Synopsis: Resurrection. After enduring unspeakable torture, Dean escapes from Hell, rescued by an all-powerful creature he’s never seen before; an Angel, a warrior of God who recruits Sam and Dean into Heaven’s battle against Hell. And there are whispers that a certain fallen angel will soon be freed from his prison deep in Hell: Lucifer. If Sam and Dean can’t stop it, Lucifer walks free and he’ll bring on the Apocalypse. Meanwhile, the Winchester Brothers reunite and hit the road, battling the supernatural wherever they go. They encounter demons, spirits, Dracula himself and even a drunk, heavily armed 7-foot-tall teddy bear. All the while, the ultimate war draws them into its horror throughout this enthralling 6-Disc, 22-Episode Season Four. Caught between Heaven and Hell, between God and the Devil, the Winchester brothers must battle for the future of humankind.

Season Four begins with Dean awakening in a grave, having been rescued by an angel named Castiel on orders from God. Meanwhile Sam, not knowing that his brother Dean has been revived, seeks help from Ruby to further develop his abilities during the four months that Dean is ‘dead’. It is soon revealed that Dean was revived to help stop Lilith’s plan of breaking the 66 seals. Fans of the series will most likely know what these seals are; breaking them would let Lucifer walk free once again.

The series’ production value is fantastic and this season is one of the best in the entire series. The ratings were great for this season and the producers used that leverage to re-sign some of their stars for a fifth and maybe final season. It was interesting to see the development of the main characters. Dean changed due to his not so pleasant stay in Hell while Sam, being alone without his brother, takes a different path to become something more, reaching his goals by some shady means.

In the season finale, Dean is kidnapped by angels and discovers that the last seal is Lilith and the angels’ intention is to let Sam kill her. Unable to reach Sam, Sam kills Lilith, not knowing that her murder breaks the final seal. The angels also wanted the seals to be broken, because when Dean defeats Lucifer, they can enjoy paradise on Earth. Sam discovers that Ruby has been manipulating him with the sole goal of achieving Lilith’s death. Enraged, Dean kills Ruby. With the killing of Lilith, and the breaking of the final seal, Lucifer is now free.

The show delivers to the fans. Supernatural has really become a strong show and this fourth season proved to be one of the best yet. This was definitely reflected in the ratings. It’s obviously not at the same level as other popular shows but I am sure the fans of the series can’t wait for September 10th when the show returns to TV sets.

Supernatural sports a VC-1 encode with 1.78:1 aspect ratio, well fitted for this release. This isn’t the best transfer out for a TV series, but it does the job perfectly. There are subtle amounts of grain but this doesn’t take anything away from the details. The skin tones look very natural; nothing over the top or over saturated. There seems to be some softness in a few scenes, but this isn’t a major problem throughout the show. Also, some might notice some edge enhancement from time to time. Surprisingly the picture in this release is very polished; there are minor issues, but nothing to really to take away from the overall Supernatural experience.

Again, it seems to be the norm for Warner to give TV series a Dolby Digital 5.1 track rather than taking their time and add a lossless audio track. Anyway, while I may have some complaints about the track included in this release, it  does the job intended. The dialog seems to be nicely prioritized and it is very clean. The rears output the environment effects quite nicely; they will surround the viewer.

Obviously my main complain is the lack of a lossy audio track, but I will say that the Dolby Digital audio in this release will please the fans willing to look past the imperfections.

While Supernatural: The Complete Third Season allowed the user to download digital copies of the episodes, this will not be the case for the fourth season. This release doesn’t really carry many extras which are a bit disappointing. Let’s see what the studio provides inside the box.

• Audio Commentaries: This release includes three audio commentary tracks:

1. Executive producer Eric Kripke and writer Jeremy Carver talk about “In the Beginning”
2. Executive producer Robert Singer and supervising producer Sera Gamble discuss “When the Levee Breaks”
3. Executive producer Eric Kripke once again discusses “Lucifer Rising”

• The Mythologies of Supernatural: This is an extensive look at the mythologies and ideas behind the show. The feature is about 60 minutes long, so sit back and enjoy. The following are a list of the chapters within this feature:

1. The Ageless Unseen War
2. Angels and Miracles
3. Angels and Archangels
4. The Bonds of Limbo
5. The Destroyer of Children
6. The Sweet Song of Death
7. The Price of Free Will

• Extended & Un-aired Scenes: A total of 11 scenes were either un-aired or extended. These make up a good 23 minutes of extra material. See the list below.

1. Lazarus Rising
2. In the Beginning
3. Yellow Fever
4. It’s the Great Pumpkin
5. Sam Winchester
6. Heaven and Hell
7. On the Head of a Pin
8. The Monster at the End of This Book
9. Lucifer Rising
10. Monster Movie
11. Heaven and Hell
12. The Rapture

• Gag Reel: Enjoy some of the behind the scenes of the show.

I found the series to be entertaining. While there are some minor annoyances I can see past them and tell you that this series is worth a watch. Regular fans of the series will be treated with a nice transfer and sufficient content to keep them appeased until the show returns on September 10th. It will be really difficult for newcomers to start this late in the show so I recommend at least a rent and watch some of the previous seasons.

Supernatural: The Complete Fourth Season is available on DVD and Blu-ray and you can get it your copy at Amazon!

Supernatural: The Complete Fourth Season [Blu-ray]

Check out the preview below!