Supernatural (season 4)

The fourth season of Supernatural, an American dark fantasy television series created by Eric Kripke, premiered September 18, 2008, and concluded on May 14, 2009, on The CW.

Supernatural
Season 4
DVD cover art
Starring
Country of originUnited States
No. of episodes22
Release
Original networkThe CW
Original releaseSeptember 18, 2008 (2008-09-18) –
May 14, 2009 (2009-05-14)
Season chronology

This season focuses on brothers Sam (Jared Padalecki) and Dean Winchester (Jensen Ackles) encountering angels for the first time in their lives as hunters of the supernatural; this marks the introduction of eventual series regular, the angel Castiel (Misha Collins). The angels intervene to rescue Dean from Hell and bring him back to life after he was trapped there in the third season finale "No Rest for the Wicked". They explain that they have arrived on Earth for the first time in thousands of years in order to prevent demons from freeing the fallen angel Lucifer from Hell, as Lucifer would then cause the Apocalypse. The demons are led by the Winchesters' enemy, and Dean's murderer, Lilith. However, it becomes increasingly clear that something is wrong with Heaven and that the angels have their own agendas. Despite an initially happy reunion, tension grows between Sam and Dean because Dean fears Sam's growing demonic powers and distrusts Sam's returning demonic ally Ruby (Genevieve Cortese).

Cast

Starring

Guest stars

Episodes
See also: List of Supernatural episodes

In this table, the number in the first column refers to the episode's number within the entire series, whereas the number in the second column indicates the episode's number within that particular season. "U.S. viewers in millions" refers to how many Americans watched the episode live or on the day of broadcast.

No.
overall		No. in
season		TitleDirected byWritten byOriginal air dateProd.
code		US viewers
(millions)
611"Lazarus Rising"Kim MannersEric KripkeSeptember 18, 2008 (2008-09-18)3T75013.96[1]
Four months after he was ripped apart and his soul dragged to Hell by a hellhound, Dean Winchester inexplicably wakes up underground in a coffin, completely whole and intact except for a burn in the shape of a handprint on his right arm. He manages to escape his coffin, but is ambushed by an unknown entity. Believing that Sam made a deal with a demon to bring him back, he tracks Sam down near where he had been buried, but Sam is just as surprised at Dean's resurrection as he himself, having tried and failed to bring Dean back. It is later revealed to the audience that Sam's psychic abilities have advanced greatly, as he is now able to exorcise demons with them. It is also revealed that he is now intimately involved with the Winchesters' shady demon ally Ruby (Genevieve Cortese), who has returned from wherever Lilith sent her in their last confrontation. Sam and Dean's friend Bobby Singer (Jim Beaver) brings the Winchesters to a psychic named Pamela Barnes (Traci Dinwiddie) for help in discovering what pulled Dean out of Hell. Pamela does find out the name of the being Castiel, but the sight of Castiel burns her eyes out, resulting in her becoming permanently blind, when she disregards his warnings and tries to look at him. Sick of being toyed with, Dean decides to summon the thing together with Bobby while Sam is away (having his own secret rendezvous with Ruby) in order to find out what it wants, and they perform a ritual to summon it. Castiel (Misha Collins) appears, revealing himself to be an angel, not a demon, to a skeptical Dean. He explains that he is responsible for dragging Dean out of Hell and, when Dean asks why he of all people would be worthy of being saved, that God has work for him to do.
622"Are You There, God? It's Me, Dean Winchester"Phil SgricciaStory by : Sera Gamble & Lou Bollo
Teleplay by : Sera Gamble		September 25, 2008 (2008-09-25)3T75023.18[2]
Bobby asks the Winchester boys for help when fellow hunters of his are being torn apart by vengeful spirits. Sam is haunted by FBI Agent Henrickson who died in the explosion caused by Lilith; the ghost accuses Sam of failing him. Together with Bobby, they find out that they're being haunted by the spirits of the people they couldn't save, which is called "The Rising of the Witnesses," a sign of the upcoming Apocalypse. Meg Masters (Nicki Aycox) and two twin girls also appear and haunt Dean, Sam, and Bobby. The three find a spell to put the Witnesses to rest, but have to leave the panic room they are hiding in to do it. As Sam and Dean hold off the spirits, Bobby performs the spell, but Meg tries to kill him. Dean manages to complete the spell, and the Witnesses are put to rest. Later, Castiel appears to Dean in a dream and reveals that "The Rising of the Witnesses" is one of many seals, which are being broken by Lilith in order to bring on the Apocalypse, in which Lucifer the fallen angel will walk the earth free.
633"In the Beginning"Steve BoyumJeremy CarverOctober 2, 2008 (2008-10-02)3T75043.51[3]
Sam sneaks out of the motel he and Dean are staying at to meet up with Ruby once again. Castiel appears beside Dean's bed to transport Dean back in time to 1973 in Lawrence, Kansas with the cryptic warning that he must "stop it." There, Dean meets a younger John Winchester (Matt Cohen) and Mary Campbell (Amy Gumenick). The family reunion gets bigger when Dean meets his and Sam's maternal grandparents, Samuel (Mitch Pileggi) and Deanna Campbell (Allison Hossack), who are hunters who have brought Mary up in the life, thus making Mary a hunter as well. However, there is even more to this than Dean had imagined, as Mary had made a desperate deal with Azazel that resulted in his appearance the night she died. Dean also finds out that Azazel had fed Sam his blood that night as part of a plan that Azazel hints is even bigger than previously thought. Dean fails to kill Azazel or save his family, and when Castiel returns him to his rightful time, he admits that there was no changing that because it was meant to happen. Castiel and the angels only wanted Dean to find out what Azazel was up to for himself. Castiel then sends Dean to find Sam, warning him to stop Sam from going down the dark path he is on, or Castiel will, indicating that he will kill Sam if necessary.
644"Metamorphosis"Kim MannersCathryn HumphrisOctober 9, 2008 (2008-10-09)3T75053.15[4]
After watching Sam harness his powers and realizing that the woman he is with is Ruby, Dean angrily confronts his brother. Distance and tension is put between the two brothers as Dean realizes that Sam is tapping into the demonic blood inside him with Ruby's help and lying to him about it. Sam argues that he is able to save people and exorcise demons at the same time, but Dean reveals to Sam what Castiel had said. A hunter who has known the Winchesters for years calls on Sam and Dean for help in a case in Carthage, Missouri involving a man who is going through a metamorphosis into a Rugaru—a monstrous creature that consumes human flesh. During the hunt, Sam lashes out on Dean, saying he is tired of how Dean looks at him like a freak. Tension mounts between them even further as they disagree on how to deal with the man, with Sam advocating that they try reasoning with him so that he can try to control himself and Dean believing that the man can't help but give into his monstrous nature. Despite attempting to prevent it, the man completes his transformation when Sam and Dean's friend tries to kill both him and his pregnant wife and he can't overcome his instincts anymore. He kills the hunter, but retains enough control to spare his wife. When the man tries to kill Dean, Sam is forced to kill him by burning him alive. Seeing what the man went through, Sam decides to stop using his powers.
655"Monster Movie"Robert SingerBen EdlundOctober 16, 2008 (2008-10-16)3T75033.06[5]
The Winchester brothers find themselves at a local Oktoberfest celebration in Canonsburg, Pennsylvania, investigating a series of suspicious murders being perpetrated by what locals describe and are seen by the viewer in scenes filmed in black and white as monsters from classic 1930s horror movies. They soon discover this is the work of a shapeshifter (Todd Stashwick) obsessed with monster movies. The shapeshifter has become infatuated with the local bartender Jamie (Melinda Sward) whom it got close to in an alternate identity as a friend and co-worker (Holly Dignard). Jealous of Dean's budding romance with Jamie, it captures them both with plans to kill Dean and make Jamie its bride. Sam finds and frees Dean; while they battle the shapeshifter (Stashwick), Jamie kills it by shooting it with Sam's silver-loaded gun, which it deems a fitting end to its own "movie." The next day, Dean and Jamie part with a kiss, and the episode closes out on Sam guessing which movie Dean would like to live in.
666"Yellow Fever"Phil SgricciaAndrew Dabb & Daniel LoflinOctober 23, 2008 (2008-10-23)3T75063.25[6]

The boys head to Rock Ridge, Colorado, a town where a man died of a heart attack at 44 years of age with no symptoms. Research indicates the man died of "ghost sickness", which infects Dean. The illness causes first a general anxiety that builds into deadly fear. Sam contacts Bobby and learns the ghost they're after is called a Buruburu. Sam and Bobby decide to scare the ghost to death. They wrap an iron chain inscribed with a spell word around his neck and Bobby road-hauls him behind the Impala, re-enacting his death. This successfully scares the ghost to death, just in time to save Dean before his heart fails.

The episode ends with Jensen Ackles performing Survivor's 1982 hit song, "Eye of the Tiger" with Baby (the Impala).
677"It's the Great Pumpkin, Sam Winchester"Charles BeesonJulie SiegeOctober 30, 2008 (2008-10-30)3T75073.55[7]
A few days before Halloween, Sam and Dean launch an investigation into two mysterious deaths in a small town. The brothers find hex bags and deduce that a witch is sacrificing people to summon a dangerous demon named Samhain. Castiel arrives in town and tells Sam and Dean that the freeing of Samhain is one of the seals that will lead to freeing Lucifer. To protect the seal by killing the witch, Castiel brings a specialist angel named Uriel (Robert Wisdom) to smite the entire town to be sure of killing the witch, but is convinced by Dean not to and to give the Winchesters a chance to stop the witch. Samhain is freed despite their best efforts; after Ruby's knife is knocked out of his hands, Sam is forced to use his powers to exorcise the demon, stopping the rise of the ghosts and demons he was causing. However, the seal is still broken. Uriel warns Sam against using his demonic powers and says that he will kill Sam as soon as Sam ceases to be useful to the angels. Still annoyed by Dean stopping him from smiting the town, Uriel tells Sam to ask Dean what he remembers from Hell, implying that Dean does, in fact, remember what happened to him there. Meanwhile, Castiel reveals to Dean that his true orders were always to follow Dean's orders to test his leadership under battlefield conditions, though even he does not know if Dean passed the test. He confesses that he does not know what the "right" choice would be and that he has his own doubts, though he does not show them. Lastly, Castiel warns that hard times are ahead and says that he doesn't envy Dean for what is to come.
688"Wishful Thinking"Robert SingerStory by : Ben Edlund & Lou Bollo
Teleplay by : Ben Edlund		November 6, 2008 (2008-11-06)3T75083.24[8]
Sam and Dean investigate Concrete, Washington, a small town where the wishing well really works. A teddy bear comes to life, a boy who is always bullied gets super strength, someone wins the lottery, and the town geek gets a hot girlfriend. The brothers realize that while everyone is happy now, the end result will be disastrous because the magic will inevitably go wrong. The boys find that the origin is a magic coin that causes a fountain to become a wishing well, being that the coin's power is drawn from the goddess Tiamat. The only way to reverse the wishes is for the person who put the coin there to remove it. It turns out to be the geek and he is reluctant to do so, but after one of the wishes results in Sam's death, he removes the coin, reversing all the wishes. Sam melts the coin down. At the same time, Dean helps the kid who was bullied keep up his new image of strength to prevent bullying in the future. With Sam having asked about what Uriel had meant by what Dean remembers of Hell, Dean finally admits to Sam that he does remember everything that happened in Hell, but refuses to tell him anything else, as Sam wouldn't be able to understand.
699"I Know What You Did Last Summer"Charles BeesonSera GambleNovember 13, 2008 (2008-11-13)3T75092.94[9]
Ruby returns to give Sam and Dean a lead: other demons are searching for an escaped mental patient named Anna Milton (Julie McNiven), who was locked up after she went into hysterics because she heard angels talking in her head about the upcoming Apocalypse and needed to be restrained after trying to warn people. Sam and Dean investigate and find that Ruby was telling the truth and that Anna's claims about the Apocalypse are uncannily accurate. After finding her parents dead at her home, Sam and Dean track Anna to her father's church, where Ruby arrives to warn them that one of the "heavy-hitter" demons looking for Anna has been following them since Anna's house. They are unable to escape before the demon attacks them. It is then revealed that the new demon, whose name is Alastair (Mark Rolston), knows Dean from his time in Hell. While Alastair takes Sam out and beats up Dean, Ruby escapes with Anna. Sam recovers and stabs Alastair with Ruby's knife; while it doesn't kill him, it gives the Winchesters the chance to flee to safety. Believing they were set up by Ruby, Dean lashes out at Sam for trusting her, so Sam tells him what happened during the months Dean was in Hell. Sam's account is depicted in flashbacks, which show that he encountered Ruby (Anna Williams) again for the first time since Dean's death, while drunk and trying in vain to bring Dean back. Though Ruby had been tortured and eventually released from Hell by Lilith on the condition that she kill Sam, she had only agreed to it to trick Lilith into setting her free, as she still wanted to help Sam. However, Sam rejected her because she couldn't save Dean from Hell, and demanded that she leave her host body to spare the host. Ruby acquiesced and possessed the body of a brain-dead coma patient (Cortese) whose life support had just been cut so that she would not be usurping someone else's life. She then returned to Sam, and he agreed to let her teach him how to use his powers to kill Lilith and avenge Dean. In the meantime, she made him quit drinking and provided him with some physical comfort, when she seduced him. She finally earned his trust when she came after him and saved him from a trap Lilith had prepared for him, even though he had threatened to kill her if she tried to intervene. After the last flashback, Ruby briefly takes a different host (Michelle-Hewitt Williams) to find the Winchesters and give them Anna's location. There, Dean extends an olive branch of sorts to Ruby (Cortese) due to his appreciation of how she helped Sam in his absence, and Sam is forced to break the news to a devastated Anna that her parents are dead. The episode ends on a cliffhanger, with Castiel and Uriel appearing and demanding to be taken to Anna so that they can kill her.
7010"Heaven and Hell"J. Miller TobinStory by : Trevor Sands
Teleplay by : Eric Kripke		November 20, 2008 (2008-11-20)3T75103.34[10]
Anna banishes Castiel and Uriel by cutting her wrists and drawing a mysterious symbol in her blood, though she doesn't know how she knew to do it. Wanting answers, Dean and Sam call upon Pamela, who uses hypnosis on Anna to unlock her memories of her mysterious early years. Doing so restores Anna's memories of what she truly is: a fallen angel who had become human by ripping out her Grace which she describes as being like an energy that is intrinsic to angels. Sam manages to track down her Grace, which would turn her back into an angel and restore all her powers, but when the group goes to retrieve it, they find that it has already been taken. Anna receives an ultimatum from the angels, that she is to be given to them or else Dean will be sent back to Hell. The group seems to be at a loss for a plan. That night, Anna approaches Dean and tries to broach the subject of what happened in Hell. Although he can't talk about it, she offers him reassurance and kisses him, which culminates in them having sex in the Impala on her last night on Earth. Meanwhile, Ruby goes to Alastair with the proposition of her handing over Anna if he will let her and the Winchesters go. He instead captures and tortures her with her own knife for the others' location. At the same time, Dean is forced to give their location away to Uriel, who has invaded his dreams and is revealed to be the one who took Anna's Grace, under threat to Sam. The demons and angels arrive and battle each other. During the confusion, Anna retrieves her Grace from Uriel. In a flash of light, she becomes an angel again and she and Alastair vanish. Castiel and Uriel, too, leave, in pursuit of Anna. It is revealed that Ruby and Dean betraying the others was all part of Sam's plan to get the angels and demons to fight it out to give them the opportunity they needed. In the episode's ending, Dean confides in Sam that it was forty years in Hell instead of four months and that every day, Alastair tortured him and then offered him release from the torture if he tortured souls himself. After thirty years, Dean finally gave in, but is now haunted by his actions.
7111"Family Remains"Phil SgricciaJeremy CarverJanuary 15, 2009 (2009-01-15)3T75112.98[11]
Since the previous episode, Sam and Dean have been hunting non-stop at Dean's insistence. This episode has them investigate a murderous young female spirit inside the walls of a suspected haunted house in Stratton, Nebraska. Complications ensue when a family of five moves in, and the "spirit" turns out to be two humans, a young pair of sibling feral children who are the product of incest and years of abuse and who are willing to kill to protect their home. The brothers fail to get the family to leave, but when the son is kidnapped through the walls, they look to Sam and Dean to rescue the boy. Dean manages to rescue the son, but is forced to shoot the feral brother dead in self-defense while the father of the family is forced to stab the girl to death to protect his wife and daughter. In the ending, Dean reflects on the children with pity, sympathizing with them on what they had become after a lifetime of abuse because of how he himself had tortured souls in Hell after being tortured to the breaking point. He believes that he is even worse than the feral children because they hadn't understood what they were doing and took no pleasure in it, whereas he had in Hell, having relished the opportunity to inflict pain on others after having endured so much himself.
7212"Criss Angel Is a Douchebag"Robert SingerJulie SiegeJanuary 22, 2009 (2009-01-22)3T75123.06[12]
Sam and Dean attend a magician's convention in Sioux City, Iowa where it seems that real magic is being performed. Their investigation leads them to Charlie (John Rubinstein), Jay (Barry Bostwick) and Vernon (Richard Libertini), three friends who were famous magicians in their day but have now been replaced by flashier, younger magicians. Jay's despair over this drives him to perform numerous tricks on-stage that should have killed him and yet he comes out unscathed, while magicians who had irritated the three older magicians die of mysterious wounds reflective of the trick at the same time. Sam and Dean suspect that Jay is a witch and go after him, but he is innocent. After Charlie is the next victim of his death tricks, Jay realizes that Vernon must be the one responsible and agrees to help Sam and Dean flush him out. However, Vernon is also innocent; the real witch is Charlie, who has faked his death and restored his youth. He had been protecting Jay because he regards Jay and Vernon as true friends, and offers to grant them both eternal youth and immortality as well. Jay refuses the offer and uses a trick to kill him for good in order to save Sam and Dean's lives. However, with Charlie dead and Vernon refusing to speak to him, he is left sad, bitter, and alone. Seeing this, Sam finally agrees to a proposition Ruby had made earlier in the episode to rejoin her in hunting Lilith and practicing his powers, despite the fact that he has strong reservations against one of the unrevealed methods they are using because he doesn't want to spend the rest of his life hunting.
7313"After School Special"Adam KaneAndrew Dabb & Daniel LoflinJanuary 29, 2009 (2009-01-29)3T75133.56[13]
Sam and Dean discover that a spirit is haunting one of their old high schools. While investigating the haunting, Dean and Sam relive their high school experiences through flashbacks, recalling how Sam (Colin Ford) was picked on by the school bully while Dean (Brock Kelly) was Mr. Popular. Initially, they believe it to be the ghost of a friend of Sam's who killed himself the year after they left, but when the ghost attacks Sam and calls him by name even after they burn the friend's bones, they realize it's someone else. They learn that the ghost haunts the bus and possesses people there and realize the bus driver is the father of the kid who bullied Sam, Dirk. Sam beat him in a fist-fight before they left the school and gave him the nickname "Dirk the Jerk." The brothers learn from Dirk's father that he died at age 18 before graduation and that he lived a hard life, losing his mother shortly before Sam met him and gaining a lot of anger as a result. He got picked on a lot, and kids called him "Dirk the Jerk." After learning that Dirk was cremated and that he is tied to a lock of hair kept on the bus, Sam and Dean confront Dirk while he possesses two people and Dean burns his hair, destroying Dirk's spirit. In the end, Sam visits a teacher who gave him the advice to follow his own path in life, but is unable to respond when asked if he's happy.
7414"Sex and Violence"Charles BeesonCathryn HumphrisFebruary 5, 2009 (2009-02-05)3T75143.37[14]
Sam and Dean take on a case in Bedford, Iowa in which three men inexplicably beat their wives to death. The brothers realize that behind the murders is a siren, a creature that can take different forms and desperately needs love, compelling people to kill others or themselves as a show of devotion. The siren has been posing as different strippers at a strip-club to meet and seduce men. Dean suspects that the siren is a doctor who Sam took an attraction to and had sex with while Dean was at the strip-club bonding with the FBI agent assigned to the case. However, the FBI agent reveals himself to be the siren; it had taken on the form of Dean's ideal little brother in order to get close to him and take Sam's place. The siren puts Sam and Dean both under its spell and then pits them against each other in a fight to the death for its love. The ensuing fight sees Dean poised to kill Sam with an axe before Bobby shows up and kills the siren with its own venom by dipping a bronze dagger in Dean's blood and flinging it into the fleeing siren's back. The siren's death breaks its hold over its victims. Bobby tells them that they hadn't been themselves under the siren's influence. However the bitterness and tension between the brothers remains, particularly about the cruel things they had said to one another under the siren's spell, Dean having said that Sam is no longer the person he knew, and Sam having belittled Dean's trauma in Hell.
7515"Death Takes a Holiday"Steve BoyumJeremy CarverMarch 12, 2009 (2009-03-12)3T75152.84[15]
Sam and Dean investigate the town of Greybull, Wyoming where people are miraculously surviving would-be fatal injuries and illnesses. They discover that Alastair (Christopher Heyerdahl) has kidnapped the town's reaper as part of a scheme to break one of the 66 seals by killing two reapers under the solstice moon, and they seek Pamela's help to stop him by using astral projection. She sends the brothers into the spiritual world, where the reaper Tessa (Lindsey McKeon) finds them and recognizes Dean, reawakening his memories of their encounter in the second season premiere "In My Time of Dying" with a kiss. She has come to take over reaping duties for the missing reaper, but gets spirited away by demons instead for them to use as the second reaper sacrifice. The brothers find the building where the demons are hiding, but are trapped by demons, who then go after Pamela and their inert bodies. Alastair succeeds in killing the local reaper, but Sam and Dean, having been taught how to use their spiritual abilities by the ghost of a young boy named Cole (Alexander Gould), manage to break the trap holding Tessa before Alastair can kill her. Tessa repays the favor by freeing the brothers and the three escape before Alastair and the other demons can stop them. Sam is pulled back into his body by Pamela, who has been mortally wounded by a demon. Believing that Pamela cannot see what he is doing, Sam uses his powers to exorcise the demon. However, it is too late to save Pamela, who begins to die due to Tessa beginning to reap the souls of Greybull. Alastair tracks Dean down alone and confronts him, but is captured by angels. Castiel explains to Dean that he had been the one who led them to this case because, although he and the other angels had known Alastair's plan, they hadn't been able to get to Alastair because the building the demons hid in was protected against them. Tessa then enlists Dean's help in convincing Cole to cross-over. After they succeed, she warns him to be wary of the angels and what they promise. At that moment, Pamela finishes in pulling Dean back into his body. The brothers are helpless to save or even reassure the dying Pamela, who spends her last words privately confiding in Sam that she knows what he did to the demon, that she knows what is inside him, and that, whatever he thinks of what he's doing, it is wrong. The episode ends with Dean asking what she said and Sam not answering.
7616"On the Head of a Pin"Mike RohlBen EdlundMarch 19, 2009 (2009-03-19)3T75163.37[16]
In Cheyenne, Wyoming, someone has found a weapon that can kill angels and is responsible for several murders. Having captured Alastair, Castiel and Uriel demand that Dean use the torturing skills he learned in Hell to extract information from him so they can stop the murders. Dean refuses, but they transport him there and refuse to let him leave until he finally agrees to it. Anna comes to Castiel when he is alone and questions the morality of forcing Dean to torture Alastair, going so far as to question if God is even the one giving orders anymore, but Castiel rejects her and forces her to leave when she suggests that he work with her. Meanwhile, Sam calls upon Ruby to help him locate Dean because he doesn't believe that Dean can get the information. Sam then begins drinking Ruby's blood in order to regain his diminished power. Drinking her blood is how his powers have grown so much early in the season, and his decision to not drink it is why his powers had weakened. Alastair refuses to break despite the torture a vengeful Dean inflicts on him, but does taunt Dean by telling him that he, Dean, had broken the first seal when he began torturing people in Hell. An unseen force then frees Alastair, who tries to kill Dean and exorcise Castiel. Sam arrives and uses his increased power to torture and kill Alastair after the latter admits that no demon is behind the angel murders. Dean is subsequently taken to a hospital for the injuries he sustained from Alastair's attack. Castiel seeks Anna out and pleads for her to tell him what to do, but she tells him that he must learn to think for himself. Castiel soon realizes who is behind the murders and Alastair's escape: Uriel. Uriel had killed the angels who refused to join him in releasing Lucifer, and had freed Alastair to kill Dean and keep the blame on the demons. When Castiel refuses to join him, Uriel tries to kill him, but is killed by Anna instead, saving Castiel. Afterward, Castiel visits Dean in the hospital and confirms that Dean broke the first seal with his actions in Hell. Dean is left shattered by the revelation, telling Castiel to find someone else to save the world, because he can't.
7717"It's a Terrible Life"James L. ConwaySera GambleMarch 26, 2009 (2009-03-26)3T75173.13[17]
Dean Smith is a sales director and Sam Wesson is a tech support associate at a company. With no memory of who they really are, Sam experiences dreams about fighting ghosts and vampires with Dean. They are brought together when Sam's co-workers start becoming obsessed with work, committing suicide, and Dean sees a ghost. Using advice from the Ghostfacers website, Sam and Dean learn how to defeat the ghost. Afterwards, Sam wants to take up a life of hunting, but Dean declines and rudely ends their partnership. The next day, Sam dramatically quits his job while Dean, after being offered a promotion by his boss, reconsiders and decides to quit as well. But his boss reveals himself to be the angel Zachariah (Kurt Fuller), who after restoring Dean's memories, explains the whole thing was to show Dean that he is meant to be a hunter.
7818"The Monster at the End of This Book"Mike RohlStory by : Julie Siege & Nancy Weiner
Teleplay by : Julie Siege		April 2, 2009 (2009-04-02)3T75183.27[18]
Sam and Dean are shocked to discover a book entitled Supernatural that accurately details their lives. They track down the author of the book, who turns out to be a prophet named Chuck Shurley (Rob Benedict). Once he realizes who they are, Chuck explains he has visions of the brothers that he then turns into cheesy novels. Chuck reveals that he had a vision of this encounter, and had also had a vision of Lilith coming for Sam. Lilith (Katherine Boecher) finds Sam alone, but neither have the power yet to harm each other. Having lost her desire to free Lucifer once she learned that she is destined to die right before the Apocalypse, Lilith suggests that Sam give her his and Dean's lives in exchange for her ceasing her attacks on the seals. When Sam tries to stab her with Ruby's knife instead, the two attempt to kill each other, only for Dean and Chuck to rush in on the confrontation. Earlier, Castiel had discreetly informed Dean that if Chuck were to be put in danger, the archangel protecting him would intervene to destroy the threat; taking heed of his advice, Dean brings Chuck to Lilith, with the resulting archangel appearance chasing the demon off and saving Sam. At the end of the episode, Chuck has a horrible vision of the future, but Zachariah prevents him from telling Sam and Dean about it. Hopeless, Chuck contemplates suicide, but Zachariah dismisses the idea by saying that he would only bring Chuck back to life, and tells Chuck to just keep writing.
7919"Jump the Shark"Phil SgricciaAndrew Dabb & Daniel LoflinApril 23, 2009 (2009-04-23)3T75192.70[19]
In Windom, Minnesota, a 19-year-old boy named Adam calls Sam and Dean looking for their father, John, claiming to be his son. Dean and Sam suspect that Adam is a monster trying to lure them into a trap, but find out that John was indeed the boy's father. Unlike his half-brothers, Adam has had no experience with hunting or the supernatural until the recent disappearance of his mother. Sam tries to teach Adam to hunt so that he may defend himself in the future. Dean goes alone to find the thing that killed Adam's mother and is trying to kill Adam. Eventually, he gets trapped in a crypt with no way out, where he finds the real Adam's corpse; the Adam that is with Sam is the ghoul who killed and ate Adam to take on his form. The ghoul and his sister, in the form of Adam's mother, ambush Sam. They had wanted revenge on John for killing their parents years ago, but since they cannot kill him as he had already died in the second season, they decide to kill his remaining sons instead. Dean returns in time to kill the ghouls and save Sam from being eaten alive. Afterward, they give Adam a hunter's funeral to honor the half-brother they never knew.
8020"The Rapture"Charles BeesonJeremy CarverApril 30, 2009 (2009-04-30)3T75202.95[20]
Castiel appears to Dean in a dream and says he has something important to tell him, but that they need to meet somewhere private. At the meeting spot, however, Sam and Dean find Castiel’s human vessel, Jimmy Novak, instead, who cannot recall what Castiel wanted to tell Dean. They speculate that Castiel has been attacked by other angels and dragged back to Heaven, where Anna fears that he will receive a terrible punishment for whatever he found out and wanted to tell Dean. Jimmy tries to return to his family and normal life, despite Dean and Sam's concerns about his and his family's safety. Their fears prove true when demons aim to capture Jimmy by possessing his wife and kidnapping his daughter. Sam, Dean, and Jimmy are captured trying to rescue them and Jimmy is shot. However, Castiel possesses Jimmy's daughter and he and Sam kill the demons. Sam, whose powers are failing from a lack of demon blood, drinks blood from a demon in front of a horrified Dean and Castiel, so that he can exorcise Jimmy's wife. Not wanting his daughter to have to suffer as Castiel's vessel, Jimmy has Castiel possess him once again, but Castiel refuses to tell Dean what he wanted to talk to him about, having learned his "lesson" that he serves Heaven and not humanity and certainly not Dean. Dean and Bobby then trick Sam and lock him in Bobby's panic room to detox from the demon blood which he is now addicted to.
8121"When the Levee Breaks"Robert SingerSera GambleMay 7, 2009 (2009-05-07)3T75212.79[21]
Dean and Bobby lock Sam in Bobby’s panic room so he can detox from the demon blood, where Sam suffers from withdrawal symptoms, including hallucinations of being tortured by Alastair (Heyerdahl), berated by his teenage self (Ford), receiving support from his mother (Samantha Smith), and being rejected by Dean. As Bobby sees more seals are being broken, he tells Dean they should let Sam out to help them fight the impending Apocalypse. Dean disagrees and goes to Castiel for help. Castiel tells Dean that he must swear to serve God in order to save Sam, and Dean does so. However, Castiel goes behind the hunters' backs to secretly free Sam from the panic room for an unknown purpose. When Anna confronts him on it, Castiel turns her over to other angels to be taken to Heaven for punishment, still without explaining his motives for releasing Sam. Sam tries to dodge Dean and Bobby, and feeds on Ruby, who says that she has been missing because she has been working to uncover more information on Lilith. She reveals that few seals remain to be broken, and that only Lilith can break the last seal. Dean finally finds the couple; he tries to kill Ruby, and, when Sam defends her, has a blowout confrontation with Sam about the dark choices Sam has been making, calling him a monster. The two brawl violently, ending with Sam leaving with Ruby after Dean tells him to never come back.
8222"Lucifer Rising"Eric KripkeEric KripkeMay 14, 2009 (2009-05-14)3T75222.89[22]
Sam and Ruby capture Lilith's minion (Juliana Wimbles) to question her on Lilith's whereabouts. Once they get the information, Ruby stops Sam from killing the minion because she wants him to drink another demon's blood in addition to her own. Sam hesitates to kill the innocent person being possessed, but gives in after hearing a supernaturally-altered voicemail from Dean in which "Dean" threatens to kill Sam the next time he sees him. Meanwhile, Dean is transported to a room without any exits, where Zachariah explains to him that high-ranking angels such as himself are not trying to stop the final seal from being broken, in fact, they have secretly been manipulating events to start the Apocalypse, for they believe that it will cleanse the earth and bring Paradise. Dean's task is not stopping the Apocalypse from starting, but ending it once it has. Dean is furious at Castiel for deceiving him. Although Castiel refuses to help at first, he changes his mind and helps Dean escape, banishing Zachariah with a blood sigil. After getting Sam's location from Chuck, Castiel transports Dean there while he stays behind to confront Chuck's archangel. Dean arrives in time to see Sam confronting and overpowering Lilith, but Ruby keeps him from warning Sam that Lilith's death is in fact the final seal. Goaded by both Lilith and Ruby, Sam kills Lilith with his powers, unwittingly breaking the final seal. Ruby then reveals that she has been deceiving Sam all along to lead him to this moment, having worked for Lucifer the whole time. When Dean finally manages to break in, Sam distracts Ruby by grabbing and holding her in place so that Dean is able to kill her with her own knife. With the last seal broken, the brothers look on in terror as Lucifer begins to emerge from his opened cage.

Production

The mythology was expanded even more in the fourth season with the introduction of angels. While Kripke originally did not want angels to be featured in the series,[23] he changed his mind when he realized that he needed them in order to have a "cosmic battle" with the many demons.[24] With this concept added into the series' mythology, the writers came to view the show as being "about two greasers and a muscle car, but the canvas that they're on are demons and angels and battles and the apocalypse..."[24] While it was originally intended for the fourth season to feature an "all-out demon war", budget cuts forced the writers to change their plans, making it "smaller, more contained, underground, more guerrilla-style". Kripke feels this ended up benefiting the series, believing the brothers-centric episodes to be more interesting than the "epic" ones of the third season. Thus, the war was depicted in the writers' "scruffy, angsty, Supernatural way" while focusing more on the characters.[25] The writing staff felt that the fourth season's mythology had been the best since the first season.[26]

Reception

Season 4 received highly positive reviews and is the best reviewed season of the series. The review aggregator website Rotten Tomatoes reported a 100% approval rating for Supernatural's fourth season, with an average rating of 8.7/10 based on 8 reviews.[27]

gollark: Yes, you have complained about how people might not take vulnerability reports seriously, but that is not an excuse to just not make any.
gollark: But deliberately hoarding vulnerabilities is an active threat to the security of everything.
gollark: I mean, not releasing your software is... your choice, it's your stuff, I might not really like it but I don't consider it particularly bees.
gollark: !quote 723983650043199568
gollark: If you have useful, popular tools you can probably get PRs for them, and it saves people working in the same field from just implementing their own versions.

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