A First Timer's Take

One of the fun parts of being a parent is the vicarious thrill of rediscovering something for the first time by watching my kids discover it. Being a fan is a lot like that! I was just in Texas visiting a good friend who had never seen the web-musical Dr. Horrible or (gasp) any episodes of Supernatural. I showed up with a large bag of DVDs :-) We didn't even get through the first season of SPN but we did watch several episodes a night and I was curious, as someone who's seen four seasons of development with these characters, to get the first impressions of someone who was only just introduced to them last week. (BTW, I was a little taken aback at how YOUNG the boys both looked in compared to recent 'sodes.)

Me: So? Was it everything I promised? Did you love it, or what?

JL: You do know that saying "I told you so" is not your most attractive trait? But, yeah, it's a great show. They do catch up with John eventually, right?

Me: Not saying. Keep watching the DVDs. So what were your favorite parts?

JL: I liked the premise. Crime-solving duos are not new (Mulder and Scully, anyone?) but I enjoyed the added emotional element of family and that they're brothers. Brothers who hail from a very nice gene pool.

Me: God bless Texas.

JL: The music rocked--you're sure they don't have a soundtrack?

Me: Nah, you have to do what the rest of us have done, painstakingly track down all the songs through internet lists and then create an iPod playlist.

JL: I think I already have half those songs on iPod, just have to organize. Besides the music, I appreciated that the show got off to a SOLID start. Some shows are too slow to build. I know you also like Dollhouse, but--

Me: Let's just stay focused on SPN here! And stop rolling your eyes at me. I can see that.

JL: Through cyber space? Fine, back to Supernatural. I found myself really intrigued by the episodes that focused on specific folklore. Like, the Dead in the Water episode was okay, but basically just a ghost story. I was really interested to see the bloody mary episode (which you totally covered your eyes through)--

Me: It's been well established that I'm a wuss. This is not news.

JL: BTW, is it me or did they specifically take some of that imagery from The Ring?

Me: I have no idea. Was too wussy to watch The Ring.

JL: So back to the folklore aspect... I know you said you grew up with a "woman in white" legend and I was curious after the pilot so I did some googling. Apparently, my home state of Arkansas has one, too, but I never knew it! A lot of these episodes make me want to research more, just to compare everyone's stories. Have they ever done one about the fabled school bus crash on the train tracks and the cars stalling out there that end up with fingerprints all over their back window?

Me: Nope, but I doubt it will come up next season. It looks like it will be pretty dark and arc-heavy. So you've got a lot of catching up to do before then!

JL: Do you know when the season 4 DVD set comes out?

Me: Sep 1, 2009, according to Amazon. Mark your calendar!