Score: 7.5 (Out of 10)

SUPERNATURAL Episode 1-02 ("Wendigo") Review

SUPERNATURAL’s second episode, “Wendigo” is a strong if by-the-numbers first monster-in-the-woods entry for the series. What it lacks in original scares, it makes up for with some great character moments, some pretty good dialogue, and a fresh and interesting monster of the week.

“Wendigo” starts off with the Winchester brothers following a lead left for them by their missing father in the first episode. They end up at Blackwater Ridge in Lost Canyon, Colorado, looking for a missing group of young men, in particular one named Tommy who is the brother of the hottie of the week, Hailey (played by the lovely Gina Holden). As you may have guessed from the episodes title, this pits them against a flesh-eating Native American ghoul called a Wendigo. Meanwhile, Sam is having some emotional problems left over from the recent death of his girlfriend Jess, mostly in the form of a bad rage and revenge syndrome aimed at the unnatural beastie that killed both her, and, 22 years before that, his mother Mary. The result of this single-minded need for revenge is that Sam is getting careless and sloppy, as well as losing sight of why they hunt monsters in the first place; to make life a bit more safe for the normal folks. All of this is not a good thing when up against a creature that is bloodthirsty, abnormally crafty, and can move faster than the eye can follow. Bloody death and angsty rage ensue.

Some of the best moments in this episode come from the little character building moments that this show is surprisingly good at including amidst the action and carnage for which it earns its ratings, especially between Sam and Dean. Not only are we getting to know the two brothers through these intimate character moments, but we are learning a lot about what makes them the different from one another, as well as what binds them together. Jared Padalecki does a decent job at giving us a glimpse at his dark side, in contrast to the cool, collected scholarly type that we took him for in the first episode. This gives the characters impressive realism and depth on a level that only the good horror-themed shows provide (in other words, THE X-FILES, ANGEL, and BUFFY). Jensen Ackles, on the other hand, emotes most of his acting in this episode, showing us little of the impressive character moments that he proves himself capable of later on in the season. That having been said, he does a lot with little expressions and pointed looks, such as when he first meets Hailey early in the episode and gives his brother the “Ouch” look; he is clearly not immune to her charms. But his dialogue with Hailey in this episode is fairly ridiculous, obviously trying to play up his earnest bad boy image, for example when he says “That is pretty much the most honest I’ve been with a woman… ever”, after telling her… pretty much nothing about himself. Amusing, yes, but still pretty much throwaway dialogue. Don’t get me wrong; Dean is awesome, and most of the best comedic lines always seem to come from him. I would just like to see a little less charming filler dialogue between him and the attractive females in each episode. The guest stars in this episode did solid if unmemorable work. Gina Holden as Hailey did pretty much what she was supposed to; look really good in shorts. Callum Keith Rennie is perfectly unlikable as he was supposed to be as the tracker and guide known only as Roy. And Hailey’s brother Ben, played by Alden Caleb Ehrenreich, was a completely unnecessary and useless character that added nothing to episode. He had like four lines, and none of them were important. All the rest of the guests in this episode were there to either walk through and/or die quickly, which they did a fine job of.

Even though the episode was the basic generic werewolf episode with the with the werewolf swapped out for a more original monster, the monster they chose was cool and original enough to make the episode a little more memorable. The Wendigo is a creature that hasn’t been used terribly much in other media, or at least not over-used, and its connection to the Amerindian myth helped set the tone for the rest of the series, which has a distinct North American myth/ urban legend slant to it that makes it unique, instead of the classic werewolf/vampire/alien/whatevers that usually dominate the genre. The Wendigo is just a cool myth, which they did a great job of adapting and making their own.

Visually the episode is very strong as well, using sparse and effective special effects, and leaving the monster quite wisely mostly to the imagination. When you see the Wendigo it is usually moving so quickly that it is just a blur or cloaked in deep shadows, so that its proverbial seams never show, which is common in many other shows (especially that god-awful abomination that is CHARMED). The characters are still very clean and very pretty for what is otherwise a rather dark and gritty show, but at least they get dirtied up a bit towards the end.

“Wendigo” was a fairly strong entry that added little to the overarching storyline but provided a unique and entertaining filler. The story has been done before, and there is very little unexpected in terms of the plot arch or the scares, but there were enough of the things that make SUPERNATURAL so great, such as it’s witty dialogue, kick-ass music, and surprising character moments, not to mention the cool and unique monsters, that the episode still stands out. All in all it was a good, solid, if not great episode.