Supernatural, New Amsterdam

Sun, Apr 20th, 2008

07:00 Supernatural
08:00 New Amsterdam

Supernatural. Episode 17. I didn't enjoy this one as much as the previous one. Various elements felt forced and lessened my enjoyment of the story (a story with a very clever foe, by the way). While Supernatural is a very serious drama series, every episode features moments of comedy. Not high comedy. But, as a rule, very natural character-driven comedy. Last week's episode was the best one I've seen so far, and it was an hour of unrelenting drama and emotion. Except for all the times it made me laugh. For example: Dean's reaction to meeting Meg for the first time is hilarious. Laugh out loud funny. And all very character-driven and organic.

This week's episode opens with a prank war between the brothers. Sheesh. C'mon. That's a lack of imagination. And, later on, the boys meet a comic version of themselves: two geeky ghost hunters, who have never seen a real ghost (or kissed a real girl, I bet). And I wasn't amused. Just disappointed.

The foe, however, was fantastic. And the episode has the best death scene so far. The bit in the middle with the poor unfortunate student who was dared to enter the haunted house. That was a scary, graphic murder. And, in must be said, all the the encounters between the brothers and the Foe were action-packed and thrilling. And clever. It was a darn clever idea for a foe.

But...

Then the show would stop to try and make me laugh. And fail.

I gues this is why Supernatural is Supernatural and Reaper is Reaper. Each inhabits it's own world and does the stories that suit the tone of the world. Reaper is a cool, wonderful show. But it's silly. It places inept guys up against fearsome foes and... makes it work. A prank war would not be out of place in that universe. In fact... I hope they do it. Supernatural is a different beast. And, apart from superficial common elements, the shows have nothing in common. Supernatural is a drama series grounded in reality: a broken family, brotherly love, gruesome murders, and a tone that sets it in a world not very far from our own.

A cross-over between these two shows would feeling jarring. And this is what this was. Jarring.

New Amsterdam. Episode 5. Oh dear. The case of the week is rubbish. Obvious clichéd rubbish, which is predictable from start to finish. Meanwhile, the lead actor and lead character are fantastic, and the backstory/flashback is very good. While the romance is totally sidelined this week, when it does appear it is extremely well written and played. So, what to make of it all?

One of my podcast co-hosts feels that they should drop the cop angle altogether and let the main character explore some of his many and varied careers. And this could certainly work. The main guy in Highlander wasn't a cop and that show had no end of superb moral dilemma stories (God, but I miss Highlander).

I, on the other hand, love a good cop show. And New Amsterdam could become a decent cop show, if they steal some of the Law And Order writers!

Anyway, apart from the rubbish cop story, this episode excelled. It told a story of alcholism, a story of what it's like for an alcoholic to start to go straight. And it found a new way to tell this story and make it fit into the universe of New Amsterdam. And it was great stuff. I would have watched a full hour of that. No problem.

Meanwhile, back at the romance... Sara isn't happy. She knows that John is keeping secrets from her. And she wants to know who he is, and what his past is. And since the writers successfully write this part of things like an adult drama series, she is not fixated on his abnormal blood results. No. She just wants to know stuff about his father and his life before her and all that. And it strikes a cord. Because we've all had those conversations. And it's great to see characters we like a lot do this on TV. And, when, in the closing seconds, he tells her who he is (only to have run off in disappointment) it's makes for a great moment of TV. Now, if the cop story aspect of it had been any good....

Highlight? Supernatural, by default of the fact that New Amsterdam's main storyline was crap...