SPN: Elaborate and Unhinged Recaps: SEASON ONE
A lot of season one is technically filler MOTW episodes, but it set the whole tone of the show going forward and a lot of them are great.
THE REST OF SEASON ONE:
Quick overview of important episodes:
04. Phantom Traveler
Dean is afraid of flying. Demons are a thing. The boys learn to do an exorcism in latin.
05. Bloody Mary
One of my fave MOTW episodes. Sam was having visions of Jess’ death for weeks before she died, and he won’t tell Dean about it. It will take them ten more years to learn not to keep secrets about this kind of shit.
06. Skin
Introduction of shapeshifters. They kill the monster while it looks like Dean, causing Dean to be declared dead, legally.
08. Bugs
Very stupid and gross episode. Involves an Indian burial ground. Pointed to for the rest of the show as very stupid and gross.
09. Home
Sam has visions of a family being attacked in the Winchester childhood home. Their mother’s ghost destroys the poltergeist but it destroys her, too. Very sad, much emotion.
11. Scarecrow
John calls and won’t answer any fucking questions because he sucks wants to keep his sons safe away from him. Sam wants answers, Dean takes the phone and instantly transforms into a good soldier for his dad. It’s heartbreaking. Sam and Dean argue about John. Sam leaves, hitchhiking to wherever John placed that call from, Dean goes to check out the pattern of disappearances John wanted him to check out.
This is an excellent episode. Dean goes to an idyllic town that turns out to be idyllic because they sacrifice tourists to their harvest god. Who is an extremely creepy scarecrow.
Sam goes off on his own and meets Meg, a girl who is also hitchhiking to somewhere and encourages Sam to go his own way and not be tied up by his family. Sam is into it until he calls Dean to check in and Dean doesn’t pick up. Sam ditches Meg, and goes to save Dean, who has been captured by the townspeople and tied up in an orchard.
Given the way Dean feels about pie, you’d think he’d be more understanding. Sam saves him, duh. They burn down the harvest god’s sacred apple tree, dooming the town but ending the killings.
The boys drive off together, agreeing that they should stick together. Meg meanwhile hitches a ride with a truck driver, slits his throat, collects his blood in a silver cup and then talks to it, apologizing for her failure and asking for orders. She’s a demon, y’all.
12. Faith
Dean is dying (not for the last time) because of a hunt gone bad. I never rewatch this one but there are some themes about faith (Sam has some, Dean does not) and Dean’s lack of self-worth that’ll come back later. Also, the introduction of reapers, neutral beings who work for DEATH and take souls to the afterlife.
13. Route 666
The one with the racist truck.
Yeah.
Also, Dean once told the truth to a girl he hooked up with and really cared for, and she didn’t believe him, then called him once weird stuff started happening and she needed him. Dean has self-worth issues.
14. Nightmare
Sam has a vision of some murder. They go there, some murder happens. They talk to the victim’s son who, it turns out, had his mother die the same way their mother died (ie: on the ceiling, on fire).
The guy traps Sam and Dean and uses telekinesis to try and kill his stepmother. Sam uses telekinesis to free himself and talks the guy out of killing his step mom. The guy kills himself instead.
16. Shadow
This is a MOTW ep I don’t really remember, but Meg is back and she has monsters. Also, John shows up, but doesn’t stick around after they stop the monsters, saying they make each other vulnerable. This makes Sam very annoyed and Dean visibly heartbroken. John Winchester, meet me in the pit.
17. Hell House
A great MOTW episode. Introduction of Harry and Ed, the Ghostfacers. “Professional” ghosthunters with a blog and a van.
Introduction of tulpas, a Tibetan thought form I actually saw first on an episode of the X-files. Basically, with the right symbols, if enough people believe in something it can manifest itself.
Also, Sam and Dean have a prank war.
19. Provenance
Solid MOTW episode that is only noteworthy for Sam finally getting to kiss a girl. She even survives this brush with (the lips of) death!
… for like nine more seasons until they bring her back very briefly just to kill her for daring to come anywhere near Sam Winchester’s Peen of Death.
20. Dead Man’s Blood
Introduction of vampires. More importantly, introduction of the Colt.
In 1835 Samuel Colt made a gun and 13 bullets. It can kill almost anything in Creation.
Also, looks super cool.
Introduction, by name, of Azazel. The demon who killed Mary Winchester, formerly referred to as Yellow-Eyed Demon, YED, or Yellow Eyes because he… has yellow eyes.
21. Salvation
Meg is working for Azazel, killing hunters to force John into giving her the Colt. They give her a fake gun, but John is captured.
The Road So Far - Season 1
22. Devil’s Trap
Introduction of Bobby Singer. An old hunter who is more of a father to Sam and Dean than John. Low bar; public access television was more of a father to them than John.
Introduction of devil’s traps. A mystical symbol that… traps demons.
(I’m telling you, this fandom was off the hook)
They exorcize Meg, which kills the girl she was possessing. The demon (spoilers: she shows up again later) will continue to be referred to as “Meg” for simplicity’s sake.
They find Azazel but Oh, No! He’s possessing John!
Sam shoots him with the real Colt, but not fatally because he doesn’t want to kill his father. John is upset at losing this chance to kill Azazel. Fuck you, John.
Sam, Dean, and John are in the Impala, when it’s hit broadside by a demonically possessed truck driver.
Cliffhanger!
Important things from this season:
*John Winchester’s A+ parenting: Jeffrey Dean Morgan was cast on Grey’s Anatomy right after this so: spoilers, John doesn’t show up much in later seasons. This is the only look we get at him, and we have to judge his parenting by Sam and Dean until other hunters are introduced later.
A lot of elder siblings end up mostly raising younger siblings, but John elevated that shit to an art form. At this point we only know him for pushing his sons into hunting, fighting with Sam constantly, and the way Dean reacts to him. We’ll learn more as we go along, and we won’t like it.
This dovetails nicely into:
*Sam’s views on hunting/their childhood: Sam agrees that hunters are necessary, that saving people is good and important, but he’s very angry about being forced into it and about the expectations John always placed on them. He’s angry that Dean didn’t support him in doing something else with his life, he felt alone in pushing back against John’s expectations because Dean always tried to live up to them. Sam was six months old when Mary died; Dean is the only maternal figure he’s ever had and Dean was fucking four.
*Music: You can’t really watch this show on Netflix. I mean, you can. But you shouldn’t. Something Netflix does a lot is buy the rights to air a show, without buying the rights to the music, and then stick in cheaper or royalty free music. Sometimes that doesn’t matter. In Supernatural, it matters a lot. Most episodes are named for classic songs, and every episode makes very careful, very clever, very beautiful use of music. Playlists just of songs from the show are incredible. I have several of them.
This is from Bloody Mary, 1x05, and it’s under two minutes. (I think it’s been balance shifted so their voices sound wrong to me, but whatever.)
*Demons: Demons are a big part of the show from here on out. Not in every single episode, but in a lot of the overarching plots. I don’t think you find out yet what exactly is up with demons, so I won’t get into it, but baseline, demons look like black smoke, they can possess pretty much any human but being depressed, or sick, or corrupt makes you extra vulnerable. A possessed person’s eyes go full black when the word “Christo” is said in their presence, Holy Water hurts them, they smell like sulfur. They can be trapped in a Devil’s Trap, and exorcized with a Latin incantation. This does not normally kill the person they’re possessing.
*The Colt: The gun that can kill anything. But there’s only 13 bullets. The Colt sticks around for a loooong time. I like it. I like the old timey look of it.
(This gif is from, like, season 13 or something. Notice how Jensen Ackles ages like a fine wine.)
*Sam’s powers: Oh, Sam’s mysterious powers. As of now he’s having “nightmares that sometimes come true”. Sam, cupcake, that’s what psychic visions are. And also some telekinesis. This makes Dean, and Sam tbh, very uncomfortable. They kill supernatural creatures. They don’t become them. Although there are several psychics who help out hunters so, like, get over yourselves.
*The Americana roadtrip vibe: This show billed itself as American folklore gone gritty and the episodes that lean into this are the best. These were early days and I’ll have to talk about it again later, but the strongest element of the show has always been the little touches of particularly American weirdness. The themed diners and motel rooms, the gas stations in the middle of nowhere, the tiny towns known for some random festival or attraction.
Kripke didn’t know how lucky he’d gotten in casting, because 90% of the show is Jared and Jensen in a car, or a weird motel, or a diner. If you made a supercut just of driving scenes it would be, I don’t know, really fucking long.
The fandom. Fandom in these early days was amazing. It was the biggest and best fandom I’ve ever been a part of. People wrote stuff, people made stuff (see above re: devil’s trap skirt), people sent each other stuff. Since there were only two recurring characters, a lot of the stuff was, um, incestuous fanfiction. This will be important later.
Yes, Dean. We know. This entry was originally posted at https://ghostrunner.dreamwidth.org/7602.html.
THE REST OF SEASON ONE:
Quick overview of important episodes:
04. Phantom Traveler
Dean is afraid of flying. Demons are a thing. The boys learn to do an exorcism in latin.
05. Bloody Mary
One of my fave MOTW episodes. Sam was having visions of Jess’ death for weeks before she died, and he won’t tell Dean about it. It will take them ten more years to learn not to keep secrets about this kind of shit.
06. Skin
Introduction of shapeshifters. They kill the monster while it looks like Dean, causing Dean to be declared dead, legally.
08. Bugs
Very stupid and gross episode. Involves an Indian burial ground. Pointed to for the rest of the show as very stupid and gross.
09. Home
Sam has visions of a family being attacked in the Winchester childhood home. Their mother’s ghost destroys the poltergeist but it destroys her, too. Very sad, much emotion.
11. Scarecrow
John calls and won’t answer any fucking questions because he sucks wants to keep his sons safe away from him. Sam wants answers, Dean takes the phone and instantly transforms into a good soldier for his dad. It’s heartbreaking. Sam and Dean argue about John. Sam leaves, hitchhiking to wherever John placed that call from, Dean goes to check out the pattern of disappearances John wanted him to check out.
This is an excellent episode. Dean goes to an idyllic town that turns out to be idyllic because they sacrifice tourists to their harvest god. Who is an extremely creepy scarecrow.
Sam goes off on his own and meets Meg, a girl who is also hitchhiking to somewhere and encourages Sam to go his own way and not be tied up by his family. Sam is into it until he calls Dean to check in and Dean doesn’t pick up. Sam ditches Meg, and goes to save Dean, who has been captured by the townspeople and tied up in an orchard.
Given the way Dean feels about pie, you’d think he’d be more understanding. Sam saves him, duh. They burn down the harvest god’s sacred apple tree, dooming the town but ending the killings.
The boys drive off together, agreeing that they should stick together. Meg meanwhile hitches a ride with a truck driver, slits his throat, collects his blood in a silver cup and then talks to it, apologizing for her failure and asking for orders. She’s a demon, y’all.
12. Faith
Dean is dying (not for the last time) because of a hunt gone bad. I never rewatch this one but there are some themes about faith (Sam has some, Dean does not) and Dean’s lack of self-worth that’ll come back later. Also, the introduction of reapers, neutral beings who work for DEATH and take souls to the afterlife.
13. Route 666
The one with the racist truck.
Yeah.
Also, Dean once told the truth to a girl he hooked up with and really cared for, and she didn’t believe him, then called him once weird stuff started happening and she needed him. Dean has self-worth issues.
14. Nightmare
Sam has a vision of some murder. They go there, some murder happens. They talk to the victim’s son who, it turns out, had his mother die the same way their mother died (ie: on the ceiling, on fire).
The guy traps Sam and Dean and uses telekinesis to try and kill his stepmother. Sam uses telekinesis to free himself and talks the guy out of killing his step mom. The guy kills himself instead.
16. Shadow
This is a MOTW ep I don’t really remember, but Meg is back and she has monsters. Also, John shows up, but doesn’t stick around after they stop the monsters, saying they make each other vulnerable. This makes Sam very annoyed and Dean visibly heartbroken. John Winchester, meet me in the pit.
17. Hell House
A great MOTW episode. Introduction of Harry and Ed, the Ghostfacers. “Professional” ghosthunters with a blog and a van.
Introduction of tulpas, a Tibetan thought form I actually saw first on an episode of the X-files. Basically, with the right symbols, if enough people believe in something it can manifest itself.
Also, Sam and Dean have a prank war.
19. Provenance
Solid MOTW episode that is only noteworthy for Sam finally getting to kiss a girl. She even survives this brush with (the lips of) death!
… for like nine more seasons until they bring her back very briefly just to kill her for daring to come anywhere near Sam Winchester’s Peen of Death.
20. Dead Man’s Blood
Introduction of vampires. More importantly, introduction of the Colt.
In 1835 Samuel Colt made a gun and 13 bullets. It can kill almost anything in Creation.
Also, looks super cool.
Introduction, by name, of Azazel. The demon who killed Mary Winchester, formerly referred to as Yellow-Eyed Demon, YED, or Yellow Eyes because he… has yellow eyes.
21. Salvation
Meg is working for Azazel, killing hunters to force John into giving her the Colt. They give her a fake gun, but John is captured.
The Road So Far - Season 1
22. Devil’s Trap
Introduction of Bobby Singer. An old hunter who is more of a father to Sam and Dean than John. Low bar; public access television was more of a father to them than John.
Introduction of devil’s traps. A mystical symbol that… traps demons.
(I’m telling you, this fandom was off the hook)
They exorcize Meg, which kills the girl she was possessing. The demon (spoilers: she shows up again later) will continue to be referred to as “Meg” for simplicity’s sake.
They find Azazel but Oh, No! He’s possessing John!
Sam shoots him with the real Colt, but not fatally because he doesn’t want to kill his father. John is upset at losing this chance to kill Azazel. Fuck you, John.
Sam, Dean, and John are in the Impala, when it’s hit broadside by a demonically possessed truck driver.
Cliffhanger!
Important things from this season:
*John Winchester’s A+ parenting: Jeffrey Dean Morgan was cast on Grey’s Anatomy right after this so: spoilers, John doesn’t show up much in later seasons. This is the only look we get at him, and we have to judge his parenting by Sam and Dean until other hunters are introduced later.
A lot of elder siblings end up mostly raising younger siblings, but John elevated that shit to an art form. At this point we only know him for pushing his sons into hunting, fighting with Sam constantly, and the way Dean reacts to him. We’ll learn more as we go along, and we won’t like it.
This dovetails nicely into:
*Sam’s views on hunting/their childhood: Sam agrees that hunters are necessary, that saving people is good and important, but he’s very angry about being forced into it and about the expectations John always placed on them. He’s angry that Dean didn’t support him in doing something else with his life, he felt alone in pushing back against John’s expectations because Dean always tried to live up to them. Sam was six months old when Mary died; Dean is the only maternal figure he’s ever had and Dean was fucking four.
*Music: You can’t really watch this show on Netflix. I mean, you can. But you shouldn’t. Something Netflix does a lot is buy the rights to air a show, without buying the rights to the music, and then stick in cheaper or royalty free music. Sometimes that doesn’t matter. In Supernatural, it matters a lot. Most episodes are named for classic songs, and every episode makes very careful, very clever, very beautiful use of music. Playlists just of songs from the show are incredible. I have several of them.
This is from Bloody Mary, 1x05, and it’s under two minutes. (I think it’s been balance shifted so their voices sound wrong to me, but whatever.)
*Demons: Demons are a big part of the show from here on out. Not in every single episode, but in a lot of the overarching plots. I don’t think you find out yet what exactly is up with demons, so I won’t get into it, but baseline, demons look like black smoke, they can possess pretty much any human but being depressed, or sick, or corrupt makes you extra vulnerable. A possessed person’s eyes go full black when the word “Christo” is said in their presence, Holy Water hurts them, they smell like sulfur. They can be trapped in a Devil’s Trap, and exorcized with a Latin incantation. This does not normally kill the person they’re possessing.
*The Colt: The gun that can kill anything. But there’s only 13 bullets. The Colt sticks around for a loooong time. I like it. I like the old timey look of it.
(This gif is from, like, season 13 or something. Notice how Jensen Ackles ages like a fine wine.)
*Sam’s powers: Oh, Sam’s mysterious powers. As of now he’s having “nightmares that sometimes come true”. Sam, cupcake, that’s what psychic visions are. And also some telekinesis. This makes Dean, and Sam tbh, very uncomfortable. They kill supernatural creatures. They don’t become them. Although there are several psychics who help out hunters so, like, get over yourselves.
*The Americana roadtrip vibe: This show billed itself as American folklore gone gritty and the episodes that lean into this are the best. These were early days and I’ll have to talk about it again later, but the strongest element of the show has always been the little touches of particularly American weirdness. The themed diners and motel rooms, the gas stations in the middle of nowhere, the tiny towns known for some random festival or attraction.
Kripke didn’t know how lucky he’d gotten in casting, because 90% of the show is Jared and Jensen in a car, or a weird motel, or a diner. If you made a supercut just of driving scenes it would be, I don’t know, really fucking long.
The fandom. Fandom in these early days was amazing. It was the biggest and best fandom I’ve ever been a part of. People wrote stuff, people made stuff (see above re: devil’s trap skirt), people sent each other stuff. Since there were only two recurring characters, a lot of the stuff was, um, incestuous fanfiction. This will be important later.
Yes, Dean. We know. This entry was originally posted at https://ghostrunner.dreamwidth.org/7602.html.