Rewatch S1: Ep 02 to 04
Tonight I was able to sit down and watch Episodes 2 to 4 (Wendigo, Dead in the Water, Phantom Traveler)! I'm putting my ramblings under a cut, because I figure they will probably be long, but here are general things:
Jared's accent really does come out in these early episodes. Especially in Dead in the Water, when he says "Green. The Light's Green"...there is not a single word in the line that is not said with an accent. I actually sometimes wish they had just made the boys Texan and let them speak normally.
I've been constructing myself a vague timeline while I watch. I know there are perfectly good timelines out there, but I figured I might as well take the opportunity to verify some things and add some information I think is lacking from the other ones. For instance, I've been keeping track of how many days a single episode spans - it's quite fun, really.
I actually watched these with a little pad of paper and a pen...how lame am I?
Wendigo:
Wendigo takes place a week after Jess dies, and they spend four days on the case.
Anyway, Wendigo was fun to watch again. There's nothing too special about it really, some classic lines of course - "Oh honey, I don't do shorts" and "what do you mean I didn't pack provisions?" and of course the often *Then* quote of Dean saying "I think he wants us to pick up where he left off..."
DVD Extras
There was no commentary on Wendigo and there was only one deleted scene, which was deleted for a reason - quite boring and unnecessary - also only about 20 seconds long.
Dead In The Water:
The boys spend approx. five days on this case. Again in this episode, Dean talks about Sam being away for "2 years," when he is telling Sam off and saying that he was the one who spent the last two years by Dad's side. So, yeah, I know these are just mistakes, but it kind of irks me a little.
I like how we start to see a bit more of Dean's personality now. Dean is such a captivating character...more captivating than Sam, I think. You get to see how the age difference of four years is actually a HUGE difference when it comes to what shaped the two brothers. Dean's line of "Wathing one of your parents die isn't something you just get over", is of course the obvious example of this. Then there are slightly subtler ones: The fact that when Dean draws his family for Lucas, he includes his Mum (I also LOVE how he draws him and Sam as kids in the picture, with Sam being much shorter than Dean). It's as though Dean's image of his family is stuck in that perfect image of "Before" and even though it's been 22 years of revenge driven hunting, he refuses to recognize that his family is a really quite broken.
As a compliment to Jared though, I think he did a good job on Sam's reactions to listening to Dean tell Lucas about the fire. I think Sam suffers from Sam-World syndrome (most boys do) and forgets sometimes, especially in these early episodes, that Dean has emotions too - that the world doesn't revolve around Sam and his pain.
Dean's interactions with the kid, Lucas, in this episode are just great. Jensen's a terrific actor. It really brings out the duality of Dean - where he's the smart-ass, womanizing, tough guy, but he underneath he is an extremely caring, gentle, and family-oriented guy. Man, like I said, captivating personality in my opinion.
This is the episode where you get the "Green. Light's Green" line from Jared. Seriously, listen to it. If Jared is correct and his accent only comes out when he is tired, then he must have been absolutely exhausted.
Sadly, no DVD extras for this episode.
Phantom Traveler:
They haven't quite got the show's mythology pegged yet. This is the only Demon possession I've seen where the smoke is granular, and it possesses through the eyes, not the mouth. It exits through the mouth, but it's entry is through the eyes.
And whoa, John talked about Sam all the time? I did not remember that line, nor would I ever really think it's in character. It seems so weird that John would tell Sam to stay gone - even if it was in anger - but then brag that his kid is at Stanford. So weird. Nice for Sam though, I mean, John did love him. I just always felt like it would be Dean who would secretly be proud of Sam, and that the topic of Sam would probably be taboo between Dean and John while Sam was away. But when airplane dude is telling Sam about how his Dad never stopped talking about him, Dean is just walking like "Damn straight".
Ah the homemade-EMF meter. Why does Sammy have to be so mean? Dean is smart, talented guy, and he just gets made fun of.
I love how they are so inexperienced in these early episodes. You couldn't really tell if it was their first Wendigo or not, but they were pretty stressed about it. And in this episode it's their very first demonic possession...and Dean is all "This is above our paygrade!" or whatever he says, I forget the line now, but it's really neat to go back and watch this. I guess before John only ever took them on the easier hunts.
I love Sam becoming the boss on the plane. When he turns to Dean and tells him all serious like that he is leaving himself wide-open to demonic possession and has to get his act together NOW. Man, I think Dean has a line in the series later when he says "Sammy, you know I get all tingly when you take charge like that..." haha...that's how I feel about that line.
At the end of the episode it's an Air Canada flight that flies overhead! Oh Air Canada, why must you be so crappy, and yet all that I can afford...
It's harder to tell, what with the driving and flying and whatnot, but I believe this episode takes place over a span of four days.
Commentary Goodness:
Jensen and Jared commentate on this episode! It is hilarious. They really like that gag where they pretend to fall asleep when they think that the other one is talking too much. I should have counted how many times they did it, but it was at least five.
They commented on the *Then* intro and said that it was actually Jared who yanked Dean backwards into the hotel room in the pilot. That they told him to yank him REALLY HARD and catch him off guard, and so he did.
They go on about how many days they shoot an episode for and how the production works a lot. They also talk about how much work is involved for them when they are the ONLY principle characters on the show...and how they didn't really realize the burden when they signed up, but that they really don't mind it because the finished product is so good. Jared remembers frickin' everything! I can sympathize, because I tend to remember things against my will too, but at one point in the episode he tells us how long they shot for, what he had for lunch (mexican - churros), and that he was back at the airport a couple of hours after the shoot because he had to catch a flight.
Mostly though, they just say sarcastic things, and make me laugh.
Jensen has a line early in the commentary where he says, "Wow, look how young I was!" and Jared says, "Yeah, look how young you were...a YEAR ago" and Jensen responds "These 18 episodes have aged me 18 years." It made me laugh. At another point, Jared is going on about how one of the stunt guys was really buff and made them all look bad when he took off his shirt...haha, man, if only THEN Jared could see NOW Jared :P
Deleted Scene
There was just one deleted scene in this episode, when Dean and Sam arrive at the airport, and Dean has to leave all his weapons in the car and he "feels naked."
And there you have it! I talked to my friend in China this evening (which is why I'm so late writing this up - man I'm tired), and he has finished S1 and is currently downloading S2. I told him I was hoping he was caught up by the time I got there so that we could watch the new episodes together, but hey, no rush :P