The summer hiatus between seasons (dubbed Hellatus by its sufferers) is the hardest part of the year for the Supernatural fandom. And this year is especially hard, because we’re awaiting the 15th and final season of the show.
While we wait, we’re going to bring you our favorite moments from the recently completed 14th season and focus on the characters who made us rage, cry, gasp, yell, and cheer. We’ll publish a new spotlight every three weeks until the blessed season 15 premiere hits our screens.
We start the series with the brave and beautiful Mary Winchester.
Kailin
Without Mary Winchester, there would be no Supernatural. Her story set the back drop of the entire series, and her influence has been felt through the show for 14 years, whether in memory or on the screen. And when she returned at the end of season 11, it felt right.
I have always loved how real Mary was. She wasn’t perfect nor did she try to be. She owned up to her mistakes and still tried to be a mother to her boys. She really made sure Jack knew he was loved and, just like Sam and Dean, she always put his best interests first even until the very end. “Lebanon,” with the return of John, was my favorite moment. It was a long overdue reunion. The moment she sees her husband and runs into his arms, I burst into tears. It was so emotional. It gave Mary and her boys much needed closure.
Sarah
Mary Winchester continues to be one of my favorite characters. Yes, she is flawed, but so is everyone on Supernatural in one way or another. I found that, up until her second death this season at the hands of Jack, Mary was still trying to find a way to belong and to find her place in not only the hunting world, but also in a world as a mother to her sons.
Through season 14, Mary took Jack under her wing, continued to be there for her sons, found love with AU Bobby, and even got closure and got to spend some time with her husband, John. She has had some very memorable moments in season 14. One of my favorite Mary moments is in episode 11, “Damaged Goods.” She was looking forward to Dean’s visit to the cabin so she could spend some one-on-one time with her son. During the Winchester Surprise meal with Dean, he was telling her moments of when he and Sam were growing up. It was a tender moment between mother and son, away from the horrors they were facing at the time (with Dean’s impending death).
Yes, she felt terrible for not being there for them growing up, but at that moment you could almost forget that she was ever gone.
Rachel F
In many ways, Mary Winchester is a compass for the show’s characters. She may be fiercely independent and have a penchant to seek out who she is underneath all the lead and whiskey. But there is also a notion of leaving a part of herself in other people. This is what I most admire about her, and it is a duality I think we all aspire to have. Whether her boys are concerned, the hunters from the alternate universe, or even Jack — no matter how south that went — Mary has a way of carving out home through her motherly tendencies. Rarely are the tables turned.
Yet in between her death and the entanglement of a darker Jack, it happens in “Absence.” On a trip down memory lane, Dean sits behind the wheel of the Impala with Mary nestled up next to him. He takes a beat to smile to himself upon looking down at her sleepless form. He is the one looking after her. And in this moment, we are reminded that Mary has never really been gone from their lives; her presence has always been felt by her sons and by the audience as well.
Melanie
Mary has always been one of those characters whose arc has been up and down — an emotional rollercoaster. She has made decisions we may not have all agreed with, but she has also shown her love for her boys. She has gone from finding her footing in a future world, to going back to her roots as an impressive hunter and a loving mother. She has even taken in Castiel and Jack as if they were her own.
My favorite moment of hers in season 14 shines through in “Lebanon.” Her reunion with John was an incredibly emotional one! Of all the flashbacks, comebacks, and moments, this was the first time we have seen John and Mary together post-fire. From the realization on both of their faces seeing each other alive, to the inevitable passionate kiss which was one for the record books… everything about their reunion in that episode was wonderful.
This show’s premise started out built on revenge for Mary’s death and has taken so many twists and turns since then. To see it come back in such a cathartic way brought closure for that particular story.
Deb
Since Mary Winchester returned to the land of the living, my thoughts and feelings about her have been extremely conflicted. I was happy for Sam and Dean that they had their mom back. But, I could not see her having a permanent place in their lives. The boys have been on their own without parents for so long that I really couldn’t picture how she was going to fit in. Were they just going to be one big happy hunting family? So I wasn’t surprised when she left in the fifth episode, “Nightmare Logic,” to spend some time with Bobby for a while at Donna’s cabin.
There were several great Mary moments from this season. Some of them actually come from the flashback “memory” sequences from episode 18, “Absence.” These glimpses of memory were like seeing parts of Mary Winchester that had been hidden from us. And they gave a small peek into her life and how much she had impacted and would continue to impact the lives of the people she left behind.
The one thing that I do love about Mary Winchester is that she is a strong woman who knows what she needs and wants and is not afraid to go for it. She is also perfectly capable of defending herself, as we saw in the season 14 premiere, “Stranger in a Strange Land,” where she helped rescue Cas from the demons holding him captive. We were reminded of how strong and capable Mary is in that scene, and that’s why it was my favorite moment of hers of the season. There is no doubt in my mind that Mary Winchester is a true badass.
