Review

Bobby calls the Winchester Bros in when he loses contact with hunters in the near vicinity. The trio investigate and discover a number of their peers have been slaughtered gruesomely by revenants. The team retreat to Bobby's house where they each come under attack, Sam rescues both Bobby and Dean and the Boys discover Bobby has a supernatural "panic room" in his basement. A room shielded by solid iron impregnated with salt and covered in runic symbols to ward off about everything. Bobby discovers that the revenants are rising due to the "mark of the witness", a sign that someone has cast a spell to raise the spirits of people who have died from unnatural causes, but he also discovers a counter spell that will lay the revenants to rest once again. The downside is that the current revenant infestation is mentioned in the Biblical book of Revelation and is one of the signs of the impending Apocalypse.

Battling their own personal revenants, the vengeful ghosts of people they couldn't save, Bobby with some help from the Boys manages to cast the spell which works like a brought one. Later in a dream Castiel appears to Dean and reveals that the "Rising of the Witnesses" is one of 66 seals which are being broken by Lilith in order to usher in the apocalypse via freeing Lucifer from his prison. Castiel further reveals that six Angels died in the first battle along with twenty Hunters.

Excellent start to the episode that had me rocking out like a tween chick catching a One Direction video, though to be honest I wasn't pretending to twerk like Miley Cyrus. Some chick is asleep on her sofa with the television blaring, the lights on, and the lounge room looking like mine normally does. She awakes as the temperature drops like a One Direction single on the charts and we discover she is a hunter, the arsenal of weapons is a dead giveaway. She recognises the spirit that materialises but isn't quick enough to ward off a second spirit that appears behind her, bloody death follows. I was just wondering who was going to pay to get those stains removed. Anyways, and before I head totally off the reservation, effective intro to the episode that sets things up nicely. Did I mention chicks look hot with pump action shotguns?

We soon learn that the revenants that are appearing like cockroaches on a second rate motel room wall are the victims of various creatures who Hunters failed to save. Lilith showing a black sense of humour has raised them to unleash hell on the Hunter population. Thus we get twin girls that Bobby failed to save, FBI Agent Henriksen that was killed by Lilith after the Winchester Bros fled a police station, and Ronald Reznick who died when the Winchesters were trying to uncover a shape shifter during a siege situation in a bank. So sort of like a greatest hits of victims from past episodes. Surprised Jess didn't make an appearance to make Sam even more emo!

Must have been fun making this episode, Hicks would have been impressed with the shotgun usage!

But perhaps the most devastating revenant the Boys have to face is Meg Masters, the chick who was possessed by a demon that tje Winchesters battled to a bloody death through a number of episodes. Meg points out she was just a girl who was held powerless while the demon inside murdered, wore slutty clothes, and no doubt ate fatty foods. She asks Dean why he couldn't have recited thirty words of Latin to save her, rather than throwing her out of a high rise window and the like. Apparently Meg's sister committed suicide after viewing her shattered body in the morgue. While we can certainly sympathise with Meg's plight there's extenuated circumstances of course. Nice reminder however that collateral damage is part of the Winchester world and something they need to live with every day of their lives. Wow, deep thoughts in a Supernatural episode that doesn't involve the Winchester family sacrifices or Sam wanting an ordinary life.

Dean continues with his disbelief in Angels and God, just how much evidence does the dude need to get over his "not deserving to be saved" thing. Yes we all got John Winchester's sacrifice, but honestly moving along here, Dean is starting to sound like Sam. Bobby points out that the lore firmly states the only beings with power enough to yank someone out of Hell are Angels. Dean declares that Angels are "dicks" rather than the fairy godmother types Hollywood decided they should be. Castiel points out that Angels are warriors of the Lord and perhaps Dean should read his Bible again.

If anything episode two of season four points out the road ahead for the year, Lilith is breaking the seals on Lucifer's prison, it's going to be up to the Winchesters and their allies to stop that from happening. Got to say Supernatural doesn't do anything by half measures, stopping the Biblical Apocalypse - hell that's a pretty ambitious premise for a television series that prides itself on professional production values.

I think the Producers of Supernatural are out to cause me irritation; we only get one track during episode two. While "Lonely Is the Night" by Billy Squier might be good all, it's played during the "Then" introduction and that's all she wrote!

Excellent kinetic episode that had a lot to devour for Supernatural tragics. We now have our major task for the season outlined and the emotional requirements laid bare for the chick audience. Hopefully the season also involves plenty of things being sliced and diced, and of course the ever popular supernatural lore that somehow raises the show above "monster of the week" territory. I really enjoyed this episode, Meg is always a welcome presence, and am pleased to note a new character in Castiel might be appearing regularly. Recommended Kids, if you haven't caught up with Supernatural yet then you have a heck of a lot of remedial viewing to get through.