RECAP

Synopsis

Sam, Dean, and Castiel find the Colt and go after Lucifer. The hunters reunite with Bobby to battle evil that could be potentially their last fight.

Full Recap

An old man, Mr. Pendleton drives to an underpass beneath a crossroads and buries a case. A demon, Crowley appears and Pendleton notes that he was previously negotiating with a young lady. Crowley informs Pendleton that he’s a valuable client and then says he’ll have to accept a kiss to seal the deal and bailout his bank. Pendleton reluctantly agrees. They’re unaware that Castiel is watching them and calls to let Sam and Dean know the deal is going down. As Crowley teleports away, Castiel follows him to a nearby home, warded in Enochian runes. Dean tells him they’ll take it from there.

That night, Crowley sips a drink and watches World War II footage of Nazis. Jo arrives at the gates and says that her car broke down. Two security guards come out and tell her to come in. When she tries to leave, their eyes turn black and they grab her, but Jo dispatches them with the demon-killing knife and Sam arrives.

In his room Crowley smiles as the power goes out. He goes to check and finds Sam and Dean waiting for him. Crowley notes it took them long enough and notices the rug between them is askew. He has his demons grab the brothers, shows them the Colt, aims… and shoots the demons. Crowley tells them that they need to talk and explains that he distributed rumors to attract them, and now he wants them to use it to destroy Lucifer. He explains that Lucifer is an angel who hates humans, and he hates demons even more. Lucifer created demons as cannon fodder, and will destroy them once the humans are gone. Crowley just wants things to go back to normal. He extends the gun to Sam, who takes it and asks where the Devil is. Crowley tells him he can be found in Carthage, Missouri. Sam then points the gun at Crowley and pulls the trigger, but discovers it’s unloaded. Dean wonders if he’s considered all the options, including what happens if they fail, and Crowley tells them that he’s taking an extended vacation, and they shouldn’t miss.

Back at Bobby’s house, Ellen and Castiel are having a drinking contest while Sam wonders if the whole thing is a trap. Dean figures they have to take a chance no matter what, and determines that Carthage is heavy with Revelation omens, with six people missing. However, he tells Sam that he has to stay behind so Lucifer has no chance of getting hold of his chosen vessel. Sam insists that they have to do it together. Dean reluctantly gives in. They notice the drinking contest and Dean goes over to hit on Jo and try his “last night on Earth” speech. She starts to kiss him, and then tells him that she’d rather keep her self-respect. Bobby calls them over for a group photo and Castiel warns them it’ll be their last night on Earth.

The team drives into Carthage and Dean and Sam go to the police station while Jo, Ellen, and Castiel try to find someone on the streets. Castiel realizes that the town isn’t empty and focuses, seeing that there are hundreds of Reapers only he can view. He warns that they only assemble in times of great catastrophe. Castiel notices one moving in an upstairs apartment and follows the man further into the building. A light flares and someone says “Hello, brother.”

Jo and Ellen check with Sam and Dean and tell them that Castiel went after the Reapers.

Castiel finds himself in a circle of burning holy oil. Lucifer is there and is well aware that Castiel came with the Winchesters. Castiel notes that Lucifer’s vessel is deteriorating and Lucifer admits that it’s wearing a bit thin. Then angel insists he won’t get Sam’s body, and Lucifer notes that they are both rebels that were cast out. Castiel refuses to join forces with him.

The others search the town and find Meg waiting for them. When Dean aims the Colt at her, invisible hell hounds start moving in. Meg invites them to come to see her father but Dean shoots one of the hell hounds with the Colt and they run. Dean is taken down and Jo comes to his aid, but another one attacks and rips open her stomach. Dean picks her up and they take refuge in a shop and salt the doors and windows. Dean tries to rig a radio and call Bobby. They get hold of him and update him on the situation. Dean warns that Jo isn’t going to survive and starts to crack, but Bobby helps get it under control. They then confirm there were over a dozen Reapers and Bobby concludes that Lucifer is going to use a ritual to unleash Death, the Fourth Horseman. He has also been researching Carthage, and informs them that the Angel of Death must be freed on a place of Carthage, and a major battle took place on William Jasper’s farm.

Meg arrives to tell Lucifer that she has the Winchesters pinned down. Lucifer tells her to leave them alone for now and everything happens for a reason. Castiel listens, and notices a heating pipe overhead. Lucifer says they have time to see if he can change Castiel’s mind.

Dean and Sam try to figure a way to transport Jo, but she tells them that she can’t be moved. She suggests that they build a bomb and she draws in the hell hounds while the others slip out. Ellen refuses to let Jo sacrifice herself but Jo asks her to treat her like an adult for what will probably be the last time. Ellen cries and then tells them to go to work.

The brother assembles a bomb using propane and nails. Dean gives Jo the trigger and says they’ll meet again on the other side. Ellen kneels next to her daughter and Jo realizes that she’s staying to let the hell hounds in. She tells Jo that it’s important, and tells Dean and Sam to get going. As they leave, she tells Dean to kick Lucifer in the ass. Once they’re gone, she turns on the propane, unlocks the doors, and breaks the salt lines. She tells Jo that she’ll always love her, and then realizes that her daughter is dead. As she cries, the hell hounds break in and Ellen triggers the bombs.

Dean and Sam make their way through the woods to the farm and find the mesmerized townsfolk. After figuring they’ve said everything they need to, they step out and confront Lucifer. Lucifer assures Sam that he’d never hurt him, and Dean gets behind him and shoots him in the head. Nothing happens for a minute, and then Lucifer winces in pain and gets back up, and asks where they found the Colt. He then casually smashes Dean away, heals the wound, and continues his conversation with Sam. He explains that there are five things that the Colt won’t kill, and he’s one of them. He continues digging while Sam checks on Dean, and then asks if Sam would just agree. Sam insists it will never happen, but Lucifer tells him it’ll happen within six months, in Detroit. Sam gets angry and says he’ll kill him himself, and Lucifer encourages him to give in to his rage. He explains that most of the townspeople have demons in them, and the women and children are dead and sacrificed to Death. Lucifer insists that he has to do what he’s doing and says Sam should explain. He explains that he was a younger brother who loved and idolized his older brother. Michael turned on him and called him a freak, and beat Lucifer down for being different.

Lucifer begins his chant to summon Death and has the other demons recite along with him. The demons collapse and Lucifer casually dismisses their sacrifice.

Castiel concentrates and slowly unfastens the bolts holding the heating pipe with his mind. Meg boasts that her side is going to win. Castiel tells her that Crowley believes Lucifer will destroy the demons once he has achieved his goal, but Meg doesn’t believe it. As she moves closer, Castiel finally loosens the pipe and it knocks her into the circle. He tries to expel her, but nothing happens and Meg boasts that he’s cut off from Heaven. When she asks what he can do, he throws her into the oil.

The ground starts to shake as Death is freed. Castiel appears and gestures the brothers to be quiet. Lucifer steps to the edge of the pit and greets Death.

Dean and Sam get back to Bobby’s house and they listen to the reports of death and destruction near Carthage. Bobby tosses the photo into the fire and they watch as it burns.

Review by Gaelic

5.10 – Abandon All Hope – Gaelicspirit review

Stream of Consciousness, episode review 5.10

“Sometimes there’s just not enough rocks…”

Man, this episode blew me away. It was so well done. And so much happened. There are several questions I have—the biggest one being how did the boys get away from Lucifer in MO and back to Bobby’s in SD unscathed?? But it was definitely a gut-punching, heart-wrenching send-off to the year. And now… we have to wait until nearly the end of January. That? Will be hell. Seriously.

I went into this unspoiled with one minor exception. I knew that before the end of the year, there was a rumor that someone was going to die. How it played out left me gutted. I love my husband. He is my best friend, my soul mate, my true north. But I can’t imagine my life without my Mo Chuisle. I can imagine my life without the hubs… but not without her. I think almost every mother can say the same.

I would have been right there with Ellen. In fact, I almost felt like I was. The hard part about that whole scene is that I knew going into this episode that one of two things would be true: either they wouldn’t be able to shoot Lucifer, or they would and it wouldn’t work. I mean, it’s obvious, right? It’s only episode 10 of 22 of the apocalyptic arch. There’s no way they were going to kill Lucifer in this episode. Which made the Harvelle’s deaths seem like they were for nothing…

But… they weren’t for nothing. Ultimately, they died to save Dean and Sam, to keep the warriors in the war. This battle was lost, but the war still rages, and every war needs its martyrs and its heroes and sometimes they are one and the same. War is not won on strategy and tactics alone. It’s won on the backs and through the blood of those who sacrifice for the greater good.

And I think this war is far from over.

The Ramble

So, we start with a rarely-seen shot in this series, that of a bigger-city traffic system. A well-to-do businessman exits a black car—limo?—and buries a box. Okay, so we’re at a crossroads. Didn’t really look like a crossroads, but those intersections are always a tangle. A man appears—one I knew as Badger from Firefly… he of the ‘very fine hat.’ Apparently, this, ladies and gentlemen, is the demon Crowley.

So, Bela was rumored to have a crossroads demon as a lover, eh? Interesting. How many CRD’s are there, anyway? The businessman—a banker named Mr. Pendleton—makes a deal with Crowley to bail out his business but balks at the idea of sealing the deal with a kiss. Crowley is basically like give in to your homophobia, or bail out your company… your choice. So, in a very extended, uncomfortable (for Mr. Pendleton, anyway, Crowley looked unaffected by it) kiss, the businessman sells his soul for money and Crowley walks away looking very pleased with himself.

Unbeknownst to either one, though, is the fact that Castiel is watching and is on the phone with Dean.
“Got him,” Cas says in his gravelly voice. “Even as we speak the deal is… going down.”

Heh.

Dean’s like, “Okay, Huggy Bear, just don’t lose him. “ HA! Nice little shout-out to all you Starsky & Hutch fans out there.

Cas follows Crowley, but the demon is inside a house that is protected by the same symbols that Cas carved into the Winchester brothers’ ribs. So, he can’t go in. Dean’s like, no big. You did good. We got this. So, while Crowley sits inside listening to The Main Ingredient’s Everybody Plays the Fool and watching old news reels of Hitler’s Nazi’s marching, the boys team up with Ellen and Jo and hatch a plan.

Jo, in a skimpy black dress and hair up, looking very Damsel In Distress-ish, goes up to the gate and pokes the talk button, saying she had car trouble. The gate opens for her and she walks in to be greeted by Thing 1 and Thing 2, who waste no time in getting fresh with her. When she hesitates and says she’ll wait by her car, Thing 1 grabs her arm. “We said, get your ass in here.”

Jo goes full-on ninja on his ass while Sam puts the demon-killing blade to good use with Thing 2. Done and done. They cut the power and the boys sneak into the house. Of course… Crowley’s ready for them. He picks up on the devil’s trap (or something) they’d painted on the back of the rug almost immediately. Of course, the boys kinda gave it away with their eyes when they glanced nervously down at it just before Crowley stepped on it. *sighs* Oh, boys…

Two demons grab the boys and before they can do much more than gasp, Crowley uses the Colt to shoot the demons and says that they need to talk. In private. Oooohhhkkkaaayyyy. Y’know, as a total aside, I find the evolution of this weapon rather interesting. I mean, Samuel Colt made it (somehow) to kill demons and it only had 13 special-made bullets. If it hadn’t been for the intervention of a demon—Ruby—then the Colt would be nothing more than a glorified paper weight after Dean killed Azazel. But, a demon stepped in and voila, now it’s back to being The Gun That Can Kill Anything… except for when it can’t…

Anyway, Crowley takes the boys into a back room and says that he couldn’t buried the Colt deep, that there was no reason anyone should know it exists—except that he told them. Rumors. Innuendos. Makes me think of what Lucifer says later: “Where did you get that?” I wonder if Samuel Colt made a deal with the devil to create a weapon to kill demons. I wonder if we’ll find out more about this later on. I wonder…

Anyway, Crowley wants them to kill Lucifer. The boys exchange a wtf? glance, feeling all kinds of hinky about this sudden turn of events.

But Crowley says that it’s about survival. “But I forget that you two are at best functional morons.”

“You’re a functioning… moron…” Dean tries, lamely, and looks down and away as his attempt at throwing the insult back in the demons face fails miserably. Poor Dean. I know he bristles when their intelligence is insulted by demonkind, but he does a lot better when he stares back at them, stone faced, then when he tries to out-insult them.

Crowley goes on to say that Lucifer isn’t a demon. He’s an angel famous for his hatred of mankind. To him, demons are just cannon fodder. And when he’s done wiping out humankind, he’ll be after the demons next. So, he wants the boys to help him.

While I wanted them to get the Colt, and I could see Crowley’s point, I couldn’t help but get a tweak at the idea of the brothers working with a demon. Again. Even if it wasn’t side-by-side. The idea that they were getting help from a demon just twisted in my gut. Made me worry for them. And… set my suspicions about the Colt spinning. I mean, sure, Crowley could be telling the truth—and potentially had no idea what would ultimately happen when they shot Lucifer. Or… he could have known exactly what was going to happen.
*bites lip* This is great storytelling, folks. We’re still so deep into the hedge maze that finding our way out is a pipedream at this point.

Sam hesitantly reaches for the Colt, asking if Crowley knows where the devil’s gonna be, by any chance? Crowley’s like, it’s Thursday? I think he has an appointment in Carthage, MO. Sam tries to shoot Crowley (atta boy) but the gun is empty. Whoops. Crowley says, oh yeah. Might need ammo.

Dean challenges him by saying, what happens to you if we lose.

“Well,” Crowley replies. “One, he’s going to wipe us all out anyway. Two, when you two leave, I’m going on vacation to all points nowhere, and three, HOW ABOUT YOU DON’T MISS??”

He hands them a bag o’ bullets, and then… he’s gone. Something tells me we haven’t seen the last of Crowley, though.

Back at Bobby’s, Ellen, Jo and Cas are in the kitchen with lines of shot glasses and what looks like tequila on the table. Santana’s Oya Como Va is playing in the background and apparently Ellen and Cas are in a drink-off. Cas downs like… 8… 9 shots, while the ladies look on in amazement. Then he calmly tilts his head and says, “I think I’m beginning to feel something.”

*LAUGH* Oh, Cas. What an interesting character. He’s cut off from Heaven because he refuses to believe that God is dead. And those that are currently running Heaven are doing so with the belief that God has literally left the building. And, because he’s cut off from Heaven, Cas’ mojo is lessening. He doesn’t have the level of power he did before. He’s still an angel, but he’s seeing the appeal of humanity. He’s probably one of the only angels that can understand why God loves humanity as much as He does. The other angels protect us or watch over us, or whatever they do, because they’ve been commanded to do it. But Cas? He’s getting to a point where he’d do it because he, too, loves us. I dig that about him.

The brothers are in the other room, looking over maps and intel and drinking beers as they discuss Crowley’s information. There’s some good teasing—the kind that only brothers who’ve been to hell and back can share. Or… even just brothers. Sometimes teasing among siblings or very close friends can seem harsh to an outsider but between the two of them, there’s an undercurrent of acceptance and understanding. This was a nice scene to show how far they’ve come as brothers and partners.
Sam: “This is a trap, right?”

Dean: “Sam Winchester having trust issues with a demon. Better late than never.”

Sam: “Thank you again for you continued support.” Lifts beer.

Dean: Taps beer against Sam’s.

Dean, though, thinks that Sam shouldn’t go on this mission. If Dean goes and “screws the pooch” then all they’ve lost is a game piece (guh!), but if Sam goes, then they’re practically handing Lucifer’s vessel over to him. Before I could yell Dean! You’re more than a game piece and you know it! at the TV, Sam saved my failing voice by saying that if they were going to do this, they were going to do it together.

Dean watches his brother as Sam argues his point, and there is something about the lighting in that scene—the way it comes in from the window to hit his face, the green of his shirt reflecting the green of his eyes… he just had this look of peace. And perfection. In that one moment, everything was right. And I think that while he had a good point about Sam not going, his heart wasn’t in that argument. He wanted his brother by his side and having Sam argue adamantly was what he needed to hear.

“Okay,” Dean concedes. “But it’s a stupid freakin’ idea.” Then his eyes slide past Sam into the kitchen and his face gets this… prowlish look to it. Sam glances from Dean’s face to the kitchen and back, knowing his brother all-too-well.

“Talk about stupid ideas…” Sam tries, but Dean? He could care less. “True that,” he agrees, stands up and heads to the kitchen where Jo is bent over getting beers from Bobby’s fridge. She stands up and Dean is like rightthere. He leans close, then turns to rest against the counter. Now, I don’t know about them, but I was uber-aware that her mom and an angel were mere feet away at the table.

Dean: “Dangerous mission tomorrow.”

Jo: “Are you giving me the last night on earth speech?”

Dean (eyes on her mouth, lips not quite closing around his words): “If I was, would that work?”

*Gaelic has trouble concentrating*

Dean’s expression is so primal that I found myself nervously licking my lips. He is already eating Jo up with his eyes. Jo leans close—very close—lightly strokes the side of his face, then almost-but-not-quite kisses him. “No,” she pulls back and Dean’s eyes dart from her mouth to her eyes and back. “Sweetheart, if this is our last night on earth, then I’m going to spend it with a little think I call self respect.”

HA! Atta girl!

As Jo walks away, Dean kinda sags against the counter. “If you’re into that kind of thing.”

A quick word about Jo. When she was first introduced, I didn’t like her. I thought she came off as way too young—and the whole playing REO Speedwagon to ‘woo’ Dean just made me roll my eyes. She may have been over 21, but she felt 15. Sure, she had a thing for Dean. Who wouldn’t? He comes into her mom’s bar, beat up, broken, angry, virile… just thinking about that episode and how he looked in it curls my toes. But ‘wrong place, wrong time’ couldn’t begin to cover my reaction to the two of them getting together.

I didn’t mind her so much the next time we saw her, but that all got a bit tainted when she found out that John had something to do with her father’s death. I’m not sure what it was about how she reacted to it that turned me off, but it did. In BUABS, though, my opinion changed. Something about her leaving Harvelle’s Roadhouse to find her own way in life gave her a layer that I hadn’t seen before. By the time we saw her and Ellen again, fighting with Rufus, I was definitely in Camp Jo. Not that I wanted there to be any romance between her and Dean—or that I even thought that was a possibility. Just that I definitely liked her character and respected her as a woman and a hunter.
Now, Dean… what I wondered was if he felt the same way. Did she make the transition from practically-a-sister to potential lover in his mind around the same time? Did he have true feelings for her beyond the fact that they had a history together and she was a good hunter? Had he even allowed himself to think about that? Or was he just horny and knew that she’d ‘carried a torch’ for him in the past and wanted to get laid? I mean, no judgment here. Sometimes, you just want to use somebody—and for them to use you back.

Sometimes you just want to feel something in a way only sex can let you feel.

But I don’t know that I think Dean had any true romantic/love type feelings for Jo. I don’t think he ever really gave himself a chance to decide that. Dean’s not a fall quick, fall hard kind of guy. If he’s going to love someone in that way, it’s going to be something he slowly comes to the realization of. I think he saw her as a good person, a tough woman, a capable hunter, a family friend. I think the fact that she was pretty and had a kick-ass body aided his attraction in the moment. And I really don’t think that changed with what happened later.

Anyway, Bobby calls them all into the living room, telling the usual suspects to stand in the corner. Ellen jokes that it’s always good to have an optimist around when Bobby says that he wants to take their picture for posterity sake. Cas, though, in his ever-so-cheerful voice, says that tomorrow they hunt the devil; this is their last night on earth.

When the camera snaps their picture is captures, from left to right, Cas, Sam, Ellen, Bobby, Dean, and Jo. All very somber. All wondering if Cas is right. None, I think, truly believing it could really be over over tomorrow. They’d survived so much, and they were still standing.

They pull into Carthage—Ellen’s old Jeep Cherokee following the Impala. An American flag is painted on a brick building behind them with the words Anti-God is Anti-America across it. Dean isn’t getting a cell signal, and there are no people. Anywhere. Nice and spooky. The boys got to the police department while Ellen and Jo try to find some people. Cas is out of the car (doesn’t get out… he’s just inside, and then he’s not) and is looking around the town saying it’s not empty. Suddenly we can see what Cas sees. And it’s creepy. There are dozens of reapers just standing in the street. Silent. Still. Cas tells Ellen and Jo this, saying that they only gather like this during times of great tragedy—Chicago Fire, San Francisco earthquake, Pompeii. He’s going to find out why they’re here.

He sees one in a window of an apartment-type building over a marquee that reads Jesus Saves (apparently, Carthage was a prime target for an invasion of the devil because of its outspoken Godliness) and ‘beams’ up there to follow it. Just as he gets to the end of the hall, though, he hears, “Hello, brother,” and a bright white light flashes in his face.

Whoops.

The boys return to Ellen and Jo and find out that Cas is gone and that there are reapers all around. I don’t know about you, but the idea that they were all just standing there, but unseen… just creeped me out.
Cas is standing in a Ring of Special Fire and Nick/Lucifer is standing on the other side. Lucifer asks if he came with the Winchesters and Cas says he came alone. Then they have this completely odd conversation.

Lucifer: “I was told you came here in an automobile. What was that like?”

Cas: “Slow. Confining.”

I don’t know why that’s funny, but it just really was. How they have this casual conversation in the middle of all of this. Anyway, you can see that Nick is starting to… I don’t know, rot? Maybe? In any case, he does not look good. Lucifer says that he’s wearing a bit thin and won’t be able to contain him much longer.
Cas says simply, “You are not taking Sam Winchester. I won’t let you.” YAY! Go Cas!!!

Lucifer tries to ‘relate’ to Cas… using that honey-sweet voice, the soft sympathy of brotherhood. “I was cast out of Heaven because I rebelled, you were cast out because you rebelled…” Whatever else they’re doing with this arch, they are certainly playing the devil as I’d always pictured him. Evil in his ability to twist the truth to serve his purposes, using our own insecurities—and yeah, now even Cas has insecurities—against us. Makes me shiver.

Lucifer wants Cas to basically serve his purposes, but Cas says he’ll die first. To which, eerily, Lucifer agrees.

The four humans are armed up and walking the streets. Dean is worried about Cas—“Great, we’ve been in town 20 mins and we’ve already lost the angel up our sleeve.” He knows Lucifer got him. And then… Meg shows up. Gotta say, I’m not a big fan of this version of Meg. She reminds me too much of the gal that plays Rogue in X-Men. I can’t really take her seriously as a bad-ass. I don’t know why. Anyway, she wants them to come with her to see her ‘father.’

Dean points the Colt at her—and is it just me, or was his ring gone? He wears it on his right hand, right?—but she didn’t come alone. A puddle moves next to her and you can hear a growl. Dean tenses, his whole being tightening up, his face paling as he realizes that she has Hellhounds with her. The fear that shook through him in that moment was palpable. But he points the Colt at the invisible Hellhound and fires, then turns and bellows, “RUN!” to the others. And then everything happens very, very fast.

A hound tackles Dean, taking him down. Jo turns, yelling his name, and fires. Dean yells at her to stay back, but she doesn’t. She keeps firing until she has the Hellhound off of Dean and apparently blasted to smithereens. But she’s not fast enough. Another hound slashes her—badly. Blood spurts up and coats the underside of her neck. Ellen screams, “NO!” and Ellen and Sam are firing at the invisible Hellhounds while Dean is scooping up Jo in his arms and they’re all running into a hardware store.

Jo’s pain… the little grunts and gasps she makes… my heart hurt listening to her. Because in the instant Ellen screamed, “NO!” I was in her shoes. In Ellen’s. And the idea of my girl being hurt like that… Dude, I’m gonna cry all over again. They chain off the door and the boys put salt along the door and windows while Ellen becomes all business with repeated assurances of, “You’re okay, you’re gonna be okay,” to her daughter.

Ellen puts something on Jo’s belly to try to stop the bleeding, but you knew as soon as that blood splashed the underside of Jo’s chin she wasn’t going to make it. Dean is messing with a CB radio and Sam approaches him, saying the salt lines are working, but they’re trapped like rats. Dean asks how Jo is doing, and Sam’s face tightens up. He knows it’s bad, but can’t bring himself to say it. Dean spits out that Lucifer is here and this is their one chance—they gotta take it no matter what. He uses ‘Sammy’ in this impassioned speech and it struck me how rarely we get to hear that these days.

Bobby can’t get through to the boys on the cell, but then hears his CB radio fuzz and rattle and wheels himself over there. I loved this scene. Bobby picks up the mic and says, “KC5 Fox Delta Oscar.”
“Bobby, it’s Dean, we’ve got problems.” Dean’s voice is shaking, and not just from the static.

Bobby’s reply is smooth and warm and the one solid thing that Dean can grab onto. “It’s okay, boy, that’s why I’m here.” *Gaelic rubs heart*

Dean tells Bobby that Jo’s hurt, and that it’s pretty bad. Bobby folds his lips together, takes a breath, then says, “Okay, now we figure what we do next.”

Dean tries to say that he doesn’t think she’s going to make it, but he can’t get the words out.

Bobby brings him back to center—reminds him with simple, minimal words that he’s got a job to do, and that in war, soldiers die. It’s not fair, and it hurts like hell, but it happens and until there are no soldiers left, Dean has to keep going. Everyone that’s left has to keep going. And you know Bobby’s heart is breaking having to push Dean through this—knowing how much they’ve all lost, how much death they’ve all seen. But he also knows that if they don’t keep going, they may as well all die there. Because when they stop fighting, the devil wins.

Dean tells Bobby about the reapers and Ellen chimes in that by the way Cas’ eyes were moving, she’d guess that there were at least a dozen reapers in town, maybe more. Bobby has books upon books open and says that he thinks the devil is going to unleash death.

Dean’s, like, “Unleash? Hasn’t death been dropping all over the place? I mean, hell, I’ve died several times myself.” *slight hee, because…it’s true*

Bobby says he’s talking about DEATH death. Pale horse, angel of, all that. He references the Battle of Carthage during the American Civil War and that the hellish day occurred over at William Jasper’s farm. I can’t remember how midnight came into play—but apparently, they only had until midnight.

There’s a little scene where Meg goes back to Lucifer—who is still watching Cas—and the only thing I got out of that scene was that Cas was starting to unscrew a couple of screws above Lucifer and Meg with his mind. *shrug*

Back at the hardware store, the boys are trying to figure out how they can get out to Jasper’s farm by midnight, past 8 or so Hellhounds and getting Jo and Ellen out of there. And… I’m going to have a hard time getting through these next few moments of the ramble without crying, so bare with me. Jo makes them stop, says that they have to get their priorities straight. She can’t move, and knows she’s not going anywhere.
In a choked voice, Ellen tries, “Joanna Beth, you stop talking like…”

But Jo hushes her. When Ellen pulled out the middle name card, my throat closed up. It’s such a mom thing to do. Jo proposes building a bomb. Dean immediately says, no. But Jo persists, saying that they build a bomb, let the Hellhounds in while the other three climb to safety, and she’ll wait with her finger on the trigger. Ellen, crying, says, “No, I won’t let you.”

Jo says, “This is why we’re here, right?”

Ellen is breaking my heart. Literally. *pauses to wipe tears away* She just says, no… but it’s not just “no.” It’s “no, I can’t believe it’s going to end this way.” It’s “no, I brought you into this world and there was a chance for you to have a wonderful life and now you’re bleeding to death in my arms.” It’s “no, I won’t let you go.”

Jo looks at her mom and says that this is probably literally the last time she will be able to treat her like an adult. Ellen nods, squares her jaw, and looks at the boys. “You heard her. Get to work.”

And then it’s MacGuyver time. They build several buckets-o-bombs and set them around the space where Jo is laying. Sam is holding Jo’s hand while Dean positions the bombs. He squeezes it, then backs up, his face devastated, eyes dry. Dean kneels down and hands Jo the trigger.

“This is it. See you on the other side. Probably sooner rather than later…”

Jo smiles weakly at him and hands him her shotgun. “Make it later,” she says. *SNIFF*

Dean cups her face gently, kissing her forehead and closing his eyes. Then he looks at her, and leans in, kissing her mouth, and then rests his forehead against hers. In that kiss he poured every regret and hope and lost moment and what if that they’d ever had together. His face is tight, his eyes destroyed, and yet when he looks at her again, there is a light of pride there. It was a beautiful, perfect, horrible, tragic, wonderful moment between the two of them.

Then it’s Ellen’s turn. I was afraid I wouldn’t be able to handle this one. Ellen just looks at her daughter and folds her mouth in this, you know I have to smile. Jo weakly cries, “No…” realizing what her Mom’s going to do. Ellen says someone has to let the dogs in, and Jo isn’t moving.

“And I will not leave you here alone.” *nods* I know. I wouldn’t leave, either.

Ellen makes the boys leave with a Kim Manner’s worthy, “Kick it in the ass,” order. The boys head out, and Ellen opens the doors, kicking the salt aside, then goes back to sit with her girl. She holds Jo and watches as things in the room are knocked over when the Hellhounds enter.

Ellen wraps her hand around Jo’s—which is holding the trigger—and says, “I will always love you, baby.” And Jo goes limp in her arms. Ellen cries, kissing her daughter’s head with a, “It’s okay, it’s okay, my good girl.” Oh, God, that just killed me. There is nothing like the smell of your child’s hair. The top of their head is the perfect place to nestle your nose. *wants to hold Mo Chuisle right now* All I could think was that at least Ellen knew Jo would be spared experiencing (for however brief) the explosion and that it was logistically a good thing Ellen had stayed behind.

Ellen feels the Hellhounds breath against her hair and says, with true Ellen Harvelle moxie, “You can go straight back to hell, you bitch!”

BOOM!

Dean and Sam both whip around and stare in momentary shock and disbelief at the fireball that was the hardware store. Their faces are a mixture of devastation and determination. They head to the farm. Once there, they see a bunch of men simply standing around, watching another man dig. Dean’s like, well, at least we know where all the townspeople are…

Sam: “Any last words?”

Dean looks at his brother and the flurry of emotions that crosses his face takes my breath away. “I think I’m good.”

Sam: “Me, too.”

Dean: “Here goes nothing.”

Sam steps out into the clearing and gets Lucifer’s attention, cocking his shotgun. Lucifer looks at Sam and says that he doesn’t need his gun. “You know I’d never hurt you.”

Dean steps up, Colt pointed at Lucifer’s temple and says, “Yeah? Well, I’d hurt you. So suck it.”

BAM!

Lucifer falls. Sam and Dean exchange looks of anxiety. It was too easy. Much too easy.

Nick/Lucifer takes a breath and sits up saying, “Ow!” He looks at Dean. “Where did you get that?” He stands up and biffs Dean into a tree, hard. Dean falls to the ground and lays still. As Sam is staring at Lucifer in shock, Luci says that the Colt can’t kill five things in all of creation—and he’s one of them.

So, The Gun That Can Kill Anything actually can’t kill anything. WOULD’VE BEEN NICE TO KNOW THAT BEFORE!!! But no one, apparently, knew that. Not Cas. Not even Crowley. Unless, as I said before, Crowley did know… All I know is… Lucifer is still alive, and while they have the Colt, there are four other things in creation it can’t kill…

Sam hurries over to check Dean’s pulse and Lucifer is like, don’t suppose you’ll just say ‘yes’ now and we can forget this whole thing? Sam bellows that it will NEVER happen… and then he says more stuff like he’s going to cut Lucifer’s heart out with a spoon or something… I was distracted by the fact that Lucifer is calmly digging some kind of grave or something, Dean is unconscious on the ground, and Jo and Ellen just died. Lucifer says that yes, it will happen. In 6 months. In Detroit. Just in time for the Season (Series?) finale.

Well, we already knew about Detroit… now we just gotta figure out how to NOT have Sam in a position where saying yes is his only option.

Apparently, Lucifer sacrificed all of the women and children of the town and put one demon in every able-bodied man. Sam’s sickened and Lucifer’s like, yeah, well, I had to do this. Surely you can understand. Sam’s like, huh? And Lucifer once again tries to relate to Sam, just as he did with Cas, and pulls the whole I had a big brother I looked up to, but he called me a freak just because I was different and had a mind of my own…

Sam is visibly affected by his words. He does a slight neck twitch before bending down to check on Dean again. Lucifer continues his ritual and Dean wakes up in time to see all the men die. Lucifer looks over at them and is like, What? They’re just demons. Okay, so that kind proves Crowley’s point of Lucifer not giving a rats ass about them, even though he made them…

We go briefly back to Cas, who is being babysat by Meg, and we see that he’s slowly turning a screw, loosening some kind of pipe thingy. He’s calmly using Crowley’s logic against Meg, saying that Lucifer could care less about her. He brings the pipe down and she’s knocked into the ring of fire into him. He tries to fry her, but can’t—cut off from Heaven as he is, his mojo isn’t what it used to be. But, what he can do is drop Meg into the fire and use her body to walk out. HA! Nicely done, Cas!!

Back at the farm, there is a weird tremble and the boys look on in horror as Lucifer looks on with something like… love. And, DEATH is here.

Suddenly, we’re back at Bobby’s. And I really would like to know how they managed that one. Cas? Maybe? Did Lucifer just not care about them leaving because he’s confident about his prediction of Detroit, 6 months? I don’t know… but they’re at Bobby’s and in the background the news report is saying that the governor has declared a state of emergency, and we see tornadoes tearing across the Midwest. Bobby and the boys are facing the fireplace and silently, Bobby drops the group shot into the flames. As they watch it burn, my only thought is that Dean’s face holds pain so, so well.

So, yeah. I can see this going so many different ways. I mean, there’s the we’ve lost so much, how much more are we supposed to take angle. And there’s the kill ‘em all and let God (if He’s alive) sort ‘em out angle. But I hope the boys attack this next round of trials with the do not go gentle into that good night; rage, rage against the dying of the light angle.

I hope they see that Ellen and Jo believed in them enough to die for them. That John died for them. That they are the last best hope for humanity. And that all of this loss is so that they can defeat the ultimate evil. So that good can win in the end. Because now, not only is Lucifer still around—and they have to figure out how to kill him all over again—but DEATH is out there riding his pale horse.

I would say so much more, but my fever’s back and I need to take care of that. I hope this ramble meets your expectations for the caliber of an episode such as this. Par for the course, the show has me spinning and I can’t wait to see what happens next. January 21^st is a long ways away…

Thank you for reading. Slainte!

GUEST STARS

	Misha Collins	…	Castiel
	Jim Beaver	…	Bobby Singer
	Samantha Ferris	…	Ellen Harvelle
	Alona Tal	…	Jo Harvelle
	Mark Pellegrino	…	Lucifer
	Rachel Miner	…	Meg Masters
	Mark Sheppard	…	Crowley (as Mark A. Sheppard)
	L. Harvey Gold	…	Mr. Pendleton
	Darryl Scheelar	…	Demon
	Dawn Chubai	…	Newscaster (voice)

IMAGE GALLERY

Official Episode Stills:

Full Episode Stills Gallery

Episode Screen Caps:

Full Episode Screen Caps Gallery

TRAILER/CLIPS

The CW Trailer  –  Space Promo  –  Episode Clip 01
Episode Clip 02  –  Episode Clip 03  –  Episode Clip 04

MUSIC

Carlos Santana & Tito Puente – Oye Como Va

The Main Ingredient – Everybody Plays The Fool

QUOTES

Dean: Okay, and why exactly would you want the Devil dead?
Crowley: It’s called survival. But I forgot you two are at best functioning morons.
Dean: You’re a functioning… morons… moron.

Lucifer: Castiel, right? Castiel. I’m told you came here in an automobile.
Castiel: Yes.
Lucifer: What was that like?
Castiel: Um, slow. Confining.
Lucifer: What a peculiar thing you are.

Sam: Okay, last words?
Dean: I think I’m good.
Sam: Yeah, me too.
Dean: Here goes nothing.

Castiel: The demon Crowley is making a deal; Even as we speak, it’s— going.. down.
Dean: Going down? Right. Okay, Huggy Bear, just don’t lose him.
Castiel: I won’t lose him.

Crowley: So. The Hardy Boys finally found me. Took you long enough.

Dean: Oh, uh, excuse me for asking, but aren’t you kind of signing your own death warrant? I mean, what happens to you if we go up against the devil and lose?
Crowley: Number one, he’s going to wipe us all out anyway. Two, after you leave here, I go on an extended vacation to all points nowhere. And three, how about you don’t miss, okay! Morons!

Dean: Sam Winchester, having trust issues with a demon. Well, better late than never.
Sam: And thank you again for your continued support.
Dean: You’re welcome.

Dean: So. Dangerous mission tomorrow. Guess it’s time to eat, drink, and, you know, make merry.
Jo: Are you giving me the last-night-on-earth speech?

Lucifer: Castiel, right? Castiel. I’m told you came here in an automobile.
Castiel: Yes.
Lucifer: What was that like?
Castiel: Um, slow. Confining.
Lucifer: What a peculiar thing you are.

Meg: Your call. You can make this easy or you can make it really, really hard.
Dean: When have you known us to ever make anything easy?

Dean: Okay, this is it. I’ll see you on the other side. Probably sooner than later.
Jo: Make it later.

Jo: Mom, no.
Ellen: Somebody’s gotta let them in. Like you said, you’re not moving. You got me, Jo. And you’re right, this is important. But I will not leave you here alone.
Sam: Dean—
Ellen: Get going now, boys.
Dean: Ellen—
Ellen: I said go. And Dean? Kick it in the ass. Don’t miss.

Lucifer: I know what you must think of me, Sam. But I have to do this. I have to. You of all people should understand.
Sam: What’s that supposed to mean?
Lucifer: I was a son. A brother, like you, a younger brother, and I had an older brother who I loved. Idolized, in fact. And one day I went to him and I begged him to stand with me, and Michael—Michael turned on me. Called me a freak. A monster. And then he beat me down. All because I was different. Because I had a mind of my own. Tell me something, Sam. Any of this sound familiar? Anyway. You’ll have to excuse me. Midnight is calling and I have a ritual to finish. Don’t go anywhere. Not that you could if you would.

TRIVIA

Carthage, Missouri was also the setting for the season 4 episode “Metamorphosis”.

When Sam tells Lucifer that he is going to rip his heart out this may be a nod to The Prophecy In this movie and its following sequels the only way to kill an angel was to remove its heart.

ALLUSIONS

Dean: Okay, Huggy Bear, just don’t lose them.
Referencing the supporting character Huggy Bear Brown (Antonio Fargas) from the TV series Starsky and Hutch. Huggy was the cops’ jive-talking but ever-loyal underworld contact.

Crowley: So the Hardy Boys finally found me.
The Hardy Boys, Frank and Joe, were teenage detectives in popular detective novels, which have been updated occasionally for modern audiences. The Hardy Boys were creaed by Leslie McFarlane under the pen name of “Franklin W. Dixon.” The characters are probably known best under their TV incarnations in The Hardy Boys/Nancy Drew Mysteries from 1977.

Meg: We’re going to Heaven, Clarence.
Referencing the 1946 movie It’s a Wonderful Life starring James Stewart as a despairing man who is ready to commit suicide. His guardian angel, Clarence Odbody, comes to show him that his life has been worth living and all of the people he’s influence. At the end, Clarence wins his wings and goes to Heaven.

Title:
Referencing the ninth and final line of the inscription over the gate of Hell according to Canto III of Dante’s Inferno. In Italian the expression reads, “Lasciate ogni speranza, voi ch’entrate.” The 1805 translation into English by Henry Francis Cary is the origin for the English phrase, which he rendered as “All hope abandon ye who enter here.”

 Ellen: Kick it in the ass… And Dean – Don’t miss.
“Kick it in the ass” was a catchphrases of the late Kim Manners. Samantha Ferris related in her blog how the line came about:

The shout out to Kim Manners was an idea from one of the Camera guys, Brad. He came up to me quietly on the down low before we shot that piece where i say goodbye to Dean and said, “hey, when you turn around to say “don’t miss” try one where you say “kick it in the ass” “. The line was just supposed to be “….and Dean, don’t miss”. We did both. They put both in. It was a bittersweet moment for the cast and crew. Robin the props gal cried……Kim is/was and will always be a very loved and missed man. Especially on that set.

Episode Forum