Supernatural / Season 4 - Part 1

Being sick in bed for about a week means that I had more time to watch Supernatural. After watching somewhere around 10 episodes so far this season, I can definitely say that this season is my favorite so far. I still can't believe the show went in this direction, but I absolutely love it so far.




Episode 1, Lazarus Rising (Written By: Eric Kripke, Directed By: Kim Manners)

Four months after being dragged to Hell by Lilith's minions, Dean inexplicably wakes up, buried underground in a coffin. He escapes his underground confinement and tries to contact Bobby, when he's suddenly ambushed by an unknown entity. He is reunited with Sam, who is just as surprised at Dean's resurrection as he himself. Together with Bobby, the Winchester brothers find a psychic, Pamela Barnes, to help them discover what pulled Dean out of Hell. - Wikipedia

So, it looks like things are coming down to Heaven versus Hell for Supernatural, and our Winchester brothers are smack in the middle of it. I'm still pretty shocked that the writers went in this direction, but for all I know maybe they had this plan all along and were just waiting for the right moment to execute it. All I can say is that it works very well. We've had demons for a long while now, it's about time some angels came down to straighten them out.


Speaking of angels, Castiel is probably my favorite character in the series. He pulls Dean out of The Pit for a so far unknown reason. I love the way Castiel carries himself, confident of his orders and yet not a total prick. Maybe it's just the trench-coat. Probably just the trench-coat.

After Dean is resurrected from his grave he tracks down Bobby, who of course doesn't believe for a second that it's Dean and promptly tries to kill him. When Dean finally proves to Bobby that it's really him, they go out to find Sam. As expected, Sam doesn't believe for a second it's Dean either and also tries to kill him. Once they are all finally able to sit down and relax for a minute, the big question comes up, "What could do something like this?". Earlier on we saw Dean checking his chest for the scars from the Hellhounds, which were completely gone. He also found a mysterious hand print on his shoulder. Something pulled him out of hell. As it turns out in the end, something from a higher power did just that.

Episode 2, Are You There, God? It's Me, Dean Winchester (Written By: Sera Gamble, Directed By: Phil Sgriccia)

Bobby asks the Winchester boys for help when fellow hunters of his are being killed off one by one in a most gruesome way. Sam is haunted by FBI Agent Hendrickson who died in the explosion caused by Lilith, accusing Sam of failing him. Together with Bobby they find out that they're being haunted by the spirits of the people they couldn't save, which is called "The Rising of the Witnesses", a sign of the upcoming Apocalypse. - Wikipedia

Not a "meat and potatoes" style episode, but I feel like talking about most of episodes I've seen in this block so far. It was pretty sweet seeing all the old characters back again, in ghost form of course. I love when television shows bring back old cast members, no matter how small a role they had. This time there were some pretty significant characters like Agent Hendrickson and Meg Masters showing up to torment Sam, Dean, and Bobby.



I thought the final scenes of this episode played out a bit like a video game. Sam, Dean, and Bobby keeping the angry ghosts at bay while they figure out a ritual to end the madness. They do end it eventually, just in time of course, but the seal has already been broken. Seems like there are 66 seals out in the world that need to be broken in order for Lucifer to walk free. Pretty heavy stuff. I'd like to see Supernatural pull off a comedy driven episode this season. I think they actually do in this block of episodes.

Episode 4, In The Beginning (Written By: Jeremy Carver, Directed By: Steve Boyum)

Dean is transported back in time to the '70s in Lawrence, Kansas. There, he meets a younger John Winchester at a diner. Dean also meets his grandparents and discovers that they were hunters, along with Dean's mom.

My favorite Lost episodes are the ones that try something new. Break away from the usual mold of the show. Episodes like "Flashes Before Your Eyes" and "Ab Aeterno". This episode of Supernatural tries something different. Although, thinking about it some more I do remember a certain Djinn a season or two back that allowed Dean to experience a different time (at least in Dean's mind) and experience something similar. That was more of an alternate reality type thing though. This time, Dean actually experiences the past, way before he was even born. These angels seem to be crazy powerful, not just regular powerful, but crazy powerful. Also this episode reminded me of how much I love the Back to the Future movies.

This may sound like a semi-stupid question, but I really hope these angels are on our side. They tend to see everything in black and white and are really no different than demons when you think about it. These angels have a plan for Dean, just as Azazel did for Sam.

They send Dean back in time to show him something. What was it exactly? To show him that his mom was from a family of hunters? To meet his grandparents? Perhaps it was to show Dean that Azazel was working his plan for many years. Another idea would be that Castiel wanted to show Dean that his mom made a deal with Azazel. Deals with demons seems to be a serious recurring theme with the Winchesters. I guess when people want something bad enough, and have the knowledge of the supernatural as hunters do, they go out and get what they want.

When Dean is yanked back to reality, Castiel is there. Castiel tells Dean that he "has to stop Sam, or they will". Pretty scary stuff coming from an angel of the lord. At that very moment Sam isn't in their hotel room, instead he is driving to somewhere unknown with Ruby. What is with his connection to Ruby? Sure she's been helping the brothers for awhile now but why is he sneaking off with her? It can only mean that he's doing something that his brother wouldn't approve of. And if angels don't approve, then it can only be bad news for everyone I think.

Episode 6, Yellow Fever (Written By: Andrew Dabb & Daniel Loflin, Directed By: Phil Sgriccia)

The boys are lured into a town where a man died of a heart attack, but with none of the usual symptoms. The man died of a ghost sickness which is passed onto Dean. The illness causes a person to experience general anxiety, which progresses into deadly fear. Sam and Bobby must find a way to save Dean before his heart stops. - Wikipedia

Despite the seriousness of the season, the boys are able to have a few laughs and this episode ends up being surprisingly better than I remember. Dean Winchester actually gets haunted by a ghost disease. He turns into the complete opposite of the Dean we all know and love because of this it. Dean's even terrified of holding a gun because it might accidentally go off, so he mans the flashlight instead. Even a stray cat jumping out of a locker made Dean scream like a little girl. This episode had it's fair share of laughs, but it also had a few serious moments as well. Including a downright scary final moment as Sam flashes yellow eyes.

Once Dean starts hallucinating near the end things get really interesting. Watching Sam go darkside is always something I find entertaining. Jared Padalecki really knows how to bring out his inner evil dude and shows how great of an actor he can be when given the opportunity. It's one thing to play a nice, mild mannered hero, but it's another thing to convincingly play pure evil. The yellow eye effect really looked great on Sam though. He does have Azazel's blood afterall. Lilith also makes an appearance during Dean's hallucination and it seems that Dean actually should remember his trip down in The Pit. Also, 4 months up here on earth is... wait, around 40 years in Hell? Shouldn't Dean be in a padded cell somewhere if he remembers all that?

Alright, It's 4am and I've only covered about half of the episodes I've seen from this season so far. I'll make sure to get back at it sooner than later though. After being pretty sick this past week I'm already feeling a lot better since this morning, so I'm sure I'll be able to get back to my daily blog posts as I was originally used to doing. I really love the way Supernatural is headed with the inevitable Heaven versus Hell showdown. The original good versus evil story.

If you have any thoughts on the first handful of episodes this season, or the show in general, leave them in the comments below. I always respond to the comments that are posted in a mostly timely fashion. Thanks for taking time out of your day to check this out.