Supernatural is an
American paranormal drama television
series that debuted on September 13, 2005 on the WB, and is now
part of The CW's
lineup, where the second season premiered on September 28, 2006.
The show follows brothers Sam and Dean Winchester, who travel
across the country in a black 1967 Chevy Impala investigating
and combating paranormal events and other unexplained
occurrences, many of them based on American urban legends and
folklore as well as classic supernatural creatures such as
vampires and ghosts.
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plot
When Sam Winchester was an infant and his
brother Dean was four years old, their mother, Mary, was
murdered on November 2, 1983 (All Souls' Day in the Roman
Catholic Church). Her husband, John, saw blood dripping onto
Sam's cradle, looked up, and found his wife pinned to the
ceiling, her midsection sliced open. A moment later, she burst
into flames. John told Dean to take baby Sam outside and made a
desperate and futile attempt to save his wife while the house
was consumed by flames.
After a psychic told John that
a demon was responsible for Mary's death, he became obsessed
with finding and destroying it. He trained his sons to recognize
and defend themselves against paranormal entities. Sam and Dean
became resourceful sleuths and experienced fighters as they
assisted their father in his quest to destroy dangerous
creatures and find the demon that had killed Mary. However, Sam
chafed against the lifestyle his father chose for him,
eventually falling out with his father and leaving to live a
"normal" life. He attended Stanford University on a full
scholarship and lived with his girlfriend, Jessica, in an
apartment near campus. But when Dean appears one night during
the autumn of his senior year, bearing the news that their
father has gone missing while on a "hunting trip," Sam
reluctantly agrees to help Dean look for their father.
The brothers trace John to Jericho, California, where they
find more clues about their father's location and help solve a
murder mystery. However, Sam declines his brother's invitation
to continue the search and conduct more hunts, opting instead to
return to his life with Jessica. Unfortunately, shortly after
arriving in his apartment, he finds her pinned to the bedroom
ceiling, bleeding from the abdomen. As Sam watches helplessly,
she bursts into flames and dies in the same manner as his
mother. Jessica was murdered exactly 22 years, to the day, after
Mary. Dean rescues his brother from the burning apartment, and
the bereaved Sam decides to resume the search for the demon who
killed his mother and his girlfriend. The Winchester boys then
pick up the trail of clues, while traveling the United States in
their 1967 Chevy Impala, leading to the whereabouts of their
missing father.
Eventually the brothers locate him, and he reveals the extent
of his knowledge of the demon that killed Mary, and his
intention to kill it. At first he opposes the boys' involvement
because he fears losing them, but eventually he yields. The
Winchesters now search for a special weapon: The Colt, which was
created during the Alamo for a demon hunter, and has the ability
to destroy any being with one bullet. All three Winchesters,
after recovering the Colt from a band of vampires, band together
and start to hunt the demon in earnest. However, due to a series
of catastrophic events (beginning with John's capture), they are
eventually overpowered by the demon, who, while possessing John,
nearly tortures Dean to death before Sam can shoot him in the
leg with the Colt. Sam tries to rush Dean and John to the
hospital, but a demon strikes in the form of an oncoming semi
truck, totaling the Impala and leaving all three Winchesters
incapacitated. While in the hospital, John makes a deal to save a
comatose Dean, trading the gun along with his own life. Both
Dean and Sam struggle to cope with John's death while trying to
continue their job.
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important notes
Supernatural is a Warner Bros.
Television Production Inc., in association with Wonderland Sound
and Vision. From executive producers McG and Peter Johnson with
writer/executive producer/creator Eric Kripke and
director/executive producer David Nutter. Though the pilot was
filmed in California, principle filming takes place in
Vancouver, British Columbia with post production work taking
place in California.
Like other recent TV dramas such
as Lost, the show does not have an opening credit
sequence or theme music, only a title card, generally following
a brief recap of previous episodes. In season two, it appears in
flames and the "A" in "Supernatural" becomes a pentagram. The
name of each episode appears before the cast credits beginning
with the episode "Scarecrow."
Periodically, usually when the episode is important to a
story arc of the season or entire series, the "previously"
sequence before the episode will feature a montage of past
events set to various classic rock songs. This started with the
episode "Salvation," in which the entire season was recapped to
Kansas's "Carry On Wayward Son." The fan-beloved trend continued
with the season one finale and the first three episodes of
season two. The production team also created a "coming soon"
sequence midway through season two, set to Nazareth's "Hair of
the Dog.