Pensamientos Acerca de Televisión

Supernatural: “Pilot”

If subplots involving a missing relative could work for Fox Mulder of X Files fame, why not a similar subplot for the two main characters of the Supernatural series. Better yet, why not toss in a murder mystery involving yet another relative?

Heck, let's start off the series with a charming flashback involving the mother of the two main characters Dean and Sammy. Poor mom doesn't last too long. Just long enough to catch sight of a mysterious stranger -- no reference to Mark Twain intended -- in her infant son's bedroom and then die a very nasty death in a fire that nearly destroys the whole house.

Dean and Sammy survive, of course. Which is a good thing because, after all, they are the two main characters I mentioned earlier. And the boys' father also survives, only to become obsessed with finding out what caused their mother's death. For that matter, the boys become a bit obsessed with finding out what happened to dear old mom for rather obvious reasons.

They never do solve the mystery -- no doubt because then there would be no series -- and eventually the two brothers go their separate ways. Younger brother Sammy chooses to go to college to become a lawyer and old brother Dean chooses to follow in his dad's footsteps as a ghostbuster.

Then one day Dean shows up in Sammy's place with the Mystery of the Missing Dad. Poor Dad didn't die in flames like their mom, but he hasn't been heard from in a while either, and Dean fears the worst.

Sammy, on the other hand, is more worried about an upcoming job interview and his live-in girlfriend. He eventually agrees to help Dean hunt for dear old Dad, but he's not too happy about it.

But first our guys have to solve the Mystery of the Phantom Hitchhiker. Or better yet, the Killer Phantom Hitchhiker. Apparently the last place Dad was heard from is being haunted by an enigmatic Woman in White who appears by the roadside and lures not-so-innocent young men to their doom. The WiW (Woman in White) continually frets about not being able to go home -- not because she's a member of the Shangri-Las -- but because there's a mystery in her house that can't be solved until just after the last commercial break.

In any event, the two brothers eventually solve the Mystery of the Killer Phantom Hitchhiker, only to find -- surprise! -- that the solution brings them no closer to finding out what happened to dear old Dad. However, they do have a clue to yet another mystery involving the vanishing patriarch which will be conveniently explored on next week's episode. And unfortunately, they also have to solve yet another murder mystery involving yet another of their loved ones. However, this particular murder mystery is going to take a while.

Some guys just can't catch a break...