Yup, that's right, God has a sister. Oh come on, you've heard of her. The Darkness, as in what existed before God made all of creation. According to the Supernatural mythology, when God created everything, he and his four Archangels: Michael, Lucifer, Raphael and Gabriel, worked together to contain The Darkness and seal her away. The lock on that seal was the Mark of Cain, first given to Lucifer, then to Cain, and finally to Dean. When Dean (Jensen Ackles) successfully removed the mark at the end of last season, it opened the seal on The Darkness and allowed her out into God's creation.
Unfortunately for everyone, it seems that being locked away since the beginning of time has made The Darkness (Emily Swallows, The Mentalist) more than a little cranky. In fact, when she comes out in full force, it is so that she can get God's attention in the hopes of a little face-to-face, and she is willing to do anything to get noticed. As is a fairly common theme in this series though, God isn't really present, or at least, he isn't paying attention. Now Sam (Jared Padalecki) and Dean have to do everything they can to try and stop The Darkness, or Amara as she likes to be called, and hopefully not cause even more trouble in the process - something the Winchester boys have a hard time doing more times than not.
Knowing the kinds of forces used to imprison Amara the first time, Sam and Dean, along with the help of Crowley (Mark A. Sheppard) and Rowena (Ruth Connell) try to track down artifacts called Hands of God. These are historical items that God used to empower humans with miraculous abilities. Unfortunately, these artifacts are rare, understandably so, and even with a Hand of God in their arsenal, they aren't necessarily going to be strong enough, so who do they turn to? The only Archangel left that might be able to help them, Lucifer (Mark Pellegrino,
Of course, not everything about this season focuses on Amara. There are a few one-off episodes. In one, Sam's old imaginary friend, Sully (Nate Torrence) reappears to Sam and asks him to help track down someone that is killing imaginary friends in horrific ways that only the child the friend belongs to can see.
In another episode, Sheriff Donna Hanscum (Briana Buckmaster) calls the Winchesters in when costumes seem to be turning people into killers. As for the other recurring Sheriff of the series, Claire Novak (Kathryn Newton), Castiel's hosts' daughter, now living with Sheriff Jody Mills, calls on the brothers when people start disappearing. While Sam and Dean work the case, they also try to steer young Claire away from the life of a hunter, a path she has already started to walk down.
One of my favorite episodes this season is "Safe House." In it, Sam and Dean investigate an odd haunting and start to discover that they weren't the first hunters to try and stop this house's demons from rising up. In fact, several years ago, Bobby (Jim Beaver) and Rufus (Steven Williams) worked this same case. As Sam and Dean work the problem, they read over Bobby's old notes and we get to see the pair of older hunters fight their fight in the past. Not only is this a well-constructed episode, it has quite a few interesting ideas in it that really come together before the story wraps up.
This season also confirms a long-standing fan theory about the nature of one of the show's older characters, a theory that was hinted at heavily in the 200th episode last season. While most long-term viewers will consider this revelation a foregone conclusion, saying too much about it would spoil a few fun surprises.
Besides the standard collection of Audio Commentary, Deleted Scenes and Gag Reels, Supernatural: The Complete Eleventh Season also comes with a couple of featurettes. One follows Ackles as he directs the season's third episode, "The Bad Seed," while another goes into detail over how the visual effects department adds a lot to the show. Everything from enhancing background details to the more fanciful special effects of the series are touched on in this featurette. There is another featurette that focuses on The Darkness and her role in the Supernatural mythology. The last featurette follows two of the show's biggest fans as they visit the set and learn a lot about what goes into making Supernatural.
The last special feature in this set is the 2015 Comic-Con panel. While the panel contains the usual suspects, it is also hosted by two actors who have made more than a small impression on the series, Rob Benedict (Chuck) and Richard Speight, Jr. (Gabriel/Trickster/Loki).
Supernatural: The Complete Eleventh Season feels like the culmination of a lot of plots and storylines, and were it not for the season's final scene, it would even be a great place to end the series. That being said, where the season ends, it leaves any long-time viewers wanting more. As a result, this is a season not to miss.
