Review of Supernatural: The Official Season Companion Season 3

The Official Companion Season 3 didn't come out until March 2009, as we were heading for the end of season 4. While I'd really like to get these closer to the release of the season's DVDs, having a context with the new season actually enhances the experience.

Well...it's always better to live positively, right?

Long lead time notwithstanding, the wait is definitely worth it.

I've seen people remark that the writing in these companions isn't that great. I work as a freelance editor and proofreader, so I tend to be really sensitive to that kind of thing, and I'm a little baffled why they say that. It may be the journalistic style, which focuses heavily on presenting the words and information from their sources, rather than on pretty prose. It may be that I overlook it, delighted as I am with the tidbits and viewpoints we get.

The companions get us closer to everyone involved in the show than any other source. We start with a foreward by Sera Gamble, formerly a writer on the show, now the executive story editor and a supervising producer. The foreward is followed by an overview setting up the season, giving insight into how the studio, showrunner, and writers interact to figure out where they're going and how, along with a postmortem of the previous season.

The bulk of the book delves into the episodes, with "A Closer Look" sections on 10 of the urban legends, monsters, and mythologies that fed the season. That's followed by nine in-depth discussions of the main characters, sections about the crew, and a chapter on one of the companion novels (Bone Key). The book wraps up a bit weakly, rehashing "Do You Believe" and "Scary Stuff" that's been addressed in the Supernatural magazine and in previous companions and just about every interview conducted by a non-fan.

For intense fans like us, who seek interviews and convention reports all through the season, a lot of the information is duplicated, and the episode recaps are probably the least valuable sections. But the behind-the-scenes access is amazing. Every episode section talks to the writers and crew and actors, who explain how they approached certain scenes, made special effects happen, found locations, etc.

I'm always amazed at how a show set all over the United States can film in one small area of Canada and still make me forget that every week. So it's fascinating to see how they reuse certain places (the bar in "The Magnificent Seven" was also in "Sin City"), track down new places to film, and change up the ubiquitous motels.

There are sidebars about things like the prank wardrobe played on Jared Padalecki, dressing up his dogs in bandannas and a pink western shirt, and about connections between actors and other things they've done, and old names for certain episodes, and the music that's in each episode (because I'm a music dunce and only recognize about half the stuff they use).

The print is tiny, even for someone whose eyes are just barely starting to hint that they might soon be wanting me to move stuff a bit further away when I read it. On the other hand, when they use tiny font, they pack more in. Some people--I won't name names--wouldn't want to read this because they don't want to ruin the magic of living in the show.

But for those of us who can't get enough details, the companion is a must.

Supernatural
The Official Companion
Season 3
by Nicholas Knight
Published by Titan Books
ISBN 9781848561038







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On a side note, in case you haven't yet seen, Supernatural scored a FULL FEATURE ARTICLE in this week's Entertainment Weekly! It's the 4/10/09 issue, with Jennifer Hudson on the cover, and is pretty decent, even if the writer mixes up Sam and Dean a couple of times.

Coming this week

Ch...ch...ch...changes. We're making a bit of a change here at Supernatural Sisters, but never fear -- we're still going to be here to discuss all kinds of Winchester wonderful-ness. But starting this week, we're going to a three-day blog week (Monday, Wednesday and Friday) for a couple of reasons:

1. Our book writing schedules (and life in general) are demanding more of our time, and with this new schedule each of us will only be responsible for around 3 posts per month instead of 4 or 5.

2. This way, our visitors have at least two days to discuss a particular blog post.

Also, a head's-up -- we're going to be giving away a special prize pack to celebrate the season finale, now scheduled for May 21. Watch the blog for more details.

Now for this week's schedule:

Monday -- Natalie will be reviewing the Season 3 Companion.

Wednesday -- I (Trish) will be looking at all the ways fans can proclaim their Supernatural fandom through what they wear.

Friday -- MJ will be going over the Supernatural ABCs. Oh, I'm curious.

And the winner is....

The winner of E!s Alpha Male Madness Championship is:

Dean Winchester

"He's the baddest dude in all of television and everybody else in the game is his bitch."

The Monster At The End Of This Book

What kind of librarian would I be if I didn’t mention the children’s book which inspired this episode’s title? Jon Stone’s self-referential Little Golden book, which has Sesame Street’s loveable Grover warning the reader they should not turn the pages lest they come across a scary monster at the end, only to learn the only monster there is HIM, is a personal fave.

Here Sam and Dean discover a series of books based on their actual life. It starts when FBI agents DeYoung and Shaw (Styx) show up to investigate a haunting at Golden Comics only to be accused of LARPing by the shop owner. He thinks they are Live Action Role Playing, quite convincingly, their favorite characters from a series of books called Supernatural. The paranormal novels didn’t sell a lot of copies, but had an underground cult following. When the store owner yanks book one from the bargain bin, replete with a Fabio cover, the Winchesters demand all the books on hand.

“I’m full frontal here, dude.” ~ Dean

In addition to learning the author has a freaky inside look at their life, they also discover a fan base of Dean girls, Sam girls and to their hilarious horror, Slash fans. After shuddering at the idea of Wincest, the two track down the publisher who’s a bit of a fangirl herself, but before she’ll put them in touch with the enigmatic author, Carver Edlund, they’re going to have to prove their fanaticism. She quizzes the boys, but it’s not until they flash their tattoos, and I so love it when they do that, that she’s convinced of their allegiance and flashes her own intimate inkwork.

Turns out Carver Edlund is a pseudonym for Chuck Shurley and one of the funniest scenes is when he’s narrating Sam and Dean’s arrival as they approach his house. Still, he’s not easily convinced his characters are flesh and blood.

“Is this some kind of Misery thing?”

Eventually the boys do persuade him they’re the real deal and he is not, in fact, a God who’s forcing them to live bad writing, but maybe a psychic who, for some odd reason, is really tuned into their lives.

Still, Sam isn’t entirely convinced Chuck can foresee their future and this becomes abundantly clear in the laundromat scene when Dean is able to “read” Sam’s mind by reading Chuck’s new pages.

Dean: “You just thought I was a dick.”
Sam: “The guy is good.”

But it’s Chuck’s latest vision about Sam in the “throes of fiery demonic passion” with Lilith, now in the form of a comely dental hygienist, that has Dean really trippin. He admits he’s worried Sam’s going to go all darkside and decides their best plan of action is to do the opposite of everything scripted. Only that doesn’t work out so well. Despite their every effort, they end up exactly where they were written to be.

And poor Chuck is writing himself more and more into their story. First, Sam calls him to the hotel, where Dean has put his brother under house arrest, and quietly confesses he wishes he could stop sucking demon blood. Then, a pissed off Dean is waiting for Chuck at his house. Just when the writer is about get his ass kicked Castiel shows up and tells Dean that Chuck is a prophet of the Lord. That’s right, those books are the Gospel of Winchester. And here’s where my fave line came in.

Chuck: “I mean, writing yourself into the story is one thing, but as a prophet? That’s like M. Night level doucheness.”

At this point Dean learns there’s not a damn thing he can do. What the prophet has written can not be unwritten. What’s he’s seen will come to pass. In other words, Sam and Lilith are going to get busy. Ew.

Distraught and pissed off, Dean prays for help. Cas pops in and tells him his show of faith is a good thing, but it’s not in his power to help. However, if say, a demon, were to seem like she was threatening a prophet, that prophet’s protective Archangel warrior would come kick her sorry ass. The hint is all the incentive Dean needs. He grabs Chuck and heads for the hotel where Sam is waiting for Lilith.

As foretold, Lilith shows up and puts the moves on Sammy. Turns out she’s not going to survive this war and she’d much rather squash things in their tracks and go back to the way they were. All Sammy has to do to stop the seals from breaking and the apocalypse from coming is sacrifice himself and Dean for the greater good and cement the contract by sleeping with Lilith. Ew. Ew.

Sam’s first instinct is to fight, but Lilith easily breaks his devil’s trap and when he shoves his powerful palm at her, he just prettily blows her hair like a Pantene commercial. The two are at an impasse, so Sam finally agrees to the deal, gets her on the bed and tries to stab her. She wrestles the knife from him and—

Bang! Dean and Chuck come flying through the door. “I am the prophet, Chuck.” Classic!

Given the choice between taking off or fighting an Archangel, Lilith smokes out. The boys are back on the road and Sam gleefully tells Dean that Lilith is running scared.

Meanwhile, Chuck has another prophetic dream, which we don’t get to see, and it’s a doozy. When he wakes up Zacariah is there. “Did you see it?” Yes, yes he did. And whatever “it” is made him want to call Sam and Dean, to warn them, but Zac won’t let him. Chuck’s so devastated over what he saw that he threatens to go kill himself, but Cas’s boss says, “Don’t be melodramatic, Chuck. We’d only bring you back to life.” Instead he advises him to do what he always does, “Write.”

It’s now 12:50 in the morning and I can’t think anymore so I’m just going to finish with some random thoughts.

This episode had some brilliant wit and a lot of fun meta references, but it certainly got much darker than I expected. And did Zacariah look evil or what? He scared the crap outta me and I got the sense that Chuck was scared of him too. Also, why didn't they let the archangel get Lilith? Finally, I have to wonder who exactly is the monster at the end of this book?

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Additional fun metas:
Carver Edlund: from writers Jeremy Carver and Ben Edlund.
Kripke’s Hollow diner
Any others?

The Merits of Marathons (no running required)

My husband: Good night. I'm gonna crash.

Me, pausing the DVD player: Is the TV gonna bother you? I just want to finish this episode.

My husband: Nah, I can sleep through anything. See you in the morning.

FIVE AND A HALF HOURS LATER

My husband: When did you get up? Wait, have you been watching Supernatural this whole time?

Me (sheepishly): I, uh, just want to finish this season...

The above is a dramatization. But not by much.

In the last couple of years, I've noticed more and more TV channels running marathons-TNT doing the entire season of Leverage in a day, or USA showing back-to-back-to-back episodes of House. They're simply catching up with what a lot of viewers have already been doing thanks to the advantages of TV on DVD (as well as DVR, where you can hoarde episodes of something and then binge later or downloading episodes from iTunes, etc). I have one friend who doesn't watch a show during the season but waits for the DVD to come out and catches up summer/off-season.

I've already mentioned on this blog how I was too much of a weenie to watch Supernatural when it originally aired, but then I had a flight delay that lasted for hours...hours Trish helpfully filled with a DVD of first season epidoes. This was in February of the third season...and by the time the show returned from its spring hiatus, I owned seasons 1 &2, had bought all the season 3 eps on-line and was all caught up. This was probably my most exaggerated bout of DVD mania, but there have been other flare-ups. When I discovered Veronica Mars late in the first season, I stopped watching because I knew I wanted to see it all in order. I brought the DVDs the day they came out, and once I popped one in, it didn't come back out until I'd watched all four (by which point my husband had usually hidden the case from me so that I didn't get sucked into another three and a half hours of television).

The funny thing is that this kind of marathon viewing can alter the experience. I enjoy some complicated shows, like Lost and Battlestar Galactica, but have trouble remembering all the pertinent details across myriad seaons. (My husband has trouble staying emotionally invested--he says it's tough to care about the problems of fictional characters four and a half years later, but since I have a much looser grasp on reality than he does, this hasn't been a problem). I'm the type of person who, once engrossed in a good book, will forgo sleep to get to the end and I've always felt really bad for writers of TV shows. They put so much effort into their plotlines and characters, which are sometimes interrupted by scheduling changes, sports playoffs, hiatus, etc. It can make the storyline seem disjointed when that's not the case. As a writer, I feel like watching it uninterrupted and on my own timeline (the way I can with a book), I get the truer experience.

Then again, if you watch ten episodes in a week, any problems or inconsistencies in the show become GLARINGLY obvious. You may discover certain pet peeves that you didn't realize you had. And you lose some of the main benefits we've discussed here a lot--fandom synergy.

Kripke and Co. rock out loud when it comes to cliff hangers. Even the cuts to commerical, which are often heralded by what they call at Television without Pity the "metal teeth chomp," are timed for maximum impact. And while DVD marathon viewing allows me to skip right on to the next scene or episode, it doesn't allow me to get online at places like this with intellectual analysis such as, "OMG, did you guys SEE that? How the heck are they going to get out of this??????" And with a show like this one, isn't that nearly half the fun?

What do you guys think--do you get burned out on a show if you over-indulge, preferring to slowly savor over time, or do you like to binge and lose an entire weekend staring into Sammy's eyes and grinning back at Dean's smirk?

Thank you, Netflix!

If it wasn't for the wonders of the little red envelopes in my mailbox, I might not have become the big Supernatural fan that I am. I know -- horrors! You see, it was the summer of 2006, and I was depressed. I'd been writing with the aim of publishing my novels for 11 years, and still nada. I was at the point of giving up, so I largely took the summer off to do my best imitation of a slug on my couch.

Many of my fellow writers would often sing the praises of a show I had missed when it was on -- Buffy the Vampire Slayer (stick with me -- we'll get to Supernatural, I promise). So, I borrowed the first season from a friend, Jody Wallace, and thought, "Hey, I'll watch an episode a day."

Wrong. I blew through the entire first season in like 2-3 days and went back to Jody to borrow seasons 2 and 3. And when I got to a season she didn't have, I went out and bought it. Suffice it to say that very quickly watched all seven seasons of Buffy and all five seasons of the spinoff, Angel.

I still wasn't quite ready to start writing again, so I joined Netflix, went looking for other fun paranormal shows and (queue the Hallelujah Chorus), rented the first season of Supernatural. LOVED it!

Thus began my love affair with my now-favorite show. I finished watching that first season just in time to become a devoted weekly watcher as Season 2 debuted. My fan status grew to where I bought the first season for my very own (as I have with all seasons since), I started listening to a Supernatural podcast, cruised YouTube for fan vids, read blogs related to the show, bought Supernatural T-shirts and eventually came up with the idea for this group blog where some writer friends who I knew were also big fans of the show and I could wax poetic about all things Winchester. And to think it might not have happened without Netflix or my summer of despair. :)

As I finished watching that first season on DVD and launched into the second season live, a funny thing happened. My desire to write and my excitement about creating new stories came back. I wrote a paranormal young adult novel that went on to win the Golden Heart, the top award given to unpublished romance manuscripts by Romance Writers of America. I have high hopes of seeing that book sell and make it to bookstore shelves. It's currently with my editor, so fingers crossed! If I hadn't gotten that burst of inspiration, I might have finally thrown in the towel. I'm so thankful I didn't because one year later, I finally sold my first novel and have gone on to sell five more. So I guess you could say I owe my career to Joss Whedon, Eric Kripke and Netflix.

Now, questions for you:

1. How were you introduced to the show? Were you a devoted follower from the Pilot episode?
2. Have you ever gone back and found a show you loved but had missed through the wonders of Netflix, Blockbuster or other DVD option?

Who's More Alpha?

Over on E! online Kristen has been running an Alpha Male contest and the brothers Winchester have wiped out 62 competitors! It's now brother vs brother. So who do you think is the true Alpha on Supernatural?

Click here to place your vote for Sam or Dean. Voting closes Thursday.