The Show
Over the course of The Complete Second Season of Supernatural, The Winchesters are closing in on Azazel, the demon responsible for the death of Sam and Dean's mother decades ago, setting the family on their grim path. There are revelations aplenty about why he visited their quiet, happy home that fateful night, who he had come to see and why Mrs. W. had to die.
With the help of dad's journal, the boys in the Impala continue saving people and hunting nasty entities and enchanted thingamajigs as their journey progresses. By the two-part season finale (low ratings for this sophomore year actually put the entire series' future in question, no longer an issue with Season Seven currently in production), we discover what's so special about Sam and why it matters, leading to an epic battle and the latest in a long line of painful sacrifices.
Kudos to Warner for going back and helping us fill in our collections with this one missing "catalog" season not previously released on Blu-ray, which originally ran from September 2006 to May 2007. Season Six set to debut on high-def disc on September 13th.
The Picture
This was the second season to be shot on 35mm film, whereas recent episodes have long since made the switch to digital video. The VC-1 bitrate here ranges from the teens through the 20s (megabits-per-second), yielding a 16:9 image that at times is quite noisy and grainy, with backgrounds often reduced to artificial-looking blobs from the necessary compression. Blacks too tend to be unpleasantly flat and mushy, while the quality of the digital special effects ranges runs the gamut from passable to "Meh." Subtle points such as pores and wrinkles are plainly evident, textures are well-preserved, and even fine text is legible in still-frame.
The Sound
As happens with many a Warner TV Blu-ray release, the audio here is a relatively low-resolution 48 kHz/640 kbps Dolby Digital 5.1. It offers a fine spread across the soundstage and ample discrete touches that help to keep this mix surprising, further marked by a respectable if not booming bass emphasis. Convincing echo here and there and an eerie whooshing of spirits also work to keep us in the proper mood. The music--original score and rock classics--is well mixed throughout the season. The finale, particularly Part Two has some huge action moments but they are not fully realized in this soundtrack.
The Extras
"Virtually all-new" for Blu-ray is another edition of "The Devil's Road Map," an interactive guide to the season with a useful video introduction. All 22 episodes are thoroughly explored, a rare feat for a TV on BD set, especially years after its original airing. We can select little pods of cast and crew interviews, featurettes and actual supernatural reports, even an Easter egg if we pay attention, again with a geographic theme. Most of this content appears to be at 1080i/60Hz quality. Disc Four in this set also supports BD-Live connectivity.
The rest of the bonus material is borrowed from past releases, with all of the video in standard definition. Three promotional "webisodes" are collected, 13 minutes total, in addition to actor Jared Padalecki's original screen test for the role of Sam Winchester, about eight hazy minutes. The gag reel will set you back about another nine minutes.
There is audio commentary on the season premiere, "In My Time of Dying," by stars Padalecki and Jensen Ackles, executive producer/director Kim Manners and producer Cyrus Yavneh, another on "What Is and What Should Never Be" by creator/executive producer/director Eric Kripke, and a third on "All Hell Breaks Loose, Part One" by Kripke, executive producer/director Robert Singer and writer Sera Gamble. A total of seven deleted scenes of various lengths have been compiled from across four different episodes.
Final Thoughts
The central mystery was resolved in grand fashion here after only two seasons, but the climactic events also set up lots more brotherly trouble. It was a tough year for them but a welcome one for fans of Supernatural in HD, finally available in respectable Blu-ray quality and with a welcome refresh and enhancement of the extras.
Product Details
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