine as a bit of dumb filler comedy, but it’s not worth a revisit. While on a case in Massachusetts, Sam is forced to swap bodies with a teenage wannabe witch, Gary Frankle (Colton James), who targets Dean for a demon bounty. If that bit about Dean having a price on his head catches you off guard, it’s probably because the writers only bring it up in this one skippable episode.
It’s bizarre that the series chooses to spend time here when Lucifer (Mark Pellegrino) is out and about. There are some moments that are amusing solely because of Jared Padalecki’s performance as a kid trapped in his body — though tone-deaf writing ultimately takes this gimmick to its creepiest extremes. (Why the show didn’t use the body-swap trope on its two stars is also beyond us.) Overall, the hour feels like it’s going nowhere from the start. You know Gary isn’t going to kill Dean, and there’s nothing else going on to keep you invested, especially if you’re a returning viewer.
All Dogs Go to Heaven (Season 6, Episode 8)
We’re officially out of the golden age of “Supernatural,” which moves us into much more divisive territory overall. Some fans would argue you’re better off stopping at the Season 5 finale — if you’ve chosen to carry on and commit to 10 more seasons, you’re in for a bumpier ride.
Season 6 brings Sam back without a soul, a varyingly effective choice that makes a standalone episode like “All Dogs Go to Heaven” a bit of a chore. The relationship between the brothers is no longer there to carry episodes that don’t meaningfully progress that storyline. This one in particular is rough because of how ridiculous the whole hidden skinwalker narrative comes across. Turning pets into hidden monsters is amusingly twisted on paper, and, with the skinwalker lore folded in, could’ve been a scary early-season premise.
But “All Dogs Go to Heaven” is just distracting and weird, largely because the writers make the key guest star an adult man pretending to be a family’s dog. It is, admittedly, probably the creepiest thing they could’ve done with skinwalkers — just for all the wrong reasons.
Bitten (Season 8, Episode 4)
“Bitten” is a monster-of-the-week episode told from the monsters’ perspective, an admittedly inventive shake-up that works as an interesting experiment the first time you see it. Michael (Brandon Jones), Brian (Leigh Parker), and Kate (Brit Sheridan) are film students who find themselves as the stars of a werewolf story, which eventually attracts the attention of Sam and Dean.
“Supernatural” had already done werewolves at this point (Season 2’s “Heart”) and revisits them later, so you’re not missing anything on the monster front on your second watch. Kate is fully reintroduced when she returns in “Paper Moon,” undoubtedly to help viewers who only remember the gimmick of “Bitten.”
Man’s Best Friend with Benefits (Season 8, Episode 15)
“Supernatural” has a few dog-centric episodes. This episode makes a solid case as to why they might’ve been better off avoiding canines entirely.
“Man’s Best Friend with Benefits” is an episode so crude and empty you’ll wonder if it wasn’t written around its punny title. It introduces us to James Frampton, a cop-slash-witch who apparently has a history with Sam and Dean (we don’t see it in the episode, and it’s never revisited in the future). Immediately, this character choice screams irrelevancy. What makes the episode truly unwatchable is the show’s baffling decision to return to the dog-person well and somehow make it even worse.
How the writers and producers decided to make James’ familiar (a spiritual animal companion) a dog who is also a woman James is in a rather kinky sexual relationship with is unimaginable. To make things more uncomfortable, Portia (a blameless Mishael Morgan), is a Black woman who spends the episode in a collar. The couple is “shockingly” never brought back to the show after this episode, and all its witchy worldbuilding is for naught in the long run.
#thinman (Season 9, Episode 15)
To its credit, “Supernatural” caught the very end of the “Slender Man” craze, which is more than you can say for the rest of Hollywood. Nonetheless, that they used this riff to instead pay homage to “Scream” betrays the same lack of internet fluency that plagued every project that tried to capitalize on the viral sensation.
The episode also proves that the bend toward serialization in later seasons wasn’t always used wisely. Narratively, “#thinman” is built around the overarching storyline of Sam and Dean’s conflict (Dean tricked Sam into being possessed by an angel as a bid to save Sam’s life), but doesn’t actually do anything to progress it. The episode just throws them in with another pair of feuding partners and asks the audience to be moved by superficial similarities. You don’t need this episode to understand that Sam is hurt by what Dean did, and that their relationship may be fractured beyond repair.
When the episode originally aired, it was surprising and somewhat nostalgic to see the Ghostfacers again. On a rewatch binge, this episode doesn’t do anything for you more than “Ghostfacers” in that department.
Bloodlines (Season 9, Episode 20)
Sometimes, it feels like a cop-out to tear down “Bloodlines” – even if it is objectively the worst “Supernatural” episode overall. That’s because it’s hardly even a “Supernatural” episode in the first place. The episode is a backdoor pilot for a spin-off series that never came to be.
The star of the episode is Lucien Laviscount, whose career has fortunately persisted beyond this misfire. He plays a would-be Chicago cop ready to wage a one-man war against the supernatural monsters running the city’s organized crime network. It’s not that imaginative as far as premises go — they’re basically pitching a cross between “Chicago P.D.” (or any other police procedural) and “Supernatural,” never mind the fact that “Supernatural” is essentially a crime procedural with magic. The “Bloodlines” show would’ve just been a self-serious “Supernatural” with more bureaucracy and guns, which — as this episode proves — is a pretty dreadful proposition.
“Bloodlines” is the one episode on this list that we’d actually co-sign skipping on your first watch. It’s a shrug-worthy bit of tri
Halt and Catch Fire (Season 10, Episode 13)
“Halt and Catch Fire” is the last skippable episode of “Supernatural.” Everything that comes after is either necessary for plot reasons or worth rewatching for sheer entertainment value.
The episode tries about as hard as its title, making “evil” technology that gimmick of a half-hearted, paint-by-numbers slasher plot. (There’s something a little amusing about the show revisiting the murder-truck idea, though that’s absolutely not a reason to give this a second go.) Perhaps this would merely be boring filler if it weren’t for the unbearably obvious and superficial gesturing toward the dangers of driving while texting.
The reveal that the victim is now a spirit who has been turned into Wi-Fi is just plain silly, and the somberness the episode insists on because of his death just makes the whole hour feel like a PSA. “Halt and Catch Fire” has one minor character beat for Dean’s Mark of Cain arc, but it doesn’t have any impact on the following climactic episode, “The Executioner’s Song.” From that point on, you’re on this road trip for the long haul.
