Supernatural Season 4 premiere anniversary: A spotlight on the episode

It’s the anniversary of the first airing of the Supernatural Season 4 premiere. With the introduction of Castiel, we saw a shift in the storyline and here’s a look at that with a spotlight on the episode.

Today marks the 10th anniversary of the Supernatural Season 4 premiere. We’ve had 10 years of Castiel on our screens and his introduction episode will always be remembered as one of the best for him. However, this didn’t just mark Cass’ introduction. The episode was also important for the storyline shift.

Up until this point, Supernatural had mostly stuck with the monster-of-the-week format. The first season was entirely made up of monster-of-the-week episodes with the odd bleed in of the overall story. Even John’s return was the introduction of vampires, just also with the addition of the Colt.

Season 3 had started to give us a more overarching storyline. We had Sam focused on saving Dean from his crossroad deal. However, many of the episodes still had that monster-of-the-week focus. Apart from “Jus in Bello,” there wasn’t really an episode until the finale that fully focused on the bigger picture.

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The Supernatural Season 4 premiere was where all that changed. Airing for the first time on Sept. 18, 2008, the episode brought Dean back from the dead, showed us a hint of Sam’s storyline to come, introduced us to Castiel and the angels, and made it clear that there was going to be a big cliffhanger at the very end of the season.

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We started this journey of a shift, with some episodes fully focused on the bigger storyline. Some would focus more on Lilith, while others would focus on Sam and his powers. There were some that would focus on angels and on Dean’s connection to the angels. Either way, all these episodes had that endgame in mind: Lucifer being released from the cage and the journey of the fifth season.

Eric Kripke has a beautiful mind when it comes to TV shows. He can do things that many of us would only ever dream. It was impossible to see what the Supernatural Season 4 premiere would become or mean in the earlier years at first. Looking back, there are hints of the foreshadowing and the bigger story at play.

What did the Supernatural Season 4 premiere mean to you? What are you doing tonight to celebrate the 10th anniversary of the episode? Share your thoughts in the comments below.

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