The CW Source

I have to disagree with Rachel. I think Dean was very well-developed, starting at the beginning of season 1.

I think that a lot of plotty, external things happened with Sam. His girlfriend died. He leaves college to get back on the road. He starts having visions. He moves stuff with his mind. It was very outward, external stuff, things happening to him that he and Dean then reacted to.

With Dean, on the other hand, we got loads of character development, and peeling back the layers of his psyche. Every episode, we were learning something new about him. Despite the fact that he could do it alone, he's happier hunting with family by his side. He hunts partly to keep other families from going through what he went through. Every day, he thinks of his mother, and tries to be brave for her. Despite his cocky attitude, he has a major fear. (Flying.) He feels like a freak, and is convinced everyone he loves will leave him...because they have.

And this was all stuff we learned in just the first *six* episodes. And there was still so much more to come.

Don't get me wrong. I've come to love Sam. But, despite being the "one with the power" and all that, Dean got a lot more character development and emotional attention from the writers in season one.

I guess I don't think a character has to be "the special one" in order to be pretty major to the plot. At least not on SPN.

At the start of the Podcast it was mentioned that you were happy that there was a Sam-centric episode again, and that many of the last epi’s seemed focussed on Dean. I am surprised by this (not about liking a Sam-ep or that the last epi’s weren’t Dean focused – obviously Faith and Route 666 are), but on my first viewing of Season 1 I thought the series was very much Sam-centric, with Dean not really coming fully into view until the last arc.

I think that much of the discussion in the Podcast has been focussing on Dean because Sarah knows what’s coming and is pointing hints of this out in the previous S1 epi’s, such as Dean’s forthcoming issues and the Dean/John dynamic (and I do agree with her in hindsight, because now I know what to look for too).

When I first started watching SPN, I thought that the main focus was obviously Sam. We started with him, he was the one who wanted out of hunting, he is the one who is reluctantly pulled back in, he’s the one with the apparent family issues, he loses his girlfriend, he wants revenge, he gets the special powers, etc. Dean, mostly, was the cavalier rascal who represents the dedicated (but fun) side of hunting and is the catalyst for Sam’s return to the hunt. Now, my Dean-love started with Phantom Traveller (even though originally Sam was the one who is more my character-type: the Harry Potter/Frodo/Luke Skywalker character so to speak, and it was probably due to Jensen’s layered performance), but I fell out with Season 1 about half-way through because I couldn’t connect with Sam and I felt Dean was ignored (Home, for instance, started well with some Dean-angst, but ignored it for Sam’s abilities later on). A SPN-obsessed friend of mine asserted me to stick with it, because she said I was going to adore the finale and S2 (and she was so very right). With all that focus on Sam and his visions, nightmares, grief, issues and rebellion, I didn’t think that Dean really became a focus until John reappeared (and his almost-tear-filled admission that his family is everything).

Now, Season 2 is very Dean-centric, despite Sam grabbing most of the plot, in my opinion. So for me, it balances out.

Just as a footnote, I don’t want to start a Dean vs Sam debate, I love both brothers and think they deserve equal share, but I was just amazed that you’d think that S1 is focussing more on Dean than Sam (thus the gladness for a Sam-ep), when I very much experienced the opposite when I first viewed the series. Of course, opinions may vary!

Good point! The chosen one-line! I can live with demons, destiny but the whole chosen business scares me more than the knife scene. don't forget to tune in on thursday! ;)

Oh yeah! thanks deejay for pointing out da car moment! i noticed dat wen i watchd dis ep first time around& was so moved by it,it was so special..made dere relation so much more realistic!& it was indeed so subtle dat for some i thought it could have been one of those moments dat Jensen added to da scene,coz he has been known to do dat!!

I have mixed feelings about "Nightmare." It was an effectively creepy episode and the actor who portrayed Max did an excellent job playing a disturbed, deranged and abused psycho. And of course I love sympathetic Sam and protective Dean.

However I cringe and roll my eyes everytime at the "chosen" line. Chosen one stories have been done to death and often don't go anywhere. "Home" told us that the mytharc was about Sam the "chosen one" and "Nightmare" just confirmed that. So I have to disagree with Jackie when she said that there haven't been enough Samcentric eps. He not only gets some of the stand alones but he gets the mytharc all to himself, even though both brothers lives are affected by it.

As far as Max goes, I sympathized with him, but recognized him for the monster that he was. I don't think he would have stopped killing with the stepmom. He would have continued killing other people that he blamed for not protecting him (teachers, doctors, neighbors, social workers, police etc.) Hell, he was going to kill Dean who was innocent. Sam, bless his heart had good intentions when he tried to talk Max down. But Max was beyond reasoning with and Dean knew that. Dean has a great capacity to see the bigger picture.

I have made it clear in past posts how much I loathe and despise John and his screwed up parenting skills. But despite that I have to give Sam credit for letting go of a small part of his bitterness toward John after his experience with Max. Yes, things could have been worse. However Sam's version of his childhood remains skewed at this point. What little John could give as a parent went to Sam (as we see in later eps) but it was Dean who took care of everyone and made family a priority, not John. So for Sam to suddenly give John all of this credit made me a little sad especially on rewatch.

Anyway, a good episode but certainly not one of my favorites (I actually like "Bugs" better).

Thanks girls!

Oh, and about Dean doing his protective big brother thing,I forgot to mention one of my favorite moments in the episode. It's something that often gets missed because it's so subtle.

Dean and Sam have just left the home of Max's uncle and are heading back to the Impala. They are walking up to the curb when we notice there's a car coming down the street. And Dean puts his arm up in front of Sam to keep him from walking out into the street.

I can't count the number of times I did that when my little sister and I were still kids and out walking somewhere. And, now that we're adults, I still forget myself sometimes and do the same thing.

I loved that they had Dean do that. It's such a realistic thing for a big brother or sister to do.

They actually do go to Florida in season three's "Mystery Spot," and even though they're less than an hour north of Miami, they're still bundled up. I wish they would have gotten the location right. "Mystery Spot" was an amazing episode, but could have been placed anywhere. The tropic setting of Broward County could have given way to a lot of interesting plots and it wasn't utilized to its full potential.

a) Aunt Zelda
b) Saginaw's not really a small town. It's kinda big. There's a state university there. I know, because I went there. :)
c) "I Got the Power"? Also in the first Power Rangers movie, which I used to be heavily into many years ago. Only reason I know that song.
d) At what point does it become a pattern that Sam and Dean are "Family Friends"? I think this was the second episode in a row that was told to a cop or someone.
e) Interesting sidenote I found out at work the other day on Wikipedia: McG is from Kalamazoo, MI. I was just there up until about an hour ago. :)

Another great podcast girls!
Sorry, I don't think Kripke will do a casino episode soon! He doesn't even want to do a Hawaii episode!
Dean eating! Wait for later there are even funnier foodscenes! I just say candy!
I got the power (ha, ha hilarious)
Oh, we finally have clips for episode 4.01 on cwtelevison (youtube)! I'm so happy!
Only 5 days!!!!!

Loved this one!! was laughing my thru most of it. XD
I for one m totally up for Hawaiin episode:)I think da boys will be gr888 dere!i remember Jensen said in Last year's Comic Con that he has several times tried to pitch da idea of a "Demon surfer" !LOL!Although it may never materialise, but it would be cool though ;)
As for John Winchester, i mite be the minority dere, but i m actually with Sam & Dean on that one!i really think he did the best he could! cld he have done better???Possibly!!
But, da boys did turn out Ok & most importantly Sane! so, he must have done something right!!!
I also love Dean's protective older brother
dynamic,wich really came across in dis one!I love it wen he puts his game face on just to protect Sam, i guess he still sees him as a kid!!& Jensen sells that aspect so well..Gosh! i love this show!!

Hiya guys, great podcast. I look forward to this every week - it's so great to relive the show.

But I wanted to point out that Sarah was right that that long ago the YED was known as Celine. But she missed the last name Démon - Dee-mahn - and I miss that little nickname!

I was always amazed by how much of a character John was even when he'd actually been on the show for less than 20 minutes total. They constantly did things to make him feel "real."

They also did a great job keeping him balanced. With a lot of absentee characters, you either hear mostly about how wonderful they are, or how terrible they are. With John, there is more of a balance. No, he wasn't the perfect father. He made mistakes. But he could've been so much worse. (Like Max's dad.) But, while he wasn't as bad as Max's dad, we still see how he did screw up his kids pretty good. But, at the same time, you can sorta see that he was pretty screwed up by what happened to him all those years ago, so you can sorta sympathise.

Basically, they did a great job of giving us a sense of who John was, even when he wasn't around.

I have to say, if episodes like Faith, Home and Phantom Traveller hadn't already done it, this episode would have been the clincher for my addiction to this show. It became so mythology-oriented in season 3 that it's interesting to go back to season 1 and remember it was mostly standalones back then, so episodes like this were a special treat.

Out of curiosity, once the new season of SPN starts will you guys be podcasting the new episodes too, like you've been doing with OTH and GG? Or will you just continue with the DVDs?

Sorry to spoil your fun Sarah, but you won't be seeing Dean haft naked on a Hawaiian beach any time soon. Dean's afraid of flying. Besides, then you'd have to have an episode without the matalicar.

The best part of the podcast "I GET THE POWER" jaja OMG,I laughed so hard, my dad made fun of me because I sounded like a chicken, Sarah has reason have to see the bloopers of the season are too funny, as always excellent podcast