Supernatural:
Season 6: Episode: Exile On Main St
Review by Sub Editor Ross Hughes
I love Supernatural. I want the readers at HorrorCultFilms to know that before I start my new weekly reviews of season six. For me it has been the best American show for many years, better than Lost, even better than 24 and that is one big statement considering I love the ground Jack Bauer walks on!
Its hard not to argue with me if you have watched the Winchester brothers from the beginnings. There have been episodes of sublime ingenious quality that being a horror fan you can not help but marvel at! Anyone who has seen the suicidal Teddy Bear episode will tell you the heights of originality that the show has managed to offer and after last seasons fantastic Season 5 which finally tied up all the story strands from when this journey started for Sam and Dean in what was originally planned to be the final time we saw these two characters, it was a wonderful end to a much loved series.
But the popularity of the show meant the powerful studio who hold all the cards sanctioned a new season leaving an impossible situation of re-telling a story that was already told! Even the die hard fanatic was worried that this was a bad idea, how can you continue with story that had the most perfect end.
Exile On Main St started a year later from the events of previous, but even from the off there was a smell of desperation coming from the script. What we had was the end of Dean has an Hunter and was now a family man, something which he always yearned for! Missing from the pre-credits was the usual rock score that got you in the mood for the new season, instead we had a sombre effort of Dean getting on with normal every day routine while the scene was intercutting of images of his previous life chasing demons and anything Supernatural! There was a nice touch at the end of this montage of Dean in bed with his partner and the camera panning down to his bed where we see a shotgun under his bed which suggested he was not yet that comfortable with his new bliss, and to be fair he has every right to be!
Ten minutes in and we hear a scream from the distance of a young woman in peril, the need to help proving to strong and soon Dean is thrust back into the life he only knows and a path that led him all the way to be re-united with his long thought dead brother Sam. It seems that Sam, last seen sacrificing himself for mankind has actually been back for a whole year but, after being dragged to hell and back he did not want to disturb the new life of his brother and besides he had new friends to “hunt” with!
In a strange and bizarre twist of the series opener, Sam has been hunting with three cousins from their mother side and also SHOCK HORROR!! the boys’ grandfather, Samuel Campbell, who had previously been killed by the yellow-eyed demon and now, like Sam, is back and also, like Sam, there is no explanation as to why and how they are both alive and well.
And that was that! The episode really was a strain to get going and you could feel the huge difficulty it had in trying to break new ground!
The opener actually reminded of Day 6 of 24 which that also was following on from a season that was just too good to compete. When Jack woke up to face a sixth day of non stop running he was not only fighting the usual batch of terrorists but also the level of expectancy from the fans. He failed miserably and there is a case that 24 never recovered from that!
Take a look at Supernatural who had just showed a story arc of the Devil being brought back to earth and Sam and Dean fighting against all the odds to stop him and save mankind. I mean how the heck can they top that! They can’t and they have not even tried with their only offering to the new show is bringing back their dead uncle who is played by Skinner from The X Files! Also by bringing back the a whole family element of the Winchesters rids the dynamic of the show which was the whole relationship of the two brothers, all alone in the world. Now we have this Walton’s type horror family to tag along with them and if this is the new way forward then they are seriously going to mess with the essence of what makes this show tick!
I understand that the episode was all about pressing the re-set button and for Supernatural to move into a whole new direction, but a lack of the humour we all have come accustomed too, the non appearance of Castiel, a non existent rock track, maybe proves that this new path will result in loss of viewers who may just wish Season 6 never happened!
We wait and see!
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