1.1 "Pilot"
Supernatural differs from many current US shows in that its episodes are always titled, and shown onscreen (Buffy, conversely, uses episode titles but never show them onscreen: what, as they say, is the deal with that?) however the first episode is not titled, being the pilot one. We're introduced to the two heroes, Sam and Dean Winchester, and given insight into what drives them, as the incident from their childhood is recounted, and will be usually before each subsequent episode. Twenty-two years on, Sam is now living with a girl whom he intends to marry, and studying for a law degree, when his brother comes calling in the dead of night (Sam hears him downstairs breaking in and takes him for a prowler, not unreasonably) to tell him that their father is missing. Dean uses the codewords "Dad's been hunting" so that his brother knows that their father has been trying, as he has been for the past two decades, to track down the demon that killed his wife, their mother. Sam has his own life but loves his father and agrees to help Dean find him.
Dean plays Sam a voicemail from their father, which appears to be some sort of recording with a ghostly voice on it that complains "I can never go home". He shows his brother newspaper clippings about men disappearing over the last twenty years at a place called Centennial Highway. The two go to investigate, as the scene shifts to a man driving down the highway. He picks up a female hitch-hiker, a woman in white who entices him back to her place, which appears deserted and abandoned. She tells him "I can never go home", then attacks and kills him. His car crashes through a bridge.
Dean is used to impersonating authority figures in the somewhat colourful life he has led, helping his father look for the demon, and as they come across the scene of the accident he uses the ID of a US Marshall to find out what's going on. Sam is less than impressed, as he has already been on Dean's case over using credit card scams to fund the hunting expeditions, but the cop at the scene tells them they did not recover a body from the accident. He gives them the guy's name and they go to visit his girlfriend. She tells them of an urban legend which holds that a woman in white is said to hitch-hike at night and kill anyone who stops to pick her up.
Dean has better experience with determining between what is a legend and what has its basis in nasty truth, and the two brothers begin researching the story, turning up an article about a woman, Constance Welch, who jumped from a bridge on Centennial Highway, committing suicide after her two children had drowned in mysterious circumstances, back in 1981. Dean and Sam visit the bridge where the suicide took place later that night, and see a ghostly form jump off the bridge. Next moment, Dean's car starts up of its own accord and tries to run him over, but he escapes by diving off the bridge.
The boys check into the hotel their dad stayed in while here, and see pictures on the wall that show them that their father has discovered Constance Welch to be a "woman in white", a spirit who lures others to their deaths out of revenge or remorse, and they decide to go talk to her husband. Turns out he was unfaithful to her, Constance found out and killed herself and her two children in despair. The brothers are on their way to the abandoned house to destroy her corpse when Constance suddenly appears in Sam's car and, taking control of it when Sam refuses her offer to take her home, drives it to the house. Dean distracts her though before she can kill Sam and the younger Winchester ploughs the car through the house, returning Constance to the spirits of her children, who take her down into the depths with them. This then is the reason she kept saying "I can never go home", not being able to face her children as she knows she is responsible for their deaths.
Having unearthed clues to where their father might now be, Dean decides to follow the trail but Sam wants to get back for his interview, and asks to be dropped home. Once there, however, he is devastated to see Jessica, his fiancee, pinned to the ceiling and explode into fire, just like their mother did, twenty-two years ago. Trapped in the suddenly-burning house, he is rescued by Dean who charges in, and though heartbroken over the loss of his girlfriend he agrees to go with his brother to find their father, new purpose in his heart. Now, it's not just their mother the two are seeking revenge for.
As they prepare to leave the house, Sam looks at Dean and says "We've got some work to do."
MUSIC
As mentioned in the intro, one of the great things about this show is its use of rock and classic rock music. Here I'll be listing all the songs used in each episode, as well as featuring, if there are any, YouTube videos of the songs.
The Living Daylights: "Gasoline"
Classic: "What cha gonna do?" (Okay, not
every song is rock!)
Eagles of Death Metal: "Speaking in tongues"
Allman Brothers Band: "Ramblin' man"
AC/DC: "Back in black"
AC/DC: "Highway to Hell"
Kid Gloves Music: "My cheatin' ways"
QUESTIONS?
The obvious big one right from the start is, why does the demon want Sam? Allied to that, you have to ask where is the boys' father and what is he doing?
The "WTF?!!" moment
Supernatural is full of surprises, twists and turns, but most episodes have a point where you just go "WTF?" I think it's fair to say that moment in the pilot is when Sam returns home after dealing with the woman in white, relaxes on his bed and then notices blood falling on his face, looks up and see Jessica pinned to the ceiling, just moments before she bursts into flame and the whole episode from his babyhood is repeated with terrifying clarity and new horror.
POP CULTURE REFERENCES (PCRs)
Supernatural uses the fact that most of its fans are "tuned in" to other horror/fantasy/sc-fi shows to drop in witty, knowing and relevant pop culture references (which I'll be shortening to PCRs from now on) that "share a private joke" for those who know what they're talking about, and have the cognoscenti nodding knowingly. Where these are used in an episode I'll be mentioning them, and the context in which they're used. Many times, this context will be obvious, but just in case there are any hermits among my readership I'll explain them anyway.
Questioned by the cops as to his name, Dean says it's Ted Nugent.
Ted Nugent is a rock star, famed for his excesses and also for his love of guns.
Impersonating Federal marshals, Dean and Sam catch sight of the
real investigators coming up the road and leave. As they go, Dean quips "Agent Scully. Agent Mulder."
This obviously refers to Mulder and Scully from "The X-Files", FBI agents who investigate weird or paranormal cases in Chris Carter's hit series.
When Sam tells Amy that the pentagram on her t-shirt, rather than being a sign of evil is meant to ward off evil, Dean nods "Thank you, "Unsolved Mysteries".
Obviously referencing the show that seeks to, er, solve mysteries.
When arrested by the cops for impersonating US Marshals, Dean is told he's in a lot of trouble. He grins and asks "Misdemeanour type trouble? Or "squeal like a pig" trouble?"
This references the classic cult movie "Deliverance". If you don't know what it means watch the movie, I ain't gonna spoil it for ya!
1.2 "Wendigo" (Officially it's 1.1, as the pilot is numbered 1.0. but hey...)
The first episode proper of the series sets the tone for much of the first season, where Supernatural will and can be seen as a monster-of-the-week show. Dean and Sam, trying to track down their dad, arrive at Blackwater Ridge, his last known whereabouts, and investigate the disappearance of young boys and men from camping sites, and discover that a Wendigo is responsible. A Wendigo is a creature who was once human but having turned to cannibalism is now nothing more than a monster that craves human flesh. Nice! Wendigos also turned up in the much-inferior but still all right "Charmed".
Essentially, this episode is pedestrian and unremarkable. It offers no clues to the location of John Winchester, there are no plot arc developments and it could really in fairness have cropped up in anything from "Grimm" to, indeed, "Charmed" or "Buffy". As a second episode --- and first real one --- it's a big disappointment and not really worth any sort of full review. The only thing it's really remarkable for at all, as below, is the music in the episode.
MUSIC
Foreigner: "Hot blooded"
Lynyrd Skynyrd: "Down south jukin'"
Rush: "Fly by night"
QUESTIONS?
None.
The "WTF?!!" moment:
Not present.
PCRs
Just the one: at the start of the search Dean, ever the wiseass, turns to Roy the hunter and asks "Bambi or Yogi ever hunt you back?"
Referring to Bambi, the lovable baby deer in the Disney movie, and Yogi Bear, creation of Hanna-Barbera Cartoons and a favourite with the kids of my age; Yogi was forever thwarting Ranger Smith and stealing the picnic baskets of visitors to Jellystone Park. The fact that one is a deer and one a bear, two of the most popular prey for hunters, speaks for itself.
1.3 "Dead in the water"
MUCH better. There have been a lot of unexplained drownings in Wisconsin, with no bodies ever being found. Dean and Sam investigate, and here the two share a difference of opinion: Sam thinks they should not be getting sidetracked, and should be concentrating all their energy on finding their father. Dean however remarks that while this is indeed their main objective, their quest if you will, there's nothing wrong with killing anything evil along the way, and Sam can't really argue with that. It's clear though that Dean, being the more experienced hunter, is more willing to go after these monsters than his little brother is.
They make contact with the sheriff of Lake Manitoc, and he confirms that the dam is leaking so perhaps that's why people are drowning, but that the town can't get a grant to repair it. He introduces them to his daughter and her son, the latter of whom is quiet and withdrawn. The sheriff will only say that he's "been through a lot". Later the brother of the most recent victim, a young girl called Sophie, is drowned himself in a sink! He thinks it's blocked but when he reaches in to unblock it something grabs him and holds his head under the water till he dies. Sam and Dean now know that they're dealing with something, er, supernatural, rather than a series of tragic accidents.
Lucas, the son of the sheriff's daughter, has become a little more relaxed around Dean, and draws him a picture of an old house and then later a house near a church with a drawing of a boy with a red bike. When the brothers find this house and ask after the boy in the picture, who's called Peter, they're told he went missing 35 years ago, his body never found, and they begin to suspect that Billy, Will and Sophie's father, had something to do with it when they find a photograph of the two together. Meanwhile Billy is at the lake, seemingly talking to it, and nods that he knows now what he has to do.
When the boys return he is already on the lake in a boat, and as they call to him it explodes. Back in Lucas's house, his mother is taking a bath when suddenly something reaches up from the water and begins to drag her under. In the nick of time Dean and Sam arrive, and rescue her. The next morning, as they're going through some photo albums, they notice a picture of her father with Billy and Peter, and believe the sheriff may also be involved in the boy's death. Lucas suddenly leads them out to a plot of land where they discover Peter's bike buried, and then the sheriff arrives, forcing them back at gunpoint.
Dean accuses the sheriff of killing the boy with Billy, but he denies it until his daughter points out all the horrible things that have been happening due to his evil deed, and that she herself just yesterday became a target. He breaks down and confesses, and Dean and Sam tell him that in order to lay Peter's spirit to rest they need to burn the body. Problem: the corpse was dumped in the lake, hence all the drownings. Before they can think any further on the problem though, Lucas is pulled under the water, and seeing that everyone he loves or cares about may die because of what he did, the sheriff offers himself up to Peter's spirit. Dean dives in to save Lucas, but although he surfaces with the boy again it looks like he's too late.
The epilogue however shows us that Lucas not only survived, but is now talking for the first time in years, and seems a lot happier. Having solved the case, but come no closer to finding their father, Dean and Sam leave town.
MUSIC
Black Toast: "What a way to go"
Ratt: "Round and round"
Billy Squier: "Too daze gone"
Bad Company: "Movin' on"
QUESTIONS?
None really; all mostly wrapped up in the episode.
The "WTF?!!" moment:
Meh, hard to say. Maybe it's at the end, when Sam says to Dean, "You can't save everyone", and you naturally expect this to relate to the fact that the didn't manage to save Lucas, and then he comes running up with sandwiches for them. Maybe. I think the real one though is the first time you see Will, the brother of Sophie, get pulled in and drowned in the sink...!
PCRs
Again, just the one. Once more impersonating government officials, Dean introduces Sam and himself as "Agent Ford, Agent Hammill".
This is in reference to Harrison Ford and Mark Hammill, who played Han Solo and Luke Skywalker respectively in "Star Wars".