Review

Three teenage chicks are having one of those slumber parties we all slobber about – visions of pillow fights and sexy nighties, you understand. Anyways, the chicks are doing one of those truth or dare things, which never work out well in a horror show. One of the gals, Charlie, gets dared into doing the “Bloody Mary” thing in the bathroom mirror. Nothing happens outside of a false scare. However, the girls have unleashed a supernatural force that takes out the dad of the house in a fairly gruesome fashion.

Dean and Sam are quickly onto the scene and find they are dealing with one of the most infamous of all urban myths. Except this time it isn’t a myth, and Bloody Mary’s victims aren’t who the Bros expect them to be. Much carnage and actual scares ensue. Ready to check your reflection in a mirror?

This was the first episode of Supernatural I checked out; I got it on one of those upcoming TV shows screeners and promptly forgot to review. Remember thinking at the time that I just had to dial into the show, but simply had too much on my plate to get down and dirty with season 1. This is just a roundabout way of once again saying thanks to the readers who sent in the DVDs, and hence why you are all getting bored reading the episode guide. Yo, back to the review.

What I’m really digging in Supernatural is the Writers’ ability to take a standard urban myth, and then add a fairly unique twist to it in order to work the concept into the series and add depth to the overall plot arcs. Bloody Mary is no exception, and I was digging where Burton and Milbaur were taking this one. We are probably all hip to the “Bloody Mary” thing, but here it’s given a revamp, including the injection of belief in mirrors capturing souls at the time of death and such.

The episode starts strongly, with the chicks doing the requisite summoning, and then a false scare. What really got me into it was the way it turned the standard concept of Bloody Mary on its head and went in a new direction from the standard urban myth. Charlie summons Mary, but nothing happens besides a jump scene… until later, when Dad bares the full brunt of the Revenant’s fury. I was immediately intrigued by the concept and wanted to find out how they were going to explain this development. Naturally they get there, and when Sam decides to do a bit of Mary-calling of his own I was grinning from ear to ear. Just how cool is this development? There is a fair amount of tension involved, which is normally lacking in TV output, to be honest.

Another excellent outing that sees the Winchester Bros firm as ScaryMinds favourites.

By episode five we have the standard plot sussed. The Winchester Bros will decide to go investigate some strange happenings, do some research, and then resolve the problem, before heading off back onto the highway of destiny. Where each episode has managed to hold our attention is through the pre-opening credits gambits, the plot arcs coming at us, and the ability to put the Bros in harm’s way in reasonably convincing fashion. Not entirely sure if this is going to be sustainable for an entire 22 episode first season, however.

Bloody Mary ramps itself up pretty effectively by the underlying mystery – just how is Mary picking her victims? – and by once again presenting a strong dialogue-driven train of events. We learn about Mary (the whole Mary Worthington thing was slightly on the nasty side of things), we get more insight into Sam’s state of mind, and the one-liners are coming at us courtesy of Dean. Overall I was grooving to things, and the added bonus of Jessica appearing in white towards the end of the episode provided some depth to proceedings. Was Jessica’s appearance due to Sam’s state of mind, was it closure, or is this an indication that things are evolving for later episodes? We’ll have to dial in to find out, and guess that’s just what the producers want us to do.

As a stand alone episode this one rocks – pretty much all the episodes thus far can be viewed without reference to other episodes – and the series has pretty much found its feet. Mary as an incorporate spirit of mayhem is a freak out, definitely surpassing some ex-girlfriends in not being what you want to wake up to. The fact that she can appear in any reflective surface had me by the short and curlies, and there’s one scene which is a ripper in this regard.

Clearly this episode owes a huge debt of thanks to The Ring, and by association the original j-horror shocker Ring. We may have seen the effect 101 times before by now, but I still get a shiver every time I get dealt the jerky crawling through various items thing. Cool resolution involved as well – you go, Dean!

Once again this good old boy can’t complain about the music sent my way. We get “Laugh, I Nearly Died” Rolling Stones, “Sugar, We’re Going Down” Fallout Boy, and a touch of class with Def Leppard’s “Rock Of Ages”. I was thumping my feet in appreciation of that mix.

Man, I simply dug this episode. Throw any sort of reference to Ring on my screen and I’m a happy camper. Cool mix of shocks, plot arcs, and the outstanding interaction between the Brothers. Finally I think we can say Supernatural has found its feet, and I’m really looking forward to future episodes; this series just has to be the best TV horror outing since Buffy wowed us all.

I’m reviewing season 1 here, but in the US the series is up to season 3, so no doubt concerns raised thus far in this guide have been answered through the rest of season 1 and season 2.

Full recommendation on Bloody Mary; I really dug episode 4 (Phantom Traveler), but would call this episode the best thus far of the ones I’ve dialed into. Almost on the must-see list, would be my call. Notably this outing has upped the tempo on the claret while still restraining itself from going out and out on the gore factor. One wonders how long the show’s producers will be able to keep that up. A good wholesome shock episode with some tension laced into proceedings, this series just keeps getting better.