TV Review: Supernatural Episode 1.08

Tuesday, November 08, 2005

From WB: After a construction worker is killed by insects burrowing into his brain, Sam (Jared Padalecki) and Dean (Jensen Ackles) investigate the town's history and find that the new housing development is being built on sacred Indian land. The Indians put a curse on the land after their reservation had been ravished and destroyed. Sam and Dean must find a way to survive and kill the deadly swarm of bees, locusts, spiders and beetles.

My Rating:

Okay for a good part of this episode titled 'Bugs,' I found myself asking the question of why this was considered a supernatural phenomenon. I didn't see why the two brothers went to investigate this case. At first, it was labeled as a case of human mad cow disease. A strange disease to die from, and we know it was the insects that killed the man, but even then it was just bugs. A lot of bugs, but even so not something I thought would warrant the Winchester's attention, and certainly not something their father would have looked into in any case.

After the death of a man on a construction site, the two brothers go to investigate. That is the first death with more to follow as the days pass. The brothers know that insects are involved, but they aren't sure why they are acting out in this manner. It isn't just one type of insect either. Beetles, bees, spiders and even roaches are all in great numbers around the area, and their numbers only seem to be increasing with each passing day.

After the two brothers are shown to where a good number of insects are swarming by the son of the developer of the homes in the area, Dean finds the remains of a body, and he takes these to be examined along with Sam. Turns out the remains are Indian, and the homes that are being built are over a burial ground. The brothers go to an Indian, and he tells them the story of what happened on the site, and the legend that goes along with the events.

Apparently, a tribe of Indians had been killed on the site, and with his last dying breath the Chief had cursed the land saying that no white man would ever live there, and if they tried that nature would take care of it. Well, nature is certainly taking care of it. Everyone working or living on the land was in danger, and a few were killed by freak insect instances. The brothers are able to save the last family from being killed, and with the sun rise the insects all just ... leave? At least it appeared that way.

In my mind, this was probably one of the weaker of the episodes this series has produced. I found myself really confused by why the bugs were needing of investigation. There was nothing really spooky or supernatural about it until about half way in to the episode, and possibly even longer. I really love this show, but this episode really didn't grab me in any way. We really didn't have any character growth this episode either from what I could tell.

The burial ground did remind me of one movie that was quite popular in the 1980s, Poltergeist, but bugs weren't really a part of that movie. The only reason it reminded me of this movie was the burial aspect. Rumor has it they are making a new Poltergeist movie. This time with Hilary Duff playing the part of the young girl all grown up.

This episode of Supernatural seemed to be a bit of a filler episode before next week's episode. They were hyping up next week pretty hard during this one, so perhaps they needed a bit of a slow week to lead up to next week's episode. Based on the previews I'm really excited about next week. The brothers are going home!