In praise of "Supernatural"

So I’m a late-comer to “Supernatural.” I don’t know why it didn’t register with me when it first premiered. Maybe because it seemed like some derivative teen-centric version of “The X-Files.” For whatever reason, I initially skipped this show about monster-hunter brothers Sam and Dean Winchester, and didn’t think anything of it for years. It’s not exactly a zeitgeist show. But I ended up having to check it out for work midway through season 7. And to my surprise, it was pretty darn entertaining.

I’ve read that it was initially more of a monster-of-the-week procedural in the first few years. But by the time I started watching, it had developed a pretty complicated mythology, much of which was initially lost on me. But that didn’t matter because, while I’m generally a serial/mythology enthusiast, that wasn’t what hooked me.

I liked the clever mix of genuinely creepy scares and sarcastic, quippy humor. It was the closest thing to “Buffy the Vampire Slayer” (all hail Buffy!) that I’d come across in the years since that show ended. I’m not suggesting that it was anywhere near the quality level of "Buffy." But just as Johnnie Walker Black can’t compare to Johnnie Walker Blue, a scotch fan isn’t likely going to object to the former.

Eventually I got into the mythology a bit more. It was probably fresher for me than for some who endured multiple iterations of one Winchester brother or the other dying/going to hell/becoming a demon/losing his soul, etc. But that’s not what kept, and keeps, me coming back.

Instead it’s three things:

The willingness to go to truly dark places and let horrible things happen, even to characters I grew to love, like Bobby (may he rest in peace) Charlie (may she rest in peace) and Kevin (may he rest in peace). In fact, a recurring theme seems to be that for anyone who enters the Winchester brothers’ inner circle, no good deed goes unpunished. Many of them have died, some horribly. And Sam and (especially) Dean are well aware of the curse their friendship seems to bring.

The other main draw is the humor. Supporting characters like Crowley, Castiel and (perhaps my favorite villain) Dick Roman all got to have fun even as they wreaked death and destruction. I’m not a big fan of Rowena but not every baddie is going to be a winner. Beyond the recurring characters, there’s always Dean, who I find to be the funniest character on a show that’s not a straight out comedy.

Lastly, what I like about the show is its willingness to take risks, even if they don’t always work. A few seasons ago, they did a found footage episode in which the brothers were only secondary characters. It wasn’t great but I appreciated the effort.

Last season, they did a special musical episode to celebrate the show’s 200^th episode. While not very scary, it was funny, heartfelt and a little mysterious.

And just last week they did it once again, with an episode called “Baby,” told exclusively from the perspective of Dean’s 1967 Chevy Impala. The entire story took place either in or right next to the car. It was a pretty standard, monster-of-the-week episode that only marginally moved the season-long arc forward. But it was creative and so well done that it took me a while to figure out what they were doing with the car.

I appreciate that a series in its 11^th season can still find new and different ways to explore its world without feeling hack-ish. It’s not “Breaking Bad” or “Lost” or “Buffy.” But if you’re looking for a show that effectively brings the dark and the funny in equal measure, you could do a lot worse. Although I’ll still never forgive the producers for killing Charlie.

The Walking Dead- "Thank You"

The name of this episode was "Thank You" but it could more accurately have been called "Nihilism Wins."

Even for a show as relentlessly downbeat at "TWD," this went to a new place. I'm not saying it was bad. In fact, this was the third consecutive episode to start this season to hit on almost all levels, a rarity for a show whose quality seems to wax and wane from week to week. The action was near-non-stop, as was the dread, which seemed to escalate with each passing moment.

But all that tension and excitement reached its inevitable boiling point with (do I really need to say SPOILER ALERT?) the shocking and and depressing death of Glenn. I say shocking because up until the end, I thought the show's MacGyver would find a way out. I say depressing because, while he wasn't the most interesting character on the show (Carol), the most mysterious (Morgan) or the coolest (Daryl), Glenn always struck me as the most relatable.

Glenn was just a pizza delivery guy who rose to the occasion during the most trying of times. He put himself at risk to save Rick at the beginning of the series. He ended up wooing and and winning Maggie (a gal he probably couldn't have dated pre-zombie apocalypse). And he always maintained his decency and regular guy attitude. While the horror of this world has turned Rick into something barely human, Glenn never lost his humanity. So that sucks.

I know the internet is rife with discussion and theories about whether Glenn is actually dead or not, all of which feels very Jon Snow-y "Game of Thrones"-ish. But for today at least, I'm less interested in that stuff than in allowing myself to mourn my personal favorite "TWD" character. Here's hoping someone stabs you in the head soon, Glenn.

A few random thoughts:

It was pretty cool to see Rick take out those zombies while listening to Glenn tell to him about his plan over the radio. Talk about multi-tasking.

A distant (but still disheartening) second to Glenn's death in the "bum me out" department: the guy who got bit in the shoulder not getting to tell his new wife how she gave his life meaning OR getting to have Michonne deliver the note he wrote to her AND getting totally chomped while trying to scale the fence. Couldn't someone have shot him and put him out of his misery?

I am so tired of the gang going into what seems like some abandoned building to hunker down quietly while the zombies pass by outside and not checking out the entire joint, including closets, to make sure there are no walkers inside. Protocol seems pretty standard for these situations:

1) Lock the doors if possible.
2) Check everywhere for stray walkers.
3) Kill said walkers.
4) Stay vewwy vewwy qwiet.

 Michonne's speech to ponytail guy about not knowing what it's like to be out there and sometimes being unsure if the blood on you was yours, a friend's or a zombies seemed heavy-handed even before ponytail dude saw his bloody reflection in the stream.

One small bit bit of solace/happiness/justice: When the gang first took on the zombies in the woods, the bald black guy stepped up to help and was rewarded by an inadvertent shot to the leg by cowardly floppy-hat wearing guy. I thought he was done for. But surprisingly, he survived and the guy who shot him and ran off got mauled real good. That's my glass half full note. I'll take what I can get.

Speaking of survival, one final thought: Black characters so often seem to be the first to get killed in the horror genre. It's become a cliche'. So it was refreshing to see that all (and by all, I mean a whopping total of three) of the survivors of the chaos and carnage were African-American. Progress?

Arrow- "Restoration"

What I'm digging- Felicity being Oliver's sugar mommy.

What I'm not digging- The awkward clunky conversation between Thea and Malcolm about how to deal with PPBD (Post Pit Bloodlust Disorder).

What I'm digging- Oliver and Diggle finally having an honest conversation about their frayed friendship and loss of trust. More please.

What I'm not digging- Having this week's baddie be a meta-human who was changed while getting a tattoo and whose special power is...wait for it...throwing really sharp playing cards at people. It felt like something out of Mystery Men.

What I'm digging- How the show is having the island flashbacks repeatedly call back to the first season. Only now Oliver seems to be serving in the Yao Fei role. It's already way more promising than the awful Hong Kong stuff. By the way, I'm very curious to see what happens with the flashbacks after this season. If my math is right, by the end of this season, the flashbacks will have caught up in time to the start of the series. What happens then?

What I'm not digging- The constant use of the Lazarus Pit as a cheap plot device. Part of the power of this show is how it forces the characters to face the finality and consequences of death (Moira, Shado). The pit diminishes all that. I know it was necessary so Caity Lotz could join the "Legends of Tomorrow" spin-off. But still.

What I'm digging- Thea destroying the Lazarus pit. Maybe the writers were starting to feel the same way I was. Let's hope they throw a tarp over it and never speak of it again.

The Walking Dead- Season 6, Episodes 1 & 2

After several years of meandering plotlines that seemed to tread water (the entire time on the farm in Season 2, the post-prison characters "scattered to the wind" episodes of Season 4), "The Walking Dead," seemed to generally find its footing again last season. Even the episodes that didn't totally work (Beth's solo sojourn to that Atlanta hospital) were ambitious.

So it's nice to see that general level of quality sustained through the first two episodes of Season 6. The premiere, "First Time Again," deserves credit for going all out, with the most massive scope we've ever seen, at least in terms of pure zombie population. And it gave us perhaps the coolest image the show has ever created- Daryl Dixon serving as Grand Marshall for a parade of the undead. The black and white vs. color scenes worked well, both visually and to give clarity and structure to what was a potentially confusing time-jumping episode.

Yes, there were the typical TWD questions about why this character did that totally unnecessary dumb thing or that character made that clueless comment. But that's standard issue for this show and to get overly riled about it is like expecting you dog, who can fetch and roll over, not to lick its butt. That expectation is not realistic. Nor is expecting TWD to logically cohere at all times. Just be happy with the fetching.

And that's what made the season's second episode, "JSS," so much fun. Because, after a brief introductory period involving chats about smokers, it jettisoned any attempt to provide expository jibber-jabber and dove headlong into an "Assault on Precinct 13" -style hellscape that had almost nothing to do with zombies.

Who would have expected that one of most shocking moments in the history of the show would not be in any way related to a zombie attack but rather a quiet, suburban moment undone by out-of-nowhere human-on-human brutality? The lesson- don't take that smoke break.

And from that moment on, the episode turns into a nonstop, unrelenting torrent of unchecked viciousness, pulsing anxiety and Carol ass-kickery. The undercover housewife traded in her apron for a hoodie and blood-stained "W" forehead tattoo, moving through Alexandria like some sort of domestic ninja goddess leaving death and pasta recipes in her wake. Only Morgan was unsurprised by the transition, barely batting an eye at the new look from the woman he already suspected was only play-acting at being Donna Reed.

Speaking of Morgan, let me say that I really appreciate having him around. He's a complicated, fascinating character who I suspect will play a huge narrative and moral role on the show this season. And were it not for him and Carol, Alexandria would have been Wolftown by episode's end.

But what is up with his refusal to kill? I mean, I get it generally. He's a lot like Oliver Queen on "Arrow"- a man who had to embrace his own blood lust to survive but wants to find a way back to his humanity by forgoing killing, even bad guys . But come on!

At a certain point, I think he gets a pass to engage in a little wooden staff termination. And that point is when a wolf dude hiding in a house tries to off him even after he's been warned off and given a reprieve. Morgan did ultimately take the guy out. But his "three strikes and you're still not out" policy is starting to feel a bit outre during, you know, a zombie apocalypse.

That said, "JSS" was one of the most purely entertaining episodes the show has ever proffered. It's hard to imagine the creative team can sustain that level of intensity next week. And trying to may be a mistake. Then again, there is a Mardis Gras-sized zombie crowd headed for Alexandria, so who knows?

Am I back?

It's been quite a while but I'm weighing returning to my hugely popular blog. There's been such a groundswell of interest in my prior posts that not returning may be impossible. I'll keep you posted.