Supernatural / Season 1 - Part 1

With all of the Gamescom stuff going on in Germany I've been writing a lot of game related articles. Tonight I think I'm going to write about my Supernatural re-watch. I plan to go through the entire first season for now, then the rest some other time, until I'm completely caught up.

If you've read my previous article on Supernatural you'll know that I stopped watching in the middle of the last season. I'm currently on disc-2 of the season 1 DVD set. Right before episode 10, which is entitled Asylum. I'm going to write about some of the episodes of this season so far, so be prepared for some spoilers since I may go in depth for episodes that I especially liked.







Episode 1, Pilot (Written By: Eric Kipke, Directed By: David Nutter)

When Sam (Jared Padalecki) and Dean (Jensen Ackles) were young, their mother Mary died in an unexplainable house fire. Ever since then their father has raised them with the skills and knowledge to take on the thing that killed her. After about 20 years Sam goes off to college and Dean stays with the "family business". When their father goes missing Dean returns to recruit his brother to go find him. In the process of finding their dad they arrive at Jericho, California and find that people are being killed by a Woman in White. A type of paranormal entity that kills males along a certain highway.

I thought this was a pretty decent way to start the series off. Considering how many times I've seen this episode, it still succeeded in keeping my interest throughout. It sets up the story perfectly by immediately getting the two brothers together to go on a hunt. Hunting the supernatural is the basis for the show. Freak of the week type stuff.

Episode 2, Wendigo (Written By: Ron Milbauer & Terri Hughes Burton, Directed By: David Nutter)

The Winchester brothers follow instructions that were found in their father's journal and head to Blackwater Ridge, Colorado. They pose as park rangers and help a woman named Haley to find her brother who went missing during a camping trip.

I found the second episode in the series to be pretty freaky, compared to the first. You eventually get used to people being possessed, ghostly spirits, and things of that nature, but real live monsters don't show up all that often. This monster, the Wendigo, was revealed at a perfect pace. You just hear it at first (mimicking human screams no less) and then you realize it's smart because it takes all of Sam and Dean's equipment. But the big reveal at the end was pretty awesome, as well as the fiery finale.

Episode 3, Dead in the Water (Written By: Sera Gamble & Raelle Tucker, Directed By: Kim Manners)

The Winchester brothers head to Lake Manitoc in Wisconsin after reading about three drownings that have occurred there in the past year. The dead bodies are mysteriously vanishing into the lake.

This episode is one of my favorites out of the entirety of season 1. It's nice to see the softer side of Dean this early on in the show. At first, Dean saying "aren't kids the best?" to the woman giving directions was thought of as a lame pick-up line. But as the episode goes on he does show that he has a soft spot for kids. Dean attempts to get a child named Lucas to speak after he obviously saw something extremely traumatic. Later on in future seasons, you see that Dean took care of his younger brother when they were growing up, perhaps he saw some of his little brother in Lucas.

Episode 6, Skin (Written By: John Shiban, Directed By: Robert Duncan McNeill)

The brothers head to St. Louis, Missouri, to investigate a friend of Sam's that was falsely arrested. His friend seemed to be in two places at once. A shapeshifter is found out to be the real culprit.

I absolutely love the opening scene in this episode, showing Dean with the knife. Totally giving the audience the full on "What the hell?" moment right off the bat, then going back to the beginning to see how it happened. Even when the episode eventually gets to that point again, it's totally worth watching it a second time because of the great song that's accompanying the scene. Filter's "Hey Man Nice Shot" is one of my favorite songs and really fits with the scene that follows. Also, the fight scene at the end of the episode is extremely well choreographed.

Episode 9, Home (Written By: Eric Kripke, Directed By: Ken Girotti)

Sam is having nightmares about a woman being attacked in their childhood home. Once they arrive back in Kansas, they find not just one spirit, but two that are haunting the premises.

This is the episode that really starts to bring Sam into the thick of things. He begins having visions (or rather, starts talking about them with his brother) that become key to the main plot. You can clearly see how freaked out Dean is when he hears that his little brother has these gifts. Also, the scene with Dean calling his dad's voicemail was pretty heart wrenching. You can tell that Dean really doesn't like to show his weak side, especially in front of his brother. Also, the reveal of the second spirit was pretty badass.

Alright, I got a few more discs to go before I'm all done with season 1. Once I finish this season, I'll do another page like this one discussing the rest of this season. After writing this though, I really feel like writing about season 1 of Lost, although ...I would write about every single episode, and probably every single scene. Perhaps I'll find another way to get my thoughts across for Lost when I begin with the inevitable re-watch in the coming months. Thanks for reading. Please comment with your thoughts below, even you anonymous people.