Supernatural Official Site 

The Time: Thursdays, 9:00 PM, The CW

The Show:

Sam and Dean Winchester are two brothers who roam the back roads of America in a 1967 Chevy Impala hunting evil.  At first they fought all of the usual: vampires, ghosts, werewolves and the like, but in recent yeas they’ve found themselves more and more dealing with the literal forces of Hell as a demon war has been brewing for decades, with their family caught in the middle.  Sam has been pre-ordained from birth by a past foe, the yellow-eyed demon, Azazel, to be a pivotal figure in the war…on the demon side.  Meanwhile, Dean has recently been resurrected from Hell, by Angels because they have work for him to do.

The Stars:

•  Jared Padalecki – Sam Winchester
•  Jensen Ackles – Dean Winchester

The Episode: “Wishful Thinking”

Sam and Dean investigate a town in Washington State that has a wishing well that really works.  But when the wishes start turning bad on the wishers, including a giant, alcoholic teddy bear, The Winchesters have to find the person who made the first wish and get him/her to take it back.

The Lowdown:

Supernatural has never had a down period so far in its four-year-run.  It’s been a solid performer, picking up the mantle of both Angel and X-Files and running with it.  Its mythology has been growing solidly and steadily, and has taken a big jump this season with the emergence of actual Angels of the Lord, which hadn’t been seen by man in over 2,000 years.  They’re on Earth because Lilith, an powerful demon who likes to inhabit little girls, is breaking the 66 Seals that keep Lucifer imprisoned.  The angels resurrected Dean – who made a deal with a demon for Sam’s life in Season 2 – from Hell to rejoin Sam to continue their fight to keep this from happening. 

This is one of the lighter episodes, with the Winchesters being flummoxed by a town in which everyone’s wishes from a wishing well were coming true for seemingly no reason…until they discover that a wishing well is working a little too…  well.  Easily the best moment in the entire episode is when Sam and Dean discover that a creature that left Bigfoot-like footprints is actually a giant teddy bear that a little girl wished would come to life.  However, they soon discover that the wishes eventually sour, and the loveable bear that the girl conjured becomes a porn-loving, hard drinking suicide case.  The look on the Winchesters’ faces is laugh-out-loud funny when they discover this. 

The episode gets extra genre cred for having Ted Raimi guest star as a man who wished that his crush who has no knowledge of him fall madly in love with him.  The downside of his wish is that she not only falls in love with him, but becomes obsessed with him to the point of murder – of one of the Winchesters.  Other notable wishers are a kid who gains super strength to combat bullies and takes it out on Dean and another kid who likes to become invisible in a ladies’ shower.  We also discover something important about Dean’s experience with his time in Hell.  There’s also a really nice shout out to Office Space when Dean and Sam are eating in a restaurant. 

Season 4 is continuing to be an excellent one for Supernatural.  I have what is probably a fairly common theory about where the show is going with Sam and Dean and the war between Heaven and hell.  Invisotext on: I think that Sam and Dean are going to end up on opposite sides of the war.  Furthermore, I think that Sam’s continued use of his demonic abilities is priming him to be the vessel for Lucifer when he is released.  I think the angels know this is a possibility, which is why they demanded he stop.  Time will tell.  Invisotext off.  Dean’s revelation about Hell was particularly good at the end of the show.  Damn, this show is genre TV at its best.

8.7 out of 10