When Supernatural left us last week, the angels had come to collect Anna. And by collect, I mean kill.

Tonight Supernatural proved one thing: if wishes were fishes, we'd all stink to high heaven.

Contrary to my own expectations, the powers that be at Supernatural decided against giving us another light and fun Halloween episode in favor of testing the Winchester boys.

Remember last season, when Dean died? How the hounds of hell ripped him to shreds and dragged him to the unholy abyss? Well, tonight Supernatural started with Dean running from the sound of a pack of snarling dogs.

After  several weeks of darkness and gloom, Supernatural decided to give us a bit of a breather.

Last week, Supernatural was full of the sort of downers that we haven't seen on the show in a long while. And while I love the quick witted quips the Winchester brothers often trade, I have to say I've really enjoyed the new direction, dark tone and all. Tonight didn't let up once.

Sometimes, story issues must be tackled head on in order to progress growth, further develop an idea, or allow for a more organic understanding of the motivations behind the actions that take place. And sometimes, Supernatural wants to torture it's characters just a little bit more.

The season premiere of Supernatural introduced several intriguing avenues for the story lines to delve into. There's Sam's new demon killing hand, Ruby's new body (and Sam's possible involvement with it), and - oh yeah - and angel of the Lord named Castiel who pulled Dean from the pit. Where do we go from there?

Four months ago, Supernatural left fans with quite possibly the biggest cliff hanger they could. In the interim, I found myself occasionally wondering how in the world they were going to manage to get the premiere to match the pace of that finale. Oh, me of little faith.