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Supernatural is back – and it’s just as much a kick-in-the-teeth as last season.

The episode begins where the last season left off, with Lucifer bursting out of the pit and the Winchesters helpless to stop it. True to his name – “The Light Bringer” – Sam and Dean are newly engulfed in the blinding light of the Devil’s arrival, until they are inexplicably transported to an airplane 30,000 feet directly above. Suddenly, a beam of white light shoots straight into the sky, nearly clipping the aircraft.

After de-boarding, the Winchesters are still more than a little confused by what’s just transpired, so they go to the one guy with all the answers (whether he likes it or not) – the prophet Chuck. Initially, Chuck reacts by hitting Sam in the face, fearful Sam had truly gone to the black-eyed dark side, and inadvertently revealing more about Sam’s toeing the line than even Dean knew. There, they also find even more grim news – Castiel has perished fighting the archangel.

Things quickly go from bad to worse as Zacharias appears with several angels, anxious to touch base with the Winchesters and get back on the same page. As one can expect, Dean has some choice words for the less-than-candid Zacharias – actually he has a lot of choice words for the angel. But when Zacharias’ patience wears thin, he fails to notice Dean is bleeding, and has painted a makeshift anti-angel sigil behind the door just in case. With a press of it, Zacharias and his boys vanish in a flash of light.

At a nearby hotel the Winchesters figure out their next move. Sam secures the area using hex bags, a trick he picked up from the treacherous demon Ruby. The mention of Ruby chills the room, and though Dean won’t listen to Sam’s endless apologies, tensions certainly remain. Dean suggests they treat it like any other hunt – find the monster and kill it, making their next step to hunt down the Devil.

In Pine Creek, Delaware, the solitary man named Nick walks to his lonely house, where he finds the wind blowing the rusted gate with powerful aggression. He promptly goes to bed, but then wakes in the middle of the night to find his sheets covered in blood – and his dead wife starring back at him, telling him he’s special . . . he’s chosen. While writing what sounds like a pretty filthy fanfic, Supernatural devotee Becky is contacted by Chuck. He needs her help getting a message to the Winchesters. There’s a reason Chuck picked this fan – his self-proclaimed biggest fan – as Becky requires hardly any arm-pulling and only a token amount of convincing that Supernatural is very, very real. She agrees to help – far too quickly than any person in their right mind.

Back at the hotel, there’s a knock at the door, and sure enough, it’s Becky. The super-fan remains enamored with meeting the real Sam, though she’s less than excited about Dean, who is “not what she pictured.” After repeatedly touching Sam, Becky delivers the message – the sword of Michael is on Earth, on a castle on a hill made of 42 dogs.

Less than confused with Becky’s lack of clarity, Sam and Dean do what they always do when they don’t understand something – they call Bobby. After embracing the two brothers, Bobby gets down the meat of the matter – Michael is the angel who kicked Lucifer to the curb, and used this fabled sword to do it. But halfway through the research, Sam confesses to Bobby that he was the one who broke the seal and released Lucifer. Bobby angrily (and uncharacteristically) tells Sam he better
“lose his number” when this is all over. Feeling the heat, Sam leaves to conduct research at a local church.

Alone, Bobby tells Dean that John Winchester may have been right, that Sam should have died long ago instead of being allowed to bring about the Apocalypse. Dean dismisses the notion, and suddenly has an idea, remembering something about his dad’s storage – located at Castle Storage Facility at 42 Rover Hill, New York. Bobby says it’s good enough for him – before brutally beating Dean to the ground with possessed fury.

When Dean awakes, he’s face-to-face with another surly demon in a female meat suit – not Ruby, but Meg. Like every demon on the planet, she wants a piece of Dean, and she’s going to use a possessed Bobby to get it. But Bobby resists and turns the knife on himself, while Sam arrives and fights the other demons. Though Sam can’t handle the demons without his mojo, Dean is able to once he regains the knife. Meg retreats in a cloud of smoke.

Nick, meanwhile, is tearfully going through his baby’s things when the baby monitor inexplicably goes off – but this is one crib which has been long since empty. As Nick approaches the crib, he is tormented by the cries of the baby, and just when he thinks they have subsided, blood suddenly begins pouring from the empty crib, leaving Nick on his knees crying.

After dropping Bobby off at the hospital, Sam and Dean make a mad dash for 42 Rover Hill, realizing the demons have a head start. But upon arriving, they find John’s storage littered with bodies. Zacharias and his angels have also arrived. Zacharias delivered another bombshell – Dean is the Sword of Michael. Not only is Dean the weapon of Michael; he’s also his vessel. But Dean has to choose to be Michael’s vessel, and he doesn’t want to be any part of it. So Zacharias methodically starts to rip sickness on the Winchesters and their friends, first threatening Bobby with paralysis and then afflicting Sam and Dean with internal injuries he will heal – if Dean accepts. But Dean refuses.

Suddenly, one of Zacharias’s angelic goons dies, and after a brief struggle with Castiel, so does his other goon. Zacharias is dumbfounded as to how Castiel is even there to begin with. Castiel tells him the answer might frighten him – along with the answer to what really put the Winchesters on that plane. Castiel orders Zacharias to patch the Winchesters up and leave, which his former superior quickly does. Castiel then supplies the Winchesters with a seal branded onto their ribs which will shield them from all angels – including Lucifer. Sam asks if Castiel really was dead, and he says yes. When Dean asks how Castiel is still here, he vanishes in a flutter of wings.

In Delaware, Nick is visited by his dead wife, who tells him she is an angel – named Lucifer. Nick, we learn, is special. His wife and child were the victims of a serial killer. Now, Lucifer has singled him out. The fallen angel can’t bring back Nick’s family, but he can provide the next best thing – justice, against God. Crying once more, Nick agrees to be Lucifer’s vessel, as his house is consumed in light.

At the hospital, Bobby has more than few choice words for a doctor who tells him he may never walk again. Dean tells Bobby he’ll fight whatever comes their way – angels, demons or whatever – but in the meantime, Bobby needs to heal. Privately, Dean admits to Sam they don’t stand a snowball’s chance in Hell. And on top of that, Dean isn’t sure if he can ever trust Sam again.

If Kripke wanted to use this season to mend Sam and Dean’s broken relationship, he certainly has his work cut out for him. But the creator of Supernatural is nothing if not consistent, and the interplay between Sam and Dean feels solid even if they are further apart than ever. That’s what has me convinced this season just might be better than the last – and last season was pretty darn good.

As promised, Lucifer is ripped right out of John Milton’s Paradise Lost. His logic is seamless. He’s not a raging, pea soup-spitting psychopath. He’s a soothing mastermind who can craft the divine argument that his quest isn’t just necessary, but also just. I particularly like the bit that he doesn’t lie. During the off-season, I started thinking about Ruby’s role in all of this, and I realized she didn’t lie all that much. She promised she could stop Lilith, which was all Sam wanted to hear both before and after Dean’s death. She delivered on that promise – even if it brought the end of the world. Seeing the Winchesters fight literally the Adversary – who is far above Ruby – should be a treat this season.

Although Castiel going toe-to-toe with Zacharias was a thrill, I’m not sure if the quest for God he seems to be pointing Sam and Dean towards is a good idea or not. I applaud the idea – but can it be done? I’m not even sure Castiel is Castiel at this point, nor am I sure the idea of Michael slipping into Dean’s meat suit is a good idea either, even if that seems to be the direction the show is going in – despite Dean’s vocal refusal at this point now. Still, if there’s one show that can pull this off, it’s Supernatural. Like it or not, the show never turns out quite how we expect – and that has me more excited than ever for the Winchesters’ latest brawl with Heaven, Hell and everything in between.

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