Cheeseburgers, gross-out moments of horror, complex sibling emotional dynamics. Yep, must be a new season of Supernatural.

In the opening moments of Supernatural's season 3 premiere, "The Magnificent Seven," a man takes out the trash. He lives on a pretty, quiet street in Oak Park, Illinois. All is peaceful...until suburban guy looks up and sees a big dark cloud of demons headed right for him. One of them swoops down and possesses him. This is Supernatural doing one of the things it does best: mixing the horrific with the everyday.

Yes, that's the same cloud of demons released from hell at the end of the season 2 finale. The opening tag appears to take place within minutes of that event. After a snazzy new "Supernatural" logo, season 3 picks up with Sam and Dean one week after hapless suburban guy's possession. Sam's reading up on Dr. Faustus, studying arcane texts to find a way to get his brother out of the deal he made with a crossroads demon to save Sam's life. Dean has a year left to live and is spending his time having sex romps and eating cheeseburgers for breakfast.

"The Magnificent Seven" lacks the startling power of season 2's opener, "In My Time of Dying," but it's still a winner, if clunky in spots. (Both episodes were written by the show's creator, Eric Kripke, and directed by Kim Manners.) It gets a visit from the exposition fairy, and there's a bit of fumbling as the show finds new footing. Season 2's finale did something unusual in genre TV, killing off the Big Bad that drove the mytharc for 44 episodes. There's a shift in mood and mytharc. A similar change happened between season 1 and season 2.

Kripke's scripts feature go-for-the-throat family dynamics and really, really gross moments of horror, and "The Magnificent Seven" delivers. Add in another one of the show's best assets, Jim Beaver, as the caustic older hunter Bobby Singer, and things are even more entertaining. The episode really makes use of Jim Beaver's talent, and is sure to ratchet up the already strong fan love for the character.

The boys and Bobby start investigating mysterious deaths, and it turns out the original seven deadly sins are on the loose. They find the corpses of a family that died of starvation because Sloth made them too lazy to get off the couch. Envy makes a woman murder another for a pair of shoes. Sam, Dean and Bobby meet two new hunters, and the episode culminates in a face-off between hunters and sins.

Isaac and Tamara are something never seen on Supernatural before -- a husband-wife hunting team, complete with Han Solo/Princess Leia shout-outs and marital snark. They're adorable. Sadly, Gluttony takes out Isaac (in another icky scene, thank you Kripke), but Tamara survives to go on hunting. I hope to see more of her.

It is a bit disconcerting to have Sam and Dean hunting with such a crowd, but even with all the other hunters around, I never felt like the episode lost sight of the brother team. There's a quiet moment in the middle of the action when the boys pause to reload a gun and fill a flask with holy water. The wordless communication in that scene is a joy to watch.

The payoff of the episode is at the end when Sam confronts Dean about his behavior. Jared Padalecki's performance as Sam is particularly strong throughout the episode, as he tries to indulge his terminal brother, but meanwhile is deeply worried. Jensen Ackles, as always, owns his role as Dean. The change in Dean is unnerving but well-played. Ackles lets us see the barest hint of a chink in Dean's brittle, unnaturally cheery armor. I wonder how long it'll take before he breaks?

Oh, and what about the New Girl, the mysterious blonde (portrayed by Katie Cassidy) who caused such controversy over the hiatus? It's hard to tell, since she says exactly thirteen words. I liked how she was filmed. In her first appearance, she seems to melt out of a tree. The slomo-fight scene is gratuitous, but otherwise her introduction felt non-intrusive. As for her pretty hair and magic knife, well, pretty hair is requisite on television and a magic knife is no sillier than "antique colt revolver with magic bullets that can kill anything."

The third Season of Supernatural is off to a scary, funny, and strong start, with plenty of emotional undercurrents.

Episode 3x01, "The Magnificent Seven"
Writer: Eric Kripke
Director: Kim Manners
Guest stars: Caroline Chikezie, Peter Macon