I’ve been a fan of SUPERNATURAL for some time now. From the get go I was fascinated by the storyline that pitted two young brothers against a raging tide of formidable fantasy creatures of the night. The most amazing thing about the series is how it never stopped and never got stale; how it kept a story going that was hinted at from the first episode and played it out over time.
If you’ve never seen the show then by all means start picking up the series in boxed sets. A basic background for the uninitiated is that the Winchester brothers, Sam (Jared Padalecki) and Dean (Jason Ackles) are monster hunters. When the series started, Sam had abandoned the family business and gone to college only to witness his fiancé die the same death his mother had years before, pinned to the ceiling and engulfed in flames by a yellow eyed demon. Now Sam wants revenge and rejoins with his sibling to take down all monsters and demons they come across.
The boys were trained by their father who has disappeared and are part of a chain of hunters that they encounter every now and then in an episode. They also stay in touch with a man who holds more knowledge than anyone and who was sort of a surrogate father to boot, Bobby Singer (Jim Beaver). As the series progressed many things happened, including Dean’s dying and being taken to Hell and Sam’s learning that he held a power that could be fueled by drinking demon blood (which had terrible side effects). As angels and demons got involved the story changed from simple fighting a monster each week to discussions of the Apocalypse. And that’s where season 5 opens.
At the end of season 4, Sam had unwittingly opened the gates of Hell, breaking the seventh seal and setting free Satan himself. Now the brothers were on a quest to stop Satan and kill him. But as an angel, as an angel of great power, could Satan be killed? Worse yet the boys have been informed of something they never knew: Sam is the vessel of Satan while Dean is the vessel of Michael, the Archangel. By vessel we’re talking the human host or body that will hold these opposing forces as they meet on the battlefield to fight their apocalyptic battle.
Both refuse to allow these angels to possess them though and each week we find them searching for an answer that will prevent the apocalypse, deal with the guilt Sam feels for initiating it and find a way to get rid of Satan. Along the way they also must attempt to find God who seems to have disappeared, a search being done for the most part by renegade angel Castiel (Misha Collins) who has helped the boys on their journey.
Episodes this season are fantastic with some of the most thought provoking and the most funny. Yes funny. One episode deals with a prankster they’ve encountered before who places them in various TV series like a CSI MIAMI satire, sitcom and GREY’S ANATOMY satire. Each is done like those series and comes up with laughs.
On a more serious note, the boys find themselves dead and on the road to Heaven. What each of them views as Heaven, or their own version of it, is touching in so many ways. The question of God and why he would leave us to our own devices is brought up here and in other episodes as well. One would think that a movie that involved demon fighting and a ton of dark images would not bode well for those with religious beliefs. But the fact is that through it all the idea of faith runs strong from beginning to end.
Season 5 focuses almost solely on the attempt to find a way to rein in Satan and deny him the use of Sam’s body, to end the Apocalypse and to prevent the four horsemen from releasing their ills against humanity. It’s a journey that holds your interest from start to finish. And it’s a credit to the cast and crew that they can make you believe the story they are telling, to render portrayals that never get stale, to make you feel for these characters and to make you want to know the story of Sam and Dean from start to finish.
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