Let’s Review Season One Again!

True Confession:  This has been the most difficult season to recap because So. Much. Happens. in Season Two!

We meet important people.  (Ellen, Jo, Andy, Gordon Walker, Ava, Jake, Victor, The Trickster!)  Even more important people die.  (Some of the deaths are permanent and others not so much.)

But again, in trying to include only the important bits from Season Two that impact the rest of the series I brutally cut my summary down to the following:

1.  John Winchester dies

Dean is near death after the Season One-ending car crash so John summons the Yellow-Eyed Demon and makes a deal – his life (sentencing his soul to Hell) and the demon-killing Colt revolver in exchange for Dean’s survival

2.  We find out why the Yellow-Eyed Demon killed Mary

It turns out the Demon was targeting Sam Winchester the entire time and saw both Mary and Jessica as barriers to his plan to turn Sam evil.  Yellow-eyes includes Sam in a group of “special kids” he’s been watching since their birth.  He plans to use this group to help him open the doors to Hell, free all of his little demon friends and wreak havoc on the world at large.  (I suppose you have to love a demon that thinks big…) Sam has recently exhibited psychic abilities which puts him in the “special” category, but with the help of big brother Dean, he could never turn evil.

3.  Sam Dies

Yup.  You read that right.  Sam Winchester – our epic hero and one half of the headlining Winchester Brothers dies in his brothers’  arms on the next-to-last episode of the season.  And it is a brutal, tear-jerking death.

So how does Sam die? Well, the Yellow-Eyed Demon pulls together all of his special kids and tells them that they must battle one another to the death and only the strongest will survive.  Sam and Jake are the only two left standing.  Sam tries to reason with Jake to team up and fight the Demon together.  Jake disagrees and knifes Sam in the back just as Dean and Bobby run in for the rescue.

4. Sam doesn’t really die

Did you really think this show could last six more seasons with a dead Winchester brother?  Of course not!  Instead, Dean borrows a page from his father’s book, summons a demon and trades his life for his brother’s.  He does get a better deal, though:  one year to live before the demon comes to collect his soul and take it to Hell.

5. All Hell Breaks Loose (temporarily)

While Dean is busy mourning Sam and Sam is busy… well… being dead and all, Jake and the Yellow-Eyed Demon are busy opening up the gates of Hell.  Luckily, the Winchesters, Bobby and their hunter friend Ellen get there in time to close the doors before too many ugly creatures crawl through the gates.

On a positive note, one of the souls that managed to make it out while the doors are open is John Winchester, himself.  Still dead, he at least manages to ascend to Heaven where he is presumably spending the afterlife with his beloved Mary.

With his help, Dean kills the Yellow-Eyed Demon thus avenging his parents’ deaths and Sam kills Jake which weirdly avenges his own.

In conclusion:  Interestingly, this is the only season of Supernatural that ends without a cliffhanger of one or more Winchesters in immediate peril.  That’s because they really didn’t think the show would be picked up for a third season and wanted to make sure they wrapped up enough storylines to satisfy fans if it didn’t come back while still leaving enough threads to pick up next season.

Luckily, the show was renewed and I’ll be back soon to share what happened during Season Three!