“There’s something evil out in those woods,” an old dude tells the boys.
As events kick off on the second episode of Supernatural’s first season, the Winchester lads are searching for their dad and pursuing the “thing” that recently claimed the life of Jessica Lee Moore, Sam’s girlfriend. The thing, it seems, is back twenty years after killing off the Winchester brothers’ mother in the self-same gruesome fashion of exploding into flames whilst floating near the ceiling (and presumably not dancing there, Lionel Richie-style, prior to meeting their fate).
For the second episode in a row, Sam and Dean end up in a place – Blackwater Ridge, in Lost Creek, Colorado in this case – where people historically go missing or get mauled. In the cold open of “Wendigo,” Tommy Collins is he who gets mysteriously hauled off by some kind of nasty beastie while out camping with some mobile gaming-enthusiast fellow travelers, and the guys go into sleuthing mode after arriving in town (the initial clue being their father’s coordinates). “There’s something evil out in those woods,” an old dude tells the boys.
Sam and Dean, along with Tommy’s sister Haley and some others head off into the woods in search of Tommy, and eventually find a mutilated camp site. It’s then that Dean realizes that they are dealing with a Wendigo, a “perfect hunter” who cannot be outsmarted. It can, it seems, also expertly mimic human voices.
Their local and macho guide of course takes umbrage with this notion, telling the boys that he has been out hunting these woods since the era when they were getting kissed goodnight by their mommies (this implies that he assumed that the brothers had a safe and nurturing childhood, which is in some small way a pleasant notion if you think about it). The guide, as might be expected, gets brutally mangled shortly thereafter after ignoring Sam and Dean’s advice.
After the rest of the gang finds the Wendigo’s lair (and rescuing a briefly waylaid Dean in process) I appreciated that Dean, in response to Haley’s query of, “What are you going to do?”, simply winks in response before running off to do some hunting of his own. The Wendigo is taken out shortly thereafter, and all is well at the end of the day… for most of them anyway. Dean even wins a quick peck on the cheek from a thankful Haley.
I appreciated the fact that Supernatural didn’t go far enough into one-off story territory that it neglected to allow Sam to mourn the murder of his girlfriend and for the brothers to continue to speculate about the whereabouts of their father. Overall, “Wendigo” is a fairly entertaining story, and we got to learn more about the brothers’ collective expertise in hunting down and eradicating supernatural enemies.
And I couldn’t agree more with the brothers’ bonding over the following statement: “Man, I hate camping.”
Notes of fun and interest:
- I like how the boys easily take to lying about their identity when seeking out information. Here, we have a claim of being environmental studies majors at UC Boulder, which is quickly called out as “bull” by a Ranger Wilkenson.
- A second episode in a row with a woodsy setting sets off a signal that Supernatural may be filmed in Vancouver or thereabouts, as so many shows are these days.
- Also enjoyed how Haley Collins, Tommy’s brother, calls out Dean for not bringing enough provisions while hiking out in the woods. It reminded me of when I went on a multiple day hike in New Zealand and was astounded by how some hardy locals seemed to take next to nothing with them while my fellow Americans and I were loaded down with hefty packs filled with REI-procured wares.
- I couldn’t help thinking of one of my favorite lines from the movie, 21 & Over, during this episode: “Sometimes the heart is a lonely hunter.”</li>
- Dean is “all about killing as many evil sons of bitches” as he can.
Some stats and info about Supernatural, “Wendigo”
TV SHOW – Supernatural
SEASON/EPISODE – Season 1, Episode 2
AIRED ON – September 20th, 2005
NETWORK/STREAMING SERVICE – CW/Netflix
GENRE – Drama, Teen Dramas, Horror, Fantasy
CREATED BY – Eric Kripke
CAST – Jared Padalecki, Jensen Ackles, Misha Collins, Mark Sheppard, Jim Beaver, Alexander Calvert, Mark Pellegrino, Samantha Smith, Ruth Connell
This review originally appeared on TV Geek Army.