Rocky’s Bar: Nihilism manifested our Supernatural/IRL scrapbook

Supernatural had a major win with us in the midseason return episode, Nihilism. Inside that episode was a bar. Inside that bar was pretty much everything, ever.

Oh my word. OK, the entire remaining content of this post is laced with heavy spoilers. So, if you haven’t yet watched Supernatural Season 14, Episode 10, please head over to The CW app or elsewhere of your choosing, and watch the episode first.

After that, you can do such things as visiting here to enjoy our recap or stopping by here for our review. You can even peruse this list of our choices for top five best moments. However, you want to ingest your info is all up to you.

More from Supernatural

• Jensen Ackles and The Winchesters cast kick off #SaveTheWinchesters campaign
• Will The Winchesters be saved? (Can Supernatural fans save the prequel?)
• Did The Winchesters get renewed? (Is The Winchesters season 2 happening?)
• Is a new episode of The Winchesters on tonight? (March 14, 2023)
• The Winchesters Season1 finale explained: Did it connect to Supernatural?

When you’re ready to proceed, let’s talk about the Rocky’s Bar aka Road(so far)House aka Supernatural scrapbook and IRL crossover extraordinaire.

Surely you’ve seen talk online about this amazing episode of the show, and many discussed the relevance of Rocky’s Bar. Not only did we see things generated to make us laugh, but we saw some very clever items that weren’t just tributes to Supernatural.

Yes, siree, there are some things in this episode that are directly out of the real life of Jensen Ackles. This makes Rocky’s Bar an official crossover in my book — a rarely seen accomplishment of bringing real life into the show. But only in a way that the most dedicated fans would recognize.

You may have seen them all, maybe even ones we missed. But there’s really only one way to know if we’re all on the same page. Many write-ups have mentioned a favorite piece of the iconic bar creation in Dean’s mind, but we think we have something a little different here.

For starters

So, I’m watching Supernatural like everyone else, and I see the moose. Did you see it? As the camera panned the bar where Michael!Dean had actual Dean trapped in his own mind, I saw this Moose head on the wall and thought, “Oh, LOL.” Yes, I literally thought the letters L-O-L. Moving on.

It’s no mystery, my amusement was the reference to Rocky and Bullwinkle, get it? The moose? And then the squirrel hanging out with the SPN brand beer (Margiekugel). Obviously a reference to the Squirrel/Moose nicknames of Dean and Sam (Hi, Crowley, we miss you!). This one probably didn’t sneak past anyone as the bar was even named “Rocky’s Bar,” complete with throwback lettering.

So yeah, the panning goes on, ever so deliberately, from one item to the next. Very rapidly I realized, this bar is made of everything cool that Dean (and we) can think of in relation to Supernatural. I am still so amazed with how much detail went into this- it deserved its own dedicated post.

We know that the upcoming 300th episode is meant to be a sort of tribute to the fans. And generally on Supernatural, we see a lead up to most storylines. I am looking at this as the first really notable seed to that end. We saw a great, similar bundle of tribute when Grey’s Anatomy aired its 300th episode, I’m thinking this is something along those lines.

We also saw a big festival of easter eggs in the shoot for the cover of EW, earlier this month. If you missed that, the cast talks about all those here, and believe me, it’s hilarious and great (something about a missing shoe and the pizza man). On top of these visual beauties, “Nihilism” also offered some situational throwbacks to the show’s past that you may have overlooked.

By creating this tribute place, the Supernatural geniuses have really created a place where our own memories and current realities can coexist with the characters and story we love. What better way to incorporate the fans, and make a tribute to us, than to create something that we helped to build? If you don’t know what I mean, read on and I’ll show you!

I thought it was amazing and solid. But of course, I could also be just making the whole thing up in my weird, fan brain. Well, let’s dig in and see what the hype is all about, shall we?

The family business

Once I saw the beer taps, I realized, this isn’t just Dean’s dream, it’s Jensen’s. From the names of the beers on tap to the quotes from his mouth, Dean confirmed that he was “Living the dream.”

“The Family Business Beer Co.” headed the paperwork on his desk and the “FB” logo  was on the taphead. Several other references were made to Texas, Jensen’s actual home state. With the offer of a great IPA from Austin, Texas to Sam, it was no joke, this was a crossover with real life. Has that ever happened before?

So we had “The Fox,” “Cosmic Cowboy,” and “Ghost White,” all found on the real list of beers at Ackles’ real beer Company. Add that to the fact that it exists in Austin, Texas, the origin of the killer IPA Dean offers Sam when he’s there in Rocky’s.

We also saw a huge “FB” neon beer company sign. This brings The Family Business Beer Company from our real life into the menagerie of Supernatural beer set pieces. The Rocky character stuffed squirrel in the beginning was giving a Dean-worthy grip to a bottle of MargieKugel, a beer that frequently shows up, having been created for Supernatural.

With more Texas in the longhorns above the door and Dean’s quotes about living the dream, it’s no wonder Michael would have built this place for him to linger. Keeping Dean forever stuck in this place, this trickster-style loop made of everything he always wanted, Michael’s Djinn move of Dean’s (and Jensen’s) dream world did not disappoint.

Dean tells Castiel, “This is my dream,” to which he tries to make Dean understand that this is just a dream. No, Castiel, this is Jensen’s dream. Did Jensen weigh in on this setup? Was this a little advertising for his brand, or is he just a lot more Dean than we ever really knew? Or is it the other way around? I wonder.

Welcome (back) to Harvelle’s

We also saw the familiar signs of “El Sol,” “Texas Star,” and “Tom’s Tequila.” While these brands and signs are present in nearly every place where alcohol is found or universal conversations are had on Supernatural, they coupled with a few other details that threw me right back to Harvelle’s Road House.

One that caught my eye right away was the monkey. It took me a second to put it together, but that’s because it had a little difference. This monkey on the corner of Rocky’s Bar had a dated note on it reading, “No Credit.” While I don’t recall seeing that on Ellen’s monkey, I know it made the rounds in her bar and even had its own momentary death scene.

That isn’t the only little recurring gem from our previously favorite roadhouse. Both at the front door and in Dean’s office, there was a rifle arcade game. At Ellen and Jo’s, it was a classic version of Red Rifle, while in the office at Rocky’s Bar, it embodied some Supernatural details, like the recurring bird image, also found on Pam’s necklace.

While the back of the bar was pretty traditional looking, it was a close copy of the setup from Harvelle’s, right down to the payphones. All in all, I would say it’s fair to think the roadhouse was definitely a springboard for the blueprint of Dean’s imaginary playhouse.

Hey, Baby

Can we talk about the display behind the bar? Everything in the middle of the wall is basically a shrine to the beloved Supernatural Impala, Baby, and the time Dean spent with her. We’ve got the original KAZ-2Y5 license plate, as well as two pictures set up like school photos from graduation year.

One of the photos is of Baby in what looks like the parking lot of the Palm Motel. We saw that happen back in Episode 1 of Season 8, “We Need To Talk About Kevin.” But I almost thought for a second it was from the motel when we saw the guys giving Jack a talking to in the parking lot during “The Bad Place.” I did a couple freeze frames to check, but you let me know what you think.

Along with these lovely tribute items, there is a wonderful cassette tape setup. You’ve got the traditional tape case, the stereo equipment, and everything Dean would need to forever be in a high school basement party of his dreams. I’m sure there was some classic rock in that collection. Maybe all of it.

Scrapbooking

Aside from these tie-ins pointed out so far, there was so much more in this bar scenario that was really a straight-up collection of Supernatural moments, memories, and lore. The things we talk about when we think of best moments and stand-out episodes are captured right in one fantasy land.

Pam comes in from the rain and tosses a bag of organic limes on the counter so Dean can make the house special properly. Did you notice the carving on the bar? “Daphne Loves Fred,” the obvious reference to Dean’s (and probably also Jensen’s) love of Scooby-Doo, as well as to the famous Season 13 crossover, “ScoobyNatural.”

In Dean’s office, he surely enjoys the calendar behind him that features his beloved Asian beauties in cartoon form, as he always does. And my bet is that the two fish above the door are related to both Dean’s fond memory with his father, as well as that later moment that Jack created for them in the same light.

We saw a painting of two skeletons at a bar where the subjects appeared to be enjoying the house special of Rocky’s, tequila shot (with lime), and a beer chaser.

Another wall photo looked to be a pier. My first thought was of Episode 3 in the first season, when the guys worked the town where everyone was drowning all the time. But it also took me back to the water’s edge when Castiel’s trench washed up to Dean after that unfortunate tissue-worthy Leviathan thing that we probably should just not talk about.

Pam wore a shirt that was certainly a centerpiece of much of her appearance. “To Hell and Back” was the name of the Indie band show it promoted, which we know is where they’ve all been. It’s for all ages, much like Jensen’s bar back home IRL.

A few more items resonate, like a photo of a man on a horse, an autographed photo of Kathleen Robertson, and the solid red matador action figure. I can’t say for sure I detected everything there was to see, but what I did find had great meaning. And even more, I saw things that seemed to be important, but I didn’t really know their purpose.

Fun fact: while likely unrelated, there was an umbrella holder by the door with #40. I’m pretty sure this was a football thing but let me show my mega-fan true colors for a moment. In the 2012 game of GISH, led by Misha Collins (Castiel), item #40 read: “Create a portrait of Jensen Ackles made entirely out of Skittles.” That happened.

In the end, I was really stunned and pleasantly surprised by the amount of care and detail that went into planning and executing the wonder that turned into Rocky’s Bar. All of the things in this little piece of Dean/Jensen/Supernatural heaven were created through the patience and dedication of time and appreciation.

The fans, the actors, the writers, producers, and all the other Supernatural geniuses that we all are, have come together into this blend of beauty that will forever be the legacy of this Supernatural road (so far), brought to life in Rocky’s Bar and beyond.

Did you catch all of these references in Rocky’s Bar? Can you identify any of our extras, or did you see something that we missed? Let us know in the comments below, or send us a tweet!

Supernatural airs Thursdays at 8/7c on The CW. Follow SPN Hunters on Facebook for stories about the show, actors, creators, and more.