About.com Rating

The Bottom Line

The Energizer Bunny of modern horror television series keeps chugging along with little drop in quality.

Pros

• Likeable stars
• Compelling characters
• Good standalone monster episodes
• Nice horror elements

Cons

• A little too serious
• A notch below the series best seasons

Description

• Starring Jared Padalecki, Jensen Ackles, Misha Collins, Mark A. Sheppard
• Directed by various
• Rated NR
• Release Date: September 8, 2015

Supernatural: The Complete Tenth Season Blu-ray Review

With the breakout success of The Walking Dead and American Horror Story, plus acclaimed series like The Strain and Bates Motel and fan faves like Teen Wolf and The Vampire Diaries, the horror genre genre has exploded on television in recent years, but Supernatural predated them all and, with its modest but rabidly devoted following, it may very well outlast them all. With 10 seasons under its belt, it's one of the longest-running primetime network show currently on the air, and compared to most horror-themed shows that have come and gone (or not yet gone) since it premiered, it's still one o the most entertaining genre series on the air.

Season 10 finds monster-hunting brothers Sam (Jared Padalecki) and Dean Winchester (Jensen Ackles) once again at odds, what with Dean turning all blood-lusty due to the curse of the Mark of Cain. While Sam is determined to find a cure for the Mark, Dean feels that the harm the quest causes outweighs the good.

We thus get more of the brooding, tension-filled episodes than in previous seasons, making for a less fun viewing experience overall, but given the good will we've built up in the characters, plus the ever-engaging one-off "monster of the week" episodes, it's still a worthy addition to the Supernatural legacy.

Despite the bleak theme, there are still welcome comedic moments from supporting characters like Castiel (Misha Collins) and Crowley (Mark A. Sheppard), guest stars like Felicia Day as hacker geek Charlie and the most notably the wonderfully "meta" 200th episode, "Fan Fiction," in which the show pokes fun at itself in a similar vein as the occasional lighthearted X-Files episodes used to do back in the day.

At this stage in its run, Supernatural might not fire on all cylinders quite as consistently as in its earlier years (in part because the original storyline ran its course and because so many compelling characters have gone by the wayside), but it astoundingly has yet to feel like it's "jumped the shark." Even after wrapping up its initial ongoing plot way back in Season 5, it's never felt like it's run out of ideas or that it's beating a dead horse for ratings. It's managed to reinvent itself over and over, continuing to expand its mythology each year, which is all the more remarkable in this age of high-concept shows that scrape together one good season and then struggle to recreate the magic in subsequent years.

The Disc

Special features include commentaries, featurettes, unaired scenes and gag reel.

Show: B
Disc: B