# Supernatural season 4

The fourth season of Supernatural, an American dark fantasy television series created by Eric Kripke, premiered September 18, 2008, and concluded on May 14, 2009, on The CW.
This season focuses on brothers Sam (Jared Padalecki) and Dean Winchester (Jensen Ackles) encountering angels for the first time in their lives as hunters of the supernatural; this marks the introduction of eventual series regular, the angel Castiel (Misha Collins). The angels intervene to rescue Dean from Hell and bring him back to life after he became trapped there in the third season finale "No Rest for the Wicked". They explain that they have arrived on Earth for the first time in thousands of years in order to prevent the demons from freeing the fallen angel Lucifer from Hell, as Lucifer would then cause the Apocalypse. The demons are led by the Winchesters' enemy, and Dean's murderer, Lilith. However, it becomes increasingly clear that something is wrong with Heaven and that the angels have their own agendas. Despite an initially happy reunion, tension grows between Sam and Dean because Dean fears Sam's growing demonic powers and distrusts Sam's returning demonic ally Ruby (Genevieve Cortese).

## Cast
### Starring

* Jared Padalecki as Sam Winchester
* Jensen Ackles as Dean Winchester

### Guest stars

* Misha Collins as Castiel / Jimmy Novak
* Genevieve Cortese as Ruby
* Jim Beaver as Bobby Singer
* Julie McNiven as Anna Milton
* Robert Wisdom as Uriel
* Traci Dinwiddie as Pamela Barnes
* Kurt Fuller as Zachariah
* Christopher Heyerdahl and Mark Rolston as Alastair
* Rob Benedict as Chuck Shurley
* Katherine Boecher and Sierra McCormick as Lilith
* Juliana Wimbles as Cindy McKellan
* Jake Abel as Adam Milligan
* Dedee Pfeiffer as Kate Milligan
* Nicki Aycox as Meg Masters
* A. J. Buckley as Ed Zeddmore
* Lindsey McKeon as Tessa
* Mitch Pileggi as Samuel Campbell
* Samantha Smith as Mary Winchester
* Amy Gumenick as Young Mary Winchester
* Charles Malik Whitfield as FBI Agent Victor Henriksen
* Travis Wester as Harry Spangler
* Sydney Imbeau as Claire Novak
* Matt Cohen as Young John Winchester
* Michael Eklund as Ed Brewer

## Episodes

In this table, the number in the first column refers to the episode's number within the entire series, whereas the number in the second column indicates the episode's number within that particular season. "U.S. viewers in millions" refers to how many Americans watched the episode live or on the day of broadcast.
| No. overall | No. in season | Title | Directed by | Written by | Original air date | Prod. code | U.S. viewers (millions) |
| 61 | 1 | "Lazarus Rising" | Kim Manners | Eric Kripke | September 18, 2008 (2008-09-18) | 3T7501 | 3.96 |
| Four months after his violent death, Dean Winchester is resurrected, and discovers remnants of a blast surrounding his grave site. While getting supplies at a gas station, Dean encounters a mysterious high-pitched noise. After reuniting with Bobby Singer, Dean believes his brother Sam made a deal with a demon to bring him back. However, as the brothers reunite, Sam is just as surprised at Dean's resurrection as he himself. Bobby then brings the Winchesters to a psychic named Pamela Barnes for help in discovering what pulled Dean out of Hell. Pamela finds out the name of the being: Castiel, but the sight of Castiel burns her eyes completely, rendering her permanently blind. Sam meets with Ruby, having survived Lilith's wrath, about what saved Dean from Hell. It's revealed that since Dean's death, Sam had been using his psychic abilities to exorcise demons. Meanwhile, Dean and Bobby perform a ritual to summon Castiel, who turns out to be an angel, not a demon. He explains that he is responsible for dragging Dean out of Hell and tells Dean that God has work for him to do. ||||||||
| 62 | 2 | "Are You There, God? It's Me, Dean Winchester" | Phil Sgriccia | Story by : Sera Gamble & Lou Bollo Teleplay by : Sera Gamble | September 25, 2008 (2008-09-25) | 3T7502 | 3.18 |
| Bobby asks the boys for help when his fellow hunters are being torn apart by vengeful spirits. Sam is haunted by FBI Agent Henrickson whose spirit accuses Sam and Dean of failing him (Lilith tortured Henrickson and the survivors of the demon attack on the police station prior to their deaths). Meg Masters (Nicki Aycox), Ronald Reznick, and two twin girls also appear and haunt Dean, Sam, and Bobby. After the hunters retreat to Bobby's panic room, Bobby reveals they are being haunted by the spirits of the people they couldn't save, which is known as "The Rising of the Witnesses." This is also a sign that the Apocalypse is nearing. The three find and perform a spell to put the Witnesses to rest. Later, Castiel appears to Dean in a dream and reveals that "The Rising of the Witnesses" is one of many seals which are being broken by Lilith in order to free the fallen angel Lucifer and bring about the Apocalypse. ||||||||
| 63 | 3 | "In the Beginning" | Steve Boyum | Jeremy Carver | October 2, 2008 (2008-10-02) | 3T7504 | 3.51 |
| Sam sneaks out of the motel he and Dean are staying at to meet up with Ruby once again. Castiel appears beside Dean's bed to transport Dean back in time to 1973 in Lawrence, Kansas with a warning to "stop it." Dean meets his parents' younger selves, as well as his maternal grandparents, also hunters. Dean discovers Mary had made a desperate deal with Azazel, who fed Sam his blood the night their mother died. Dean fails to kill Azazel or save his family, and when Castiel returns him to his rightful time, he admits that there was no changing that. Castiel and the angels only wanted Dean to find out what Azazel was up to for himself. Castiel then sends Dean to find Sam, warning him to stop Sam from going down the dark path he is on, or Castiel will. ||||||||
| 64 | 4 | "Metamorphosis" | Kim Manners | Cathryn Humphris | October 9, 2008 (2008-10-09) | 3T7505 | 3.15 |
| Dean confronts Sam about Sam's affair with Ruby. Sam argues that he is able to save people and exorcise demons at the same time, but Dean reveals to Sam what he learned from Castiel. A hunter who has known the Winchesters for years calls on Sam and Dean for help in a case in Carthage, Missouri involving a man who is going through a metamorphosis into a Rugaru—a monstrous creature that consumes human flesh. During the hunt, further tension mounts between the brothers. Despite attempting to prevent it, the man completes his transformation. The man kills Sam and Dean's friend, but retains enough control to spare his wife. When the man tries to kill Dean, Sam is forced to kill him by burning him alive. Seeing what the man went through, Sam decides to stop using his powers. ||||||||
| 65 | 5 | "Monster Movie" | Robert Singer | Ben Edlund | October 16, 2008 (2008-10-16) | 3T7503 | 3.06 |
| The Winchester brothers find themselves at a local Oktoberfest celebration in Canonsburg, Pennsylvania, investigating a series of suspicious murders being perpetrated by what locals describe as monsters from classic 1930s horror movies. They soon discover this is the work of a shapeshifter obsessed with monster movies. The shapeshifter has become infatuated with the local bartender Jamie, whom it got close to in an alternate identity as a friend and co-worker. Jealous of Dean's budding romance with Jamie, it captures them both with plans to kill Dean and make Jamie its bride. Sam finds and frees Dean; while they battle the shapeshifter in the form of Count Dracula, Jamie kills it by shooting it with Sam's silver-loaded gun, which it deems a fitting end to its own "movie." The next day, Dean and Jamie part with a kiss, and the episode closes out on Sam guessing which movie Dean would like to live in. ||||||||
| 66 | 6 | "Yellow Fever" | Phil Sgriccia | Andrew Dabb & Daniel Loflin | October 23, 2008 (2008-10-23) | 3T7506 | 3.25 |
| The boys head to Rock Ridge, Colorado, a town where a man died of a heart attack at 44 years of age with no symptoms. Research indicates the man died of "ghost sickness", which infects Dean. The illness causes first a general anxiety that builds into deadly fear. Sam contacts Bobby and learns the ghost they're after is called a Buruburu. Sam and Bobby decide to scare the ghost to death. They wrap an iron chain inscribed with a spell word around his neck and Bobby road-hauls him behind the Impala, re-enacting his death. This successfully scares the ghost to death, just in time to save Dean before his heart fails. The episode ends with Jensen Ackles performing Survivor's 1982 hit song, "Eye of the Tiger" with Baby (the Impala). ||||||||
| 67 | 7 | "It's the Great Pumpkin, Sam Winchester" | Charles Beeson | Julie Siege | October 30, 2008 (2008-10-30) | 3T7507 | 3.55 |
| A few days before Halloween, Sam and Dean launch an investigation into two mysterious deaths in a small town. The brothers find hex bags and deduce that a witch is sacrificing people to summon a dangerous demon named Samhain. Castiel tells Sam and Dean that the freeing of Samhain is one of the seals that will lead to freeing Lucifer. Castiel brings a specialist angel named Uriel to smite the entire town to be sure of killing the witch, but Dean convinces him to give the Winchesters a chance. Despite their best efforts, Samhain is freed and the seal is broken. Uriel warns Sam against using his demonic powers and says that he will kill Sam as soon as Sam ceases to be useful to the angels. Castiel reveals to Dean that his true orders were always to follow Dean's orders to test his leadership under battlefield conditions. He confesses that he does not know what the "right" choice would be and warns that hard times are ahead. ||||||||
| 68 | 8 | "Wishful Thinking" | Robert Singer | Story by : Ben Edlund & Lou Bollo Teleplay by : Ben Edlund | November 6, 2008 (2008-11-06) | 3T7508 | 3.24 |
| Sam and Dean investigate Concrete, Washington, a small town where the wishing well really works. A teddy bear comes to life, a boy who is always bullied gets super strength, someone wins the lottery, and the town geek gets a hot girlfriend. The brothers realize that while everyone is happy now, the end result will be disastrous because the magic will inevitably go wrong. The boys find that the origin is a magic coin that causes a fountain to become a wishing well, being that the coin's power is drawn from the goddess Tiamat. The only way to reverse the wishes is for the person who put the coin there to remove it. It turns out to be the geek and he is reluctant to do so, but after one of the wishes results in Sam's death, he removes the coin, reversing all the wishes. Sam melts the coin down. At the same time, Dean helps the kid who was bullied keep up his new image of strength to prevent bullying in the future. With Sam having asked about what Uriel had meant by what Dean remembers of Hell, Dean finally admits to Sam that he does remember everything that happened in Hell, but refuses to tell him anything else, as Sam wouldn't be able to understand. ||||||||
| 69 | 9 | "I Know What You Did Last Summer" | Charles Beeson | Sera Gamble | November 13, 2008 (2008-11-13) | 3T7509 | 2.94 |
| Ruby tells Sam and Dean a lead that other demons are searching for an escaped mental patient named Anna Milton, who needed to be restrained after trying to warn people about the impending Apocalypse. After finding Anna's parents dead at her home, Sam and Dean track Anna to her father's church, where they are attacked by a demon named Alastair while Ruby escapes with Anna. Dean lashes out at Sam for trusting Ruby, so Sam tells him what happened during the months Dean was in Hell. Sam's account is depicted in flashbacks. After Sam finishes his story, Ruby finds the Winchesters and give them Anna's location. Dean makes peace with Ruby due to his appreciation of how she helped Sam, and Sam is forced to break the news to a devastated Anna that her parents are dead. Castiel and Uriel demand to be taken to Anna so that they can kill her. ||||||||
| 70 | 10 | "Heaven and Hell" | J. Miller Tobin | Story by : Trevor Sands Teleplay by : Eric Kripke | November 20, 2008 (2008-11-20) | 3T7510 | 3.34 |
| Anna is revealed to be a fallen angel who became human by ripping out her "Grace," an energy that is intrinsic to angels. When the group goes to retrieve Anna's Grace, they find it has already been taken. Anna receives an ultimatum from the angels, that she is to be given to them or else Dean will be sent back to Hell. Ruby goes to Alastair with the proposition of her handing over Anna if he will let her and the Winchesters go. He instead captures and tortures her with her own knife for the others' location. Dean is forced to give their location away to Uriel, who has invaded his dreams and is revealed to be the one who took Anna's Grace. During the ensuing battle, Anna retrieves her Grace from Uriel. In a flash of light, she becomes an angel again and she and Alastair vanish. Castiel and Uriel leave in pursuit of Anna. It is revealed that Ruby and Dean betraying the others was all part of Sam's plan to get the angels and demons to fight it out to give them the opportunity they needed. ||||||||
| 71 | 11 | "Family Remains" | Phil Sgriccia | Jeremy Carver | January 15, 2009 (2009-01-15) | 3T7511 | 2.98 |
| Sam and Dean investigate a murderous young female spirit inside the walls of a haunted house in Stratton, Nebraska. Complications ensue when a family of five moves in, and the "spirit" turns out to be two humans, a young pair of sibling feral children who are the product of incest and years of abuse and who are willing to kill to protect their home. When the son is kidnapped through the walls, the family look to Sam and Dean to rescue the boy. Dean rescues the son, but is forced to shoot the feral brother dead in self-defense, while the father of the family is forced to stab the girl to death to protect his wife and daughter. Dean reflects on the children with pity, sympathizing with them on what they had become after a lifetime of abuse because of how he himself had tortured souls in Hell after being tortured to the breaking point. ||||||||
| 72 | 12 | "Criss Angel Is a Douche Bag" | Robert Singer | Julie Siege | January 22, 2009 (2009-01-22) | 3T7512 | 3.06 |
| Sam and Dean attend a magician's convention in Sioux City, Iowa where it seems that real magic is being performed. Their investigation leads them to Charlie, Jay, and Vernon, three friends who were famous magicians in their day but have now been replaced by flashier, younger magicians. Jay's despair over this drives him to perform dangerous illusions onstage. Sam and Dean suspect that Jay is a witch and go after him, but the real witch is Charlie, who has faked his death and restored his youth. He offers to grant Jay and Vernon eternal youth and immortality. Jay refuses the offer and kills him for good in order to save Sam and Dean. With Charlie dead and Vernon refusing to speak to him, Jay is left sad, bitter, and alone. Sam agrees to rejoin Ruby in hunting Lilith and practicing his powers. ||||||||
| 73 | 13 | "After School Special" | Adam Kane | Andrew Dabb & Daniel Loflin | January 29, 2009 (2009-01-29) | 3T7513 | 3.56 |
| Sam and Dean discover that a spirit is haunting one of their old high schools. While investigating the haunting, Dean and Sam relive their high school experiences through flashbacks, recalling how Sam was picked on by the school bully while Dean was quite popular. They learn that the ghost haunts the school bus and realize the bus driver is the father of Sam's old bully, "Dirk the Jerk." The brothers learn from Dirk's father that he died at age 18 before graduation and had a hard life. After finding that Dirk was cremated and that he is tied to a lock of hair kept on the bus, Sam and Dean confront Dirk while he possesses two people and Dean burns his hair, destroying Dirk's spirit. Sam visits a teacher who gave him the advice to follow his own path in life, but is unable to respond when asked if he's happy. ||||||||
| 74 | 14 | "Sex and Violence" | Charles Beeson | Cathryn Humphris | February 5, 2009 (2009-02-05) | 3T7514 | 3.37 |
| Sam and Dean take on a case in Bedford, Iowa involving a siren, a creature that desperately needs love, compelling people to kill others or themselves as a show of devotion. The siren has been posing as different strippers at a strip-club to meet and seduce men, who then beat their wives to death. When the boys unmask the siren, she puts Sam and Dean both under her spell and pits them against each other in a fight to the death for her love. The ensuing fight sees Dean poised to kill Sam with an axe before Bobby shows up and kills the siren with her own venom, breaking her hold over her victims. Bobby tells them that they hadn't been themselves under the siren's influence. However, the bitterness and tension between the brothers remains. ||||||||
| 75 | 15 | "Death Takes a Holiday" | Steve Boyum | Jeremy Carver | March 12, 2009 (2009-03-12) | 3T7515 | 2.84 |
| Sam and Dean investigate the town of Greybull, Wyoming where people are miraculously surviving "fatal" injuries and illnesses. They discover that Alastair has kidnapped the town's reaper as part of a scheme to break one of the 66 seals by killing two reapers under the solstice moon and they seek Pamela's help to stop him by using astral projection. She sends the brothers into the spirit world, where the reaper Tessa finds them. She has come to take over reaping duties, but gets spirited away by demons instead for them to use as the second reaper sacrifice. The brothers find the building where the demons are hiding, but are trapped by demons, who then go after Pamela and their inert bodies. Sam and Dean break the trap holding Tessa, Tessa repays the favor by freeing the brothers, and the three escape. The boys return to their physical bodies, but they are too late to save Pamela from being killed by the demons. ||||||||
| 76 | 16 | "On the Head of a Pin" | Mike Rohl | Ben Edlund | March 19, 2009 (2009-03-19) | 3T7516 | 3.37 |
| In Cheyenne, Wyoming, someone has found a weapon that can kill angels and is responsible for several murders. Having captured Alastair, Castiel and Uriel demand that Dean use the torturing skills he learned in Hell to extract information from him so they can stop the murders. Sam calls upon Ruby to help him locate Dean. Sam begins drinking Ruby's blood in order to regain his diminished power. Alastair refuses to break under Dean's torture. An unseen force frees Alastair, who tries to kill Dean and exorcise Castiel. Sam arrives and tortures Alastair into admitting that no demon is behind the angel murders. Castiel realizes Uriel had killed the angels who refused to join him in releasing Lucifer, and had freed Alastair to kill Dean and keep the blame on the demons. When Castiel refuses to join him, Uriel tries to kill him, but is killed by Anna instead. Castiel visits Dean in the hospital and confirms that Dean broke the first seal with his actions in Hell. ||||||||
| 77 | 17 | "It's a Terrible Life" | James L. Conway | Sera Gamble | March 26, 2009 (2009-03-26) | 3T7517 | 3.13 |
| Dean Smith is a sales director and Sam Wesson is a tech support associate at a company. With no memory of who they really are, Sam experiences dreams about fighting ghosts and vampires with Dean. They are brought together when Sam's co-workers start becoming obsessed with work, committing suicide, and Dean sees a ghost. Using advice from the Ghostfacers website, Sam and Dean learn how to defeat the ghost. Afterwards, Sam wants to take up a life of hunting, but Dean declines and rudely ends their partnership. The next day, Sam dramatically quits his job while Dean, after being offered a promotion by his boss, reconsiders and decides to quit as well. But his boss reveals himself to be the angel Zachariah (Kurt Fuller), who after restoring Dean's memories, explains the whole thing was to show Dean that he is meant to be a hunter. ||||||||
| 78 | 18 | "The Monster at the End of This Book" | Mike Rohl | Story by : Julie Siege & Nancy Weiner Teleplay by : Julie Siege | April 2, 2009 (2009-04-02) | 3T7518 | 3.27 |
| Sam and Dean are shocked to discover a book entitled Supernatural that accurately details their lives. The author turns out to be a prophet named Chuck Shurley, who explains has visions of the brothers that he turns into cheesy novels. Castiel claims Chuck is a Prophet of God and informs Dean that if Chuck were to be put in danger, an archangel would intervene to destroy the threat. Lilith finds Sam alone, but neither has the power yet to harm the other. Lilith offers to cease her attacks on the seals in exchange for Sam and Dean's lives. When Sam tries to stab her with Ruby's knife instead, the two attempt to kill each other just as Dean brings Chuck to Lilith. With Chuck now in danger, an archangel appears and chases Lilith off, saving both Chuck and Sam. At the end of the episode, Chuck has a horrible vision of the future, but Zachariah prevents him from telling Sam and Dean about it. ||||||||
| 79 | 19 | "Jump the Shark" | Phil Sgriccia | Andrew Dabb & Daniel Loflin | April 23, 2009 (2009-04-23) | 3T7519 | 2.70 |
| In Windom, Minnesota, a 19-year-old boy named Adam calls Sam and Dean looking for their father, John, claiming to be his son. Dean and Sam suspect that Adam is a monster trying to lure them into a trap, but find out that John was indeed the boy's father. Sam tries to teach Adam to hunt so that he may defend himself in the future. Dean goes alone to find the thing that killed Adam's mother and is trying to kill Adam. He gets trapped in a crypt, where he finds the real Adam's corpse; the Adam that is with Sam is a ghoul who killed and ate Adam to take on his form. The ghoul and his sister, in the form of Adam's mother, ambush Sam. They had wanted revenge on John for killing their parents years ago, but since they cannot kill him, they decide to kill his remaining sons instead. Dean returns in time to kill the ghouls and save Sam from being eaten alive. Afterward, they give Adam a hunter's funeral to honor the half-brother they never knew. ||||||||
| 80 | 20 | "The Rapture" | Charles Beeson | Jeremy Carver | April 30, 2009 (2009-04-30) | 3T7520 | 2.95 |
| Castiel appears to Dean in a dream and says he has something important to tell him, but that they need to meet somewhere private. At the meeting spot, Sam and Dean find Castiel’s human vessel, Jimmy Novak, who cannot recall what Castiel wanted to tell Dean. They speculate that Castiel has been dragged back to Heaven. Demons try to capture Jimmy by possessing his wife and kidnapping his daughter. Sam, Dean, and Jimmy are captured trying to rescue them and Jimmy is shot. Castiel possesses Jimmy's daughter and he and Sam kill the demons. Sam drinks demon blood in front of a horrified Dean and Castiel so that he can exorcise Jimmy's wife. Jimmy has Castiel possess him once again, but Castiel refuses to tell Dean what he wanted to talk to him about, having learned that he serves Heaven and not humanity. Dean and Bobby then lock Sam in Bobby's panic room to detox from the demon blood. ||||||||
| 81 | 21 | "When the Levee Breaks" | Robert Singer | Sera Gamble | May 7, 2009 (2009-05-07) | 3T7521 | 2.79 |
| Sam experiences horrifying hallucinations as he detoxes from the demon blood. Bobby tells Dean they should let Sam out to help them fight the impending Apocalypse. Dean disagrees and goes to Castiel for help. Castiel secretly frees Sam from the panic room. When Anna confronts him on it, Castiel turns her over to other angels to be taken to Heaven for punishment. Sam feeds on Ruby, who says that she has been working to uncover more information on Lilith. She reveals that few seals remain to be broken, and only Lilith can break the last seal. Dean finds the couple and tries to kill Ruby. When Sam defends her, Dean calls him a monster. The two brawl violently, ending with Sam leaving with Ruby after Dean tells him to never come back. ||||||||
| 82 | 22 | "Lucifer Rising" | Eric Kripke | Eric Kripke | May 14, 2009 (2009-05-14) | 3T7522 | 2.89 |
| Sam and Ruby capture one of Lilith's minions to question her on Lilith's whereabouts. Once they get the information, Ruby convinces Sam to drink the other demon's blood in addition to her own. Sam gives in after hearing a supernaturally-altered voicemail from Dean in which "Dean" threatens to kill Sam the next time he sees him. Elsewhere, Zachariah explains to Dean that high-ranking angels such as himself have secretly been manipulating events to start the Apocalypse, believing that it will cleanse the earth and bring Paradise. Dean's task is not to prevent the Apocalypse from starting, but to end it once it has. Dean is furious at Castiel for deceiving him. Castiel rebels against Heaven and helps Dean escape, banishing Zachariah with a blood sigil. Dean arrives at Sam's location in time to see Sam overpowering Lilith. Goaded by both Lilith and Ruby, Sam kills Lilith with his powers, unwittingly breaking the final seal. Ruby reveals that she has been working for Lucifer all along, but Dean kills her with Sam's help. The brothers watch in terror as Lucifer emerges from his opened cage. ||||||||

## Production

The mythology was expanded even more in the fourth season with the introduction of angels. While Kripke originally did not want angels to be featured in the series, he changed his mind when he realized that he needed them in order to have a "cosmic battle" with the many demons. With this concept added into the series' mythology, the writers came to view the show as being "about two greasers and a muscle car, but the canvas that they're on are demons and angels and battles and the apocalypse..." While it was originally intended for the fourth season to feature an "all-out demon war", budget cuts forced the writers to change their plans, making it "smaller, more contained, underground, more guerrilla-style". Kripke feels this ended up benefiting the series, believing the brothers-centric episodes to be more interesting than the "epic" ones of the third season. Thus, the war was depicted in the writers' "scruffy, angsty, Supernatural way" while focusing more on the characters. The writing staff felt that the fourth season's mythology had been the best since the first season.

## Reception

The review aggregator website Rotten Tomatoes reported an 88% approval rating for Supernatural's fourth season, with an average rating of 8.7/10 based on 8 reviews. The season received critical acclaim and is widely regarded as one of the show's best seasons.