In the midst of this television season's coverage of "Lost"'s fall from grace and eventual comeback and the big waves made by "Heroes", not to mention the slew of increasingly brazen reality TV saturating the market this gem of a show got lost in the shuffle. Season one was a solid start for the show, full of monster-and-hottie-of-the-week stories that stood alone while very slowly giving us an inkling of a larger plot at work before ending with a glorious cliffhanger. The music was wonderful, the guest stars brilliant, and the homages to classic and modern horror were thick. If you missed it, now's the time to catch up because season two is a winner in every possible way. The first episode is among the greatest season openers I've ever had the pleasure of viewing and it shakes this show to it's very core and sets the tone for the entire year's events. From there, Sam and Dean set out to get revenge for their deceased family members and save as many people as they can along the way. Second verse, same as the first, right? Well, no, not quite. We still get our monsters-of-the-week and our cute guest stars and our classic rock soundtrack, but the tone of this season is so much darker and the events so traumatic that the stakes just seem to be on a whole other level. Friendships are made and broken, loyalties are tested, long-standing beliefs are challenged, all three Winchesters fight for their very souls, and almost nobody's getting out whole. This season is a tooth-and-nail battle for survival and while it still has a hefty dose of the humor that made the first season so much fun, it's obvious that this show is no longer just playing around at having a larger plot. This is the real deal. Among the baddies met along the way are more vampires (one played by an almost unrecongnizable Amber Benson of "Buffy" fame), a rogue hunter, a living dead girl, a female werewolf (in the most heart-wrenching episode of any show I've seen this season), a deal-making demon for those who remember the legend of Robert Johnson, some of Sam's fellow "gifted" children (we do learn their secret), and a Norse trickster god to name a few. The music, if anything, has gotten better this season and so have the guest stars. My favorite guest performance has got to be the loveable Katherine Isabel from cult-classic werewolf flick "Ginger Snaps" who shows up twice and inspires adoration in every frame she's in. If you missed this show on the CW, shame on you; now buy this set. If you missed the first season buy that set too. This show is so good I'd hate to see it die because nobody bothered to watch it for themselves. These kinds of shows are notoriously short-lived and the television big-wigs have little patience for them so when one of this caliber gets on the air and stays on the air, we need to keep it that way in every way we can. Support horror, sci-fi, and fantasy television now, and we'll be rewarded with more later. I hope.

Supernatural stormed onto the WB last season and was a rip roarin' thrill ride with amazing writing, mythology, and acting. With this second season, the series moved to it's new home on the CW, and the series continued to evolve and become even better and deeper. Season 2 of the series finds the Winchester Brothers continue to drive into a horrific tale every week, as well as trying to work out their own story arc, and to find that blasted yellow eyed demon. This year, we delve deeper into the characters of Sam and Dean, wonderfully played Jensen Ackles and Jared Padalecki. There are deeper layers to both, and the series' work on character development this year is phenomenal. Both brothers go thru the ringer emotionally, mentally, and physically this year, and the show doesn't cheat or let them or anyone else off the hook. The year starts off with "In My Time Of Dying", a pick up where we left off with last season's cliffhanger. Are the boys okay?. The car?. Dad?. A more subtle, less showy premiere. "Everybody Loves A Clown" gets back into season 1 territory with a creepy clown going after parents. Real creepy stuff. Some of the best episodes have to do with the show's mythology. "Hunted" is one of the strongest eps of the show ever. "Born Under A Bad Sign" antes up the pot dealing with Sam and what the yellow eyes demon has in store for him. "What Is And What Should Never Be" is one of the most emotional shows with Dean getting a look at what life would be like if they weren't hunters. The two part finale, "All Hell Breaks Loose", is rightfully titled. Amazing stuff. SN delivers two hysterical comedic episodes with "Tall Tales" and "Hollywood Babylon", the latter being stuffed with jokes, in-jokes, and Dean's nasty food habit. Other notable eps include "Croatoan", "Heart", and the great "Folsom Prison Blues". Linda Blair guest stars in "The Usual Suspects", a strong episode that brings to light what we've all probably wondered. How can they get away with these things and not get caught?. Creator/Producer Eric Kripke knows how to work the audience and to keep things real in an unrealistic word the Winchesters live in. Dean and Sam are who they are and their continuing development in this wonderful season progress naturaly. Both actors do some incredible work here, putting most other CW casts to shame. Any duds?. "Road Kill" was pretty standard, and I didn't care much for "Simon Said". Extras include JP's screen test, deleted scenes, gag reel, a featurette on the myths they use and a featurette on bringing an episode to life. With it's classic rock soundtrack, the impossible to ignore Dean Winchester, top notch horror writing and mythology, Supernatural continues to be the new supernatural/horror show to beat.

Supernatural is a show about family, loyalty, faith and doubt, and commitment to a cause and to one another, all wrapped in a terrifically acted, beautifully filmed, and gorgeously color-graded monster-of-the-week show. It's the best thing on television since Buffy or Firefly or X-Files, and as much as I adore and respect those shows (I own them all and am glad of it), in my opinion Supernatural is better than any of them. The entire cast does a flawless job, the relationships are both achingly complicated and refreshingly simple, and the writers don't shy away from hard questions or harder answers. Loyalty to your family trumps everything, and you don't have to save the world every week, just the people you can.

I can't recommend it highly enough.