I’m not very good at sticking to TV schedules, I miss a week here and there and before I know it I’ve missed almost an entire series. To get around this I tend to spend days taking to my bed watching a number of series back to back in a pit of curtain drawn obsession. True Blood never fails to stir hot blooded urgings, Desperate Housewives kept me continually wondering if the next episode was going to be a winner or a binner, and I’m surprised I even survived the heart breaking, emotionally draining Grey’s Anatomy which I watched from Series 2 straight through to Series with plenty of tissues at the ready.
Having run out of things to watch (I know, is that possible?) under good authority from my sister I started watching Supernatural, CW’s crazy paranormal thriller with demons and ghosts and werewolves and vampires and most importantly….Jenson Ackles. Instantly getting off to a promising start the first couple of series mostly gave stand-alone episodes with the back story having Sam, Dean and their father on the hunt for the yellow eyed demon which killed both their mother and Sam’s girlfriend. But it quickly emerged to be much more. Sam was ‘infected’ with demon blood allowing special abilities to bubble to the surface. Dean’s hatred for the supernatural brought emotional turmoil as he fought to understand his brother’s actions whilst the death of their father (and seemingly everyone else close to them in any way) had the cast shrinking but the story excitingly rolling on. There were good and bad demons. There were good and bad humans. And there was the hilarity of the ‘Ghostface’ episodes and ‘Changing Channels’ where the trickster put Sam & Dean into TV world with brilliant take-off’s of Grey’s Anatomy and CSI.
However, five season’s later, whilst the story is still original, thrilling and gripping, I wonder where Supernatural has left to go. Dean’s been to hell, been brought back by an angel and got embroiled in a holy war between heaven and hell. Sam’s dabbled with his abilities, died and gone to heaven with his brother before unleashing Lucifer (albeit accidently) and falling into an abyssal prison cell with the devil. Stand-alone episodes quickly fell away as the climax of the five season’s were brought together, ending writer Eric Kripke’s five season vision who is now passing the reigns over to someone new. And having had such a thrill packed and dangerous ride it’s hard to see how such drama can be topped, without of course moving into the ridiculous. So whilst I wait with anticipation for Mr Ackles and Mr Padalecki’s return this Autumn I hope its back to the basics of the good old days.
The Modern Hermit 