In the fourth episode of the eighth season of\u00c2\u00a0Supernatural<\/i>, Sam and Dean track a creature killing people in a small town. Intrigued? Then it\u00e2\u20ac\u2122s time for Mark to watch\u00c2\u00a0Supernatural<\/i> and laugh because that is the most deliberately vague summary I\u00e2\u20ac\u2122ve ever written for this show.<\/p>\n
Trigger Warning: For body horror\/gore<\/b>.<\/p>\n
\u00e2\u20ac\u0153Bitten\u00e2\u20ac\u009d exists within a landscape of horror tropes, and that\u00e2\u20ac\u2122s why it\u00e2\u20ac\u2122s so surprising to me that I ended up liking it as much as I did. I don\u00e2\u20ac\u2122t think that Robbie Thompson\u00e2\u20ac\u2122s script aims to be all that original, at least not at first. The found footage narrative device is overwhelmingly popular, so much so that it\u00e2\u20ac\u2122s actually hard to come up with a version of this format that feels\u00c2\u00a0new<\/i>. I\u00e2\u20ac\u2122d say that\u00c2\u00a0The Blair Witch Project<\/i> and\u00c2\u00a0Cannibal Holocaust<\/i> (maybe even\u00c2\u00a0Man Bites Dog<\/i>???) were the first popular attempts at found footage films. I\u00e2\u20ac\u2122ve enjoyed a number of them over the years. I still think [REC]<\/i> is one of the scariest films I\u00e2\u20ac\u2122ve seen; I enjoyed\u00c2\u00a0Cloverfield<\/i> for what it was, though my experience of watching it in a packed theater full of very vocal people heightened how much fun I had with it; I think\u00c2\u00a0Chronicle<\/i>, which \u00e2\u20ac\u0153Beaten\u00e2\u20ac\u009d borrows from, is a BRILLIANT movie that justifies this style.<\/p>\n
But the horror genre is saturated with this form of storytelling, so much so that it often appears in films where it\u00e2\u20ac\u2122s not actually needed or it\u00e2\u20ac\u2122s a detriment to the film as a whole. So how does\u00c2\u00a0Supernatural<\/i> choose to differentiate itself from what\u00e2\u20ac\u2122s already out there? Initially, I don\u00e2\u20ac\u2122t think \u00e2\u20ac\u0153Bitten\u00e2\u20ac\u009d does. From the\u00c2\u00a0Blair Witch<\/i>-style chase through the woods, to the perspective that\u00e2\u20ac\u2122s reminiscent of \u00e2\u20ac\u0153X-Cops\u00e2\u20ac\u009d\u00c2\u00a0and<\/i> \u00e2\u20ac\u0153Hungry\u00e2\u20ac\u009d from\u00c2\u00a0The X-Files<\/i>\u00e2\u20ac\u2122 seventh season, to the storyline that\u00e2\u20ac\u2122s a huge reference to\u00c2\u00a0Chronicle<\/i>\u00e2\u20ac\u2122s\u00c2\u00a0<\/i>exploration of teenage superpowers, this episode is a mish-mash of things that already exist. Hell, Brian\u00e2\u20ac\u2122s characterization here as the socially awkward and jealous member of the trio mirrors Andrew\u00e2\u20ac\u2122s arc in\u00c2\u00a0Chronicle<\/i> fairly closely.<\/p>\n
Still, it was interesting to be dropped into an\u00c2\u00a0in media res<\/i> story that began with so much blood; it was a treat to see Sam and Dean from the perspective of an outsider. Thankfully, the show doesn\u00e2\u20ac\u2122t keep the mystery of the murders in this town a secret for very long, and I\u00e2\u20ac\u2122d argue that this\u00c2\u00a0had<\/i> to unfold this way so that we\u00e2\u20ac\u2122d get a chance to see how Michael, Brian, and Kate cope with the changes in their lives and their bodies. At times, this examination felt a little superficial. I think that this episode stuck so closely to the tropes of human transformation that I wasn\u00e2\u20ac\u2122t really surprised by the developments. I knew that Michael would eventually be unable to control what he was becoming or his hunger. I figured that Kate would stay in denial the longest, and I knew that all the hints of Brian\u00e2\u20ac\u2122s jealousy were going to come back to play a prominent part of the story. Plus, it\u00e2\u20ac\u2122s always a little difficult to watch found footage because there are times where it\u00e2\u20ac\u2122s impossible to ignore how ridiculous the concept is. There were a few moments here where I thought it was absolutely absurd for anyone to be filming themselves, but these kind of stories ask you to accept that someone\u00e2\u20ac\u2122s going to film every minute detail.<\/p>\n
It\u00e2\u20ac\u2122s when the entire group spies on Dean and Sam, learning of pureblood werewolves, that this episode starts to take a fascinating turn. I liked that the script committed to the werewolf aspect early enough that Michael, Brian, and Kate could no longer deny that this was their reality. But it\u00e2\u20ac\u2122s through Brian that we see how his sense of inadequacy and entitlement leads him to make utterly terrible decisions, ones that the episode clearly paints as wrong. There\u00e2\u20ac\u2122s nothing romantic about what Brian does here, and I appreciate that. He\u00c2\u00a0thinks<\/i> he is protecting Kate, and even if he was, he\u00e2\u20ac\u2122s doing it to\u00c2\u00a0steal<\/i> her from Michael. It\u00e2\u20ac\u2122s such an incredible shift in the dynamic of characterization because we\u00e2\u20ac\u2122ve spent most of the episode thinking that Michael is kind of a jerk, one who is being protected by his foolish girlfriend. But when Brian willingly confronts Professor Ludensky, he does so to benefit himself. Ultimately, does he care about Michael? Does it even matter if Michael is off the hook? Or was Brian\u00e2\u20ac\u2122s plan to win over Kate through some absurd display of alpha behavior?<\/p>\n
I\u00e2\u20ac\u2122d argue it\u00e2\u20ac\u2122s far more of the second reason than the first, which is why I was totally convinced that Kate and Michael were the dead bodies that Dean and Sam found in the beginning of the episode. Who else could it be? Enraged by the way he was treated (as well as his perception that he was the \u00e2\u20ac\u0153Piggy\u00e2\u20ac\u009d of the group), Brian probably killed his best friends in a fit of rage. But oh my god,\u00c2\u00a0I was so wrong<\/i>. The transformation of Kate is one of the most satisfying things this show has done in a while because in the end, Kate rejects Brian. She rejects his awful romanticism and his gross infatuation with her, and SHE SHREDS HIM TO BITS. It turns out that\u00c2\u00a0she<\/i> was the one to leave the video behind, explaining how everything came about.<\/p>\n
And in another shocking turn, Dean agrees with Sam to\u00c2\u00a0let Kate live her life.<\/i> It\u00e2\u20ac\u2122s true that she took out Brian, but she also didn\u00e2\u20ac\u2122t feed on him, which means it\u00e2\u20ac\u2122s possible for her to resist\u00c2\u00a0ever\u00c2\u00a0<\/i>killing another human. I totally expected this episode to end with Sam and Dean tracking her down and killing her, but instead, they go for the second chance. They allow Kate to\u00c2\u00a0try<\/i>, and by gods, it\u00e2\u20ac\u2122s such a satisfying end to a mega-messed up story. I honestly did not anticipate this ending, and now I want (at least) a ton of fanfiction about what Kate does out in the world. It\u00e2\u20ac\u2122s so intriguing to me??? (Other headcanon, though I have a tiny, tiny suspicion this isn’t a headcanon: Dean let Kate live because he let Benny live. Could this be a tiny, subtle hint to the fact that he is viewing monsters\u00c2\u00a0differently<\/em>? OH, THIS IS SO SATISFYING TO ME.)<\/p>\n Bravo,\u00c2\u00a0Supernatural.\u00c2\u00a0<\/i>That could have been so typical, but the final act totally changed how I felt about it.<\/p>\n The video for \u00e2\u20ac\u0153Bitten\u00e2\u20ac\u009d can be downloaded here for $0.99<\/a>.<\/p>\n Mark Links Stuff<\/b><\/p>\n – Mark Does Stuff is now on Facebook<\/a>! Feel free to Like the page, which I’m running myself, for updates and SILLINESS. In the fourth episode of the eighth season of\u00c2\u00a0Supernatural, Sam and Dean track a creature killing people in a small town. Intrigued? Then it\u00e2\u20ac\u2122s time for Mark to watch\u00c2\u00a0Supernatural and laugh because that is the most deliberately vague summary I\u00e2\u20ac\u2122ve … Continue reading
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