| Product: |
Supernatural |
| Date: |
28/07/08 (92 review reads) |
| Rating: |
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Advantages: Strong storylines, lots of different creatues and themes explored, Jared Padalecki!
Disadvantages: None that really stand out and make the show unbearable
OK I am never so shallow as to watch a show purely for a bit of totty but Supernatural has none one but two!
That said, even without the added bonus Supernatural is one of the strongest shows to emerge from America in the last few years as TV gets bogged down by the likes of Desperate Housewives and Lost. Supernatural is something that has been done before over and over but it has fresh life breathed into it that makes for pretty compelling viewing. Basically the show is based around the Winchester family. Brothers Sam and Dean and to a lesser extent their father John. Various other characters also play minor roles in story arcs. The show started in 2005 and has had three seasons so far with a fourth due to start in the Autumn.
The Winchesters are hunters. Not in the sense of they shoot deer all day in the woods, but the fact that they hunt various supernatural creatures and forces and destroy them. From what is revealed over the course of the show it seems this career path stems from their mother's death at the hands of a mysterious stranger when the boys were younger.
The show basically follows them as they travel across America using stolen credit cards and various aspects of fraud to support themselves. Sam is played by the brilliant Jared Padalecki who was previously in the Gilmore Girls whilst Jensen Ackles who plays Dean may be familar to some as Jason Teague from the fourth season of Smallville. It's the classic 'odd couple' syndrone here as they both bring different personalities and attributes that bounce off each other perfectly to make for great viewing. I personally think that Ackles is the better actor being able to deliver a mixture of emotion and comic timing.
The show has a very quaint X Files feel to it though there's never any doubt that the paranormal exsists in Supernatural the structure of standalone episodes does seem to follow the same investigative pattern that the X Files does and the boy's search to find out whzt happened to their mother takes up the first two seasons of the show much like Mulder's obsession with finding out if his sister was really abducted. Of course this quest leads them deeper and deeper into uncovering the yellow eyed demon's plans for Sam and 'all the other children like him', in which we discover that Sam has psychic abilities.
Similarities aside the basis of the show's 'creatures of the week' often derive from urban legends and various mythology and folklore. Supernatural from other shows of the genre by delving into different types of creatures and manifestations such as the Wendigo, though the show can also produce episodes that deal with normal human issues such as 'Phantom Traveler' in which a demon possesses people with a fear of flying. Other personal highlights for me so far include 'Scarecrow' which deals with the spirit of a pagan God residing in a slash-happy scarecrow. It's just a brilliant idea and uses real legends and facts and turns them into the show's own unique embodiment. The show's lore on vampires is also a spin on the classics and presents them in a totally different life which I found to be very interesting and another example of the show pushing away from others in the same genre. "What Is and What Should Never Be" has been my favourite episode so far even though it plays on the age old 'fall into a coma and wake up and everything you've ever known is a lie and this is the world we live in' that every show I 'm a big fan of from Charmed to Smallville and even Buffy The Vampire Slayer have used, but it's just great to see a deeper look into the show's characters.
The first two seasons feature largely on the brothers trying to rebuild their turbulent relationship not only with each other but also their estranged father, whilst workong together to track down the mysterious 'yellow eyed demon' that killed their mother. The storyline surrounding this does wear a bit thin but its a great introduction to the show and it seems as if the writers know where the ywant to take Supernatural from the word 'go', rather than flapping around with no idea like the majority of shows when they first start.
It's also refreshing that the story dynamic can shift as the show heads into it's third season with the storyline shifting to Dean's deal with a reaper [he gives up his life to save Sam in the season 2 finale 'All Hell Breaks Loose' Part II' and the various demons that escaped from a hell portal opened by the brothers in their final battle with the yellow eyed creature.
Various other characters are also introduced and start to play a larger part in the overall mythology of the show which also keeps the show fresh. It's these sort of things that leave no doubt in my mind that Supernatural has a long and healthy future ahead of it.
Summary: Three brilliant seasons down and hopefully more to come. I reccomend you catch up with Supernatural
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