Supernatural (TV Series) Phantom Traveler (2005) User Reviews

An early key episode of the mythos

[CubsandCulture · 9/10 · 29 August 2019]

As a standalone this is a fun episode. I especially enjoyed the comedic bits added to break up some of the procedural elements, i.e. fear of flying. Singer directs with flare and the use of one shot scenes gives this episode a nice change of pace and different feel to the proceedings.

But it continuity the episode made a lot of choices that were good for the show on the whole. Demon smoke is one of the signature images the show and this episode is to thank for that. Likewise, demons having a grand plan is first every so slightly hinted at here. This is an early gem.

An average episode for the show

[katierose295 · 7/10 · 14 March 2008]

This is the first episode of the series that focuses on demon possessions. Demons will come to play a larger role as the show rolls along and it's interesting to go back and watch this episode again after seeing some season three episodes. Demons are the Winchesters arch-enemies, yet they also share a real connection with them. Honestly, this isn't my favorite episode, but it has some cute parts. Plus, this is the episode where we learn that John is alive. All in all, "Phantom Traveler" is worth a look if your watching on DVD.

This episode revolves around a demon causing plane crashes. An old friend of John's calls Dean and asks the boys to investigate a mysterious airplane accident. A passenger on a flight somehow opened the plane door and depressurized the cabin mid-flight. John's friend suspects something supernatural is going on. Dean is also worried about Sam, who isn't sleeping due to his nightmares about Jessica's death. Sam is still fixated on finding John, but he is surprised and sort of touched that John told people that he was proud of Sam's accomplishments at Stanford.

The boys discover that a demon is possessing people and causing planes to crash. When seven people survive the latest accident, the demon begins picking them off, one by one. Sam & Dean soon find themselves on a plane, trying to spot the passenger who is possessed. Unfortunately, Dean is petrified of flying and the demon is one of the guys flying the plane. The brothers have soon exorcised the demon and saved the plane. But when they get back on the ground, John's old friend reveals that he called them because of a message on John's cell phone. They call their dad's number again and find that John's changed the message, saying that he's out of touch, but if anyone has an emergency and needs help, they should call Dean. The boys are relieved that John's safe, but also hurt. Sam, especially, is angry that John is apparently missing by choice and deliberately avoiding them.

There are some good parts to this episode. First of all, Sam & Dean look real cute in their Homeland Security disguises. I like Dean's annoyance at having to wear a tie, even if it is for the greater good. And his homemade EMF gadget, (which he cobbled together from his old Walkman parts) is adorable. He's so proud of it. And -Hey- it WAS pretty clever of him to build it. Dean's smarter than he gets credit for. I also like Sam trying to question the plane crash victim in the mental hospital. Sam is finding his strengths in the brothers partnership off-set Dean's weaknesses. Dean might have problems keeping his patience when people take too long to tell him what he has to know about the monster they're facing, but Sam has that earnest expression that people just buy into, too. They make a good team.

I think this episode is about facing fears, rather than hiding from them. The demon possesses people who are afraid to fly. Their weakness lets him in. And in order to avoid being possessed they have to face their panic and keep it under control. Meanwhile, Sam is staying awake at night rather than face his memories about Jessica. The demon strikes out at him with the news that Jessica died screaming and is still suffering, taking advantage of Sam's fear. Sam has to get past his nightmares and guilt is he is going to survive. And Dean smugly explains that he isn't afraid of anything, but it turns out that he's terrified of planes. He wants to drive himself from place to place. For Dean it seems to be an issue of control. More than just the airplane itself, he's scared of letting someone else take the controls. Scared of what might happen if he isn't holding things together. Scared that they'll never find John or that he might lose Sam. Scared that he'll be alone. Dean has to face his fears and work with Sam as a equal partner. So, he must get on the plane and trust Sam if they're going to defeat the demon.

On the down side, I think that the show is still trying to work out how demons work in this episode. The exorcism needs two steps, when later it only needs one. The "Christos" thing hasn't really come up again. The victims of possession here don't seem to remember it afterwards, but in later episodes they often retain parts of the experience. And the holy water seems to burn the bodies themselves in this episode, where later it only effects the demon inside the body. Also, I can't believe that flight attendant just let Sam & Dean bind and gag the pilot-guy. You'd think she'd be a little less trusting.

My favorite part of the episode: Sam trying to talk Dean into getting on the plane. Dean's reluctance and frustration and embarrassment are just hilarious. He's not willing to let Sam get on the plane alone or to just allow it to crash, but -Wow- he REALLY doesn't want to buy a ticket and get on board, either.

Final Destination

[claudio_carvalho · 8/10 · 27 November 2006]

After a plane crash with only seven survivors, including the pilot and a stewardess, Dean and Sam are called by the friend of their father Jerry Panowski, who also works in United Britannia Company and shows the last message from the cabin scrambled with an eerie voice saying "No survivals". Dean and Sam interviews a survivor in a psychiatric hospital, who believes that had seen a passenger opening the emergency exit of the plane, which would be impossible for a human being. They investigate the wrecked plane and find sulphur on the lever of the emergency exit and conclude that a fiend had possessed a passenger and caused the crash. When the survival pilot dies in another plane crash, they track the other survivor, the stewardess Amanda Walker, and convince her help them to exorcise the demon from the co-pilot of the flight.

The plot of "Phantom Traveler" partially recalls the movie "Final Destination", where the survivors of an accident are chased by The Reaper. In this story, actually is a demon that possesses weak persons to provoke the plane crash that chases the survivors. My vote is eight.

Title (Brazil): "O Viajante Fantasma" ("The Phantom Travaler")

No survivors...

[on-the-road-so-far · 9/10 · 2 July 2014]

In this episode Dean and Sam investigate some mysterious plane crashes, after they get a call from a man, whom Dean and John helped in the past once before. They soon find out that they are chasing a demon, that seems to be on a mission of killing every survivor from the first plane that crashed. Time is flying by quickly for Dean and Sam when they decide to face the demon on a plane, high up in the air.

This is the first episode that deals with demonic possession. Even though there are a lot of things which are done differently in later episodes, when demons play a bigger role in the whole storyline, there are also quite a few things we learn which will be important later on. It's an interesting episode for sure and it also includes several hints about what is to come (e.g. the demon knowing about the way Jessica died and the boys learning that their father is still alive).

Dean and Sam are really starting to make an awesome team. I love how they tease each other, even while it's obvious that they also worry about each other a lot. The scenes where they dress up as Homeland Security agents are great and when Dean confesses to Sam that he's afraid of flying, Jensen's expressions made me laugh out loud. The poor guy really does look like he'd rather be anywhere else than there at that moment.

The last scene raises a few questions about John's whereabouts and actions, but it also makes us feel rather sad for the brothers. It's obvious that Dean and Sam are feeling quite lost and abandoned, when they hear that John is somewhere out there, but won't even contact them. Earlier in this episode they wished that their father was there to support them, because the case just seemed to big for them to handle it on their own. And then to find out that John is deliberately avoiding them must have left them terribly confused, but also very hurt and angry. It seems like the family reunion won't be a happy one.

Favourite quote: Do I look like I'm joking? Why do you think I drive everywhere, Sam? ~ Dean Winchester

One of my favorite episodes

[mm-39 · 9/10 · 22 October 2018]

One of my favorite episodes. A entity causes air crashes! Why no idea? Phantom Traveler is what hooked me on the series. With a new series we learn that Sam and Dean complement each other. Good character development. Dean bulls threw with charm, street smarts, and the art of the con. Sam is more detailed, finance, with an intellectual psychological touch. There is a phone call and meet about a plan crash. Notice Dean and Sam clash but in a healthy way. There is a good mix of humor: The two sets of agents for Home Land was funny. The suit comment and the comment about Metallica is more brother's clashing humor. Dean bulls threw in a humorous way, as he ad hocks everything while Sam has more of finance. The viewer sees the brothers differences with how Sam interrupts Dean with the Stewardess. A memorable ending. 9 out of 10 stars.

Demons on planes

[shwetafabm · 9/10 · 20 May 2020]

Has its cute Dean moments that are hilarious, entertaining and our first look into demons

Good but with some down sides

[zombiehigh18 · 27 October 2011]

In this episode the boys come across daemons for apparently the first time. They seem very inexperienced with how to handle exorcism and seem afraid of daemons which is different in later episodes when they come across various daemons and know how to handle them. In this episode we are introduced to the idea of black smoke, black daemonic eyes, holy water, the EMF and the exorcism spell. But on the down side I don't really understand the point of this episode, cause in this one the daemon kills people for nothing but pure fun while later we find out that daemons work through a scheme and their appearance in the boys lives is according to a pre set plan. Also what's with the black smoke getting in to the body through the eyes wasn't it supposed to be the black smoke jamming itself into the throat, and the victim has no recollection of the possession? while we discover later that the victim is aware of what is happening but has no control over his body. and does the holy water hurt the daemon or the victim too? I'm a little confused. What annoyed me too is that the flight attendant was a little too trusting of the boys which according to me is not normal.(I'm really a die hard fan of this series but I can see the flaws. I'm not blind) On the other side I liked some parts of this episodes like: 1- It's ironic how they talked about Dean not afraid of anything yet later he is terrified of flying (Nice to see some weaknesses in them instead of making them some senseless robots) 2- Dean always worried about Sam and his nightmares. 3- Dean is more worried about Sam and of losing him that he overcame his fear of flying and boarded the plane so as not to leave Sam alone. 4- It was nice to see Sam stepping in and taking the lead when Dean is handicapped (It shows a little maturity of the character) 5- We see the guys in a suite for the first time with Dean looking ridiculously childish and cute. (It's also very reasonable to see Dean not comfortable in the suite which suits his persona). 6- Dean's home made EMF shows that he is not as dumb as he makes us think. my vote is 7 out of 10.

Brothers against Evil: Ghost on a Plane

[Coventry · 5/10 · 5 January 2009]

This is the first episode of "Supernatural" I've watched in a long time, since the national TV station stupidly canceled the show after barely a handful of episodes and I had to buy the whole series 1 on DVD. I hate to say it was fairly disappointing. All the episodes I watched before – which were about ten or something – were awesome. The monsters are cool, the scenarios are reasonably convoluted considering the short running times and there are always numerous references towards older and classic horror films. "Phantom Traveller" isn't terrible, of course, but it's just plain mediocre in all the aforementioned departments. The story is simplistic and predictable and the titular demon is defeated easily and in a blink of an eye! Dean and Sam receive a phone call from a former and satisfied Winchester client who works at an airport. He suspects a recent and hugely catastrophic plane crash to be caused by some kind of supernatural entity, and he maybe dead right about that! The so-called phantom traveler is a demonic force that takes possession of travelers with fear of flying and forces them to crash the plane. The malignant spirit's last "mission" failed, however, as seven people survived the crash. Can Sam and Dean destroy the demon before it kills all seven? "Phantom Traveller" has a very rudimentary script and contains only a few tributes to older and more commonly known films. The concept is somewhat reminiscent to the original "Final Destination", what with the plane crash and a handful of doomed survivors, but this could actually have been a great opportunity to refer to the underrated and regretfully obscure mystery/horror films "Sole Survivor" (1983) and "The Survivor" (1981). If you like the idea behind this episode, you definitely ought to look up these two titles as they both deal with unsettling airline disasters and inexplicably sinister events overcoming the unlikely survivors.