Sam Winchester’s 5 Biggest Moments in ‘Supernatural’ Season 13

Alana
13 Min Read

Sam freaking Winchester has been kicking butt since 2005, and season 13 is no exception. Jared Padalecki’s character has shown enough depth and strength this season to fill a book, but today I am highlighting Sam’s top five moments in Supernatural season 13.

1. “Various and Sundry Villains” – Episode 12

Season 13 has seen Sam start to open up about his past with Lucifer. While we’ve seen him struggle in previous seasons with visions of the devil and memories from his time in hell, we’ve rarely ever seen Sam discuss how he actually feels about his experiences with Lucifer. In “Various and Sundry Villains,” he confides in Rowena, who has had similar experiences with the devil. The scene when they are bonding and talking about their fears in the Impala, just the two of them, is extremely raw and emotional. Both Ruth and Jared acted out the scene perfectly. It was also really great to see Sam sympathize with Rowena’s fears throughout the rest of the episode. He can relate to her in a way that he has never really been able to relate to anyone else before. In the end, he lets her escape with the spell she needs to protect herself.

Why is this important?

Sam’s time in the cage is a defining experience for his character. He will always be the true vessel of Lucifer, but we’ve never been able to see him open up to someone who understands and has gone through a similar experience. This conversation with Rowena was meaningful – and a long time coming. Poor Sam has been dealing with Lucifer since season five, he deserves to let his feels out and be able to talk about it with someone who gets it.

 

2. “Patience” – Episode 3 (Part 1)

This season, Sam has been a mentor to Jack. He’s sided with the nephilim and tried to protect him as much as possible. One of the best scenes with the two of them so far was closer to the start of the season, when Jack was just beginning to test his powers. Jack was scared because of the conversation he overheard where Dean was talking about potentially having to kill him if his powers got too out of hand. Instead of attacking Jack, Sam spoke with him to try to understand his feelings. The two have a heartfelt conversation that culminates in Sam reassuring Jack that he is going to help him, no matter what.

Why is this important?

Sam has been in Jack’s position before. The demon blood, the powers, being a “special child” – he knows what it’s like to feel dangerous. To feel like he doesn’t belong. He has struggled with this darkness inside of him, and through it all, he knew his brother and friends like Bobby had his back. Now that he is seeing Jack go through something similar, he wants to do everything he can to help him. This is so incredibly important because while we see Sam struggle with his past this season, we also see him embrace it and try to use those experiences to do good. I think that Sam has helped Jack tremendously this season, and can not wait to see how their relationship progresses further.

 

3. “Patience” – Episode 3 (Part 2)

At the end of “Patience,” Sam and Dean have a big blowout fight about Jack. This follows Sam’s heartfelt conversation with the nephilim earlier during the episode, where he assures Jack that he’s going to help him get a grip on his powers. During the fight, Sam brings up his past addiction to demon blood and the subsequent powers he gained from consuming it. Sam mentions that while Dean could have put a bullet in him (per their father’s request,) that didn’t happen. Since Dean saved Sam, Sam believes Jack deserves the same. Sam uses everything he can to try and get Dean to understand where he’s coming from, but Dean is so blinded by grief from losing Mary and Cas that he isn’t having any of it.

Why is this important? 

Ever since the ending of season five, the whole plotline with Sam’s powers and the demon blood has been dropped. That was a significant part of the first five seasons of the show, so whenever we refer back to it, I always get a tiny bit excited. Sam quite obviously still struggles with that phase of his life – I don’t think you ever truly get over having Supernatural powers, being Satan’s vessel and drinking gallons of demon blood. Like I stated before though, instead of viewing this time in his life negatively, he is using his experiences to relate to Jack and try to help him. Seeing Sam confront Dean brings up an important point: Sam can quite obviously relate to Jack a lot, so seeing Dean be so open about his hatred for the nephilim is like watching his brother hate a part of himself. Obviously, Dean found another way to deal with Sam’s demon blood situation than killing him like their father thought would be necessary. Now Sam wants to do the same for Jack.

 

4. “The Big Empty” – Episode 4

In this episode, the boys take Jack to a therapist who they believe can help them with a case. Before they get into the whole “monster business” though, they go through a stereotypical family therapy session. It starts off not very seriously, with Dean wanting to get straight to the point.But the therapist presses on, and the boys end up getting into a heated discussion about Mary. Sam admits that he feels as though Dean has a relationship with their mom that he has never had. The conversation escalates a bit before Sam can not take it anymore, and he storms out of the room.

Why is this important? 

When it comes to parents, it always seems like Sam is the one who gets left behind. Dean obviously had a stronger bond with their father, so I think Sam always held the idea of their mother closer to his heart. Now that Mary is back and she is gravitating more towards Dean, Sam is feeling like the odd one out yet again. The other important thing to note here is that Dean has solid memories of their mother from when he was a child. While Sam was just an infant when Mary died, Dean had four years with her, so that also adds to Sam’s feelings of exclusion. I think it is important for Sam to be able to talk about these feelings. Keeping family issues bottled up is extremely difficult, especially if you’re a Winchester. The fact that Sam was able to openly discuss his true emotions about Mary was very refreshing. Sam is usually the one to repress his emotions in favor of being positive and trying to work towards an end goal, but this season he’s been letting loose and honestly, he really deserves it.

 

5. “Breakdown” – Episode 11

“Breakdown” opens with Sam lying in bed well into the morning – something he is not known to do. It is obvious that he’s having trouble sleeping, and he will not even get up even when Dean makes pancakes. Visually, it is clear that he is falling into a state of depression. Throughout the rest of the episode, he also treats things a little bit colder than he normally would. When Doug leaves Donna after finding out that she’s a hunter, instead of hugging her or really comforting her, he just tells her “it’s better off this way” because otherwise, Doug would probably end up dead. A little harsh right after Doug left Donna, Sam.

The end of the episode shows the boys driving and having one of their signature conversations in the Impala. Here, Sam lays out all of the things that have gone wrong for them lately. His outlook has changed from positive to negative.

“You keep saying I’m in a dark place but I’m not, Dean. Everything I’m saying is the truth. It’s our lives. And I tried to pretend it didn’t have to be. I tried to pretend we could have mom back, and Cas. And help Jack. But we can’t. This ends one way for us, Dean. It ends bloody. It ends bad.” – Sam

Why is this important?

This episode is really the tipping point for Sam in Season 13. Up until this episode, he’s been trying to have a positive outlook on things. For Jack, for Dean, for the good of all of them, really, he tried to be a voice of reason and hope to keep them going. But now that they have lost Jack and their mom is still trapped in an alternate universe, he is at his wits end. Sam has always been the hopeful one, but this entire episode was just him spiraling into a pit of depression. While I hate to see Sam sad, I think this is important for his character. All of the things he’s been through had to start weighing on him at some point, and we see it come to a head here. In the first half of the season, Sam had to keep Dean afloat. He had to be the one who still held some sort of hope while Dean let his emotions run rampant. Now the tables have turned, and Dean has to be that positive, hope-filled person for Sam.

 

To see more of Sam’s powerful moments this season, check out Supernatural at 8/7c on the CW, returning March 1st. You can also check out Castiel’s 5 biggest moments of season 13 here.


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By Alana
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Alana is a YouTuber, aspiring filmmaker, and avid reader. She currently majors in film & television, and minors in social media & digital strategies. You can normally find her creating videos about her favorite fandoms which include Supernatural, Harry Potter and Marvel among others. You can find her video work at http://youtube.com/c/kingbooks.
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