- "Don't be afraid of the dark? What are you, kidding me? Of course you should be afraid of the dark! You know what's out there!"
- ―Dean Winchester
| "Pilot" | |
|---|---|
| Series Supernatural Season 1, Episode 1 | |
| |
| Air date | September 13th, 2005 |
| Writers | Eric Kripke |
| Director | David Nutter |
| Producers | McG; Eric Kripke; David Nutter; Cyrus Yavneh; Richard Hatem; John Shiban; Peter Johnson; Todd Aronauer |
| Starring | Jensen Ackles; Jared Padalecki |
| Episode guide | |
| Previous — |
Next "Wendigo" |
Supernatural is an occult-based American television series that began production in 2005 and aired on the CW Network. Created and produced by McG and Eric Kripke, the series revolves around the Winchester brothers, Sam and Dean and their never-ending struggle to stop the forces of the supernatural wherever they may arise. The pilot episode of the show was written by series creator Eric Kripke and directed by co-producer David Nutter. It first aired on the CW Network on Tuesday, September 13th, 2005.
Synopsis[]
The Winchesters[]
Family tragedy.
Twenty-two years ago
In Lawrence, Kansas, John and Mary Winchester set their infant son Sam down to sleep. John goes downstairs, but shortly thereafter, Mary begins hearing strange noises coming from the baby monitor. The lights in the hallway begin flickering and she grows nervous. She goes into the nursery and sees the shadow of a man standing in front of Sam's crib. When she realizes that the man is not her husband, she screams. John hears her and runs upstairs. He looks up and sees his wife sprawled out across the ceiling. Suddenly, she bursts into flames. John scoops up Sam and gives him to his older son Dean, with instructions to get out of the house. John wants to save Mary, but he cannot. The flames erupt throughout the room, forcing John outside as the house goes up in flames.
Twenty-two years later
It is Halloween night at Stanford University. Sam Winchester, now an adult wants to pursue a career in law but doesn't want to tell his family. Having grown up all his life on the road hunting down monsters, Sam longs for nothing more than a shot at a normal life. After spending some time at a party with some friends, his girlfriend Jessica and he retire to the campus apartment they share together. Older brother Dean comes into town and sneaks into Sam's home late at night. Suspecting a burglar, Sam gets into a fight with him until he realizes that it is Dean. Dean tells Sam that he needs his help finding their missing father. He doesn't want to reveal anything in front of Jessica but notes that John went missing while on a "hunting trip". Sam feels obligated to help out but insists that he must be back by Monday morning.
As they travel, Dean tells Sam that their father had been investigating a case in Jericho, California. Over the span of twenty years, more than ten people have disappeared off a five-mile stretch of road off Centennial Highway. Dean shows Sam a tape recording that his father sent him that replays the words "Never go home".
The Woman in White[]
In Jericho, a distraught woman named Constance Welch hitches a ride from a young man named Troy Squire. She tells him that she lives at the end of Breckinridge Road. She behaves in a sultry fashion and invites Troy to come home with her. Troy agrees, but when they reach the house, he finds that it is a crumbling, deserted building. Constance disappears and Troy follows after her. Failing to find her, he gets back into his car and drives off. Constance suddenly appears in the vehicle and kills him. The car veers off the bridge on Centennial Highway.
The following day, Dean and Sam stop at a gas station to fuel up. Dean's been running credit card scams to make money. One of his many aliases is that of Hector Afranian. Sam pokes fun at Dean's music collection, which includes cassettes of Black Sabbath, Motorhead and Metallica. Once they're on the road, they drive to Jericho. They come to the bridge where all of the disappearances have been taking place and find that it is blocked off. Masquerading as two Federal Marshalls, Sam and Dean interview the local police. The deputies know very little about the incident save for the victim's name.
The boys learn that Troy had been dating a girl named Amy Hein. They go into town and find Amy and her friend Rachel putting up missing persons flyers. They ask about Troy's disappearance and Rachel tells them about a local legend - the Phantom Hitchhiker. Sam doesn't dismiss their story and tells them that he too believes in the supernatural.
Afterward, they stop at the local library and look up archived articles from the Jericho Herald. They discover that a woman named Constance Welch committed suicide by jumping off the Sylvania Bridge after allegedly murdering her children in 1981.
That evening, the boys go out to Sylvania Bridge to check out the area without anyone interfering in their affairs. Dean puts pressure on Sam to get back into the family business, but Sam refuses to become a part of their father's "crusade". Their bickering is interrupted when they spot Constance Walsh, wearing a white dress standing on the edge of the bridge. Before they can react, she jumps. Without warning, Dean's Impala suddenly comes to life even though he's still holding onto the keys. The car bears down upon them and they are forced to jump off the side of the bridge. Sam manages to latch onto the outer edge, but Dean plummets down into the muddy embankment.
Sam and Dean check into a motel and clean themselves up. Coincidentally, they end up staying at the same place that John Winchester had been staying at only a few days earlier. They go into his room and find the walls decorated with evidence of his investigation. Missing persons flyers, photographs, sketches and maps are attached to every wall. Sam finds their father's journal and feels that John was very close to cracking the case. They learn that the ghost of Constance Welch is a Woman in White - a vengeful spirit that preys on unfaithful men. The method behind becoming a Woman in White is very specific and the ghost in question must have been the victim of infidelity in life who in turn, murders her own children then takes her own life.
Dean gets caught[]
Sheriff Pierce.
The following morning, Dean leaves the room to go get food. he finds the Sheriff's deputies outside waiting for him and knows that they are aware that he was impersonating a federal agent. Before the cops can arrest him, he places a quick call to Sam and warns him to leave the hotel.
Sheriff Pierce interrogates Dean at the police station. Dean tells him that his true name is Ted Nugent, but Pierce isn't impressed. Thumbing through John's journal, which he recovered from Dean's person, he makes the connection between Dean and the journal's owner, pointing out a page with the words "Dean 35-111" written on it. Dean knows that these are coordinates that John left behind so the brothers could track him, but he plays ignorant and tells Pierce that he has no idea what it means.
Meanwhile, Sam goes to the salvage yard where Constance's widower, Joseph Welch, works. Joseph mentions how John had been by a few days earlier asking him some strange questions concerning his late wife - in particular, where she was buried. He tells Sam the same thing he told John; that Constance was buried on their old property on Breckinridge Road. Sam presses the issue and gets Joe to confess that he once had an affair with another woman when Constance was still alive. Angered by Sam's intrusive questions, he orders him to leave.
Leaving the junk yard, Sam fakes a 911 call to the police station, luring Sheriff Pierce away from the building. This gives Dean the opportunity to pick the lock on his handcuffs and escape. The brothers meet up and they bring each other up to speed.
"Take me home"[]
Constance reveals her true face.
That night, Sam is driving the Impala and comes across the Woman in White. He nearly hits her, but an instant later, she appears in the seat beside him. In an echoing voice she says, "Take me home", then takes control of the car. She drives to the crumbling Welch family home and tries to seduce Sam. Sam warns her that he is not unfaithful, but Constance tells him, "You will be...", before kissing him. She then burns her fingers into his chest and Sam cries out in pain. Dean catches up to them and shoots out the windows of the car, but Constance disappears. Knowing that her presence is still around him, Sam drives the car through the front of the house. The ghost appears again and uses telekinesis to pin Sam and Dean to the wall with a dresser. Just then, water begins dripping down the steps of the house. The ghosts of Constance's children appear before her and say, "You've come home to us, Mommy". They grab hold of their mother and a brilliant bright light appears. Constance screams in agony as all three of them disappear into the light forever.
Life choices[]
Now that the case has been resolved, Dean keeps his promise to bring Sam back to Stanford. It is late at night when Sam enters his room. He calls out for Jess but gets no reply. He lies down on his bed and closes his eyes, at which point, blood begins dripping down upon him from the ceiling. He opens his eyes and sees Jess splayed across the ceiling with an open wound across her stomach. She bursts into flames and burns to death before him. Dean hears Sam's screams of anguish and races into the room. He helps him out of the burning building and Sam decides to go with Dean to find their father, but more importantly... he wants to hunt down and destroy the thing that killed Jess.
Cast[]
Starring[]
| Actor | Role |
|---|---|
| Jensen Ackles | Dean Winchester |
| Jared Padalecki | Sam Winchester |
Guest Starring[]
| Actor | Role |
|---|---|
| Sarah Shahi | Constance Welch |
| Adrianne Palicki | Jessica Moore |
| Samantha Smith | Mary Winchester |
| Jeffrey Dean Morgan | John Winchester |
| R.D. Call | Sheriff J. Pierce |
| Ross Kohn | Troy Squire |
| Steve Railsback | Joseph Welch |
| Derek Webster | Deputy Jaffe |
| Jamil Z. Smith | Luis |
| Elizabeth Bond | Amy Hein |
| Miriam Korn | Rachel |
Co-Starring[]
| Actor | Role |
|---|---|
| Cletus Young | Motel clerk |
| Robert Peters | Deputy Hein |
| Rick Dano | Hotel clerk |
| Hunter Brochu | Sam's friend |
| Sandra-Jessica Couturier | Monica |
| Allan Graf | Sheriff's diver |
| Ken Waters | Search and Rescue diver |
Notes & Trivia[]
- Supernatural was created by Eric Kripke and developed for television by Kripke, McG and Ben Edlund. It was produced by Kripke Enterprises and Warner Bros. Television. The series ran for fifteen seasons from 2005 to 2020, spanning a total of 326 episodes. Although the primary cast consists only of Jared Padalecki (Sam Winchester) and Jensen Ackles (Dean Winchester), it also features a semi-regular cast of recurring characters such as Jeffrey Dean Morgan as John Winchester (Sam and Dean's father), Jim Beaver as Bobby Singer, Samantha Ferris as Ellen Harvelle and Misha Collins as the angel Castiel.
- This episode is included on disc 1 of the Supernatural: The Complete First Season DVD and Blu-ray collections. The DVD collection was released by Warner Home Video in Region 1 format on September 5th, 2006. It was released in Region 2 format on October 2nd, 2006. It was released in Region 4 format on September 6th, 2006 and again as a Special Collector's Edition on October 3rd, 2007. The Blu-ray collection was released in the United States and Canada on June 15th, 2010. it was released in the United Kingdom on August 22nd, 2011. The DVD includes audio commentaries by series creator Eric Kripke, director David Nutter and producer Peter Johnson as well as extended deleted scenes.
- Production code number: 475285
- Filmed in Los Angeles, California.
- The prologue to this episode takes place 22 years prior to the main story. The recap from "Wendigo" provides the date as November 2nd, 1983.
- The actors playing young Sam and Dean, as well as the silhouetted stranger and the Welch children are not credited in this episode.
- A set of triplets were used to portray infant Sam. David Nutter had great difficulty getting the babies to cry when they needed to, so Eric Kripke suggested that he should pinch them to make them cry.
- Jensen Ackles, Jared Padalecki, Sarah Shahi and Steve Railsback were all born in Texas.
- The silhouetted stranger standing in front of infant Sam's crib is later identified as a demon named Azazel. He is also often referred to as the "Yellow-eyed demon".
- This episode establishes that John Winchester was in the United States Marine Corps. He is seen wearing a USMC t-shirt and has a military tatoo on his upper left arm.
- One of the names mentioned in the Jericho Herald archives is Deanna Kripke. The last name is taken from series creator Eric Kripke.
Allusions[]
- During the Halloween party, Sam tells Jessica Moore, "We're not exactly the Bradys", and his friend counters the comment by saying, "And we're not exactly the Huxtables. The Bradys are the titular family from the 1960s sitcom The Brady Bunch, while the Huxtables were the central family featured in the 1980s sitcom The Cosby Show Supernatural: Pilot.
- Jessica Moore is seen wearing a Smurfs half-top in this episode. The Smurfs were a race of small, blue gnome-like creatures created by Belgian cartoonist Peyo in 1958. Originally called "Schtroumpfs", the Smurfs were featured in their own self-titled cartoon series in 1981 and received their own computer-generated feature film in 2011.
- When referencing his father's "deer hunting" trip, Sam tells Jessica that he probably has his friends Jim, Jack and José with him. This is actually a reference to three different name brands of alcohol: Jim Bean, Jack Daniels and José Cuervo.
- As the two FBI agents walk past Sam and Dean, Dean refers to them as "Agent Mulder" and "Agent Scully". Fox Mulder and Dana Scully were the two central protagonists on the Fox Network television series The X-Files. As federal agents, they were charged with investigating cases of the paranormal.
- In the diner scene where Sam and Dean are interviewing Amy Hein and Rachel, Dean makes a passing reference to Unsolved Mysteries. Unsolved Mysteries was a television program hosted by Robert Stack that chronicled unresolved crimes through a series of reenactments, many of which also involved cases of unexplained phenomena such as ghostly visitations or UFO sightings.
- One of the articles stapled on John Winchester's motel room relates to the Bell Witch. The Bell Witch is a poltergeist legend from Southern United States folklore, involving the Bell family of Adams, Tennessee. The legend is the basis of the films An American Haunting and The Bell Witch Haunting. It is also said that the Bell Witch may have inspired the Blair Witch Project.
Quotes[]
- Sam Winchester: You know how I feel about Halloween.
....
- Sam Winchester: A pentagram is protection against evil, really powerful. I mean, if you believe in that kind of thing.
....
- Dean Winchester: You can pretend all you want, Sammy. But sooner or later you're going to have to face up to who you really are.
....
- Dean Winchester: I'll tell you another thing. If you screwed up my car... I'll kill you.
What else have they done?[]
- Jensen Ackles: Jensen Ackles, who plays the role of Dean Winchester, also played a transgenic experiment named Alec (X5-494) on the James Cameron sci-fi series Dark Angel. In 2005, he played the role of Jake Gray in the direct-to-video film Devour. Ackles will later go on to portray the leading role of Tom Hanniger in the 2009 remake of My Bloody Valentine.
- Jared Padalecki: Jared Padalecki, who plays the role of Sam Winchester, also played a character named Wade in the 2005 remake of House of Wax. Padalecki will later go on to play a character named J.P. in Ryan Little's House of Fears. In 2009, Padalecki will become one of many to add their names to the ranks of tormented youths hunted by serial slasher Jason Voorhees in Marcus Nispel's remake of Friday the 13th.
Featured music[]
| Title | Artist | Played when |
|---|---|---|
| Back in Black | AC/DC | On the road; 7 miles from Jericho, California |
| Highway to Hell | AC/DC | When Dean drives Sam to his apartment |
| Ramblin' Man | The Allman Brothers Band | When Sam and Dean stop at a gas station |
| What Cha Gonna do | Classic | At the Stanford University Halloween party |
| Speaking in Tongues | Eagles of Death Metal | TBA |
| My Cheatin' Ways | Kid Gloves | TBA |
| Gasoline | Living Daylights | TBA |
See also[]
Media
The World of Supernatural
Supernatural Miscellaneous
External Links[]
Episode links
Series links
- Supernatural at AMG
- Supernatural at IMDB
- Supernatural at the TV IV
- Supernatural at Wikipedia
- Supernatural at Themoviedb.org
 This article pertains to an episode from season one of the Supernatural television series. This template will categorize articles that include it into the Supernatural season 1 episodes category. Episodes
"Pilot" • "Wendigo" • "Dead in the Water" • "Phantom Traveler" • "Bloody Mary" • "Skin" • "Hookman" • "Bugs" • "Home" • "Asylum" • "Scarecrow" • "Faith" • "Route 666" • "Nightmare" • "The Benders" • "Shadow" • "Hell House" • "Something Wicked" • "Provenance" • "Dead Man's Blood" • "Salvation" • "Devil's Trap" Main characters
Supporting characters
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