In praise of Supernatural

Supernatural is positively the best thing on the box at the moment! Tightly written scripts, brilliant one-liners, sly pop culture (and heavy metal) references, complex characters and demons galore - what's not to love?

It's basically a twisted roadtrip around small-town America, played out to a heavy rock soundtrack. The ongoing story is gripping (will Dean and Sam defeat the yellow-eyed demon once and for all? Will Sam go over to the dark side? Will Dean go to hell, again?), but the writers are smart enough to throw in some brilliant one-off episodes as well.

Sunday night's ep was a perfect example. Written by Ben Eklund (who wrote some of Angel's funniest stand-alones, including the excellent Smile Time that cast Angel as a Henson puppet), Wishful Thinking saw the brothers battling a working wishing well with bad intentions in Concrete, Washington. I know it sounds weird but there's nothing funnier than a suicidal teddy bear and a bullied kid with superpowers ("Kneel before Todd!").

It's a shame it's hidden away on ITV2 on a Sunday evening, but it's had the same slot for its entire run so it must be holding its audience; a weekly ritual in our house is to sit down to a roast dinner and a bit of Sam and Dean. If it carries on the way it's going, it even risks overtaking the venerable Buffy in Mark's estimation.

Okay, so it's not as grown up as Mad Men or as popular as Heroes, but I defy you not to laugh at this! See, people? Watch Supernatural!!

Book of the fortnight

Sadly overdue, again (insert library joke here). Must try harder to turn these in on time!

Anyway, on with the review. Jo and Dave bought me Twilight for my birthday; I remember the hype surrounding the film (why teenage girls think Robert Pattinson is attractive is beyond me, maybe I need to see the movie) but I hadn't read much about the books.

Jo quite rightly thought a book about American teenagers and vampires would interest me, and once I got used to the slightly adolescent style it was a good read, although definitely a piece of escapism rather than a literary work of genius.

The story centres around Bella, the new girl in a very bleak Washington town, who falls in love with Edward, another outsider, who just happens to be a vampire (but he doesn't eat humans, so that's okay). Cliches abound - lonely teenagers, high school cliques, vampires with good intentions - and the romance element reminded me of Mills and Boon; this is definitely a Buffy-Angel teen fantasy, not a complex Buffy-Spike one (no offence to Joss Whedon, who is a much better writer). The fluffiness is saved by Bella's pithy sarcasm, though (I couldn't help picturing her as Ellen Page), and the plot does darken as it unfolds.

But I'm not the target audience, and it's easy to see why the series is so popular. What teenage girl can't identify with being the outsider, or wanting to fall for the devastatingly handsome but slightly dangerous boy at school (and, even better, have him fall for her?). If you roll your eyes at the mushier stuff, Twilight is a great guilty pleasure and it's way cooler than reading Harry Potter on the tube.