04th Sep2014

‘Supernatural – The Complete Ninth Season’ Blu-ray Review

by Nathan Smith

Supernatural-S9-Blu

I personally loved season nine of Supernatural. I felt like it was a return to form for a show that had some dips and dives in its series run. It isn’t easy for anyone to keep someone’s attention over 173 episodes, but the writers, actors, and all crew involved have managed to keep audiences entertained and intrigued. This season delved more into the darkness of the series, something that hadn’t been done since at least the fourth season. It even got to the point to where the show attempted to spin-off into a failed series called ‘Bloodlines,’ which was a great idea in hindsight, but failed because it was a) a 42 minute long exposition dump, and b) not giving the audience what it wanted by giving them more of characters they’ve never met and depriving them of Sam and Dean, which is what keeps people coming back. It’s really a double edged sword.

But, experiments aside, it’s a memorable season with a great season arc that adds more to the docket while keeping the story propelling along and keeping things fresher than anyone could expect from a genre series that’s nearly 200 episodes in the can. The Blu-ray for season nine looks fantastic and has great sound to go along with the picture.

As is the norm with all Supernatural sets, the Blu-ray is stocked with bonus features. There’s a Comic-Con panel that sits on disc one running nearly 30 minutes that encapsulates everything about why the show’s been around for so long. It showcases the actor’s rapport with one another and with the showrunners/executive producers. It runs nearly 30 minutes and is fun for anyone who loves a behind the scene look at their favorite show and to see that despite the grim nature of this show and this season in particular.

Now, every disc also has the requisite deleted scene for select episodes (specifically, “I’m No Angel,” “Rock and A Hard Place,” “Road Trip,” “Blade Runners,” “Meta Fiction,” “Bloodlines,” “King of the Damned,” and “Stairway to Heaven”), and it’s especially interesting to hear commentaries from Mark Sheppard (on episode 9×16 “Blade Runners) and Misha Collins (on episode 9×17 “Mother’s Little Helper), mainly for two reasons. The first being that either actor hadn’t been involved in commentaries on any set thus far, and that Collins does commentary on his directorial debut for his episode. The final commentary for the set is on the aformentioned backdoor pilot, “Bloodlines,” and it’s interesting to hear thoughts on shooting in Chicago, but there isn’t much to how the show was attemted to fit in the mythos of Supernatural, it’s more or less the usual technical talk that’s expected from commentaries.

There’s a nifty feature on the last disc where you can take an interactive tour of the Men of Letters set, which allows you to see little mini-featurettes on aspect of the set itself, guided the crew in charge of the set. There’s a similar feature where Misha Collins guides a superfan around set, which is a meta take on the behind the scenes documentary that usual accompanies sets like this. It’s pretty funny actually, with the actors and crew playing monsterously exaggerated versions of themselves and quick little cameos by the guest stars from the ninth season. It’s written and directed by Collins who plays a befuddled put upon version of himself, something he does eerily well. Closing out the set is the always consistently funny gag reel that runs about eight minutes and again shows the fun the cast has despite the darkness of the material they work with.

It’s a great set for fans, and this one is jam packed as usual. If you’re a fan of the show, there’s no persuasion here. Pick it up.

Supernatural – The Complete Ninth Season releases on DVD and Blu-ray on September 9th.

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