Spoilers ahead for the November 7 episode of Supernatural Season 15 on The CW, called "Atomic Monsters."
The fifteenth and final season of Supernatural didn't lighten up in the first episode following the death of Rowena, although the Winchesters didn't actively have to contend with souls escaping Hell or God killing friends in front of them. While Sam continued to struggle with the new status quo with God as the big bad, God -- turned away by his sister -- visited his naive biggest fan Becky for a pep talk, and the result is the Winchesters are going to start losing aspects of their lives.
But first, let's look at what happened in "Atomic Monsters."
Becky, who recovered from creepily drugging Sam with a love potion to become a wife, mom, Supernatural fan fiction (no, not that kind of Supernatural fan fiction) writer, and Etsy mogul, wasn't happy to have Chuck/God crash her suburban life, but she encouraged him to start writing again. When she criticized his first attempt at a new story for having too low stakes, an offended God wrote a brutal ending that seemingly killed off at least one Winchester, and Becky was devastated. What a dark twist!
Then, God made everything worse for her when her husband and kids came home. Instead of leaving, as she requested, he snapped her husband away, and then did the same to her kids. Although he did state that they weren't dead, she understandably wasn't too calm about it, and he eventually got rid of her too, and he doesn't seem to be discouraged from the dark ending he plotted out for the Winchesters.
According to episode director/Supernatural star Jensen Ackles, however, God's next ways of messing with the Winchesters won't involve murder and apocalyptic mayhem. He shared what happens next, saying this:
Chuck is now starting to kind of take away little aspects of their lives in a way that is a little unexpected. You think about the way those hero stories are told and they don't have time to sweat the small stuff. They don't have time to get a cold. They don't have time to go to the doctor and get a check-up. Then normal stuff starts happening to the Winchesters and that's exactly what they have to start doing.
Considering the boys have been living hard, drinking a lot, and -- especially in Dean's case -- not eating especially well, it will actually be pretty realistic if they start feeling their age. They may have been in their 20s when they started saving people and hunting things, but a lot has happened since then. They've even died several times each!
God messing with Sam and Dean by taking away little aspects of their lives is actually pretty genius. They were his favorite Winchesters, so it makes sense that he doesn't want to rush to ending them, and this is a prime way of frustrating them to no end in the meantime. I don't want to say I'm rooting for God now that he's set on tormenting the Winchesters, but the boys dealing with common woes sounds pretty entertaining.
That said, Jensen Ackles went on in the chat with TV Guide to seemingly reveal that the Winchesters dealing with their lives getting worse in little ways isn't going to be an endless source of amusement. Here's how he put it:
We start seeing Chuck slowly disable the Winchesters' mojo and it's heavy. It's hard for them to operate in that world because they're so not used to having to live in a normal world. Is it because Chuck has written them as the hero and so they don't deal with that kind of small stuff, or is it just then we just have never seen it? So, it's interesting. All of that cool is kind of gone now and they're trying to figure out how to deal in a world where they need that mojo. They need to be able to know that they can go up against a nest of vampires and be able to take out six or seven each, but if they can't even take out one, then that's gonna be a big problem
Honestly, if Supernatural reveals that the reason the Winchesters have been able to achieve the impossible for all these years was that God was giving them a boost, I'm not sure if it'll be amazing or frustrating. On the one hand, it would explain a lot and actually make Supernatural a little more realistic. One the other hand, isn't it more fun to imagine Sam and Dean can do these impossible things based on their own grit, determination, and strength?
Only time will tell how the Winchesters react to the little things in their lives going wrong. This is the final season, so all bets are more or less off. We do know that Supernatural will continue bringing characters back, as this episode featured not only an appearance from Becky but also Benny. Admittedly, it was a parallel Benny from a world in which Sam is possessed by a demon and killed Dean, but it still counts as a Benny appearance, right?
See what happens next for the Winchesters -- and Castiel, once he returns -- when new episodes of Supernatural air Thursdays at 8 p.m. ET on The CW.
