Supernatural (TV series)/Tropes P-Z: Difference between revisions

* [[Revenge]]: Daddy Winchester ruined his kids' childhood in efforts to find and kill Azazel to avenge his wife's death, and now Sam is ruining his own life trying to kill Lilith to avenge Dean, even now that Dean has returned from the pit.

* [[A Riddle Wrapped in A Mystery Inside An Enigma]]: When Sam takes a [[Ten Minute Retirement]] and tries to live a "normal" life in the episode "Free To Be You And Me," a girl curious to learn about Sam's past but at a loss of words to describe his peculiarity gives Sam the opportunity to quip that he's "a riddle wrapped inside an enigma wrapped inside a taco."

* [[Rousing Speech]]: Subverted in "Sympathy for the Devil." Dean makes one of these for Bobby's benefit, but later admits to Sam that he just was trying to keep Bobby's spirits up, and they have no hope of winning.

* [[Rule of Funny]]:

** Almost every season, in episodes such as "Hollywood Babylon" and "The Real Ghostbusters".

** "The French Mistake".

* [[Sensitive Guy and Manly Man]]: hard-drinking and -playing, weapons-happy Dean is more often in a [[Promoted to Parent|nurturing]] role than [[Big Brother Complex|little brother]] [[Protectorate|Sam]], anger-issues Sam is the one who prefers talking it out, nonviolent solutions, and helping civilians.

* [[Shallow Love Interest]]:

** The Third Man. Sam's exercise routine was absolutely necessary for...erm...character development? Yes, that must be why it was in. ([[Firefly|We'll be in our bunks.]])

* [[Shoot the Shaggy Dog]]: Dean's death and looming eternal torment at the end of the Season 3 finale makes their increasingly unhinged panic and general agony over the course of the season so much worse and makes all their efforts to stop it completely...''pointless''.

** "Live Free or Twihard" has plenty of these to popular vampire fiction. The vampires meet at a bar called the [[Night World|Black Rose]]

** In "Reading is Fundamental" there is a rather subtle reference to Alanis Morissette's portayal of God in the movie ''[[Dogma]]'', when Castiel eccentrically tweaks Kevin's nose in reply to the question of whether he's an Angel.

** Sam Winchester had a few shades of it too in seasons 3 and 4 where he was reluctantly willing to sacrifice one for the good of the many.

** In season 6, the Big Bad of the season is revealed to be {{spoiler|Castiel. To defeat Raphael}} to keep the Apocalypse from being restarted, he has decided anything is acceptable - in this case, [[Deal With the Devil|allying with Crowley]] and opening Purgatory, the afterlife From Whence Monsters Come. The Winchester boys do their best to stop their [[Face Heel Turn|Face Heel Turned]] ally, until he {{spoiler|[[Moral Event Horizon|kills his angel allies]], distracts his human allies by [[Kick the Dog|breaking Sam's mind]], and [[Arson, Murder, and Jaywalking|betrays Crowley]] to take all the souls' power for himself and then [[A God Am I|declares himself the new god]]}}.

* [[What Cliffhanger]]: The end of "Croatoan" is... disorienting, to say the least.

* [[What Do You Mean It's Not Awesome?]]: In "Party on, Garth", the titular character's reaction to a ghost you can only see when ''drunk''.

{{quote| '''Garth''': Awesome!}}

* [[What Do You Mean Its Not Symbolic]]: At the very end of "No Rest For The Wicked," Dean is chained in a St. Andrew pose, whose "Martyr" status fits Dean like a well-fitting glove. Sam and the Crucifixion in Season Three.

* [[What the Hell, Hero?]]: Sam gets a lot of these after he [[Despair Event Horizon|fails to keep his brother from being dragged off to hell]].

** Sam starts using his demon-blood-born powers to exorcise demons between seasons three and four, and in season four, the prophet Chuck is the first to call him on the way he fuels those powers:

{{quote| '''Sam:''' Vampires?<br />

'''Dean:''' These aren't vampires; these are douchebags. }}

{{reflist}}