THERE WILL BE BLOOD
Supernatural's Dean and Sam battle a vicious new demon-and discover the secrets of Halloweeen
by Ileane Rudolph

• One day before Halloween, Supernatural offers tricks, treats and a big bad visitor from Lucifer's legions. The Winchester brothers have continued their cross-country deomon hunting in their '67 Impala this season, but the proverbial stakes have been raised. Since Dean (Jensen Ackles) was rescued from Hell by an angel named Castiel (24's Misha Collins) in the season premiere, he and younger brother Sam (Jared Padalecki) have been conscripted into the battle to stop Armageddon, the ultimate confrontation between good and evil.

• "We're not doing a weekly Bible study," executive producer Eric Kripke promises. "But we've always flirted with the world of God and the Devil, so it's been fun to dive headlong into it." That means introducing a couple of angels he calls "very fierce and dangerous warriors with mysterious motives. We definitely didn't want Michael Landon/Roma Downey characters of comfort and salvation." Enter Castiel--appropriately the gaurdian of Thursdays in some mythologies--and Uriel(Prison Break's Robert Wisdom), his wrathful sidekick.

• In the October 30 episode, several inexplicable deaths leading up to Halloween put the brothers on the trail of a witch using blood sacrifices to raise Samhain, an ancient and powerful demon from Celtic folklore. "October 31 was widely believed to be the night that the veil between the living and the dead was the thinnest," Kripke explains. "The tradition of wearing masks was to hide from Samhain, candy was left to appease him, and pumpkins were carved to trap him. So everyone today puts on adorable little Star Wars costumes and goes door to door to eat miniature Milky Ways, it was really about blood and death and ghosts and demons."

• Raising Samhain is key to releasing the biggest bad of all, Satan, from his prison, so Castiel and Uriel have a plan to keep that cell door closed: Smite the whole town. "For some reason," Collins jokes, "the brothers get uptight about that."

• The show's rabid fan base is notoriously tough on new characters, but they've taken to Castiel, whom Kripke describes as "a leader who speaks softly and carries a very, very big stick." (He fries the eyes of those who dare to look at his true form.) Collins says he drew from the Book of Revelation for his inspiration: "Angels figure prominently, but have nothing to do with the popularly conceived characters with wings and halos. They are coming down to destroy the human population."

• Complicating matters for the brothers as they gird for battle, their relationship is showing cracks. Dean is keeping secrets from his brother and is worried--for reasons not yet explained--about Sam using his growing powers to exorcise demons. "The angels are very wary of Sam," Padalecki reveals. "The fact that he has some demon blood doesn't bode well. If I turn to the dark side, they may have to declare war on me as well." Collins backs that up: "Some of us want Sam dead, though I'm happy to come down on the side of keeping him alive." Could the siblings be on a opposite teams of the coming battle--Dean fighting for the angels, Sam leading the demons? "Sam has embraced his powers for the right reasons, he thinks," Padalecki says. "But there's a famous saying: 'The road to hell is paved with good intentions.'"

• The plot may be hurtling toward the Apocalypse, but the cult series is enjoying something of a resurrection. Season 4 kicked off with nearly four million viewers--the biggest audience since moving from the WB to the CW in 2006--and is averaging 3.6 million, 24 percent above las season. "Word of mouth is spreading that we're an overlooked show that's worth watching," Kripke says. "I'm proud that one of the few shows on television that's having regular conversations about God is a horror show on the CW."

• And the actors enjoy the time-slot challenge from CSI and Grey's Anatomy. "We've never had an easy battle on Supernatural," Padalecki says, "but we're fighting hard up against the larger networks. That's fine--I love to play the underdog." And it doesn't hurt to have the angel of Thursday in your corner.

-Supernatural Thursdays, 9/8c, The CW

and a PIC

dude, i just saw the pic, because pic's are spoilers, and I TOTALLY LOVE WHO THEY CASTED FOR URIEL! bring on EPISODE SEVEN!!!!

I have no clue who the guy is, but the character sounds interesting.

i don't know the actor either, he just seems so un-angel like in appearance,. that having him as an angel is awesome (if that makes any sense at all