Supernatural: Pilot

[DanteC]

A guy with everything going great in his life winds up with his dipshit brother showing up to drag him back to a world of ghosts and monsters. Still, the music's good.

I could never get into this show. Tried to give the first season a shot, and just found everything, terrible. I don't mind shows that use legends as a basis for a story, but it feels like the writers assume I'm going to like the characters, when I really, really don't. Dean comes off as an utter prick. Sam leter pretends to be a FBI agent with that haircut, and I know I need to come to this type of show with a level of open-mindedness, but my sense of skepticism can only take so much. The only redeeming thing I found with it was Mark Shepherd turning up later on. I'd happily watch him as Crowley over the Whiner Twins any day.

Maybe it's because I'm Scottish, but the lack of a typical urban environment is something I found different about Supernatural's approach to urban fantasy. It's not based in a city like Grimm with Portland, Buffy with Sunnydale, or Lost Girl with, well wherever in Canada it's based, but instead does a tour of the US, which as an outsider, is refreshing. Just a shame I find the characters so punchable.

Did notice however that the Woman in White is played by Sarah Shahi, who is in the fantastic Person of Interest.

[CrypticMirror]

Just going by what I've heard from fandom about this series; this is the show about two brothers who make out with each other in the backseat of their car in every state including Hawaii and occasionally take turns to give an angel blowjobs.

That is all I got. That is what I've gotten from the fandom for the show.

[RobbyB1982]

The first season o the show is weak and yes, is very much monster of the week. They find their footing in later seasons when they start getting more recurring characters and ongoing plot arcs and by later seasons they've kind of got a whole war of heaven and hell thing going on. Two of the long running main characters that make the show work don't even appear till seasons 4 and 5! (And then proceeded to stay with the show the next 10 years.)

It similar to how the first season of Buffy doesn't justify watching any more of the series but then the second and third seasons are pretty good as they figure stuff out and how the character chemistry works and introduce new characters to fill out old holes.

[Percysowner]

Just going by what I've heard from fandom about this series; this is the show about two brothers who make out with each other in the backseat of their car in every state including Hawaii and occasionally take turns to give an angel blowjobs.

That is all I got. That is what I've gotten from the fandom for the show.

Supernatural fandom is intense and often sees things not in the script. One of the characters is afraid to fly, so definitely no Hawaii. Also too, no blowjobs or gay sex, except for having a few gay guest stars, some of whom are married to each other, so you can make assumptions about that happening off screen.

Really don't judge the show by the fandom, which is kind of nuts at times.

The show does get stronger as it goes on with mytharcs and some fairly compelling characters in Sam and yes, Dean. It's not everybody's cup of tea, but boy did it connect with fans in way that few shows have, in my experience.

I have watched from the start and have enjoyed it, for what it's worth.

[Rocketboy1313]

I watched and enjoyed the first season.
I have a brother and often shows with sibling relationships have a lot of appeal to me on that level (Gravity Falls and Full Metal Alchemist being good examples), but when I saw that Supernatural had SO MANY EPISODES... I didn't want to get into it.

[Neddy471]

Hokay, before you write off the series altogether, I suggest you watch the following episodes, in the following order, and if any two sequential episodes (I ordered them so they work best in sets of two for watching) don't make you want to keep watching, then the show probably isn't for you:

Scarecrow (Season 1, Episode 11)
Tall Tales (Season 2, Episode 15)
Hell House (Season 1, Episode 17)
Ghostfacers (MINOR SPOILERS!) (Season 3, Episode 13)
Yellow Fever (MINOR SPOILERS!) (Season 4, Episode 6)
Sex and Violence (Season 4, Episode 14)

Reasoning: Scarecrow gives a great example of the inter-brother dynamic which is played with in "Tall Tales," Hell House sets up "Ghostfacers" which is one of my favorite episodes in the series, Yellow Fever is straight up hilarious and terrifying, and "Sex and Violence" is one of the best "using the dynamic of the brothers" episodes, plus it has so much hot-woman fanservice that it should satiate any straight male who is tired of the Dean/Sam girls.

These are some of my favorite episodes (I am not including "Mystery Spot" from Season 3, because there are some HUGE spoilers in it for Seasons 2 and 3). Season 2 and 3 are my favorite seasons. They very clearly play with the relationship between the brothers, have some decently hot women in them, and some great comedy.

More or less, this is a Buddy-Cop Horror-Action Series, where the Cops are Ghost-Hunters, and they're buddies because they're brothers from a dysfunctional and abusive family. The interplay there is amazing, and it's extremely interesting to watch the two - fairly talented - actors play off each other in comedy and action-horror.

Also, the show ended in Season 5. There is no Season 6 onward. Anyone who says otherwise has been corrupted. They must be purged.

[bluebydefault]

Dean's behavior gets better and the show really does explore him putting on show of machismo. Although the character regresses after season 5. But most characters start out rough they need to grow.

I think season 1 main failing the last time I rewatched it was how often they fought. It felt like they weren't sure how to fill up some of the time, at least until they got more comfortable with the characters and the main plot really kicked in.

Oh man season 5 wraps up the on going story so nicely. I was pretty disappointed at how loose the story telling got after that. They really didn't keep up with continuity and killing off characters like crazy. You would start to like someone and they were just killed off. I have come back in for funnier episodes like the Scooby crossover.

They do some great comedy episodes in this show. Changing Channels is awesome. The Real Ghostbusters making fun of them doing their gruff voice is great. The one with the Universal Monsters done in black and white is also one of my favorites and I usually watch it around Halloween every year.

The fandom gives this show a bad name. SOME of them (not all) get so mad at you if you don't think the slash pairing they want isn't there. I also have had some people, mainly men, think it's a show only for young girls or woman who like slash. They are usually surprised when I show it to them and its pretty scary and fun.

[stellar_coyote]

I also could never get into Supernatural, there's only so much "CWness" I could handle and 15 seasons (good Lord, some showrunners couldn't even imagine that) just seems too much.

[Fuzzy Necromancer]

The first season o the show is weak and yes, is very much monster of the week. They find their footing in later seasons when they start getting more recurring characters and ongoing plot arcs and by later seasons they've kind of got a whole war of heaven and hell thing going on. Two of the long running main characters that make the show work don't even appear till seasons 4 and 5! (And then proceeded to stay with the show the next 10 years.)

It similar to how the first season of Buffy doesn't justify watching any more of the series but then the second and third seasons are pretty good as they figure stuff out and how the character chemistry works and introduce new characters to fill out old holes.

Hey, don't trash Monster of the Week. There's nothing inherently wrong with the Monster of the Week format.

[FaxModem1]

The biggest failing of the show is that the plot has to bend over backwards to justify why two rednecks can fight the forces of evil and not be instantly squished, so that they can have the appeal of being about blue collar demon hunters.

I could never get into this show. Tried to give the first season a shot, and just found everything, terrible. I don't mind shows that use legends as a basis for a story, but it feels like the writers assume I'm going to like the characters, when I really, really don't. Dean comes off as an utter prick. Sam leter pretends to be a FBI agent with that haircut, and I know I need to come to this type of show with a level of open-mindedness, but my sense of skepticism can only take so much. The only redeeming thing I found with it was Mark Shepherd turning up later on. I'd happily watch him as Crowley over the Whiner Twins any day.

Maybe it's because I'm Scottish, but the lack of a typical urban environment is something I found different about Supernatural's approach to urban fantasy. It's not based in a city like Grimm with Portland, Buffy with Sunnydale, or Lost Girl with, well wherever in Canada it's based, but instead does a tour of the US, which as an outsider, is refreshing. Just a shame I find the characters so punchable.

The show really revels in the idea that large cities don't really exist. In that large cities don't exist, and that every town they go into are small, out in the middle of nowhere, towns. This is again, to justify the plot that the Winchesters can get away with everything they do. This is partly due to the lack of research and care by the writers, who once had an episode take place in Richardson, TX(season 1's Hell House, the first episode of the Ghost Chasers), a suburb of Dallas, and treated it like a small town who's biggest claim to fame was the local grocery store and nearby restaurant, as opposed to teens going to Dallas for the nightclubs.

The other problem, of course, is that the forces of heaven, hell, and beyond only seem to operate in the US. You will never see a monster, ghost, demon, or some other thing anywhere outside of the continental US in Supernatural. Though, I found the explanation in season 13 quite fitting for it(the US has a paranormal power vacuum, every other country actually has an organization dedicated to fighting evil and has made it impossible for the creatures of the night to do evil).