Review

In an intro sequence we find someone with “special powers” – he can electrocute via touch – talking to a psychologist about his adjustment problems… oh, and the lack of cats in his neighbourhood. Anyway, similar story to Sam Winchester, yellow-eyed man, plans for his future etc. Later, our “electric boy” is brutally slain by some unseen assassin. This episode grabbing you yet or what? We then cut to the Winchester Bros, and it’s directly after the events of episode 9 Croatoan. The lads are having a refreshing beer after battling the forces of darkness. Dean finally gets around to telling Sam, and us the audience, what John Winchester whispered to him on his deathbed. Dean has to look after Sam, but if Sam turns to the dark side then Dean has to kill him. Naturally Sam goes all emo and girly on us, yadda yadda.

Sam sneaks away later that night to track down people with similar demonic issues to himself. Ash, the roadhouse cyber dude, supplies a list with surprisingly few people on it, though it does include the name of the dude killed in the opening sequence. Sam heads to Lafayette Indiana to discover more about people with the same issues as himself. In Lafayette Sam meets Ava Wilson, who has the same power of “visions” that Sam has. While discussing the issue they come under fire from a sniper. Dean, who found out where Sam was headed from Ellen, tackles the sniper – hey, it’s our old friend Gordon – but is overpowered. Dean wakes tied to a chair and Gordon tells him that he has set a trap for Sam, whom he believes to be an agent of evil. Ava warns Sam that he should get out of town as the address Dean is being held at is the one she saw in a vision that involved Sam’s death. Can Sam rescue Dean, can he outfox Gordon, gosh where is Ava going to fit into things, and was this a crap plot outline or what?

Well it’s taken ten or so episodes to finally find out what John Winchester whispered to Dean on the night he died, but I’m guessing most people would have been pretty hip to the general idea anyway. So in essence the big plot reveal pretty much was just confirmation of what people had already surmised. Still, we know that’s going to impact through the next twelve episodes, though I for one hope the writers and directors don’t get bogged down with Sam being all moody and Dean fighting his inner feelings, etc; that would suck the life out of the solar system. What writer Raelle Tucker gets right with Hunted is to make Dean’s revelation work for the episode at hand, and then add some more ideas to the melting pot that is Supernatural. What happen to Ava, what role is she still to play in Sam’s destiny? Once again more questions than answers, and can they tie up all the loose ends by the end of season two?

Director Talalay turns in a pretty good – though disjointed pace-wise – episode. Hunted never does find its beat but rewards viewers with a couple of tension-laced scenes. The opening scene was working – patient tells doctor he can electrocute things then asks to shake hands – followed by a pretty gripping walk to the dude’s car, where he knows someone is out there but can’t locate them. The scene is finished off by a pretty brutal knife attack from an unseen assailant who we later learn is Gordon, the psycho hunter who first appeared in Season 2 Episode 3 Bloodlust.

Sam sailing in to rescue Dean is also pretty well done in a Hitchcock fashion. We know the booby traps are there, Sam doesn’t, will he survive? Well no prizes for guessing the outcome but what the heck, for a couple of minutes Talalay had me wondering.

Between these two scenes, however, is quite a bit of padding. Sure we get to know Ava, with the indication she’ll reprise later in the season, but did we really have to know her whole life story?

Some good background on Gordon, though, and a subtle hint that things might not be all they seem at the roadhouse. Gordon discovered via an exorcism that people like Sam are going to be hell’s foot soldiers in the coming war, hence why he is tracking them down and killing them. Good painting of the character as neither black nor white, but more in the grey area, always the most interesting of plot devices. Gordon further informs Dean that he has his own sources at the roadhouse, which kind of makes you wonder who else is out there with knowledge of what’s going down.

An episode for the franchise followers, people who only dial in occasionally should give it a miss

Good to see cameos are starting to happen in Supernatural, and yes, that is Katharine “Ginger” Isabelle from the Ginger Snaps franchise. So horror fans can start to check the secondary and minor character listings from here on in.

I didn’t pick up on any “influences” from other horror outings, with the demon foot soldiers for mine being solely a Supernatural development. A couple of pop references were slipped in, notably an allusion to Star Wars and the U.S. TV show T. J. Hooker.

On the hits of mullet rock we get “White Rabbit” by Jefferson Airplane, used extensively and effectively, and Muse turned in “Supermassive Black Hole”. So I’m happy enough with what we got, though where is my Black Sabbath as promised by the promos for this season?

Sort of got my way through this episode with no damage being done, so that’s a bonus in my book of sorrows and we can at least remain friends. Had some good spots, some padding, gave away a major plot development, then slid some more ketchup onto the whole Supernatural guessing game meal. I came out of it thinking the episode was simply okay, which pretty much means a lot of people will think it sucks. Katharine “Ginger” Isabelle was a nice surprise that upped my kind thoughts on Hunted.

Supernatural has come through the writers strike pretty much unscathed but behind schedule. The studio announced four new episodes the moment the dust settled over in LA, which leads me to believe certain people were happily clicking away on their word processors rather than joining the picket line. Hey, as long as I get the season three box set down here in Region 4 by year’s end then I’m not complaining.

If you have been faithfully following seasons one and two episode by episode then this is must-watch stuff. Lots of new plot arcs, a major development, and some characters who are not going to simply disappear on us. If you aren’t a regular Supernatural viewer then feel free to give Hunted a miss as it relies on what’s happened in the past a tad too much to be a standalone episode.