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Jensen Ackles and Jared Padalecki may have left their iconic Supernatural characters behind by this point in the 2025 TV schedule, but the two stars have proven to have sharp memories about their time on the show. In honor of the 20th anniversary of the pilot, which aired on September 13, 2005 on The WB, they opened up about which of the 327 total episodes stand out as the worst. While I was surprised by Padalecki’s pick (and neither named the controversial series finale), I have to agree with both of their choices.
Jensen Ackles’ Worst Episode
Jared Padalecki and Jensen Ackles of course played Sam and Dean Winchester through some very high highs and very low lows over the course of fifteen seasons. Joined by longtime costar Misha Collins ahead of their on-screen reunion on The Boys, they spoke with EW about what went down over the years and what ultimately didn’t work so well. When the Season 1 episode “Bugs” came up, Ackles revealed that he agrees with the fan consensus that it’s pretty much the worst installment of the series. The Countdown star said:
I think it was [the worst], because of what we went through and what it ended up being. Basically, the juice wasn’t worth the squeeze.
“Bugs” was the eighth episode of Season 1 and aired back in 2005, so it says something that Ackles could still deem it as the worst of the series. Available streaming now with a Netflix subscription, “Bugs” brought Sam and Dean into the mix of a housing development under construction on sacred Native American lands when people start dying due to – you guessed it – bugs. It wasn’t a great episode back in the day when the show was airing, and I’d guess that it really hasn’t aged well.
The stars remember it less than fondly for other reasons, however, with Padalecki chiming in that they had “like 70,000 bees” on set to film. Based on what Ackles went on to say, those bees were not meant for showbiz. He shared:
We were literally being stung by bees. And then they get to post [production], and the bees didn’t show up on camera so they had to VIXFX the bees.
On the plus side, neither of the actors had a bee allergy that could have resulted in disaster very early in the run of Supernatural, and they did have professionals on set to handle the bees. The problem? Bees aren’t the most cooperative costars. Jared Padalecki recalled:
We go meet the bee specialist and it’s a dude with, like, mesh and a big pair of surgical tweezers holding a bee saying, ‘So we’re going to sting you, but it can’t give all of its venom. But we’ll find out if you’re allergic.’ And then, when we were shooting the episode, and they’re like, ‘Listen, there’s no queen bee here, so they’re not gonna bite you. They’re not gonna sting you unless you really piss them off.’ Well, how do you piss them off? ‘If you swat them.’ Wait, the whole scene is about us trying to get rid of bees. They’re like, ‘Don’t get rid of the bees, just guide them away. Gently guide them away.’ It was the most absurd thing.
It’s been a long time since I’ve seen “Bugs,” but I definitely don’t remember Sam and/or Dean gently guiding any of the bees away! And don’t forget – this was back in 2005, so recording bee attacks in Supernatural’s first season (on film, no less) is a far cry from all the VFX used for 9-1-1’s bee-nado last year. I’m no Supernatural-esque prophet, but I feel comfortable saying that if a revival ever does happen with the stars, they won’t be making “Bugs 2.”
Jared Padalecki’s Worst Episode
Jared Padalecki jumped forward in time from that unpopular 2005 episode for his worst episode, naming an arc that I’d also agree isn’t one of Supernatural’s strongest: the Leviathan in Season 7. Looking back to 2011 – 2012, the Fire Country actor said:
I feel like [the worst episode] was one of the Leviathan episodes that got a little too heavy into the Dick Roman of it all. We leaned so hard into all the dick jokes.
While Padalecki didn’t name a specific one, Dick Roman was featured in six episodes of Season 7. If I had to guess, he was thinking of one of the last few, because I remember as a viewer being very tired of the dick jokes by the end of the arc. Ackles agreed with his on-screen brother, saying “It was a lot.”
Well, a show that runs for 327 episodes isn’t going to have 327 perfect installments! Considering the fandom that is still going strong five years after the finale and two decades after the premiere, there are clearly far more good than bad episodes. “Bugs” is also what I would say is one of just a few clunkers from the first season.
If you want to revisit these episodes to see if they’re as bad as the stars remember them (or revisit some much more fun episodes), you can find the full series streaming now on Netflix.
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