Review

Two days before Halloween Luke Wallace dies after eating candy and ingesting razor blades in the process. The Winchester Bros are on the case and quickly deduce they are dealing with a witch after Dean finds a hex bag under the fridge in the fatal kitchen that dripped blood. Following the death of an apple bobbing teen chick dressed as a nurse Sam determines they are dealing with a Witch that has extraordinary powers as she is using Celtic symbols and the burnt bones of babies. The Boys may have their work cut out as Sam discovers the Witch is trying to raise the demon Samhain, who can only be summoned every six hundred years through three sacrifices. October 31st this year is the one night in millennium that Samhain can be raised. Seems the Demon not only causes mayhem but also brings with him every evil creature the Boys have ever faced, including, but not limited to, zombies and revenants. Halloween is about to get a heck of a lot more exciting for the locals.

Complicating matters, as if confronting the demon Halloween is based on isn't enough, Castiel arrives with another angel, Uriel, to warn that raising Samhain will break another seal on Lucifer's prison, so no pressure then. Uriel is a specialist tasked with smiting the whole town of 1200 odd people to thwart Samhain being raised, Dean disagrees and the Bros go into battle with the fate of the community on their backs. The Angels however have another plan, they haven't disclosed, can Dean and Sam stop a demonic force rising to raise havoc or is this one beyond even their formidable abilities?

After a couple of episodes diverted us from the central plot arc of season four we're back with the ever decreasing 66 seals that hold Lucifer in his prison. This episode returns to that idea with a vengeance with the Angels showing they are pretty ruthless when it comes to stopping Lucifer from turning Earth into an outpost of Hell. Uriel, a new character, is pretty ruthless in his pursuit of solutions and views humans with disdain referring to them as "mud monkeys". Castiel warns that is close to blasphemy and in a final talk with Dean speaks of having questions about the orders emanating from Heaven and more importantly having grave doubts about those orders.

I was half expecting some ire from the Wiccan community over the depiction of Witches in this episode, but strangely the only criticism I'm seeing is from a couple of folk in Ireland who object to the name "Samhain" preferring the Celtic pronunciation "Sow Wan". I'll get back to this point in due course in this review. Anyways a couple of followers of the whole Wiccan thing have pointed out to me that the folk who protest the depiction of Witches in Western horror outings are generally dabblers rather than true followers of the Wiccan philosophy. I'm inclined to believe that as the same holds true of Christian protests against aspects of the horror genre, a point writer Julie Siege hits on the head in this episode. At one stage Dean remarks, "nothing more dangerous than some a-hole who thinks he's on a mission", clearly this isn't a throwaway line.

Sam forced to use his demonic powers, this can't be a good development

But back to the episode itself, what we are actually here for after all. I was rocking to the whole concept and got a strong Halloween franchise vibe from the episode with a couple of clear references. In the first, when the teen chick wearing the nurses uniform finds bobbing for Apples is a fatal affair, I was reminded of Halloween II when Mikey takes care of business via dunking a nurse's face into a plunge pool which has reached boiling point. Please note I'm talking the original Halloween II here not that abomination that Rob Zombie pumped out after claiming he would never do remakes or sequels. In the second reference, and I might be reading a bit much in here, I was noting Halloween III: Season of the Witch in regards to reclaiming Halloween's pagan origins from the hordes of costumed kids begging for candy. Food for thought, thanks for the nods, moving along.

In tonight's episode we got a bumper crop of the supernatural creature feature mash up, as stated above Dean and Sam have their work cut out for them. We get two Angels, Witches - yes plural and even better they are centuries old, zombies, a revenant, and of course the demon Samhain. Not sure if it was because this was the Halloween episode but for some reason they decided to throw on the monster squad to have viewers rocking. For folk who are supernatural fans you'll note Dean finally gets his wish to fight zombies, and he does so with a rallying cry of "bring it on stinky"! So saddle up kids it's fun times at Ridgemount High in regards this aspect during Great Pumpkin.

Naturally the episode has to throw on some plot arc development to get the season back on track, and bushy tailed to be honest. Besides Castiel voicing doubts over the orders emulating from Heaven, surely they would be divine henceforth something he needs to follow, we also have Sam being forced into using his demonic powers in the battle with Samhain. The demon throws that satanic death ray at him, and is genuinely surprised when Sam just walks through it, but has enough physical powers to match Sam. Hence the whole demonic exorcism thing Sam decided he didn't want to use and which the Angels are advising him against using. Sam is forced to use his powers at the end or face Samhain bringing the true meaning of Halloween to the locals.

Naturally there is some humour in the episode, when isn't there in Supernatural. Dean just can't stop eating candy, including the candy Sam may or may not have brought for Halloween. Of course this doesn't end well, no not talking the onset of diabetes, the Bros run into a kid dressed as an astronaut who wants a treat. Naturally Dean has eaten all the treats, hence the trick part comes into play, the Impala is going to need a good detailing before the next episode. I also got a chuckle out of the Bro's FBI names; Getty and Lee, if in doubt brush up on your U.S history.

Either I was completely tone death this episode or we got zero in the way of mullet rock! Didn't note anything so hence disappointed in this aspect of the Great Pumpkin.

The season is definitely putting the major plot arc back on to boil as yet another seal goes the way of the dodo. I had a fun time with the episode, was digging the Halloween atmosphere, and was trying to see if they were inserting any winks to the audience. A good selection of monsters to rock out to, with Dean finally getting his opportunity to gank zombies, and the whole Samhain thing was well conceived. Happy and contented and looking forward to the next episode, Supernatural surely does bring home the horror bacon folks. Two thumbs up, was digging the atmosphere and a return to backlit scenes for added spooky effect.