On paper, there are plenty of TV shows likeSupernatural, in terms of genre and plotting, but the best episodes of the series make it clear that this project is one of a kind.It’s been five years sinceSupernaturalwent off the air,but if anything, the show has only gotten more popular since then, garnering new fans every day because of the series' enduring qualities.
When revisitingSupernaturaltoday,there’s one installment that stands out because of its innovative storytelling styleand the way it captures what we love about the series. This is not one of theSupernaturalepisodes I skip on a rewatch, as this installment of the show has come to define everything that makesSupernaturalunique. Without episodes like this, it wouldn’t have the same legacy.
Why “The French Mistake” Is One Of Supernatural’s Best Episodes
This Installment Was A Turning Point For Supernatural
Season 6, episode 15, “The French Mistake,” is one of theSupernaturalepisodes that everyone knows and will be talking about for years to come.Airing in the sixth season whenSupernaturalwas reinventing itselfand going through a soft reboot, “The French Mistake” proved that the show had staying power and that the writers still had new ideas for the story.
“The French Mistake” is theSupernaturalcast’s favorite episodefor a reason, as the actors are clearly having the time of their lives onscreen. Following Sam (Jared Padalecki) and Dean (Jensen Ackles) after they get transported to an alternate reality that’s eerily similar to our own,“The French Mistake” puts the characters in a world where they are actors on the in-world showSupernatural.
“The French Mistake” is far from the only meta-episode thatSupernaturalwould create. The writers and showrunners enjoyed being in conversation with the fans and playing with the enormous amount of headcanons and fanfiction that are part of the franchise’s history. In this episode,Supernaturalgets to speak directly to its legacy and the way it was being consumed, mining this for humor.
You Don’t Get Episodes Like “The French Mistake” Anymore In The Age Of Streaming
There Are Few TV Shows That Get The Opportunity To Write Episodes Like “The French Mistake”
Though onlySupernaturalcould’ve crafted the specific humor and adventure of “The French Mistake,“this type of episode is rarely seen today.It’s rare that a TV show on a streaming service will spend one of its too-few episodes on a story that doesn’t progress the overarching plot, and simply lean into the fun of creating an unforgettable piece of television.
This isn’t the fault of writers and showrunners making fantasy TV shows, or otherwise, today, but it’s a symptom of the direction that TV is going, and makes it obvious whySupernaturalhas retained its fanbase. ThoughSupernaturalincluded plenty of serious, serialized episodes that pushed the characters to their limits,it also spent time building character and having fun with the premise in episodes like this.
However, it would be shocking if a streaming service greenlights a series for a season longer than fifteen or sixteen episodes, and that’s the absolute maximum today. Conversely,at its height,Supernaturalwas getting a full order of twenty-two episodesa season, and the show aired for fifteen seasons.Supernaturalhad plenty of time to write the episodes that would be hailed as the best of the show.
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Supernatural’s Monster-Of-The-Week Formula Is Becoming A Lost Art Form
Streaming Television Is Making It Difficult To Craft A Smart, Complex, Procedural TV Show
Supernaturalis one of thebest monster-of-the-week horror TV shows, and though this type of show is being lost in the age of streaming, it’s what’s kept the series so popular. While it would be easy to write off this structure of television as formulaic or predictable,Supernaturalproved this isn’t the case. The great shows of this genre use each episode as a chance to push their boundaries.
Series likeSupernaturalgot to play with form and experiment with storytelling because they had room to use the “filler” episodes to their full potential.
While many of the best streaming shows audiences and critics have fallen in love with often craft every episode as if it’s a movie, this doesn’t make up for how much shorter seasons have become. Series likeSupernaturalgot to play with form and experiment with storytelling because they had room to use the “filler” episodes to their full potential.
There are still fun network TV shows out there, but fewer and fewer are being made, or getting the necessary funding to compete with the large budgets and impressive marketing of streaming shows. Without network TV and the monster-of-the-week genre,Supernaturalwould never have existed, and television would be worse off for this.
