So I discovered Supernatural finally. Just a few days ago when my computer went down I ordered an episode on my iPhone and immediately started kicking myself for not watching it earlier. I had good reasons at the time. Like I had enough shows I was following, another show in the same time slot, worried that picking it up after season one would just leave me dazed and confused. None of those reasons are sounding good enough now.
The two brothers in this show are fun and interesting to watch. I look at them and I just want to tear their characters apart and look at them again from the inside out, analyzing everything about them that makes them so much more than the everyday monster hunters.
Dean is the resident rogue of the show. He has the quips and the smart alecky attitude and Jensen Ackles has always appeared to have a bit of the imp in him in every role I have seen him in and it makes him one of my favorites. Sam though is the rebel. Dean listens to no one but his dad and Sam listens to everyone but his dad (keeping in mind I am only half way through season one at the time of this entry). Sam is the rebel or the black sheep of the family and it is neat to see as he would be considered the “good” son from those outside the family group.
This show would be interesting enough watching two ordinary folks fighting the unusual in a semi-ordinary world. But the two characters here have been crafted so wonderfully that I enjoyed learning more about them than about the world they live in. They have all these built in conflicts or layers that make them wonderfully rich, like a triple layer chocolate cherry cake. A person can just dig in and enjoy.
First, they are brothers. Brothers and sisters for that matter have very different kinds of relationships. There is sibling rivalry and sibling protection and love. Second, one witnessed and remembers his mother’s death and the other does not. One stayed home and was the dutiful son and learned all his dad had to teach him while the other left to experience a different kind of life. All of these layers are introduced in the first 15 minutes of the first episode.
If I can learn to create even half of these subtle layers and shadings in my characters I will count myself lucky.
What do you think of these characters?
