Supernatural: 15 best Dean Winchester moments, ranked
By Monita Mohan
6. Dean Winchester Protects Sam from Scared Townspeople
The first few seasons of Supernatural had scarier episodes than its successors. One of the eerie ones was ‘Croatoan’. When a demon virus infects an entire town, Sam and Dean must try to save the survivors and themselves.
Unfortunately, one of the infected bleeds on Sam, leading the medical staff to believe Sam is infected. Everyone’s immediate reaction is to kill Sam and stop the spread, but once again Dean jumps in to protect his brother.
Even Sam is terrified of turning into a demon-zombie, but Dean remains adamant that Sam will be fine. Admittedly, Dean is in the denial stage of the situation, but it doesn’t stop him from hoping for the best.
Dean goes as far as to remain with Sam while the rest of the townspeople escape in his beloved Impala, Baby. At this time, Dean is also carrying the weight of his father’s final diktat—to kill Sam if he can’t save him.
When Sam insists on ending his own life, Dean suggests he might go down with Sam. He’s tired of living a life where he is scared for his brother’s safety all the time.
In the end, Sam turns out to be immune to the virus due to the Yellow-Eyed Demon, but Dean’s heroics cement his place as one of the best TV brothers.
5. Dean Winchester Keeps Michael Locked In
Season 14 was a topsy-turvy time for the Winchester brothers. Every win came with a loss, none more so than the good guys defeating Earth-2 Archangel Michael, only for him to possess (and re-possess) Dean’s body.
As we learned in earlier seasons, Dean was Michael’s true vessel. This may have made Dean a comfortable meatsuit for Michael, but it also made him impossible to eject without killing Dean.
Michael proves to be a destructive force irrespective of which Earth he is on, which means Sam, Dean, and Castiel must contain him somehow. When every option fails, it’s up to Dean to make the tough decisions.
Dean’s heroic moments in this season are two-fold – his willingness to spend eternity trapped in a coffin at the bottom of the ocean, with Michael in his head; and his valiant fight to keep Michael trapped in his head above ground after Sam pleads with him to stay.
Ackles’ ability to portray real emotions in a supernatural show comes to the fore every time we see snippets of Michael hammering his way out of Dean’s head. Dean’s strength to not only keep the beast at bay but to hide his pain from his loved ones is what makes us love this character even more.