Supernatural (TV series)/Trope Based Episodes

Everything About Fiction You Never Wanted to Know.


  • Absurdly Spacious Sewer: The Episode "Skin" features one large enough for the brothers to stand completely upright in. "No Exit" also featured an old, large, roomy, sewer, and the dragons in "Like a Virgin" made use of one as well.
  • Aerith and Bob: Frequently. Probably best exemplified by the fact that for the first two seasons, their primary enemy was the demon Azazel. And his Dragon, the demon Meg.
    • Although, Meg is actually the name of the possessed girl, the actual demon's name never being mentioned. The demon comments once that she thinks it's hilarious that the Winchesters still call her "Meg".
  • Affectionate Parody: "Hollywood Babylon" is a send-up of horror movies and the Horror genre in general. "Ghostfacers" is a parody of Ghost Hunters.
  • Alternate History: Balthazar creates one in "My Heart Will Go On" by stopping the Titanic from sinking. Among other things, Ellen and Jo are still alive, Cuba's open to tourism and is apparently capitalistic, Celine Dion is a lounge singer somewhere in Quebec, and Impalas were never made. When Sam and Dean find out about the alteration, Sam semi-lampshades the Butterfly of Doom trope (and Dean tells him not to make "Kutcher references").
  • Arc Number: Season 5 has the number 4.
  • Arms and Armor Theme Naming
  • Backstory: "Something Wicked" and "A Very Supernatural Christmas" have Winchester flashbacks. But really, every character and their mother gets their tragic past. Even if said mother is dead. Especially if said mother is dead.
  • Bad Future: Dean gets a sneak peek of five years into the future in "The End," where he meets a jaded Jerkass version of himself, a strung-out and oversexed Castiel, and Lucifer wearing his brother like a cheap suit. The Croatoan virus has ravaged the planet, the angels have thrown up their hands and left, and Sarah Palin is president.
  • Battle in the Center of the Mind: "The Man Who Knew Too Much"
    • And, to a slightly lesser extent, "Death's Door."
  • Be Careful What You Wish For: "Wishful Thinking"
  • Becoming the Mask: All Dogs Go To Heaven a skinwalker disguises himself as a family dog, waiting for the call to attack and turn the family. He eventually grows to love the family, and almost dies to defend them.
  • Beethoven Was an Alien Spy: "Time After Time" Elliot Ness was a hunter. He also says Hello, Nurse! upon seeing a pretty girl.
  • Beware of Hitch-Hiking Ghosts: "Roadkill" and the pilot episode.
  • Bottle Episode
  • Christmas Episode: And right in the season where it could deliver the most angst, too.
  • Clap Your Hands If You Believe:
    • "Hell House": Sigils + concentrated thoughts of hundreds of websurfers = Mordecai the meme-ghost.
    • Notably averted in the season six episode "Clap Your Hands If You Believe".
  • Clock Roaches: "My Heart Will Go On"
  • Cold-Blooded Torture: "On The Head Of A Pin"
  • Creepy Child: Played with in "The Kids are Alright". It is revealed that the children are actually changelings.
  • Creepy Doll: The episode "Playthings" is chock full of 'em.
  • Criminal Doppelganger: Used in "Skin", with a shapeshifter that impersonates people close to the victims while committing his crimes so that they'll take the fall instead of him. And again in "Slash Fiction", when two Leviathans take on the shape of Sam and Dean and go on a high-profile murder spree with the intention of implicating the real Winchesters.
  • Cuckoo Nest: "Sam, Interrupted"
  • A Day in the Limelight: "Weekend at Bobby's" (for Bobby) and "The Man Who Would Be King" (for Castiel).
  • Deadly Prank:
    • "Hell House" has two teenagers inadvertently summon a tulpa that kills a girl.
    • Sam and Dean's prank-war on each other might qualify, to a lesser extent; they're pretty careful to avoid anything really dangerous, but they were starting to get close by the end of the episode.
  • Death by Gluttony: "My Bloody Valentine" and "The Magnificent Seven"
  • Death of the Old Gods: In one episode two pagan gods are eating humans around the Christmas season and one of them reflects on how Jesus is the big new thing. Also in Hammer Of The Gods and mentioned in "Time After Time"
  • A Death in the Limelight: "Abandon All Hope" (Ellen and Jo), "Hammer of the Gods" (Gabriel), "Death's Door" (Bobby).
  • Deconstruction: The entire 6th season episode "Live Free or Twi-hard" is a deconstruction/parody of Twilight. It has vampires pretending to be harmless Edward expies because it's so easy to lure Twilight fan-girls into a trap. Also, one recently-turned guy is shown sneaking into his girlfriend's bedroom at night to watch her sleep. Unlike the similar occurrence in Twilight, this scene doesn't come across as romantic. At all.
  • Directed by Cast Member: Jensen Ackles directed season six episode "Weekend at Bobby's" and the season 7 episode "The Girl Next Door."
  • Dream World: "Dream a Little Dream of Me"
  • The Documentary: "Ghostfacers"
  • Expy: "The Girl With the Dungeons and Dragons Tattoo". The titular character is basically Lisbeth Salander with an appreciation of Star Trek, marginally better social skills, and no fighting ability, as played by Felicia Day.
  • The Fair Folk: "Clap Your Hands if You Believe". The fairy and watchmaker's elves looked like they were straight out of a live action Disney movie, but the leprechaun and the redcap (a type of Fae that murders travelers and stains his hat with their blood) were larger and much nastier.
  • Fandom Nod:
    • "The Monster At the End of This Book"
    • "Sympathy For The Devil"
    • "The Real Ghostbusters"
    • "The French Mistake" is absolutely full of this.
  • A Fate Worse Than Death: "Scarecrow"
    • Also referenced in "The Devil You Know" when Crowley threatens someone with the promise that "Lucifer will never let you die."
    • What happened to Sam in the season five finale was so bad that in season six, Castiel said that the memory of it could render him catatonic, insane, or even kill him.
  • Flatline Plotline: "Death Takes a Holiday"
  • For Want of a Nail: "In the Beginning," "The Song Remains the Same," "My Heart Will Go On"
  • Freaky Friday Flip: The Season 5 episode "Swap Meat" and lampshaded. Sadly, it wasn't between Sam and Dean.
  • Groundhog Day Loop: "Mystery Spot"
  • Journey to the Center of the Mind: "Dream a Little Dream of Me"
  • Lotus Eater Machine: "What Is And What Should Never Be", which is also something of It's a Wonderful Plot, in that Dean finds out what happens to the people he and Sam saved in the real world--namely, they all died horribly.
  • Leaning on the Fourth Wall: Several throughout the years:
    • "Hollywood Babylon"
    • "The Monster at the End of the Book"
    • "The Real Ghostbusters"
    • "The French Mistake"
  • Make a Wish: The episode "Wishful Thinking" features a working wishing well.
  • Mind Control: "Simon Said"
  • Mind Rape: "The Man Who Knew Too Much"
  • Monster Clown: "Everyone Loves a Clown." May or may not be Nightmare Fuel.
  • Mundanger: A Cannibal Clan in "The Benders," feral children in "Family Remains."
  • Murderous Mannequin: "Mannequin 3: The Reckoning". The Monster of the Week was really lucky that all of its targets happened to work with mannequins or use sex dolls, or it would have had to change its gimmick.
  • Necromantic: "Children Shouldn't Play With Dead Things," "Ghostfacers"
  • Non Sequitur Distraction: After Castiel Molotov Cocktails St. Michael, Dean calls Castiel on his choice of epithet.

"Ass-Butt?"

  • The Rashomon: "Tall Tales", the first part at least.
  • San Dimas Time: In "Frontierland", the past and present timelines are synched, so Sam and Dean can only remain in The Wild West for as long as Cas waits in his own time, after their departure, to bring them back.
    • In "Time after Time," where Sam's actions in the present are in sync with Dean's in 1944, but only for narrative purposes. Sam has to figure out exactly what date and time to summon Kronos from so Dean is brought with him. If he is wrong Dean will be unable to return.
  • Self-Fulfilling Prophecy: "The Monster At The End Of This Book"
  • Shapeshifter Guilt Trip:
    • In "Skin"
    • Failed attempt by the MOTW in "Fallen Idols."
  • Show Within a Show: "Ghostfacers", "The French Mistake"
  • Sixth Ranger Traitor: "Mommy Dearest", "Caged Heat", "Weekend at Bobby's", "The Song Remains the Same", "Lucifer Rising"
  • Stable Time Loop: "In the Beginning"
  • Ten Little Murder Victims:
    • "Nightshifter", "And Then There Were None"
    • Given the show's love of a Downer Ending there are quite a few episodes that are at least partial examples
  • Through the Eyes of Madness: "Sam, Interrupted"
    • Also "Meet the New Boss" and especially "Hello Cruel World." Sam does not have a good time in Season Seven.
  • Time Travel: "In the Beginning," "The Song Remains the Same", "Frontierland", "Time After Time". Arguably "The End".
  • Trapped in TV Land: In the Season 5 episode "Changing Channels", the Trickster/Gabriel traps Sam and Dean in thinly veiled parodies of Grey's Anatomy, CSI: Miami, and such.
    • Reversed in "The French Mistake". Sam and Dean get thrown out of the show into reality! It's a Mind Screw.
  • Yank the Dog's Chain:
    • "Heart": That sweet, beautiful lawyer's secretary you fell in love with? She's actually a werewolf, and you have to kill her. Sorry, Sam.
    • "My Heart Will Go On". Sorry, Bobby. Your new wife is dead due to unpredictable repercussions of time travel, but if it's any consolation, you won't be able to remember being in a relationship with her, so you can't fully grasp how miserable your life is without her.
  • Your Worst Nightmare: "Yellow Fever" Dean, "Dream a Little Dream of Me" Bobby and Dean, and "Home", "Nightmare", and "Simon Says" Sam
  • Zombie Apocalypse: "Dead Men Don't Wear Plaid". Lucifer's endgame also involves unleashing the Croatoan virus on the entire planet.
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