We've been through 11 seasons and so many deaths involving the Winchesters and Castiel--and we've had even more giant plot twists, big-and-bigger-bads and heartbreaking moments. Most recently, Season 11's Episode 20 was one of the most tearful episodes yet. Over all the years that Supernatural and its audience have been together, there have been clear, standalone episodes that pierced our hearts in particular -- and no small amount of them were finales in some manner. Here are the top 5 of the most soul-wrenching episodes of Supernatural thus far. Spoilers abound, of course!
5. S03E16: No Rest For The Wicked
In the finale of Season 3, Dean's deal to let Sam come back to life means Dean going to Hell in a year -- no buts or ifs about it, or Sam goes back to being dead again. Dean obviously can't have that, so in the end, he submits to painful death by hellhound, and then he goes to Hell -- for good, the audience is led to believe; there is nothing but the last scene of Dean screaming for his brother, chained and bloody in a pit of the underworld. The time for saving Dean seemed to have passed... and the audience was left with just this idea for months before the opening of Season 4 aired. Absolutely chilling.
4. S04E22: Lucifer Rising
(While the GIF above is actually from Season 11, it's still definitely relevant!) The season 4 finale is another one where the Winchesters ultimately fail in their objective and have an even worse problem to deal with as a result. After Dean is hauled out of Hell by Castiel, angel of the Lord, the brothers have to deal with the demons of Hell and the angels of Heaven all working together to bring about the apocalypse -- Michael vs. Lucifer. Whoever wins out wins Earth, and screw the humans living on the planet! Sam and Dean are truly alone in their cause... and then, after being painfully deceived and played by the demon Ruby, Sam is the one who releases Lucifer. The last scene of the Season 4 finale is one that leaves you squirming and screaming.
3. S10E23: Brother's Keeper
Yet another finale, this one ends with Dean's and Sam's double ploys going into a sharp collision as all Hell breaks loose yet again. The witch Rowena, Castiel and the demon Crowley are working to remove the Mark of Cain from Dean's arm -- the mark that has been plagueing him for ages. Meanwhile, Dean has called up the horseman Death and plans to off his brother so he won't chase after Dean before Death banishes Dean for eternity, since the Mark prevents him from dying. Sam tears up along with us, and then we burst into tears when he pulls out pictures of their family from their childhood, asking Dean to take them with him when he's alone so he remembers his humanity. In the end, Dean's love for Sam triumphs over his prior ideas -- he swings the scythe over Sam's head and into Death himself, and then Rowena breaks the Mark of Cain. But here's the catch: Dean didn't want the Mark removed because it was a lock to the sister of God Himself, Amara, the Darkness. She's vengeful and eager to seek answers from her brother... and the last scene of Season 10 shows the swarm going over the brothers as they sit in the Impala. Once again, the Winchesters have screwed over the world, and we have to wait months to find out what happens next.
2. S11E20: Don't Call Me Shurley
In the most recent heart-crushing episode, Chuck Shurley -- the theorized God of the universe ever since the Season 5 finale -- finally reveals Himself as the actual God to the homeless, human Metatron. The two work together to compile everything God has to answer for in the form of an autobiography He wants Metatron to edit. For once, the emotional focus is on the redemption of the villainous Metatron and the characterization changes in God. Dean and Sam struggle to fight off a facet of the Darkness in one town while God and Metatron argue about why He has been gone and why He's letting His sister torment the world. It is an incredibly feel-good and profound episode -- espcially at the end, where actor Rob Benedict's singing expertise comes into play as God sings and strums along to a heartfelt Fare Thee Well by Oscar Isaac. Finally, at the end of the episode, God appears to Sam and Dean themselves, the face of someone they thought was a hack writer who disappeared for years, presumed dead.
1. S05E22: Swan Song
What can top the best of the best for years? The Season 5 finale, where Sam gets hold of Lucifer in his body and throws himself and Lucifer into the Cage, dragging Michael down with him, saving the entire world in the process... Dean getting beaten to a bloody pulp but refusing to let go of Sam, knowing his brother is in there somewhere... the entire montage where the past five seasons of every beautiful moment the brothers have had together flashes by in a matter of seconds, ending with a long hug between the two brothers -- the silence and the tragically beautiful soundtrack, the blood and the sacrifice -- everything was put together in perfect cinematography and the greatest-ever climax of Supernatural. When I first watched it, I sobbed into my pillow at the sheer perfection and overwhelming amount of emotions, and I was far from alone.
