How in the name of all that’s unholy did I manage to not pick this show up earlier? Why did no one tell me that it was funny and smart and well acted and stylish? This may be the best eight pounds I’ve ever spent on a dvd and it’s a really good job that I was unemployed when I found it otherwise I’d probably have got no sleep at all trying to get through it as fast as possible.

The first season is pretty light on arc story, with the exception of the immense bookends of the start and end most of the episodes fall into the ‘monster/urban legend of the week’ structure. The important arc of the season though is the audience getting to know the two brothers, and them in turn getting to know each other again following a couple of years separation. For all that Supernatural may appear to be about demons and ghosties and things, it’s really about the relationship between these two brothers which is so brilliantly portrayed by the two leads. The depth of the characters is impressive and entirely believable and the gradual reveal of that depth is very satisfying. As the season draws to a conclusion and they are re-united with their father the family feels complete and everything seems to make sense.

The show is brilliant fun to watch, clearly owing a debt to shows like Buffy and Stargate – putting regular people into extremely weird situations and seeing how they cope with it, generally with sarcasm or screaming. It’s heavy on pop culture references, but also very aware of its heritage of monster movies. To top it all off there’s a hefty helping of style in everything from the saturation of the filming, through the beautiful car and the soundtrack of classic rock.