Supernatural - 1.01 - Pilot - Short Take

Note - Recaps take a really long time for me to write and quite frankly the Supernatural community tends to be contentious and whiny, making me less thrilled to post them. Therefore I've decided to switch gears. While I may do some recaps of new episodes, I will be working mostly on shorts of past episodes. Each short will include a brief synopsis of the episode, my favorite lines, and the best of usually small things that tend to get overlooked. They may or may not be important but they do stick out in my mind. Since I will be concentrating on what I like about an episode, this won't be a real critique. However, for my own purposes I will put a scorecard at the bottom to help me rank episodes. Feel free to add your favorite lines or little moments in the comments below. Unless you are going to whine…then mosey right on by.

Brief synopsis (including the ending):

Dean and Sam Winchester, two estranged brothers, team up to locate their missing father, John Winchester. Raised to fight the supernatural after the death of their mother, the brothers track John to Jericho, California where he was working a woman in white case. They successfully destroy the ghost but their father is nowhere to be found. Dean wants to continue to look for their dad but Sam has a law school interview. They split ways but when Sam goes in his apartment, he finds his girlfriend Jessica sliced on the ceiling. She bursts into flames just like Sam's mother did when he was 6 months old. The supernatural it seems has other plans for Sam Winchester. Thankfully, Dean is there to pull him out of the burning apartment.

Favorite scene: Jessica burning on the ceiling and Dean forcing Sam out of the room. No love triangles here.

It's in the small things:

First glimpse of Metallicar's trunk. She's awesome by exterior alone but add that trunk and she became legendary.

John says, "We're ALL in danger." I firmly believe this is why Dean went to get Sam. He would have said BOTH if he were just talking about himself and Dean.

That freaking bird ALWAYS makes me jump. ALWAYS. Even though I've seen this episode at least 100 times.

Sam steps on Dean's foot. Dean Gibbs-slaps Sam.

When they are questioning Amy outside, the brothers keep stepping into the other's space and tripping over the conversation. It's obvious they are out of practice because there is nothing smooth about this. Also, Sam's reaction when Dean introduces him as Sammy.

However, in the diner the brothers ay in tandem, "What do they talk about?" We get our first glimpse of the awesome Winchester team.

Sam pushes Dean's chair away from the computer. Dean: "Dude, you're such a control freak." Yep, they're brothers.

Dean silently freaks when the sheriff tosses John's journal on the table.

One paperclip and Dean's out of cuffs before the police even leave to respond to the 911 call.

Sam tells Constance that she can't kill him because he's never been unfaithful, establishing that Sam is a good guy.

Dean's reaction to Sam saying he needs to be at the law school interview instead of looking for John.

Jess leaves cookies with a Miss You post-it on them letting us know she's an awesome girlfriend.

Sam and Dean exchange looks over the MetalliTrunk. Sam nods briefly.


Top 5 lines:

5. Sam: "I swear man, you've gotta update your cassette tape collection." Dean: "Why?" Sam: "Well for one, they're cassette tapes."
4. Dean: "I can't do this alone." Sam: "Yes, you can." Dean: "Well I don't want to."
3. Dean: "You talking like misdemeanor kind of trouble or squeal like a pig kind of trouble?"
2. Dean: "House rules Sammy. Driver picks the music. Shotgun shuts his cake hole."
1. Dean: "No chick flick moments."


Other Lines:

Sam: "Cause we're not exactly the Brady s." Friend: "And I'm not exactly the Huxtables. More shots."
Dean: "Whoa. Easy tiger."
Dean: "I love the Smurfs. You know I got to tell you, you are completely out of my brother's league."
Sam: "So he's working overtime on the Miller time shift. He'll stumble back in sooner or later."
Dean: "Dad's on a hunting trip and he hasn't been home in a few days."
Dean: "I'm 26 dude."
Sam: "It's a law school interview and it's my whole future on a plate."
Sam: 'He's just deer hunting up at the cabin. He's probably got Jim, Jack, and Jose along with him."
Dean: "Yeah well, hunting ain't exactly a proball career."
Dean: "No sir, we were just leaving. Agent Mulder. Agent Scully."
Sam: "You smell like a toilet."
Dean: "You sly dogs."
Sam: "Jerk." Dean: "B**"
Dean: "Dude, 5-0. Take off."
Sheriff: "Boy you are officially a suspect." Dean: "That makes sense because when the first one went missing in '82, I was 3."
Sam: "I'm taking you home."
Sam: "What were you thinking shooting Casper in the face you freak?"
Dean: "I'll tell you another thing. If you screwed up my car, I'll kill you."
Dean: "Sam. You know we made a hell of a team back there."
Sam: "We've got work to do."

Episode Score = 3

Scorecard - Here's how the rankings break down in my scorecard.

1 = One of the best episodes in all of Supernatural, or in all of TV for that matter.
2 = A great episode when judged against other Supernatural episodes.
3 = A good Supernatural episode, which means it's better than almost anything else on TV
4 = A poor episode when judged against other SPN episodes, meaning still better than most TV.
5 = A bad episode, meaning only better than some TV