Article by FisterRoboto of lefthandhorror.com
Fresh out of Purgatory, which looks just like the Canadian wilderness btw, Dean is back from the Netherlands. If you kept up on season seven, you know Leviathan asshole, Dick Roman, met his end with the ‘ol magic bone through the neck bit. Turns out an exploding Leviathan can net you a quick trip to Purgatory. Exploring Dean’s experience there, he fills Sammy in on his eventual escape after being trapped for a year. Teaming up with another trapped “guy”, Dean finds out there is a way out if you’re human.
Pissed at Sam for abandoning his family hunting tradition and also ditching Kevin, Dean tells his escape story and begins the hunt for young Kevin the Prophet. Told through a series of flashbacks involving everyone from the Winchesters to Crowley, we get some blanks filled in along the way. I’ll try to stay spoiler-free for the most part and give you my opinion on my favorite long running horror series.
Turns out Kevin is a pretty quick study in all things supernatural even outside his MENSA level intellect. He plays a much bigger and ongoing role based on his last year of being a prophet on his own. Crowley is his usual treacherous self and still on the Winchesters’ heels. This year appears to revolve around a Hellgate, but I’ll let you discover in what regard. What I loved most about this debut is the stressed, but loving relationship between Sam and Dean. After a series of proving rituals, the Winchesters embrace, and it gives me goose bumps even after seven long seasons.
What seems clear for season eight, is that Dean’s new friend from Purgatory is going to play a somewhat larger role in this season whether it’s good or bad. Supernatural takes their time setting up a season even with the fantastic standalone episodes. I have no reason to fear the show isn’t going to be its usual bad ass self. Excellent season premiere. Don’t forget the show has moved from Friday to Wednesday, so plan accordingly and perhaps we’ll be seeing a little of Bobby and Cas as the show digs into the new arc. Enjoy the gore factor, which the show serves up in it’s typically terrifying fashion.
I really liked Benny in last night’s episode, although I have a feeling he is going to cause a lot of problems down the road. It is curious that Dean is keeping him a secret from Sam, making their escape from Purgatory even sketchier. A co-worker at DISH and I have been trying to figure out how they managed to escape, but our main conclusion is that it couldn’t have been anything good. I can’t wait to figure out how Benny will play into the story as I watch this season on my Hopper. I almost forgot to program my DVR before I left home yesterday. With my late train ride home, I would’ve missed the reunion of the Winchesters if it wasn’t for the 2,000 hours of recording space. The brothers have never had good luck with befriending supernatural creatures, so I am nervous that this pattern will continue now that a vampire is in the mix.