Review

A week after the gates of Hell were opened and a demonic horde let loose for an all-out war, storm clouds are appearing in the skies over Oak Park, Chicago. Some unknown bloke is the first to play host to a demon, which is what you get for putting your rubbish bin out late.

Bobby notes omens in Lincoln Nebraska, crop failures and a plague of cicadas, and the Winchester team are soon investigating. Bobby and the Bros discover a family who have died of starvation and dehydration on the sofa in the family's living room, television naturally blaring, while just a few metres away there is a fully stocked kitchen. The Winchester team aren't the only ones investigating; married couple Isaac and Tamara are also checking things out. Isaac and Tamara decline an invitation to join forces with team Winchester due to that opening of the devil's gate thing.

Meanwhile, back in Chicago a woman has killed another woman over a pair of shoes, hey I've survived a Grace Bros. sale, this isn't as bizarre as it sounds. Store security video showed a man talking to the killer just prior to the footwear altercation. Bobby tracks the man to a bar he frequents. With the Winchesters ready to bust a move, Bobby cautions them to wait and scope the bar out as they don't know what they are getting into. Unfortunately, Isaac and Tamara are all like damn-the-torpedoes and head into the bar. We soon discover that the bar is a hang-out for a group of demons representing the seven deadly sins. Bobby and the Winchesters manage to rescue Tamara and capture one of the demons in a ram-raid that had me smiling. Can team Winchester prop up the home defences with the demons coming on down, and who the hell is the hot chick who intercedes at just the right moment?

Gosh it seems like we just put the Winchester brothers to bed for the year and out pops another season of Supernatural like a demon escaping an open Hell's gate. Not that I'm complaining; I love this show and was openly doing the happy dance when season three hit my local DVD shelf. For those unaware, I simply refuse to watch commercial television due to the inordinately inane ads they put on trying to sell me stuff I really don't want, hence why my guides are always about six months overdue. Hey, it's my excuse and I'm sticking to it. Okay, so I'll try and do something of a forced march on this season's guide to all things Supernatural as we have a stack of other shows to get through. At least we have something of a reprieve from new stuff for the next six months or so.

So, a quick recap of where the overall plotline is up to, before we have a look at what director Kim Manners delivers to us for the first episode of the new season. The yellow eyed demon (YED) is toast due to an ethereal intervention by John Winchester and the judicious use of the colt handgun of ultimate doom. Finally some closure on events in the first two seasons. Of course the Winchester victory has come at a high price, the destruction of the roadhouse, and that pesky demonic horde let loose before the demon gate could be closed. Oh, and for all the Supernatural-challenged, Dean also sold his soul to the cross-roads demon in order to save Sam. Anyone else kind of think the Winchesters are out of the pan and into the fire? Let's break down the first episode of the new season and see what might eventuate.

Who or what is Ruby? Season Three already throws a curve ball at the audience in the form of a new character with arcane knowledge apparently

Director Kim Manners, good decision to bring in one of the franchise heavy-hitters first up, delivers a pretty powerful opening blow for season three. He starts his episode with some dude putting out the trash in Oak Park, Chicago. Nice touch with the guy eyeing up his next door neighbour's penis extension vehicle, before quickly comparing to the dusty family truckster in his own driveway. Manners touches down with a bit of plot foreshadow there and it hits home in a sort of wink to the audience fashion. Naturally the director is covering bases with a tension-filled atmosphere and you are just waiting for something to happen. Manners finally delivers on the expected shock development via a demonic CGI cloud, that's working better than it sounds, with the eventual possession of our garbage dude by the demonic sin of envy. Talk about your riders of the storm. Oh, and for those wondering, yes, writer Eric Kripke touches bases with all sorts of references to the seven cardinal sins: "pride goes before"� as an example. Watch the episode to catch the nuances, kids.

Having delivered one kick-arse opening, Manners doesn't let up for the rest of the episode and keeps his pace galloping toward the final confrontation, and the introduction of a new character in the form of Ruby. We have plenty of tension going down, a cool re-interpretation of the siege from Night of the Living Dead, and an indication that it won't only be the demons that the Winchester Bros. need worry about this season. The Magnificent Seven is pretty much packed to the rafters with ideas, plot developments, and all manner of intriguing possibilities. Director Manners and writer Kripke manage to shoehorn everything in while delivering a decent episode that doesn't trip over its own toes in trying to deliver on all aspects.

As one would expect from a by-now veteran of the franchise, Kim Manners delivers in spades visually. We don't get crazed angles or the like, there's too much story to get through in the episode, but Manners has his dolly and crane cam working in places and utilises locations to their best effect; downward view from a dusty and gloomy staircase, for example. Loved Manner's handling of Bobby meeting Isaac and Tamara, and of course Dean recovering from the meeting on the floor. Possibly a bit more backlighting and smoke might have helped with the tension in The Magnificent Seven, but what the heck, I was jiving to Manners beat anywise so minor quibble.

Central to the episode, and quite possibly the entire third season, is the dynamic between Sam and Dean. We are on a whole new footing here and it's going to be interesting to see how things progress. Due to the contract Dean signed last season, Sam starts cutting his older brother some slack. There's the whole "quality time with the Doublemint twins", wrong time to walk into a motel room there, Sam and Dean's decision to add cheese burgers to his breakfast menu. We're talking playing the dying card for all it's worth and I was simply waiting on Sam deciding enough is enough, let's work on resolving our family crisis here. Towards the end of the episode Sam naturally confronts Dean about his descent into "she'll be right" land and Dean lashes back with the news that there is no way out of the deal, and if they even try Sam is toast. There's something of an impasse going down right there.

Dean may be acting contrary to what Sam might desire, but the younger Winchester sibling certain isn't whiter than white when it comes to full disclosure of secrets. From last season we know that Sam drank demon blood as a baby (whatever that implies besides simply the ESPer thing), and in a surprise development, Mary Winchester recognised the yellow eyed demon. Sam knows these things but hasn't informed Dean. Already in season three, Sam finds out he was destined to be second in command of Hell's army, might just have any number of demons already hunting him, and that there are factions within the demon ranks that have differing agendas. Once again Sam declines to keep Dean in the loop on this. There's going to be one heck of a confrontation between the brothers at some stage of season three and I for one am looking forward to when that goes down.

Man, way over the word limit with this one.

Besides the usual cultural references, I wasn't picking this episode as reflecting overly any previous horror outing. The seven deadly sins personified has certainly been used before, everyone up on their Chaucer of course, but remains a horror prop rather than central to anything I can think of. Likewise, the siege at Bobby's farm is simply following horror tropes rather than being a wolf in sheep's clothing. I guess if you really wanted to go wide receiver on this you could maybe touch bases with From Dusk Till Dawn, but that's kind of drawing a long bow for mine. And yes I did note the reference Dean makes to Evil Dead 2.

The soundtrack continues to impress those of us with dust covering our CD collections. Australia's very own AC/DC lights up with "Hell's Bells", Bachman-Turner Overdrive can inform us "You Ain't Seen Nothing Yet", J. B. Burnett is adamant that "I Shall Not Be Moved", and the Howling Diablos hits out with "Mean Little Town". Sign me on board that line-up stat!

The Magnificent Seven gets season three of Supernatural underway in style. We get the major plot arc of the season established, anyone not think that's going to be Dean's deal with the cross roads demon? A pretty good look at the aftermath of season two's finale, and a new mystery character (who happens to be smoking hot). All this wrapped up in a pretty good story that had me lapping it up. Hey, if CGI storm clouds are working for me then you know I'm really digging what's on my screen. Think we're in for good times with season three, lock and load right there.

Season three of Supernatural unfortunately was being developed as the writers' strike descended on Hollywood like the black plague. You can work out who's the cat, who's the rat, and who's the flea in that particularly scenario on your own time. As a result, we have something of a reduced number of episodes for season three (stop cheering, you don't have to read all the reviews at the best of times anyway). I had the vague notion there were seventeen episodes in season three but my R4 box set only contains sixteen. Are we Downunder missing out on an episode or did I have my wires crossed somehow?

Full recommendation on The Magnificent Seven, it's going to have Supernatural fans grinning from ear to ear and might find some love among the wider horror community. Before you ask, yes you are going to have to be versed in what has come before to get the full impact on what's going down in this episode. On the R4 DVDs there's a recap option so that might help out anyone not yet up with Universe Winchester. Should you watch The Magnificent Seven? It would be a sin not to!