The Guide (Part One!)
It is no secret that I am obsessed with Supernatural. It is also no secret that Supernatural gets crappy ratings, since it is against Grey's Anatomy, CSI and now that damn Are You Smarter Than a 5th Grader show.
So I have made it my mission to get you guys (yes I'm talking to you, you non-Supernatural fans on my flist) to at least give it a chance. However, I know that it's hard getting into a series that you haven't watched from the beginning, especially one that does have a myth-arc.
So I present to you
The Beginner's Guide to Supernatural: Season One
This is everything you need to know, from the story to the boys to where and how you can watch it.
The Story
Supernatural is the story of two brothers, Dean and Sam Winchester, who hunt evil, supernatural baddies. The reason they even know about the nasty things they hunt is because of their father, John Winchester. See, when the boys were kids (Dean 4, Sam 6 months), there was a fire in Sam's nursery that killed his mother. But it was no ordinary fire.
Before the room burst into flames, John saw his beloved wife, Mary, pinned to the ceiling, bleeding from her stomach.
John, an former Marine, refused to believe that Mary's death was just an accident. So he sought out a psychic in their town of Lawrence, Kansas. The psychic he found was named Missouri Mosley, and she "drew back the curtains for him". Once he knew what was really out there, it became John's sole mission in life to find and destroy what killed his wife. Additionally, he knew he had to protect his children, so he raised them "like warriors."
They grew up, learning about demons and spirits, learning how to shoot guns (Dean at age 7 we know for sure), etc., so that in case something would happen, his boys would be protected. As they got older, Dean fell naturally into the role of "ghost-hunter". He made his first supernatural kill at age 16 and he basically, embraced the life. He also wanted desperately to impress his father, get his approval. When Dean was 9 or 10 years old, he failed to kill a striga (a witch that eats children's souls) that was about to suck out Sam's soul. John was able to save Sam, but was extremely upset that Dean had left the hotel room, even if it had just been for a minute. This incident gave Dean the world's biggest guilt complex and it fed his strive to kill all those "evil sons-a-bitches", as some sort of reparation for letting the striga get away. Also, Dean loves saving people (sort of like Harry Potter, haha. Remember his "saving people thing"?) When he was little he wanted to be a fireman. Dean was born to save lives.
Sam, on the other hand, just wanted to be a normal kid. He wanted to play soccer, but instead was forced to learn bow-hunting (but bow-hunting is an important skill!) To distract himself from his hunting loving family members, he seemingly immersed himself in his school work. Sam's extremely intelligent, which I think even a lot of people in the fandom don't realize. He got straight-A's all through school, despite being shuffled around the country. He also not only got into Stanford, he earned a full ride. Sam wanted nothing more than to go to school and be normal. John was terrified that Sam was going to be on his own and that something would happen to him, so he protested Sam's going to school. But Sam wanted out, even if it meant not coming back to his family. So he left John and Dean and for two years, he was on his own. During this time, Sam met a girl named Jessica, who he fell in love with.
Now we pick up where the series begins.
It's Halloween 2005, Sam and Jess have just celebrated Sam's "scary good" LSAT score and how he has an interview with Stanford Law School on Monday. The two of them are sleeping in his apartment, when he hears someone break in. He fights the mystery guy, until he realizes it's Dean. Dean tells him that their dad is "on a hunting trip. And he hasn't been home in a few days". John never goes missing, not like this. Dean wants Sam to help him find him.
"I can't do this alone."
"Yes, you can."
"Well, I don't want to."
Dean finally convinces Sam to go out to where their dad last was, for the weekend. Jess is understandably confused, Sam never talks about his family. He covers though and soon the boys are off.
While all they find of their dad is an empty hotel room, they do find a ghost, Constance "What a Bitch" Welch, and dispose of her. They also find their dad's journal, which is where he kept tabs on every evil thing. Inside the journal are coordinates-John uses coordinates to tell the boys where he wants them to go. But Sam can't go with Dean, he's got the law school interview and everything. Dean drops Sam off and Sam goes into his apartment and lays down on his bed. But then he feels droplets fall on his forehead. He opens his eyes to see his beloved Jessica, pinned to the ceiling and bleeding right before she bursts into flames.
Dean rescues Sam, and as they stand over the trunk of Dean's 1967 Chevy Impala, Sam says
"We've got work to do."
(And that was just the first episode!)
So the boys mission becomes to find their father, and in the meantime, hunt down all the evil monsters they can.
In the interest of trying to keep this as concise as possible (which is, so far, not going so well, haha) for the rest of episodes, I will just try and point out what was important or the highlights from each.
1x02 Wendigo
-This is the episode where Dean gives his "Saving people, hunting things-the family business" speech that we've heard in the montage before almost every episode
-Sam has nightmares about Jessica's death
1x03 Dead In the Water
-Dean is exceptionally good at talking to children. He gets through to a little boy named Lucas, who saw his dad be killed by a little boy ghost in the town lake.
1x04 Phantom Traveler
-Dean is afraid of flying
-A demon that was possessing people and bringing down airplanes, tells Sam that he knows about his girlfriend's death
-Sulfur is the evil element and always means demons are around
1x05 Bloody Mary
-Sam continues to have nightmares about Jessica's death
-Plays on the Bloody Mary legend, however this Bloody Mary kills people who have secrets where someone died
-Sam admits that he is keeping something about Jessica's death from Dean, but in interest of summoning Mary so that they can kill her, he refuses to tell him. And after it's over, Sam says "You're my brother and I'd die for you, but there are some things I need to keep to myself."
-Sam sees Jessica's ghost on the sidewalk (set to the Rolling Stones "Laugh, I Nearly Died" which is one of the shows best musical moments in my opinion)
1x06 Skin
-Sam gets an e-mail from a college friend who says that her brother has been charged with murder and that he didn't do it. Sam convinces Dean that they should check it out.
-They find out they are dealing with a shapeshifter, a man who can turn himself into other men.
-The shapeshifter takes Dean's shape and frames him for the murder the boys first came to investigate. The real Dean kills Shapeshifter!Dean and is officially declared dead.
-Two GREAT music moments in this episode (The opening to "In Da Gadda Da Vida" and another scene to Filter's "Hey Man, Nice Shot")
1x07 Hookman
-Sam struggles to move on from Jessica's death, even when a girl is interested in him
-Um, Dean burns a body? Not much happens in this episode.
1x08 Bugs
-The boys are mistaken for a gay couple. Twice.
-Dean tells Sam that whenever he and John were in California, they'd swing up by Stanford to check up on him
-Dean's raging family issues start to come out. Sam mentions to this 16 yearold kid Matt that in two years, he'll get to go college and escape his dad (who he doesn't really get along with). Dean thinks going to college is "abandoning" his family, because Dean does not understand the concept of long-distance relationships.
1x09 Home
-Sam has these nightmares. And sometimes they come true. He admits to having dreamt about Jessica's death days before it happened. Not just that she died, but how and everything. He has another nightmare, this time about the house they were born in in Lawrence, Kansas
-Dean stays strong for Sam, and pretends that this doesn't freak him out. But we see him call John and leave the most heart-breaking voice mail in the history of voice mails. He's scared to death and doesn't know what to do.
-The boys find and meet the aforementioned psychic, Missouri Mosley. She tells them that a poltergeist and some other kind of spirit are in their old house and won't rest until the current family is dead.
-The poltergeist traps Sam inside the house and Dean goes into rescue him. They see a figure on fire walking toward them. Dean goes to shoot it, but Sam says "Don't! I know who it is now." It's their mother's spirit.
-Mary acknowledges both her boys, but also tells Sam that she is sorry. When he asks why, she just looks at him. She then uses her energy to go after the poltergeist, and destroys herself in the process. One of the most heart-breaking scenes ever.
-Once the boys have left town, Missouri returns to her place to find John sitting on her couch. "John Winchester, I could just slap you. Why don't you go talk to your children?"
He wants to, more than anything. But "not until he knows the truth"
1x10 Asylum
-Sam starts to get sick and tired of Dean bossing him around. This comes to ahead when the asylum they're investigating houses a ghost that turns people homicidal and intensifies their anger. Sam becomes so angry that he shoots Dean with one of their rocksalt shotguns. Dean gives Sam a normal pistol and while it is empty, Sam still shoots it. Four times. Dean knocks him out though and kills the spirit. And because they are Winchesters, they never, ever talk about it again.
-In their motel room, Dean's phone rings. Sam answers it, and bolts up and says "Dad?"
1x11 Scarecrow
-John's phoned the boys to tell them to stop looking for him. He's found the trail of the thing that killed their mother, a demon. They can't be any part of it, he doesn't want them to get hurt. He also gives them a hunt to check out.
-Sam has to be apart of this fight and tells Dean he's going to California (where John called from). Dean tells him that they're supposed to always do what Dad tells them. Sam and Dean part ways.
-Sam runs into a fellow hitch-hiker, a girl named Meg. They end up hanging out at the bus station and they share their stories of not being understood by their respective families.
-Dean's hunt puts him in a little over his head and the townspeople (who sacrifice people to a pagan god to protect their town) capture him to sacrifice him.
-Sam tries Dean's cell phone for 3 hours and can't get ahold of him. This worries him enough to abandon the plan of California and goes to the orchard Dean had mentioned in an earlier phone call, to find him tied up.
-Afterwards, the boys bond and decide to stick together
-Meg, who is a van with some shady van guy, tells him to pull over, she has to make a call. "Bad Company" starts playing and she slits the guy's throat and uses the blood to talk into some sort of evil looking goblet. She refers to whoever she is talking to as "father"
1x12 Faith
-While on a hunt, Dean gets electrocuted and is given 3 weeks to live
-Sam refuses to give up on him and finds a healer to help him.
-This spiritual healer, does in fact heal Dean. But Dean doesn't feel right about it and is determined to get to the bottom of it
-We find out that Roy's, the healer, wife has been controlling a reaper, which heals people, but also kills someone in their place. Roy's wife chooses who should die because she seems them as immoral
-Sam breaks the bind between the reaper and Roy's wife and she dies.
-In general, a very poignant episode and has a great guest character in Layla and "Don't Fear the Reaper"
1x13 Route 666
-The "infamous" Racist Ghost Truck episode
-We find out Dean once fell in love with a girl named Cassie. He later has really, really, really hot sex with her and it is easily, the best part of the episode
-Also, Sam's reaction to Dean being in love is totally dorky and adorable
1x14 Nightmare
-Sam has another vision nightmare. This time of a guy he's never known. He and Dean check it out and Sam's vision came true-the guy died in his car of an apparent suicide. Sam knows it wasn't a suicide though.
-Sam has his first vision while awake in this episode
-After another death in this Miller family, we find out that Max, who is Sam's age, has telekinesis and is killing his family for beating him all of his life. Sam's visions were all watching Max kill them. When Sam and Dean go to confront Max, Max sees Dean's gun and flips.
-Sam gets Max to talk to him, just the two of them. Turns out Max's mother died in a fire. In Max's nursery, when he was 6 months old. And his dad claimed that she was one the ceiling. Sam tells him that he and Dean can help Max, the same thing killed their mothers. But Max's hatred for his stepmother, his only relative left, overpowers that and telekinesis-throws Sam into a closet and puts a large dresser in front of it.
-Sam has a vision that Max kills Dean and (somehow) uses telekinesis to move the dresser away from the closet door
-Sam prevents Max from killing Dean or his stepmother, but instead, Max kills himself
-Dean stays strong for Sam, but we can slowly see him start to get scared over what's happening to his brother
1x15 The Benders
-A bunch of crazy rednecks who like to hunt people kidnap Sam
-Dean and a cop eventually find him and rescue him
-We find out that Dean's birthday is January 24th. The same as Jessica's
1x16 Shadow
-While investigating strange deaths in Chicago, Sam runs into Meg at a bar and feels like something's up. He follows her and finds out she is controlling these shadow demons called devas (who are responsible for the deaths the boys were investigating)
-The boys believe that the demon that killed their mother is coming to Chicago to meet with Meg and as they suit up for the "big night", Sam says he can't wait for all this to be over, to be a person again, to go back to school. Dean says it's never gonna be over, there's always going to be something to hunt. Sam asks him if wants anything for himself. Dean says he wants the 3 of them to be a family again (Dean and his issues...he thinks to be a family, you have to be next to the person. He doesn't understand the concept of long-distance relationships and it is so sad *pets him*)
-They go to Meg's and soon find out that it's a trap. But not just for them, for John. She teases and toys with the boys for awhile, but Sam gets free of his ropes and HEADBUTTS her and knocks over her black altar. The devas throw her ass out a 7 story window
-The boys go back to their motel and inside they see a figure. It's their dad. After all this time, they finally see him again. It's one of the more emotional scenes of the series. However, it's cut short because we see Meg in the street, she's holding a pendant and ordering the devas to attack the Winchesters.
-Once they escape, Dean is the one that says the need to split up, because John's vulnerable when he's around his children. Sam protests but he knows it's the right thing to do. The Winchester men drive off in different directions, the boys in their Impala (Metallicar) and John in his pick-up truck (Truckzilla)
1x17 Hell House
-Prank war episode between Sam and Dean. Made of giggles and awesomeness
-Sam and Dean run into some stereotypical sci-fi fanboys who think they're ghost hunters. lolz ensue
-Definitely a good episode for Blue Oyster Cult fans
-Two words: Sam shirtless
1x18 Something Wicked
(I've already mostly explained this episode in the first part of this, but Something Wicked is my favorite season 1 episode so you're going to read it again.)
-John sends the boys coordinates. The town they go to is home to a bunch of dying kids. After investigating, Dean realizes that they're dealing with a striga, which is a kind of witch and she sucks kids souls out
-FLASHBACKS. Yes people, flashbacks. Wee!Dean takes care of Sammy in a ghetto hotel room and has freckles and Wee!Sammy has already perfected the puppy dog eyes that he still uses. Made of cute and awesome
-This kid named Michael, whose mom owns the hotel they're staying at, makes a gay joke about Sam and Dean
-Dean just about loses it. We find out that the same striga attacked Sammy and since Dean had left the room to play some video games, and then hesitated about shooting it (Dean was NINE btw), he blames himself for any of the kids who have gotten hurt or killed by the striga since then. (John was able to save Sammy in time, but not kill the striga. And according to Dean "he never looked at him the same" after that. Oh Dean.)
-Sam wears the infamous whippet shirt that I love so dearly
-After they've killed the striga, with help from Michael, the boys are standing outside the Impala. Sam feels bad that Michael's always going to know that there's evil out there in the dark. He wishes he could have that kind of innocence. Dean says he wishes Sam could have it too. "Road to Nowhere" by Ozzy Osbourne plays and it makes me cry every time.
1x19 Provenance
-Best motel room of season 1
-Sam finally starts to let go of Jessica and makes out with a hot chick named Sarah. Also, his guilt issues come to the forefront, but she helps with that, even if just for a little bit.
-There's a (supposedly) creepy little girl ghost. I say supposedly because she doesn't freak me out at all, but everyone else I know says she's fucking scary, so...
1x20 Dead Man's Blood
-The first in the final "Daddy Trilogy" of the season, as I like to call it, haha
-After a death of a hunter, John joins the boys because this hunter had a gun. A gun made by Samuel Colt that can kill anything-Supernatural anything. And now vampires have the gun.
-The only way to kill vampires is by beheading. You can also poison them with dead man's blood
-The gun works, John uses it to kill one of the vampires that's threatening Sammy's life
-The men decide to all work together to kill the demon that killed Mary and Jess.
-There's also a sweet scene between John and Sam about how John never wanted this life for Sam and how he used to have a college account for him but he "spent it on ammo". Which is much needed because they had a big ass fight only a little while before
1x21 Salvation
-John has figured out that there are signs that pop up in a town right before the demon comes. The next place it's going to hit is Salvation, Iowa
-We see Meg go into a church and slit a pastor's throat for not telling her where the Winchesters are
-On the way to Salvation, John gets the call that Pastor Jim (the man Meg killed) is dead and that it was by a demon (sulfur! it's the evil element!). He's visibly shaken by Jim's death but resolves to kill this evil son of a bitch
-While looking for babies that will be 6 months old that week (the demon's baby of choice of course) Sam has a vision of the family it's going to hit next.
-Meg calls Sam's cell phone and asks to speak to John. She knows he has the Colt and that means he just declared war. She kills his good friend Caleb while on the phone with him and demands that he drive out to where she is and give her the gun, otherwise his friends keep dying
-John has Dean buy a ringer gun at a pawn shop and leaves the boys to kill the demon by themselves while he drives to meet Meg (which have we established that she's possessed by a demon? Because she is)
-The boys are able to save the family but when Sam goes to shoot the demon (who has crazy yellow eyes and will from here on out be referred to as the Yellow Eyed Demon) he teleports away and isn't hit
-John isn't able to trick Meg and the other possessed guy that's with her. He heeds them off for awhile, but is eventually found
-Sam and Dean get into a fight that is very similar to a fight they had in the Pilot, except total role reversal. Dean tells Sam "he's barely holding it together" and it's crazy emotional
-Dean gets a phone call from Meg saying "You're never going to see your father again"
-This episode marked the first of the "fanvids" haha. "Carry on Wayward Son" plays over the "previously on Supernatural" montage and it's amazing
1x22 Devil's Trap (Season 1 Finale)
-The boys know they have to get help to find their dad. They go to an old friend's, Bobby, who is THE expert on demons
-Meg finds them, but that's what they wanted. They are able to trap her in this circle thing that's called a devil's trap. After some kind of fucked up exorcism torturing, Dean is able to get her to tell him where their dad is. He forces Sam to finish the exorcism, even knowing that the real Meg will die because her body is so broken
-The real Meg lives long enough to tell Dean and Sam where John is, but dies pretty quickly
-(trying to make a long story short) The boys get their dad away from the demons holding him hostage. However, the demon guy that was with Meg the night they captured John, comes out of nowhere and starts beating the absolute shit out of Sam. Dean, who told Sam he had left the gun in the car, pulls out the Colt and shoots the demon and kills him. (it should be known that only the bullets Samuel Colt made for the gun will work to kill supernatural baddies. After Dean uses that bullet, there are only 2 left)
-Sam and Dean take John to this remote cabin and Dean confesses that he scares himself sometimes, the things he willing to do or kill for his family. John comes out and says he's proud of Dean, which throws up a red sign to Dean. (oh Dean...)
-John is possessed by THE demon. That yellow eyed son of a bitch. His dialogue alone in this episode is worth watching this episode. It kicks so much ass. He fucks with Dean and Sam, but Dean more, so bad. We find out the demons that Dean's killed in this episode were his children. Also, he has plans for Sammy and all the children like him.
-Possessed!John starts to torture Dean but the real John is able to regain control, for just 2 seconds (that tells you how much of a fucking badass John Winchester is) so that Sam can get free of the demon's hold and so that Dean can stop having his chest bleed all over the place. Sam grabs the Colt and shoots John in the leg. He goes over to Dean, who is just bleeding all over the place. But Dean wants Sam to check on dad. John says that the demon's still inside him and Sam has to shoot him in the heart. But Dean's pleading conflicts Sam and while he's struggling to decide what to do, the demon leaves John's body.
-As Sam is driving John and Dean to the hospital, John yells at Sam for not shooting him and ending this whole fight right then. Sam begins to explain himself "We still have the one bullet left-" BOOM TRUCK GO SMASH INTO IMPALA
-The last image of the season, is the 3 Winchester men, bleeding, unconcious and "Bad Moon Rising" plays over it
But do you still need reasons to watch? Because I got them. 5 words:
Jensen Ackles and Jared Padalecki
Seriously. SO PRETTY.
*ahem* Anyway, where was I? Oh yes, the end of season 1 with that awful, awful cliffhanger. I can't just leave you with that can I?
Oh but I can. And I'm going to, haha. But don't fret! You won't have to wait almost 5 months like how we did to find out what happens! Just a few days.
Now, if you are interested in watching the show, you can watch it at The CW's official site. Just click on Full Episodes and there are 4 from Season Two up for streaming. You have to download a plugin, but it's totally cool.
You can also watch most of the episodes, streaming, here, providing all the links work. I would also suggest Peekvid but they've been sketchy lately.
You could also buy the Season One DVDs, which in addition to all 22 episodes, has a gag reel (which is made of win and giggles and awesome), a Day in the Life of Jared and Jensen, 2 Episode commentaries and a featurette on the show. Or you could rent them, if money's an issue. :)
So with that, this is the end of my Beginner's Guide to Supernatural (Part One!). Feel free to link this all over the place-if just one person starts watching the show because of this, that's more than I could ask for :D
So I have made it my mission to get you guys (yes I'm talking to you, you non-Supernatural fans on my flist) to at least give it a chance. However, I know that it's hard getting into a series that you haven't watched from the beginning, especially one that does have a myth-arc.
So I present to you
The Beginner's Guide to Supernatural: Season One
This is everything you need to know, from the story to the boys to where and how you can watch it.
The Story
Supernatural is the story of two brothers, Dean and Sam Winchester, who hunt evil, supernatural baddies. The reason they even know about the nasty things they hunt is because of their father, John Winchester. See, when the boys were kids (Dean 4, Sam 6 months), there was a fire in Sam's nursery that killed his mother. But it was no ordinary fire.
Before the room burst into flames, John saw his beloved wife, Mary, pinned to the ceiling, bleeding from her stomach.
John, an former Marine, refused to believe that Mary's death was just an accident. So he sought out a psychic in their town of Lawrence, Kansas. The psychic he found was named Missouri Mosley, and she "drew back the curtains for him". Once he knew what was really out there, it became John's sole mission in life to find and destroy what killed his wife. Additionally, he knew he had to protect his children, so he raised them "like warriors."
They grew up, learning about demons and spirits, learning how to shoot guns (Dean at age 7 we know for sure), etc., so that in case something would happen, his boys would be protected. As they got older, Dean fell naturally into the role of "ghost-hunter". He made his first supernatural kill at age 16 and he basically, embraced the life. He also wanted desperately to impress his father, get his approval. When Dean was 9 or 10 years old, he failed to kill a striga (a witch that eats children's souls) that was about to suck out Sam's soul. John was able to save Sam, but was extremely upset that Dean had left the hotel room, even if it had just been for a minute. This incident gave Dean the world's biggest guilt complex and it fed his strive to kill all those "evil sons-a-bitches", as some sort of reparation for letting the striga get away. Also, Dean loves saving people (sort of like Harry Potter, haha. Remember his "saving people thing"?) When he was little he wanted to be a fireman. Dean was born to save lives.
Sam, on the other hand, just wanted to be a normal kid. He wanted to play soccer, but instead was forced to learn bow-hunting (but bow-hunting is an important skill!) To distract himself from his hunting loving family members, he seemingly immersed himself in his school work. Sam's extremely intelligent, which I think even a lot of people in the fandom don't realize. He got straight-A's all through school, despite being shuffled around the country. He also not only got into Stanford, he earned a full ride. Sam wanted nothing more than to go to school and be normal. John was terrified that Sam was going to be on his own and that something would happen to him, so he protested Sam's going to school. But Sam wanted out, even if it meant not coming back to his family. So he left John and Dean and for two years, he was on his own. During this time, Sam met a girl named Jessica, who he fell in love with.
Now we pick up where the series begins.
It's Halloween 2005, Sam and Jess have just celebrated Sam's "scary good" LSAT score and how he has an interview with Stanford Law School on Monday. The two of them are sleeping in his apartment, when he hears someone break in. He fights the mystery guy, until he realizes it's Dean. Dean tells him that their dad is "on a hunting trip. And he hasn't been home in a few days". John never goes missing, not like this. Dean wants Sam to help him find him.
"I can't do this alone."
"Yes, you can."
"Well, I don't want to."
Dean finally convinces Sam to go out to where their dad last was, for the weekend. Jess is understandably confused, Sam never talks about his family. He covers though and soon the boys are off.
While all they find of their dad is an empty hotel room, they do find a ghost, Constance "What a Bitch" Welch, and dispose of her. They also find their dad's journal, which is where he kept tabs on every evil thing. Inside the journal are coordinates-John uses coordinates to tell the boys where he wants them to go. But Sam can't go with Dean, he's got the law school interview and everything. Dean drops Sam off and Sam goes into his apartment and lays down on his bed. But then he feels droplets fall on his forehead. He opens his eyes to see his beloved Jessica, pinned to the ceiling and bleeding right before she bursts into flames.
Dean rescues Sam, and as they stand over the trunk of Dean's 1967 Chevy Impala, Sam says
"We've got work to do."
(And that was just the first episode!)
So the boys mission becomes to find their father, and in the meantime, hunt down all the evil monsters they can.
In the interest of trying to keep this as concise as possible (which is, so far, not going so well, haha) for the rest of episodes, I will just try and point out what was important or the highlights from each.
1x02 Wendigo
-This is the episode where Dean gives his "Saving people, hunting things-the family business" speech that we've heard in the montage before almost every episode
-Sam has nightmares about Jessica's death
1x03 Dead In the Water
-Dean is exceptionally good at talking to children. He gets through to a little boy named Lucas, who saw his dad be killed by a little boy ghost in the town lake.
1x04 Phantom Traveler
-Dean is afraid of flying
-A demon that was possessing people and bringing down airplanes, tells Sam that he knows about his girlfriend's death
-Sulfur is the evil element and always means demons are around
1x05 Bloody Mary
-Sam continues to have nightmares about Jessica's death
-Plays on the Bloody Mary legend, however this Bloody Mary kills people who have secrets where someone died
-Sam admits that he is keeping something about Jessica's death from Dean, but in interest of summoning Mary so that they can kill her, he refuses to tell him. And after it's over, Sam says "You're my brother and I'd die for you, but there are some things I need to keep to myself."
-Sam sees Jessica's ghost on the sidewalk (set to the Rolling Stones "Laugh, I Nearly Died" which is one of the shows best musical moments in my opinion)
1x06 Skin
-Sam gets an e-mail from a college friend who says that her brother has been charged with murder and that he didn't do it. Sam convinces Dean that they should check it out.
-They find out they are dealing with a shapeshifter, a man who can turn himself into other men.
-The shapeshifter takes Dean's shape and frames him for the murder the boys first came to investigate. The real Dean kills Shapeshifter!Dean and is officially declared dead.
-Two GREAT music moments in this episode (The opening to "In Da Gadda Da Vida" and another scene to Filter's "Hey Man, Nice Shot")
1x07 Hookman
-Sam struggles to move on from Jessica's death, even when a girl is interested in him
-Um, Dean burns a body? Not much happens in this episode.
1x08 Bugs
-The boys are mistaken for a gay couple. Twice.
-Dean tells Sam that whenever he and John were in California, they'd swing up by Stanford to check up on him
-Dean's raging family issues start to come out. Sam mentions to this 16 yearold kid Matt that in two years, he'll get to go college and escape his dad (who he doesn't really get along with). Dean thinks going to college is "abandoning" his family, because Dean does not understand the concept of long-distance relationships.
1x09 Home
-Sam has these nightmares. And sometimes they come true. He admits to having dreamt about Jessica's death days before it happened. Not just that she died, but how and everything. He has another nightmare, this time about the house they were born in in Lawrence, Kansas
-Dean stays strong for Sam, and pretends that this doesn't freak him out. But we see him call John and leave the most heart-breaking voice mail in the history of voice mails. He's scared to death and doesn't know what to do.
-The boys find and meet the aforementioned psychic, Missouri Mosley. She tells them that a poltergeist and some other kind of spirit are in their old house and won't rest until the current family is dead.
-The poltergeist traps Sam inside the house and Dean goes into rescue him. They see a figure on fire walking toward them. Dean goes to shoot it, but Sam says "Don't! I know who it is now." It's their mother's spirit.
-Mary acknowledges both her boys, but also tells Sam that she is sorry. When he asks why, she just looks at him. She then uses her energy to go after the poltergeist, and destroys herself in the process. One of the most heart-breaking scenes ever.
-Once the boys have left town, Missouri returns to her place to find John sitting on her couch. "John Winchester, I could just slap you. Why don't you go talk to your children?"
He wants to, more than anything. But "not until he knows the truth"
1x10 Asylum
-Sam starts to get sick and tired of Dean bossing him around. This comes to ahead when the asylum they're investigating houses a ghost that turns people homicidal and intensifies their anger. Sam becomes so angry that he shoots Dean with one of their rocksalt shotguns. Dean gives Sam a normal pistol and while it is empty, Sam still shoots it. Four times. Dean knocks him out though and kills the spirit. And because they are Winchesters, they never, ever talk about it again.
-In their motel room, Dean's phone rings. Sam answers it, and bolts up and says "Dad?"
1x11 Scarecrow
-John's phoned the boys to tell them to stop looking for him. He's found the trail of the thing that killed their mother, a demon. They can't be any part of it, he doesn't want them to get hurt. He also gives them a hunt to check out.
-Sam has to be apart of this fight and tells Dean he's going to California (where John called from). Dean tells him that they're supposed to always do what Dad tells them. Sam and Dean part ways.
-Sam runs into a fellow hitch-hiker, a girl named Meg. They end up hanging out at the bus station and they share their stories of not being understood by their respective families.
-Dean's hunt puts him in a little over his head and the townspeople (who sacrifice people to a pagan god to protect their town) capture him to sacrifice him.
-Sam tries Dean's cell phone for 3 hours and can't get ahold of him. This worries him enough to abandon the plan of California and goes to the orchard Dean had mentioned in an earlier phone call, to find him tied up.
-Afterwards, the boys bond and decide to stick together
-Meg, who is a van with some shady van guy, tells him to pull over, she has to make a call. "Bad Company" starts playing and she slits the guy's throat and uses the blood to talk into some sort of evil looking goblet. She refers to whoever she is talking to as "father"
1x12 Faith
-While on a hunt, Dean gets electrocuted and is given 3 weeks to live
-Sam refuses to give up on him and finds a healer to help him.
-This spiritual healer, does in fact heal Dean. But Dean doesn't feel right about it and is determined to get to the bottom of it
-We find out that Roy's, the healer, wife has been controlling a reaper, which heals people, but also kills someone in their place. Roy's wife chooses who should die because she seems them as immoral
-Sam breaks the bind between the reaper and Roy's wife and she dies.
-In general, a very poignant episode and has a great guest character in Layla and "Don't Fear the Reaper"
1x13 Route 666
-The "infamous" Racist Ghost Truck episode
-We find out Dean once fell in love with a girl named Cassie. He later has really, really, really hot sex with her and it is easily, the best part of the episode
-Also, Sam's reaction to Dean being in love is totally dorky and adorable
1x14 Nightmare
-Sam has another vision nightmare. This time of a guy he's never known. He and Dean check it out and Sam's vision came true-the guy died in his car of an apparent suicide. Sam knows it wasn't a suicide though.
-Sam has his first vision while awake in this episode
-After another death in this Miller family, we find out that Max, who is Sam's age, has telekinesis and is killing his family for beating him all of his life. Sam's visions were all watching Max kill them. When Sam and Dean go to confront Max, Max sees Dean's gun and flips.
-Sam gets Max to talk to him, just the two of them. Turns out Max's mother died in a fire. In Max's nursery, when he was 6 months old. And his dad claimed that she was one the ceiling. Sam tells him that he and Dean can help Max, the same thing killed their mothers. But Max's hatred for his stepmother, his only relative left, overpowers that and telekinesis-throws Sam into a closet and puts a large dresser in front of it.
-Sam has a vision that Max kills Dean and (somehow) uses telekinesis to move the dresser away from the closet door
-Sam prevents Max from killing Dean or his stepmother, but instead, Max kills himself
-Dean stays strong for Sam, but we can slowly see him start to get scared over what's happening to his brother
1x15 The Benders
-A bunch of crazy rednecks who like to hunt people kidnap Sam
-Dean and a cop eventually find him and rescue him
-We find out that Dean's birthday is January 24th. The same as Jessica's
1x16 Shadow
-While investigating strange deaths in Chicago, Sam runs into Meg at a bar and feels like something's up. He follows her and finds out she is controlling these shadow demons called devas (who are responsible for the deaths the boys were investigating)
-The boys believe that the demon that killed their mother is coming to Chicago to meet with Meg and as they suit up for the "big night", Sam says he can't wait for all this to be over, to be a person again, to go back to school. Dean says it's never gonna be over, there's always going to be something to hunt. Sam asks him if wants anything for himself. Dean says he wants the 3 of them to be a family again (Dean and his issues...he thinks to be a family, you have to be next to the person. He doesn't understand the concept of long-distance relationships and it is so sad *pets him*)
-They go to Meg's and soon find out that it's a trap. But not just for them, for John. She teases and toys with the boys for awhile, but Sam gets free of his ropes and HEADBUTTS her and knocks over her black altar. The devas throw her ass out a 7 story window
-The boys go back to their motel and inside they see a figure. It's their dad. After all this time, they finally see him again. It's one of the more emotional scenes of the series. However, it's cut short because we see Meg in the street, she's holding a pendant and ordering the devas to attack the Winchesters.
-Once they escape, Dean is the one that says the need to split up, because John's vulnerable when he's around his children. Sam protests but he knows it's the right thing to do. The Winchester men drive off in different directions, the boys in their Impala (Metallicar) and John in his pick-up truck (Truckzilla)
1x17 Hell House
-Prank war episode between Sam and Dean. Made of giggles and awesomeness
-Sam and Dean run into some stereotypical sci-fi fanboys who think they're ghost hunters. lolz ensue
-Definitely a good episode for Blue Oyster Cult fans
-Two words: Sam shirtless
1x18 Something Wicked
(I've already mostly explained this episode in the first part of this, but Something Wicked is my favorite season 1 episode so you're going to read it again.)
-John sends the boys coordinates. The town they go to is home to a bunch of dying kids. After investigating, Dean realizes that they're dealing with a striga, which is a kind of witch and she sucks kids souls out
-FLASHBACKS. Yes people, flashbacks. Wee!Dean takes care of Sammy in a ghetto hotel room and has freckles and Wee!Sammy has already perfected the puppy dog eyes that he still uses. Made of cute and awesome
-This kid named Michael, whose mom owns the hotel they're staying at, makes a gay joke about Sam and Dean
-Dean just about loses it. We find out that the same striga attacked Sammy and since Dean had left the room to play some video games, and then hesitated about shooting it (Dean was NINE btw), he blames himself for any of the kids who have gotten hurt or killed by the striga since then. (John was able to save Sammy in time, but not kill the striga. And according to Dean "he never looked at him the same" after that. Oh Dean.)
-Sam wears the infamous whippet shirt that I love so dearly
-After they've killed the striga, with help from Michael, the boys are standing outside the Impala. Sam feels bad that Michael's always going to know that there's evil out there in the dark. He wishes he could have that kind of innocence. Dean says he wishes Sam could have it too. "Road to Nowhere" by Ozzy Osbourne plays and it makes me cry every time.
1x19 Provenance
-Best motel room of season 1
-Sam finally starts to let go of Jessica and makes out with a hot chick named Sarah. Also, his guilt issues come to the forefront, but she helps with that, even if just for a little bit.
-There's a (supposedly) creepy little girl ghost. I say supposedly because she doesn't freak me out at all, but everyone else I know says she's fucking scary, so...
1x20 Dead Man's Blood
-The first in the final "Daddy Trilogy" of the season, as I like to call it, haha
-After a death of a hunter, John joins the boys because this hunter had a gun. A gun made by Samuel Colt that can kill anything-Supernatural anything. And now vampires have the gun.
-The only way to kill vampires is by beheading. You can also poison them with dead man's blood
-The gun works, John uses it to kill one of the vampires that's threatening Sammy's life
-The men decide to all work together to kill the demon that killed Mary and Jess.
-There's also a sweet scene between John and Sam about how John never wanted this life for Sam and how he used to have a college account for him but he "spent it on ammo". Which is much needed because they had a big ass fight only a little while before
1x21 Salvation
-John has figured out that there are signs that pop up in a town right before the demon comes. The next place it's going to hit is Salvation, Iowa
-We see Meg go into a church and slit a pastor's throat for not telling her where the Winchesters are
-On the way to Salvation, John gets the call that Pastor Jim (the man Meg killed) is dead and that it was by a demon (sulfur! it's the evil element!). He's visibly shaken by Jim's death but resolves to kill this evil son of a bitch
-While looking for babies that will be 6 months old that week (the demon's baby of choice of course) Sam has a vision of the family it's going to hit next.
-Meg calls Sam's cell phone and asks to speak to John. She knows he has the Colt and that means he just declared war. She kills his good friend Caleb while on the phone with him and demands that he drive out to where she is and give her the gun, otherwise his friends keep dying
-John has Dean buy a ringer gun at a pawn shop and leaves the boys to kill the demon by themselves while he drives to meet Meg (which have we established that she's possessed by a demon? Because she is)
-The boys are able to save the family but when Sam goes to shoot the demon (who has crazy yellow eyes and will from here on out be referred to as the Yellow Eyed Demon) he teleports away and isn't hit
-John isn't able to trick Meg and the other possessed guy that's with her. He heeds them off for awhile, but is eventually found
-Sam and Dean get into a fight that is very similar to a fight they had in the Pilot, except total role reversal. Dean tells Sam "he's barely holding it together" and it's crazy emotional
-Dean gets a phone call from Meg saying "You're never going to see your father again"
-This episode marked the first of the "fanvids" haha. "Carry on Wayward Son" plays over the "previously on Supernatural" montage and it's amazing
1x22 Devil's Trap (Season 1 Finale)
-The boys know they have to get help to find their dad. They go to an old friend's, Bobby, who is THE expert on demons
-Meg finds them, but that's what they wanted. They are able to trap her in this circle thing that's called a devil's trap. After some kind of fucked up exorcism torturing, Dean is able to get her to tell him where their dad is. He forces Sam to finish the exorcism, even knowing that the real Meg will die because her body is so broken
-The real Meg lives long enough to tell Dean and Sam where John is, but dies pretty quickly
-(trying to make a long story short) The boys get their dad away from the demons holding him hostage. However, the demon guy that was with Meg the night they captured John, comes out of nowhere and starts beating the absolute shit out of Sam. Dean, who told Sam he had left the gun in the car, pulls out the Colt and shoots the demon and kills him. (it should be known that only the bullets Samuel Colt made for the gun will work to kill supernatural baddies. After Dean uses that bullet, there are only 2 left)
-Sam and Dean take John to this remote cabin and Dean confesses that he scares himself sometimes, the things he willing to do or kill for his family. John comes out and says he's proud of Dean, which throws up a red sign to Dean. (oh Dean...)
-John is possessed by THE demon. That yellow eyed son of a bitch. His dialogue alone in this episode is worth watching this episode. It kicks so much ass. He fucks with Dean and Sam, but Dean more, so bad. We find out the demons that Dean's killed in this episode were his children. Also, he has plans for Sammy and all the children like him.
-Possessed!John starts to torture Dean but the real John is able to regain control, for just 2 seconds (that tells you how much of a fucking badass John Winchester is) so that Sam can get free of the demon's hold and so that Dean can stop having his chest bleed all over the place. Sam grabs the Colt and shoots John in the leg. He goes over to Dean, who is just bleeding all over the place. But Dean wants Sam to check on dad. John says that the demon's still inside him and Sam has to shoot him in the heart. But Dean's pleading conflicts Sam and while he's struggling to decide what to do, the demon leaves John's body.
-As Sam is driving John and Dean to the hospital, John yells at Sam for not shooting him and ending this whole fight right then. Sam begins to explain himself "We still have the one bullet left-" BOOM TRUCK GO SMASH INTO IMPALA
-The last image of the season, is the 3 Winchester men, bleeding, unconcious and "Bad Moon Rising" plays over it
But do you still need reasons to watch? Because I got them. 5 words:
Jensen Ackles and Jared Padalecki
Seriously. SO PRETTY.
*ahem* Anyway, where was I? Oh yes, the end of season 1 with that awful, awful cliffhanger. I can't just leave you with that can I?
Oh but I can. And I'm going to, haha. But don't fret! You won't have to wait almost 5 months like how we did to find out what happens! Just a few days.
Now, if you are interested in watching the show, you can watch it at The CW's official site. Just click on Full Episodes and there are 4 from Season Two up for streaming. You have to download a plugin, but it's totally cool.
You can also watch most of the episodes, streaming, here, providing all the links work. I would also suggest Peekvid but they've been sketchy lately.
You could also buy the Season One DVDs, which in addition to all 22 episodes, has a gag reel (which is made of win and giggles and awesome), a Day in the Life of Jared and Jensen, 2 Episode commentaries and a featurette on the show. Or you could rent them, if money's an issue. :)
So with that, this is the end of my Beginner's Guide to Supernatural (Part One!). Feel free to link this all over the place-if just one person starts watching the show because of this, that's more than I could ask for :D