Jeffrey Dean Morgan’s Best ‘Supernatural’ Episode Is a Winchester Team-Up

The big picture

• John Winchester has the most significant impact on Sam and Dean's lives
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• “Dead Man's Blood” shows John's role and life skills as an experienced hunter.
• Jeffrey Dean Morgan's portrayal of John Winchester is understated and masterful, reinforcing the father's influence on the series.

Throughout everything supernaturalOver 300 episodes, there are tons of characters that had a serious impact on Sam's life (Jared Padalecki) and Dean Winchester (Jensen Ackles). From hunting buddies to rebel angels to non-deadly monsters, the Winchester brothers have always made friends (and more than a few enemies) wherever they go. But the single personage who probably had the greatest influence on the brothers' lives was their own father, John Winchesterwhich was performed mostly by Jeffrey Dean Morgan. Morgan appeared in a dozen episodes of supernaturalThe early years, but one episode stands out above the rest as one of the best examinations of the character, Season 1's vampire thriller, “Dead Man's Blood.”

“Dead Man's Blood” is a “supernatural” family reunion.

This episode begins with Sam and Dean hitting the road for the fictional Manning, Colorado to investigate the murder of a man named Daniel Elkins (Terence Kelly), who was his father's former mentor in the hunting business. Although John and Elkins had a falling out years earlier, the Winchester patriarch shows up to work with his sons on the case when he discovers that Elkins had the legendary Colt, a weapon that can kill almost anything supernatural.. It turns out that the vampires killed Elkins, and it is here that Sam and Dean discover that bloodsuckers really exist (before, they had no idea). By killing a vampire of course supernatural it's not like killing Dracula. Wooden stakes, crucifixes and holy water will not do. Instead, beheading is the only way, and knowing this, the Winchester men charge headlong into the vampire lair to retrieve the Colt.

Although things didn't originally go according to plan, the Winchesters revise their final attack on the vampires, take Colt from the nest, and kill the main bloodsucker, Luther (Warren Christie), and many of his lackeys. At the end of the episode, Sam and Dean save their father's life, proving to him that they are more than children. John agrees to work directly with his sons to hunt down the yellow-eyed demon that killed their mother, Mary Winchester (Samantha Smith), and “Dead Man's Blood” ends with the Winchesters officially reunited and ready to take on whatever comes their way. The next two episodes, “Salvation” and “Devil's Trap,” continue the story, returning to the demon-infested mythology and rounding out the first season, but “Dead Man's Blood” is unique in that. it's the first and only time we see Sam, Dean, and John working together on a standard hunt that doesn't involve getting revenge on the demon that ruined their lives..

(Fun Fact: vampire jenny, played by Christine Chatelainthat escapes at the end of this episode, is the same vampire that appears in the supernatural series finale, “Carry On”. Not only is he partially responsible for Dean's death, but John reveals in this episode that once a vampire catches your scent, it's for life. Sam, who tried to save her in “Dead Man's Blood,” is ultimately the one who kills her nearly two decades later.)

Jeffrey Dean Morgan thrives as John Winchester in 'Supernatural'

Unlike some of Jeffrey Dean Morgan's other more charismatic characters, such as Neegan de The walking Dead or Joe Kessler a the boys, his performance as John Winchester is a bit more understated. He is a military man with an Impala loaded with tragedies that follows him every step of the way. John is cautious, calculating and doesn't wear his emotions (good or bad) on his sleeve. There's a subtlety to him that reinforces the kind of father John became long after Mary's death, which he compares in this episode to a drill sergeant rather than an actual father. From the moment we're introduced to John in “Pilot” to his next appearance at the end of “Home,” there's a clear difference between the man John Winchester was and the man he is during Season 1. Although we don't see much of him in these episodes, Morgan conveys the change masterfully.

“Dead Man's Blood” is by far the most we've gotten from John Winchester to date. Sure, she called her boys at the beginning of “Scarecrow,” briefly reunited with them in “Shadow,” and appeared via flashback in “Something Wicked,” but this is the first episode that keeps Morgan in a vital role throughout From the moment John steps out of the shadows and into the Impala, we know this is more than your standard. supernatural episode Morgan instantly dominates the scene both as an actor and in the character of John, who almost instantly barks orders at his children as if he were their commander. Never mind the fact that Sam and Dean have been working together as a unit all season and know a thing or two about the job.

One thing Morgan does here that other actors who tackled the character couldn't convey is the way he shows John Winchester's mastery of the world of hunting. Matt Cohen he played a 20-something John Winchester in seasons 4 and 5, but he still had no hunting experience. Equally, Drake Rodgerversion of The Winchesters (which takes place in an alternate timeline, anyway) is just learning the ropes of exorcising demons and fighting monsters. Morgan's John Winchester is confident, self-assured and deeply distrustful. In “Dead Man's Blood” alone, he takes down vampires and builds an impressive battle plan that reminds us he's been doing it for 22 years. It's only at the end supernatural that Sam and Dean (who far surpass their father as a hunter) have roughly the same number of years under their belts. Of course, John was never confronted with all the evil they did.

“Dead Man's Blood” reminds us of what John and Sam are really like

One of the biggest themes of “Dead Man's Blood” is this Sam and John are more alike than either would like to believe. Both have lost the woman they loved at the hands of the same demon, both wish their lives had turned out differently, and both are consumed by thoughts and feelings of revenge, which are hardened by the evils they hunt. Ironically, they both need Dean to keep them in check. The older Winchester brother is forced to act as peacemaker on a few different occasions in this same episode. There's one scene in particular, just before the trio enacts their “dead man's blood” plan (the blood of the dead is poison to vampires), when Sam and John admit as such to each other other for a heart to heart that helps them both. understand where the other is coming from.

Outside of his return in episode 300 “Lebanon”, this scene is jeffrey dean morgan's best performance supernatural. Here he tells Sam that the reason he was afraid to let him go to college wasn't because he didn't want Sam to go off and have his own life (that had never occurred to him), but because he was terrified of the he thought sam would be out there by himself. Later episodes of the show eventually confirm that John had discovered the Yellow-Eyed Demon's plans for Sam, which would eventually include him leading an army of demons and ushering in the Apocalypse. With this in the back of his mind, John takes his soul to his son, hoping that he will understand why he has been so hard on him and why he will do everything in his power to keep him saved

Of course, not a few minutes later, Sam and John are once again arguing about tactics while in the field, and the endless cycle of Winchester disagreement continues. But just as John couldn't help but expose himself to Meg (Nicki Aycox) to save their children in Chicago (“Shadow”), Sam and Dean also risk it to save their father from a horde of vampires. It's a shame it took John so long to see how well he'd raised his kids, though “Dead Man's Blood” finally shows him that Sam and Dean are ready for anything. It's a shame we didn't get to see these three work as a unit more often, or embark on a simple hunt together again.

We need more John Winchester in 'Supernatural' (and a lot more Jeffrey Dean Morgan)

For the next three episodes, including the Season 2 premiere “In My Time of Dying,” Jeffrey Dean Morgan gives it his all as John Winchester. “Devil's Trap” raises the stakes as John is possessed by the Yellow-Eyed Demon himself, with Morgan proving his worth not only as a hero but as a villain. But episodes like “Dead Man's Blood” make us wish we'd gotten more of Morgan's John Winchester on the show. Sure, he pops up through voice cameos and stills over the years, and returns as a ghost at the end of the two-part season 2 finale, but it always felt like John Winchester was a loose end that supernatural it never came to complete closure. Morgan was a staple supernaturalthe first season of that deserved to be reviewed more in the second. Even if we had more flashbacks to her time raising the boys, or even hunting alone like in “Something Wicked,” we might have gotten a more complete picture of the character.

Episodes like “No Exit” in season two take note of John's history with other hunters, most notably his association with Jo Harvelle (Alona Tal) father Although we knew what happened, seeing these events via flashback would have elicited a more powerful response from viewers. Likewise, the prequel to the comic Supernatural: Origins connect the dots between the Winchester patriarch and the horrible Doc Benton (Billy Drago) from season 3's “Time Is On My Side”, explaining that John once hunted down the immortal serial killer. How cool would that have been in an episode?

Unfortunately, Morgan was too busy to commit to the WB-turned-CW series. Then the actor also played roles Grey's Anatomy i Bad weedsand even had roles in feature films such as PS I love you and finally, watchmen. Although it took longer than we liked, Morgan returned to reunite with his resurrected wife and children in Season 14 episode 300, “Lebanon,” with the intention of bringing him back for the end of the series. Unfortunately, that didn't happen either, but at least we knew that John Winchester was finally at peace. Maybe yes supernatural come back one of these days, we'll also get to see more of Jeffrey Dean Morgan.

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