8.4 | / 10 |
Users | 5.0 | |
Reviewer | 4.0 | |
Overall | 4.0 |
Sam Winchester grew up hunting unearthly horrors. But now law school and a normal life beckon. That is, until Sam’s estranged brother Dean appears with troubling news: their father has disappeared, a man who’s hunted evil for 22 years. So to find their father, the brothers must hunt what he hunts... and Sam must return to the life he’d rather leave behind.
Starring: Jared Padalecki, Jensen Ackles, Misha Collins, Jim Beaver, Mark SheppardAction | 100% |
Supernatural | 99% |
Horror | 73% |
Dark humor | 22% |
Thriller | 20% |
Video codec: VC-1
Video resolution: 1080p
Aspect ratio: 1.78:1
Original aspect ratio: 1.78:1
English: Dolby Digital 5.1 (640 kbps)
French: Dolby Digital 2.0
German: Dolby Digital 2.0
Spanish: Dolby Digital 2.0
Portuguese: Dolby Digital 2.0
Japanese: Dolby Digital 2.0
(Japanese is only available if player language is set to Japanese)
English SDH, French, German, Japanese, Portuguese, Spanish, Dutch
50GB Blu-ray Disc
Four-disc set (4 BDs)
BD-Live
Region free
Movie | 4.0 | |
Video | 4.0 | |
Audio | 3.5 | |
Extras | 3.5 | |
Overall | 4.0 |
After crawling out of Hell in Season Four, surviving the Apocalypse in Season Five and being leveled with the most shocking, game-changing Supernatural sucker punch to date in the jaw-cracking Season Six finale, the Winchester brothers' first and second season demon hunts and beastie battles seem positively tame. Don't get me wrong, Season Two's primary baddie, the Yellow-Eyed Demon Azazel (Fredric Lehne), remains as sinister a hellspawn as ever, but compared to Crowley, Lilith, Death, Raphael, Zachariah, the Mother, Lucifer and all the forces of Heaven and Hell combined, ol' Yellow Eyes and the rest of Season Two's night-bumpers have a hard time measuring up. Thankfully, series creator Eric Kripke and his writers were as talented in 2006 as they proved to be in the years that followed, and Supernatural's second season is still a wildly entertaining, smartly penned, genre-eviscerating twenty-two episode stretch in the Winchesters' soon-to-be seven-season run.
Like the Blu-ray releases of later seasons, Supernatural: The Complete Second Season features a strong 1080p/VC-1 encoded presentation that captures every fleck of grime, sliver of rust, speck of blood and grizzled hair that crawls out of the series' ever-oppressive shadows. Kripke's visuals are, as always, a bleak, somber affair, and primaries are often as cold as skintones are pale. But it's entirely intentional, and not without exception. Blood, in particular, packs a visceral red punch. The occasional sunlit scene is suitably warm and relatively lifelike. And greens and blues make their presence known, if only for fleeting moments. When darkness descends, black levels are thick and inky, delineation reveals as much or as little as Kripke intends, and a veneer of grain rests overtop the image. Through it all, detail is excellent. Textures are well-resolved (especially for a TV series release), pores and textiles are crisp and clean, edge definition is sharp and refined, overall clarity is remarkable, and the Blu-ray edition drives a stake into its DVD counterpart's heart. Yes, detail is lost whenever the lights go out, and yes, several shots suffer from a variety of inconsistencies. But in almost every instance, the clear culprit is the series' original source; not a faulty encode. Minor artifacting, banding and aberrant noise appear throughout but are kept to a bare minimum, and crush is a common issue, albeit one that's inherent to the show's photography. All in all, aside from its lesser quirks, Supernatural's second season looks as good as its later-season brethren. Fans will be most pleased.
Supernatural offers a serviceable... scratch that... reasonably impressive 640kbps Dolby Digital 5.1 surround track that does well despite its lossy nature. Dialogue is clean and clear throughout, and only takes a hit when roaring vortexes, shotgun blasts and full-throttle muscle-car engines flood the soundscape. Prioritization is noteworthy, even when all manner of nightmares converge on the Winchesters, and very few lines or effects are buried in the mix. The LFE channel doesn't exhibit the kind of prowess I was hoping for, but it sinks its teeth into the series' more chaotic scenes and earns it stripes on more than one occasion. Likewise, the rear speakers aren't as precise as I have a feeling they could be, but they still create a suitably immersive soundfield that boasts aggressive activity and deadly directionality. Even dynamics, cramped as they may very well be, are commendable. But it's hard to say how much a lossless track would have improved the proceedings. Unfortunately, the studio continues to arm its television series with lossy audio; a trend Nikita looks to buck. Hopefully, future TV releases from Warner will follow suit. Maybe, just maybe, Supernatural's upcoming sixth or eventual seventh season release will offer a DTS-HD Master Audio track. A boy can dream, I suppose...
The 4-disc Blu-ray release of Supernatural: The Complete Second Season conjures up three audio commentaries, an interactive "Road Map" experience (with numerous interviews and behind-the-scenes featurettes), deleted scenes and other extras. It isn't as overwhelming a supplemental package as series junkies might be hoping for, but it is a solid one.
While it isn't the best the series has to offer, Supernatural: The Complete Second Season is a scrappy 22-episode scuffle in the Winchesters' duel with all the creatures Heaven, Hell and Myth have seen fit to parade in front of their crosshairs. With Kripke at the helm, it's a sharply written season that holds a number of surprises for newcomers and a variety of familiar treats for series regulars. The Blu-ray edition is worth owning as well. Its able-bodied video transfer outclasses its DVD counterpart in every way, its Dolby Digital audio is decidedly decent, and its supplemental package serves up a generous helping of content, new and old. Neither the second season nor its Blu-ray release are perfect, but fans will find their money has been well spent.
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