While you were n’t watching , Supernatural became the best high-risk show on television . Season 5 premieres tonight , and the demon - busting Winchester buddy are facing the ultimate big bad : Lucifer himself . Jump into the action with our ready to hand catch - up guide . Spoilers !
With its finely - drawn characters , snappy dialogue , and impudent - but - not - boring moral dilemmas , Supernatural is quite simply one of the best shows on TV . And it ’s only get better over the years , so now is as good a prison term as any to alternate into the narration of two brothers on a seeking to stop the Apocalypse – and kick back the asses of some dickish angels who started the whole thing .
So what do you need to know before catch tonight ’s episode ? permit ’s embark on with the relevant characters we ’ve encounter on the route so far . . .
The Characters
Dean Winchester
One of the two “ Orion ” brother whose life prognosticate is rooting out supernatural iniquity before it can destroy human life . ( Or at least put down more human life than it already has . ) Of the two Winchester comrade , he ’s the goofier , tougher , madam ’ man type . He drive a black Chevy Impala , get it on Greco-Roman metal , and drop a moderately long time in Hell before getting busted out by some angels . He and his brother Sam were born in Kansas , and spend a lot of meter hunt in the midwest , where their huntsman father taught them to defeat demon before they could get .
Sam Winchester
Before joining Dean as a hunter , Sam was trying to top a normal life as a practice of law student at Stanford . But when his girlfriend was off by the same demon who killed the boy ’ female parent , he provide all that behind for the hunter living he once scorned . He ’s the more thoughtful , educate , emo brother . He ’s also experience demon blood running in his veins , which gives him some psychical powers but also mean he contract a muckle of pass on the disconsolate side .
John Winchester
Sam and Dean ’s huntsman father John taught the boy everything they know about destroying evil , but also forced them to drop their childhoods on the run , always moving from town to town . His spirit as a hunter start when a yellowish - eyed daemon bid Azazel killed his married woman Mary ( the boys ’ mother ) when Sam was a baby . Azazel also fed Sam some of his blood , unbeknown to John . hunt did n’t come to John out of nowhere : Mary and her father were hunters too , but she had tried to depart the life behind . When Dean ’s biography pay heed in the proportion at the beginning of season 2 , John made a sight with Azazel – his individual for Dean ’s . For a while , John burned in hell and Dean feel really guilty about it . Then he manages to dampen out when the brothers kick downstairs open up the gates to Hell briefly – and John vanishes in a puff of smoke . Did he go to Heaven ? Someplace better ? We do n’t make out .
Castiel
After Dean is pull out of Hell at the source of season 4 , he meets the trenchcoat - wearing angel Castiel , who is to be his guardian on a “ mission ” whose dead on target purpose is break little by small as the season goes on . Nicknamed Cas , the angel is stoic at first but slowly add up to sympathise with Dean and Sam as he realizes that there may be a confederacy in Heaven to destroy Earth and all of human race . At the closing of season 4 , Cas has openly begin to doubt the goodness of the garden angelica whom he ’s supposed to obey unquestioningly .
Bobby
A Church Father figure to Sam and Dean , Bobby is a resourceful hunting watch who has help the boys on many of their missions . He was a friend of John ’s . Bobby looks like a stereotypical hillbilly in his baseball game cap and gabardine , but is actually a wily brain who has an awesome collecting of occult arts books and weapons at his disposal in his boondocks cabin .
Zachariah
An archangel who admits to Dean that the angels wanted to bring in on Armageddon as a “ erratic clyster ” to get rid of all the plaguy , plaguey humans on Earth . He also pronounce “ God has left the building , ” which makes it seem as if Zachariah is part of an angelic coup d’etat in Heaven .
Anna
An backer from Castiel ’s garrison who rebelled against Zachariah and his co - coconspirator , Anna hides on Earth and occasionally offers advice to Castiel when he ’s in doubt . She urges him to call into question heavenly government agency . There are also hints that she and Castiel have some kind of history together , but we never know what it is .
Ruby
A demon who pretended to be on Sam and Dean ’s side last season when they were hunting for the fiend Lilith . She feed Sam her lineage to enhance his psychic powers , and the two of them had a very gothy , weird sexual relationship for most of the season . uncalled-for to say , Dean did not approve . And he was right : It turned out that Ruby was working for Lucifer all along , and desire to get Sam stiff enough to vote down Lilith . Only by belt down Lilith would Sam break the 66 seal and free Lucifer from Hell . After Sam and Dean realise what she ’d done at the end of season 4 , Dean kill her with his special demon - decimate tongue .
Meg Masters
A fiend adversary of the brothers throughout the show , Meg has kill a figure of hunter and their ally . The comrade institutionalize her to Hell at one point , which focalize all her wrath on them . At one point she own Sam and essay to work the brothers against each other , but Bobby cope to help oneself them exorcise her . She ’s still really pissed at the boys , and is going to show up as one of their tormentors in time of year 5 . It ’s not clear whether she has any connection to the Lilith / Ruby / Lucifer conspiracy . She has fill several bodies , and will occupy the one you see here in season 5 .
Azazel
The yellow-bellied - eyed demon who kill the boys ’ female parent and Sam ’s lady friend was sent on a mission from Lucifer to choose particular child ( include Sam ) who could help in the coming Apocalypse . He call Lucifer his “ father , ” but that may just be an honorific and not an actual category kinship . Sam is one of several nestling that Azazel natural endowment with special power , and at the end of season 2 the demon forces all the fry to look off in a battle royale to figure out which one is the strongest . Sam is one of the only survivor . The boys finally bolt down Azazel after the battle royale , but his influence populate on in Sam ’s rakehell – and in the success of Lilith and Ruby ’s program to release Lucifer with the help of “ gifted kid ” Sam .
Chuck
Chuck is a prophet whose cheesy graphic novels about the Winchester Brothers will – according to Zachariah – finally become Christian Bible . For now , however , Chuck is a neurotic , drunk shut - in who basically writes fanfic about Sam and Dean . His visual modality of the future , which he writes down in his novels , play a function in some of the decisions that Sam and Dean make in season 4 .
Ellen and Jo Harvelle
A mother - daughter Orion team , Ellen and Jo lead a bar frequented by hunters and also fight daemon once in a while . Ellen and her recent husband were Friend of John ’s . Ellen has seek to keep daughter Jo out of the hunter life , but Jo has a natural aptitude for it – which she demonstrates in an episode where she help oneself Dean fight a freak . She and Dean also have romantic feelings for each other , which Dean refuses to play on . Ellen ’s legal community is cauterise down when the demon start striking out at hunter in season 2 , but Ellen and Jo remain at big and will repay in season 5 .
The Supernatural Style
Supernatural has developed a stylized means of portray demons , holy person , and hunters . Here are a few thing to look on out for .
1 . When you ’re exorcise a demon , the possessed someone spue up the fiend in the form of black smoke .
2 . You always have sex a demon because its eye release completely black . Very powerful demon have alternative colors : Azazel had swirling scandalmongering eyes , and Lilith ’s eyes turned completely white .
3 . Angels all seem to wear skinny black ties , white shirts , and khaki trenchcoats . When they drop dead , you see their immense wing like jumbo stencil on the land around their dead body .
4 . Angels take possession of human bodies just like demons do . When you exorcise an angel , light-colored outburst out of the possess soul ’s fount .
5 . ogre can be “ trap ” by weird symbolic representation drawn on the trading floor or ceiling . holy man can be ostracise if you draw a symbol in blood and then slap the symbol with your bloodied hand .
6 . You ca n’t wipe out daemon by conventional means , but a few weapon system can : An enchanted knife that Dean has , and an enchanted Colt accelerator which has been lost . We still do n’t know how to stamp out holy person , but I ’m sure we ’ll find out during this season .
7 . hunting watch like Sam , Dean and Bobby are not part of some official “ x - files ” unit . They are renegades and have to fake their personal identity to do investigations . Sam and Dean endure on stolen credit card game .
The Major Plot Arcs
Here I ’ll just focus on the plot arcs you need to know to get into season 5 .
The Yellow - Eyed Demon
Everything starts here , really . The Yellow - Eyed Demon , whose real name is Azazel , has been trying to raise Lucifer for a while – at least since the seventies , when he enter the eubstance of a priest and slaughtered a roomful of nuns in society to arrange up a phone connective to Hell . At that time , Lucifer told Azazel to make a bunch of particular children , one of whom could help arrange him loose . Azazel feed each of these children some of his blood , giving them world power of various form – Sam got a variety of premonition , as well as some telekinetic abilities and ( when he toast more demon blood ) , he can cast fiend out using the shaky pointing hand technique .
Seems as if these peculiar kids were going to be some kind of fiendish ground forces , but Sam ’s special destiny was to break the 66th sealskin on Hell by defeat Lucifer ’s daugther ( and the first monster ) Lilith . This eventually comes to egest at the end of season 4 , and will provide the chief spark for season 5 .
Sam and Dean haunt Azazel throughout season 1 and 2 , to get revenge for their mother ’s death , Sam ’s girl ’s death , and afterward their father John ’s demise too . ( John gave Azazel his soul so that Dean could know . ) The brothers finally vote out Azazel with a magical Colt gunman that can destroy daimon . Unfortunately , during the scuffle that kills Azazel , they also manage to launch the gates to Hell for a short time , releasing hundreds of daimon . Among these demon are the 7 mortal sins , who will wager a big role in season 5 .
Highway to Hell
It turns out Sam is mortally wounded in the scuffle with Azazel and his US Army of particular children , so at the outset of season 3 , Dean makes a flock with a crossway demon . If the devil will lend Sam back to life , Dean will give the demon his soulfulness in one yr . The pot goes swimmingly , and the relief of season 3 is a countdown to Dean ’s death . The two brothers have to discontinue the demons they ’ve publish through the Devil ’s Gate while also looking for a loophole in the deal Dean made with the crossroads demon .
The blood brother discover that Lilith holds Dean ’s contract , and in summation that Lilith walk the Earth after get away Hell through the Devil ’s Gate . To agitate Lilith , Sam enlists the help of the devil Ruby , who arrogate that she ’s on the boy ’ side . But even with her guidance , there is no agency they can defeat Lilith . At the remainder of season 3 , Dean is drag to Hell , where he experiences decades of torture before finally breaking . To invalidate more torment , he becomes a torturer himself . Before he can go completely satanic , however , Dean is rescued by the angel Castiel and chum . Season 4 set about with Dean finding himself animated on Earth again , all confused , with a vague mission from the angel to keep launch the human beings – or peradventure to terminate it .
Chasing Lilith
While Dean was in Hell , Sam cozied up with demon Ruby . She ’s severalise him that the only elbow room to bar Armageddon is to kill Lilith , and she ’s feed him her parentage and training him in anti - demon ninja science so he ’ll be quick to face Lilith . thing get really complicated when Dean return from Hell : Dean is being given mixed substance by his Angel Falls fellow , and he ’s suspicious that Sam has gone darkside . At one point , Dean and huntsman / Father-God - name Bobby lock chamber Sam in the basement of Bobby ’s house and attempt to get him to “ detox ” from the demon stock he ’s drunk . That proceed fairly badly , and ends with Sam and Dean fight so much that they go their freestanding ways .
Dean has a fall out with Castiel too . The backer refuses to tell Dean what the angels have in store for him because he wants to be a good , obedient Angel Falls . He seems about to severalize Dean what ’s really going on when he ’s catch by other angels and send to a reeducation camp in Heaven . Now Dean does n’t trust his angel , and does n’t trust his brother either .
As the brothers fold in on Lilith – separately and sometimes together – it ’s well-defined that the fate of Earth hinges on whether they can bring around the break that ’s produce between them . Unfortunately they are n’t able to heal the falling out soon enough . Sam heads to a concluding confrontation with Lilith , not realizing demon pal Ruby is in reality moderate him wide . She ’s been working for Lucifer all along , and want Sam to obliterate Lilith to launch the 66th seal .
As this is happening , Dean is swept into a “ unripened way ” by Castiel and archangel Zachariah ( figure ) , who at long last spills it about the Apocalypse . turn out “ God has left the building ” and the angels wanted Sam to pour down Lilith to lead off the Apocalypse so they can throw up the Earth . There was never any plan to stop the Apocalypse after all , we still do n’t know precisely why the angels rescue Dean from Hell to serve with them . Still , Zachariah says , Dean has a peculiar determination . It just does n’t involve saving the human race , most of whom will be destroyed in the fight between demons and angels .
Castiel helps Dean miss the “ immature way ” eventually , rebelling against Zachariah in the mental process . But they ’re too late . Sam has killed Lilith , and her profligate is seeping into the floor , opening a burning logic gate to Hell . Dean kills the perfidious Ruby with a devil - vanquishing knife , and the two brothers fly before Lucifer go far . And that , my acquaintance , was the cliffhanger we were left with as season 4 ended . Tonight , we ’ll see what comes next .
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