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WHY SUPERNATURAL ROCKS (More Insight From Your Buddy Xiphos)

Posted by Xiphos at 05:04 PM on February 16, 2009



The CW Network is about as useless a network as could be except for one show and that's Supernatural. If you're going to do one thing right you might as well hit a home run and the CW managed to do just that with Supernatural. If you like shows with sympathetic demons, psychotic/ambivalent archangels, vampires, werewolves and all sorts of mythological beasts then SN is the show for you. It airs Thursday night on the less than useless CW Network.

 

The premise of the show is deceptively simple. Two brothers travel around the country in a kick ass 1967 Chevrolet Impala listening to heavy metal and mullet rock, killing all sorts of nasty beasts like vampires, demons, changelings and such. That's just the very, very, very basic premise of SN. If you dropped in for one episode you would leave with the impression that SN is about two, way too good looking to be blue collar dudes who kill all sorts of Supernatural beasties and you would be so very wrong with that impression.

 

 The two main characters of SN are brothers Sam and Dean Winchester. Dean is played by Jenson Ackles and Sam is played by Jared Padalecki. The relationship between Sam and Dean is the heart and soul of Supernatural. Everything else is just window dressing. These two would die for each other and have because of the love they share. Even though Sam and Dean are two highly damaged individuals they still love and care for each other and work well together as a very, very dysfunctional team.

 

I'm going to single out Jensen Ackles for some special attention. Don't misunderstand me here, both actors are top notch in their roles but Ackles goes to another level as Dean. This kid has got a boat load of charisma and acting talent. Ackles inhabits the Dean character with a ferocious will and great skill. As Dean Winchester, Jensen Ackles burns with the white hot intensity of 1000 suns about to go supernova. He's that good. The only other role I had seen Ackles in was Smallville. He played the boyfriend to the attractive, but slat of wood acting wise, Lana Lang character. He was sort of a bland, nondescript, good looking dude. The burning fire of Ackles charisma was banked. In other words, he acted like a true professional. If you can't tell, I have a bromance running with Ackles.

 

Supernatural is one of, if not the best, structured shows I've ever watched. It has consistently and smartly built on its own mythology through its four seasons. Even the stand alone, non-mythology oriented episodes, give clues or subtle bits of info that move the overall arc along. The only other show that I've seen that has done that as smartly as SN was the first season of Veronica Mars. Go ahead and laugh but I'm serious about that.

 

The writing on Supernatural is top notch and involving. The show can be surprisingly bloody, violent and intense for a primetime show. When they concentrate on lighter or comedic elements of a story the show can be funny as all hell. Case in point, they had a giant teddy bear that came to life and repeatedly tried to commit suicide. One of the ways the bear tried to do it was with a pistol to the head. When it pulled the trigger they switched to a reverse angle and a handful of stuffing hit the wall instead of blood. I damn near pissed my pants laughing when I saw that one.

 

The look of the show is gritty, blue collar and sort of grungy with the clothes, cars and women. It's deliberately done that way. The Winchester boys are not anything special. They are just two regular, if all too good looking, guys with a really crappy job. They survive by stealing, scamming and killing. The Winchester boys don't have any special powers at least Dean doesn't, until this season when maybe God himself picked Dean for a special operation. Earlier during the run of the show we learn Sam could have something going on that might not be to nice. Sam might or might not have been picked by the devil for a big job.

 

So, to sum it up, watch Supernatural. It's a well done, fun and entertaining. The mullet rock, car and hot broads are icing on the cake that is Supernatural.

 

Xiphos

 

P.S. I would also suggest that everybody should copy the readiness principals of Sam and Dean Winchester and travel around with an ass load of weapons on your person and in the trunk of your ride (it goes without saying you should be armed at all times but I'm going to say it anyways), so anybody that's drives a Prius, man up and get a real vehicle you wusses. Weapons come in handy when the zombies, vampires, succubuses, ghosts, beasties and what not get an itch to cause trouble.

 

 P.P.S. If you decide to watch SN, start from the beginning. There are so many small, large and subtle pieces of info you would miss if you didn't start at the beginning. The info is especially important for this absolutely kick ass season of SN.

 

P.P.P.S. I know I'm being sort of vague about the show with this review. I really want people to discover it wonderfulness without my goofy ramblings coloring their perceptions

 

P.P.P.P.S. Just for the hell of it I will include this funny Youtube bit from SN. Enjoy. http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=Bgd30bjQmes

 

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75 Comments

Reply Franklin T Marmoset
06:15 AM on February 17, 2009
Cheers, Xiphos. Nice review.

You have definitely nudged me toward checking out the first three seasons on DVD, if for no other reason than I really want to see that teddy bear suicide episode.

Also, I know what you mean about that Jensen Ackles guy. I'm developing a bit of a man crush on him myself. Somewhere in Hollywood, Ryan Reynolds is getting jealous.
Reply Xiphos
11:59 AM on February 17, 2009
Ryan Reynolds, hehehehe. Thanks for the props.

Franklin I really can't recommend Supernatural enough. The growth from season to season is rather remarkable. I came late to the SN love. I wrote the show off as some sort of cyncial appeal to tweener girls because of the two leads. Man was I wrong on that one.

Unfortunantly, the teddy bear suicide was this season. If you want to see that particular scene youtube has it. The lead up to the big event is funny as hell.
Reply outofnothing
07:19 PM on February 17, 2009
The Teddy Bear suicide was hilarious. I liked that episode because of the humor and another episode that made fun of some other horror cliches. I do watch it for the guys, and think of it as a male "Charmed." Love the term "bromance."
Reply Herb West
08:58 PM on February 17, 2009
I totally with Franklin. I don't ever watch television, but this sounds pretty cool, and it makes me want to check out previous episodes too. I have got to see the teddy bear episode. Hee hee. Does anyone know the title of it or the exact episode number? Xiphos, what would you say the best season is?
Reply fingersnails
09:29 PM on February 17, 2009
Herb, The teddy bear episode is "Wishful Thinking", S04E08. There's a little follow up to Teddy at the end of the episode.
Reply Herb West
10:58 PM on February 17, 2009
Hey, thanks, Fingersnails! Nice to see you.
Reply Xiphos
11:14 PM on February 17, 2009
Herb that's a hard question to answer which season the best becasue they're all so damn good, so it becomes debateable.

I'm digging the current season a whole hell of a lot becasue it's dealing with the war between heaven and hell, with the Winchester boys right in the middle and in the crosshairs from both sides. There's a bad ass demon named Lilith that is trying to break all 66 seals that keep satan trapped in hell. They also introduced two warrior arch angels into the mix. One is an out and out psycho and the other one is riddled with all sorts of self doubt, idetifies with humans way to much and really doesn't seem to like his job.

Then there's this, I thought season three, especially the final three episodes were incredible and more so since it was the strike season. SN was the only show except for Friday Night Lights, that weathered the strike in good shape.

On the other hand, I really liked the intimate nature of the first season with the boys searching for thier missing father.

Out of all the seasons the "weakest" for lack of a better word was the second season and that was because the first two episodes were a bit disjointed, yet some of my favorite episodes are in season two. I think producers didn't figure on getting renwed so they scrambled a bit at first to get the season going. After the third episode season two kicked ass, especially the finale.

See what i mean about debateable? What can't be debated is the quality of the series it's top notch. Give it try, the pilot episode is frigging fantastic and it has a sucker punch of an ending. If it doesn't grab your attention I'll eat my hat.
Reply Xiphos
11:22 PM on February 17, 2009
One other thing Herb. the teddy bear episode is a "stand alone". So if you want to watch it go ahead. There's no or not much of the myhtology arc in it so it's pretty straight forward for a show called Supernatural.
Reply Herb West
11:26 PM on February 17, 2009
That's cool. I'll start looking for them. Thanks.
Reply Xiphos
02:49 AM on February 18, 2009
Herb, I was looking up the name of another episode to suggest you look at and I found out that on 26 February the CW is replaying the Teddy Bear episode.

the name of the episode that I suggest you watch is called Yellow Fever. it's another non- mythology episode from season 4. It's a combination of horror, comedy and violence. It's especially funny during the freak out scenes with Dean. this episode is the one that had the youtube bit I posted in my review(which link you fixed I see, thanks) at the end of the episode.
Reply Mavra
05:36 AM on February 18, 2009
Hmmm...We've been working way too hard on this writing stuff. Seems to me that all we need to do around here to get people talking is blog about football or suicidal Teddy Bears. Wonder what would happen if we combine those?
Reply Herb West
10:47 AM on February 18, 2009
Hmmm. Found something interesting to share with everyone.

http://www.movie-forumz.org/showthread.php?t=63032&highlight=Supe
rnatural

*Piracy, it's a crime* snicker
Reply Mr. Zeddemore
08:07 AM on March 13, 2009
I'm making my way through S1. It's a brilliant show.
Reply Xiphos
12:41 PM on March 13, 2009
We're glad to have another recruit to the SN love Zedd. Glad you are here.
Reply chipps
04:00 AM on March 24, 2009
I love this show. I think jensen way outshines jared, but this could be partly material. Jared's character is supposed to bring a thoughtfulness and introspection to the show which is not always appropriate. Jensen is (until this season at least) unquestioning and gung ho, he just comes out guns blazing, while jared is the more sensitive one of the two. To some degree this makes the show less 'dirty harry' fascist, but in many cases you think, stop soul searching and kill the cunt. I felt the show went down after the father's/yellow eyed demons arc seemed to end, that the last season was the weakest, and that this new season is by far the best, they really have taken a great show to a whole new level. I liked the show from the start, buying in as soon as they started making fun of the x files. I belive linda blair was in the opener. and that is another thing for nerds. keeping up with the geek pop culture references, most commonly seen in there psydonoms, but seen in a number of places. characters even pick them up on it 'ain't those the guys from van halen'. it works as a good fun show, but also has a kick ass through plot and constant nods to the nerds. overall, awesome show.
Reply Xiphos
10:28 AM on March 24, 2009
Chipps Linda blair was in an episode in season 2.

Yeah the boys do like to name themselves after members of bands whichs like you noted sometimes blow up in thier face.

I disagree about season three being the weakest. I thought it was the second best after this season and factor in that it was the strike season and it takes on a whole new look in my opinion. the last three episodes dealing with Dean trying to get out of his deal witht the cross roads devil were great.
Reply chipps
05:23 PM on March 24, 2009
they were good episodes, rifing on the twilight zone (which i have only seen via the simpsons). if you factor in the strike fine, but i wasn't giving it a pass for that, it generally seemed to lack direction (but certain parts where dean is thinking about the end are good - like where he thinks he has a son). i remember about blair now, she was a cop i think - just fuck with those people who think she is dead. I guess we can both agree that this season kicks it out of the part. and i wasn't getting at the fact that they name themselves after bands but more that there are constant puzzels within the eposides that give it an extra demention some people would miss. or to put it another way there is the constant joy of in jokes - oh that's so and so from x making fun of themselves. just these constant subtle pop culture references that add fun without fucking it up by being overt. plus nice car.
Reply Xiphos
07:17 PM on March 24, 2009
Chipps, my good man, we can definantly agree that this season is fan-fucking-tastic. The inclusion of Angels and all thier various agendas have been great. and yes the 1967 Chevy Impala stomps on all sorts of colons.

Supernatural is just friggin good on every level. I'm glad to read that you like it.
Reply Xiphos
07:22 PM on March 24, 2009
Damn, Chipps sorry, I forgot something about season 3. It had what i think is my favorite episode. It was the one where the boys got taken down by the FBI and held in a local jail when Lilith sent her devil minions on the attack.

Damn that was great how they suckered the demons into the jail, trapped them inside with salt on the outer doors and exorcised them. Then Lilith came and layed the smacketh down. THAT was a GREAT episode.
Reply chipps
04:23 AM on March 25, 2009
it was a good episode. my only problem with it was that i wasn't perfectly happy with the way that they solved the fact that these guys should be the number one most wanted people in the country. ah, i guess it was good but i always thought that its should be done one of two ways: either they save the director of the fbi or some shit and have the powers that be watching over them, even giving them leaves or (and they were already wanted at this point) get the dude who can convince people of anything to give them an assist. it is not really how the show works, but i keep thinking that they should be more like the shadow 'i saved your life and now it belongs to me' they should get more help (back ground help) from people they saved.

plus what aussie could not love a show in which acdc is so prominant it is almost the third member of the team. (maybe forth after the car)

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