Lindsey McKeon as Tess(S02E01)

If we learned one thing from Buffy, it’s that fighting demons is hard. The Winchester boys have it even harder. Along with battling all manner of supernatural foes, this year they also face off against C.S.I. and Grey’s Anatomy. It’s a tough draw, but I think this is the right kind of show to do it.

We pick up season two right where we left season one. Dean, Sam, and John have just been t-boned by a semi. That much I expected, but I was caught a little off guard by where the episode headed after that. Probably because of the action-packed two part season one finale, I thought we would jump right back into a fast moving episode. That wasn’t the case, but it worked out nicely in the end.

Things were a little slow to start as we find out the condition of each of the Winchesters. Sam is up and about, John is laid up but looks to be ok, and Dean is touch and go. Eventually that led us into the rogue reaper storyline which I bought hook, line, and sinker. I was sure we were going to see Sam saving Dean from the reaper somehow, and I was happily surprised when they went the other direction.

Guest star Lindsey McKeon was really good as Tess. I still miss Meg, because she was a great baddy, but I’ll take Tess as a substitute. The scene with her and Dean discussing why he had to go, and what would happen if he didn’t was terrific. It was an interesting choice to show us a spirit that isn’t inherently evil. Tess was just your average every day reaper going about her job. Assuming reapers can be average and every day.

Supernatural - The DemonI also really liked the scene with John and the demon. I didn’t think there was much surprise in what the additional condition would be, but John saying "I want to make a deal." was a shocking twist. They also managed to drop that little nugget of just what it is about Sam, and the other children like him, that is so special in again. A mystery I am guessing we can look forward to learning more about in the future.

While they did telegraph the ending with the extra condition, before that happened I actually thought John would be around a bit more this season. With Jeffrey Dean Morgan’s Grey’s gig ending last year it seemed to make sense that we would see more of him on Supernatural. I think it’s clear that while he won’t be there as a character, he will still factor heavily into the story as Sam and Dean deal with his death, and continue his work.

And that brings up one of the things that I think Supernatural really gets right. It’s always a battle in shows like this to balance the overall story of the series with the monster of the week aspect. Over the first season they handled it very well. I am expecting the same sort of pacing for this second season, and really looking forward to the ride.

Overall, this was a good start to Supernatural’s sophomore season. They managed to tie up the cliffhanger from season one, put some of the blocks in place for season two, and do it all in a new and interesting way. Crime Scene what?