TV Review: Supernatural Episode 1.04

Tuesday, October 04, 2005

Supernatural comes to us with a fresh episode this week titled "The Phantom Traveler." The episodes opens with a normal everyday plane trip that ends up in tragedy when a demon possessed man opens up the side door and causes the plane to crash. After the plane crash, a friend that works for the airline calls in Dean, and the brother's go to investigate the plane crash.

After looking into the plane crash and interviewing some of the survivors, the friend of the brother's finds there is sulfur on pieces of the plane Dean and Sam sneaked out of the NTSB hanger where the plane wreckage is being held. Sulfur is a sign of a demon. When there is another plane clash, this time a small plane, the brother's discover that the demon is trying to finish off the survivors from the most recent plane crash. Another small thing they discover is that the plane crashes all occur forty minutes into the flights.

Since the demon seems to be set on no survivors on the flights that go down, Dean and Sam make their way to what they believe is the next plane crash, which is carrying one of the flight attendants that survived from the first plane crash. Sam decides the two of them need to get on the flight, find the demon and then perform an exorcism mid flight before the forty minute mark to stop the impending plane crash. One problem here is that Dean is afraid of planes and flying. He has not one desire in him to get on the flight, but he ends up doing so because he knows without them to stop the demon the plane will crash and the passengers will die.

Once on the plane, the two brothers try to find the demon. Their first thought is that the flight attendant might have been possessed. Dean talks to her and tests her by saying God's name in Latin, but she is clean. No demon. They then go through the plane by using some sort of detector that looks like a real nifty Walkman. By the time fifteen minutes is left, they have no luck. Until suddenly the detector goes off, and they look up to see the plane's co-pilot with the demon eyes. They further test him by saying god's name in Latin, and they have their demon.

Dean and Sam decide to seek help from the flight attendant, and she talks the co-pilot out so the two brothers can take the man down and perform the exorcism. They are successful, but not without a few problems first. Once the demon leaves the man's body, it goes into the air ducts of the plane trying to take the plane down that way. Sam finishes the exorcism, and the plane is hit by lightning. This appears to zap the demon, and the plane rights itself with no further incident.

Something interesting did happen before the demon left the man's body. It told Sam that he knew about Sam's girlfriend, Jessica, and how she died. This plays a bit through Sam's mind, but once down on the ground Dean reminds Sam that demon's lie. Before the episode ends, the two brothers go to visit their friend again, and Dean asks the man how he found his new cell number. Apparently, the man got it from their dad's voice message. Sam and Dean had both tried the number on previous occasions, but the number appeared to be disconnected. Once their friend tells them how he got Dean's number, they try the number again to find it working with a message from their father. This just throws them back into the search it seems. Their father is still out there.

Now we all know how much I love this show. Supernatural has fast become one of my favorites of the new shows that premiered this fall season. This episode is one of the weakest of this series though. It just seemed to move so slow to me. It didn't have the same bite that previous episodes had. The only moment that grabbed me was when the demon talked to Sam and then the end of the episode with their father.

I do love how the characters keep revealing more of themselves though. Dean is showing more and more of himself each week, and we're starting to see the tough smart alec guy exterior is all a cover-up for another guy underneath. The previews for next week look great. I still can't wait for it. This episode didn't turn me off from this great show. Not every show can be perfect. I might not have enjoyed this particular episode, but there is a good chance someone out there did.