Friday, April 25, 2008

Supernatural: The Benders & Shadows

Since I started writing about season 1 of "Supernatural" I noticed that I've been getting some traffic from the fine folks over at Television Without Pity, especially from the "Supernatural" board. So if any of you guys are reading this, I'd like to know something:
Is "The Benders" the least favorite episode among it's fans?

I ask cause (spoiler alert) THERE'S NOTHING SUPERNATURAL ABOUT THIS EPISODE!

It's about a family of rednecks kidnapping totally random people, locking them in cages, then letting them go so they can hunt and kill them. That's it. The rednecks aren't possessed or are vampires or anything. True, they're pretty creepy and this was a creepy episodes but creepy does not equal "supernatural".

I dunno what everyone involved with this episode were thinking. Did the writers have this conversation:
Writer #1: So what ghost/monster should The Winchesters fight today?
(Silence)
Writer #2: I just got done watching "Texas Chainsaw Massacre". Maybe they can meet Leatherface.
Writer #1: Nah, copyright issues. We have a hard enough time paying for all the great classic rock songs that show up in each episode.
Writer #3: I just got done reading "The Most Dangerous Game".
Writer #1: Hmm...how about if we combine the two??
Writer #2: So Leatherface hunts for people in a forest?
Writer #1: Forget about Leatherface!! Just make it a random creepy family.
Writer #4: OOH! Netflix just delievered "Deliverance".
Writer #1: Excellent! A creepy REDNECK family!! Get to writin!
Writer #2: But...where's the ghosts and/or monster?
Writer #1: Christ, aren't you sick of monsters? I dunno what I was thinking when I took this job. Monsters are boring. Besides, I'm sure the fans will like this episode. It's different. It's edgy.
Writer #2: Ok...

Just a guess.

Thankfully "Shadows" came along and now we're drowing in actual supernatural crap. Some shadow demon is killing people and Dean and Sam investigate. Sam runs into that hitchhiker chick from a few episodes back that turned out to be Satan's daughter or girlfriend or something and he finally realizes this. He confirms this when he sees her doing weird witchcraft stuff, summoning demons.

Sam & Dean go into action but are almost immedately captured by Hitchhiker Girl. She tries to rape Sam in front of Dean, but Sam realizes how creepy that is and instead stabs a bitch. After knocking over her evil altar, the demons attack her, killing her.

OR SO WE THINK!!!! She's Satan's daughter and/or girlfriend! There's no killing her, fool!!

We also get a highly emotional reunion between father and son(s) and it goes on not too long so it crosses into "Lifetime" territory, but it was still quite long. It's then we find out that father and sons have to be seperated or else the demons will eat their souls or something, so father takes off, leaving Sam & Dean to tackle...something next week.

Oh and all this took place in Chicago by the way. I can't confirm if it was actually filmed there or not, they didn't film near any landmarks or anything. But seeing this is a TV show, it was probably Vancouver or something.

So anyway, I'm serious you guys from TWOP, let me know what you think. I believe I have the settings set to where you don't need a Blogger ID to leave a comment. But I do moderate all comments, so no assholish behavior, ok?
-Jason

4 comments:

kimends said...

I liked The Benders. I understand there wasn't anything Supernatural about it, but it just goes to show that people can be just as evil. I don't think it's crazy for Sam and Dean to think something Supernatural is going on, but then find out it's just people doing these horrible things. I think the writers were just trying to show that sometimes people can be the biggest monsters of all.

In the Supernatural fandom I don't think The Benders rates very high on people's lists of best episodes, but I don't think it's hated either. Season one definitely one had worse in my opinion.

Anonymous said...

The Benders was one of the better Supernatural episodes. It had the element of reality to it, and that made it scarier. We know there are people out there like the Benders, and really, how much scarier are the Benders than a ghost? As Kimends said, sometimes people are the worst monsters, and the fact that they are walking in the daylight doesn't make them less dangerous, or scarier. For me, the Benders worked. I really liked it.

Andy said...

Supernatural
is the kind of show that doesn't pussy-foot around its "make-believe" content. It takes for granted that YOU are going to believe the stuff that happens in each episode could very well be happening right now, and it's a much better show for it. This is precisely why I love the show.

DF518 said...

The Benders would have been a great episode for a show that wasn't called "Supernatural." I was a bit disappointed that the writers decided to stray away from what the show's title promises. We know people can be monsters, but there are plenty of other shows on the air that get that point across.