First impressions of Supernatural

[selenak]

I finally gave in and started to watch Supernatural. So far so entertaining; it reminds me of the early X-Files with its monsters of the week and the backstory trauma as a red thread, not surprising, since I recognized one of the writers (Chiban), one of the directors (Kim Manners) and of course Mr. Cigarette Smoking Man himself guest-starring.

As with the X-Files, it has a complete focus on its two leading characters (though I take it father John is going to play a greater role, given he's vaznetti's favourite character) and gets talked about as much as Sydney's mother "Laura" did throughout the first season of Alias before Irina Derevko made her triumphant return. With the exception of Dr. Who (which has recurring characters but mostly a two-character-focus as well, the Doctor and the Companion du jour), I've been watching only ensemble shows in recent years, and I think it has spoiled me, because I find myself missing the ensemble feel. I mean, shows like Alias have of course a clear leading lady, but they also have an assortment of other fleshed out characters; this goes for all three Jossverse shows; and my newest obsession, Heroes, is defined as an ensemble show in the title. Now with the exception of Firefly, where I really love everyone equally, I do play the favourites game; there are characters and storylines I love better than others. But I still dig that the others are there. And I miss this about Supernatural, which is perhaps unfair of me, as it's defined as a two-leads show, not an ensemble one.

Also, I can see where the gender critique comes from, what with the women all either victims or evil, but at least some of the victims of the case du jour do get to help with fighting the bad guys, so we're not quite back to the dark pre Buffy ages. Still. When seeing a scene where a guy sneaks into a building with a girl in tow who cautions him, it's impossible not to think of how brilliantly Joss set that kind of scene up once and for all in the very teaser of the very first BTVS episode, in which the fearful blonde girl turns out to be the monster (and none other than my beloved Darla). And here it's played straight. Hm.

The boys: are believable as brothers. I can see why Dean is the universal fan favourite, which naturally makes me route for Sam a little.*g* But so far, I'm not really involved with either of them, though as I said entertained enough. I shall conclude by stating cryptically they are not Italian.

Comments

[selenak.livejournal.com]

It also reminds me of those old B-westerns and horror flicks that John Carpenter specialized in and Whedon flipped on their head in Buffy. So in some respects SPN feels like retro-Buffy.

I can definitely see the Carpenter parallel. Also, someone once said in an lj post something along the lines that if John Winchester were to transfer to the Jossverse, he'd be Daniel Holtz, and despite only having seen glimpses of the man so far, I see the point.

And like you? I prefer ensembles. That way if I don't like someone? There's always someone else I can focus on. Or as was the case with the Whedon shows - I pretty much liked everyone, so was always happy.

That's it, exactly.

BTW, Bloody Mary is a real urban folk legend? I wouldn't have thought.

[fresne.livejournal.com]

"Bloody Mary is a real urban folk legend?"

Okay, now I'm curious regionally where it shows up.

I grew up in Southern California and Bloody Mary was a regular staple at sleepovers.

Which in retrospect I wonder if the various parents were able to tell when we were "giggle, giggle - cute boys" vs. "giggle, giggle - bleeding eyes." Either way, and then there was a cookie raid and we were told to quiet down.

[selenak.livejournal.com]

Being German, I only know about this stuff from reading Stephen King and watching American tv shows.*g*

[shadowkat67.livejournal.com]

BTW, Bloody Mary is a real urban folk legend? I wouldn't have thought.

It may not have been *Bloody Mary* but I do remember the mirror folk legend. There's quite a few variations on it. One is if you go up the steps backwards at midnight and look in the mirror you'll see the devil. And there's another if you say the name three times -....

It's not so much a legend as an urban horror tale. The show seems to mix and match them. And I remember reading that the writers were deliberately using the urban horror legends and stories as their *monsters* of the week. Their mythology appears to be that all those urban horror stories we told? Are based on fact with a decidedly supernatural twist. So instead of killing vampires or ghosts - they are going after the urban legend killers and find them through oral narratives - also figure out how to kill them through folk legends.

The man with the hook
Vanishing hitchhiker
Bloody Mary
the Scarecrow

And the old, bury your wallet at a crossroads at midnight and you can bring someone back from the dead.

I used to study and collect this stuff in college - been a long time since I've thought about it though - about twenty years.
(Sigh, feel old now.)

Also, someone once said in an lj post something along the lines that if John Winchester were to transfer to the Jossverse, he'd be Daniel Holtz, and despite only having seen glimpses of the man so far, I see the point.

Definitely. Or Principal Wood - who was BTVS' version of ATS' Holtz. Found Holtz more interesting. In some ways Dean reminds me a lot of Wood in Whedon's shows.

It's interesting - both shows are comments on the old Western and slasher horror flicks - a la Carpenter and Roger Cormen and
Sam Rami (who made fun of them). Buffy seems to be a send-up of those flicks, while Supernatural appears to pay homage to them. Angel also paid homage but in a different way. Watching Supernatural makes me miss Angel quite a bit, actually. Angel felt more innovative and adult to me. SPN feels very cliche at times in comparison.

[astrogirl2.livejournal.com]

Bloody Mary is a real urban folk legend? I wouldn't have thought.

Oh, yeah. That one scared the crap out of me as a kid, too. Which made that particular episode far and away the creepiest one, as far as I was concerned. *shudder*

These days, I'm a hard-headed atheistic materialist who deeply and scornfully disbelieves in the supernatural in RL (as opposed to enjoying it on TV). But I still don't think I'd have the guts to stand in front of a mirror and to that. *hangs head sheepishly*

[cadesama.livejournal.com]

I wouldn't say Bloody Mary is an urban legend, exactly. The version I was taught (and too chicken to do in our school bathroom) had Mary as weird, evil, vengeful version of the Virgin Mary. That particular myth turned up in the X-Files episode "Syzygy" also, if you remeber. Sometimes it involves lighting six candles around the sink so that the reflection makes it twelve and then (magically) thirteen.

BTW, the Bloody Mary story/game was the reason I was afraid of mirrors for most of my childhood. Stupid stupid game. >:(

[selenak.livejournal.com]

Clearly, American kids have more creepy games than European ones.*g*

(I was afraid of getting buried alive, because that featured in a lot of stories and novels I read as a child. No mirror games!)

[ide-cyan.livejournal.com]

The movie Candyman, written by Clive Barker, spins a variation of the Bloody Mary story, cross-pollenated with the "man with the hook", and uses the historical lynching of blacks in the US as a background for the resulting mythology.

Living in Québec and having no notable girlhood sleepover experience to speak of, I wasn't exposed to Bloody Mary and related games much, and mostly heard of them through TV shows and movies. (The closest thing I can remember taking part in, and even so only peripherally, was a game of hypnosis on the playground.)