The Big Picture

• Supernatural's Season 11 episode "Just My Imagination" introduces imaginary friends to the show's extensive lore, and sheds light on Sam's lonely childhood and his struggles with family loyalty.
• The episode is a balance of gory violence and emotional flashbacks, showcasing the show's ability to mix heartfelt moments with horrifying scenes.
• "Just My Imagination" offers important insight into Sam's upbringing and the importance of having support during difficult times.

Imaginary friends have become cinema’s hottest new thing, with movies like John Krasinski's IF and Blumhouse's Imaginary proving that there’s nothing sweeter (or more horrifying) than the relationship between a lonely kid and the best friend they’ve conjured in their mind. However, back in 2015, Supernatural combined both of these sentiments in the Season 11 episode “Just My Imagination,” in which Sam’s (Jared Padalecki) childhood imaginary friend enlists the Winchesters’ help in solving a string of grisly imaginary friend slaughters. While most fans can agree that the tail end of the show went a bit off the rails in terms of battling God and jumping multiversal sharks, Season 11 actually had its fair share of strong episodes as the brothers battled the Darkness.

From the Impala-Centric "Baby," to the Sam-Getting-Shot-By-A-Werewolf-Centric "Red Meat," the eleventh season featured some surprisingly poignant episodes, and while shrouded in a seemingly ridiculous story, this episode provides important insight into Sam's often lonely upbringing. “Just My Imagination” may lean heavily into the zaniness that defined later seasons of Supernatural, but it also shows how while Dean (Jensen Ackles) is always portrayed as the one who had to grow up too fast, Sam’s childhood was far from the sheltered existence that his family tried to make it.

What Is the 'Supernatural' Episode "Just My Imagination" About?

"Just My Imagination" starts off like any other episode of Supernatural, with a poor soul meeting a violent end at the hands of a faceless monster. However, rather than being an unnamed civilian that gets whacked, this time, it's a cheerful unicorn-man named Sparkle (Everrett Shea), the devoted imaginary friend to a young girl named Maddie (Jena Skodje). While Maddie is out with her parents, Sparkle is waiting patiently with a copy of The Velveteen Rabbit held gently between his hooves, when a figure shows up with a knife and leaves a glittering mess of blood and a prone Sparkle-carcass, visible only to the wholly traumatized Maddie.

Cut to Sam waking up in the bunker and being followed by a shadowy being who soon reveals himself to be the chipper, rainbow-suspender-wearing Sully (Nate Torrence), Sam's childhood imaginary friend. Sam, of course, immediately punches Sully in the face, and Dean appears in a housecoat, seeing his brother apparently fist-fighting the air in their kitchen. Once Sully reveals it's him, he explains that "imaginary friends" are actually Zanna, a.k.a supernatural beings that guide and protect lost children. He tells the Winchesters what became of Sparkle, and that he needs their help tracking down whoever is killing his friends. Never ones to turn down even the most bizarre of cases, Sam and Dean put on their best cardigans and pose as trauma counselors with child services.

As Sam, Dean, and Sully hop from murder to attempted murder — including a mermaid stabbed in a swimming pool and the mermaid's air-guitar-shredding boyfriend — we also see flashbacks to Sam's childhood, when he would spend hours talking with Sully when his dad and Dean would leave him alone when they went on a hunt (a scenario we'd never really seen before). The guys eventually find the killer, who turns out to be a young woman named Reese (Anja Savcic), another child Sully visited in the past. Reese is grieving the loss of her sister whom she believed Sully had gotten killed, and is now taking out Zanna in revenge. Reese and Sully eventually reconcile, and the mystery of the imaginary friend killings is finally put to rest.

'Supernatural's "Just My Imagination" Provides Insight Into Sam's Isolated Childhood

While, on the surface, "Just My Imagination" appears to be a fun (if not… kind of dumb) piece of filler, it helps us see just how lonely Sam's childhood could be, and who was there to protect him when Dean wasn’t. We also learn that Sully is the one who encouraged Sam to go to college, showing the youngest Winchester's battle between personal happiness and family loyalty. The scenes between Sully and young Sam (Dylan Kingwell) are surprisingly heartwarming, and while everybody knows that Dean loves Sam more than anything, it's nice to see somebody actually acknowledging what Sam wants on his own terms. We also see how in denial Dean is about Sam having ever felt alone, because when Sam tells his brother that he had an imaginary friend because he was lonely, an affronted Dean replies, "You weren't lonely, you had me!"

Furthermore, in the present, Sully offers a listening ear to Sam regarding his fear about reaching out to Lucifer (Mark Pellegrino) to help take down the Darkness, something that Dean continually shuts down rather than hearing Sam out about. While the brothers obviously experienced a lot of growth throughout the show, the theme of Dean dismissing Sam's ideas (even if it means going into hell to talk to Satan) in order to protect him causes a rift between them on more than one occasion. Sully, on the other hand, offers only encouragement, letting Sam know that being afraid only means you have something worth fighting for. However, in the flashbacks, Sam eventually gets a call from teenage Dean (Dylan Everett) to join them on the hunt. When Sully encourages Sam to follow his own path and run away (kind of concerning advice for a nine-year-old but whatever), Sam lashes out at his friend and ultimately chooses to stick with his family, continuing Supernatural's simultaneously endearing and concerning theme of aggressive familial loyalty.

"Just My Imagination" Balances Gore and Heart Like Only 'Supernatural' Can Do

While "Just My Imagination" is full of heart, it's still Supernatural, and therefore, still has plenty of cringe-inducing gore. Whether it's Maddie's mother (Carrie Genzel) inadvertently smearing her face with Sparkle's entrails (because she, of course, can't see it), or Nicky the Mermaid's (Ida Segerhagen) blood filling the pool and splattering her surroundings, the episode exemplifies Supernatural's unique ability to balance the heartfelt and the horrifying. Although "Just My Imagination" is unlikely to come to mind as any fan's favorite episode, it's one that's certainly worth looking back on — especially now, as imaginary friends are making a comeback as unlikely pillars of the box office. Supernatural may be widely known for its horror and humor, but this Season 11 episode showed us that even hunters need someone to turn to when things get hard, and sometimes that someone is a candy-loving goofball in rainbow suspenders.