Meg 1.0 vs. Meg 2.0: Who played the Supernatural character better?
Demons switching meatsuits means different actors can convincingly play the same character. Meg Masters is one of those characters, but who wore the suit better?
Meg Masters cemented herself as the demon to watch out for in Supernatural Season 1. While Meg has taken over a few other meatsuits, including Sam Winchester, there have been two bodies she’s made herself well-known in. In the first season, Nicki Aycox took the role, but Dean sent the demon back to hell. In Season 5, Rachel Miner became the face.
While both women portrayed the character beautifully, fans have their own opinions and preferences. Usually, it’s the first conception of the character that you prefer, but that doesn’t seem to be the case as much for Meg. There are many who prefer Meg 2.0. Here’s a look at the two actresses and the things they brought to the character.
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Meg the original, creating the base for the character
Aycox have the benefit of getting to be the first person to play the character. In Supernatural Season 1, she became the first overarching antagonist. After conveniently running into Sam Winchester in the middle of nowhere, she bonded with him over their similarities. In truth, she just knew enough about Sammy to play with his mind. It was an attempt to lure Sam away from Dean for good, but it was soon clear that nothing could quite break that bond.
Day29:WhichMeg-Meg 1.0 was, in my opinion, more BA than Meg 2.0, but either way, she's not my fav #Supernatural pic.twitter.com/p7itB4r5TE
— Corinne Kauffman (@kauffy3) December 30, 2013
The ability to make a character your own is a powerful way to cement yourself as the favorite. When someone thinks of a character played by multiple people, they will usually have the first incarnation of that character in their mind. Aycox developed the personality, the sass and the sarcasm. Miner had to follow through with that to make the change of meatsuit believable.
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Aycox also played the role of demon perfectly. From the very beginning there was something uneasy about her. Just did she happen to be in the same middle of nowhere as Sam? How was her story so much like Sam’s? Yes, there are people in the world with similar stories, but this was Sam Winchester and Supernatural. By “Scarecrow” we knew that there was no such thing as coincidences.
From that point, we knew not to trust Meg. She was evil and there was no doubt about it, which helped to prevent questions about alliances and stories. We could accept her as bad and leave it at that.
Meg 2.0 develops a grey character
Then along came Miner, who had the difficult task of creating a character that was once evil into one that was grey; that had a potential good side. At first she was evil and we knew not to like her. After all, it was because of her that Ellen and Jo Harvelle became major casualties in Supernatural Season 5. Yet by Season 6 she needed the Winchesters.
And then she looked after Castiel when he was crazy and developed a connection to him. As she said, Castiel became her unicorn. This character we had grown to love to hate or just completely dislike had become one that we felt sorry for or wanted to win against her enemies. She was one that we started to wonder whether we could trust or not and that’s tense and apprehensive in a show like Supernatural.
Miner made the character her own. She shone in ways that Aycox didn’t. That’s nothing back about Aycox, but more about the storyline for Meg 2.0.
While I love Miner’s portrayal, it’s hard to choose between the two Megs. They both have their own reasons for being excellent characters and were perfect for their respective seasons.
Next: 5 most hated characters in Supernatural Season 1
Who was your favorite Meg? Which version do you love to watch over and over again? Share your thoughts in the comments below.
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