10 Supernatural Monster of the Week Episodes Better Than the Heaven Mythos

Supernatural was an urban fantasy television series whose overall mythos was about the battle between Heaven and Hell, with Earth caught in the middle. However, that wasn’t how the series started. In the first season, there was an underlying demon storyline about who killed Sam and Dean Winchester’s mother, and that demon storyline eventually morphed to include Heaven and Hell. That said, the first season focused more on Monster of the Week episodes, as Dean and Sam traveled the country saving people from all sorts of evil creatures. These often were more entertaining than the main mythos involving angels and demons.

With 15 seasons of episodes, here are 10 of the best Monster of the Week episodes that were better than most of the main Supernatural mythology.

10) Bitten

“Bitten” was a Supernatural Season 8 episode that saw Sam and Dean Winchester investigate a murder in a college town, only to discover what happened through disturbing video footage. This episode took the interesting decision to make much of this a found footage episode, as Dean and Sam watch the footage to figure out what happened to the three college students. This was very similar to the third season episode “Ghostfacers” and was a rare episode where Sam and Dean weren’t the main characters. However, it was better than the previous found footage episode, and the idea of the three students turning into werewolves and deciding to film it was a brilliant concept.

9) Clap Your Hands If You Believe

“Clap Your Hands If You Believe” was a Monster of the Week episode from Season 6 of Supernatural. This takes a little strange direction, as it offers up an alien plot and sends the show into a more sci-fi direction, similar to the X-Files (the opening titles even spoof that show). However, this is quickly diverted when Dean realizes it isn’t aliens, but is actually fairies, sending it squarely back into the urban fantasy fans expected. This was a fun episode because Dean was the only one who could see the attacking fairy, while Sam found clues that led them to elves, gnomes, and a leprechaun. As you can see, there is a lot of wild stuff in this episode, and it works perfectly.

8) Bloody Mary

“Bloody Mary” was a Season 1 episode and was one of the earliest Monster of the Week episodes in Supernatural history. This is based on the classic Bloody Mary legend, where a person says the name three times while looking in the mirror to call the demon into the real world, where she kills the person. This was the legend that eventually influenced the storyline of Candyman, but here, Supernatural takes it back to its origins. It works great, and the series does what it does best by making the demons sympathetic, while also being completely terrifying. It was also an early episode that shows how the boys solve the puzzles to find a way to defeat the monster.

7) Monster Movie

Some of the best Supernatural Monster of the Week episodes were more meta in design and often played with the idea of other horror franchises or genres. “Monster Movie” is a perfect example, as the Season 4 episode was shot in black and white and dealt with the classic Universal Horror Monster themes. When they arrived in Pennsylvania, the welcome sign changed to “Transylvania,” and they ended up facing a shapeshifter who transformed into classic Universal monsters, like Dracula, the Wolf-Man, and the Mummy. These meta Supernatural episodes are always fun to watch, and the homage to classic horror movies here was masterfully executed.

6) Heart

“Heart” was a Supernatural Season 2 episode that sees Sam and Dean investigate the death of a lawyer by what they realize is a werewolf. When they realize the lawyer’s secretary might be the next victim, Sam stays with her while Dean starts hunting down the werewolf. What makes this episode stand out is that it is one of the more emotional early series Supernatural episodes because Sam falls hard for the secretary, Madison, only to learn she is a werewolf, but just didn’t know it. The ending of this episode was one of the moments that continued to strip away Sam’s consciousness and his ability to handle the weight of their calling. This was a tough one to watch to the end, but it was well worth it.

5) Baby

The fourth episode of Season 11, “Baby,” was a quirky episode because it was all shot from the point of view of Dean’s Impala, which he nicknamed Baby. The idea that the only thing the show reveals in this case happens when the boys are in or around the car made it a strategically difficult one to make, but one that kept things tight enough to keep it interesting and tightly paced. Dean and Sam were stuck in the bunker for a while before this, and they set out for a road trip to just find and fight monsters and demons, which not only made this a nice break in the season but also created one of the most memorable Supernatural Monster of the Week episodes of the series.

4) Scarecrow

“Scarecrow” was another early Supernatural Monster of the Week episode from Season 1. This was the 11th episode, and it was scary for many reasons, not the least of which was that the scarecrow itself was a terrifying Supernatural creation. Dean and Sam were looking for their dad in the middle of the overarching demon storyline, but this was a nice break as they stopped in a small Indiana town where passing-through couples kept disappearing. The twist was that the people of the town got their harvests replenished by sacrificing to the scarecrow, and that made this a tense and deadly mission for the Winchester brothers.

3) Sam, Interrupted

The Season 5 episode “Sam, Interrupted” saw a former hunger named Martin institutionalized. He calls Sam and Dean and believes there is a case they can help with at the mental hospital. Sam and Dean end up admitted as patients, and then realize there is a monster there who is preying on the mental patients. There are lots of references here, as the nurse is named Forman (after Milos Forman, the director of One Flew Over the Cuckoo’s Nest) and the title is based on the movie Girl, Interrupted. However, this stands on its own, and forcing Dean and Sam to face their trauma makes that as interesting as the wraith haunting the hospital.

2) What Is and What Should Never Be

“What Is and What Should Never Be” is a Season 2 episode, and it features one of the scariest monsters ever to appear on Supernatural. Sam and Dean are hunting a Djinn (a genie), but Dean ends up transported to a world where his mother never died, his brother is in law school and is getting married, and Dean has a girlfriend and lives a normal life. Obviously, this is the Djinn granting Dean his greatest wish, but the twist is that Dean’s actual body is still there, and the Djinn feeds off his life force while Dean lives his happiest life. This is an emotional Supernatural episode because it allows Dean to see what a normal life looks like before ripping it all away from him in the end.

1) Faith

One of the best Supernatural episodes in history is a Monster of the Week tale from Season 1. This is “Faith,” and it sees Dean and Sam attacking a monster, but Dean ends up electrocuted, which permanently damages his heart. Dean learns he only has months to live, and the brothers end up finding a preacher who claims he can cure the incurable. Meanwhile, Dean meets a kind young woman named Layla, who has a brain tumor and has been waiting for her turn to be healed. This preacher’s abilities turn out to be true, but with a twist. His wife is controlling a Grim Reaper who kills someone else every time the preacher heals someone. Dean ends up cured, but the ending is still tragic and shows that life often isn’t fair in this world, a theme that plays all throughout Supernatural’s run.

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