Monsters of Television

“We got work to do.“

Certainly appears to be better security than the Hell Mouth in Sunnydale.

I really enjoyed season 2 of Supernatural, in case you couldn’t tell from the previous posts (for thoughts on earlier episodes, you can click here). It’s been a season that actually concludes (in a rewarding fashion) its on-going story arc without dragging it out too much. Its finale sets up new and interesting plot threads for future seasons in a subtle and elegant way while still telling strong episode-by-episode stories. It balances serialization without allowing the serialization to consume the series. Episodes remain both self-contained and able to provide forward momentum on seasonal plot arcs without feeling tacked on.

In short, season 2 of Supernatural is a remarkable well-rounded and well-executed season of television. Sure, they are some clunkers in the mix, but they don’t weigh down the season very much, or stand out as examples of what Supernatural shouldn’t do. I think that’s what impresses me the most about this season is that is very consistent in its quality, which is a claim that even the best of shows can’t necessarily make sometimes.

As promised, I have thoughts from both Charlotte Howell and Cory Barker after the jump. My thoughts are first since they come from a newbie’s perspective on the series (and without much knowledge of what’s to come; but damn do they hype up season four!). Charlotte’s thoughts will be after mine, and then Cory will bring us home.

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“It’s not fair, and…you know, it hurts like hell, but…it’s worth it.”

I really believed that this was the best sandwich Dean's ever eaten.

I didn’t cry while watching this episode on the bus. Really. I didn’t. It was allergies.

Okay.

I totally cried. When Dean sees Mary. When he talks to John’s grave. When Sam’s all “Dude, we’ve never been friends. We see each other at holidays. What are you doing right now?”

No. I’m not crying just thinking about it. I have allergies. Pollen’s been really bad this year. No rain and all. You know how it is.

Sniffle.

All kidding aside, I enjoyed the episode (although I’m not kidding about the crying. I totally did). It’s a nice button on Dean’s arc this season, and I couldn’t ask for a better episode going into the finale.

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“Does this look like swimming-pool weather to you, Dean? It’s practically Canadian!“

"There's a demon here. Named Jess. Also, it's going to be easier for us to kill it if you call me Dean."

I’m afraid I don’t have a unifying theory about this disc. I know, I know!

But there’s a lot going on in this disc, with all sorts of nice stories of varying stripes, from the poignant “Roadkill” to the gut-wrenching “Heart” to the meta-awareness seed planting of “Hollywood Babylon” to the slightly too quickly resolved FBI hunt in “Folsom City Blues.”

All the episodes are good (though “Heart” felt like it went on a for a while, despite liking it a lot), but I do feel a little anxious in that I have no idea where we’re going as the show enters its last three hours. Azazel’s been lying low, and there hasn’t been much on the psychic front. Getting worried we’re heading for a fall.

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“Looks like Mr. Okey-dokey is… okey-dokey.”

It's always the quiet ones.

Call this disc “Supernatural‘s Greatest Hits – REMIXED.”

One of the challenges of Supernatural faces is keeping itself from getting stale. While there are lots of myths and legends and folklore to explore from all sorts of cultures, it’s a challenge to make these things unique episode to episode, to differentiate between whatever the episode’s big bad is from the previous episode and the next episode.

At the same time, the show has demonstrated extreme creativity, so I found it a little odd when it revisited shapeshifters. And then issues of faith. And then possessions. And then Dean and Sam pulling pranks on each other.

Then I got over it because the episodes on this disc, despite initially seeming like retreads, provide not only nice variations on previous episode, but they also further larger concerns of this season, which is what makes the episodes rewarding (I mean aside from the fact they’re all good episodes).

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Well don’t you guys few folks who read this like making me look foolish? I spill some digital ink on how unbalanced I feel the show has become and then disc three is a mini Sam trilogy (well, “Playthings” is more of a epilogue to a duology, but you get my point). You could’ve warned me, left a comment, told me that things shape up a little bit, or that I had some stuff to look froward to! But nooooo. Silence. I see how it is.

As you can imagine, I was pretty happy with the disc on a Sam-level, and I was very happy with each on an episode-by-episode basis as well. Each episode hit on certain types of stories that appeal to me, or on nice big questions that have been surrounding the season so far. On the whole, enjoyed this disc far more than disc 2, and leaves me eager for disc 3 (though I was sad that there wasn’t a little preview attached to this one; the one on disc 2 has me spoiled now). Read more »

“For him. It’s my way of being close to him.“

Despite all his big talk, Dean has a horrible sense of what makes for a good first date.

Taking a break from the regular format for an episode that really stood out for a number of reasons, and to talk about its place within Supernatural‘s framework in general.

At its core, Supernatural is a show about family (at least so far, but I don’t see that changing). I mean, yes, its unifying relationship is about two brothers (and their father, of course) so it’s not that much of a stretch to make that claim.

Like I said in the review of the first disc, I really like the introduction of Jo and Ellen as another take on not only hunting, but also presenting a different gender take on the challenges. And “No Exit” gives an opportunity to explore those challenges.

Plus it’s pretty damn creepy, isn’t it?

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“My name is Dean Winchester. I am an Aquarius. I enjoy sunsets, long walks on the beach, and frisky women. And I did not kill anyone.“

"This is my hope box. It only has your picture in it, bro."

Not quite as strong a disc as the first one was, but still there’s a number of nice things going on each episode, even if some of them, as a whole, aren’t particular riveting or interesting.

I am picking up on a slight imbalance in the episodes’ focus this season. If last season was about Sam’s re-entry in the life of hunting and coping with all the stress that motivated and came about because of it, this season thus far as been about Dean dealing with the repercussions of John’s deal with Azazel.

And this is good stuff. I appreciate that this hasn’t just gone away, or been pushed down to pivotal episodes, and instead flows through many of the episodes as a subtext (later made text). But the show doesn’t seem to know what to dean with Sam now. He doesn’t do much computer legwork or journal referring, as much of it has been outsourced to Ash, and he spends more time protecting the Victim of the Week than battling off the demons.

The balance between the two, narratively speaking, was evener in season 1. It could just be the early goings for the season in which this happens, but I hope things shake out a bit soon, with a more collaborative approach to the hunting between the two. Likewise, Sam is taking John’s death significantly better, and that seems a little odd to me, despite their estrangement.

But that was just a quick look at a larger thought about the disc and its episodes. Thoughts on the individual episodes after the jump. Read more »

My experience attempting to watch and blog about Supernatural season 1 was a bit of a disaster. I stopped after the ninth episode, and only then wrote about a small amount of the episodes. My time allowed to blog, my time allowed to watch, and how quickly I watch were in conflict with one another. I like doing an entire disc at once, but it’s tricky to write consistently and quickly when you do episodes that quickly.

So after the failure, I decided that the best way to approach blogging about season 2 was to adopt and adapt my methodology for watching the first season of Breaking Bad. Instead of having one post devoted to the entire season and updating it as I go along, each disc will have its own post, with thoughts on each of the episodes on that disc.

So, without, further ado, I give you the first four episodes of season 2 of Supernatural (and these episodes include some truly amazing titles).

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Well, it’s finally happening. I’m watching the first season of Breaking Bad.

I’ve never been particularly excited about the series, despite all the positive word of mouth and critical praise heaped upon it. I cannot explain the lack of excitement (I remember that when I heard the premise, I said, “Oh. So it’s Weeds. But with a guy. Who has a cancer. Hijinks ensue.”), but it was just never much of a priority for me, despite how really superb I think Byran Cranston is in anything.

But here I am, caving to peer pressure, like I was told never to do. I decided to split the difference in the normal way of covering a show for a DVD First Watch. I didn’t care for the season summary approach I took with Mad Men, but the Supernatural episode-by-episode approach was taking me forever to watch and then write about (I did finish season 1, by the way. Reaction: HOLY CRAP, GUYS. THAT’S INSANE. IS THE IMPALA OKAY?!).

Instead, I’m borrowing a page from Maureen Ryan’s playbook as she watched season 3 of Breaking Bad: After each episode she watched, she did a brief list of responses and thoughts about it and then went to the next one. Mine may be in paragraph form as opposed to a bulleted list, but the thought process will be the same: I’ll watch an episode, write some brief thoughts, and then go to the next one.

I should be able to get through all seven episodes today (update: I did not), so either check back here every hour or so for thoughts on the episode I just watched, or keep an eye on my Twitter feed for when I update this entry or have to take a break.

Here we go. Read more »

“So if we’re going to figure out what’s going on now, we have to figure out what happened back then.”

I’ve already seen the episodes that follow this one, up through, as of this writing, “Faith.” While I was watching, I was tweeting little bits about my enjoyment (and I really love this run of episodes as you’ll see), and regular commenter on this First Watch, Charlotte Howell, noted that this run of episodes is where she no longer needed convincing about staying with the show. I was pretty sold after “The Phantom Traveler,” but “Home,” “Asylum,” and “Scarecrow” have me fully committed to Supernatural. In that spirit, each one gets its own write-up, starting with “Home.”

Which starts off this: Damn. Just damn. Read more »