Supernatural: Season 04 (2009)

Supernatural: Season 04 (2009)

22 episodes, approx 42 mins each

There's a four month gap between the end of Season 03 and the beginning of Season 04. What happened in the intervening months?

You won't get the answer straight away, but you will eventually, so stick with it. It's just one of the mysteries that get explored in more depth as the season progresses.

The covers of each Blu-ray box set up until now have been pretty standard and similar. There was the bag of salt on Season 01, but nothing much noteworthy beyond that. The cover of Season 04, however, whether by accident or design, is a lot more interesting.

The third figure, the one positioned between the two leads but set back, as if perched on their shoulders (the right of one and the left of the other, suggesting ambiguity or unclear alliance?), whose voice would be heard as a whisper... yeah, it's probably pure coincidence, but still a pretty cool thing to ponder.

If you're familiar with author Mike Carey's comic book work for DC's Vertigo imprint, there's a strong resemblance between his use of theology and how the show hereafter deals with the same. And keeping that same thread relevant, the new cast member is most certainly influenced by another Vertigo comic character, one that exists in the same shared universe that Carey worked his magic in; the two characters share an initial and shop at the same coat store.

In order to forego mentioning him further, because experiencing it first-hand will be a lot better, I'll skip over a lot of good stuff. But I can say that the 'bigger, developing picture' that I referred to back in the Season 02 post becomes a lot clearer. The reasons for certain things are explained and the circles that the brothers move in begin to both tighten and widen, which sounds like an impossibility but isn't - hopefully you'll understand what I mean by the season's end.

With regards individual episodes, there's a couple of two-parters, some of which fill us in on what each sibling did during the months they were separated. The serious tone takes a timely back seat once or twice, making way for some comedy episodes (the credits in Ep 05 are fun) and even some bizarre meta-poking (Ep 18). Sam gets to do something in Ep 13 that I've wanted to do for a very long time - it's a simple thing but would mean a great deal to me. GJ, Sam.

Whatever you do, please DO NOT miss Episode 16 because, holy shit, it's a good one.