Supernatural is one of several shows I plan
to check out this fall. I can’t guarantee reviews of
every episode for it, but I have time to review the
pilot. (I’ll be reviewing Smallville again,
and I may not have time to do two reviews each week.)
This episode airs again on Thursday; check it out if
you missed it last night.
Cast and Crew
Jensen Ackles as Dean Winchester
Jared Padalecki as Sam Winchester
Written by Eric Kripke
Directed by David Nutter, who also acts as an
Executive Producer.
Complete information is
available from this
IMDB
page.
Original Airdate
“Pilot” originally aired on Tuesday, September 13,
2005. It
will air again on Thursday, September 15, 2005.
Premise
This episode introduces us to the Winchester brothers,
who have been
trained by their father to hunt ghosts and the like
from a very young
age.
High Point
The conversation about the cassette tape collection.
Low Point
The conversations between Sam and his friends. They
just didn’t seem
convincing to me. I never got a sense of excitement
or passion from
Padalecki about his career, which didn’t really sell
the importance of
the interview.
The Review
These guys are like Ghostbusters with a
purpose. We’ve got
the spooky elements and the humour combined, but this
time, we’ve got
the makings of a long-term story arc. It hasn’t
really done a lot of
original stuff just yet, but the overall
quality was high
enough that I’ll keep watching. I give it 3 out of 6.
The effects before the final resolution were
very good, with
a very nicely done “hand on the window” effect about
midway through.
The final resolution of the “woman in white” story
wasn’t quite as
well done as the rest. I give it 4 out of 6.
The story is light on plot, heavy on
character introduction.
We learn about their history, family and techniques
rapidly and
through conversation rather than immediate exposition.
It’s a solid
pilot episode. I give it 4 out of 6.
The acting from Ackles was very good.
Padalecki wasn’t bad,
but he wasn’t great. He could improve over the course
of the series.
I give it 4 out of 6.
The emotional response was very positive, but
that’s mostly
derived from where I see this going. When I was
watching this, I felt
like The X-Files was back on the air. Any
fellow philes out
there should definitely check this out. I give it 5
out of 6.
The production had excellent lighting. This
is remarkably
dark for a network show, and that’s exactly what the
series needs.
The editing had some excellent sequences, and some
mediocre portions.
In all, I think this is going to be one of the best
made shows on the
air once the crew gets a feel for each other. I give
it 5 out of 6.
Overall, it’s a very strong start to what
might be a great
series. By pilot episode standards, it’s an easy 5
out of 6.
In total, “Pilot” receives 30 out of 42.
All in all
I thought it was a good show. After watching this episode I set MythTv to record this show.
Very spooky and fairly scary (for television). The scene where the younger brother gets attacked in the car was really good.
I agree about the sentiment about the younger brother’s commitment to his interview. You just know from the start of the episode that he’ll miss the interview, he just doesn’t try at all to sell that its important at all in the acting.
Also as for the ending whats up with people getting home and then walking through the ENTIRE HOUSE without turning on a single light. It like you can hear in your head the discussion on the set “it’ll be so much spookier if he doesn’t turn the lights on”. Yeah, its spookier, but it pulls you out of the show while you wonder why the heck someone who was ostensibly “afraid of the dark” doesn’t turn on a single light when he gets home. Ok that the end of my rant…
The Father
I have my doubts about who/what he may really be. I was under the impression that their real father died when the house went up in flames. Wasn’t there someone else in the room with Sam when the mother got up? I assumed that he was the one that grabbed the boys. It will be interesting to find out once they actually show him again.
Re: The Father
That was exactly what I thought. In fact, my current theory (easily rewritable, given the lack of info) is that he is a “good” demon, who chose these two to train as hunters for reasons as yet unknown. By killing the parents and assuming the father’s role, he could gain that control. He was going to lose Sam to his girlfriend, so he removed that option to ensure Sam takes the path his “father” has chosen for him.
Re: The Father
I agree completely. I thought it was a little too coincidental that the girlfriend died the exact same way as the mother. Something is up with the father. Hopefully, whatever that something is will make for an interesting plot twist.
The Son?
See, the way I figured it, something is up with the son. Perhaps the ‘real dad’ isn’t his dad – think something along the lines of the Bruce Campbell episode of X-Files.
I think I’m going to enjoy this – it’s got a feeling reminiscent of early X-Files like Fiziko said – around Season 2-3, right before the conspiracy became all-consuming, but not before they stopped having really good freak-o-the-weeks.
Re: The Father
I thought that someone else was in the hall, and they did clearly show the dad with the kids outside