The changing landscape of the television industry and evolving mindset of viewers have altered the context in which shows are perceived. The CW's Supernatural is no exception here, with several aspects of the dark fantasy series appearing in a negative light either to those who rewatch the show or new viewers who didn't follow Supernatural when it first aired.

Dean Winchester is generally considered to be the most popular character from the series, with Jensen Ackles' portrayal seen as an iconic part of TV history by the fans. However, Dean's decisions and how he carried himself have perhaps aged the worst in the latest era of TV, and it's interesting to see things about him that won't fly today.

Updated on November 30th by Rhys McGinley:

As The Winchesters continues to give Supernatural fans their fix of the Winchester world, it also adds to the legacy of the Winchester family that fans fell in love with way back in 2005 through Sam and Dean. As time goes on, though, not everything that fans loved about the brothers has aged particularly well, especially regarding Dean. Whether it be the way he treats people throughout the show or simply bad writing of the character over the years, multiple aspects of Dean's character have aged poorly and may even affect the reputation of the character in the minds of some.

His Death

The Supernatural finale remains a hot topic among the ionate fandom, with so many dedicated fans hating the way it all went down, from the lack of character appearances to the directions of the characters. One of the most universally hated aspects, though, is the way Dean died.

Only a couple of years on and the moment, despite the emotionally powerful exchange between the brothers after the fact, leaves a bitter taste in fan's mouths. For Dean to go out not just in a random vampire hunt, but to die via a rusty nail in the spine, feels disrespectful to him. Many believe Dean deserved to live a regular life instead of dying in a hunt, but even if he were to die on the job, there were surely far better ways for it to happen.

His Lack Of Communication

Over the years, Dean gets shown to be an incredibly emotional individual, but also someone who bottles most of these emotions up when not drinking them away. This results in some seriously bad communication skills that nowadays fans cannot get on board with.

From lying to people such as Sam and Cas rather than telling them what is happening to sneaking about and keeping his emotions hidden, such as when he breaks down on the phone to his father (with whom Dean shares many personality traits), Dean's communication skills were never great. While these scenes and storylines are not necessarily bad, it is hard for fans to watch Dean be so emotionally insecure. It is an aspect of his character that has not aged as well as his badassery or kindness. People now are more accepting of open emotions, and clear communication is such a crucial part of all relationships that Dean being so shut off and naive in this regard has not aged brilliantly.

Not Learning From Past Mistakes

Throughout much of Supernatural, Dean definitely grows, whether that be in his views on monsters and morality or in the way he views hunting. He does, though, have an issue with not learning from past mistakes even after making them a few times, and fans cannot quite understand why.

A couple of lies to Sam, fine, that works; audiences can digest that. It just makes no sense to keep colossal secrets from him in what feels like every season, despite the consequences rearing their head every time. These are not the only repeated mistakes either. He does everything to save Sam despite the world-ending consequences, he trusts powerful characters like Michael, and, among other things, he goes behind people's backs to do what he thinks is the right thing - such as killing Amy Pond. Despite his intelligence and fans' love for him, they cannot help but be frustrated when he repeatedly makes the same easily avoidable mistakes.

The Way He Treats Jack

One of the worst parts of Dean's character in the final three seasons of Supernatural is how he treats Jack. It feels so unnatural for his character to be so abusive and unkind to this child, and even rewatching the show now, fans get an icky feeling to watch him act in such a way.

When Jack is soulless or when he kills Mary, then obviously Dean will have negative feelings toward Jack. However, from moment one, Dean does not even give the Nephilim a chance despite growing so much in the early seasons regarding monsters and how they are not all bad. Dean's threats to kill Jack, the emotional abuse, and the neglect are all hard to watch for fans who know Dean is a good person.

The Way He Sometimes Treats Women As Disposable

Dean had plenty of love interests over the years, and he was very good to the likes of Lisa and Cassie, whom he was genuinely in love with. However, Dean stayed away from falling for someone and preferred to have casual affairs during his hunting trips.

It was fine with women who agreed with such an arrangement, but Dean broke the hearts of high school flame Amanda, fellow hunter Jo Harvelle, and several others that he left. The bad boy trope is no longer seen as charming by viewers, so many new fans have noted Dean's actions as insensitive and disrespectful toward women whom he essentially charmed for the wrong reasons.

Dean's Smothering Hold Over Sam At Times

There's a certain level of ownership that could be seen in the relationship from the elder brother to the younger, and Dean even betrayed Sam several times in Supernatural, which he remained unapologetic about. Dean was so fixated on wanting everything to be about him and Sam as a pair that the latter felt he was obligated to be with his brother forever.

Fans have noted in rewatches that Sam did deserve to have a life of his own as he wanted, and Dean was smothering him with his entitlement toward being with Sam. It's also aged badly because today's viewers value independence over codependency, and Dean was heavily reliant on Sam's presence in his life - with that codependence and over-reliance summing up their relationship in many ways.

His Destructive Anger Issues

At the time when the show started, it was normal to see alpha-male mentality protagonists let their anger consume them, and violent outbursts were considered cool. Nowadays, people consider taking responsibility to be a bigger factor, making Dean's rage issues seem in bad taste.

Dean has the tendency to blame everyone around him when he gets mad, such as telling Castiel he was dead to him when Mary disappeared, even though Castiel had nothing to do with it. He also attacked the Impala out of anger when John died, and fans nowadays would rather see Dean consider anger management over such outbursts that also seem immature.

Certain Characteristics That He Deems To Be Unmanly

The idea of what constitutes masculinity has recently shifted, and macho behavior is considered an archaic mindset. Dean belongs to the time when aggression was seen as the prime manly trait, because of which he had the habit of mocking Sam for being in touch with his emotions.

Sam is the character that audiences today identify with more due to his openness to be vulnerable, whereas Dean comes across as a person in denial over what makes someone a man. Even his distaste for music other than classic rock bands seems more like an attempt to be manly rather than it actually being the case.

Dean's Hypocrisy

There were times when Dean seemed like Supernatural's true villain, especially in the later seasons. Dean was known to judge people based on decisions he considered wrong, only to do the same thing when he was put in the same position.

He openly derided the husband who traded his soul to save his wife's life, yet made the exact move when Sam was killed. Dean scolded Amara for not stepping up to help them fight Chuck despite the fact that he planned to kill her along with Chuck. Dean's hypocrisy is more striking now that the series can be binge-watched in full, and both new and old fans can spot this glaring flaw.

Dean's Tendency To Mock Supernatural Fans

Supernatural fans tend to go wild over any kind of criticism they might receive, even from the show's actors. Within the TV show, Dean wasn't a fan of Chuck's fictionalized Supernatural books that garnered a strong fandom and would insult anyone who enjoyed the series.

Real-life followers of the show have built up a huge amount of fan fiction and become an incredible community unto themselves. Watching episodes where Dean calls out fan-created subtexts as fake generally does not sit well with viewers these days because they feel insulted, when earlier it was seen as a joke.