BACK
FROM HELL (AGAIN)The CW's crossover hit Supernatural just wrapped up it's quite incandescent sixth season on May 20 -- and thus the time has come to take a look back at the long, treacherous road these wayward Winchester sons have taken so valiantly in order to save the world (as usual), while we begin the impatient wait for Season 7...
THE ROAD SO FAR…
Synopsis:
Hot but estranged brothers Sam and Dean Winchester go on the road in a vintage muscle car, searching out ghouls, ghosts, demons and Daddy, to a soundtrack of 80's hair bands.
Season 1:
Sam is brought back into the Winchester family business (monster killing) after the demon-related death of his pretty blonde girlfriend. With his hunting-expert father missing, Sam must reluctantly rely on his snarky brother Dean to help track down the demon responsible. They find Dad, who tells them to kill the accursed, girlfriend- (and Mom-) burning "yellow-eyed" demon with a magic gun. Also, Sam's psychic now!
Season 2:
With Dad dead, but the demon still at large, Sam and Dean are on the road once more, destroying random beasties while trying to figure out what connection lies between Yellow Eyes, Sam, and a bunch of his super-power-having contemporaries. New friends are met, new enemies created, and the gates of Hell are opened. And -- oh, dear! Dean has only a year to live.
Season 3:
The search for demon-contract loopholes takes the brothers into some murky territory, making alliances with bad girls like Ruby the demon (Katie Cassidy) and Bela the thief (Lauren Cohan). But in the end, their attempts at reneging prove futile, they fail to kill the powerful (so creepy) child-demon Lilith (Sierra McCormick), and Dean is dragged off to Hell.
Season 4:
Dean is back from Hell! What a thoroughly unexpected development. How, though? And, why? Well... it's 'cause of angels, obviously. The legions of Heaven are gearing up for a showdown with the minions of Hell, and they need Dean in the mix. Sam is also important in the coming war; he becomes addicted to drinking demon blood, hooks up with the new and improved Ruby (Genevieve Cortese) and ends up raising Satan. The Winchesters are both consumed by the ensuing explosion...
Season 5:
... oh, not to worry. God saved them. But with Sam and Dean still first round draft picks for the opposing sides, they must battle their inner demons, as well as many literal ones, in order to save the world from the already-in-progress Apocalypse. With the help of their ex-communicated angel buddy, Castiel, the boys fight the good fight -- and each other -- in what may well be the end for the entire human race. And after taking on the Horsemen of the Apocalypse, sundry minions of Hell and Heaven, plus Lucifer and the Archangel Michael themselves, it is the boys’ car that ends up saving the world… but now it is Sam’s turn to go to Hell. (Also, their half-brother Adam goes down into Lucifer’s cage too, but since no one seems to care too much about him, we needn’t either.)
NOW
DRAMATIS PERSONAE
Dean Winchester: Jensen Ackles
Sam Winchester: Jared Padalecki
Castiel: Misha Collins
Bobby Singer: Jim Beaver
Samuel Campbell: Mitch Pileggi
Christian Campbell: Corin Nemec
Crowley: Mark A. Sheppard
Balthazar: Sebastian Roché
Lisa Braeden: Cindy Sampson
Ben Braeden: Nicholas Elia
Eve: Julia Maxwell
“Exile on Main Street”06.01
Written by: Sera Gamble
Directed by: Phil Sgriccia
US Airdate: Friday, September 24, 2010
| LISA: | The guy that basically just saved the world shows up at the door, you expect him to have a couple of issues. |
Recommended: Hell, yes!
Synopsis:
Supernatural is back, baby! It’s back with a vengeance, back in black, and back to the damned future. It’s a year after the events of Season 5, and Dean is bored out of his gorgeous head living in domestic bliss with his lovely once and future flame, Lisa and her son Ben. Apart from the excitement of an apparent visit to Richie Rich’s hairdresser, life is pretty dull for Dean… lucky for him, then, that he’s been targeted by some vengeful djinn who want him dead.
It will come as a surprise to no one -- except, perhaps, a decidedly overwrought Dean -- that Sam is back from Hell. It may, however, be a surprise that Sam came back wrong. You guys, Sam is broken! Compassionate, earnest and martyr-ish Sam is a thing of the past, and the new (but not improved) version is apparently a Cylon. Also back from the dead is the boys’ maternal grandfather, Samuel, and we also meet some cousins: Christian, Gwen (Jessica Heafey) and Mark (David Paetkau). In the end, the djinn are thwarted in their Winchester killing ways, but there is definitely something hinky going on with these family-types, as they capture instead of kill one of our Monsters of the Week, taking care that our boys know nothing of it.
Plus: hi, Bobby!
Thoughts:
Remember when Dean returned from Hell at the start of Season 4, and there was much rejoicing? Yeah, it’s not so much like that with Sam’s big comeback. Maybe it’s just a case of same ol’ same ol’, but the younger Winchester’s resurrection felt very matter of fact, indeed; of course, from the closing moments of Season 5, we knew Sam was back, but poor Dean didn’t, and so is understandably pissed that everyone has been keeping this from him for a year -- the lame excuse that they all wanted Dean to be happy in his newly normal life wouldn’t wash with me, either.
Dean talks of grief and months of rescuing-from-Hell research, and Sam barely bats an eyelid. In past seasons, Sam’s emotionality has bordered on the opera singer-esque, and yet here he seems as happy to be with Dean as he would be if they’d just met. Oh, he’s smooth and well-spoken and making with the wisecracks, but there is definitely something… off about Sam here. Kudos to Jared Padalecki for playing it so well.
Something is also off with shady AD Skinner, Jonas Quinn and associates -- of which more anon, no doubt. But in the meantime, this was as solid a return to the Supernatural world as we have any right to expect, and not only does it set up some intriguing mysteries -- what’s up with Sam? With the fam? With the monsters? -- but it also establishes what can only be the theme of the season (every season of this show has one): being related by blood doesn’t make you family.
Notes: We learn from Grandpa Samuel that there are more monsters loose in the world than ever before.
The Checklist
| Title Reference: | Exile on Main Street is a 1972 Rolling Stones album. |
| The Pitch: | Parenthood meets… well, Season 4 of Supernatural. |
| Monster Count: | Yellow Eyes! (Except not really.) Also, the djinn. |
| Familiar Faces: | Grandpa Samuel. Lisa and Ben. |
| Pop Culture References: | Aside from “Soccer Mom”, nothing. |
| Gross-Out Moment: | Dean hallucinates Lisa being burned alive on the ceiling… no matter how many times they use that imagery (Mom, Jessica, what have you), it just never gets less horrifying. |
| Awesome: | No. |
| Dick: | No. |
“Two and a Half Men”06.02
Written by: Adam Glass
Directed by: John Showalter
US Airdate: Friday, October 1, 2010
| SAMUEL: | Sometimes I wonder about you, Sam. |
| SAM: | Sometimes I wonder about me, too. |
Recommended: Yes!
Synopsis:
Dean is back in suburban tranquility, determined to protect Lisa and Ben from all things demonic that most likely want him dead. He is very much Man of the House, and paranoid with it; he makes them move, and all but keeps them prisoner of his own fears. Meanwhile, babies are being taken out of their slaughtered parents’ arms, and Sam and the Hunter Fam are on the case. Sam calls Dean in for an assist when he manages to rescue one of the babies; these aren’t just any infants, though, they’re the children of a super powerful shapeshifter called an Apex, who is the first of his kind -- and, also, a serial rapist. Dean begins to suspect Sam is keeping important stuff from him, and we end with Grandpa Samuel on the phone to someone who is possibly a demon collector.
Oh, and by the way? The shapeshifter (after turning into facsimiles of Samuel, Sam and Dean) gets away with the baby!
Thoughts:
This episode has some definite laugh-out-loud moments, and it was good to see the boys in a hotel room on the road again. Loved that Sam and Dean both had different go-to names for the baby boy: Sam went with John, after their Dad, Dean went with Bobby, which I would absolutely have assumed would be the other way around. Lisa proves herself to be the coolest woman in existence, sending Dean off to hunt monsters while she waits for him to drop in whenever he can, like a good little helpmeet, and the mystery of the Campbell family continues to ramp up; we lose the silent Mark but gain the knowledge that Grandpa apparently has a boss who wants him to capture, not kill, his unnatural prey.
In the final analysis, this is an able sophomore effort for the season, with a heaping helping of Supernatural humor but with a peculiarly unfinished feeling at the end.
Notes: We learn of the existence of Apexes, the very first monsters of their kind.
The Checklist
| Title Reference: | You know. That crappy sitcom. |
| The Pitch: | 3 Men and a Baby meets Greek mythology. |
| Monster Count: | Shapeshifters. |
| Familiar Faces: | Grandpa Samuel and the Campbell cousins. |
| Pop Culture References: | NASA, “Smoke on the Water” (Dean’s chosen lullaby), Angelina Jolie, Steve Gutenberg, Dr. Huxtable and X-Men. |
| Gross-Out Moment: | Diaper change? |
| Awesome: | No. |
| Dick: | No. |
“The Third Man”06.03
Written by: Ben Edlund
Directed by: Robert Singer
US Airdate: Friday, October 8, 2010
| CASTIEL: | Sam, Dean, my “people skills” are “rusty”. Pardon me, but I have spent the last year as a multi-dimensional wavelength of celestial intent. |
Recommended: Yes.
Synopsis:
Dean’s on the road, dreaming of Lisa, Sam is newly buff and hooking up with hookers, and there is a strange plague affecting cops in a small town. Turns out they are being brought about in revenge for a wrongful death and caused by a small part of the Staff of Moses, a weapon recently stolen from Heaven… the latter part we learn from CASTIEL!!! (Hey, Cas! Is that a new tie?)
When last we saw Cas, he was re-ascending to Heaven after having been brought back to life by some invisible force we assumed to be God. It seemed like things were going to finally be brought to order up there, but now we learn that a civil war has been raging among the cherubim and the seraphim, with the Archangel Raphael eager to bring about Apocalypse 2: Revenge of the Fallen. Meanwhile, all the heavenly WMD’s have been stolen by a renegade angel, Balthazar (Sebastian Roché), who is exchanging them for people’s souls in a very demonish manner, much to Castiel’s disappointment. Sam and Dean’s hard work in averting the End of Days is called into question here, and there is some more of that Why Hast Thou Forsaken Us? stuff from the angels, who continue to have major Daddy Issues.
Thoughts:
 Bonus picture from this episode, because it would be a shame for all of Jared Padalecki's hard work to go to waste... |
Notes: We learn that God is not in his Heaven… still.
The Checklist
| Title Reference: | The Third Man is a 1949 crime noir film. |
| The Pitch: | Legion meets Stargate SG-1’s “Full Circle” (07.01). |
| Monster Count: | None, unless you count the angels. |
| Familiar Faces: | “Can I Get a Witness?”, The Ten Commandments, “Disco Stick”, James Bond, Liberace. |
| Pop Culture References: | CASTIEL!!! Welcome back, supposed season regular! Also, Raphael. |
| Gross-Out Moment: | Ew, the boils! Ickiest plague EVAR. |
| Awesome: | No. |
| Dick: | Yes. |
“Weekend at Bobby’s”06.04
Written by: Andrew Dabb and Daniel Loflin
Directed by: Jensen Ackles
US Airdate: Friday, October 15, 2010
| BOBBY: | Sam. Dean. I love you like my own, I do. But sometimes… sometimes, you two are the whiniest, most self-absorbed sons of bitches I ever met. |
Recommended: Yes!
Synopsis:
We open with Bobby summoning the demon Crowley, who is still possessor of the bearded one’s soul and is refusing to give it back, despite their Season 5 agreement to the contrary. Meanwhile, the boys come up against a Greek monster called a lamia -- not usually seen out of its country -- and another hunter brings Bobby a Japanese monster that is likewise far from home, but that’s really a side issue. What we have here is a day in the life of Bobby Singer, the phone calls fielded, the lore dispensed, the demons tortured and the authorities fooled. In addition, Bobby is being courted by his cute blond neighbor, and we have him railing against Sam and Dean in a manner a long time coming, as he gives them to understand that everything isn’t all about them. (Even though it is, of course; has Bobby not been watching for the past five seasons?)
The crux of the episode, however, is the soul thing, and Bobby’s clever plan has two suitably chastened Winchesters in Scotland (as is made very clear to us by the prominent matte painting of a castle) threatening to burn Crowley’s bones to make their bread unless the precious commodity is returned. It is, and then the demon is inexplicably allowed to go back and reign in Hell. Which Sam seems a little too happy about, justifying Dean’s ongoing concern about his state of mind…
Thoughts:
I always enjoy our forays into Bobby’s world; they are few and far between, and rarely happen this early in a season. This was a perfect way to establish Crowley as King of Hell, though, and also to resolve the hanging question as to the status of Bobby’s soul; sure, the demon agreed to give it back after Lucifer’s defeat last season, but I always questioned his veracity on that particular matter. I’m skeptical like that. Love Mark Sheppard as Crowley, and he had some tremendous moments in this episode; his impersonation of Bobby was priceless, and when he is whining about the hardships of command now that he has taken the top spot downstairs, it is hard not to feel just a little sorry for him. Other plusses for this episode include the re-appearance of reckless hunter Rufus (Steven Williams), and we also get to visit with my favorite Supernatural law enforcement type, Sherriff Jody Mills (Kim Rhodes), last seen when their town of Sioux Falls was attacked by zombies a season back -- and whose appearance here kind of has me shipping. Seriously! I mean, her husband did die at the hands of the zombies. Let’s get Bobby some lovin’!
Notes: We learn that Crowley has become King of Hell since the ousting of Lucifer last season.
The Checklist
| Title Reference: | Weekend at Bernie’s, of course. |
| The Pitch: | Buffy’s “The Zeppo” meets Bedazzled. |
| Monster Count: | A lamia and an okami, both well out of their usual habitats. |
| Familiar Faces: | Bobby, of course, but also Crowley, Rufus and Sherriff Mills. |
| Pop Culture References: | To Catch a Predator, The Simpsons, Drag Me to Hell, “The Gambler”, Dr. Phil, Punk’d. |
| Gross-Out Moment: | An okami through a wood chipper, anyone? |
| Awesome: | No. |
| Dick: | Yes. |
“Live Free or Twi-Hard”06.05
Written by: Brett Matthews
Directed by: Rod Hardy
US Airdate: Friday, October 22, 2010
| DEAN: | These aren’t vampires, man. These… these are douchebags. |
Recommended: Yes?
Synopsis:
A Bella Swan-esque girl (her name is even Kristen!) meets up with a mysterious, pale and well-coiffed young man. He spouts a bunch of angsty crap about their forbidden love and she thinks he’s about the turn her into a vampire; instead, this being Supernatural and not a YA paranormal romance, she is torn to pieces. (His name, by the way? Robert. Wow, way to be subtle, show!)
It turns out she’s the seventh victim of some pop culture savvy vamps; they’re luring the emo girls with promises of Edward Cullen and then giving them Nosferatu. While investigating a Fangtasia-type bar called The Black Rose the boys happen upon the vamps, whereat Cylon Sam stands by and allows Dean to get dosed with vampire blood -- which, if you’ve been paying attention to this show’s mythology, you know means he’s going to become one pretty soon. But it turns out Grandpa Samuel knows a cure, and it looks very much like Sam wants to use Dean as a double agent, regardless of the risk to his brother. (Yes, Sam is just that fucked up now.)
Of course, Dean manages to take out the vamps and get cured, discovering vital information about the Alpha vamp’s populate-or-perish agenda in the process, but not before he endangers the lives of (and his relationship with) Lisa and Ben. As the episode ends, Dean seems to have lost everything: the love of his life, his pseudo-son, and his trust in Sam, when he realizes how he was betrayed. Woah. Downer.
Thoughts:
In between the blatant Twilight-bashing (“He’s watching her sleep, how is that not rapey?”) and the fundamental disdain of teenage girls in general, there is a good episode in here, all about stranger danger and the risk of romanticizing murderers and about keeping a handle on reality. It’s also quite funny, if full of cheap jokes at the expense of the titular Twi-hards. There’s also a very upsetting episode in here, and yet one we needed to have; one where Dean’s nameless fears about Sam’s state of mind are brought into focus and which may lead to a more thorough investigation of just how Sam returned from Hell… and why. Meanwhile, the most believable part of this one? When the head vamp decides to recruit Dean into would-be Bella-bait, since he’s just so “pretty.” Because… yes, indeedy.
The Checklist
| Title Reference: | Live Free or Die Hard and rabid Twilight fans. Obviously. |
| The Pitch: | Strangeland meets Kill Bill. |
| Monster Count: | Many, many vampires. |
| Familiar Faces: | Grandpa Samuel -- plus Lisa and Ben, briefly. |
| Pop Culture References: | Twilight, natch. Also Zac Efron, Justin Bieber, “Mmm Bop”, Mr. Wizard, Dracula and Anne Rice. |
| Gross-Out Moment: | Dean’s pearly whites going fangy? No thanks! |
| Awesome: | No. |
| Dick: | No. |
“You Can’t Handle the Truth”06.06
Story by: David Reed & Eric Charmelo & Nicole Snyder
Written by: Eric Charmelo & Nicole Snyder
Directed by: Jan Eliasberg
US Airdate: Friday, October 29, 2010
| LISA: | I didn’t expect Sam to come back. And I’m glad he’s okay -- I am. But the minute he walked through that door, I knew it was over. You two have the most unhealthy, tangled up, crazy thing I’ve ever seen, and as long as he’s in your life, you’re never gonna be happy. |
Recommended: Yes!
Synopsis:
Dean is freaking out because he’s certain Sam let him get turned by the vampire in the previous episode. Meanwhile, Sam finds a case: mysterious deaths have beset a city, and they are all brought about by excessive honesty. Dean puts the blame on Gabriel’s Horn of Truth, and calls out to Castiel; he’s been calling on the Sam issue for days, and so when his angel buddy finally shows up about a musical instrument, Dean is not best pleased. Cas explains he didn’t answer on the Sam thing because he doesn’t have an answer -- he doesn’t know what’s wrong with Sam, though promises to check it out. Oh, and also: it’s not Gabriel’s horn that’s the problem here.
No, turns out just asking for the truth in this town makes people say it; Dean finds himself a victim of the curse when suddenly no one can lie to him, and he confronts Sam with his dereliction of duty in the face of the vampire. (Sam claims he froze, and Dean buys it. Silly Dean!) Further research turns up a woman, paranoid that her boyfriend was cheating on her, who summoned Veritas, the goddess of truth (Serinda Swan). Dean deduces the monster is now masquerading as a news anchorwoman, they track her to her lair, and are forced to speak truth to each other: Dean confesses he had believed Sam to be a monster and had planned to kill him, and then Sam really annoys the superhot people-eating demon goddess lady by being able to lie to her.
“You’re not human!” she announces -- as we’ve long suspected. And after she is dispatched, Dean turns on Sam, who confesses that he just doesn’t care about anything anymore. After which? Dean beats him bloody. And y’know what? It’s kind of hard to blame him.
Thoughts:
Well, for a start, way to hit us over the head with the chief suspect, show! There was no way the TV anchorwoman (Ashley Frank, if you please) who was “new” and going on about “truth” and who’s TV show was prominently displayed in more than one scene was not, in some way, related to the honesty epidemic. On the other hand, she is superhot, so perhaps we’ll call that one a wash.
Bobby was a riot here, too; his TMI phone call with a cursed Dean -- which led to revelations such as his love of Tori Spelling and his monthly pedicure -- was very funny, and Dean also had a great moment, not being backward in coming forward when called upon to admire a needy woman’s assets. Ah, that’s the rascally Dean we know and love! (Sorry about Lisa dumping you though, dude!)
As for Cas… always good to see him, but his appearance is kind of negligible in this episode, and as for Sam… well, it’s a relief that his apparent lack of humanity is finally high up on the agenda, ‘cause, dammit, I miss Sensitive New Age Sam more and more each outing. Also, there is a deeper… well, truth… to be found in this episode that we must surely applaud: sometimes we simply can’t handle the truth, the polite fictions that fuel civilized society are necessary to our mental wellbeing, and for all that we crave honesty from our loved ones, perhaps we shouldn’t question them too closely about whether or not we’re getting it.
Notes: Sam isn’t human. (Shock! Horror!)
The Checklist
| Title Reference: | Jack Nicholson’s famous line from courtroom drama A Few Good Men. |
| The Pitch: | Liar Liar meets Silence of the Lambs. |
| Monster Count: | Just the one -- and she’s a goddess, actually. (Plus, superhot!) |
| Familiar Faces: | Castiel, again!!! Also Bobby and Lisa. |
| Pop Culture References: | Taxi Cab Confessions, Marathon Man, Tori and Dean, Soylent Green and Natural Born Killers. |
| Gross-Out Moment: | People-eating is always my bugbear about Supernatural, and they made it even worse here. ’Cause it was a tongue. |
| Awesome: | Yes. |
| Dick: | Yes. |
“Family Matters”06.07
Written by: Andrew Dabb and Daniel Loflin
Directed by: Guy Bee
US Airdate: Friday, November 5, 2010
| DEAN: | Is he even still Sam? |
| CASTIEL: | You pose an interesting philosophical question. |
Recommended: Yes?
Synopsis:
Sam swims back to consciousness, tied to a chair and bloody from his loving brother’s tender ministrations last outing. Castiel does some angel investigation, and comes up with this stunning insight: Sam doesn’t have a soul. Since Sam was returned to the living at the same time as Grandpa Samuel, we go visit his hunter compound to get some answers; he does have a soul and claims to know nothing about Sam’s.
He and his troops are preparing for a big operation against the Alpha Vampire (Rick Worthy) identified a few eps back, and Dean signs up for the mission, declaring loyalty to Samuel even while suspecting something is afoot. He’s right, and when he sees Sam help bundle the Alpha into a van, still alive, he demands answers. Seems Sam knows Samuel’s been capturing and interrogating monsters, and Dean gives him an ultimatum: full disclosure and obedience unto his elder, or they part ways. Poor, soulless Sam somehow manages to make the right choice and the boys track the Alpha to his jail, where we discover that the information Samuel is after is the location of Purgatory, that betwixt-and-between netherworld reserved for the soulless. After the big bad’s inevitable escape, he is taken possession of by Samuel’s boss… Crowley! The new King of Hell tells the boys he can give back Sam’s soul, as long as they capture creatures for him; oh, yeah, and cousin Christian gets his neck broken, but turns out to have been a demon all along, anyway.
Thoughts:
An awful lot happens in this episode and yet most of it is merely filler; yes, we get a definitive answer as to what has caused Sam’s recent heartlessness, and we also learn the truth of what Grandpa’s been up to all this time, but in the main the revelations don’t feel like much more than set up for what’s to come. Necessary set up, of course, but still. However, the Alpha Vamp is a damn fine addition to the complex pantheon of Supernatural smooth criminal monsters and is played with consummate cool creepiness; Crowley’s part in Grandpa’s tomfoolery is a clever development; and Sam and Dean’s reconciliation, after all the mistrust and doubt and violence so far this season, comes as a very real a relief. This show is all about the brotherly bond between these two, and the strain between them has been so palpable as to cause a physical ache -- while all the fences are yet unmended, at least they’re working as a team now. When Samuel tells the boys to either shoot him or step aside, and Sam immediately pulls his gun, it is one of the more illustrative moments of just how far gone this once righteously indignant boy is, and how desperately he is in need of the softer side of Dean.
Notes: Sam has no soul, and hasn’t slept in a year. Also, Samuel is “Crowley’s bitch”, and cousin Christian is, ironically, a demon.
The Checklist
| Title Reference: | Remember that show with Urkel in it? |
| The Pitch: | Buffy’s The Initiative meets The Usual Suspects. |
| Monster Count: | Vampires and demons! |
| Familiar Faces: | Grandpa Samuel, cousins Christian and Gwen, and that sneaky Crowley. |
| Pop Culture References: | Seinfeld, RoboCop, Fright Night, Legoland, The Muppets, Jaws, Charlie’s Angels. |
| Gross-Out Moment: | The sound of a neck snapping is just downright unsettling. |
| Awesome: | No. |
| Dick: | No. |
Continued...
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