Thursday 15 October 2009

Supernatural 5x5




Fallen Idols.


After the first 4 drama heavy episodes of this fifth and possibly final season of Supernatural, we are thrown into a much lighter fare, and in some ways this is relieving for the viewer. It is also very telling to long term viewers, showing us exactly how far the show has progressed since it originally aired.

Yes that’s right folks, we have a genuine Monster Of The Week here. Or rather God of the week. Not that deities are a problem for the Winchester boys, they have fought and killed Gods before, but never have they come across one in such a menacing and pure evil form.

This one is in the form of Paris Hilton.

Yes you read that right. Supernatural has always kept its guest stars to a minimum and if they are famous, then the show tries not to push them down our throats. But with this episode, Hilton doesn’t fade away into the background, she is there in your face, saying look at me I’m Paris Hilton guest starring on Supernatural. While that may sound outrageously unpleasant, it works well in the favour of the episodes main themes of celebrity culture.

This malevolent God used to lure people into the ancient forests of eastern Europe, but its forest was destroyed and now it seeks out its victims by posing as the people they most admire.
The opening sequence shows two best friends who have seemingly discovered the Porsche that James Dean crashed, it builds up the menace as we know something horrendous is about to happen, and it does, one man leaves the room momentarily and hears the roar of an engine and screeching tyres, he returns to find his best friend’s head smashed through the top of the windscreen as if he had crashed.

Sam and Dean arrive in town. Dean thinks the car is haunted and even mentions the famous car from Stephen King’s horror story Christine. Dean is still looking over Sam’s shoulder, while I feel he is right to do that given recent events, his behaviour comes off as aggressive and mean rather than concerned. Sam is feeling this pressure too.
Another death occurs, this time a man obsessed with Abraham Lincoln, and the only witness to this grisly murder swears she saw a man with a beard in very tall hat do the deed. The brothers discover there is waxwork museum in town, they head over there and find out each of the dummies has a genuine item that belonged to the original person. Lincoln’s hat and James Dean’ keychain. So they burn the items, believing this will solve the problem and end the killings. This scene has Dean ripping it out of Sam for the person he admires in the museum, none other than Ghandi, Sam tries defend his ‘Idol’ but Dean just finds this hilarious. It is nice to see some humour back in the show, after so much doom and gloom. Obviously a certain amount of darkness is required as the apocalypse is looming, but the lightness of touch here is well received.

Upon returning to the museum Sam is attacked by Ghandi, leading them to realise this is more than ghosts of famous individuals coming back. A call from the perplexed local law enforcer proves this, two girls claim their friend was dragged off by socialite Paris Hilton.

Sam And Dean race back to the waxwork museum and find the girl, they also get their asses hand to them by Paris, who is revealed to be a God posing as peoples idols. Eventually they get the upper hand and defeat the creature.
I think Hilton did a decent job playing a spoilt and vain monster. This is well within her acting range.

All in all, a lighter more comedic based affair, which is a refreshing breath after the recent darkness. And Sam finally forces Dean to stop treating like a child, and try to think of him as an equal, this is important and I wonder how exactly this will affect the status quo between the brother’s.
I have missed episodes like this one, getting to see monsters from folklore and the unique take the show always has on them was fun in the past, and I know the show is focusing on the arc plot at the moment. And while this may not have been the ideal showcase for return to these types of story, I really do miss these types of episodes.
Angels and Lucifer are great for the show, but Supernatural used to be about two brother’s driving across the USA killing demons and creature from our nightmares. The biggest problem at the moment is this; nothing has really been scary or frightening for the viewer for some time. Supernatural has really changed over the years, mostly for the better, but I do find myself missing the things that made me fall in love with this show in the first place.

7.5 out of 10.

1 comment:

  1. hey saw u on screen rant and jus discovered ur site. i like it!!r u gonna write more?

    ReplyDelete