It’s been more than a week, and fans are still ugly crying over the season and series finales of Supernatural. Some felt the story ended as it should. Others hated it. And many wanted to see Castiel reunited with Dean in Heaven, joined, much later, by Brother Sam.

Regardless of how you felt about the ending of the series, one aspect of this show has never disappointed me: the music. This show had more kick-ass music than any other TV series of its kind. And the music has been integral to Supernatural, whether it’s the classic rock or the scary scoring.

As creator and original showrunner Eric Kripke explains, “This music isn’t disposable. It’s like nothing on any show on this network. That was something that was really important to me, coming into the Pilot. I’m from a small town in Ohio and this is the music I listen to. I was a huge Zeppelin fan. So when it came time to write and produce the Pilot, it was important not to have the normal network music. I even wrote in the script, 'Cue music. And you can take your anemic alternative pop and shove it up your ass.'”
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“There’s a real energy in the Midwest,” he says, “to miles and miles of flat farmland and two-lane blacktops that stretch into infinity, and you’re jamming classic rock as loud as it can go. There’s something so mythic, so American about that.”

 the Pilot, Sam and Dean have the following exchange:

Sam: I swear man, you gotta update your cassette tape collection.

Dean: Why?

Sam: Well, for one they are cassette tapes, and two…(pulls out a few cassette tapes). Black Sabbath? Motorhead? Metallica? It’s the greatest hits of mullet rock.

Dean: Grabs a cassette from Sam and pop it in the player. House rules, Sammy. Driver picks the music. Shotgun shuts his cake hole.

And so it’s been from the first episode. Kripke sees himself as a sort of School of Rock missionary, although, sadly, not all gospel is featured. Zeppelin, for instance, won’t be preached. “I’d like to use Traveling Riverside Blues” or “Ramble On,” Kripke said, “But Zeppelin will not sell their songs to anybody but Cameron Crowe because he traveled with them when they were on tour, and they’re also a billion dollars a song, rough estimate.”

The cost of the music has always been an issue for the show. From Season three onwards, as other budget demands didn’t leave room for it, fans noticed a marked decrease in the amount of classic rock used on the show. They complained, loudly. At a Supernatural convention in 2011, Jensen Ackles sat the complaint had been heeded, and efforts were made to bring more rock back into the soundtrack. 

Kripke managed to procure an incredible collection of classic tunes that have become anthems for Supernatural’s fans. 

The most recognizable is the 1976 hit “Carry On Wayward Son” by Kansas. It’s the closest thing Supernatural has to a theme song. The song was first used over the montage at the beginning of the second episode, Salvation, and it has subsequently been used at the beginning of the final episode every season except the last. In the series finale, the song doesn’t play at the beginning, but rather over the Impala’s radio as Dean drives through heaven.

It’s obvious the writers gave a lot of thought to the music selection and editing. For example, in Season 2, when Dean has repaired the Impala and takes her back on the road again, AC/DC’s “Back in Black” is the fitting accompaniment. 

Then in Season 2, Episode 12 (“Nightshifter”), Sam and Dean end up on the inside of a bank holdup. Since Dean is already a wanted criminal, they’re automatically implicated.

When they do manage to get away, and make their way back to where they’ve parked the Impala, the a capella vocals of Styx’s “Renegade” announce, “Oh, mama, I’m in fear for my life from the long arm of the law.” The song’s timing allows the music engineers to extend the heartbeat-like bass drum interlude that intersperses the next few vocal lines, until Dean looks at Sam as they leave and says, “We are so screwed,” and the song echoes with “The jig is up, the news is out, they’ve finally found me.”  What fun! By the way, this is, according to convention panels, one of Jensen Ackles’ favorite musical cues. It’s mine, too.

Another of my musical interweavings occurs in Episode 21 (“Two Minutes to Midnight). This is the introduction of the Horseman of the Apocalypse, Death. The montage, to the Jen Titus song, “Oh Death,” introduces the wonderful actor Julian Richings in slow motion, with dry leaves blowing in slow motion as Death takes down a businessman who has bumped into him on the street.

The stark arrangement of the Appalachian dirge “Oh Death” reinforces the chilling effect, and the lyrics are perfect. “My name is Death and the end is here.”
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Just as important as the rock soundtrack is the incidental score, the music composed specifically for the show.

Often, the musical scoring goes completely unnoticed by the viewer, but without it the effect of the show would be completely different and have less impact.

Supernatural has a wonderful original score with many recurring motifs that fans instantly associate with a broment, or the Impala, or a gory death. Like the show itself, the score expands to cover many genres, rock, folk big band or a tribute to old monster movie.

Jay Gruska, along with Christopher Lennertz, are the composers who have been responsible or Supernatural’ original scores from the beginning, and they have won numerous awards for their work on the show. Jay has create some of Supernatural’s most instantly recognizable music, such as “Americana” which most memorably accompanies Chuck’s narration in Swan Song, which also contains the motif popularly known in fandom as the Winchester Family theme. 

“From the beginning,” Lennertz says, “Eric’s orders were to make a compelling and scary horror film every week. We all met and began to throw out ideas of how to do this musically, and came up with a palette that had roots in classic orchestral horror and twentieth century atonal music but with added production elements of the current day.

Then we added a bit of rock guitar on occasion due to Dean’s musical taste. On top of that base, we add elements of local color or inspiration from a certain time or place, depending on the setting of individual episodes. Jay and I have also explored the addition of unusual organic instruments of Americana, such as dulcimers and acoustic guitars, but played in an unconventional way. Considering the boys’ journey across America, it seemed to fit perfectly.”

After researching the Supernatural' music, I've decided to dive back into the series one more time, specifically to listen to it.

I’m also going to put together my own personal play list of favorite songs from the show. I’ll share that list with you here next week.  

I hope you had an enjoyable Thanksgiving. See you here next week with Writer Sandy’s Supernatural playlist.

Supernatural is the little horror show that beat the odds.
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Fifteen years ago a vaguely titled show about two brothers hunting monsters debuted on the WB. The actors playing Sam and Dean Winchester—Jensen Ackles and Jared Padalecki—weren’t household names. The show’s creator, Eric Kripke, had been unsuccessfully shopping his idea about paranormal crime fighters for a decade.

hen Supernatural first aired on Sept. 13, 2005, everyone’s expectations were modest. Critics said it was “kinda like Buffy, only with boys.” Padalecki can still remember the exact pitch for the first season: “Route 66 meets X-Files, brothers on the back roads of America hunting things that go bump in the night.”

Still, encouraged by promising early ratings, WB executives stuck by the scrappy, relatively low-budget original show even as the network itself went through the upheaval of evolving into the CW.

Kripke set up his weekly horror flick pilot with a flashback to the fiery death of Sam and Dean’s mother, Mary (Samantha Smith), at the hands of the yellow-eyed demon Azazel (Frederick Lehne). Flashing forward 22 years later, and the widowed John Winchester (Jeffrey Dean Morgan) and his older son, Dean, spend their time hunting, yes, demons. 

When Azazel strikes again, ordering the slaughter of younger son Sam’s girlfriend (Adrianne Palicki), Sam opts to drop out of college, skip law school and join the family business as well.

Padalecki says he became interested in the role because he like horror series, but he was even more excited to become “the reluctant hero.” In his eyes, “Sam is something like The Matrix’s Neo or Luke Skywalker of Star Wars.” Tragic circumstances force Sam to make the big choices that shape his life.

Throughout the first several seasons, Supernatural delivered on its original premise of scares, gore and tears—and plenty of cliff-hangers—as research-minded Sam and his gruff, cheeseburger-loving older brother, Dean, battled every variety of monster and demon. Finding their father, who disappeared in the first episode (“Dad’s on a hunting trip and he hasn’t been home for a few days.”) was the boys’ goal in season 1, although that ended up being as difficult as getting John to stick around once he was finally discovered.

As a paranormal writer myself, I had great fun researching creatures and spells along with the Winchester brothers. I was impressed that the lore the writers referenced was accurate. In fact, writer Eric Kripke used to say, “Is it a Google-able monster?” In the first season, we learned how to kill demons, vampires and ghosts along with the brothers.

The show’s formula during that year was simple: Include at least on scene set in the brothers’ 1967 Impala, weave a plotline about a growing threat, and plant plenty of callbacks to the deep mythology developed in previous episodes.

​Oh, Baby!

​Baby, the Impala, was Sam and Dean’s only home for many years, along with cheap motel rooms they often paid for with forged, stolen or found credit cards. The iconic car (nine different vehicles were used in the series, one of which squealed and creaked horribly every time they opened a door. 

Baby meant so much to the stars, in fact, that they both now have ’67 Impalas parked at their Texas homes, part of their final contract.

“Having a car that was like the third lead of the show was important to me,” Kripke says. “When I told my neighbor in Venice (California), who was a mechanic, that I wanted a badass car and was thinking of a ’65 Mustang, he said, “Yeah, a Mustang is the perfect car if you’re p**sy.” And without missing a beat, he said, “You want a ’67 Impala because you can put a body in that trunk.”
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Dean had an extremely limited musical library of 8-tracks in the car. He played those songs a LOT, much to Sam’s dismay. In one scene Sam described them as the “greatest hits of the mullet rock era.” But the music has become a huge part of the series’ appeal: Carry On My Wayward Son (1976 Kansas jam) is basically the show’s theme song.

And Ackles’ extra reel 
​of Dean lip syncing and playing air guitar on Baby to “Eye of the Tiger” (Survivor) in Season 4 is a gem fans enjoy watching again and again. 

The Winchester family reunion was short-lived: Season 1 closed with a car crash and the fates of all three men up in the air. When the story picks up, John Winchester makes a deal with the demon Azazel, trading his life for Dean’s.

“Everything up to that point was about finding Dad,” Jensen Ackles said.

“I think that was the first time we saw a major character die and come back. It was a total leap of faith,” Padalecki continued. 

But they weren’t surprised. Right after the show moved to Vancouver to film, Kripke had pulled the two actors aside and said, “I could write monsters or days, but this show begins and ends with family, and the relationship these brothers have.”

“So, after our dad’s sacrifice,” Padalecki said, “we told the story of Reapers and the veil, and what happens to your soul. And we got into afterlife. The introduction of Hell and making deals with demons was a big shift in what Supernatural could do.”

Ackles added, “Which is funny, because when you think about it now, Eric (Kripke) must’ve always known because Mom made a deal with the yellow-eyed demon too.”

Angel Castiel
As the show evolved, so did the monsters, and in season 4, the introduction of angels changed everything once again. “I was concerned that would be a bridge too far,” Padalecki says of the angelic decision. “I wondered, ’Are we going to turn off a lot of the people that came here to watch a scary movie?”

Show creator Kripke himself had fought the idea for years, until he had an epiphany while he was washing his face. “I realized the supernatural world was unbalanced,” he said. “There was only evil. So I walked in the writers’ room on day one of season 4 and said, ‘Okay, there’s going to be angels…but they’re dicks!’” As Kripke puts it, “Angels completed the mythology.” They also added Misha Collins (brilliant move!) to the cast as Castiel, the first angel of the lord and the closest thing to a third Winchester brother.
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“And now, amazingly, 11 years later,” Collins says, “so much of the show has been hung on biblical lore and mythology that is actually drawn from the Bible. Along the way, we’ve talked with priests and pastors and ministers, even nuns, who love the show.”

Season 5 brought another of my favorite characters, the wily crossroads demon Crowley (Mark A. Sheppard), later the King of Hell. He served as the Winchesters’ frenemy in more than 70 episodes over eight years.

When fans were asked to vote for the “baddie you most love to hate,” who was surprised? After all, Crowley was the only villain who had a hellhound as a pet.

The Witch We Love

​A few years after, in Season 8, another of my favorite characters was introduced, Rowena (Ruth Connell), Crowley’s mother, a powerful and equally amoral witch.
 
Rowena was initially antagonistic toward the Winchesters as she saw Crowley’s relationship with them as diminishing his power. Over time, she became an ally, particularly with Sam, although she was destined to die by his hand, when she chose to sacrifice herself and save the world by using her own body to imprison all the souls and demons and cast them back into Hell. Her soul then took up the empty position of Queen of Hell. To me, that was one area of mythology that the show should have mined more deeply, but didn’t.

Despite Supernatural’s deft ability to keep monster stories fresh while still delivering a record-breaking run as the longest running sci-fi genre series in the history of broadcast television, it wasn’t always a “sure thing” when it came to renewals. “I would honestly say every year up until season 6 or 7 (we were worried),” Ackles says.

What has saved the show is its fans. Supernatural has a very vocal fan base that attends ComiCon-like conventions all over the world. Because of the fans, the show has persevered through three network presidents, five showrunners, a writers’ strike, and six different time slots. Turns out the Winchesters really can survive anything, from the apocalypse to a Friday night time slot. 

By its 12th season it had become the network’s longest-running series. It kept the same two leads, who basically grew up grew up on the show (Padalecki was 23 when he started on the show; Ackles was 27). 

All-Time Favorite Moments
Trying to narrow down their 15-season run to one favorite moment on or off screen was not easy for either actor. 

But Jared Padaleck has a great default answer: Meeting his wife, Genevieve (who recurred as the demon Ruby), in Season 4.
“That season was magical all around. I loved Sam’s storyline that season. The weather was better than normal. But that entire year is colored by my memory of falling in love.”

Then he adds, “But I will say, knowing what I know now, the series finale is my favorite single episode of all time.”

Ackles also pointed to the last episode, and one moment in particular that might take “the number one spot of all time.” For offscreen, he named their final appearance at ComicCon. “There’s something special about that room and that crowd, the grandeur of it all.”

Misha Collins pointed to the “bookends” scenes for angel Castiel. “His introduction on the show was epic,” he said, using similar words to describe his final “Goodbye, I love you,” scene with Dean, ending with a bloody handprint on Dean’s shoulder, just like the one Castiel left when he pulled Dean out of hell back in season four.

One episode of Supernatural remains (a 2-hour special and series finale this Thursday, November 19). It’s titled “Carry On” but neither the synopsis, which reads, “Baby, it’s the final ride for saving people and hunting things,” nor the promo photos reveal much, other than a shot of Dean enjoying some pie.

The original series creator, Eric Kripke weighed in with a message. “The good that has come out of Supernatural is the thing I am most proud of. I know that the Supernatural family will always be there, so I know this isn’t goodbye.”

But for the stars of Supernatural, any further reunions will have to wait a while.

Jensen Ackles is staying on with the CW station, joining the show The Boys for Season 3 as Soldier Boy, the original superhero. The Boys portrays a world in which superheroes exist, but they’re quite dangerous to non-supers, and cause a lot of collateral damage.

The Boys will reunite Ackles with Supernatural creator Eric Kripke, who’s the showrunner on the Amazon series. 

It looks like Ackles’ playlist will also change with this role. Since Soldier Boy was introduced in the World War II era, he’ll be listening to ‘40s big band and swing to get into the part.  

Jensen and his wife, actress and philanthropist Danneel Ackles, have also announced a big joint project, launching their own production company, called Chaos Machine Productions, in conjunction with Warner Bros. Television.

Jensen already owns and runs a brewery, Family Business Beer Company, in Texas.

Jared Padalecki also has his next gig lined up. 

Jared Padalecki also has his next gig lined up. He’s going to star in CW’s re-imagining of Chuck Norris’ classic series, Walker, Texas Ranger.

The new series, simply titled Walker, will feature Padalecki as Cordell Walker, a widower and father who returns to his home in Austin, TX, after two years undercover, He must reconnect with his children, navigate clashes with his family, and find common ground with his new partner, while growing increasingly suspicious of his wife’s death.  

Padelicki will be joined onscreen by fellow Supernatural alum Mitch Pileggi, who will be playing Padalecki’s father. The series is scheduled to premiere on January 21, 2021. 

See you this Thursday for what I’m sure will be a sad, maybe even tearful, but most excellent farewell!

Saturday morning, the majority of major news organizations called the election for Joe Biden, the president-elect of the United States.

Although Donald Trump has not yet conceded the race, the announcement has effectively brought an end to the 2020 U.S. Presidential election, a race that will undoubtedly be remembered as one of the most tumultuous in the nation’s history.
Biden won the White House because of who he is and who he isn’t. He campaigned consistently for racial equality and common decency to save “the soul of the nation.” According to political experts, the election became a referendum on Trump, an up and down vote on his four years, rather than a choice between him and Biden. About two-thirds of voters said their opinion of Trump, either for or against, drove their choice, according to voting polls.

One of the most pivotal figures who supported Biden’s election bid, Rep. James Clyburn, D-South Carolina, said the candidate still had to offer voters something to believe in.

“I’ve said he’s not the perfect candidate. We’re not comparing him to the Almighty. We’re comparing him to the alternative,” Clyburn told USA TODAY. “We needed somebody who was basically center-left, we need somebody who has a good solid reputation, a person who can bring people together. And we need a real contrast to the bombastic incumbent.”

Clyburn, the third-ranking member of the House and the most powerful Black lawmaker in Congress, gave his endorsement and helped Biden consolidate support. Ultimately, three out of 5 black voters supported Biden.

The coronavirus pandemic changed the nature of the campaign completely. Both parties held conventions largely remotely. Door-to-door canvassing became tougher. Voting was a challenge, so many citizens chose to mail in their ballots in record numbers, despite Trump’s unfounded assertion that mail-in voting was corrupt.

The response to the health crisis became one of the defining contrasts between the two presidential campaigns. Biden remained mostly secluded at his Delaware home and appeared at speeches or rallies where participants wore masks and social distanced. Trump resumed and escalated rallies with large crowds packed closely together, few wearing masks. After Trump and several of his family and cabinet members tested positive, these rallies began to be known as “super spreaders.”

About two-thirds of likely voters approved of Biden’s more cautious approach, according to a USA TODAY poll. But Trump’s super-spreader rallies continued. The man even mocked the few attendees who did mask.

Honestly, the last ten days before the election felt a month long. There were times I felt we were experiencing what it was like to live in a communist country. The propaganda claims, espoused by our country’s leader as unquestionable truth, with no evidence or justification. The threats to any Republican Party member who even hinted disagreement. (Those threats are continuing still, by the way.) I cringed and hunkered down, hiding from the bombardment of vile tweets, political ads and other media. Just get through the election. Just get though the election. Just get through it…

But now, finally, we can collectively breathe a sigh of relief. 

“We must restore the soul of America,”  President-elect Biden told the country at his acceptance speech on Sunday night. “Our nation is shaped by the constant battle between our better angels and our darkest impulses. And what presidents say in this battle matters. It’s time for our better angels to prevail. Tonight, the whole world is watching America. I believe, at our best, America is a beacon for the globe. We will lead not only by the example of our power, but by the power of our example.”

Biden needs to unite a country fractured by the pandemic, economic upheaval, racial tensions and climate challenges. He must rebuild broken relationships and alliances around the glove. He also may need to convince a portion of the country that he actually has won.

Instead of concession, Trump and his most ardent supporters are spoiling for a fight. They’ve collected outside the building here in Phoenix where election workers were counting votes, yelling “Trump won,” and chanting to have votes counted.

They floated non-truths about Sharpie pens ruining ballots, and a whole other carnival of conspiracies, only some of which even related to the election at hand.
Saturday’s projections provided some finality and a break to the tensions.  Like steel bands around my chest popping loose. I could breathe. Easily and fully.

Finally, we know he’ll be out of power, and we can begin to undo the damage. 

One blogger put it this way: “If you’ve ever lived with an abuser, you know that one thing they do is absorb ALL of your attention. They control you by keeping you on pins and needles even when they’re NOT being abusive. You’re not even aware of it until it stops. Until you can wake up in the morning not thinking about how you must try to keep things on an even keel. At some point, you realize what a burden you’ve been living with all this time.”

If the elections of 2020 have demonstrated anything, it is that effective representation and governance requires that every single citizen participate in the process. It requires that we pay attention to policies being put forth, and voice our support or opposition in ways that are legal, concise and thoughtful.

Democracy is a lot like gardening; it requires constant and faithful tending. The neglect and abuse of our system over the past few years is going to require some serious assessment, and then a solid plan on how to move forward.
We can certainly celebrate electing a biracial woman, Kamala Harris, to the nation’s second-highest office for the first time in U.S. History. This is a victory for the principles of inclusiveness and equality.
 
Today we celebrate. Tomorrow? That is up to each of us, and how we choose to participate in the process. Whether or not we hold onto this progress, and continue to build on it.

Despite the temptation to think we have entered a brave new post-Trump world, we are more likely to shuffle back to the position we were in during Barack Obama’s second term as president. A divided Congress is likely to prevent any major legislation from being passed. As with Obama, Mitch McConnell will have every incentive to block Biden’s legislative agenda, thinking that inaction and gridlock will bring rewards to the COP in 2022.

I hope I will have to eat my words on this—the Georgia runoffs for Senate could change everything. But barring those wins, Joe Biden is going to enter the presidency in the midst of the worst recession since the Great Depression; a pandemic that has claimed nearly 240 thousand American lives; an ongoing national reckoning on racism and sexism; and four years of catastrophic negligence on climate change. And that’s not even factoring in the 6-3 conservative majority on the Supreme Court, a problem Obama didn’t have.

But it’s not all bad: Biden can do a lot to handle the COVID-19 pandemic more effectively, even without legislative support, While another stimulus bill will be necessary to alleviate the coronavirus’s effect on our economy, much of the work of containing and eventually stopping the virus can be accomplished just through embracing international cooperation again, as opposed to the Trump administration’s reckless abandonment of agencies like the World Health Organization.

And when one looks at how often the Trump administration abandoned global collaboration on pressing issues—most notably, again, climate change—there’s comfort in the prospect of simply repairing those relationships. As the French Prime Minister said this week when Biden’s victory was announced, “Welcome back.”

There were many important stories within the story of this election: the powerful rise of the Black women and Black Lives Matter as a political force, the demonstrated strength of our growing Latino community.  Most of all, the amazement that a nation, inundated by a resurging pandemic, still voted in historic numbers.

These results did not convincingly repudiate some troubling divisions in our country. We are still, as a nation, precariously flirting with white supremacy, conspiracy theories, and “alternative facts.” I am still concerned about how culture, and specifically faith, may be weaponized. Many communities, including my pagan organization, remain marginal and easily targeted. There are hopeful signs, yes, but we must remain watchful.

To my personal surprise, the biggest think I feel hopeful about is President-elect Biden himself. He stepped up to this challenge. He’s real. Honest. Not manipulative or narcissistic. He cares—really cares—about us. About ME.

So I’m going to breathe another sigh of relief. Put the dark impulses of the past years aside, and look toward our better angels. I know they’re out there, we just have to coax them out of hiding.

Congratulations Senator Mark Kelly! We turned Arizona blue for you. 

Welcome President Joe Biden and Vice President Kamala Harris. We look forward to working with you.