Recap – “Hammer of The Gods”
Gabe goes on, saying that doesn’t make him any less right about Lucifer and Kali things he’s lying because he’s a spy. Fine bitch, learn the hard way. Gabe tells the truth, he’s not a spy, he’s a runaway. “I’m trying to save you. I know my brother Kali. He should scare the living crap out of you. You can’t beat him. I’ve skipped ahead, seen how this story ends.” She’s too pigheaded, saying it’s his story, not theirs. Wanna bet? “Westerners, I swear the sheer arrogance. You think you’re the only ones on earth? You pillage and you butcher in your God’s name. Oh but you’re not the only religion, and he’s not the only God. And now you just think you can rip the planet apart? You’re wrong. There are billions of us and we were here first.”
You know, she has a point and normally I would accept this with sympathy and support, but it’s so poorly made here and useless considering the cold hearted bitch plunges the blade into Gabriel. “If anyone gets to end this world, it’s me.” Oh yeah babe, great way of proving that you are so much better. I swear, with powerful and really shallow Gods like this having followers, the planet does deserve a bit of a torching, don’t you think? She’s making Lucifer look like a saint in his plan to destroy life on earth. Of course Gabe looks at her like “How could you?” but he’s too busy flaming out in the white light to continue. Sam and Dean watch with horror, realizing their one hope at killing Lucifer is gone.
Oh, but is he? I don’t see those dark angel wings around. Yes, I picked up on that pretty quick. Kali looks sad, but it’s way too late for that bitch. Lucifer’s gonna be pissed. Not at Gabe being dead, but just at you existing. Mercury thinks the idea of killing an archangel is crazy. Kali realizes archangels can die and she can kill Lucifer. Think again! Do your angel killing homework babe. Man, there’s never been a point where I’ve wanted to see the Devil more.
Dean sees enough, and says exactly what we’re all thinking and pay attention, this is one of two very worthwhile scenes in this episode. He stands up. “Alright you primitive screwheads, listen up.” Ha! About time someone said that. Sam looks at him with alarm. “Are you out of your mind?” Come on Sam, you both are screwed, lighten up. “I’m out of options,” he says in a low voice to Sam. “Now, on any other given day I’d be doing my damndest to kill you. You filthy murdering chimps. But hey, desperate times. So even though I’d love nothing better than to slit your throats you dicks, I’m gonna help you.” It’s so funny, he’s got this shit eating grin when he’s facing them, then he turns around to get a drink and his expression changes to “what the fuck am I doing?” Good ole Dean.
Dean says he’s going to help them ice the Devil. Sam of course takes this news with complete disdain. Come on Sam, play along. “And then we can all get back to ganking each other like normal.” He gets plenty of stares, but still has everyone’s attention. “You want Lucifer? Well, dude’s not in the yellow pages.” Dean has them eating out of his hands while Sam is squirming like crazy, not loving this plan one bit. “Me and Sam, we can get him here.” Kali wants to know how. Dean won’t tell her until the “main courses” go. Clever Dean, clever. “We can either take on the Devil together, or you lame ass bitches can eat me.”
Bwah!!! Finally, I’m enjoying something from this episode. The looks on Dean and Sam’s faces are just too good. Dean finishes when what he just said has sunk in. “Literally.” Okay, finally a scene to save this episode from “Bugs” status. I’m dying here! However, that would have been way better if Sam had faked to the others a supportive “listen to the man” look and then turned to Dean with an “are you fucking crazy” expression. However, at this point, I’ll take what I can get.
A ton of people start running from the motel for their freaking lives with Dean running them off. I know some cultures like the cleaver wielding Chinese dude are into human sacrifices, but Hindus? Aren’t they like Vegetarian or something? I didn’t think Norse Gods were that way either. It just goes to show my ignorance with these sorts of things. Dean stands outside next to the Impala and what do you know, Gabe is in the back seat going, “Psst, Dean.” I knew he wasn’t dead! He is after all the Trickster. He knows how to fake death. Which is why I don’t get how Kali was tricked so easily.
Gabe tells a disbelieving Dean not to look at him, act natural and get in. “There’s nothing natural about this at all. I thought you were dead.” You’re so right Dean. Gabe can’t believe Dean would think he would give Kali his real sword. “That thing can kill me.” They have a fake made out of a can of diet orange slice. Alright, whatever. Gabe wants him to snag their blood. He heard Dean in there. Kali likes him. She has a thing for dicks. He wants him to get the blood and they vamoose.
“No,” says Dean. He wants Gabe to hand over the real blade. “Better yet, why don’t you sack up and help us take down Lucifer.” Gabe can’t believe he’s serious. “Since when are you butt buddies with a bunch of monsters? That’s all they are to you, aren’t they?” Dean thinks Sam was right. Its nuts but it’s the best idea he’s heard. He asks for a better one from Gabe but doesn’t get one. Gabe is ready to get out of there and let “those lemmings run off a cliff.” Dean instead calls out Gabe on his smart ass show of not caring but he does, for it takes one to know one. That is so true!
“Maybe those freaks in there aren’t your blood, but they are your family.” Gabe wisely points out they just stabbed him in the heart. They’re better than your real brothers Gabe. Dean agrees but knows he still gives a crap about them. Gabe doesn’t argue. Dean says they’re gonna die in there without him. “I can’t kill my brother,” Gabe says. Yeah Dean, listen to the man. You of all people should relate. No, instead Dean asks “Can’t or won’t?” Huh? They have a stare down. “That’s what I thought.” Dean leaves. Come on Dean. You’re better than this. Why in the world would you expect Gabe to kill his brother? Offer to do it instead. You’ve got the angel killing mojo thing going. I feel that out of character word coming on again…Bazinga!
Back to Kali and Baldur with Sam. Kali is skeptical he can summon Lucifer. “Sort of. I just need you to squeegee some stuff from my ribs and he’ll come running.” “Breaking them would be easier,” Kali says. Sure, but that won’t get Lucifer there. Sam is acting way too nervous BTW. Come on Sam, follow Dean’s lead. Show a little swagger. I know you can do it. Dean walks in to spare Sam any more strife. He tells them the sword’s a fake and Gabe is still kicking. “I hate to break it to you sister but you’ve been tricked.” This stuns both Sam and Kali. At last! Some vulnerability on this bitch. Someone rings the bell at the front desk and Mercury greats him. “Checking in.” Wait, I know that voice. It’s Lucifer! Lucifer in one rotting meat suit. I’m sure he’s really anxious to see Sam.
Mercury thanks Lucifer for coming. Oh you stupid bastard. Lucifer tells him he was right for calling and Mercury says the talk in there isn’t going so well. Lucifer is in a grumpy mood. Must be the decaying flesh. “You know, I never understood you pagans. You’re such petty little things. Always fighting, always happy to sell out your own kind. No wonder you forfeited this planet to us.” Okay, when the person making the most sense all episode is Lucifer, something is wrong. Or right. I haven’t figured that out yet. “You are worse than humans. You’re worse than demons. Yet you claim to be Gods.” He takes out Mercury in a neck snap with one flick of the finger. He so had that coming.
Hey Alice,
OK, you have some very good points. I too thought Dean’s talk to Gabriel about killing his brother was WAY out of character.
However, the whole Gabriel buys the farm and then tells the boys about the ring thing….well.
Have you ever been under pressure and rationalized an idea to yourself that, given more time and clearer thinking you would not have done?
Or, look at it this way. Lucifer has always been stronger than Gabe. He knows it. (back before Lucifer ended up in his box, you can just picture it….Gabe being all, I’m a bad ass angel, and Lucifer grabbing him in a headlock and giving Gabe a nuggie going all “awe, you’re so cute little bro”…)
Then Luci ends up in a change, the tension at home is MASSIVE and Gabe books it for witness protection. Now he’s down with the humans, he’s stronger than all of them and he gets to know them the way NONE of this brothers have.
I think Gabe really had no idea what he was up against. Sure, he talked like he did, but I think it was all a front. He hasn’t had dealing with his brother in millenia. He would have an idea of what to expect, but he probably wasn’t really in the know any more than the Winchesters. I think it that he may have convinced himself that it was more likely he could take Lucifer out then the boys succeeding in getting the rest of the rings and getting Lucifer back in his cage.
I also agree with what Pete has said. Gabriel needed to get off the fence and stand up for himself.
And he did. In fine fashion. He will be missed.
Yes, Alice, even when you don’t particularly like an episode you do a great recap. Thanks.
Now the euphoria’s worn off some this one does look a bit shonky … Some good moments, especially at the end, but the Gods were all rather bargain basement. For the record Baldur was a D-list cutie whose sole claim to fame was that he was killed by his brother – Maybe that’s why they chose him and not Thor or someone more interesting. Odin did go in for hanged sacrifices, animal and human, but the whole canibalism thing was just a lot of cheap yuk-moments to fill out the story.
It might just be wishful thinking but I don’t think the Trickster’s going to stay dead. ( I mean, who does? ) The only God to go unsmushed was his not-entirely-ex-sweetie-pie who scampered off to parts unknown with a vial of his blood and mythology is loaded with characters who die and then get regenerated from their own toenails or whatever ( Osiris and, er … lots of others I’ll remember in a minute … ) So who knows? I really, really hope he does pop up again further down the line. He was great, and if they keep chopping throught the regulars at this rate there’ll be no-one left to to f*ck up the guys in S6!
Why did Gabriel have to die? I think the answer seems simple (I still hope it’s not, I always loved the multilayered complexity of the show) – the myth arc has to come to a close, angels have to go, respectively have to be killed off. That’s how it appears to be (again: hoping to be proved wrong, though, there’s one particular angel I’d like to see again – and I would have loved to see more or Richard Spreight Jr., I loved his character, my fave pain in the ass).
Why didn’t Gabriel with his knack for survival and hedonism come to the brothers, tell them how to get Lucifer into his cage and help them do it? That would have also been standing up to his brother in the end, but with a realistic chance (well, maybe) to perhaps survive the confrontation. Except – Gabriel was suicidal and hoped to be killed by his brother. His speech about humankind shows a different state of mind, though. He would have been more useful to the brothers alive, this sacrifice was senseless. He could have left his double to confront Lucifer while leaving with the Winchesters.
Initially I wasn’t crazy about this episode, but I kinda liked it. After reading your review on blogcritics I was having second thoughts, watched it again, and now I think I agree in many aspects with you.
Some things also bothered me, after re-watching it – the Gods, for instance. What kind of assembly was that? One of the Big Norse Kahunas, Odin and Baldur also? , but Ganesh (and if he was there, why was Kali also present, one Hindu God might have been enough)? The Roman Gods sent Mercury, probably to report to Jupiter (had it been the Greeks we would have seen Hermes here)… and what about the other religions?
I know, this might be a bit geeky here (or nerdy?) but why were some religions twice represented and other were not? A Voodoo guy, and Zao Shen but no other ones? Really cool would have been to bring Osiris into the mix (the guy certainly would not like to give his underworld thing to Lucifer, eh?) or some other goddess… there are so many religions out there. We never really heard of those, but now they’re brought up, shortly before the apocalypse?
The writers try to save this with Kali’s Western-arrogance speech, and I agree with you, Alice, poorly done. This was no goddess, more a whiny teen (I’m thinking ‘evil’ Galadriel when it comes to the goddess I would have loved to see here). None of the ‘gods’ actually convinced me to be a powerful, immortal being. This was a wanting Clash of the Titans impression.
And I agree with you Alice, several ‘Bazinga’ moments here – due to the writers who are not so familiar with the characters? What was this episode intended for? A filler before the real end begins? A means to get rid off another angel?
What did I like – well, I don’t mind watching the guys do their thing, as I just love the characters, even when an episode is not exactly the best one, but am disappointed when out of character moments happen. Same goes for Dean being his old self (just like that, as I said before, that was not authentic, to my mind) and Sam… well, that I bought more, as he might just be freaked out with Lucifer approaching, still in mind Dean’s open voiced mistrust concerning the matter. I still believe, Lucifer will ‘wear Sam to the prom’ (I would just love to see Jared play that again! I’m hungry for some great acting, always guilty of that), and I think deep down Sam believes that, too.
I loved Lucifer’s demonstration of power – we had not been informed before how powerful he exactly is. This is one scary dude. I loved the confrontation (minus the killing) of Lucifer and Gabriel and Gabriels I-believe-in-humanity speech. Hated him being killed off so senselessly, though.
Loved your recap, Alice. It’s always like watching an episode again. I concur with the other comments – even when you don’t like an episode, you give us a fine recap, and that’s what a good writer should be able to do. Kudos to you.
Best , Jas
One of the finest Simpsons lines ever!
To play devil’s advocate a few times, I get the whole save the world thing, but Sam and Dean versus a bunch of gods? Though I was disappointed that both Norsemen weren’t more hardass than they should have been.
To riff on Jas’ geekery, and this is only speculation, I assume that in the SPN cosmology, the power of a god or goddess rises and falls based on how much he/she/it is worshiped, prayed to, etc. Consider how weak they are compared to the minions of the largest cult on earth.
Plus, world serpents and turtles are far more interesting than monotheism, plus plus you’d be a bit bummed too if you had hypocritical Jesusheads running around fucking up your minions for centuries. This is why we’re lucky Ohio doesn’t have any. 😉
One thing I do agree with you is, where the hell is Raphael? Um, one of the archangels, might want to give him at least one more scene.
And nothing amps up the angst-o-meter like killing off a legitimate hero. I wouldn’t call his death senseless. Remember, he’s not shying away from the hubris either, been hoisting own petards for centuries. It wouldn’t surprise me at all if he honestly thought he could knock Lucifer off. The Winchesters’ stubborn humanism rubbed off on him, and hell, he *was* shocked when Lucifer wasn’t fooled by his illusions.
Bugs? Seriously? I enjoyed this episode (though yeah, a few moments upon second reflection were a tad Bazinga-y perhaps) but at least you write the best recaps around or we’d have to go Simpsons again:
“Hey you, let’s fight!”
“Them’s fightin’ words!” 😀
Hi Alice,
Great recap! I too was crushed that Gabriel died – he wsa my favourite recurring character (followed by Chuck). Regarding the illogic of Gabe trying to kill Lucifer despite knowing about the rings – to me, it seemed that he was forced into that confrontation because Lucifer had Kali and the boys. Gabriel wanted to get them away, but had he gone with them, Lucifer would have been hot on their heels without anyone to distract/hold him off. I don’t think Gabriel expected to win – hence the dvd plan b – but he took a shot and if by some miracle he defeated Lucifer, all the better. I sincerely hope we seem Gabriel again – even if the storyline has to be brought to an end (which begs the question – what about Cas?!?!? He HAS to stay!!!) I’m sure the super clever minds behind this show could find a new way to use him.
Thanks for the recap!
T-minus 8 hours to episode 20!
Have to agree with the rest here Alice. Even when you don’t like an episode your review is still great and this one was really amusing.
I hated hated hated that they killed off my favourite antagonist the Trickster! Will really miss his irony and sarcasm something fierce. You perished being a real hero Gabe and will not be forgotten. (and hopefully be brought back sometime in the future. Perhaps Dad will take pity on his wayward son and being him back like he did Cas).
It was a relief to me to see Dean seem like his old self again. He even looked years younger. So good to see him smile again and get to eat his pie. Dean happy (or not entirely in despair) makes me happy. Sammy was a little bit of a wet blanket here, but then he’s not getting enough sleep and wore himself out last episode trying to fix his brother.
Rather than looking forward to the next episodes, I find myself only worrying about the safety of Bobby and Cas. The writers are hell bent on desiccating the cast of this show and I feel like mourning even though I presume our boys will triumph. And I have NO DESIRE to see either one of them being mere meat suits for Luci and Mike. I hope they stay human and that Team Free Will will be victorious in the end.
At the shallow end of the pool, didn’t they look gorgeous soaking wet at the start of the episode? Woohoo! 😉
BTW, just because everything seems to mean something on this show, I looked up the name of the motel on good old Wikipedia….
The Elysian Fields Motel
In Greek mythology, the Elysian Fields in Elysium were the final resting place of the souls of the heroic and the virtuous.
Of course. 🙂
Just popping in quickly to say that I have to agree with you about this episode, Alice, though perhaps not as vehemently. I didn’t particularly care for it, mostly because the concept was really cool, but the execution not so much.
And I think what they were saying was “uberboned” not “overboned.”
Lastly, while I did think Dean’s asking Gabriel to kill his brother was a bit harsh, I’m not so sure how out of character it was for him since we’ve seen over and over again that he has an incredible double standard when it comes to his brother. At the very least he could have used a better argument.
I see that Dean’s “can’t or won’t” bothered many viwers, as it well should. I was one that found this comment very weird coming from Dean. But someone at another site commented that actually Dean was asking Gabriel the following question: ‘So you can’t kill YOUR brother, but you expect me or Sam to do it?’ This makes more sense when you come to think of it.
I’m thinking there’s no way they killed of Gabe for no reason. I feel like something like this went down:
Writer 1: (insert great idea here) But you know what that means.
Writer 2: We’re gonna have to kill off Gabe.
Writer 1: …
Writer 2: …
Writer 1: Well, fuck. No one’s gonna like that.
I agree that Dean was more commenting on the fact that everyone expects him and Sam to kill each other if it comes down to it, but everyone else is reluctant? Eh.
And oh goodness, I love Lucifer to pieces. Of course he’s evil and stuff, but I find him the most interesting thing either. When he showed up on earth he was so gung-ho, he was like “I’m gonna get this done, yeah!” and now he’s like “nothing’s going my way…UGGH” and killing people left and right and north.
I think this was a filler episode to the max. They had the issue of the other religions nagging at them and they needed to show how powerful Lucifer is and kill off Gabe before whatever’s gonna go down is gonna go down in the next three episodes and they were like “let’s just get it over with.” It’s like a whole episode of exposition…bet the writers drew straws for it. And overall, this isn’t a bad episode. It’s just relatively, compared to the run of intense awesome ones we’ve had, slow and boringish.
Loved your review Alice. Yes, I agree with all the ‘out-of-character’ moments you stated for the boys. Just couldn’t believe the boys would let someone be killed while they watched! So not SPN. Sam’s faces as Dean launched his plan, and when Luci appeared were SO Sam though, and Dean hitting on Kali….kind of nice to see his old ways again….even though she did him a favor by cutting him off. No way is she in Dean’s league. 😀
So you think she released them from the blood spells off camera? I hope so…as she is still alive, still upset about Luci and now, hopefully, upset about Gab’s death, I can see her wanting to keep a foot-in-the- door with the boys too.
Yes, it didn’t make sense to me that Gab would challenge his bro knowing about the rings. Really I don’t like bro vs. bro violence. Gab should have given Luci his speech, and left with the boys. No need to kill a sibling. But in all honesty, the writers have been inconsistent like this more than once this season. Hopeful this will end in season 6.
I really enjoyed this episode. As for Gab fans, myself included, God brought Cass back, and he can do it with Gab too… Here’s hoping!