Other rumors include ABC canceling Flash Forward after its first season but renewing V for a second year. Also, NBC has officially renewed Chuck for a fourth season. The CW previously announced that it was renewing Supernatural and The Vampire Dairies as well as Smallville. FOX announced earlier that Fringe would be returning for a third season.

CBS has yet to decide whether to renew Medium or Ghost Whisperer.

What’s taking Smallville‘s old 8:00 p.m. Thursday slot? The new series, Twilight Vampire Diaries, which involves vampire brothers (one good, the other not so good, naturally) who vie for the soul of a girl and her friends and family.

Getting the axe completely is Reaper.

Well that was a kick in the pants, wasn’t it? A season finale with twists and turns and a humdinger of an ending. And it was filled with violence from start to finish. The nun massacre was particularly chilling. But there was also a stabbing, drinking blood, writing with blood on a wall and more. As violent as it was, however, “Lucifer Rising” was an episode about betrayal.

It’s hard to say what was the most important part of this episode. The final seal being opened, Lilith being the final seal, Ruby being a double-crossing jerk or the angels wanting to bring forth the apocalypse so they can usher in paradise on Earth. I’m going to take these on one at a time starting with the final seal. It’s open. Lucifer is on his merry way to Earth. Will he bring with him hordes of demons and other evil creatures? Are we really going to see an epic showdown between Good and Evil, Demons and Angels, God and the Devil?

I don’t think so. It seems more likely that Season Five will continue along the lines of Season Four. The apocalypse will be taking place but it will be far more low key than anyone expected. Lucifer & Co. will be working behind the scenes, so to speak, to corrupt humanity while the Brothers Winchester will be fighting the good fight with their buddy Castiel at their side. That’s my prediction, anyway.

Learning that Lilith was the final seal rather than being the only demon/person able to open the final seal wasn’t all that much of a surprise. We knew she was the first demon created by Lucifer and thus incredibly powerful and important. Making her the actual final seal just means she’s a little bit more important than we thought. Knowing that she was the seal, though, made the scene in which she was taunting Sam so much more interesting. He fell for her plan hook, line and sinker.

Sam also fell under Ruby’s “spell” completely and willingly. What a dope. I don’t remember how Ruby (back when she was played by Katie Cassidy) managed to convince Sam she was on his side when she was first introduced. I think it had something to do with killing other demons with her demon-killing knife. But Dean never bought it, did he? He always thought Ruby was up to no good. And she was. Sam, though, bought into everything Ruby said. And she betrayed him.

That brings us to the revelation that the angels, or at least Zachariah’s faction, actually want the final seal to be broken and Lucifer to rise. I’ve never totally understood what is going on with the angels. Are they working directly for God or what? Zachariah stated in this episode that the low angels on the totem pole (the grunts) aren’t privy to the big plan. Does that include Castiel?

Given that before he was pulled back to Heaven and re-educated Castiel was apparently going to spill the beans to Dean about Lilith being the final seal and everything, it seems that he knew from the start what was going on. What about Uriel? He’s the angel who was killing other angels and seemed to be working to hasten Lucifer’s release. Did he know the truth as well and was just trying to make everything go faster? Maybe I’m just over analyzing.

Anyway, we’re now set up for Season Five. As I mentioned earlier I’m expecting it to play out in much the same way this season did. Only now rather than stopping the seals from being broken, Sam and Dean will be trying to stop Lucifer with Castiel along for the ride. Will Dean be able to forgive Sam for everything that has happened? Will Sam be able to forgive himself?

Bobby suggested that Dean, unlike Papa Winchester, is strong enough to reach out to Sam and save him or help him or what have you. After unleashing Lucifer I think Sam is going to need some help. It’s hard to see Dean as the brother in a better place after going to Hell and all that. The brothers need one another now more than ever. Hopefully they’ll be able to put aside their differences because I don’t another season in which Sam and Dean are at odds.

What do you think? Was the season finale a fitting end to Season Four or were you disappointed? Hit the comments with your reactions.

In my review of last week’s episode (“The Rapture”) I stated that the final showdown between Sam and Dean Winchester was finally here. I may have been a bit premature. There was a showdown between the brothers in “When the Levee Breaks” but whether or not it was the final showdown remains to be seen. The season finale airs next week. We’ll see how things stand when it ends.

As for “When the Levee Breaks,” it was an episode more concerned with setting things up for the finale than resolving anything. That’s understandable. But it made for a really boring episode.

As has been the case time and time again this season, the lighting in this episode was terrible. I don’t know why the cinematography is so darn dark all the time. It’s often difficult, if not impossible, to see more than shapes on any of my televisions. I have to say that really detracts from the enjoyment of watching the series.

Because so much of “When the Levee Breaks” consisted of talking, and the sound on my television works just fine, I don’t think I missed much of anything. The episode opens with Sam still trapped in Bobby’s demon-proof silo. He starts hallucinating that he’s being tortured by Alastair, converses with his younger self and later his mother, and argues with Dean.

I’m not sure whether Alastair was actually responsible for the hallucinations or if Sam was simply in the throes of withdrawal. Either way he wasn’t having a pleasant time. Dean strikes a deal with Castiel whereby he’ll be the “chosen one” to avert the Apocalypse and Sam, supposedly, will be fine. Bobby, though, wonders if Sam is only way to stop Lilith. Dean is adamant: he doesn’t want his brother turning into (more) of a monster. He’d rather let Sam die.

Sam is able to escape after his restraints are opened by Castiel. When Anna shows up to confront Castiel about letting Sam go he says he was simply following orders and Anna is taken away by a pair of angels. Sam, meanwhile, meets up with Ruby, gets another hit of demon blood and learns that there are only two or three seals left. But the final seal can only be opened by Lilith so if Dean can kill her the Apocalypse will never come.

Unfortunately, Dean is able to track down Sam and the two start yelling at one another. Dean is willing to go with Sam to try to take down Lilith but only if Ruby doesn’t come along. Sam insists Ruby is needed. Ruby leaves and the brothers fight. Sam eventually overpowers his brother and nearly strangles him to death before explaining that Dean never truly knew him and never will.

Dean is able to spit out that if Sam leaves he better not come back. Sam walks out the door and the stage is set for the season finale. There are several possible ways for the episode to play out. Sam and Ruby can successfully take down Lilith and prove to Dean that everything Sam has done was necessary. Or, Lilith can overpower the two and Dean will have to save the day. Maybe he’ll be forced to chose saving the world and saving his brother.

Or perhaps Sam will be overtaken by his demon blood and turn to the dark side, joining Lilith, and setting up Season Five. We’ll see. I’m not sure there’s any way the season can end that will make up for some of the missteps taken over the past year. But maybe Supernatural will surprise me.

Only three episodes left in the season and this is how Supernatural decides to spend one? What a waste of an episode. The best I can say about “The Rapture” is that when it ended, the showdown between the Brothers Winchester (which has been a long time coming) is finally here. That’s something. But the rest of the episode was quite frankly boring.

Prior to this episode I had never given any thought to whether Castiel was the pure embodiment of an angel or just the spirit/essence of an angel that had taken over a human body the way demons do. I wasn’t surprised to learn that the angel we know as Castiel is actually a man named Jimmy who has bravely donated his body to the cause. As far as I know, this had never even been hinted at in past episodes, let alone laid out so succinctly. But it makes a lot of sense. That being said, I didn’t need an entire episode about Castiel’s human host.

I missed the first minute or two of the episode so I’m not quite sure how Sam and Dean learned that Castiel was in trouble. They find him in a busted up house and determine that angels have been fighting amongst themselves. But it isn’t Castiel, not really. It’s Jimmy. Jimmy is basically a less cool and collected version of Castiel. Also, he’s human. And he’s married with a daughter. And he left them to do the Lord’s work, which his wife thought was totally nuts.

Although Sam tells Jimmy he can’t go back to his family because demons are after him, Jimmy slips out during the night. Anna (introduced in “I Know What You Did Last Summer”) pops up in the back of the Impala and chastises the brothers for letting Jimmy get away. She thinks he’s probably already dead. Nope. He’s back home and has convinced his wife, Amelia, he’s totally sane. She believes him, at least until their neighbor drops by and is taken over by a demon.

Things get really hairy when another demon shows up. But just in the nick of time Sam and Dean show up and save the day. It takes a little work, though, because Sam is having trouble using his powers. They steal a car and send Amelia and Claire (the daughter) on their way to safety. Amelia is taken over by a demon and offers a swap: Jimmy for Claire but Jimmy has to come alone. He doesn’t.

Sam and Dean are quickly captured and Jimmy is shot. Then Castiel takes over Claire’s body and goes to town. Sam cuts the throat of one of the demons and drinks its blood while Dean and Castiel-as-Claire look on. They quickly win the day. Castiel-as-Claire wants to take Jimmy to Heaven but Jimmy begs him to leave Claire and use his body again. Castiel agrees and quickly brushes off Dean, saying that he doesn’t serve man and especially not Dean.

Whew. We don’t learn exactly where Castiel went, aside from Anna’s comment about him being recalled (presumably to Heaven). It wasn’t a good thing, in any event, and apparently he was told not to involve himself in the affairs of humans. He has a mission and sharing things with Dean isn’t part of it. Throughout the episode we’re reminded that Castiel apparently had something to tell Dean and it ends without anyone learning what it is.

Speaking of endings, “The Rapture” came to a close with a bit of a shocker. Earlier in the episode we saw Sam drinking demon blood (probably Ruby’s) and calling her sounding desperate for his next fix. It seems he needs the blood to “fuel” his power. When he drinks fresh blood from a demon he’s “charged up” and easily dispatches the demon in Amelia’s body. He later tries to get Dean to yell at him but Dean just says he’s tired.

Bobby calls the brothers and they head to his place. He leads them into the silo he’s turned into a demon-safe fortress (I believe it was first seen in “Are You There, God? It’s Me, Dean Winchester.”) and then, before Sam can react, Dean and Bobby lock him in, telling him it’s for his own good. Harsh. I’m not quite sure how Dean was able to hatch this plan with Bobby but it worked quite well.

Next week we’ll see what the next step is. Will Bobby and Dean try to dry Sam out, wean him off the demon blood? Will Ruby interfere? Will Castiel? Anna? Anyone? Will they be forced to let him out when they need his powers? This brotherly confrontation has been a long time coming and hopefully it won’t be pushed to the side.

As I said earlier, I didn’t much care for poor Jimmy’s story. If this episode had been shown earlier in the season, in place of one of the numerous Monster of the Week episodes that weren’t at all related to the running Angels vs. Demons story line it might have been more interesting.

Despite the title this wasn’t a true “jump the shark” episode. It didn’t make me want to give up on Supernatural but, of course, the title was just another in a long line of jokes the producers and writers of the series have inserted into episodes. Jumping the shark refers to the moment when a television show, in a blatant attempt to revive flagging viewership or critical acclaim, does something outrageous. In this case, the outrage was a revelation about John Winchester’s past.

It wasn’t so much outrageous as it was insulting.

Since the beginning, Supernatural has been about the relationship between Sam and Dean Winchester. Two brothers, fighting side by side against all manner of evil creatures, relying on one another to stay alive. To suddenly discover after almost four seasons that they have a half-brother does nothing to add to their relationship or the series over all. Rather, it destroys the character of John Winchester. Look at that! The man couldn’t keep it in his pants. And, to make matters worse, he took his other son to baseball games on his birthday!

As the episode begins the Brothers Winchester are in the Impala when their father’s cell phone rings. Dean answers. Someone named Adam Milligan is on the other end. He says he’s John’s son. The brothers meet with Adam and, after deciding he isn’t some sort of demon or shape shifter, learn that his mother is missing. They eventually reveal that they’re his half-brothers. Dean doesn’t want to involve Adam in their world of hunting and carnage but Sam decides to show Adam a few tricks.

It turns out that Adam’s mother isn’t the only one missing. Another man has disappeared as well. While investigating, Sam and Adam come across what looks like Adam’s mother. Sam, who realizes there was far too much blood found earlier in the episode, tells Adam to shoot his “mother” because it’s not her. With a smile Adam says he knows and then he knocks Sam out with the butt of his gun. Uh-oh.

Adam and his mother are both ghouls. Siblings, in fact. John Winchester killed their ghoul of a father years back and they’ve decided to have their revenge. They’ve killed everyone in town connected to him: Adam, Adam’s mother and the man who helped John track down their father back in the day. After learning that John was already dead they decided to kill Sam and Dean. The two begin feasting on Sam but before they can get very far Dean (who came upon Adam’s dead body) arrives to save the day.  Surprise, surprise.

After killing both ghouls Sam and Dean give Adam a final farewell. He was their half-brother, after all, and deserves that much. Dean was surprised at how Sam reacted to Adam, how he insisted on teaching Adam rather than letting him stay innocent. It was what John would have done and Sam is, it turns out, his father’s son.

I thought “Jump the Shark” was an incredibly dark episode. No, not bleak or grim or sinister. The cinematography of the episode was lacking in illumination and I had an difficult time seeing what was on the screen. I’ve had this problem before with Supernatural (and Smallville) but in this case it was next to impossible at times to decipher what was happening.

Nevertheless, I saw enough to know that as a standalone, Monster of the Week episode, “Jump the Shark” wasn’t bad. It had an interesting monster (or monsters) and the twist at the end with Adam being a ghoul was intriguing. But making Adam a half-brother to Sam and Dean was a horrible idea. It did nothing to flesh out the episode; if Adam had been another random person in need of help the episode would have played out almost exactly the same way.

If the purpose of the episode was to show that Sam has become his father, well, so what? He’s more than his father, in many ways, and has done things that his father never would have. We’ve known for years that he isn’t the same person he was when the series began. He’s accepted hunting as a way of life just as Dean had long before. Was the episode supposed to build Sam up so that Dean could be torn down?

Suggesting that Sam is more like their father than Dean could ever hope to be was painful, in a way, because Dean has always been the one closer in personality to John. After everything he’s been through, going to Hell and torturing souls, learning that his father never broke, Dean doesn’t see it that way. He doesn’t see how he can compare to his father at all.

But did he mean what he said as a compliment? Sam decided to take it that way, yes, but Dean may not like what he is seeing in his brother. He certainly doesn’t like the way Sam uses his dark abilities and pals around with Ruby. And now, on top of all that, Sam is the one telling Adam he can’t ever have a normal life with friends and family? Sam was the brother with a bright future, the one with hope. If he doesn’t have that anymore what does that say about Dean?

At first blush this was both an amusing episode and a disturbing episode, with a slew of references that only hardcore fans of the series would understand, plus the introduction of an intriguing character. The more I think about “The Monster at the End of This Book,” however, the less I like it. I don’t really know anything more about the ongoing story line than I did before watching the episode. And while the amusing parts were and still are amusing they didn’t make up for the lack of forward momentum.

As for the “shout-outs,” I didn’t like them all that much watching the episode because they pulled me out of the show and I don’t much like them now as I write this review. Then again, I’m not really a hardcore fan. I only just got the references to a pair of past episodes; I’ve never actually seen the episode with the bugs (“Bugs,” originally broadcast November 8th, 2005) and I had to look up the episode with the ghost ship (“Red Sky at Morning,” originally broadcast November 8th, 2007).

The exchange about slash was totally unnecessary. Although I was already unfortunately aware of the phenomenon I think it was totally inappropriate to broadcast knowledge of its existence to unsuspecting viewers. Cruel, even. But enough about that. “The Monster at the End of This Book” finds the Brothers Winchester learn of the existence of a series of books chronicling their lives. When they find the author they discover that he is apparently psychic and has flashes of the future.

After convincing the author, Chuck Edlund, that they’re not a couple of overzealous fans, Sam and Dean are told that apparently Sam is going to sleep with Lilith very soon. While Sam isn’t quite sold on Chuck’s abilities and certainly doesn’t think he’d ever sleep with Lilith, Dean wants to head out of town. But they can’t fight Chuck’s words. They can’t fight his prophecies. And he is a prophet, according to Castiel, who shows up to inform Dean that Chuck is under heavenly protection.

Castiel also tells Dean that should Chuck be threatened an archangel will descend to destroy whatever is threatening him. It’s Castiel’s way of helping Dean protect Sam. If Dean brings Chuck to the motel room where Sam and Lilith are facing off, an archangel will show up to kill Lilith. Actually, Lilith flies the coop when the room starts shaking and the archangel never appears. Still, the plan worked. Sam is safe.

Before Dean and “the prophet Chuck” show up, however, Lilith offers to call off the coming apocalypse in return for the heads of Sam and Dean on a spike (or was it a pike?) and Sam agrees. To seal the deal they apparently would have to get it on. He later tells Dean that he didn’t believe Lilith would stick to the offer. But at the time it seemed that he was willing to go through with it. Or maybe he just agreed so he could get close to Lilith and try to kill her. I’m not sure.

In fact, I’m not really sure what the point of this episode was at all. Chuck has a brief sit down with Sam and tells him that, duh, drinking demon blood is a bad thing and that he’ll probably be the one responsible for saving the world. Dean lets Sam know that he knows about Sam’s increasing abilities, although he doesn’t seem to know about the drinking of the blood. So, basically, they both are dealing with some issues just as they have all season.

As for Chuck, aside from providing some comic relief, he doesn’t do all that much. At the end of the episode, Zachariah shows up to keep Chuck from running off to warn Sam and Dean about the latest flash/dream/prophecy he had. That was odd. Wouldn’t it be helpful for Sam and Dean to know what was going to happen next? On the other hand, if prophecies can’t be changed or averted, what good would it do to tell them?

Like last week’s episode (“It’s a Terrible Life”), “The Monster at the End of the Book” felt like filler. It was good filler, I guess, fun and amusing, but filler nonetheless. At this rate, by the time the ultimate showdown of ultimate destiny between Sam and Dean and Lilith and/or Lucifer takes place, I’ll be so stuffed with filler that I won’t have room for it.  Will anyone?

This is a difficult episode to review. As a standalone story, it was a fun romp, with a seemingly perfect combination of amusing moments or one-liners and disturbing scenes of incredible gore. But by attempting to tie into the season’s long arc — the battle to stop Lilith from opening the 66 seals and freeing Lucifer — “It’s a Terrible Life” may have sabotaged itself. Given that I generally dislike standalone episodes, regardless of how fun it is, I’m tempted to dismiss this as largely inconsequential. But is it more than that?

“It’s a Terrible Life” was a bit like Season Two’s “What Is, And What Should Never Be” in that it shows what life could have been like for the Brothers Winchester if they weren’t hunters. Unlike that episode, in which Dean was aware of the real world, this time both the brothers were leading relatively normal lives. Dean Smith (father Bob, mother Ellen, sister Jo) is middle management at Sandover Bridge & Iron Company. Sam Wesson (recently broke off his engagement to Madison) is a low level phone jockey.

But things at the company aren’t nearly as normal as they appear to be. When two of Sam’s fellow workers kill themselves in violent ways — one roasts his head in a microwave, the other stabs himself in the neck with a pencil — Sam and Dean realize they have to work together to figure out what’s going on. Sam has been having dreams about vampires and hunting which, along with Ghostfacers how-to videos, set them on the right track. They realize that a ghost named Sandover — who started the company — is haunting the building and killing anyone who makes the slightest mistake.

Skills they didn’t even know are quite helpful when combating the ghost. They’re eventually able to vanquish Sandover after finding and burning his glove. Afterward, Sam suggests that the two continue fighting ghosts together, but Dean nixes the idea. Later, though, he tells his boss he’s quitting because he has something important to do. His boss then reveals himself as the angel Zachariah, Castiel’s superior. Following Uriel’s traitorous turn, he felt the need to inspect the troops personally, so to speak.

By showing Dean that even in a perfectly normal world he’d still find himself fighting evil, Zachariah apparently hoped to convince Dean that he is strong enough to finish his mission. He tells Dean hunting is in his blood, that he’s miserable without it and that he’s good at it. Dean will stop the apocalypse. He will do everything he’s destined to do. For some reason Dean doesn’t seem convinced.

Perhaps Dean is tired of being used by the angels and not knowing exactly how he’s supposed to save the world. Obviously, he’s tired of living with the guilt of what he did in Hell; learning that his father supposedly never cracked under torture couldn’t have helped. But instead of sitting him down and letting him in on the game plan, the angels are simply using him as a tool, pushing him around on the big chess board that is their field of battle with the demons. He’s sick of it and quite frankly, as a viewer, so am I.

As interesting as this season’s arc has been at times — and it has been very interesting on occasion — it’s been stretching thing off late. What probably could have been wrapped up in thirteen episodes has been expanded to fill an entire season. Even with a hearty portion of standalone episodes, it’s high time the final confrontation between Dean and Lilith or Dean and Lucifer or, as the case may be, Dean and Sam comes to pass.

I still don’t know what to make of “It’s a Terrible Life.” It wasn’t a terrible episode, by any means, but it did nothing to move the larger plot forward. In that respect, it was inconsequential. But it had its moments. The death of the security guard in the elevator, while obvious and gruesome, was something of a highlight. The last names Dean and Sam were given — Smith and Wesson — a nice joke. And this exchange between Zachariah and Dean was hilarious:

Zachariah: “You should see my decoupage.”
Dean: “Gross. No thank you.”

Frankly, I’m ready for this season to be over. We still have five episodes left, though, and I’m sure the season will end on a cliffhanger.  Anyone agree on either points?

A follow-up to “Death Takes a Holiday,” this episode was both intriguing and depressing. It was quite dark, too, which explains why it was depressing. It also seems to set up the rest of the season to get even darker, although frankly I’m at a loss as to how it could become darker than it already is. The Brothers Winchester are not happy campers: Dean is a broken man and Sam sucking down demon blood to amp up his already impressive powers.

In short, Castiel and Uriel charge Dean with torturing Alistair so he’ll give up the name of the demon(s) killing angels. Seven from Castiel’s garrison (who knew a group of angels is called a garrison) have already died. Dean is whisked away from Sam, who turns to Ruby for help. While Dean banters with and tortures Alistair, Ruby uses demon magic to find Dean and lets Sam drink her blood to increase his own powers. Yuck.

While injecting Alistair with holy water and the like, Dean learns that his father never gave in to torture during his decades in Hell. And it was Dean’s inability to withstand the same torture, and willingness to torture others, that opened the first seal. Poor Dean really can’t catch a break. Not only does he pale in comparison to his dear departed dad (if Alistair wasn’t lying, that is) but he is also to blame for the current, hellish state of affairs.

Alistair somehow manages to break free of the devil’s trap the angels place him on and knocks out Dean. He then tussles with Castiel before Sam shows up and kills Alistair with his demon-blood-heightened powers. So, Sam is now apparently more powerful than Alistair and Castiel combined. That’s going to come in handy. But what the repercussions for Sam will be in the long run are still a mystery. How will Dean react? Judging from his emotional state at the end of this episode, he may not notice.

Castiel has his own little story line in this episode. He may be starting to doubt the Big Guy’s grand plan. If so, that’s a godly no-no. Emotions are also not allowed, it seems, which is one of Anna’s faults (she was introduced in “I Know What You Did Last Summer“). She tries to convince Castiel to give into his doubts but it takes a little more than that to push him over the edge. What it takes, in fact, is Uriel turning out to be the one killing the angels.

Uriel is apparently in favor of breaking Lucifer out of Hell and has been killing anyone who doesn’t side with him. When he tries to kill Castiel, Anna stabs him from behind, killing him. Thus, the episode ends with Alistair and Uriel dead, Castiel uncertain of the future, Dean battered and beaten and Sam with demon blood circulating in his body. Anna, I’m sure, will pop up again in a future episode to save the day. Again.

Learning that a group of angels actually wants the Lucifer to escape Hell was an unexpected twist. Uriel seemed pretty enamored by Lucifer, or at least the idea of Lucifer, and hoped that releasing Alistair from the devil’s trap would lead to Dean’s death. Dean is the only one who can stop Lilith from opening the 66 seals. He obviously doesn’t believe he has it in him, though, and neither does Sam.

Personally, I think Dean has a few more fights in him. One of them is going to have to be with Sam before the season is out. Will the two brothers end up battling one another in addition to the demons and, potentially, the angels? We shall see.

Supernatural is back and how! It’s been more than a month since the last new episode (“Sex and Violence” on February 2nd) and I for one was worried that the show would return with a standalone storyline. Thankfully, “Death Takes a Holiday” was instead what appears to be a pivotal installment in the big ole “angels vs. demons” arc that has been playing out during this season. It saw the return of an old character, the death of another, and the capture of a third. And I loved every minute of it.

The monster of the week in “Death Takes a Holiday” was an interesting one. After getting a call from Bobby the Brothers Winchester investigate a small town where nobody has died in roughly two weeks. That wouldn’t have been at all surprising if not for the fact that people who should have died — a gunshot victim, a man taken off life support — were instead healthy and happy and alive. After investigating for a bit, Sam and Dean decide that the town’s reaper, or at least the reaper charged with reaping the town’s dead, was missing.

They decide to try to contact the last person in town to die, a boy named Cole by becoming ghosts. They call in Pamela Barnes (the psychic who was introduced and blinded in the season premiere, “Lazarus Rising“). She agrees to help and the brothers soon find Cole. He tells them that he saw a reaper but the reaper was taken by some black smoke. Suddenly, Tessa the Reaper (from Season Two’s “As I Lay Dying”) appears. After a kiss, Dean remembers her. She’s come to check things out in town but the brothers are worried she’ll be captured just like the other reaper.

Sam promises Cole he can stay in his house with his mom forever and Cole teaches the brothers how to interact with the real world by concentrating and getting angry. Tessa disappears and the brothers head out to the funeral home where Cole saw the reaper. They are soon captured by Alastair (they two encountered him earlier and Sam was able to pull him out of his body) who needed two reapers to open one of the seals. He begins his ritual, kills the first reaper and is about to kill Tessa when Sam and Dean knock a chandelier to the ground, freeing Tessa, who in turn frees them.

Sam returns to the waking world and discovers that Pamela has been stabbed. But because nobody in the town dies, she seems fine. Dean goes looking for his brother but instead finds Alastair, who is suddenly hit with a bolt of lightning. It turns out Castiel set everything in motion by pretending to be Bobby can telling the brothers about the town. The angels couldn’t get into the funeral home where Castiel was attempting to unlock another seal, so they sent in Sam and Dean. The seal wasn’t opened and the angels have Alastair.

With Tessa released, the townspeople who cheated death will now have to face the reaper. Tessa asks Dean to help her with Cole and he does. Pamela dies as well, but not before putting Dean’s astral project back into his body. The brothers have won the day but it isn’t much of a victory. Dean is becoming increasingly cynical about Castiel, thanks in part to Tessa, while Sam seems to have completely embraced the dark aspects of his power, which frightened Pamela. And neither of them are confiding in one another.

I never grew attached to Pamela, so I wasn’t all that upset that she died. She seemed to be a character called upon to facilitate a plot point. In this case, she helped the brothers become ghosts. Killing her simply makes their lives that much harder, that’s all. That Sam would blatantly lie to Cole about being able to stay with his mother was disturbing, to say the least. And Dean being unable to unwilling to confront Sam about using his dark powers seems to indicate that Dean has come to terms with his brother’s “descent” into darkness.

Perhaps both Sam and Dean realize that defeating Lilith and stopping Lucifer from being released will force them to do whatever it takes no matter the cost. Dean appears resigned to the idea that he’s being used by Castiel. Tessa suggested that he’s been lying to himself about getting a second chance for helping Castiel and the angels. Maybe, but I don’t really see it. I think Dean, especially after everything he did in Hell, doesn’t have any hope left in him. He doesn’t want a second chance and certainly doesn’t expect one.

Sam, meanwhile, is more powerful than ever and doesn’t seem bothered at all by what that portends. He’s potentially risking everything — his life, his soul — to gain the upper hand on the demons. Do the ends justify the means? They haven’t always, not in the past, but they seem to now. How much darker will Sam get before the season comes to an end? And what, if anything, will Dean do about it?

It looks like we’ll get the last seven episodes of Season Four straight through with only one or two repeats. With only seven left, I hope we don’t have to sit through more standalone episodes. Coming back from a hiatus with a strong episode like “Death Takes a Holiday” was a good idea. If the series can maintain this pace or even step things up through the rest of the season, I’ll be a happy camper.