Supernatural "Rewatch" end of Season One!

I'm trying something a little new with my product ads. Not sure how much I'll like it or if I'll switch back to the Amazon Associates thing. Not that either is bringing in money for me. I would love it so much if I could get at least the money I spend on domain registration through ads, anybody got ideas for that? Anyway, nobody cares about that, it's time for the SEASON ONE FINALE OF THE SUPERNATURAL REWATCH POSTS!

Salvation: Part One - So the big thing I have to say about this episode is "thank goodness, we're finally here!" And also "thank you for having some pay off for all of that set-up!" Finally, Meg has a larger purpose. Finally, Sam's visions mean something and matter to the plot more than just being a convenient device (though honestly they're still a bit of a convenient device here, but hey, progress!). Finally, the complicated relationship between the Winchesters is going somewhere! It might even be somewhere that makes a season of yo-yo emotions worth it somehow, but I was holding out judgement at this point.

Everything about this episode was well done, and when I was starting to feel a bit lukewarm about the whole show, it's a good thing this came around. I wasn't entirely sure I'd keep going after the end of season one, at the least I was going to call up people who had seen further and ask them if it was worth it or if I should just skip ahead or something. But thankfully it didn't come to that.

John Winchester's laying the groundwork for his meeting with Meg, I loved. The brother's and how they dealt with each other, their dad, and their own emotions. It was all good. It almost (almost) makes me forgive the show for not letting them grow a bit more, because this was a good emotional place for them to be for this story. I have my arguments on what they should have done instead, but whatever, I enjoyed it and I'll let it all go. Even my two favorite shows had uneven first seasons (though you can't accuse B5 of not having plot and character development).

Though I expected this episode to actually be the cliffhanger season finale. Though I had an idea what I was in for in the next episode, this was where most people would have ended it. But instead Supernatural ups the stakes EVEN MORE.

Devil's Trap: Part Two - I maybe should have done this as just one long review of the two episodes together, because everything I have to say about this one I've kind of already said. But I love the fact that the show revealed aspects of John Winchester's character not by having him do something, but because of Dean and Sam knowing their father so well.

Plus, I have to say - Bobby instantly became my favorite character pretty much the second he stepped on screen. I like the idea of the show branching out into having a few more recurring characters, because having to have the emotional arc of every episode dependent on the brothers was getting worn. With another family-type figure in their life, they can start to really do something new or explore the same ideas from new angles. And plus, Bobby just seems really freakin' awesome.

The episode succeeds because it takes a physical confrontation and makes it an emotional one instead, which is what all good television should do. I really liked it, and though I think the last thirty seconds were a bit of a cop-out, it proved that the boys aren't safe and that their journey is just going to continue. And it was probably the best way in the world to make sure that I put in the next disc to start season two because there was no WAY I wasn't going to find out what happened next.

Now that I'm done with season one, I'm going to review a few other shows for a little bit before moving on to season two! But I am going to keep watching, I'm really getting into this show.

Supernatural Season One "Rewatch"

Obviously I've had some more trouble keeping up with things. My health has been kind of up and down over the last few months, so I'm working on scheduling myself a bit better to keep up with this. I've got some ideas, we'll see if they work out. But for now, back to the Supernatural Rewatch! Hell House: This episode was a little weird for me. I really enjoyed a lot of the humor in it, but I felt like the "explanation" was a little weird. But I'll forgive it, because like I said, it was really funny. I was especially amused by the fake ghost hunters and their website, since I've run across that kind of thing quite a lot before. Especially when I was researching amateur ghost hunting for a web series that I worked on. The series did a great job parodying ghost hunting in general. Also, the monster in this one was actually pretty creepy to me for some reason. So good job all around, even if it was a one-off monster of the week episode.

Something Wicked: This episode generally exists so we can get more into Sam and Dean's backstory, and oddly enough they manage to delve into a dynamic that we hadn't really been getting into before. Usually the Sam vs. Dean fight is "I hate Dad vs We Owe Dad Obedience" fight. But instead this time it's about how Dean was expected to care for Sam even at too young an age. Which is a tried and true sibling dynamic, and much more interesting.

The monster in this was also very creepy, hit on a lot of my own childhood fears. I did think that the third act of the episode was a little rushed and less developed. They focused a bit too much on the character development and forgot the plot too long, so they had to wrap it up quickly. Which isn't the worst thing in the world.

Provenance: This episode was a little predictable, mostly because if you hire Jodelle Ferland to play a small child, said small child will be evil. Which is fine typecasting because at the end of the day she's so dang good at it. But it would be interesting to see somebody hire her as a red herring instead of being so cute she must be evil.

But I enjoyed a lot of things about this episode. Though I get tired of the common trope of "you have to move on and get back in the saddle" after your girlfriend/wife/lover/whatever dies, I thought they actually did a great job of establishing a love interest that was believable and likable, which is more than I can say for Dean's love interest in the Ghost Truck episode. I'm pretty positive she never comes back, and that really depresses me. They did too well establishing her, and I liked her. And that's the problem with this show for me so far, the biggest issue. I get that it's a show featuring two men, but I'm tired of the disposable women.

Dead Man's Blood: I'm really liking the show's take on vampires, and their strengths and weaknesses. It's a little traditional, in this era where everybody is wanting to play with the mythology and do new and different things. But it works really well in Supernatural. Plus, we're finally back to the main story with the demon that killed Mary Winchester, and adding in a new piece - the Colt. I knew that piece was coming, but I enjoyed the way it was introduced.

Though the one problem I had here was that we've spent an entire season hearing Sam and Dean run around and around the same arguments about their dad. So by the time we actually had John Winchester it the mix, it was old and tired. I wanted Sam to display even a tiny bit of growth and clarity on the subject, but instead he regressed even further and turned a bit whiny.

I know, I'm going to get yelled at for not liking Sam all the time, but I'm really a much bigger fan of Dean because he at least seems to be changing and growing when it comes to the subject of their Dad. He may fall back into just following orders, but he's not as blind about it as Sam seems to think.

On Thursday, I'll be finally posting about the end of this season and moving on to Season two!

Back to the Supernatural Rewatch!

Sorry that I've fallen out of updating! It's been a rough couple of months but I'm getting back into this and trying to finish season one of the rewatch reviews! I'm going to cover four episodes this time because let's face it, the only thing about season one is getting to the reveals at the end. Route 666: Honestly, the less I say about this episode the better. Everything about it was pretty weak, from the love interest (hello, we're back to our pretty girls in peril who are never seen again theme) to the bad guy (a ghost monster truck that doesn't look anything but 80's) are just really, really dull. Even the character development is just...eh. There's pretty much nothing about it that I cared for.

Nightmare: This episode revealed some character and some overall mythology and so that was good. But there were so many parts of it that felt like cheating. Like the reveal that Max was being beaten. The neighbor says that he saw clear evidence of child abuse, but doesn't even throw out a "I called the cops but they couldn't do anything" or something. So that's just great, you've got a guy with all kinds of knowledge that we need to solve the mystery but not enough character development to actually do anything about it himself. Sure, he's a bit part, but the only piece of good screenwriting advice I got from one of my first teachers was "every character thinks he's the main character." So really, it was like this guy knew about the abuse for the five minutes the Winchesters were there, and then he goes back into the bin where they keep exposition characters.

Sam's powers came off awfully convenient too, and while the show made an attempt to build them over time, this episode seemed to go too far, too fast for my taste. I liked the kid with the telekinetic powers getting his revenge, and the way that Sam's visions were worked in. But I just feel like there was too much all at once here.

The Benders: Geezey, this was a heck of an episode. It made me think of The X-Files again, but in a very good way. It worked in all the ways the previous two didn't. The character development and the relationship arcs were more subtle and believable. And the guest character, Deputy Hudak, was one of the best they'd had so far. She wasn't some love interest that the boys had to save, and she took charge. She was one of my favorite guests this whole season. I also really enjoyed that it took the brothers so long to figure out what was going on because their minds were jumping too quickly to demons and the paranormal when it was really just regular weirdo murderers.

Shadow: Two huge thumbs up for Sam not being stupid! I was fully expecting him to just be so excited to see Meg that he falls for whatever weirdness she's up to. But instead he goes straight to skeptical, thank goodness.

But who cares about that, it's the return of John Winchester! Perfect timing too, if there was one thing this season really handled well it was how they drew out and dealt with the mystery with Daddy Winchester. He appeared just often enough to stay interesting, he shows up for a little longer each time, and each time it shows a bit more of their relationships. The whole episode was really well done, it stands out for me as one of the best ones of the season.

Don't forget to check the "supernatural rewatch" tag to see all the posts in this series! Scarecrow: On the one hand, the actual plot of Scarecrow sounds pretty lame on paper. But somehow this episode really works, and it delves into a lot of great aspects of the world. Plus it has a surprise visit from William B. Davis, which is always nice. By the end of the episode we're back to a girl being in mortal danger and having to get saved by the brothers never to be seen again, but hey, we had a good break there, right?

The things this episode does best actually don't have to do with the main plot of the townspeople and the bad demon of the week. It's about Sam and Dean, and their relationship with their father. John Winchester's phone call at the beginning highlights the differences between Sam and Dean perfectly, and while I was trying to give him the benefit of the doubt that was the start of my intense dislike for John. Sam might be a little unrealistic with his wants sometimes, and yes sometimes you just have to listen to authority and they know what's best. But Sam very rarely, if ever, asks for anything out of line. He just wants to be informed, and given at least the semblance of a choice. And he wants revenge on a demon that killed his girlfriend and mother, who can blame him?

With this episode we also get the appearance of Meg, who is so obviously bad news from the moment you meet her that I'm hoping the creators weren't even bothering to try to pretend she was just a normal girl. Because if they thought the reveal at the end was a reveal, they're kind of naive.

But you can't sell the demon of the week short either. He's pretty terrifying, and I was especially impressed when it didn't go exactly as I expected either. I think the story was really built on the acting, and everybody in this episode did a good job. Stories about a small town that secretly sacrifices people for their own prosperity aren't really uncommon, but this one was a very well done version.

Faith: I absolutely loved this episode. I'm not even sure I can explain why, but it was amazing, even if it did have our token chick of the week. I forgive her because it was Julie Benz. And also because she never actually asked for the brother's to help her, she was beyond their help, really.

Dean goes through a lot in this episode, and while I partially was disappointing that the "Dean is going to die and that is traumatizing" emotional arc for Sam consisted of the first what, fifteen minutes of the episode? At the same time, the emotions that Dean was forced to deal with were much more interesting anyway. He can't figure out why he's still alive, and doesn't want to deal with the fact that he was chosen to live, or what the cost of that miracle was once he discovers it.

Then he also has to decide if it's okay to save the girl or not, and it's one of the first times we've seen him so conflicted, even if most of it wasn't expressed completely in the episode. You could tell that the emotion and the feeling was there. Hats off to Jensen Ackles.

There's a lot of seriously good storytelling and character building going on in this episode, not to mention the layering of the mythology of their world. Now that we know that death can be controlled, even at great price, who or what will go after that next? How long will it take before the brothers start to wonder if that's a power worth having if one of them is hurt? How will Papa Winchester react if he hears about it (since he doesn't really react to Sam's phone call about Dean at all, that also begs the question, where was he and what was going on?)

This episode is so very much like the best of the classic X-Files episodes, and I mean that as a high compliment.

Supernatural Rewatch: Halfway through season 1!

Don't forget to check the "supernatural rewatch" tag to see all the posts in this series! Finally, we're getting some better stories that tie into the overall plot rather than being standard stand alone stories where nothing really happens to change anything. Home:I was extremely happy that right around the time I was getting really bored with the lack of development the overall story was getting that we got this episode, perfectly timed on the part of the showrunners. It manages to delve into the real meat of the story, and gives Sam something new to talk about (his prophetic dreams) and Dean something new to have to process. Though I find it odd that he has a hard time believing in the dreams, I mean really Dean, look at your life.

The actual poltergeist in the story is a little lame, since that isn't particularly the point of the episode. I enjoyed the psychic and really wished she would come back in a later episode, I thought her character was at least giving the brothers some snappy comebacks that they deserved.

The episode also finally starts really working on the angle with their dad, and the fact that he isn't missing so much as he's avoiding them. This is absolutely vital at this point in the series, because that story line was starting to lose it's power, so it punched it up enough to keep it relevant.

I'm saying that I can't count this as a beautiful girl needing the brother's help never to be seen again, even though the guest star was very pretty, just because they played her up quite a bit as a stand-in for their mom. Thank goodness. Maybe I'll get lucky and they'll get out of this pattern.

Asylum: Creepy abandoned mental hospitals are pretty much required for any show like this, at least once. But I did think they did a really good job with this one. The opening teaser was really intriguing and the art direction was really well done. I think the story was more than a little obvious (of COURSE the doctor was part of the problem from the beginning and the ghosts themselves were not trying to hurt people but warn them) but they did it well.

The episode also had the fun teenage couple, where the boyfriend was a completely useless blob (played by the actor who played the useless blob of a boyfriend in season two of Heroes, typecasting?) but the girl was actually efficient and useful. I read on a website that there's speculation that she later became a hunter. Good for her, I'd like to see her come back. I'm not putting her on the list of women who have to be saved since she gets a shotgun, but she came close!

Anyway, the episode actually shows a little bit of what I was talking about when I reviewed Bugs, it took the dynamic between Dean and Sam and took it to a new level. Bugs was just a rehash of the same fight, over and over again. But Asylum took a part of the main storyline and used it to actually enhance that argument and bring it something new, and help start to bring some closure to it (I hope anyway).

Overall, I really liked these two episodes a lot, which was good, because they needed some really good eps to keep me interested at that point.

Supernatural Rewatch Continues!

Don't forget to check the "supernatural rewatch" tag to see all the posts in this series! Hook Man: We're now 6 out of 7 on "pretty girls in danger that must be saved by the brothers and never will show up again." I found this episode generally boring, and pretty much "done." When it primed the exact same urban legends as the movie Urban Legend, it was just not that much fun anymore. Not to mention that it took them WAY too long to figure out what the actual item was that was causing the Hook Man to appear. "Oh, let's burn everything silver! Except this one silver thing that is practically glowing and jumping in our faces!" Oh well. Anyway, a mostly boring and dull episode, the less said about it the better I think.

Bug: YAY! The random person that has to be saved and is never seen again is a teenage boy! Combo breaker!

Plus this episode manages to bring us a couple different things, even if it was freaking me out the entire time because I hate bugs (there's always a bug episode, isn't there? This show is just reminding me more and more of X-Files every week). I did get a little tired of the brothers having the same fight about their dad all over again, I want them to find new material on this one. Yes, it's important but instead of rehashing the same fight they should be moving on to other things, maybe different ways of looking at it, or something, I don't know. But not just lather, rinse, repeat.

But in general it was an interesting, if gross, episode. The climax was more than a little dumb (like any of that ever would have actually worked to keep those bugs away for an entire night) but I played along and at least kind of enjoyed it. The whole plot felt a little stereotypical on the Native American portrayal, but not so much that I had a major problem with it. But I'm really anxiously awaiting the point where the show gets to overall mythology a little more, these stand-alones are getting old already.

Supernatural Rewatch Part 3

Don't forget to check the "supernatural rewatch" tag to see all the posts in this series! It's hard to keep going through these early episodes, especially knowing how the season ends up. From now on I should probably do these write ups right after watching, because it would be more interesting for all of us. Bloody Mary: This is actually the last episode I watched back when they were first airing. Although I don't remember the way that the story ended up so it may be that I saw the previews but didn't watch the episode. None of which is actually important. Anyway.

The show seems to be happy making it's way through well known and well worn legends, but at least it's putting it's own twists and mythology to them. The thing that interests me about Bloody Mary is that it's always a different system for calling her forward, and a different tale about what she'll do to you. I'm sure research papers have been written about the ways the myth evolves in different areas and throughout it's history.

The episode itself hits a couple of my own personal fears, like the idea of looking in a mirror and seeing your reflection do something else. It's like I've been saying for years, if you're faced with most popular fears you know what to do. Zombies? Head shot. Vampires? Stake to the heart. Werewolves? Silver bullets. If all else fails, cut off it's head. But when your mirror goes evil? You're just screwed. You can never tell if breaking it will fix things or set the evil free.

The revelations in this episode weren't bad, and Sam's secret did add a nice layer to his character and start to build up an interesting piece of the show's mythos. I'm just looking forward to a time where both brothers are interesting in a single episode, rather than having each one take a turn while the other takes a back seat and goes back to their stereotypical role.

Oh, and let's not forget that this episode featured another pretty girl who needed their help, will be eternally grateful, and never shows up again.

Skin: This episode actually does what I was complaining about for Bloody Mary, it manages to give both brothers plenty of character development and issues and doesn't send one or the other to the background. It also is the single grossest thing I think the show has put onto camera yet, so I guess kudos for that?

One thing this episode flirts with but doesn't finish is how these brothers manage to lie and get themselves on some law enforcement radar nearly every week. I find it hard to believe they're not climbing America's Most Wanted. I can suspend that most days, but it's going to be hard to explain later how Dean Winchester isn't dead. Not to mention how weird the investigation would get if they were really looking into his past and trying to make sense of any of it. I suppose since the suspect is dead they just closed the investigation.

Using a telepathic shape shifter to get into the brother's heads was a neat way to go about it, so that you don't have to manufacture a "chick flick moment" for them to bare their souls. But it does seem like a cop out, I'd like them to have these kind of moments themselves out of something genuine.

Lookit that, this episode has another attractive young lady who needs their help, almost dies, and will never be seen again. We're now 5 for 6! The only reason we aren't at a perfect record is that Jess doesn't count on this particular trope, she's her own kind of special.

I did appreciate that Skin was about a more vague villain, just a shapeshifter, not some specific piece of folklore. It's good to mix it up.

Supernatural "Rewatch"

So this project is not actually a traditional rewatch like most people blog about because I've actually not watched Supernatural before. I got about six episodes in and then forgot to watch one week and just never remembered to catch back up. But tumblr, once again, convinced me to give it another shot. That and we needed something to take the place of Revenge. So I'm going to try an experiment and actually write this up like a rewatch blog. We'll see how this goes and how long it lasts, right now I'm only committing to the first season for now. I'll try to do two episodes per post.

Pilot

It's pretty weird to see these guys so young, but that wears off pretty quick and you end up along for the ride. The pilot is a little weird for me to watch because I have such patchy information about what happens later. So I ended up annoying my best friend by asking her a ton of weird questions.

It's great to see a pilot that really works. We meet the characters, we establish their personalities quickly, we reveal their history (at least as much as we need). We give them a long standing goal (find their father/figure out what killed their mom).

We even establish Sam perfectly as our reluctant hero, and give him motivation to go on the quest. I mean, you know even without knowing anything about the show that Sam isn't going back to law school. But you have to give him the reason WHY. Also, whoever came up with that visual of the woman on the ceiling catching on fire? Two gold stars for you.

One thing I loved was that right off the bat the show was willing to use more obscure mythology and dig into other supernatural phenomena for the stories. This more than almost anything sold me on it, we didn't jump straight to standard ghosts and demons (though it still didn't take long).

Wendigo

One thing that struck me about this episode was that Supernatural is a show that actually does a pretty good job with the set up and pay off. It's nice that it gets that from mystery shows or procedurals instead of just following along the paths of most sci-fi or paranormal shows where they just suddenly hit you with a "Oh, he had it all along" excuse when it helps move the plot along. "How are we going to get out of this one?" "Oh, just give him a screwdriver." "Where would he have gotten a screwdriver?" "Who cares?"

Anyway, Wendigo actually reminds me a bit of The X-Files, basically because that was another show that starts off strong with the pilot and then just had a relatively tame monster of the week second episode. Of course, most shows would be lucky to be as good as X-Files, so that's not a bad thing.

To be honest, there's little about this episode that sticks out. I get the sense that we're going to have a revolving parade of random girls that show up for one episode and we never see again. I'm not sure how I feel about that. It feels a bit patronizing "oh, girls, I know you don't have a female lead on this show so every episode we'll give you a random chick so that you'll keep tuning in, 'kay?"

One thing I do appreciate them getting away from is the dynamic of the "one skeptic among believers" thing that so many shows *coughOnceUponATimecough* have been playing lately. Sam and Dean both believe. They've seen it. Sometimes there's a side character that doubts them, but in general (at least in this episode) people are like "actually, this doesn't make sense and these guys seem pretty confident so let's do what they're asking for now at least." Which is pretty refreshing.