Supernatural Official Site
The Time: Thursdays, 9:00 PM, The CW
The Show:
Sam
and Dean Winchester are two brothers who roam the back roads of America
in a 1967 Chevy Impala hunting evil. At first they fought all
of the usual: vampires, ghosts, werewolves and the like, but in recent
yeas they’ve found themselves more and more dealing with the literal
forces of Hell as a demon war has been brewing for decades, with their
family caught in the middle. Sam has been pre-ordained from
birth by a past foe, the yellow-eyed demon, Azazel, to be a pivotal
figure in the war…on the demon side. Meanwhile, Dean has
recently been resurrected from Hell by angels because they have the Lord’s work
for him to do.
The Stars:
• Jared Padalecki – Sam Winchester
• Jensen Ackles – Dean Winchester
The Episode: “Heaven and Hell”
In this conclusion to “I Know What You Did Last Summer,” Sam and Dean are on the run from both demons and angels as both factions want Anna, the girl who can hear the conversations of angels. We find out why this is so as Anna remembers her past. We also find out exactly what happened to Dean while he was in Hell.
The Lowdown:
I remarked last week that Supernatural is getting as good as X-Files, Angel or Buffy at their peak. I stand by that statement, because this week’s episode is simply excellent. There’s a lot we learn about several of the characters, and not the least of which is what happened to Dean in Hell. Basically, Sam, Dean, Ruby and Anna are trapped between the very forces of Heaven and Hell themselves. The demons want Anna for the intel she can give them about the angels, and the angels want her dead for a reason that is revealed in this episode. I mused in invisotext last week that Anna was a nephilim, a half human, half angel. I was barking up the right forest, but wrong tree. Anna does have a secret, and it’s a doozy. That secret leads the Winchesters and Ruby on a search to find something of great importance that could be their only hope for survival.
There’s a lot of great goings-on in “Heaven and Hell,” particularly a climax that involves a demon / angel smackdown. But before we get there, we get a visit from Pamela Barnes (Tracie Dinwiddie), the flirtatious psychic who got her eyes burned out by the angels when she saw their true form in the season premiere, “Lazarus Rising.” She helps the Winchesters and Anna discover her secret. It’s then that they all realize that they have to make use of that secret in order to survive the threat from both the demons and the angels. We also learn a couple more things about Alastair, namely that he was last on the Earthly plane in 1943 in Poland (I’m guessing it’s Some sick Nazi crap), and that he prefers to be in Hell rather than Earth. So apparently not all demons are looking to escape the pit. Dean and Anna also have a special moment, and you find out one of the true advantages of having a car with a large back seat. Ruby also gets a taste of Hell on Earth courtesy of Alastair. It involves her knife, leather straps, nudity and plenty of blood.
As mentioned, this all climaxes when the angels and demons converge on the Winchesters’ location simultaneously. Two really big things you discover at this moment? The angels are not all powerful, and Alastair is even more of an incredible badass than previously thought. The denoument is nice and shows how the Winchesters are truly adept at their job, surviving impossible odds through careful planning. Regardless, the absolute most powerful moment of the episode – and possibly the entire series to date – is when Dean confesses to Sam his most guarded secret about what happened to him in Hell. Jensen Ackles frequently gets the best stuff on the show between himself and Jared Padalecki, be it comedic or dramatic, and the revelation of this secret it stirring stuff. Supernatural is my favorite show on TV. I’m wondering how I’m going to survive the next 56 days until this show returns. It’s that good.