At the end of the previous episode, Meg announced the brothers will never see their father again – which could mean he’s dead, or could mean he’s a prisoner. Of course I’ve watched these episodes often enough to know what’s going on, but it was a hell of a cliffhanger on the first watch.
Pre-show notes
In its first season. Supernatural gained huge popularity among the fan communities I was part of. It’s easy to see why. Beyond the superficial elements – good looking leads, lots of action and the good vs evil battles – there is a depth to the first season that was missing from most genre shows at the time. The Winchesters, three men each broken in their own ways, bound by family, a mission and a common enemy. There’s a mystery surrounding the deaths of Mary Winchester and Jessica Moore – what killed them and why? There’s a growing mystery surrounding Sam: his apparent psychic abilities and why the demons seem so interested in him.
By the time we reached the end of the season the search for John Winchester had ended with the boys reuniting with their father. The other threads were beginning to come together and there was an expectation that in the season’s final episode, we would get at least some answers. What did THE demon really want? Was Meg part of the demon’s master plan, or working some scheme of her own?
So, let’s recap. Meg went on a murder spree through the Winchesters’ friends, demanding the Colt in exchange for not killing more of them. John tried to fool her with a non-magic antique Colt, and failed. At the end of the previous episode, Meg announced the brothers will never see their father again – which could mean he’s dead, or could mean he’s a prisoner. Of course I’ve watched these episodes often enough to know what’s going on, but it was a hell of a cliffhanger on the first watch.
Meanwhile Sam and Dean had their first real crack at the demon that killed Mary and Jessica, and they also failed. Sam wanted to run back into the burning building to finish the demon off, but Dean wouldn’t let him do it. They still have the Colt, and, I think, three bullets left (or did Sam fire twice? I can’t remember. Just once, I think.)
One thing about this show: the light at the end of the tunnel is usually an oncoming train.
Episode notes
So after the musical recap – which is brilliant – we open exactly where the last episode ended. Dean’s reaction to Meg’s call. Dean has a good grasp of the situation and insists they hit the road. They need a plan, because they know it’s not over. Sam thinks John is dead. Dean thinks the demons will keep him alive to trade for the Colt.
Enter Bobby Singer! We learn quickly that he and John don’t exactly get along, but Bobby drops everything to help Dean and Sam. That really says everything you need to know about Bobby.
Sam is reading the Key of Solomon, and why does he say he’s never seen anything like it? I mean, you can buy that book on Amazon – I would have thought it would be the basic textbook for hunters. Sam is impressed by the protective circles – and I’m wondering again why John didn’t have that piece of knowledge, especially as he knew he was hunting a demon. It’s a weird inconsistency.
“This is some serious crap you boys stepped in…More and more demons are walking among us…The storm’s coming, and you boys, your daddy, you are smack in the middle of it.”
Bobby
Bobby gives us the theme of the season, then Meg bursts in. She talks a good talk but this time our heroes are prepared. She walks right into their trap: one of those circles painted on Bobby’s ceiling. It’s a brilliant gotcha moment.
The interrogation scene… Dean can be very dark, and he has every reason. Bobby pulls him aside and points out that Meg is possessed, that if Dean hurts her, he’s hurting the body, not the demon. It’s interesting that he says “Can’t you tell?” as if it should be obvious. The only other demon encounter the brothers have had, that was a human possessed. So maybe it should be obvious.
Anyhow, this causes them to change strategy. They begin an exorcism, Dean working on the theory that Meg doesn’t want to go back to Hell, so threatening her with that will work better than the rough interrogation he originally intended. It’s a sound theory if you go with the classic mythology: demons suffer in Hell just as much as souls.
Meg’s a real bitch, insisting that she has murdered John.
“For your sake, I hope you’re lying. ‘Cause if it’s true, I swear to God, I will march into Hell myself and I will slaughter each and every one of you evil sons of bitches.”
Dean
Oh, Dean, you are so going to regret that bravado! But it seems to make an impression on Meg. She gives them pretty minimal information. Dean tells Sam to finish the exorcism. Meg actually thought he would let her go! No, sweetheart, that’s not how Winchesters roll. Bobby protests that exorcism will kill the girl, and he’s right, but Dean insists they can’t leave her possessed.
Sam finishes the exorcism, and Meg – the innocent girl – survives for long enough to confirm the demon told them the truth, and to warn them its a trap. It’s long enough, too, for the brothers to understand what they have done to her: we can see they’re both shaken when she dies.
But now they have a destination, and a cryptic clue to follow. Bobby hands over his Key of Solomon and the brothers take off.
Dean is mentally preparing himself to find John dead or broken. Sam is more focussed on what he’s learning from the book. He actually puts the sigils on the car – over Dean’s hilarious objection – but here’s the really interesting thing. What Sam calls a devil’s trap is not the sigil we will see from season 2 onward. It’s part of a larger sigil which consists of a large circle which holds the magician and the smaller one which site outside the larger, and holds the demon which is summoned. In other words, it’s actually the opposite of what Sam describes: it’s supposed to attract and hold a demon, not repel them. Sam’s devil’s trap consists of a pentagram within a circle within a triangle.e, with the name Michael inscribed around the inner lines of the triangle – for the archangel Michael. Another breadcrumb that will become important in the future.
They argue about whether to take the Colt on their rescue mission. Both of them have some good points to make. Dean thinks Sam, not unlike John, is basically on a suicide mission for the sake of revenge. He’s not entirely wrong, but I don’t think he’s being fair to Sam either. If this was all about revenge, Sam wouldn’t be on the rescue mission. He’d be following the leads John left them. But Sam is right about taking the Colt with them. And this is another of those things that make more sense with hindsight. It does make sense that the demons want them to waste the few bullets they have left, because it’s the gun that matters. But “we” don’t know that yet, so the demon’s strategy seems a bit stupid.
The brothers locate the building where John is being held, and it’s a regular apartment building. Dean is concerned that all the people are potential hosts for demons, but back in Phantom Traveler they were both clear that a person has to be susceptible for a demon to take over: mentally ill, or in distress, to give the demon a way in.
They formulate a plan: set off the fire alarm and use the chaos as cover get to John. It has the virtue of simplicity. We see John tied to a bed, guarded by demons who are ignoring the alarm. The brothers steal uniforms and helmets from the fire trucks and fill the hose with holy water. They overpower the demons much too easily. When they find John, Sam stops Dean from cutting him loose, pointing out that John, too, could be possessed, He tests John with holy water and there’s no reaction.
We see a man outside the building instantly possessed, and the demon jumps from him to a fire fighter. There are more demons trying to prevent the Winchesters from escaping, including Meg’s “brother” who catches Sam and is beating him pretty hard when Dean shoots him in the head – with the Colt. When Dean looks down at the body, we can see that it matters to him – he knows he has killed an innocent man as well as the demon possessing him – but he helps Sam and John up and they get away,
They find an abandoned cabin to hole up for the night. They put down salt at the doors and windows. Sam tries to thank Dean for saving him. Dean’s not happy that he killed a man. He’s bothered that he didn’t hesitate. It’s understandable, but it’s also what he’s been trained for all his life.
John intervenes, telling Dean he did well. Just then the lights start flickering – the demon has found them. John asks Dean for the Colt and Dean – oh, this is heartbreaking – Dean knows this isn’t his father, because John wouldn’t be proud of him for what he did. John would be furious that he “wasted” a bullet. Instead of handing over the Colt, Dean aims it at John. When Sam returns he sides with Dean. ”John” challenges Dean to shoot And Dean hesitates.
And I never thought of this before, but maybe Dean hesitates, not just because it’s his father, but because he doesn’t want to waste another bullet. He knows John is possessed, he doesn’t know – not quite – that this is THE demon.
But a moment later he has that confirmation, and it’s a moment too late. The demon attacks, slamming both brothers against the wall, causing Dean to drop the gun.
“But, the holy water…?”
“You think something like that works on something like me?”
Sam, Demon
Here again we have the implication of ranks and power levels among the demons, and the yellow-eyed demon is at or near the top of that pyramid. The demon taunts Sam and Dean, playing with them. He refers to Meg and the demon Dean killed as his daughter and son. He reveals that he killed Mary and Jessica because they got in the way. The demon has plans for Sam, and the children like him. Well, we kinda knew that. And it’s interesting, in view of what we will learn a few years down the line, that the demon takes full credit for killing Jessica.
Then there’s what it says to Dean.
“Funny! But that’s all part of your MO isn’t it? Masks all that nasty pain. Masks the truth. You fight and you fight for this family but the truth is they don’t need you. Not like you need them.”
The thing is, I don’t think that’s true. I mean. I think Dean believes it. But Sam certainly showed he’s willing to do almost anything for Dean, and John is devoted to both of his sons: he has a harder time showing it with Dean.
And I wonder if Dean is provoking the demon on purpose? Whether it’s the plan. Because it works: when the demon tortures Dean, he begs his father not to let it kill him. And John is able to shake the demon off, just enough. Just enough for Sam to get free and grab the Colt. But Sam, Sam who was willing to run into a burning building to get the demon, wastes his shot by shooting John in the leg, instead of killing him. (And okay, yeah, it’s his dad. I wouldn’t have taken the shot either. But it’s not Sam’s smartest move.)
John, still possessed, begs Sam to kill him, but Dean is begging Sam not to kill their father. Sam can’t do it with Dean there – he once again sides with Dean, and the demon escapes. We can see how frustrated and disappointed John is.
Dean is a bloody mess – it’s unclear what physical damage the demon did to him but it’s bad. John has a bullet in his leg. Sam is driving them to a hospital. John wants to know why Sam didn’t shoot: Killing this demon comes first, before everything. And Sam simply says, “No, not before everything.” Meaning not before Dean. He points out that they still have the Colt and one bullet, so they can start over.
And that’s when the huge truck comes out of nowhere and slams into the car, ending the season with our heroes bloody in a wrecked car, in a ditch.
THAT cliffhanger!
After the first season comes the agonising wait for fans and show runners alike, waiting for the announcement of whether or not there will be a second season. And when the final episode ends with your heroes getting hit by an eighteen-wheeler, you really want to know there will be a second season.
It was a stroke of genius, on the part of the writers. The ending kept the conversation going in the fandom throughout the summer. We speculated on how it would be resolved, supremely confident our heroes would survive…a little less certain about the car’s fate. The show wouldn’t be the same without the iconic Impala, but she looked pretty much a write off. Fans wrote fictions – their own versions of what might happen next, and their own spins on the revelations of the episode. We went back and analysed the mysteries of the season, teasing out every detail we could to work out what might happen next.
What we didn’t realise at the time was how Supernatural would delight in subverting all our expectations.
Subtext
There’s a scene in the second X-Men movie, where the school is being invaded and Wolverine, who until then we have known as a protector, springs into deadly and efficient action. It’s a powerful moment, seeing Wolverine finally cut loose from his self-imposed restraints.
There’s a similar feel to the moment in this episode where the demon finally reveals himself to Dean. It’s possessing John. The actions and words are the demon’s, not John’s. And yet there’s a sense that John is there, too. Maybe it’s because we can see that John, too, is extremely restrained in his way: we saw that in the brutal efficiency with which he killed vampires in Dead Man’s Blood and in his holy water fountain in the previous episode. So when the demon cuts loose, there’s a feeling that John, too, is unleashed.
That gives an extra bite to his cruelty, to the things he says to Dean. And it gave an extra spice to the sexual undertones in those exchanges. The demon lusts after both of the Winchester brothers, and it really shows. We will learn later that the brothers are, each in a different way, something the demon desperately wants. In this scene it’s raw, plain to see but without the reasons all we see is desire. And since we are watching a father and sons, there’s an inherent discomfort in that beyond the text of the scene.
But I don’t think the writers quite realised it was also – pun intended – hot as Hell.
Final thoughts
In its pilot episode, Supernatural laid out its opening thesis:
Saving people, hunting things. The family business.
Over 22 episodes, it lays a set of cards on the table: A demonic plan, at least decades in the making, moving toward its climax. A mission of vengeance. A precious gun, pivotal to both demons and the Winchesters. And so many questions about what links them.
The storm’s coming. And you boys, your daddy, you are smack in the middle of it.
I’m going to take a short break from the show and look at the first tie-in comic, then roll on season two!
