It’s said that there are no new ideas, that everything made is influenced or inspired by something before it. It’s also said that imitation is the sincerest form of flattery. Whatever the case, the new SYFY show, Superstition, is guilty on both accounts.

The show follows the Hastings family in La Rochelle, GA. They run the town’s funeral home and have a little family business on the side. They manage all of the supernatural occurrences in the town…of which there seems to be many.

The story centers around Isaac (Mario Van Peebles), Bea (Robinne Lea) and Calvin Hastings (Brad James) – dad, mom and son respectively. Calvin’s little brother died when he was a teenager during an attack from a supernatural being, so Calvin joined the military and left for 16 years. Upon his return, he wants to help the family fight the darkness alongside his old flame the sheriff and the daughter he didn’t know he had.

Something is coming for the Hastings’ family that they have never seen before and Calvin learns his family has secrets that run deeper than just old superstition.

The show is written and produced in part by Mario Van Peebles. It would seem blatantly that Ven Peebles is a big watcher of the CW show Supernatural. Not only does this feel like a knockoff of Supernatural, but it just reeks of a SYFY channel series. It has a feel like Z Nation (of which I am a big fan) but doesn’t have the novelty that Z Nation does.

It’s filmed with the same notoriously heavy filter and odd lighting common of a SYFY series. It works for Z Nation because it doesn’t take itself too seriously and pokes fun at its cheesiness, but Superstition puts itself out as a serious paranormal series.

While it does make jokes and references to Supernatural, referencing Sam, Dean and Baby in the pilot, the concerning part is that the influences are so strong, you’d think these were side characters in a monster of the week episode. It’s like Zupernatural. Get it? Not to mention the goth doctor/coroner straight out of NCIS just makes you cringe from the stereotypes.

On a positive note, I do love its monster of the week style even though in actuality it’s only chasing one major evil. At times the acting is atrocious and the dialogue is subpar which is so disappointing. I was so excited about this show. It has so much potential with its storyline and environment. Setting it in the South gives it a mystery and magic you don’t get with other shows. When people think of the South they think of voodoo, magic, spirits and secrets.

They could have taken this first season so many places that they just didn’t take advantage of. While I did enjoy parts, I found myself having to walk away and come back to try to get myself interested again and it was a struggle getting through some of the episodes (I’m looking at you otherworld in the mirror episode). It’s not a bad show, but it’s just not what it could have been to its full potential.

Hopefully if the show gets renewed, it will take advantage of what it has to offer. And hell, maybe we will get a Superstition/Supernatural crossover one day.

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D.D. Crowley

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