"Saving people. Hunting things. The family business." Older brother Dean Winchester, played by Jensen Ackles ("Smallville," "Dark Angel"), sums up the series in just a few short sentences. One would think that such a seemingly simple plot would get old after the first few episodes but that's not the case. While season one begins with the writers trying to find their course, nothing about "Supernatural" is old – with the exception of the demons and urban legends being hunted.

The writing, headed by series creator (and Ohio native) Eric Kripke, is fresh, humorous and intense. Texans Jared Padalecki ("Gilmore Girls") and Jensen Ackles have obvious chemistry as the estranged Winchester brothers Sam and Dean, respectively. And, to tie the series together is the family arc. Rather than just moving from hunt to hunt, from story to story, Kripke gave the brothers a purpose, and the show a goal.

When little Sammy was six months old, John Winchester found his wife, Mary, burning on the ceiling of the nursery. John grabbed Sam, gave him to Dean and instructed the older boy to take his brother and run. Grief-stricken John took his sons, and became a hunter, searching for the demon that killed his wife, and killing any other ghosts, demons or things that went bump in the night. Independent Sam left his father and brother to attend Stanford and try to live a normal life. And he succeeded... until the night Dean came to say that their father was missing. And that's where the pilot episode picks up.

Kripke does an excellent job giving enough backstory to make the viewers understand what's happening without giving everything away in the first episode. The urban legends are thought-out and usually familiar which adds to the creepy factor rather than taking away from it. Who hasn't heard the story of the couple parked in the woods who encounter a murderer with a hook for a hand? Rather than turning to the magical worlds of Sunnydale and Hogwarts, Kripke makes the Winchester boys' lives very, very real. (To which Kripke has been heard to say "Our boys would beat up Harry Potter.") They use guns and have a matter-of-fact approach to the things they hunt. Kripke's writing transcends the monster-of-the-week format and even the detailed subplots. He, and his team of writers, have the uncanny ability to combine humor and emotion, often in the same episode, scene and sometimes in the same sentence.

And while writing is important, it would be worthless without a talented cast. Ackles and Padalecki certainly deserve to be the leading men in this series. Not only do they have great chemistry, they also have the ability to make the audience care about Sam and Dean and their relationship. You find yourself wanting Sam to go with Dean, wanting the brothers to bond again. You hurt with Sam when girlfriend Jessica is killed by the same demon that killed his mother. You laugh when Dean addresses cops as "Agent Mulder, Agent Scully" but ache when he tells Sam that he doesn't want to do this job alone. As Kripke points out in some of the commentary, when you have 200 pound grips crying when Ackles and Padalecki cry, you know the actors are good.

In addition to 22 quality shows, the dvd set contains several episodes worth of commentary from several different people, a "Making of" featurette and, my personal favorite, the bloopers reel. I mostly enjoy that because, after watching it, I can see how close the entire cast and crew is and how it's reflected in their work.

Overall, the show itself is so good that I would have purchased the dvds for just the 22 episodes. Everything else is just the icing on top.

Recommended:
Yes

Viewing Format: DVD
Suitability For Children: Suitable for Children Age 13 and Older