Supernatural - Ed Martin TV Buzz: 'Supernatural' Soars on its Masterful Mythology

At Jack Meyers Ed Martin TV Buzz column:



"Supernatural" Soars on its Masterful Mythology

By Ed Martin

Why doesn’t the mainstream television press pay more attention to The CW’s Supernatural?

The occasional story about this four-year-old franchise appears from time to time, but from its humble beginnings back on The WB, Supernatural has never received the kind of outsize coverage enjoyed by such genre series as ABC’s Lost or NBC’s Heroes, not to mention The X-Files during its nine-year-run on Fox or the vampire drama Moonlight during its all-too-brief single season on CBS. Fox’ brand new suspense drama Fringe, which continually crosses a moving line between science fiction and science fact, became a media darling even before it premiered and remains a favorite, even though it has yet to prove that it will over time live up to the early hype. (That’s not a slam against Fringe. It’s a perfectly decent series. It may evolve into a great series. But, to date, it is hardly the groundbreaking effort that the media mania surrounding it would suggest.)

**snippage**

Well, I’ve been watching Supernatural this season and I am here to say that this series about demon-hunting brothers Sam and Dean Winchester currently offers the strongest and most satisfying mythology storytelling of any genre show at present. That’s an incredible accomplishment, given the problems that so many series with intense mythologies suffer after one or two seasons. Here’s another plus: Supernatural doesn’t extend its mythology simply by layering mystery upon mystery upon mystery, a storytelling construct first overdone by Twin Peaks, and then by The X-Files, and more recently by Lost and, now, Heroes. (Does anyone understand what is happening on Heroes this season? More to the point, does anyone any longer care about any of the characters on that show?) Rather, Supernatural simply extends and deepens a story that is always very easy to follow, even when the plot turns and makes clear that everything one might have thought one knew about the central characters may not be true at all...