If you crossed the X-Files with a soap opera and sprinkled in a bit of horror, you would probably have Supernatural. The show surrounds two born ‘hunters’, Sam (Jared Padalecki) and Dean Winchester (Jensen Ackles), who seek out unusual cases of supernatural nature to solve. It’s an incredibly engrossing show that doesn’t disappoint from the first episode. It helps that two gorgeous guys are leading the way to help hunt and defeat unholy terrors, but it’s more about the writing than it is about the beauty of the actors. Good looks can’t lead a show to nine seasons (soon to be a tenth).
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Anyway, the ninth season of the show starts off with a bang. The Winchester boys have seen their fair share of tragedy, but the first episode has Sam fighting for his life — well, on the outside anyway. Dean has to figure out a way to save his brother from dying, while dealing with fallen angels looking to hunt down and cause trouble for the Winchesters. On top of this, The Winchesters also have to find their angel friend Castiel (Misha Collins), who is dealing with the fact that he has turned human — oh, and he’s majorly hunted by the angels, whom were locked out of heaven thanks to his efforts (sorta).
What a way to start a season, huh?
Well, it never really strays too far away from that greatness during the entire season. The main storyline of the ninth season surrounds Castiel’s need to not only redeem himself and get back to his angel form, but also find a way to stop Metatron (Curtis Armstrong) from ruling both heaven and earth, and return angels/demons back to where they belong in the scheme of things. In addition to this, the Winchester boys have to find a way to help out as much as possible — even taking out some main characters along the way. On the side, poor ruler of the underworld, Crowley (Mark Sheppard), is trying to escape from the clutches of the Winchesters and trying to figure out a way to take his world back over. Lots of stuff happening here, folks.
There is a tremendous amount of drama and thrill in this season, and what I’m particularly impressed with is the way they balance out their non-storyline shows with their main story shows. It’s tough to do that and the last few shows I’ve reviewed (Person of Interest, The Originals) have shown the juggling act of balance can be quite one-sided, if not done right. That’s not to say that the two mentioned shows aren’t good or the seasons weren’t entertaining, but having a nice flow to how the episodes come at you and having a balance between episodics and main storyline episodes is important for continual entertainment value. Yes, that was a run-on sentence, but I don’t care. Anyway, the genius of the Supernatural writers/directors/producers is to have a bit of the main story sprinkled on the single-serving stories. They don’t quite let you forget what’s going on, even when nothing particularly connected to the main story is going on. It’s not rocket science, but reminding your viewers that continuity is important from story to story is not an easy task to pull off. Supernatural pulls this off brilliantly.
Anyway, let me point out some great episodic choices for you to check out, while you are skimming along the main story:
The Purge — A contestant in a hotdog eating contest is found dead in his car with all his fat sucked out of this body. The boys go to investigate and find themselves in a health resort for overweight people, who mysteriously become thin through a ‘new process’. This episode is gross on so many levels, but fun, as it provides an outlet for humor from both Dean and Sam. I enjoyed this one thoroughly, even though it didn’t have a helluva lot to do with the main story. It was just gross fun.
Slumber Party — You get some nice items of interest in this episode. First, you get a fun backstory about Sam and Dean’s Men of Letters complex, which leads into the introduction of Dorothy from the land of Oz and her evil nemesis the Wicked Witch. Lots of fun in this episode, as you get a tough Dorothy, who acts more like Allan Quartermain from the H. Rider Haggard’s novel, than an innocent girl from Kansas. She’s pretty badass and fits nicely within the Supernatural universe. Oh, yeah, the smart/talented (and super cute) Felicia Day stars in this as well.
Heaven Can’t Wait — This episode is Castiel driven, and that’s perfectly okay by me. Trying to adapt to human life, and his job at a convenient store, Castiel helps Dean investigate a string of mercy killings from a rogue angel. On the side, Dean helps Castiel prepare for his first official date as a human. While there is a good amount of humor in this one, I have to say that I thought Castiel’s need to settle into his human body and adjust to human life made this episode touching. I really enjoyed it and felt like it was a bit more emotional than most of season nine’s episodes — that’s saying something.
These three episodes really stood out to me when the main story wasn’t pushing forward. That’s really the X-Files side of Supernatural speaking, and something that the X-Files did brilliantly through its run. It knew how to bring quality content to the overall body of work in each season (well, except for the last 2-3). It understood when to take audiences away from the main story and give them a break and then properly bring them back at the right time to keep them hooked. Supernatural is the same way.
So, with all this said, if you’re a fan of the show, then you need to add this one to the collection. It’s got a bit of everything; a good story, funny off-beat moments and plenty of entertainment balance to make you want to watch the tenth season. By the way, the last episode of the season is a dozy. Enjoy that one, folks.
On the Blu-ray side of things, it’s equally as nice as the ninth season. This show was born to shine on BD. The transfer to HD was quite good. You have a lot of black, white and reds coming through in perfect HD. The show relies on those three colors (I know black/white aren’t officially colors, but humor me) and they don’t disappoint. I was especially impressed with the way the picture, for a television show on the CW, actually contains no signs of graininess or bad compression in the transfer. I’m glad that a production and a network demand high quality, and delivers it. Other networks really need to do the same — and yes, there are some networks that don’t quite live up to this billing.
Anyway, the Blu-ray version of this show is damn gorgeous. If you’re trying to figure out which direction to go when making your Supernatural purchase, go HD.
Now, in terms of features, here’s what you’re looking at in the ninth season Blu-ray pack:
– The Men of Letters Interactive Set Experience
– Behind the Scenes of Supernatural: A Fan’s Perspective
– Gag Reel
– Three audio commentaries
– 2013 Comic-Con Panel
Let me just say that the special features are fun. Sure there isn’t a wide variety, but the first feature, and really the only true featurette in the purest sense of the word, is humorous and worth the watch. You get to see one lucky fan’s perspective (via camera) of a day-in-the-life of actors/crew on Supernatural. Some of it is staged, but nonetheless entertaining. The feature is led by Misha Collins and deservedly so.
As for the rest, The Men of Letters Interactive Set Experience is pretty neat, while the gag reel is freaking funny. The audio commentary is what you would expect and featured on three episodes. Finally, the Comic-Con panel is good. It will make you want to go to Comic-Con.
All in all, the features aren’t about the quantity, but definitely have some quality to them.