For a show with 15 seasons, it would be impossible forSupernaturalto not have any retcons. Between the ministry of angels on Earth (or the notion that reapers have been angels this whole time) to the errors surroundingDean and the Grand Canyon, there are more than a few discrepancies that fans have pointed out over the years. Still, while some retcons are forgivable, there are others that are not. Undoubtedly, the worst of the bunch comes from the very end of Season 14, where it’s revealed at the literal eleventh hour that Chuck Shurley (Rob Benedict) was actually the biggest bad that the Winchesters had ever faced.
‘Supernatural’ Rewrote Chuck Completely in the Season 14 Finale
Although it took a considerable amount of time, Season 11 ofSupernaturalfinally confirmed that Chuck was the divine creator (aka the “Light”) all along. After aiding the Winchesters in Seasons 4 and 5 under the guise of a prophet (he wrote theSupernaturalbooks under the pen name “Carver Edlund”), Chuck disappeared for many years. After a brief return in the 200th episode “Fan Fiction,” the character officially revealed himselfnear the end of Season 11to help the Winchesters against his sister Amara (Emily Swallow), aka the Darkness. But after years of helping Sam (Jared Padalecki) and Dean (Jensen Ackles), and even being willing to sacrifice himself to save all creation,the end of Season 14 claims that Chuck has been evil this entire time, manipulating the Winchesters by writing their story from behind the scenes. It’s a retcon that doesn’t quite make sense looking back, and ultimately implies that everything Chuck ever did was a lie.
While Chuck proved himself a hero, made peace with his sister, and helped save the world, this was evidently all for show. All the growth, all the character development, the idea that he was looking out for the Winchesters and Castiel (Misha Collins) for a divine and good purpose…All of that is thrown out the window here ahead ofSupernatural’s final season. It’s as if the writers of the show themselves (and showrunnerAndrew Dabb, in particular, who pennedSeason 14’s finale, “Moriah”), thought that deconstructing the entire narrative and breaking all their toys would make for a compelling final run. In reality, it comes across as a cosmic temper tantrum that aims to paint God as some sort of moral monster.
“Moriah” offers a twist that comes so late in the game that we can’t help but feel like it unravels the whole series. While that type of retcon raises the stakes so high that it feels unattainable, and any explanation thatthe Winchesters could defeat their creatorfeels a bit hollow or undeveloped. It doesn’t help that the whole thing is paid off quite strangely in the show’s penultimate episode (with the series finale largely ignoring these events), which strips Chuck of his divine abilities and turns him into an average man. Talk about lackluster.
Chuck Went From Being a Complicated Creator to an Evil Mastermind Overnight
Looking back on many of Chuck’s previous appearances, like Season 5’s “Swan Song,” Season 11’s “Don’t Call Me Shurley,” or even his first appearance in Season 4’s “The Monster At the End of This Book,“these stellar hours ofSupernaturalare instantly cheapened by this “reveal.“It’s no wonder that Chuck’s turn to villainy was the springboard from whichthe show’s worst episode originates. More than anything, the twist at the end of “Moriah” screams that the show was out of ideas. It’s no wonder the fifteenth season would beSupernatural’s last.
Supernatural’s portrayal of God was already controversial enough as it presented its version of the creator as an absent father of sorts, having largely abandoned the universe prior to the show’s beginning. Of course, duringEric Kripke’s initial Apocalypse story, it’s revealed that God still has a hand in everything that Sam and Dean go through, helping Sam win the mental battle against Lucifer (Mark Pellegrino). He even resurrected Castiel for his courage in the battle against the Devil. And yet, ten years later, the show would turn a positive, something that was meant to remind audiences that perhaps God hadn’t completely left the world behind,into a sadistic, warped, and self-involved idea that kept Chuck in the middle of the action. In some ways,the whole idea is a bit too meta, and that’s perhaps why it feels so disingenuous.
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‘Supernatural’ Always Struggled to Tackle the “God Problem”
Of course, the issues with Chuck aren’t just found in Seasons 14 and 15. The truth is, the character had been a bit troublesome for years.After Season 5 ended, many debated whether Chuck was intended to be God the whole time or not. That revelation wouldn’t come until Season 11, andeven then, it felt like a slight retcon that some took issue with. However you felt aboutSupernatural’s depiction of Chuck, one cannot deny that the show was much better (and more consistent) when itstuck to being a horror show.
Inthe show’s earliest years,Supernaturalcrafted a world full of mysteries and possibilities that could have amounted to anything. In fact, the show’s first few seasons even present Sam as a type of believer who finds strength in his own faith. But the more the show revealed about the cosmic forces beyond the material world, the less mysterious the cosmology ofSupernaturalbecame. Chuck was a great character when he first appeared, and although the revelation that he was this world’s “God” complicated things,the further revelation that he was actually a big cosmic bully who played puppet master over Sam and Dean’s lives was not only silly in the end, but it felt like a cheapening of the character’s potential. Rob Benedict played the part well, if only the show’s “master writer” had been written better.
Supernaturalis available for streaming on Netflix.
Supernatural
