When I first saw the sparse advertisements for Supernatural, I was completely put off by it. However, when a friend of mine had me watch a few episodes, I thought it was OK, but lacking in any major plot development, character depth, or insight. "Bloodlust" totally changed my mind.
In this episode, Sam and Dean join up with another hunter by the name of Gordon. Dean starts to like the guy because Gordon kind of reminds him of John, his dad (later that would be totally reversed) in that he saw only black and white in their world of killing things. However, when they come across the nest of vampires that Gordon is hunting and find that they are "vegetarians," replacing human blood with cattle, Sam refuses to hurt them.
Dean is doubtful, but eventually convinced when he sees Gordon torturing one of the vampires, Lenore, with dead man's blood. Then after Gordon admits to having killed his sister-turned-vampire, followed up by cutting and putting Sam in danger, Dean is done. In the end, the guys put Gordon out of commission for a while and help the vampires escape, with Dean a little shaky on the new ground.
This episode explores the gray areas of the show that are rarely discussed -- have the guys ever killed anything else that wasn't really a threat? How many supernatural creatures aren't evil? Like Sam said, their job isn't killing supernatural creatures, it's killing evil.
Overall, I was impressed with this episode. Though at first I wondered why, near the end, Dean freaked out in his stoic, scary way and beat the living tar out of Gordon. I thought to myself, he's still unsure about his choice to save the vampire, so why is he so blatantly furious with Gordon? Then it hit me: Gordon had threatened Sam. If you watch Dean's expressions through that part, you'll see him kind of close off like he does when afraid for Sam's safety. So then I got it; Gordon hurt and threatened Sam, and thus deserved whatever Dean could dish out. This was the episode I realized that for Dean, anything or anyone who hurt Sam was fair game.
So. There is major depth to the characters and even at times the premise of the story. Needless to say, I am now an avid fan of the series.
In this episode, Sam and Dean join up with another hunter by the name of Gordon. Dean starts to like the guy because Gordon kind of reminds him of John, his dad (later that would be totally reversed) in that he saw only black and white in their world of killing things. However, when they come across the nest of vampires that Gordon is hunting and find that they are "vegetarians," replacing human blood with cattle, Sam refuses to hurt them.
Dean is doubtful, but eventually convinced when he sees Gordon torturing one of the vampires, Lenore, with dead man's blood. Then after Gordon admits to having killed his sister-turned-vampire, followed up by cutting and putting Sam in danger, Dean is done. In the end, the guys put Gordon out of commission for a while and help the vampires escape, with Dean a little shaky on the new ground.
This episode explores the gray areas of the show that are rarely discussed -- have the guys ever killed anything else that wasn't really a threat? How many supernatural creatures aren't evil? Like Sam said, their job isn't killing supernatural creatures, it's killing evil.
Overall, I was impressed with this episode. Though at first I wondered why, near the end, Dean freaked out in his stoic, scary way and beat the living tar out of Gordon. I thought to myself, he's still unsure about his choice to save the vampire, so why is he so blatantly furious with Gordon? Then it hit me: Gordon had threatened Sam. If you watch Dean's expressions through that part, you'll see him kind of close off like he does when afraid for Sam's safety. So then I got it; Gordon hurt and threatened Sam, and thus deserved whatever Dean could dish out. This was the episode I realized that for Dean, anything or anyone who hurt Sam was fair game.
So. There is major depth to the characters and even at times the premise of the story. Needless to say, I am now an avid fan of the series.