After their mother was heinously murdered by a mysterious demonic force twenty-three years ago, Sam and Dean Winchester were raised by their father as soldiers, joining him in his war against the evil forces that lie stealth in the backstreets of America. Since learning from their father how to track and slay these supernatural threats, the reluctant heroes have spent their lives patrolling the highways in their 1967 Chevy Impala searching for revenge...

Supernatural: The Complete Fifth Season contains all 22 episodes from the show's fifth season spread over four discs. As the show's creator Eric Kripke had always envisaged the fifth season to be the show's last, everything is neatly wrapped up by the conclusion of this box set.

However, the show has been renewed for a sixth season, which should be interesting as the writers have written themselves into a bit of a corner. Let's just hope Dean doesn't wake up in Pamela Ewing's shower.

There's a nice mix of humour/drama and standalone stories / ongoing story arcs. My two favourite stand alone tales included Fallen Angels (in which it appears that ghosts of famous people are coming back to kill the living) and Changing Channels (where the Winchester's are trapped in naff TV Land).

The ongoing story arc sees the boys trying to prevent Armageddon (which they kick started) by hunting down the four horsemen of the apocalypse in order to trap Lucifer and put him back in his box. As the season continues the boys face an itinerary of terror, clearing up the blood spills left by a teenage nerd and his body-switching spells in Swap Meat (which sees Sam switching bodies with a teenager); townspeople who mysteriously start killing for love in My Bloody Valentine; and even trouble closer to home when Sam and Dean’s close friend Bobby is reunited with his dead wife and refuses to let go in Dead Men Don't Wear Plaid.

Notable guest stars include Paris Hilton (who sends herself up rather well), Michael Shanks (who pops in and out without really making any sort of impression on the episode), Paul McGillion (Stargate Atlantis) Matt Frewer (who is well cast as Pestilence) and Lost's Mark Pellegrino appears and offers an interesting take on Lucifer. As you'd expect this collection has the usual trademark balance of drama and humour.

I was also really impressed with the final Armageddon setting. I was expecting something a little cliched and well worn, but the writers really did something a little different here.

Extras include an audio commentary on the episode The End; and Additional Footage (2 min, 11 sec deleted scene from The Real Ghostbusters).

We only received three of the four Blu-ray discs for review (although thankfully I'd already reviewed the final half of season 5 when it was released on DVD so I knew the episodes) so I'm listing the other extras as they appear on the press release:

Supernatural: Apocalypse Survival Guides; Ghostfacers; Gag Reel; Lucifer and Michael: Brothers; The End Times: Are You Prepared?; Demon Visitations; Supernatural: The Quest for Satan; Supernatural: Ride of the Horsemen; Supernatural: Kripke's Guide to the Apocalypse; Backlot Tour; Changing Channels featurette; Meet the Facers; The Grand Showcase; The Big Break; CSI:Maggie; Dead Time; Finishing The Job; The Comeback; Cutting Room Floor; Shattered; Why We Fight; Ed and Harry Talk about the Winchesters; Ed and Harry Have a Message For The Ghosts; and Jane Meyers' Screen Test.

So, the fifth season wraps things up pretty neatly. The final episode is particularly well handled - I loved the way the Impala was woven into the main story.

9

Darren Rea