Superhero Media: Supernatural - Season 3

If you're only looking at watching some Supernatural for gaming inspiration, Season 3 is a great place to jump on, even with little-to-no prior knowledge of what's happening. If you go that route, Sam and Dean are brothers, they hunt monsters, their dad is dead and Dean has a year to live after making a deal with a Crossroads Demon. Also, Season 2 ended with a literal gate to Hell being opened, so there's that too. The very first episode has the brothers and Bobby battling none other than the Seven Deadly Sins, which seems straight out of a "New 52" Hellblazer comic, and I fucking love it. I'm shopping for Heroclix Deadly Sins in the other tab right now, but I'm not loving my options, I'm wanting something more like the SHAZAM film. Anyway, Season 3 of Supernatural introduces more recurring characters, has a narrative through-line and starts to work in some more jokes, so is easily the best run around so far. Also, the heroes lose in the end, Dean is dragged to hell and the day is lost; few programmes have the balls to close a season like that. 

New characters include occasional allies like Ruby, a former witch turned demon who wants Sam to lead the army of evil, antagonists like Lilith, leader of another evil faction and Bela, a woman who deals in supernatural artifacts on the black market. Not only do these new characters add some much-needed gender balance to Supernatural, but having more recurring cast members makes the world feel more "real". Some other guest stars come back, like Luther, who ends his arc on a vampire-powered suicide run, and the Ghost Facers, who defeat a serial-killing ghost with the power of homosexual love. Season 3 is probably the model for Supernatural going forward, at least in terms of tone, as there is more comedy and the end of the world seems to always be around the corner. I like this trend, as I'm inclined towards taking all of this less seriously than most, especially once demons, diabolical deals and destiny start making regular appearances in the script. 

The recurrence of the Hell-hounds chasing people who have reached the end of their contracts with the Crossroads Demons makes for a great motif, with the sound department having a field day sneaking barks and growls into the background whenever Dean contemplates his fate. Again, I really love that all of the Brothers' desperate efforts don't pay off and Dean gets dragged to hell, making for a chilling ending and a great cliffhanger leading into Season 4. I'll admit most of Seasons 1 and 2 were closer to a nostalgia trip for me, I actually got a lot out of Season 3, and now am more keen for the next season and the adventures that await. As mentioned above, there is plenty of great gaming fodder in this season of Supernatural, from the Deadly Sins and Hell-hounds to television ghost hunters and black market cursed object dealers; many of these could walk straight into your games with minimal adjustment. Aside from that, Supernatural is still a great watch if you're into that "WB" style action/soap/sci-fi hybrid.