Writer Ben Edlund had quite the impressive career even before he joined Supernatural in its second season. He’s perhaps most famous for creating the character of The Tick, who first appeared in comic books before spinning off into both an animated and live action series. He moved on to write two episodes of Joss Whedon’s late, great Firefly, and then teamed up with the creator again when he joined the writing staff of Angel. Edlund wrote many episodes, but his most classic may be “Smile Time,” which found Angel turning into a puppet. After short stints writing for shows like Point Pleasant and The Venture Bros., he started making his mark on Supernatural with the season 2 episode “Simon Said.” Since then he’s written many of the funnier episodes of the series, including last night’s “Monster Movie.”
There are some Supernatural fans out there who aren’t fans of Edlund’s work, but I think you’d have to be insane not to praise this amazing writer.
To get a sense of what Edlund has done for Supernatural, let’s take a look at the episodes he’s written:
“Simon Said”
“Nightshifter”
“Hollywood Babylon”
“Bad Day at Black Rock”
“Malleus Maleficarium”
“Ghostfacers”
“Monster Movie”
As you can see, Edlund often writes the lighter episodes of the series, but he does levity so well that it’s hard to complain about his particular niche. He did tackle some heavier material with “Simon Said” and “Nightshifter” and did so amazingly well, so he’s definitely capable of bringing the pain when he wants to. Out of his other episodes, “Bad Day at Black Rock” made our list of the 10 Best Supernatural Episodes of All Time (read about it here), while I personally consider “Hollywood Babylon” and “Ghostfacers” to be brilliant.
“Monster Movie” delivered exactly what you’d expect from Edlund, in that it took the show somewhere completely different for one episode. I found the black-and-white ode to the monster movies of yore to be wonderfully inspired, and I loved the hilarious touches sprinkled throughout. I laughed heartily at the Porky’s II reference, Dean’s “re-hymenation,” Dracula escaping on a motorized scooter, and the vamp dealing with an extremely bored pizza boy. Edlund always brings the laughs, but he also provides plenty of awesome banter between the brothers that makes his episodes a lot of fun.
Some Supernatural fans prefer the heavier, darker episodes like last week’s “Metamorphosis.” I love those as well, but I also enjoy how every season contains a mixture of horror, action and laughs. Episodes like “Ghostfacers” and “Monster Movie” are what set Supernatural apart from other creepy monster of the week procedurals. I believe the series has only been better since Edlund signed on behind the scenes, and I can only hope he sticks with Supernatural until the end of its run.
– Don Williams, BuddyTV Staff Writer
(Image courtesy of the CW)
Staff Writer, BuddyTV
