#spn episode reviews
1x02: Wendigo
Rating: ★★☆☆☆
Lookhere for my explanations of these reviews.
Written by: Eric Kripke, Ron Milbauer, & Terri Hughes Burton
Directed by: David Nutter
Barring the fact that they pronounced “wendigo” wrong the entire episode, what did I think of the second episode of SPN? It was… all right. It’s a monster-of-the-week episode, as most in the first season are, so it isn’t my personal bread-and-butter, but hey.
What I liked: Most of what I liked in this episode has to do with the characters themselves, so I’m just gonna save my praise for that section below.
What I didn’t like: So, this is kind of a campy horror movie duplicate with an SPN flare. A lot of running around and a lot of exposition. Basically, it was just bland. I’ve never really liked this episode that much because everything in it was mediocre—action, humor, etc.—so I guess it’s essentially the entire episode I didn’t like.
Character work: Except the character work, which I mentioned above. Mostly Sam’s character work, actually. This episode, surprisingly enough, reminded me of Soulless!Sam. I mean, Sam was angry throughout the entire episode, both because he couldn’t process the job of hunting and saving people and because Jess had just died, but the disregard for people’s feelings and the unempathetic comments were very Soulless!Sam. Overall, I think I enjoyed Sam’s part in this episode so much because, at some point in the later seasons, Sam becomes almost too well-adjusted. The anger and bitterness he had in this episode was awesome.
Dean’s character development was mostly in the form of being a big brother for, what I view as being, the first time. In the pilot, Dean was mostly just concerned about keeping Sam around rather than being a big brother to him.
Favorite scene: My favorite scene in this episode is the scene in the beginning of Act Three where Dean asks Sam about why he’s so angry and Sam asks Dean how he handles hunting so well. It’s an interesting point of vulnerability for Sam, plus it’s where the show’s “mission statement,” if you will, is brought up for the first time. It’s also where that big brother stuff I talked about comes in. This scene sets us up for a season where the boys are on the road hunting, despite the fact that the original goal of finding John is always under the surface. It’s a good scene for the brothers but also for the show.
Favorite moment: There’s this moment toward the end of Act Five where Dean is taunting the wendigo and refers to himself as “white meat,” and I don’t know, that moment stood out to me for some reason.
Iconic quote: “I think he wants us to pick up where he left off. You know, saving people, hunting things. The family business.”
That’ll be all for this episode. Honestly, I’ll rewatch this one if I’m doing a full rewatch like I am now, but it is definitely not in the category for “best episodic episode of SPN.” It’s got good, old school SPN vibes, but not that good.
1x01: Pilot
Rating: ★★★☆☆
Lookhere for my explanations of these reviews.
Written by: Eric Kripke
Directed by: David Nutter
Well, this is the start of everything, isn’t it? It’s almost like I can’t review this episode because it’s infallible since it’s main function is just to introduce characters and themes. That being said, I’m ranking it a 3 out of 5 because I knowwhat a 5 out of 5 episode looks like from SPN after this point, and frankly, the pilot episode isn’t it.
What I liked: Most of it, to be honest. The tone the pilot episode sets up is insane when you compare it to the tone the last season has (yes I said last seasoninstead of last episodebecause the tone for the series finale didn’t fit any tone SPN has done ever, but that review will be a momentwhen I get to it, I’m sure). Back to tone, I really love the grungy and simplistic take this episode has. Not to mention, remember when SPN was actually kinda scary? Not like I’m-gonna-have-nightmares kind of scary but this-makes-my-skin-crawl-and-my-heart-beat-a-little-faster kind of scary.
If we’re talking plot here, I’d say opening up the show with a ghost hunt is probably the best way to go. It served to lay a foundation that was pretty solid, especially considering the show references ghost hunting as “old school” or “a basic hunt” a few times later on.
What I didn’t like: Honestly, the reason I haven’t ranked this episode as 5 out of 5 is simply because, comparatively—coming from someone who’s seen the show in its entirety—the monster-of-the-week thing bores me a bit. Again, since this is the introduction of everything, nostalgia kicks in, and I love it for existing… but the actual plot is standard.
Character work: This isn’t really relevant for this first episode, which may sound weird since this episode gives us the basic foundations of our characters, but that’s kind of why it’s difficult to talk about. I’ll say that the bits the first episode decided to show us about these characters—John’s questionable parenting, Dean’s attachment to his family, Sam’s complicated relationship with hunting and his father, etc.—were exactly the right attributes to highlight. It’s a very basic understanding of these characters but arguably the most important characteristics the audience needs to know about at this point.
Favorite scene: All right, my favorite scene from the pilot is the last scene of Act Two where Dean and Sam are arguing on Sylvania Bridge about Jessica and John before running away from the possessed Impala. This isn’t the funniest scene from the pilot, nor is it the most iconic, but I like how it clearly tells the audience what these characters’ motivations are at this point while alluding to the trauma that lies underneath the surface.
Favorite moment: Gotta be that last “we got work to do” scene. Talk about epic.
Iconic quote: “Driver picks the music, shotgun shuts his cakehole.”
That’s all I got for this first episode. It is what it is; I mean, a pilot isn’t really something to criticize because it’s supposed to get in, get out, and tell you what the show is going to be. The pilot of SPN did that, so… good.
