1.01 - Treasure of Zeus

Title Treasure of Zeus Episode # Season 1, Episode 1 First aired September 12, 1998 Directed by Chris Graves Written by Rob Tapert and Liz Friedman Summary Strife goes undercover. Hercules, Iolaus, and Jason go after Zeus' Chalice. Ep 1 of 3.

Synopsis

Lawrence, Kansas, 22 years ago
It is a happy family scene as Mary and John Winchester put their children, six month old Sam and four year old Dean, to bed. Later, Mary investigates a sound coming from Sam’s nursery. She sees a figure standing over his crib, and assuming it is John, leaves, but then realizing it isn’t her husband, she rushes back in. John rushes to the nursery in response to Mary’s screams, only to find her pinned to ceiling, a deep wound across her belly. As he stares in shock, flames engulf Mary and the room. John hands baby Sam to Dean and tells him to run outside, while John tries in vain to save his wife. The scene ends with John and the boys sitting on the hood of the Impala, as firemen tend to their burning house.

Stanford University, present day
It is Halloween and Sam and his girlfriend Jess go out for drinks, to celebrate his good LSAT score which should guarantee him a place in law school. Later that night, Sam awakens to someone breaking into their apartment. He wrestles with the intruder, only to discover that it is his older brother, Dean. The brothers haven’t spoken for some time, and Dean has only turned up because their father has gone missing on what Dean calls a ‘hunting’ trip.

As Dean tries to convince Sam to accompany him to find their dad, it is obvious that what the Winchesters hunt are supernatural entities. Dean plays a recording of a voicemail from John Winchester, which contains EVP of a woman saying “I can never go home” and Sam agrees to spend the weekend looking for their Dad.

The boys travel to Jericho, where John has been on a case, investigating young men who have disappeared on the same stretch of road over ten years. They speak to the girlfriend of the latest guy to disappear, and find out about a local legend, about the ghosts of a murdered girl, who hitchhikes and kills whoever picks here up. After some research, Sam and Dean discover the girl was Constance Welch, who drowned her children and then killed herself by jumping from a bridge.

That night at the bridge, Sam makes it clear that he doesn’t want to return to hunting with Dean and John, and questions the value of their quest to find whatever killed Mary Winchester. During the confrontation, they see a woman jump into the water and then the Impala mysteriously starts on its own and pursues them down the bridge, before suddenly stopping.

On checking into a motel, the brothers find out their father had also been staying there. It is obvious he has not been there for a few days but his room is covered in research - newspaper clippings, notes – that identifies Constance as a woman in white.

The police have been staking out the motel, and when Dean leaves to get food, he is arrested. At the police station, they accuse him of being connected with the disappearances and show him John’s journal, which contains the notation “Dean 35-111”.

Meanwhile, Sam tracks down Constance Welch’s husband, who tells Sam where Constance is buried, and also the location of the house in which she drowned their children.

Dean escapes from the police station using a paper clip and a distraction provided by Sam, who has a personal encounter with Constance. He tries to seduce him, while begging him to take her home.

Sam stops outside a deserted house and as Constance attacks him, Dean shoots at her allowing Sam to ram the car into the house. Inside the house, her children materialize, and as they embrace her, all three vanish.

Dean is keen to pursue John – he has worked out that the notations in the journal are coordinates to a town in Colorado. However, Sam declines and they drive back to Stanford.

Returning to his apartment, Sam finds a plate of cookies with a note from Jess. He collapses onto the bed, exhausted, but he sees Jess, pinned to the ceiling bleeding from her belly. As Jess bursts in flame, Dean rushes in a pulls Sam from the inferno.

Outside the house, as fireman battle the blaze, Sam tosses a shotgun into the truck of the Impala. He is back in the hunt again.

Characters (in order of appearance)

• Hercules
• Iolaus
• Jason
• Cheiron
• Kora
• Ares
• Strife (Nysus Gaius)

Quotes

Strife: I'm tired of being a nobody, Ares. I mean - 'Strife, the god of war's nephew' - I mean, what does it say to anybody? I mean, I’m ready for the big time. Why can't I be, uh, ‘Disaster’, or, uh, ‘Catastrophe’? Okay, well that’s hard to spell.

Iolaus: All right, all right. We’ll come with you. But, if there’s anything in the chalice - like gold - we split it three ways.

Hercules: Two ways-- all I want is the chalice.
Jason: One way. I'm just comin' along to keep you jerks out of trouble.

Iolaus: Oh, I love you guys.

Trivia & References

Jensen Ackles cited this episode as his favorite in the premier issue of the Official Supernatural Magazine saying: "I mean, obviously the pilot stands out among all the rest."

The episode first premiered on Yahoo!TV on 09/06/2005. The pilot could also be seen on the internet weeks before the airing.

Guides, Scripts, Transcripts, & Reviews

• To Be Added