Review

Making an always-welcome appearance, Meg is out and about, taking down friends and associates of the Winchesters. Why? Well, because the demon entities know they have the gun that was introduced in Dead Man’s Blood.

John Winchester has determined the signs and portents that show where and when the main demon is going to strike next, and it just happens that all signs point to Salvation, Iowa. The Winchesters are soon en route, with a final confrontation with their nemesis high on the agenda. Naturally, things don’t go as planned and the Winchester team soon go their separate ways, John to confront Meg before she can finish a promised spring-cleaning, Sam and Dean to face the big dude. Chuck in Sam’s visions kicking into high gear, and we are about ready to go with a tension-laced episode. An absolute ripper ensues. You going to bring the holy water?

For the first part of a gripping double episode season finale, we get a recap of the major developments and plot arcs during the previous 20 odd shows. This is actually well constructed, and should go some way to explaining the joint episodes for those that haven’t dialed into Supernatural previously. To a certain extent, you still need to have watched some of the crucial episodes as there’s a lot that won’t make sense otherwise.

Salvation gets underway proper with a church scene that is well constructed and hints at the end of the season not being likely to pull any punches in the gore department, even remembering that the Producers are still restrained by what’s acceptable to the various TV moral campaigners. Meg shows up in a church for a confrontation with a Priest, whom we soon learn is a friend of the Winchesters and a hunter in his own right. Anyone else notice the similarities between this priest and the one in John Carpenter’s Vampires? The priest isn’t aware that Meg is a demonic entity, but the audience are, which I thought was a subtle and effective plot device.

John Winchester provides the answers to what regular viewers would have surmised from the episode Nightmare, (season one, episode 14, for those wanting to check out the reference). John has discovered that the demon strikes against families who are celebrating a baby turning six months old. What John is unaware of, but quickly learns, is the commonality between the families is that the babies all share a latent psychic ability, just like Sam is showing.

The first season is rushing toward a crescendo of mayhem, excellent television drama right here right now!

The interesting thing with the family dynamic when this is revealed is that Dean is the one that points out to John exactly how wrong he has been in his actions thus far. This would normally be Sam’s preserve; clearly once again the Producers are happy to mix and match the elements rather than simply presenting stock standard cookie-cutter characters. It's called character development, something woefully missing in the works of shock merchants like Eli Roth.

In essence, this episode is starting to tie off some of the plot arcs that have been hanging around almost all season. We don’t get a resolution on a couple of them during the show, but there’s still next week’s episode, right?

One of the confusing aspects of Salvation is just how many bullets the gun has left; this will of course come into play either next week or, one can assume, early next season. By my calculations there should be five left after John took out the lead vamp last week, but this episode is adamant there are only four left. Guess I might have missed something there; anyone else keeping score?

Director Singer handles the dual story lines well in this episode, as we jump between John facing Meg, and the tension-filled demon confrontation the Bros are embarking upon. Singer gets it spot on, and you are never taken out of the episode as things hot up on both fronts. Loved John’s blessing of the water, and a fairly amusing result when he finally uses it. Jeffrey Dean Morgan (John Winchester) kicks a major with his facial expression as the scene goes down.

One of the things I was bemused by, however, was the whole atmospherics going down in Salvation, Iowa. The rain was a welcome addition to the normally top-notch staging of scare scenes Supernatural has been presenting all season, but what was with the mist or whatever it was that kept wafting across the screen? Never explained, and had me scratching my head over it.

I guess everyone was up for the final showdown between the yellow eyed Demon and the Winchester Bros that we have been waiting all season for, and Singer delivers both barrels with that bad boy. We get a virtual reprise of the Mary scene from episode one, and Sam going postal. Guess it won’t be a spoiler, considering this is the first of a double episode, to say it’s a stand-off, but really sets the platform for the final episode. We do get some cool special effects, CGI, and some pyrotechnics to be going on with, though.

Music-wise, and cause I’m running out of room here, the episode features a single Kansas number: “Carry on my Wayward Son”. Not exactly over-endowing us there, would be my call. Dudes, at least three mullet rock songs are needed per episode, with Black Sabbath a requirement every now and again.

Salvation turned out to be just what the doctor ordered at this late stage of the season. A strong episode featuring all the main characters from the season, with the final showdown between the major antagonist and the Winchester Bros covered. I was grinning from ear to ear with the split storyline going down, and had a lot of fun with the whole fandango. Perhaps the only slight reservation was the number of dudes who had helped the Winchesters during season one meeting their demise off-screen. Would have liked some fleshing out going down there, but what the heck, there’s still a number of incidental characters, both good and evil, who will no doubt front next season at different stages.

Supernatural took out around a 16% slice of the prime time market in the US during 2005, and as such is one of the best performing horror series ever screened. Research is showing the series appeals to older horror fans and the teen chick market, but is maybe not achieving overwhelming results with the teen dude market. Not entirely sure what possible use that can be to anyone, but since we’re almost at the end of the season I thought I would lob in the figures and demographic news.

If you have been merrily following the series all year, then this episode, along with next week’s one, is in the realms of must-see, lock-friends-out-of-the-house time. Truly engrossing, with enough tension to keep even the most hardened fan glued to the tube while the story unfolds. Turn out the lights, switch on the idiot box, and don’t forget to put salt on all accesses to your place. The final confrontation is here baby, and it’ll rock your house down.