#spn 1.01

[daddario]

Sam and Dean lacking personal space in every episode - 1/327

[brotherlylovestory]

I thought I’d traveled a long way

But I had circled the same old sin

[iamthejam]

sam leaving for stanford:

[deancrowleycas]

Favorite Shots Per Episode ✩ 1.01 Pilot (2/2)

[waihtie]

I know it's the pilot, so nothing has been introduced yet, but looking back it's unrealistic that Sam would be all like "whatever you have to say, you can say in front of Jess," then be all surprised it has something to do with hunting.

Like, what else would Dean show up in the middle of the night two years after they last saw each other to talk about?

Side note, look at the baby faces on these boys

[rainbow-motors]

[brotheringhusbands]

[zmediaoutlet]

spn20rewatch, 1.01: "Yeah, well. I don't want to."

Sometimes my favorite thing about SPN's pilot episode is how remarkably well it works as an episode of the show. Sure, it has a ton of 'as you know' dialogue, but it works because of the conceit that Sam and Dean haven't spoken in years, and they're resettling alongside each other as brothers and partners. The instant chemistry the leads have of course does a ton of work in selling the relationship that will be the key to the show running for 15 years -- but the episode itself does a ton of groundwork, in efficiently setting up the universe, the long-run problem of the season, and the relationship the characters will have for the whole 15 years in the first 10 minutes.

This is clearest, I think, in the scene where Dean asks for Sam's help. We get immediate exposition dialogue that Dean's clearly a solid hunter, that Sam knows it and Dean knows it too -- that Dean is confident-to-cocky in his abilities and knows that what he's doing is just and righteous. ...But. When it comes to this thing specifically, this thing involving family, he's clearly scared. If it were just about the nuts-and-bolts of doing a job, he'd be fine -- but it's not just about the nuts-and-bolts because the family is the most important thing there is for Dean, and the fact that John's disappeared has destabilized him so much that he's run to the only other part of his heart that's left.

DEAN: I can't do this alone. SAM: Yes you can. DEAN: Yeah, well. I don't want to.

The need & vulnerability that's required just in asking Sam for help, in bridging this gap after the years of silence (and whatever unspoken anger and resentment and sadness has contributed to and grown from that silence, given how spiky their interactions are in the apartment) is so key to understanding the actual nature of the Sam & Dean relationship -- as is how Sam responds, because he gets it immediately. Dean could, technically, do this job by himself -- but he really, really doesn't want to, and Sam accepts that, and his giving in is nigh-immediate, because he doesn't want Dean to have to, either. It's a phenomenal preview of how the next 15 years will go. At so many points, either of them could stop -- Sam could walk away, as he halfway dreams about at so many points -- but there's a job that must be done, and neither of them want to do it alone, and more importantly they don't want their brother to have to do it alone. They're a team -- by necessity, sure, but also by choice. And it's the choice that Sam makes, here in the dark, on the wrong side of midnight, that sets the entire arc of the show and characters in motion. I love it. I'm so glad it happened. <3