Kate says I ought to LOVE this show. It has it all: X-Files-type premise, folklore, individual "hunting" episodes, brothers. Not to mention that the pilot is actually quite good. It is well-plotted, delivering an enormous amount of information without losing rhythm. The "mystery" is interesting (even if the boys are a little slow to figure it out; sorry, but any folklorist knows about dangerous female hitchhiking ghosts, and they've presumably been brought up on this stuff--one of the snags of writers being less used to material than their characters), and the pay-off is frankly cool.
Not to mention, the pilot does an excellent job establishing the arc of the show (hunt for Dad, find out who killed Mom and girlfriend) while allowing for non-arc episodes. And the brothers have good tension with strong differing personalities. I'm a little too old to be awed by how CUUUUUUTTTTEEE they are, but, as mentioned earlier, I like brother dramas, and Ackles amuses me.
So the question is, why, when I tried this show out a year ago, couldn't I get into it?
I think there were two problems: one, the two episodes following the pilot are dull--the boys run around after creepy things. With other people. Everybody is running around. Yawn. There are less interesting things to watch--such as watching fern grow--but not much.
The second is that the brother tension works, but it needs a third person. Numb3rs, for instance, has Peter MacNicol to run interference. Do Sam and Dean get a third person later on?
I'm not really sure why this is necessary. Mulder-Scully didn't need anyone else. But while Scully was more likely to humor Mulder's off-kilter obnoxiousness, Sam would probably just hit Dean. Also, Mulder-Scully had dialog, not to mention sexual tension. Granted, I think many brother shows are just homoeroticism in disguise (though not Numb3rs, oddly enough), but the reality of brothers is that introductory/let-me-explain-myself dialog is a tad less necessary. Even in Numb3rs, the brothers have to go to therapy to "get it all out." We tend to assume that family members already knows us. A third party allows the brothers to explain themselves through that third party. (So in Numb3rs, Alimi Ballard's character can say, "I've never known two brother so different and so much the same," a reflection that the audience needs to hear but would never hear from the brothers themselves.)
Of course, part of the issue could be the actors who play the brothers seem to spend a little too much time being coooool.
I have reminded myself that X-Files had some real duds in the first season (that computer episode!), and I kept going. So I am going to give Supernatural another try beyond the first three episodes. Hopefully, the boys stop running around and start investigating more--like they do in the pilot!
Lanae says oooooh, scary! Again, this episode is out of my area of interest a bit (I enjoy police procedural and psychology oriented shows), but I did like the mystery of the episode, and the idea that the mental trauma of murdering her kids caused the "Lady in White" to kill, and fear going home.
What I'm finding out is that it really takes a few episodes for me to get into a series. If I came to love the characters and their goal, I could really enjoy any show. But I don't usually get a feeling for that in the first episode.
Also, this episode didn't really have my full attention. While I was interested and trying to watch, we were watching our 8-years-old niece, who was sitting, terrified, just a few feet from us. We finally had to turn off the show and move into the bedroom, leaving her to watch Bolt. I saw what happened and didn't miss any scenes, but I was unable to focus on enjoying the show, as I was on constant alert in case anything was too scary for her. It was an okay episode though, and if Mike decided to watch it, I would probably stick my head in to see what was happening every so often.
Mike says to Supernatural, "I DON'T CARE HOW GOOD YOU ARE! YOU TOOK ANGEL'S TIME SLOT, SO I HATE HATE HATE HATE YOU FOREVER AND EVER! *Rasberry*"
That being said, I reluctantly liked the episode a lot more than I expected, or even wanted to. While the paranormal investigation has happened a million times, I'm intrigued by the idea of actually hunting the paranormal. Having the boys raised with the experience to do it is also a great time saver.
Unfortunately, I've seen just too much TV--from the moment I saw Sam's cute, blond girlfriend with the cheesy lines, I knew she was going to die. I mean, com'n, REALLY? We're going to unite these two brothers to find their dad, and one of them really expects to go home? The funniest part was when she did die, the other brother ran in conveniently! I'm sorry, but if I was Sam, I'd be wondering if my big bro had more than a little to do with my hot girlfriend's death. ANYONE who's EVER seen a pilot before this one knew that the girlfriend was toast. But, predictability aside, I suppose we had to see Sam's unwillingness to join, then give him a reason (surely the death of the dad would have done this?).
The only real thing keeping me from automatically continuing watching the show is the fact I can only get one DVD at a time from Netflix, and I'm scared of wasting my time. Meaning, I guess, that I really feel that in a show like this, stand alone episodes are a waste of time. In Buffy, I could tolerate them because of reference to the ongoing story and ongoing continuity from episode to episode. What happened mattered, even if it was the monster of the week. When Buffy's mom dated a robot (undoubtedly a stand alone monster of the week episode and a GREAT one), that was referenced for YEARS.
But for Supernatural, I can't help but think of Smallville, where the monster of the week episodes are nothing more than filler--they have little to nothing to do with the over arcing story, and anything that happened in the episode will have almost ZERO lasting impact! I guess that I feel a larger mythology and over arcing storyline is what gives a show purpose. Even House, which is largely standalone cases, has character progression and interaction that is over arcing through the entire season (and series) and affects the future actions and interactions of the characters.
Wow, I seem to be a little rage filled this week, sorry. Anyhow, I'm probably going to give Supernatural a shot. But if I don't get a sense of an ongoing story, larger story arc, and lasting consequences of actions, I'm going to be really mad (they replaced ANGEL with THIS!?!?!?!).
Friday, July 9, 2010
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2 comments:
You know, I really do like this. I definitely felt it was a little more guy-friendly than roswell, which seemed to be marketing sci-fi to teeny-boppers.
Now, don;t get me wrong. it's evident that the ladies are definitely being targeted here with the oh-so-dreamy actors.
One does have to wonder, though, if this was a last ditch effort to appease the MILLIONS (I don't care if that is exaggeration) of fans they peeved off when the canceled Angel.
I Know I know! I'm sorry- but it just sucks know that angel ended before it should have! And it didn;t help that after many petitions, letter writing, and everything else, that all we got for our effort was a little "f-you" video from the WB. But.... AHHHH! And then a month later, the executives admitted that they were unaware of the fan base, and if they had known, they wouldn't have canceled- and admitted they made a mistake! ARRRRGGGGG! ok, not supernaturals fault, but it's hard to separate my feelings on that.
Back to the show, it seems ok, though a third person might be a nice addition, as kate mentioned.
It was also interesting to me that this was the first of out pilots not available on netflix. Next week is stranger, as it's not available anywhere!
Mike: I felt the same way about the Ghost Whisperer. I think it took Buffy's place. Of course, Buffy had run its course, but the hope was that the new show would be equally interesting.
Of course, the difference is the Ghost Whisperer really is one of the dumbest, most self-indulgent shows on television while I think Supernatural has some potential.
For Star Trek, my suggestion is to try libraries and local video stores. And for anyone who still has an old VHS video player, you might want to hook it back up!
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