Nightshifter Review
By John Keegan
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The mark of a strong television series is the ability to tell relatively isolated stories without losing sight of the big picture. Even successful shows like “X-Files” failed on that basic principle. Over the past few years, however, writers like JMS and Joss Whedon have demonstrated that working within a detailed and comprehensive mythology is not as limiting as some producers would like to believe.
Kripke started the show off on the right foot, and the second season has continued in the right direction. In this case, the episode was relative self-contained. One might argue that it was something of a bottle show, but it didn’t follow the conventions of that format in every aspect. Instead, it focused on perception: who is the real monster trapped in the bank with the civilians?
… Read More Other writers might have dropped the idea of the brothers as fugitives from the law, using it for one or two episodes as necessary and ignoring it as an inconvenience the rest of the time. This writing staff is using it as a surgical tool. In terms of the story, Dean and Sam have been forced into isolation from the rest of the hunters, thanks to Sam and his ability.
