Superhero Media: Supernatural - Season 4

With Dean having been literally dragged to Hell at the end of the previous season, how will Supernatural continue? Well, with Dean being pulled out of Hell by an angel, of course. Yes, despite having fought demons since season one, the Biblical god of Yahweh and his associated mythology has only ever been hinted at until Castiel joins the regular cast and the battle to stop the Apocalypse begins. Though I'm never a huge fan of when media which has drawn upon as diverse mythologies as Ancient India, Tibetan Shamanism and Native American legends for it's monsters just resorts to Jesus to fill the gaps, Supernatural draws upon Gnostic and Apocryphal sources as well as the more "colourful" books of the Bible. I'm especially fond of one angel describing his divine appearance along the lines of the Book of Revelation, complete with multiple faces. The race is on to stop last season's antagonist, Lilith, from breaking the "66 Seals" required to free Lucifer from the pit and begin the end of days. 

Given the television budget, the end of the world is pretty low-key, involving a lot of fistfights in dusty factories, but to quote Ultimate Quicksilver, "Sometimes it's just a bunch of maniacs punching and kicking each other". Sam is still working his demon psychic powers, which form the main point of contention between the brothers this season, with Dean going from a strict utilitarian approach to the issue to a complete falling-out by the closing episodes. As a fan of the White Wolf Hunter The Reckoning role playing game, I like the approach of running close to the line of evil in order to take out a bigger evil, and Sam's journey is well paced throughout the season. The writers of the programme are clearly having more fun, with time-travel and alternate reality episodes, along with Universal Monster Movie themes and introducing "Chuck, Prophet of the Lord", who writes the "Supernatural" novels, featuring Sam and Dean. Is this a little too meta for my tastes? Sure, but it's well handled and makes for some interesting storytelling in the next season. 

As season four of Supernatural progresses, it becomes more a kind of programme that could be adapted into a heroic ensemble, with demons, angles and different factions broadening the core team a little. There are still no decent "team fights", but if a more horror/divine oriented set of characters are your bag, there's plenty here to choose from. Angels, Demons and the Biblical Apocalypse are all great fodder for your supers games; how do the heroes react? What do villains do? Most interpretations of Angles don't make them out to be all that magnanimous and humanist, so heroes that want to save people may come to loggerheads with them pretty quick. There are plenty of non-Abrahamic, not to mention non-Christian, superheroes out there, how do they react to what's happening? An atheist hero may even try and prove a more grounded version of events, that is, grounded in terms of alternate universes and aliens, it's still comics, after all. I've really enjoyed going back over Supernatural, but the broadcast-length seasons are starting to wear me down, I'm glad I only have the one left. Join me next time for one of the greatest finales in television history.