episode 1.1 - pilot
4 stars
location: jericho, ca
awesome guest star: sarah shahi
the pilot episode is pretty solid, regardless of the shit tons of exposition required to lay out the show's premise. thankfully, it's blended so well into the story of the boys re-bonding that it never seems overly garrulous or out of place. in one minute long conversation, the writers manage to establish that 1. all dean eats is junk food 2. their money comes from credit card scams/hustling 3. dean is in charge of the impala and 4. the classic rock soundtrack. and that's half the show right there :-)
episode 1.2 - wendigo
3 stars
location: black rock, co
awesome guest stars : callum keith rennie aka leoban and donnelly rhodes aka doc cottle
aside from dean's delightfully whimsical attitude, what really struck me about this episode is the mention of sam's anger issues. so early on! destiny is such a bitch, especially when your destiny is to become lucifer's bitch.
episode 1.3 - dead in the water
4 stars
location: lake manitoc, wi
awesome guest star: amy acker
awesome song: movin' on - bad company
awesome aliases: agents ford and hamill
ah, the first of sera gamble's episodes and the first truly good episode of the series. dean's efficacy with children is introduced, hinting at how all those years raising sammy made it easy to communicate with little guys :-) and to teach them how to say "zeppelin rules!" also notable is dean's profession of love for green army men, one of which will eventually save the world. ah, unintentional foreshadowing, you make me happy.
episode 1.4 - phantom traveler
3 stars
location: nazareth, pa
phantom traveler is saved from crappiness by all it sets up for future story lines, as sam and dean encounter their first demon. therefore, we also see black smoke for the first time and hear the first mention of sulfur as a demon calling card.
also, dean's fear of flying is adorable and this is the ep that contains the rather infamous long pan up dean's sleeping body. thanks again for that, mr. singer :-)
episode 1.5 - bloody mary
3 stars
location: toledo, oh
the teaser for this ep is like every slumber party i ever went to, except with liquefied eyeballs and bloody mayhem at the end of the night. it's a pretty solid episode, but not particularly interesting. although, all those broken mirrors in the antique shop could account for all the winchesters' bad luck over the years.
episode 1.6 - skin
3 stars
location: st. louis, mo
awesome song: ina gadda da vida - iron butterfly
apparently, someone in the spn boardroom said, "more horror!" because there is plenty of scary and gory going on in this ep! the opening sequence with the commandos busting in a house to find a beaten girl tied to a chair, with "ina gadda da vida" in the background, is pure excellence. very intense. and dean ripping his skin off in the sewer?! gross, but rad! we also see dean as a bad guy for the first time, though i will alwaysmaintain that sam is the better villain.
episode 1.7 - hookman
3 stars
location: eastern iowa university
awesome guest star: bulldog from frasier
awesome song: peace of mind - boston (best song EVER.)
best part of this ep? the introduction to rock salt shotguns! dean's idea, of course. everything else? kinda meh.
episode 1.8 - bugs
2 stars
location: oasis plains, ok
awesome song: rock of ages - def leppard
frak this episode. of course i hate it, as i hate all things involving bugs. but even if i didn't have a phobic fear of insects, this would still be a terrible episode. it is saved from utter derision by three things: 1. dean hustling pool, which is always ultra hot 2. the first instance of the boys being mistaken for a couple and 3. dean in the steam shower. still, it's probably the worst episode of the whole show.
episode 1.9 - home
4 stars
location: lawrence, ks
awesome secondary character: missouri mosely and motherlovin papa winchester!
oh, lawrence, kansas, my future home and the genesis of the entire winchester saga - so full of secrets and family bonding opportunities! sam finally learns that dean rescued him from the mom-fire and the boys discover that missouri mosely is responsible for papa's introduction to the occult. dean sheds the first of what will be many manly tears trying to get papa on the phone, but to no avail. of course, pops being a sneaky fuck, he then shows up at missouri's place after the boys have left.
also, i would be remiss if i didn't mention the garbage disposal attack on the repairman! so freaky and disgusting! i miss the show being so scary.
episode 1.10 - asylum
3 stars
location: roosevelt asylum - rockford, il
again, sam's anger issues are mentioned, even before dr. ellicot zaps him with the "rage juice," which surely didn't help his natural ill-tempered tendencies. i just can't believe his anger was such an issue so early on! how could i have not noticed it? srsly, sometimes i think this show is so well planned out and sometimes i think they just got lucky and/or are just as obsessive as the fangirls.
episode 1.11 - scarecrow
4 stars
location: burkitsville, in
awesome guest star: william b. davis aka cigarette smoking man!
awesome song: bad company - bad company
awesome secondary character: meg! original meg. love her.
le sigh. the first brotherly fight and it leads to the freakiest scarecrow EVER on dean's end and demon meg on sam's! of all unholy terrors to run into on the side of the road!
the epilogue is probably my favorite of the whole show, with meg slitting
episode 1.12 - faith
4 stars
location: true believers revival, nebraska
awesome guest star: julie benz!
awesome song: don't fear the reaper - blue oyster cult
this ep is the inception of 100s of hurt/comfort fics because nothing is as sexy as someone who loves you so much they would go to any length to save you. and because dean looks hot, even on his deathbed.
"faith" also boasts one of the best sequences this show has ever seen, certainly the best in this season, i.e. the girl running from a reaper, while the screaching guitar of boc's "don't fear the reaper" plays in the background. mind-bogglingly awesome.
episode 1.13 - route 666
3 stars
location: cape girardeau, mo
awesome song: she brings me love - bad company
it's good to see inside dean's gruff exterior and finally see that he can care about someone other than sammy. cassie is all right, certainly better than most of dean's women. and the sex scene set to "she brings me love"? drool. i do wonder why dean never dreams of cassie in later years. his dreams of apple pie existence always revolve around lisa, with whom he had a much briefer affair. i suppose his and cassie's story just played itself out and ended with this episode.
episode 1.14 - nightmare
3 stars
location: saginaw, mi
awesome guest star: the aunt with the sexy voice from sabrina the teenage witch
"nightmare," not surprisingly, begins with a nightmare, causing sam to wake dean up in the middle of the night. the kicker is that dean is surprised! meaning, they are still in the habit of sleeping regularly through the night. better enjoy it while it lasts boys. you're about to be faced with the nightmare hunt for azazel.
also awesome? the infamous priest outfits. whose idea was that? i love the wardrobe department and their collective crazy, not least of all for inspiring some interesting fantasies/fanfic.
episode 1.15 - the benders
a rather surprising 4 stars
location: hibbing, mn
i was so surprised by "the benders"! i remembered this ep as kinda boring and annoying because the guys were fighting hillbillies instead of monsters. hardly supernatural.
but unholy crap! there is a real spooky leatherface-iness to the whole episode, which also benefits from a very talented guest star in jessica steen, who plays the deputy. in addition, we are treated to super! fighty! boys, who beat the crap outta some backwoods crazies. and then they walk off down the road after their victory, laughing and joking together. i loves it and i misses their easy camraderie.
episode 1.16 - shadow
4 stars
location: chicago, il
awesome guest star: elosha from bsg
awesome secondary character: papa winchester and meg
three things: 1. oh my god the uniforms for the "alarm company" are so blue collar delicious. drool. 2. this related interchange: "these uniforms cost hard earned money." "whose?" "ours. you think credit card fraud is easy?" and 3. sam, dean AND papa all get torn to motherfrakking shreds by meg's deva. how do those scratches on sam's face not leave a permanent scar? hmm. sometimes i wish they had more visible scars, instead of just the ginormous emotional ones.
episode 1.17 - hell house
5 stars, one just for jared's just out of the shower half-naked bod
location: richardson, tx
awesome secondary characters: the origin of the ghostfacers!
awesome music: tons of blue oyster cult
made. of. win. interstate 35!!!! ghostfacers!!! blue oyster cult!!! small town teen life!!
i really kinda hated ed and harry the first couple times through, but now i am part of their cultish sliver of this wacky fandom. they provide the show with it's first truly comical episode, which sets the tone for the less angsty side of the story. they're just homoerotic, silly, stoner hunters, so basically the equivalent of me, if i were a hunter :-)
episode 1.18 - something wicked
4 stars
location: fitchburg, wi
awesome secondary characters: the wee!chesters! and vintage papa too!
weechester alert! oh how i love the flashbacks to young sam and dean! codependency certainly began early for these two :-) and sam's always been a bit of a whiney baby.
episode 1.19 - provenance
3 stars
location: upstate new york
blah is what this episode makes me feel. although i do love it when sam's smarty pants side is showcased.
the spacey/disco motel room the boys stay in marks the beginning of the supernatural's trademark wacky motel rooms, one of the best non-human characters on the show.
episode 1. 20 - dead man's blood
3 stars, only b/c of papa
location: manning, co
awesome secondary character: our fair lady, the colt! who is totally a character in her own right. also, papa.
spn does many things right, but it really misses the mark when it comes to vampires. they are completely ridiculous pseudo-gothy vamps of the lost boys variety, which is to say, kinda lame and laughable.
the episode is saved by the family dynamic, especially the big fight between sam and papa, with dean interceding, as usual. then later, after the vamp victory, all 3 winchesters are back together, armed with the colt and on the hunt for the y.e.d. (though he has not yet been mentioned as having yellow eyes...)
episode 1.21 salvation
4 stars
location: salvation, ia
awesome song: carry on wayward son - kansas. it begins :-)
awesome secondary character: meg and papa
everything the season has been leading up to finally comes to a head in these last two episodes. and they totally deliver! the history of the winchesters entanglements with the y.e.d. are exposed and we finally see dem yella eyes.
episode 1.22 - devil's trap
5 stars
location: iowa, south dakota, all over the damn place
awesome song: fight the good fight - triumph
awesome secondary character: bobby singer, papa
ah, man, the season really wraps up so well with the brothers standing together against a y.e.d.-possessed john. they may have been searching for him this whole time, but not even papa can come between sam and dean.
there is a nice parallel drawn between john holding in the y.e.d. and begging sam to shoot him and sam holding in lucifer and dean letting him die in "swan song." are john and sam really so similar? always ready to martyr themselves to the cause, and be damned the people they leave behind?
and then, BOOM! the end of the first season. kripke was sooo wrong to end it like that with all 3 winchesters presumably dead in the crushed impala...what a cliffhanger!
so it took three viewings, but i have now come to appreciate both the highs and lows of season 1. the storytelling is often dodgy and the writers are clearly still finding their way, but they cover a lot of ground and managed to emerge with more good episodes than bad.
the way season two starts, the creative team must have figured out the rest of it over hiatus!
