Given how much the show uses classic rock and specific songs to highlight certain scenes, I'm going to give each post the title of a song that I feel is thematically appropriate for it. With that out of the way, I forgot to mention in season one's post but I consider Supernatural's first season to be one of the best first seasons of television in general. But thats just it, its the first season. No matter how good it is, its a starting point. The real question is if they can keep it up? Season two does well in that regard.
The first episode of season two kinda sets the tone for the brothers' emotional state for the rest of the season. So in order to properly talk about the season, I'm going to have to spoil it. Here goes: The first episode of season two continues on from the end of the first season, specifically from a pretty bad car wreck the Winchestors got into at the hands of a demon. Dean is in a coma and his spirit is wandering around the hospital looking for something thats killing patients in the place. The twist is well...its not actually a thing that needs to be hunted. Its a reaper just doing its job and Dean is on its list. The parts with John (their dad) and Sam make it look like John is just eager to find the demon that took their mother and he is, but not for that reason. He trades his soul and the gun that can kill it for Dean's life. On top of that, part of the price tag is John dying. I still remember seeing this episode back in the day and that twist left me with a lump in my throat. Before he dies, John also alludes to the demon (Yellow Eyes) that started all this having big plans for Sam.
The monster of the week episodes are pretty good this season even if a lot of them don't really hit the same level of memorable of season one's. Now, with that being said, there is one absolutely fantastic episode in this season that really lives up to the first season's motw quality and its easily one of my favorite episodes in the show. Its the episode "Tall Tales". Sam and Dean roll into town to investigate a death at a college linked to a supposed urban legend. They find nothing in the college's or town's history even remotely fitting said legend. So they get stumped and then things get weirder. A dude gets abducted by aliens and another dude gets mauled by a gator in the sewer. Just what the hell is going on in this town? Spoiler: Its not ghosts, aliens, or even sewer gators. Its all the work of one charismatic son of a bitch simply known as the Trickster just screwing with arrogant people for the hell of it as well as doing minor things to cause Sam and Dean to annoy each other so the can't figure out whats actually going on. The Trickster is probably my favorite monster of the week in the entire show or at the very least the 6 or 7 seasons I've seen (and this won't be the only time he shows up). I just can't properly express the level of charm the Trickster brings to the episode and the actor does great job.
The drama portion of this season is about Dean coming to terms with John's sacrifice. John isn't just gone on some hunting trip, he is never coming back. John's death still hits kind of hard these days but for different reasons. Its mostly because of Dean's reaction to finding out his father gave his life and soul to save him. Normal, snarky, confident Dean just goes dead silent for a solid minute and legitimately considers selling his own soul to bring him back when a demon makes the offer. Its downright chilling to me. Dean isn't the only one getting an arc this season, Sam gets one centered around why he was having visions in a few episodes of season one. Yellow Eyes is actor is great in this. Dude practically oozes menace to the point where he can convincingly threaten to show someone what their family's intestines look like with a big ol' smirk on his face.
This season seems to have switched the quality of the monster of the week episodes with the dramatic bits. Like I said earlier, they're still good but the drama just ended up more compelling this season. Its kinda of understandable why tho since it was about time to give the characters more depth than they had in the first season. As good as Supernatural's motw episodes have been these first two seasons, that can only take a show so far. The monster lore portions of the episode are still pretty sweet. Like I said in the opening, its a pretty good season that carries the torch well enough even if its motw episodes don't quite hit the level of season one's.
