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Supernatural Season 1 Episode 4 ~ 'Phantom Traveler' Official Discussion Thread.

posted 8 years ago by Bella-UK (1288)
2 replies | jump to latest

Posters have asked me to put up the next episode thread to discuss so here it is:

Recap: Courtesy of Supernatural Wiki

The brothers are asked by a man whom Dean and his father had previously rescued to investigate the mysterious crash of a commercial airplane that left only seven survivors, with signs pointing to a demonically-possessed passenger causing the accident. When they realize that the demon is now eliminating the survivors one by one, Dean is forced to face his fear of flying by following its next target (Jaime Ray Newman) aboard an airliner. He and Sam manage to get the demon into the galley onboard, but it flees its host during the exorcism. Despite this, they continue the ritual, sending the demon back to Hell. Afterwards, they get a surprise when the man who called them revealed he got their phone number from their father's voicemail. Though John doesn't answer when they call, they get their first indication that he's alive as his phone has been down since his disappearance.

We could maybe discuss our[/b]

favorite scene from that episode
What we liked about that episode and what we didn't
What did we think about the writing, what could they have maybe done differently
What did we think about the direction of the storytelling
What scene didn't you understand and that you need clarification on

This thread is a group discussion to discuss this much-loved episode from Season 1 way back when. So let us in on your thoughts and see what we come up with. Details are important, so the finer the details of your thoughts the better which can allow us further discussions.

Episode 5 ~ 'Bloody Mary' to follow ....

[b]Supernatural Blog: With new Writers .....
https://samanddeanbrothersinarms.wordpress.com/

[–] cassiopeia (528) 8 years ago

Favorite scene- Dean confesses he is afraid of flying.
What I liked- Brothers in suits looking like they were going to their first dance. Sam saying the exorcism for the first time. The stage sets for the crashed plane. The first use of the EMF (right?). Sam and Dean finding out that John had left instructions to call Dean in case of emergency and how that devastated them. Honestly my favorite part was watching the episode with Jared and Jensen's commentary. That was our first impression of the chemistry between them. Hearts eyes!!

Didn't like- they never used Christo again. Otherwise it is one of my favorites of S1.

At the point of the season we didn't really know where it was heading other than the search for John. But this episode was the one that set up how desperate they were to find him. Dean needed his dad. He needed to share the burden of looking out for Sam and hunting. Sam needed to get revenge for Jessica. The only person on planet earth that knew how he felt was his dad. Phantom Traveler seemed to start that ball rolling.

[–] CluelessDrifter (884) 8 years ago

I have to confess. My favorite scene is when Dean admits he's afraid of flying too. It adds another layer to his character early on in the show, and he's willing to put that fear aside, so that Sam doesn't have to go on the plane alone.

I think my next favorite scene is the exorcism on the plane. Although you can tell at this point in the show that Sam is supposed to be the lead with Dean as his sidekick. (I think this changed before the season was over). It's just the way that it was shot with Sam standing tall in the middle of the plane doing the exorcism and Dean screaming at the back of the plane for comic relief.

I agree with Cassiopeia. I think they should've continued using 'Christo' after this. They didn't, but I'm glad that two-part exorcisms weren't done after this.

Something I didn't like. I didn't like Sam blowing off Dean's achievement of making an EMF out of an old walkman. It's always just rubbed me the wrong way.

I don't think there were any scenes I didn't understand. It was pretty straight forward and our first look at demons. It set up some of the cannon we still have for them today, like their black eyes, and I like that it gave us a reason why some people are possessed although I think that's been forgotten in recent years, specifically that the people who were possessed had a chink in their armor that allowed the demons to take hold. I think maybe the last time we had this implied was in season 7 when Bobby is dying, and we see that it was only a few days after he told his wife that he didn't want to have children that she was possessed. Also, we've lost the superhuman strength that demons had. I mean in Phantom Pilot, the demon was strong enough to open a plane door mid-flight, and after we were introduced to more demons, I always thought of this one as a lower-level demon (compared to Meg, Azazel, etc.). It didn't have telekenesis or teleport, etc. Now, I can't help but think about lower demons who act like teenagers.