Supernatural 1:19-20

1:19 PROVENANCE

Directed by Philip Sgriccia. Original Airdate: April 13, 2006.

Watched and Reviewed on May 29, 2011.

Synopsis: A portrait of a long-dead family is amazingly lifelike. Maybe that's because one of the likenesses is alive... and lethal.

Once again, the trend of solid episodes continues with PROVENANCE as the end of the first season draws near. Here, the brothers investigate a haunted painting that kills anyone who buys it. As usual, they team up with yet another local, this time around in the form of Sarah Blake, an art dealer's daughter who's played by Taylor Cole. Also, child star Jodelle Ferland (TIDELAND, SILENT HILL, etc.), turns up in the episode as a character who I won't get too much into detail about, so as to not spoil a nice surprise.

While the haunted painting scenario was fine, what really made this episode for me was Taylor Cole. The weird thing is, I've seen her in a few movies prior to seeing this - the APRIL FOOL'S DAY remake, THE VIOLENT KIND, and, unfortunately, 12 ROUNDS - but this is the only thing I've ever seen her in where I found myself distracted by her stunning good looks. Her character was great, too, and it's a shame that she won't be appearing on the show again as a recurring character (I checked her IMDB page). It was also pretty cool to see Jodelle Ferland, who I'm actually a big fan of. She picks good projects, and she's also really good at playing either A) a stuck-up brat, or B) a creepy-ass kid. Plus, she looks like a little monkey. The episode itself was mostly entertaining and a lot of the ghost scenes towards the end were shot extremely well. Good shit!

Score: 8

1:20 DEAD MAN'S BLOOD

Directed by Tony Wharmby. Original Airdate: April 20, 2006.

Watched and Reviewed on May 29, 2011.

Synopsis: Reunion. After an aging spook hunter falls prey to the vampires he thought he had long ago destroyed, the Winchester brothers battle the bloodsuckers - and retrieve an unearthly gun they possess.

A pretty meh vampire epsiode that doesn't really do anything except serve as a stepping stone to something bigger in the series. As much as I was looking forward to a certain turn in the running storyline (anyone who's seen the show should know what I'm talking about), when it finally reaches that point in this episode, I found it to be pretty underwhelming. I did think the vampires in the episode were a pretty cool combination of the stereotypical sexy vampires a la TRUE BLOOD and the outlaw NEAR DARK vampires, but, in my opinion, they were greatly underused here. As I said before: stepping stone episode. Had DEAD MAN'S BLOOD been its own little thing, like, somewhere in the middle of the season, it would have been slightly better. I don't think I'd put this in the bottom five of the season, but, at the same time, I didn't care too much for it either. The lead vampire chick was pretty hot.

Score: 6