Pilot

Season 1, Episode 1, Aired
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Episode Summary

Sam is about to graduate from college and has an interview set up to join one of the most prestigious law schools in the country. His brother Dean, whom he has not seen since he went to college, shows up in the middle of the night and tells him their father is missing while on a hunting trip. Leaving his girlfriend behind to find their dad, Sam joins Dean in an effort to find their father in a little town called Jericho, where unmarried men disappear without a trace.moreless
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Fan Episode Reviews (164)

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  • this was a really good pilot

    9.0
    "Superb"
    By cube2k8, Nov 23, 2011 Report Abuse
    in this pilot for supernatural it tells how the story of the winchesters . by showing something that happened back in the day how there mother died. and it fast fowards to today time were sam is about to get a college interview and has a girlfriend name jess . and they are happey but at night the night before the interview dean shows up and tells sam that dad is missing from a hunt . and sam decides to go with him if he is back in time for the interview they go and find a case that he was working on a lady in white. that kills men that are traving down the road . dean and sam get into trouble dean breaks out of jail by getting help from sam. and sam is traviling when the lady in white vists him but he wont let her and drives the car into the house and the kids kill her . the thing with this story is she was mad at her husband for cheating and killed the kids and then killed herself for it. also its time to go back and sam goes back but goes into the room and jess is dead on the sailing and decides to go with dean to the next hunting trip and so it begins the show supernatural.moreless

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  • Sam Winchester left for Stanford to try and lead a normal life outside of the "family business". When his father goes missing, older and cool bro Dean shows up and convinces Sam to look for him. Also, they solve a case of the woman in white.moreless

    9.0
    "Superb"
    By beauregardlover, May 25, 2011 Report Abuse
    What can I say? Cool car, great guys, urban legends, and Rockin' music!!! Okay, so we meet Sam and Dean, John and Mary Winchester in the first few minutes of the opening. It's Nov. 2, 1983, baby Sam screams and Mary rushes to his aid. Only to find that there's a stranger there. Suddenly, Mary is pinned to the friggin' ceiling!!Ablazed no less!!Great eye catching stuff. John and the boys escaped but at a terrible price. Present day, Sam and Dean have reunited to find their missing dad. While also solving the case of "a woman in white." The urban legend!! Love that they hide their identities and run credit card scams. Love "Driver picks the music, shotgun shuts his cakehole." Also "Agent Mulder, Agent Scully" speaks to my X-Files childhood. Supernatural just has everything cool music, hot car, horror/mystery and good old family drama for good measure. A great series opener.moreless

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  • Two brothers go on the hunt for family, answers, and one HELL of a good time.

    9.0
    "Superb"
    By OctoberGirl9, May 25, 2011 Report Abuse
    Dean and Sam Winchester begin their search for their father John. After almost two years Dean comes crashing into little brother Sams newfound life. Ripping away the girlfriend and law degree dreams and throwing himself back into the "hunt", Sam follows in the family footsteps, bearing the responsibility to protect and defend all else unaware of various "supernatural" fiends. Add in some personal vengence and an apparently missing father we get a sock in your mouth backstory and one rare piece of pilot goodness, which never happens anymore. On this crazy road-trip the brothers encounter a case involving a Lady in White. Which juices up the script a bit 'cause turns out the woman, in jealous rage drowns her children and then throws her crazy arse off a bridge. Why? Her husband cheated. This nutted wench catches up to the brothers for a pretty sweet but kind of a anticlimatic showdown. Here said showdown ends with her drowned babes dragging her down to hell, where she well belongs. The inbetween we find that the father jacked out of town without finishing the job, sending Sam and Dean out across state lines again. Still with his head in the clouds Sam does return to school for that interview, only to find his girlfriend Krugered to the ceiling engulfed in flames. This happend to be the same way Mrs. Winchester met her death. This spins the audience spinning for more and panting to see what goes on next week. On a happier note JA character as elder brother Dean seems to have the light comedy stream down. Black Sabbath cassette tapes; 1967 black Chevy Impala, and an eye for the ladies Dean W. will be our broken comical mans man. All in all I liked it.moreless

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  • This wasn't bad. I'm surprised.

    7.8
    "Good"
    By paulcornelius, Dec 09, 2010 Report Abuse
    Against my better judgment I tuned into this pilot tonight. Turns out my better judgment was wrong. The pilot of Supernatural at least was ok. Not bad. Sure, I had my doubts. After all it was on WB--or THE WB and so I expected teenie horror. And there was that--in the gotcha special effects in particular. But there was more, too. It was part road movie (and, hey, do I love road movies and series), part Rockford Files, and, in its biggest theft, er, uh, I mean "homage", part Friday 13: The Series, the syndicated 1980s horror series, with "Robey". I'll look in again next week to see if things hold up.moreless

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  • A good start, with a fun and simple premise, but there's still room to grow

    7.0
    "Good"
    By entil2001, Dec 09, 2010 Report Abuse
    "Scary stories" don't scare me very much. Beyond the typical instinctual reaction of jumping at a sudden noise and visual flash, scary stories don't get a rise out of me at all. "The Exorcist"? Didn't bother me at all. I was more fascination by the psychological side of the story than frightened by the concept of demonic possession. It's easier to disturb me through unnerving concepts than to scare me with ghost stories.

    That said, I have a deep and unending interest in the "paranormal". I love exploring the possibilities that lie outside of what many consider to be "normal". It's not so much that I buy into the typical explanations for these phenomena, because much of the time, it comes across as an artificial construction of "fact" designed to give order to the unexplained. But what I find interesting is the very fact that these anecdotal experiences are so prevalent. One can pass it off as purely psychological, but if something is unexplained, is that really a conclusion that can be made?

    The old adage is that there is no such thing as the "supernatural", only those things that science cannot yet explain. These anecdotal stories evolve into urban legend and arcane lore as time passes and the line between reality and fantasy blurs. Unlike a lot of series out there, where phenomena are questioned or analyzed to death, this series revels in the idea that these urban legends and stories are all grounded in some basis of fact.

    I have to say this: the writers don't try to make this series too deep, and they emphasize their hunt for their prized demographic. For all that, this is very entertaining escapism. The world of "Supernatural" doesn't have to be convincing from a "real world" point of view. The hook is that there's the "real world", and then there's all this other insanity that is kept nice and quiet, handled by semi-professional outlaw "hunters" who use conventional weapons to combat supernatural threats.

    The two leads make for convincing "brothers with issues", and part of the fun is working out how deeply screwed up these guys are. Given their history and father, it's no surprise. When Daddy disowns you for wanting to be a lawyer instead of outlaw paranormal hunter, there are perhaps some psychological matters to be dealt with. The pilot gives me hope that this will be explored somewhat as the series progresses. Once the "coolness" is established, there's no reason to avoid a little reflection.

    For a pilot, there's a minimum of intrusive exposition, which is a nice touch. The back story is shown, not explained, and that's always a good way to start. While I'm sure that many will be unnerved by the deaths that bookend the episode, I found it more interesting in terms of how this unknown entity might eventually be tied to the family. Clearly, it's targeting these people directly; it seems way too coincidental otherwise.

    It also doesn't hurt that I've had a thing for Sarah Shahi since she was Jenny on "Alias". She's gorgeous, without a doubt, and she pulls off this role well. The producers were going for the hotness, and they got it. Clearly men and women both had something to enjoy. I wish the effects were a bit better, since they weren't always convincing, but this was a pilot and the effects may not be typical of the series as a whole. But that's a minor area of improvement.

    I'm usually hard on pilot episodes, because they tend to serve two very different functions and don't come together well as a result. This is an example of a very good pilot. I didn't need to know much to get into the concept, and the producers convinced me that the series is worthy of being at least a guilty pleasure, should it be devoid of anything more than style. Not everything can be "Lost", after all, and sometimes, that's enough.
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Trivia, Notes, Quotes and Allusions

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  • Trivia

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    • When Constance kills the cheating man, Troy, she clearly splatters his blood all over the windows of the car. But later, when Sam and Dean meet the cops on the bridge as they look for clues in the same car, there are no bloodstains anywhere to be seen. The police even say it's "spotless." Edit
    • In the first shot of the bridge when Sam and Dean go back to look for Constance, they are almost at one end of the bridge while the Impala is parked at the other end with the headlights on. A few seconds later, a shot shows the Impala in the background, but the headlights are off. Sam and Dean are also now a lot closer to the Impala, not to mention walking away from her, like they had just arrived. Edit
    • Trivia: Sam's LSAT (Law School Admission Test) score was 174. Edit

  • Notes

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    • In the DVD commentary, creator Eric Kripke said that the show was pitched as Star Wars with Dean being Han Solo and Sam being Luke Skywalker. Edit
    • Jensen Ackles cited this episode as his favorite in the premier issue of the Official Supernatural Magazine saying: "I mean, obviously the pilot stands out among all the rest." Edit
    • Injoke: When Sam and Dean enter their father's motel room they see the same article about Constance Welch as they did before. When Dean asks if it says where she was buried the camera zooms in. In the article a neighbor says that Constance was a quiet but very lovely woman. This neighbor is named Deanna Kripke. Kripke is the maker of the show. Edit

  • Quotes

    ADD QUOTES
    • Jess: Sam! Get a move on, would ya? We were supposed to be there like 15 minutes ago. Sam! Ya comin' or what? Sam: Do I have to? Jess: Yes. It'll be fun. And where is your costume? Sam: You know how I feel about Halloween. Edit
    • Sam: I like your necklace. Amy: Troy gave it to me. Mostly, to scare my parents with all that devil stuff. Sam: Actually, it means just the opposite. A pentagram is protection against evil, really powerful. I mean, if you believe in that kind of thing. Dean: Okay, thank you Unsolved Mysteries. Edit
    • Dean: You can pretend all you want, Sammy. But sooner or later you're going to have to face up to who you really are. Sam: And who is that? Dean: One of us. Edit

  • Allusions

    ADD ALLUSIONS
    • Dean: I told you, it's Nugent. Ted Nugent. Ted Nugent, also known as Uncle Ted, is an American rock guitarist. He became famous in 1964 thanks to his work with the rock band The Amboy Dukes. Edit
    • Dean: Dude, 5-0. Take off. This is a reference to the popular TV series Hawaii Five-O (1968-1980). It was on CBS and had 282 total episodes. Created by Leonard Freeman, Hawaii Five-O was an elite investigative unit that reported to the Governor of Hawaii. Edit
    • Dean: Okay, thank you Unsolved Mysteries. Referring to the TV show that ran from 1988-2002 that explored unsolved cases, some of which included the supernatural and unexplained. Edit

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