Supernatural: The Complete Fourth Season (2009, Warner Brothers)
purchase from Amazon: DVD

The fourth season of Supernatural kicks ass. Great mythology, plenty of action, some good doses of humor, it makes you think, and yes, it will creep you out. I had never seen an episode of this series before the fourth season DVD box set arrived for me to review but, man, what a good place to jump into the world of Supernatural.

The first episode of the 22 on this box set opens with a man buried in a coffin. He’s Dean Winchester (Jensen Ackles), who, we find out, was sent to hell. As he slowly digs his way out of the grave to the surface, he wonders who pulled him from Hell and what it all means. Bursting through the ground, Dean finds that his grave is in the middle of nowhere and trees fallen around the headstone. If this were a horror movie, it would be the perfect opening. No ridiculous voiceover, no exposition in the dialogue, just mysterious visuals and plenty of eeriness. Dean comes upon a deserted town, breaks into a gas station and steals a car. Oh and there’s an ear piercing scream that occurs midway through the break-in. More intrigue. I was hooked. Dean finds his way back to his brother, Sam (Jared Padalecki) and their mentor, Bobby Singer (Jim Beaver). The three of them are hunters, responsible for tracking down supernatural creatures and killing them.

Sam has psychic powers given to him by a demon called Azazel. As we learn throughout the season, Sam has been hanging out with a demon named Ruby, using his special gift to send evil beings back where they belong. The two of them hooked up during the four months Dean was in Hell. Like a good novel, we don’t learn what happened to Sam during those long months until later — specifically episode nine, “I Know What You Did Last Summer.” Likewise, we don’t fully understand what Dean went through while banished to Hell until the following episode, “Heaven and Hell.” In the meantime, the fourth season sets in motion a huge arc in the Supernatural mythology. (more…)