Review – “All Hell Breaks Loose Part II”
“All Hell Breaks Loose Part 2”
–Robin’s Rambles by Robin Vogel
Sam is dead, and it’s been a couple of days. In some cabin somewhere, he lies peacefully on a mattress red with his blood, and Dean has been crying and talking to him, unable to accept his failure to protect his brother. Bobby keeps stopping by with different food, the latest a bucket of chicken. Dean just keeps drinking from a whiskey bottle, refusing to eat. Bobby thinks it’s time they consider burying Sam. Torch his corpse?–not yet, insists Dean. Bobby wants him to come with him, leave this place, so he won’t be alone. He needs his help; something big is going down, end-of-the-world big. “THEN LET IT END!” cries Dean””haven’t I given enough?””paid enough””I’m done. He literally pushes Bobby, then apologizes. “You know where I’ll be,” says Bobby, leaving Dean alone with his dead brother.
Jake, hiding in the woods, dreams of the YED, who calls him the American Idol for winning the competition. Jake orders the demon to go to hell. “Been there, done that,” quips the YED, who says he has a task for Jake, and if he refuses to do it, Jake’s mother and little sister will be the ones to suffer for it.
Dean talks to Sam, and it’s just heartbreaking, about how, when he was five, he started asking questions””why didn’t they have a mom, why did they move around so much, where did Dad go. I told you to quit asking, you didn’t want to know; I wanted you to be a kid a little longer. My job was to keep you safe, Dad didn’t even have to tell me. It was always my responsibility, my one job and I screwed it up, I blew it, and for that I’m sorry. He wipes his eyes. I guess that’s what I do””let down the people I love. I let Dad down””am I supposed to let you down, too? How can I? What am I supposed to do? What am I supposed to do? Standing, he demands, “What am I supposed to do?”
We all know the answer, and sure enough, Dean takes the Impala to the nearest crossroads, buries the box with the requisite accoutrements and is soon face to face with the brunette in the black cocktail dress. She plays with him, taunts him about “getting the last of his family killed,” but ultimately agrees to bring Sam back to life””but only gives Dean one year in return””because he’s a Winchester, she knows how desperate he is, and that he was all set to walk away at five years. That’s when it became a fire sale, and a seller’s market. Dean pulls her in for the kiss and she wraps her hand around his head, enjoying the kiss far too much.
In the cabin, Sam comes back to life, his knife wound still quite painful. He lifts his shirt and examines the deep wound, wondering how he survived it. Dean enters and immediately hugs him, so hard, it hurts Sam’s back, and Dean is forced to stop. He tells him he’s happy he’s up and around, that Jake knifed him in the back, and that Bobby patched up the serious wound. Now that Sam is alive, Dean is starving, and they both dive into the food Bobby has brought. Sam relates how the YED kidnapped him to Cold Oak, but leaves out the revelation about Mary. Sam is confused””if there was supposed to be only one survivor, how did he AND Jake get out alive? He left you for dead, says Dean evasively, and insists Sam rest. After Dean tells him about the Roadhouse burning down, Ash’s and possibly Ellen’s death, Sam wants to go””now!
They arrive at Singer Salvage, where Bobby surveys Sam, stunned. Sam thanks Bobby for patching him up. Bobby wastes no time in giving Sam a task to do inside the house so he can drag Dean outside. “YOU STUPID ASS, WHAT DID YOU DO?” demands Bobby. “YOU MADE A DEAL FOR SAM, DIDN’T YOU? HOW LONG DIDJA GET?” When he hears it’s only a year, Bobby wants to throttle him and asks why the Winchesters want to throw themselves down into the pit. Dean explains that he wasn’t supposed to be alive, and now his life can mean something. And it didn’t mean anything before? cries Bobby””how can you have such a low opinion of yourself? He’s m’brother, says Dean, tears in his voice, I couldn’t let him die. How’s YOUR BROTHER gonna feel when he finds out you’re goin’ to hell? asks Bobby. He grips Dean’s face in anger, sympathy and love. They hear and noise and duck behind a car. Next thing they know, Ellen is in Dean’s arms and he’s hugging her.
Inside Bobby’s house, he makes Ellen drink a shot of holy water. She does, nothing happens. “Whiskey now, please,” she requests. The only reason her life was saved is because she went out for pretzels, she says; by the time she returned, the Roadhouse was gone, along with a lot of good people. She shows them a map from her safe, what Ash desperately wanted them to see. Bobby consults a book and explains that wherever there’s an X is an abandoned frontier church, all built by Samuel Colt. He built private railway lines connecting the churches, and if you draw lines, it forms a star, or a 100 -square mile Devil’s Trap. All those omens I found, the demons are circling around Wyoming, but they can’t get in””but they’re trying. There’s an old cowboy cemetery right in the middle. Dean suggests Colt wasn’t trying to keep the demons out, but trying to keep something in. Sam asks if the demons could get inside. This thing’s so powerful, says Bobby, no way a full-blood demon gets across. Sam knows who could.
Standing by the railroad tracks, the YED hands Jake the Colt, explaining this is the only gun that can kill him. Jake points the gun at the demon. Go ahead! urges the YED, be all you can be, but remember, if you do what I tell you, you will be a leader of an army, on the ground floor of a better world where you and your family will be treated like royalty!
Jake enters a totally creepy cowboy cemetery where Dean, Sam, Bobby and Ellen wait for him. Jake insists he cut Sam’s spinal cord, so he should be dead. Sam looks at Dean””WTF? Jake, explaining how fast the Jedi mind tricks come to you once you’re open to them, orders Ellen to put her gun to her head; she does. Jake orders the others to put their guns on the ground; they do as they’re told. He pushes the Colt into the lock and lets go; it begins to spin, opening by itself. Dean and Bobby grab Ellen before she can shoot herself while Sam pumps four bullets into Jake’s back. Sam stands in front of Jake, who begs, “Please, don’t, please.” Sam shoots him three more times, killing him, then coldly wipes Jakes blood from his face.
Bobby urges everyone to take cover, quickly, that’s a gate to hell Jake opened, and demons and God-knows-what are escaping! Dean, who had removed the Colt from the gate before taking cover, tries to shoot the YED, but the demon yanks the gun from his hand and tosses him into a headstone. Dean lays there, pinned, head bleeding. Ellen, Bobby and Sam are trying desperately to push the Devil’s Gate closed, but when Sam sees what the YED did to his brother, he rushes toward him, only to be pinned to a tree himself. The YED thanks Dean for resurrecting Sam–demons can’t resurrect people unless a deal is made–red tape–it’ll make you nuts–but thanks to Dean, Sammy’s back in rotation”””I liked him better than Jake, anyhow. You saw what your brother just did to Jake, right? That was pretty cold, wasn’t it? How certain are you that what you brought back, is 100% pure Sam? You of all people should know, that’s what’s dead, should stay dead. I knew I kept you alive for some reason. Until now, anyway. I couldn’t have done it without your pathetic, self-loathing, self-destructive desire to sacrifice yourself for your family.”
He’s about to shoot Dean with the Colt when JOHN WINCHESTER appears and grabs him from behind. The smoke issues from the body, leaving it on the ground, and grapples with John. When the YED pushes John to the ground, the re-enters the janitor’s body and stands up. Dean, ready with the Colt, shoots, straight into the heart. For a few moments, lightning seems to go off inside the host body, then the light goes out in the YED’s eyes. He’s dead!
Ellen and Bobby successfully close the gate. They watch as John, crying, touches Dean’s shoulder. Dean, too, is crying. Sam, tears running down his face, exchanges a nod with his father. John steps back and seems to disappear heavenward in a bright flash of light.
“We can check that off the to-do list,” says Dean, standing over the YED’s body. You did it, praises Sam. Not alone, says Dean. They wonder if their dad climbed out of hell and figure he was stubborn enough. Where did he go? They don’t know. They’ve spent their whole lives preparing for this. “That was for our Mom, you son-of-a-bitch,” Dean snarls to the host body of the YED. (Which, when you think of it is kind of wrong. The poor guy whose body he used and abused all this time wasn’t the culprit.)
Moment of truth time: Jake said he killed me, Sam reminds Dean””did I die? Did you make a deal, sell your soul for me? Dean tries to deny it, but Sam is persistent, and Dean finally fesses up””I got one year. When Sam starts getting angry, Dean begs, “Don’t get mad at me. Don’t you do that. I had to. I had to look out for you. That’s my job.” Sam rightly retorts, “And what do you think MY job is? You’ve saved my life over and over. I mean, you sacrifice everything for me. Don’t you think I’d do the same for you? You’re my big brother. There’s nothing I wouldn’t do for you. And I don’t care what it takes, I’m gonna get you out of this. Guess I gotta save your ass for a change.” Sam figures that one or two hundred demons escaped hell, and Bobby says the war has just begun. Dean smiles, one of the most BEAUTIFUL I’ve ever seen on him. “Don’t Look Back” plays. “We’ve got work to do,” says Dean, tossing a rifle into the trunk. (Do I hear an echo back to the season 1 Pilot, when Sam said the same thing after Jessica died?)
Season 2 comes to either a season finale or a series finale; we weren’t sure at that time, and there was a feeling of bittersweet coming over us as we wondered if we would get to watch Dean’s last year play out. I know I was crying because I feared this wonderful show wasn’t coming back, and just the thought broke my heart.
1. So ended the storyline of the YED and the special kids. I was very satisfied with the two-year length of time it took to kill the YED, and thrilled we got to see JDM, even if was for a brief time. I like to think he was off to heaven, since that’s where he deserved to go after all the good he did in saving people for so many years. Since I was looking forward to a big war with all the special kids, I found the solution of only one soldier rather anti-climactic. What about you?
2. Some folks were hoping that they would come up with a different idea for bringing back Sam. Seriously, what else were they going to do after showing us the entire Crossroads storyline in the past? They put those there for a reason! I remember someone writing it was too predictable. Duh! That’s called foreshadowing, and if they did go another way, I’d have been WTF?
3. Good old Dean. Even the demons love his kisses! He started the kiss, but she sure finished it. Did you think this demon was sexy or not so much?
4. Dean is a hypocrite. He always said what’s dead should stay dead””unless it’s his little brother. The YED put doubts in his mind, too, about Sam and whether he came back 100% the same? Do you believe Sam was just angry that he didn’t finish Jake off in the first place, causing Dean to make that deal?
5. Did the scene with Bobby in the yard affect you the way it did me? I thought Jim Beaver’s performance was spot-on there. He made me cry, his love for Dean was palpable, and his sorrow at the thought of losing him just made me cry more than I already was.
6. Kudos up the wazoo for Jensen Ackles in this episode. His scenes talking with the dead Sam, with Bobby, talking with the living Sam (the expression on his face when he walked in and saw Sam was alive just made my heart go pitty-pat, and don’t make fun of me), with John in the cemetery””he deserved an Emmy award for this episode alone. BRILLIANT!
7. For Dean, the world could just END without his brother in it. Once Sam was alive, he wanted to save it again. That tells us a lot. It’s also interesting to note that, when Sam asked Dean what MY job is, Dean had no idea. Does Dean really think the protection thing only goes one way, from the older brother to the younger brother? He seemed surprised to learn that Sam’s job is to watch over and protect his big brother, too!
8. Aside from the scene in the cemetery, where Dean yells at the poor corpse of the dead janitor, I loved everything about these two eps. I just feared it was going to be the end of SUPERNATURAL forever.
HI Rob, nice review 🙂
1. I also liked that they killed the YED so early on… In some shows they stretch those storylines out so much that it’s ridiulous. Our show really knows how to keep the suspense and drama up 🙂 Like I saide in AHBL part 1, I like the fact that Sam is the solo psykid alive. I’d be fascinated to know what they’d done with the whole spykids’ army fighting on hells’ side but, the route they’ve been on so far, hasn’t dissapointed. And well, there must be some fanfic for that 😀
2. I love the whole scene with the crossroads. It was near perfection (and the perfection was the scene where Dean spoke to Sams body, just beautiful. Jensen should’ve gotten an Emmy just for that. *sniff*) and I really liked the CRD in this one, pure snark and unsympahty, a total businesswoman. I agree too, had they gone some other way, now ‘that’ would have been anticlimatic. Crossroad Blues was a great eppie and a perfect foreshadowing in my opinion.
3. Eeer… I dunno! Randal can answer that. She was snarky…?
4. I don’t think Dean was a hypocrite. The times when he says those What’s-dead-should-stay-dead -things , you can clearly see he’s talking about himself. He should have stayed dead ’cause he doesn’t think he deserves to live and no one should ever never die for him. “He feels worthless”, is an understatement. Poor boy *pets*. If only he knew…
5. That wasjunkyard scene was a lovely scene, just beautiful. Btw, is it just me, or did Boddy seem kinda… I dunno… not caring about Sam in this one? It always bugged me about this ep…
6. Agreed.
7. Ofcourse Dean thinks that protecting Sam is a one way street. Sometimes he’s been even dismissive about Sam saving his butt (well in s1 and s2 mostly). And that drives Sam nuts. I mean, I would be seriously pissed (and have been since I’m the youngest of my family) that I’m not taken seriously, that I’m not grown up in their eyes. Sam wants to be equal, and that might never happen really since the roles in the family are kinda set in stone mostly (always). He wants to share the burdens and “be responsible” for Dean too, give back all those years of protection and devotion. Wouldn’t you? And it’s just so sad that when Sam thought he was doing this, he ended up ending the world. And now he’s just a shadow of who he used to be, he doesn’t trust himself and is so afraid that Dean will see that after all, Sam’s not worth it…Talk about tragic. :cry::
8. Yeah, the scene with the janitors’ dead body was quite thoughtless… Kripke said in AHBL part 1s’ commentary that it was just ridiculous, thinking back. But hey, it’s not the first time the hosts are regarded nonexistant. And with this season, that very thing is happening to our boys! There just meat suits for the angels to ride around in, they don’t matter. And that thought is always disheartening.
1. Hmmm, maybe less anti-climax, more misdirection. One would assume giant demon army of death and destruction and worldwide mayhem. In the immortal words of Dark Helmet, “Ha ha, fooled you!” 😀
2. See, that’s a major nitpick I have with fandom. Look, not every episode of a show, or issue of a comic, or installment of a movie must be 100% different. That’s realistic? Sure, there’s always a danger of predictability, but there are certain set points within a fictional universe (and our own) that we keep going back to out of necessity because it’s the only (or one of a few) option or because of cultural ritual.
3. Being an admitted sap, I wasn’t too fond of her “needy guys are such a turnoff” line. Fine, we’ll be cold hearted brutes, me beat chest, steroid flex, ooga ooga. Gimme the demon from Crossroad Blues, yum. 😀
4. I still think at this point that even if Sam *was* different (i.e. realizing he had to be more of a hardass to survive), he was still against murdering a human being *but*, given the choice between Jake and Dean, you know he’d choose to off the former. I don’t think Dean is the only one who thinks about what he’ll go through for this family.
5. That’s one of my favorite handful of scenes of the show ever, showing how Bobby is as much of the family as a Winchester, how they all care for each other, more than mere lip service.
6. He put on a fucking clinic. Between the crossroads, the scene with Bobby and at the end when he tells Sam that looking out for him is his job, well, kleenex city.
7. I think he was surprised at that not out of some hubris (I’m the older brother and I know all and see all) but that each had their particular part to play (a bit of the military family/training gig) and he was taken aback that Sam felt he should share in that duty.
8. Ridiculous to us, as it should be (don’t blame the janitor!) but honestly, would any of you be thinking about the poor janitor if you were in Dean’s shoes? I doubt I would and would have gladly pulled the trigger. Love is one powerful mofo.
Geez! This site doesn’t want me to post anything yesterday or today again. If it doesn’t just eat my post and my browser, it pops me over to another part of the site without my permission. Just for your information. I’ll try to post this
Btw, is it just me, or did Boddy seem kinda… I dunno… not caring about Sam in this one? It always bugged me about this ep…
I don’t think it was that Bobby didn’t care about Sam so much as he was kind of scared of him. Dean had brought him back from the DEAD! The last time Bobby had seen Sam, he had been lying on a bed, dead and cold. So seeing Sam suddenly alive, thanking him for patching him up must have scared the crap out of Bobby. He knew what Dean had done, but still, it was a demon deal and who knew if Sam had come back completely Sam? So that’s probably why Bobby’s attitude toward Sam seemed somewhat off.
Love, Robin
Well done, Robin, this is one of my favourite episodes (it seems there are many of those…. Yeah, some news?)
1-I wouldn’t say that I found this finale anti-climatic, and I have to channel Randal here. I was in part looking forward to a big clash of paranormal forces, but liked this solution better. The concept of the chosen one has always appealed to me, from Luke Skywalker to Neo, it’s the classic Campbell-journey of the hero… and it added a lot of ambivalence to the character of Sam, making him even more multi-faceted.
2-So it was predictable, so what? Of course Dean would go to a crossroads and make a deal, it was only organic after all the introduction of that storyline and the set of mind Dean was in. Frankly, I don’t give a damn – that some fans had to find a hair in this… I liked it. There might have been another way, but why waste such opportunities for great acting and story development? You take something well-known and add a dash of new images…
3-Will it sound shallow when I say that I would have loved to play that demon for that scene alone?
4-When we think how easily that deal of Dean’s fed Sam’s guilt account, he probably was angry at himself for not taking care of Jake properly and thereby putting out a carpet for Dean to walk into his doom – but killing Jake in cold blood in that fight was just not him. The Sam he was then would not have been able to do it…
Do you actually think Dean is a hypocrite? I wonder what I would have done in his place. I can’t claim, though, that I would have certainly been sensible…
5-Bobby is one of my favourite characters. I was standing thigh-deep in Kleenex in that scene…
6-nothing to add here. Jensen Ackles is undoubtedly one of the most talented young actors around.
7-I believe, indeed, that Dean did not think that Sam could protect his older brother just as well. He kept treating him as the little brother, even more (thereby eventually encouraging Sam to go off with Ruby), as he was more frightened to lose Sam again some day. He had not experienced that before, as he had always managed to protect him. And here he was, a heartbeat too late and feeling his brother’s life slip away as he held him close… I could just go on weeping again…. I’m a sap, alright, alright, Randal…
8-I am very glad that the show goes on… As a fan I hope for a while longer…
thanks for this, Robin, Love Jas