Supernatural (TV Series) Bitten (2012) User Reviews

Would have worked better if shot conventionally...

[PrivateBozz · 6/10 · 26 October 2012]

I find it hard to rate this episode. In my opinion it's far from bad, but there are some things about it that keep it from working.

I loved the first seconds where we see the crime scene with the music playing, before Sam and Dean enter the scene. Very atmospheric. I wish they would leave their usual paths of shooting and story-telling more often. It made my expectation go up, but unfortunately this scene didn't set the style of the episode.

I generally like the idea of seeing things happening from the monsters' point of view, and I don't mind having little of Sam and Dean in this episode. But this is only interesting when I actually sympathize with the new protagonists, and here I don't. I guess the main problem is the 'found footage' shtick. The intent is clear: If done *really* well then the reality-style can make you connect with the figures, because then they come across like people you could actually know, which makes the things that happen to them all the more touching. The last bits of the movie where we see each of them talk about his/her future attests to this intent, trying to provoke emotions in the viewer. But since these emotions haven't been there in the first place it feels amateurish and forced, and this special kind of 'flashback' has been done too often by now anyway. So here the reality-style just puts a wall between the viewer and the figures. First, because it feels clumsy and far from real, and second, because it takes us too far away from Supernatural.

In my opinion it would have been much more efficient to shoot the episode the conventional way, just with the monsters as the main characters and Sam and Dean completely viewed from their perspectives. Then we would have an SPN episode from the monster's POV.

That's my main issue with this episode. An other problem is that the short S & D moments seem pretty insignificant, all but the last one where they decide to give Kate a shot. It's great to have them agree on something like this, and I find it especially *awesome* that each of them seemed kind of sure the other wouldn't, which made the moment when they realized they had the same opinion funny and somewhat heart-warming at the same time. And the picture of Kate leaving town was beautiful.

I also give an extra point for the 'workplace romance' line. I really missed the gay jokes...

6/10

Not Your Average "Supernatural"

[su-paul-cy · 8/10 · 1 March 2013]

I honestly believe this was one of the best episode of Supernatural. However, not for the Supernatural's Series.

Some Cons would be: Chronicle-like filming style Digresses from the series Non-importance of the main cast of Supernatural

However, this episode shows the viewers the other side of the hunt. How it is to be dragged into the supernatural world.

This would have done better as an independent film. However, it would be compare to similar filming styles. It would be nice to see future cast from this episode later in the series.

The cast for the episode was solid. Viewers would care and relate to them.

The Sequel To Chronicle?

[I_Guess_Im_Demons · 7/10 · 8 September 2021]

Fun episode, the brothers take a backseat to some wayward kids. Is it just me or did this episode literally follow the plot of Chronicle? Not complaining about it, at all! I think it's an underrated movie/plot and they did a good job adapting a similar one! Good job for one of the many "spin-off" style episodes.

Another perspective of this episode

[bretlfcampbell · 10/10 · 25 October 2012]

I think many of the people harping on this episode are missing the point, but I digress, so here is my opinion - I posted it on IGN's review for the episode also:

I very much liked this episode, and I really don't find people calling this one of the worst eps because Sam and Dean weren't in it very much to be that viable of a reason. You make it seem as though they were there for one or two scenes. They were in it quite a bit, there was an agreeable amount of screen time for them in an episode that wasn't about them, but involved them. Also, I think that if Sam and Dean had lines throughout the film they were watching, it would have sucked you out of it and made something meaningful into something hokey. I liked the story that was told this week, it's not often you get to see something from a perspective that isn't from Sam and Dean, but when it happens, it makes me appreciate the show more.

I think perhaps why people are complaining is this relatively daring episode's placement. It's still a fresh season, and the mytharc isn't explored at all. So, I could understand why certain people would be put off by such a sudden change in pace and perspective. That being said, this is a TV show and if it was all about the main storyline all the time, then it would be over by now and not nearly as fleshed out. I actually find this episode to be one of my favourite non-mytharc related episodes in a few seasons (or "Monster of the Week" if you will) because it told a fantastic story that was layered with tragedy and, in the end, hopeful. Not just for Kate, but for Sam and Dean, because an episode that wasn't about them was a perfect chance to get a nuanced take on their relationship. I think Dean, upon seeing the before and after, was a bit shaken and for once felt a lot of empathy for those sucked into the monster world; and Sam is, I believe, letting his guard down about hunting in general. He went from "Let's kill her now and get this job done so I can leave and go back to whatever cheesy happiness I think I felt" to "Maybe Dean is right" and perhaps he thought about Madison (from "Heart"). I think this was a good experience for them both: for Dean to evolve beyond his "kill-or-be-killed", nearly soulless state inherited from Purgatory, and for Sam to find reasons to hunt and, by extension, be Dean's little brother again. Looking at things from that perspective makes me think that this episode served more purposes than we think. The second time I saw it, that's what I had believed to be the case. It brought a tragic humanism to the monster world; bridging the gap, and I think the brothers needed a reminder and to see that so they, themselves, can bridge a gap instead of digging it deeper.

Plus, I imagine, with the gravity of what we saw, that we may see Kate again. And also, people complaining about how some elements in this episode are all too contrived or convenient, there are many, many episodes that have things all into place because someone conveniently knew how to do this or that was conveniently there, I don't complain about that but I do notice it. Shows do that all the time, they only have an hour to tell their story, so some things are wedged in there to get the ball rolling.

So yeah, I'm a fan of this episode, but I understand that this episode is a barbed-wire fence and there are people on both sides.

One of the best episodes of supernatural since the end of season 5

[arturibeiro1993 · 10/10 · 30 October 2012]

We have to be honest with ourselves, supernatural is not the same since Eric Kripke left the show. The terror atmosphere, the storyline involving god, lucifer, demons and angels. One story in five seasons. That was really amazing.

But then came dragons, fairies, phoenix and gods who were killed by a simple wood stick.

"Bitten" remind me the good times of the series, the terror atmosphere that i said before, and a very engaging story presented in the style of "found footage". In that episode, we could also see Sam and Dean's relationship thru the eyes of the people who they save. I really enjoyed "Bitten" and i hope the next episodes "maintain the level".

I loved it!

[aarongnr · 10/10 · 26 November 2019]

I don't get the hate this episode gets.

I really enjoyed it, I loved the change of perspective, and I didn't mind the handheld cams at all.

The resolution was also really satisfying, so, well done to the creators.

Not original anymore

[martoni64 · 6/10 · 9 November 2012]

But still enjoyable. No, Sam and Dean are not the main characters in this episode, but they are in there much more than at the start and the end. This is a third person view of a Sam and Dean case, from the persepctive of the hunted.

The main problem is not with the not-original-anymore-hand-held-home video style but with the plot logic. The reasoning of the surviving hunted is just dumb and illogical. The whole idea of the plot is actually not too brilliant either but they manage to save if from utter disgrace IMO but the overall effect of the episode.

I started out with a 8 and it got reduced to a 6 while writing this review. But it's not a 1-2 as some reviewers think.

Well Written,Different,Innovator..

[alex-dinniz · 9/10 · 3 July 2014]

Many people didn't like this episode at all,many people wanted to see the Winchesters in action,killing monsters and shaking our emotions,i understand them and i understand you if you felt the same way,but let me tell you something,this episode was a product of the excellent creative mind the supernatural writers have,believe in my words,this episode follows the formula that has keeping SPN going on..Innovate!

I'm begging you,watch this episode,feel it,it's a great storytelling,the worst thing in SPN is that if there's no winchester,or if there's anything else getting attention then the episode or the season sucks,are people falling too much in love for those two guys?

Watchable

[wolfordcheyenne · 7/10 · 21 March 2020]

I applaud the show for trying something new. I was wondering when they'd do a found footage episode and it was kinda lame. The main problem I had with it was the lack of Sam and Dean. The characters in this episode were boring and uncompelling. I couldn't get invested in the plot.

Not good. Not at all.

[TheNorwegianGuy · 2/10 · 27 October 2012]

I get what they were trying to do with this episode. In a long-running show like Supernatural, it's important with some variation from episode to episode. However, this time it felt unoriginal and unnecessary. "Found footage" isn't really something special anymore.

Just to make it clear; I really like the "found footage" genre, but here it was poorly done. They've even done this already, in the earlier Ghostfacers-episodes. But the difference is that those episodes was quite entertaining and fun to watch. This time I struggled not to turn it off.

This didn't really feel like a Supernatural-episode. It wasn't good at all, and I hope the next one is better.

One of the most stylish episodes and fits in comfortably with the classics of the canon

[CubsandCulture · 10/10 · 27 August 2020]

I looked through the reviews here and I was a bit surprised by intensity of dislike that a lot of people have for this episode. I know a lot of fans don't like it when the narrative focus shifts off of the Winchesters but I though this episode included them about as much as it could given the underlying concept. The episode ends up telling monster side of the story for once; the show did need to do that now and then just to keep the material fresh. I also know the found footage genre, style can bug people.

I happen to like the found footage concept and this episode employs it with relish. The script did a good job of justifying the footage-while also raising the doubts of its reliability (it's a plea after all)-and that is better than most media in this genre, style. The shaky-cam is used well to keep the effects more naturalistic and carry off the illusions. It ends up making the episode feel more grounded than a lot of the other episodes in the show. And the three guess stars are well cast. The love triangle is believable. The episode just works as it is intended.

A lot of people also take umbrage at including such a stylized episode to begin with. The show has slowly morphed over the years into a various tonalities. The mythical storylines-i.e. Dean's deal, the Leviathans, the Tablet story, the apocalypse-started to take up more and more space in each season's runtime starting in season 4. The Men of Letters bunker eventually removes a lot of the one the road vibe, drifters on the edge of society thing that goes throughout much of the first several seasons. Etc. But one of the things that was always present and is still included to this day if not as strongly was the show is committed on rooting things in extratextual folklore and tales. The first 3 seasons the show constantly presented their versions of classic horror monsters, i.e Werewolves in Heart. (this continued with more rarity for much of the show's run. They are still doing it to a lackadaisical degree in season 15) Likewise, the show has repeatedly crafted episodes around a single horror trope-i.e. The cannibal(ish) family in The Benders or another genre iconography, i.e. a high noon shoot out in Frontierland. In this light the show doing a found footage episode makes perfect sense. This episode is very much in the token of a horror, fantasy trope that the show is quite literally built on. You could play this after any of the truly outstanding monster of the week episodes-say Monster Movie-and it would make sense.

seriously what the hell was that?

[lysanthiel · 2/10 · 28 October 2012]

okay i'm a fan from the very first episode on and sure there were better and worse ones over time but usually i liked them one way or another.

but bitten was the by far worst episode ever! that crappy hand-held style throughout almost makes the audience dizzy and hardly any sam & dean scenes. you could have made a 90 minute movie from it and nobody would have said "oh look - just like supernatural!".

if we want to watch the ambitious college students home video project i'm sure we will get copies of blair witch project and alike at our local rental.

sorry to say but this episode was 42 minutes waste of time.

i seriously hope the halloween episode will make up for this disaster.

2 stars just for the sake of one of my favorite TV shows but please never ever do that again to our boys who went through hell and back for us ;)

Astonishingly powerful episode

[nylonsportz · 9/10 · 3 August 2013]

A gripping and moving episode, well performed by the actors who take centre stage. This story is, like much of Supernatural, shamelessly derivate, but as ever, with more than a hint of irony. But the story is surprisingly intense and involving.

This is a Winchester-lite episode, but that does not distract from the viewing. It is fairly heavy on comments regarding the slash potential of the leads.

This tragedy has moments of hope and tells a story of three friends in a complex and in intense relationship. In a surprisingly short time the writers allow us to understand the nature of the friendships and this heightens the tension throughout the story

a Classic Supernatural episode

[Jashhh · 10/10 · 16 December 2015]

Viewers who watched Supernatural from the beginning, will know why this is a typical Supernatural episode. At the core of this show, there is this amazing ability to create these amazing 1-episode stories every single time. Like it's giving us an actual movie every week.

These episodes have always been less about Sam & Dean and more about the story and all of its characters. That is what the show was founded on since the very first episodes. Sam & Dean make the episode cool and we love going through the episode with them, no matter how much screen-time they get.

There are side stories and background stories that lead to a season final, but that is a whole other part of Supernatural's core success. These 1 episode stories are something to fall back on and it's the basics of Supernatural. And this one was a real deep and intense one. Better than average. Especially in the way they ended it.

I should say something about the camera-perspectives. It did not bother me. It can be bothering, but it was not like that in this episode. They handled it in a fine way. I get it if it's better for a certain episode to do it this way. Just don't do it too often.

If a friend asked me...

[stpema · 9/10 · 28 October 2012]

... to recommend episodes of Supernatural to give them a taste, this might be top of the list.

When we get a Monster of the Week episode we usually get the old bitch'n'moan expositional stuff at the end, usually with the boys standing by the car, probably on some pier somewhere, with sunset, all moody like. This time there wasn't any of that and I didn't miss it. Last week's episode was poor and the overarching mythology has been pretty poor for years now. It's stand-alone episodes like this that have kept the show going this long.

I'm stunned that there are so many other reviewers giving low scores. And more generally I'm a little saddened that TV's well and truly stuck in the serial-soap model. Back in the day you could pick up an episode of Star Trek or the X-files from anywhere within their multiple year runs, and simply sit back and enjoy without needing to know where you were in the plot.

This episode's writer was brave, and the producers were brave for letting it happen and (in my mind at least) it paid off. It seems that it was a hard fight because the episode's writing was honed to a shine, probably as the writer had to try to persuade everyone that it was a good idea by polishing and polishing! I really hope they take more risks but with so many fans of the show preferring to be spoon-fed the rubbish we've been seeing far too much of over the last few seasons I regret that I probably shouldn't hold my breath.

If you had on one hand a pile of all of the Supernatural MOTW episodes without the 5 minutes at each end where the brothers fight and hug, and in the other hand you had all the mythology, and could choose one for your desert island, which would you pick?

Bitten

[johncairns-961-356852 · 10/10 · 17 August 2019]

Great episode. Could have been a cheap filler. Instead it was pretty damn awesome!

San and Dean take a back seat to some annoying kids and their home videos.

[MichaelBeardsley · 2/10 · 4 August 2015]

Wow, this was a terrible episode. I hated the kids and wanted them to die. I don't watch Supernatural to see annoying people make home movies. And I would like to point out, that like many found footage movies, there are moments that are not plausible as found footage, like when camera angles change. When Sam and Dean came to the kids' house, there were angles that made no sense! I appreciate that Supernatural likes to throw in weird episodes now and then, but this was a big miss. I actually am writing this review as the episode is on because it can't hold my attention... and I am binge watching the show. This is the first episode that compelled me to write a review, and not for good reasons.

Brilliant and different

[jmartel-53796 · 10/10 · 2 December 2018]

I never write reviews n only decided to write this one because people don't seem to understand the beauty of this episode. Most people who don't like it will say it didn't have enough Sam and Dean. Listen the show is about the supernatural which is why it's called supernatural and not the Sam and Dean show. This episode told am amazing story from the other side of the hunt, the side of the "monsters". True supernatural fans will enjoy.

I couldn't even finish watching it

[daggersineyes · 2/10 · 22 November 2014]

What in God's name did they do that for? THe found footage, shaky camera, vomit-inducing, idiotic kids waving a camera around and getting lots of footage of footpaths, people's knees, sky and up noses has been done to death and was never good to begin with. And those awful characters. Who cares what happened to them? They were meaningless and not at all credible. It was all so fake and unconvincing. Why did they mess up such a fantastic quality show with such a cheap gimmicky pile of nonsense? WHY? I have no idea what happened after the 20 minute mark. I'd already started fast forwarding through the horrific camera work 10 minutes in and once I realised they were forcing a whole episode of this rubbish on us I hit "stop" and quit watching. Worst episode ever. I gave it 2 points just for the small amount of Sam & Dean in it and the opening scene which held such promise - sadly unfulfilled. I swear if one more twit makes a movie or TV episode using this ridiculous concept Im going to tear my eyes out.

The Werewolf Project

[emiliedotson · 8/10 · 8 November 2018]

So much hate for this episode. In some parts it honestly reminded me of The Blair Witch, which I found comical. Might not be the best episode, but certainly entertaining.

Very good episode

[rich-fouts · 9/10 · 25 May 2019]

Robbie Thompson wrote a very clever episode where Sam and Dean are supporting characters. This is the first time we've seen the primary storyline come from third parties

Some college students (one of them a would be filmmaker) stumble across a crime scene when we see Sam and Dean pull up. The rest of the show is shot from the perspective of these college kids until Sam and Dean discover them at the end. I think the reviews that gave this one low marks didn't get it or appreciate the clever angle.

Engaging

[shwetafabm · 9/10 · 24 June 2020]

I think i just like found footage quite a bit, the monsters have always been tragic figures in the show, the show has a very difficult task of getting us to care about the one ep minor characters, generally its just not possible, with the little run time they get, in this ep like the one in S3 its found footage.

Loved it

[elijscool · 10/10 · 7 June 2016]

Loved this episode a lot. It was refreshing and emotional to see the hunters from an opposite point of view. Quite sad too. A lot of people here dislike it because of the lack of the main story line, but it was way better than a regular filler episode with S&D hunting a ghost or something.

The ending was very sweet, Dean has always been a driven hunter, (like he killed Amy) though seeing the video the boys seemed touched. Last time in a similar way we got to see a werewolf's life from a different perspective was Maddison? the werewolf who was Sam's love interest they had to kill (season 1 or 2?)

I was actually embarrassed..

[tluscombe · 2/10 · 4 November 2012]

I had friends over and we decided to watch Supernatural. They had never seen it and I had been harping them for a while to start watching it and going on about what a good show it is... Out of ALL the episodes to try and rope them in, why on earth did it have to be this one? It was so pitiful that I actually felt embarrassed and awkward while we were all watching it. Supernatural has had some really different and quirky episodes which I've always loved. But this? This was complete and utter garbage. It did not feel like Supernatural. It felt like someone was trying to make a directorial debut with their short film and they used Supernatural as a source of showing it.

God I hope it gets better from here. I'm beginning to lose faith in this show.

One of my favorite episodes!!!

[amygwaine · 10/10 · 21 November 2023]

I didn't realize other people didn't like this episode? I always this was one of the most well done episodes, especially in the later seasons. Yes, I get that people can be annoyed that Sam and Dean aren't one the screen that much but it's been over 7 seasons of them hunting monsters so it was really cool to see this perspective. I normally don't like these one off episodes but this is just done so well. You really get into the characters and their lives and I love the ending. Robbie is one of my favorite writers on Supernatural and he ALWAYS delivers with great fleshed out characters and character arcs.

I find myself thinking about this episode a lot. As a writer it's just so cool and intelligent. It also is a great callback to some horror movies with the handheld cameras and adds to the tension when the audience gets to see "secret" moments by "accident".

Just a great way to break up the monotony of the monster a week structure Supernatural had and put a little twist on it.