Things I Love About The Pilot - Postscript

[fanspired]

Many thanks to those who commented on my Pilot re-watch review. I really appreciate your feedback. I enjoyed the discussion very much and your encouragement has persuaded me it’s worthwhile continuing with these posts, so I’ll be following up with my thoughts on “Wendigo” very soon.

Comments

[borgmama1of5]

I love reading these kinds of analyses--I never see it myself but when you poing it out it makes such sense!

One of the things that addicted me to SPN was the psychological coherence of the brothers. Their behavior had layers that made sense as we learned more about them, and it was watching their characters unfold that kept me hooked.

Looking forward to your next post (and happy to have been able to give you Sheila's link!)

[fanspired]

> One of the things that addicted me to SPN was the psychological coherence of the brothers.

Absolutely! Every episode of the early seasons built on and developed their characters, and propelled their story forward with the utter inevitability of a Greek tragedy. The first five seasons really were a beautifully crafted masterpiece.

[masja_17]

I think I agree with you that Azazel by Sam's crib is played by JD Morgan.

Thank you for the insights, again! :) <3

[fanspired]

Thank you for your encouragement :)))

[kazluvsbooks]

i would be happy to read a whole book on the pilot, still one of my very fave SPN episodes \o/

[fanspired]

There's material there for a whole book, for sure. Pity I didn't do my PhD on SPN. I might have finished it then! :D

[casey28]

I’m suggesting that the show consciously foreshadowed the reasons for Sam’s phobia in the season preceding John Shiban’s episode; that they are deep, psychologically and symbolically complex, and rooted in his infancy, rather than in an adolescent trauma retconned by later writers.

Yes. It seems very fitting that Sam's clown phobia started when he was very young. The trauma that he had later on just reinforced it.

[fanspired]

That's a good way of looking at it! :) I'd always felt that the 'explanation' from Plucky Penwhistle et al was unnecessary and undermined the intent of the original series writers, but thinking of it as something that re-enforced the original trauma redeems an otherwise pretty good episode from the one detail I found annoying about it. And I always loved Jared's performance in the episode. Plus, it could be argued that Sam might think that the Plucky incident was the source of his phobia since he wouldn't remember the actual origin. Thanks so much for your comment :)

[dragonardhill]

Commenting here but I love all three of your analyses posts about the pilot. Still one of my very favorite episodes after all this time. I’ve seen it countless times but your breakdown and thought-provoking insights made me feel like I was watching it for the first time. Subtle scenes and seemingly innocuous words come alive with your pics and descriptions. Thanks so much for sharing!

[fanspired]

Thank you so much for your lovely comment! It really makes me feel like it's worthwhile doing this, but I'm really enjoying doing the re-watch myself. I'm studying it just a bit more closely this time around and still finding things I missed all the other times I've watched. Thanks for the re-post, too. I really appreciate it. Since writing this, I've also reviewed Wendigo and Dead in the Water. If you're interested, I'll be posting links on Positively SPN soon. Many thanks once again :)