SPN: Abandon all hope

[norwich36]

I was spoiled for this episode to the extent that I knew 2 characters were going to die, and while I was really really hoping it wouldn't be the Harvelles, I think I'm glad was at least braced for that possibility, because as it is I cried so hard I could barely see the screen. They were good deaths, as SPN deaths go--I was glad that Jo was the one who came up with the plan for the bomb, and of course Ellen wouldn't just leave her there, any more than Sam would leave Dean behind or vice versa. (In fact, in some ways it felt like my favorite scene from rivkat's Under Darkening Skies). And insofar as they helped the Winchesters escape I suppose they had meaningful deaths, though it's pretty annoying that the Winchesters weren't even able to stop Death rising. (I didn't really expect them to be able to kill Lucifer, but I expected them to do something). I've seen a couple people say Ellen's death was needless, but since Jo actually died before the hellhounds came, actually the plan wouldn't have worked if she hadn't stayed.

But I'm still really mad that they got killed off--less because they were recurring female characters (though that does annoy me) and more because I really liked them both. They were both kickass characters--I totally loved their drinking contest with Castiel--and I really liked the Dean/Jo overtones in this episode. It felt to me like Jo had grown up enough that Dean finally took her seriously, though I also loved the fact that she turned him down when he propositioned her.

I'm not sure the rest of the episode made much of an impression. Crowley was fun, and it's interesting that we still don't entirely know his agenda: was he really just sending them into a trap, or was he hoping they might be successful? I actually believe he's right about Lucifer's perspective on demons.

To me the most interesting thing was the failure of the Colt to work, and how that relates to "The End," because frankly I had assumed, when watching The End, that the reason future!Dean ended up under Lucifer's heel was because when it came right down to it he couldn't kill Lucifer when it meant decisively killing Sam once and for all. But if the Colt doesn't work on Lucifer, maybe he did shoot after all. I kind of hope he did.

And this means they need some other sort of end game to deal with Lucifer, obviously. I wonder if this means Dean will, after all, end up being worn by Michael. Oh, one other interesting point from this episode: making Lucifer Michael's younger brother, obviously done to cement the Lucifer/Michael parallels with Sam/Dean, but changing the traditional perspective that Lucifer was the first created of all the angels.

So who do you think the 4 other beings the Colt can't kill are? My guesses: God, Michael, Death (otherwise presumably Castiel would have jumped back with the Colt and killed him, right?) and mystery being. I have no clue who the fifth would be. Unless it's not Death, it's God + the 4 archangels, and Lucifer used to be one of the archangels.

Comments

[roxymissrose.livejournal.com]

I can't see anyone calling Ellen's death needless. It made me cry buckets, those two dying but I tell you, I would have lost all respect for her if she'd gone off and left her *daughter* to die by herself. Any woman who'd make that choice is someone I wouldn't want to know. That she could comfort her (instead of screaming her brains out like i would have) showed just how amazingly strong a person she was. My main quibble--what the eff is it, that mediocre characters like Jo and Ruby and someone else I won't mention at the risk of getting my ankles kicked are boring until they die? Why can't they pull performances like that out in the course of the series? I mean, look at Ellen, and Missouri, and Mary--young, and old. Those women acted the hell out of their roles at all times Tamara, Madison--they were more interesting in their one appearances than the others I mentioned as failing miserably did any time on screen.

And here I'm shutting up. Boy, it's going to be a loooong wait until January.

[norwich36.livejournal.com]

Well, to be fair, the stuff I've seen has been more along the lines of "Ellen would want to stay alive to get vengeance on Meg and the other demons"--but I agree, she showed a lot of strength in that scene. I don't know if I could have done the same.

However, I actually liked Jo and both of the incarnations of Ruby, so I guess I don't see the deaths of those characters as more compelling than other episodes they were in. Apparently I'm in the minority on this, but oh well.

[cormallen.livejournal.com]

My guesses on the 4 other beings, since Lucifer said "in creation", would have to exclude God. God is the creator, hence, not "in creation". I'm thinking Lucifer and the Four Horsemen, because otherwise, they could've tried to do Death in, like you're saying.

[norwich36.livejournal.com]

Yeah, when I rewatched that bit and actually heard the "in creation" part (it's possible that I was crying too hard at the time to really hear what he was saying) I had the same thought--and it kind of makes sense if it's the 4 horsemen. Though it makes me pretty scared about what Death is going to do!

[shopgirl318.livejournal.com]

I agree 100% with your post. The episode broke me, I don't read spoilers before the episodes so I didn't know what was going to happen. I wanted them to make it out, but it was damn good death though. I liked the Casitel/Lucifer/Meg scenes. the devil is very dark, sinister, manipulative, and everything in between. I really want this guy to keep playing him from Lost.

[norwich36.livejournal.com]

Yeah, that scene with Castiel, Lucifer and Meg rocked. I love when they let Castiel be a BAMF.

[rsadelle]

I'm very confused. My tape starts with the Now screen. Did I miss the part where it explained why they're back with Ellen and Jo? Because to me it seemed like they came out of nowhere.

[norwich36.livejournal.com]

No, but it isn't the first time they hunted with them this season, and I assume when you're going up against the devil you want some backup to be gratuitously killed off so we can see the apocalypse is SRS BZNS to help out.

[rsadelle]

It just seemed so sudden, and such a departure from last week, especially with no little, "Hey, we're hunting together again" dialogue bit. It actually made me wonder if they were showing eps out of order.