Supernatural S05 E19 – Those beautiful wings.

Previously: Adam came back and then went again. On the plus side, Zachariah’s dead.
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Hammer of the Gods

Samantha: This episode, a random favorite of mine, opens at a run down vacant motel in Indiana. A sheriff looking fella walks inside and starts looking around. We see that the name of the hotel is the Elysium Fields and the Greek Mythology nerd inside of me has a field (har har) day. We also see a flower pot bloom into life. The flowers look vaguely lotus-y if you put your imagination to it. There’s lots of noises and camera angles to indicate that this motel is not quite as abandoned as it appears. Sure enough, the sheriff guy turns around to find an immaculate looking bellhop standing there. He tries to tell the bellhop that he isn’t allowed to be here, but Bellhop just rambles about how he has to get everything ready because they are all coming. He then tells the sherif cop guy that he’s dinner and murders the fuck out of him.

BLOOOOOOOD.

After the bloody credits we’re back at the Elysium Fields Hotel, only now it’s all cleaned up and spiffy looking. The Impala pulls into the parking lot, and the next shot is of the boys hurrying inside from an epic rainstorm. Holy shit you guys. Jensen Ackles looks good all drippy and soaked. Uh. Uhm. Okay.

The boys look around the busy lobby and Dean remarks on them staying in a nice place for once. They approach the counter where the Murdery Bellhop makes a big performance out of typing. While Dean is signing them in, Murdery Bellhop points out that he’s suddenly got a small cut on his neck that’s bleeding and helpfully provides a tissue. Dean inquires about a coffee shop, and Murdery Bellhop points them in the direction of the hotel’s all-you-can-eat buffet, that serves the best pie in the tri-state area. You can actually see Dean’s entire face light up.

We cut to an over laden dessert table, where Dean is mentally calculating the merits between a slice of cream pie and apple. Uh, both Dean. What are you, an amateur? A nerdy accountant looking guy remarks that this is heaven but Dean corrects him that this is actually better. He heads back to his table with the cream pie, pausing to give a glamorous looking woman the “how you doing?”

She shuts him down hard, and it is glorious. He even gets defensive at one point, and she just calmly keeps shutting him down. It’s amazing and I love her.

  Back at the table, Dean tells Sam to relax but Sam says that they need to leave because the storm outside is hella biblical. Dean questions how much sleep they’ve gotten in the past week and says that they’ve tracked down every lead they currently have. Sam snaps that he’s not giving up and Dean snaps back that neither is he. But they need to recharge and they might as well enjoy their night off. Lolz. We follow a waitress into the kitchen and see a bloody severed hand on the counter.

The boys head to their room. In the hallway, a couple is making out, which endlessly amuses Dean. Inside their room, Dean squeals over how fancy it is and promptly gobbles up the chocolates on the pillows. He notices a little ad on the nightstand for Casa Erotica, which is kind of a running background porn gag on this show. Sam bitchfaces and points out how super weird it is that a 4 star hotel was on a nowhere back road. We hear the couple getting down to sexytime on the other side of the wall, before there’s a thud and the wall caves in a little. The boys make, “ugh” faces and go to investigate.

Inside the room, the couple is nowhere to be seen and the only sign that they were in there is a rumpled bed. Dean finds the woman’s wedding ring on the floor and Jared makes his extra cheesy “uh oh spaghettio” face.

The guys are awkwardly inquiring about the couple at the front desk. Murdery Bellhop tells them that the honeymooners checked out just a second ago and the guys are like “that’s hella suspicious, dude.” Dean shows Murdery Bellhop the ring but Murdery Bellhop just smiles pleasantly and puts it in the Lost and Found.

Dean bemoans the loss of a night off and decides to check out the place while Sam keeps an eye on Murdery Bellhop.

Sam’s pseudo casually following Murdery Bellhop around the hotel when he disappears near some vending machines. As Sam stares in confusion, his neck suddenly has a slight cut, exactly like Dean’s from earlier.

Dean is EMFing the hallways when he walks past a doorway to a room that has a giant elephant in it. He backs up to check that out but now it’s just a larger black man in a towel.“This ain’t no peep show man!” he says, before slamming the door. Dean looks shell shocked.

    In another room, the glamorous woman that shut down Dean is having her necklace fastened by a man. He tells her that she’s beautiful and starts kissing her neck but their sexytime is interrupted by Murdery Bellhop. He tells them that everything is ready and that the Winchester’s are suspicious but under control. The woman asks if he collected their blood and he says of course, before zooming over to her super quick, Flash style. He gives her two vials of blood and she calls him Mercury. Mercury, as you well may know, is the name for a Roman God. His Greek counterpart is Hermes.

Sam and Dean walk into the lobby, Dean filling Sam in on the elephant business. The lobby is strangely deserted despite it been bustling earlier. Sam goes to try the door but it’s locked. Sammy starts to put together the pieces, that there was a detour on the highway and an almost hurricane, basically forcing them here.

They head into the kitchen, which is also deserted. Dean spots a pot of red liquid bubbling on the stove. “Please be tomato soup, please be tomato soup,” he chants, while lifting the ladle. The ladle contains some eyeballs, so it’s definitely not Campbell’s.

    They creep towards the walk-in freezer, and Sam peeks in the window. Suddenly, the nerdy dude from earlier appears from inside, begging the guys to let them out. Sam frantically gets out his lock picks while Dean tells him to hurry up. Sam’s in the middle of saying “I’m going as fast as I-” when he looks up and trails off. The camera shows us Dean, with two goons behind him. “There’s somebody behind me, isn’t there?” he deadpans.

The goons drag the boys into a conference room where the people we’ve already seen and some that we haven’t are gathered. They are helpfully wearing Hello My Name Is name tags. The elephant man is Ganesh, a Hindu god. There’s an older white man wearing the name tag Odin, a Norse god. The glamorous woman is Kali, a Hindu goddess. We also see someone named Baron Samedi, who is of Hatian Vodou according to Wikipedia. Mercury walks in to serve dinner: the cop guy’s head from the teaser on a platter with basically all of his insides. Yuck x infinity. A spotlight hits Sam and Dean and the man who was kissing Kali earlier, wearing the name tag Baldur a Norse god, announces them as the guests of honor.

After the not commercial break, Sam and Dean are sitting, and Baldur is making a speech. He talks about how bizzaro it is to have so many gods under one roof and says that they aren’t allowed to murder each other or touch the local virgins. Bleh. Baldur continues that they’ve all gathered because the Judeo-Christian apocalypse looms over them. They have to team up because otherwise their planet is going to get all the destroyed. It can make my head hurt but I also kind of like that basically all religions’ gods exist and are strengthened by who’s believing in them. Baldur announces that they have pretty awesome bargaining chips in Sam and Dean, so they now they just need to decide how to proceed. Sam and Dean are freaked. A Chinese god, whose name tag I can’t quite make out, wants to kill them but Ganesh thinks that’s stupid since the angels will just bring them back. Odin isn’t worried because this is just a silly fight between the angels, the world doesn’t end until the giant serpent Jormunder rises or whatever. Chinese God scoffs and they start to debate whose religious views are more ridiculous. While this is happening, Sam and Dean hilariously get up and try to creep away, but Kali busts a chandelier in their path and tells them to stay.

She announces that they have to fight because the angels will only respond to violence. Mercury suggests talking to them but Kali starts to force choke him out. Baldur stops her, and she snaps that no one asked lowly Mercury. Basically. Suddenly, the doors swing open and Gabriel/The Trickster/Loki dramatic enters, “Can’t we all just get along?” Dean goes to say the word “Gabriel” but Gabriel steals his voice Ursula style before he can get it out because that is a secret that wouldn’t play well with this crowd. And indeed, Baldur calls him Loki. Gabriel mentions that he wasn’t invited to this shindig, but he came anyway to talk Apocalypse. He zaps Sam and Dean into one of the hotel rooms and Sam “I told you so’s” about how they should have kept driving. Dean says that they need to get the people out of the freezer and hopefully kill some gods along the way. Gabriel pops in like, “yeah ’cause your plans always pan out so well.” And then there’s a lot of talk of being boned and the jist is the Gabriel is there to bust them out. He claims he doesn’t really care but also him and Kali used to have a thing and that torch hasn’t been snuffed. He also tells us that she was all hands. Ha.

Kirsti: I may have snorted.

Samantha: Sam asks if the gods could really stand a chance against Lucifer but Gabriel says no way. He also can’t just zap them out because Kali has them on a leash via blood spell. He’s gonna try and seduce their blood away from her. Dean doesn’t care. He just wants to make sure they get the human food out of the freezer and safe. Gabriel has no fucks to give about those people so Dean threatens to expose his true identity.

      Cut to Kali’s room where she is, of course, undressing. The lights flick off and Gabriel is standing next to a candlelit table with a rose. She tells him to leave because she’s moved on, and Gabriel scoffs that it’s with Baldur.

Cut to the boys strolling to the kitchen when suddenly they hear yelling. They duck around a corner and hide while a bunch of the gods put the accountant guy up on the check-in counter. He’s screaming no. Dean gets pissed off face and moves to go out there, but Sam holds him back saying that it’s too late. The man keeps screaming until a giant knife comes down and silences him. I dunno, something about this death is extra horrifying to me?

K: YUP. I honestly don’t know why, but YUP.

Samantha: Back with Kali and Gabriel she’s telling him that he’s pathetic. But with a flirty half smile you know? (I dunno.) Turns out she’s the one who called him here because she hoped that he would take it seriously. He tells her that they should just bail on Earth and check out another planet. Is this confirmation that there are other worlds in the Supernatural ‘verse? Am I overthinking a throwaway Gabriel line? Probably. He gets serious and asks to her not to fight because they can’t win. She tells him that she has to. He asks if she still loves him and she says no but with a flirty half smile. Then she kisses him.

In the kitchen, Sam is back to frantically picking the lock to the freezer. The people are all banging and screaming at the door which is decidedly unhelpful? Like, they’re already trying to help you, you don’t have to convince them?

K: But also, way to draw attention to the fact that someone is trying to break you out. Jeez.

Samantha: Anyway, Chinese God throws Dean across the room and his mouth is all smeared with blood. He starts choking Sam and we cut between that and Gabriel macking on Kali and trying to snag the blood vials off the table. Gabriel gets nicked in the neck by Kali and Dean stabs Chinese God in the back with a stake looking thing.

Kali says that he must take her for a fool and refers to him as Gabriel. She half smiles as she says that she’s bound to him now and forever.

This is suddenly intercut with a static-y screen and it’s a freaking Ghostfacers commercial and oh my god I completely forgot that this happened. The Ghostfacer theme song starts playing and will now be stuck in my head for weeks. “We’re Ghost, Ghostfacers. Stay in the kitchen when the kitchen gets hot.” I’m laughing so hard. I know that they’re pretty divisive in the fandom but for the most part I am on the enjoy them side. The thing is, it’s an actual trailer for their actual webseries. It’s got its own misogyny and everything. I remember watching it and enjoying it the most when Castiel shows up. Anyway, it’s completely abrupt and random but I think fits into this strange episode for reasons I shall expand on later.

K: I’m pretty sure that when this episode originally aired in Australia, it didn’t include the random Ghostfacers commercial?? I think maybe the webseries was region locked or something so they didn’t bother advertising content that we couldn’t see? Maybe?? Anyway, that’s a long-winded way of saying that when I rewatched this episode on DVD for the first time, I was like “THE FUCK IS THIS????” I liked the Ghostfacers, but this was pretty jarring.

Samantha: Back on the show, we’re in the meeting room. Sam and Dean are dragged in again and Gabriel asks Kali, “How long have you known?” And the Eliza in my head answers “A month or so,” (K: OW MY FEELS) but Kali just says long enough. She announces that the Trickster has tricked them and pulls out his angel killing blade. She announces who he really is and Gabriel says that it shouldn’t matter, they still really can’t defeat Lucifer. He also announces that he’s skipped ahead and seen how it all plays out, which is interesting to me.

Kali interrupts to talk about how it’s only his story, not any of theirs. “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. But you’re not the only religion, and he’s not the only god. And now think you can just rip the planet apart? You’re wrong. There are billions of us. And we were here first.” Sorry, I know it’s a long quote but I just think it’s a really smart and interesting way to approach this. Her voice is filled with tears at the end and it’s kind of poignant to me.

K: This is a pretty stinking great quote. It’s a rare high for Supernatural, having a woman of colour make a badass speech about how much white men suck. (S: A+.)

Samantha: She tells Gabriel she’s sorry before sticking his angel killing blade right into his gut. He dramatically angel dies. Mercury says that this is all bananas, but Kali is focused on the fact that they can die. Dean looks hella freaked but stands up and starts speechifying in this great voice that’s a mix of terrified and sassy. He tells them that normally he would just kill them but now they have to work together. He also keeps insulting them and it’s great. Sam looks hilariously wtf scared this whole time. I love it. After demanding that the people be let free, he says that they can eat him otherwise and Sam makes “oh my god why why” face.

    K: Sam’s “OMG DEAN WHAT THE FUCK IS WRONG WITH YOU” face is tried and true. 

Samantha: The next shot is of all the people being freed, which is nice. Dean’s outside supervising this, adorably, when he hears a voice calling to him from inside the Impala. It’s freaking Gabriel because the Trickster is good at fake dying. Dean’s like “wtf?” and Gabriel says that wasn’t his real angel sword. It’s a fake made out of diet Orange Slice. He tells Dean to go get their blood back so they can leave but Dean’s into the plan to try and kill Lucifer here and now, backed up by a bunch of gods. He also tells Gabriel to actually come help them but if he won’t, at least hand over the real angel killing blade.

Dean says that he sees right through his smart ass thing and knows that deep down he cares about those gods because they’re his family. They need his help. Gabriel gets really serious and vulnerable and says, “I can’t kill my brother.” Dean gets all disgusted and says “Can’t or won’t?” which is really rich coming from him? Like, I know Sam was never Lucifer evil but if anyone should have compassion for Gabriel’s feels. Damn, dude. He storms out of the car.

K: SERIOUSLY. I know you think he’s a dick, Dean, but pot? Meet kettle. 

Samantha: Inside the meeting room, which I just realized actually says Ballroom over the door oh well, Sam says that if they get rid of the writing on his ribs Lucifer will show up. Kali’s like, “Breaking them would be easier,” and Sam gets awkward “oh please don’t” face. I’ve read before that Jared isn’t always comfortable being comedic on the show, but he doesn’t give himself enough credit. (K: He may not be great at delivering comedic lines, but he has A+ comedic facial expressions.) Dean comes in and fills everyone in on the sword being fake thing, so they can’t actually kill Satan.

Up at the front desk, the check in bell rings and Mercury turns to look at the newcomer. We pan around, and it’s freaking Mark Pellegrino as Lucifer, looking hella creepy due to the Nick vessel starting to wear down.

After the not commercial break, Mercury is greeting Lucifer, who he called here. He says that the way the other gods were talking was insane. Lucifer starts to talk about how he has never understood the pagans because they’re always fighting and back stabbing. No wonder they lost the planet to the Christians; they’re worse than humans and demons. Mercury’s face falls as Lucifer gives a flick of his wrist and breaks his neck. Mark Pellegrino seeeellllllsssss it.

K: He really, really does.

Samantha: Back in the apparent ballroom, the lights start flickering and rumbling. We hear screaming and we cut to the hallway, where Lucifer is just murdering all the gods and there’s blood everywhere and I love this scene. We pan up and it’s just this shot of Lucifer standing over all these bodies while the lights flicker and he’s smiling slightly. It’s my favorite shot of Mark Pellegrino’s Lucifer because up till now we haven’t seen him get his hands dirty too much. We’ve seen the manipulative and congenial side of Lucifer and this small scene proves exactly how terrifying and powerful he is.

  K: This scene is visually stunning, but I have a lot of problems with the implication that Lucifer has the power to straight up murder a bunch of deities without breaking a sweat. Or a nail. Like, we’ve had a bunch of episodes in this show about various woodland gods still being around because of belief. And it took the boys a lot to take those gods down. And these are gods with – in some cases – billions of believers. Surely there should be SOME element of fight involved? The whole thing ends up smacking of “white Christians are better than you.”

Samantha: Yep. I kind of touch on this at the end but you put it into words much better than I was struggling to. They never talk about WHY this arch angel is more powerful. I half head canon that it has to do with how many believers you have but that feels weak. I love the shot and I love seeing this side to Lucifer but yeah, always nagged at me.

The camera does a cool thing where it pans around each of the four people in the ballroom as they discuss the fact that it’s Lucifer and the gods can’t poof them away anymore. Then we see Lucifer in the doorway and Baldur stupidly charges at him so Satan sticks his arm all the way through him. Kali turns her arms into fire and flames Lucifer while Sam and Dean duck behind a table. It, of course, does nothing and Lucifer punches her across the room.

K: I’mma call Misogyny Shots because we haven’t had any booze yet.

Samantha: Sam asks Dean if he’s okay but it’s Gabriel who answers, “Not really.” He is here to help but not before slapping a DVD against Dean’s chest and telling him to guard it with his life. Lucifer’s about to murder stomp Kali, but Gabriel tosses him across the room. I’m surprised he couldn’t sense that he was there. “Lucy. I’m home.” Gabriel deadpans and helps Kali up.

  He tells the boys to take Kali and go, which they do. Lucifer quips that he was slumming with Kali and hopefully didn’t catch anything. Lucifer, I expected better insults from you.

K: And the shots just keep pouring themselves!

Samantha: A really good scene starts where Gabriel tells Lucifer he’s being dumb, and it’s cool because there’s the sense that they really are brothers. It’s played well. God loved Lucifer best but when he brought the new baby humans home he couldn’t handle it. He’s throwing a tantrum, but it’s time to grow up.

Outside, the boys and Kali get in the Impala and take off.

Gabriel tells Lucifer that if Michael were here he’d murder him too. Lucifer starts to rant about Gabriel being disloyal. Gabriel is like hold up, I am loyal, but to people, not gods or angels. Gabriel starts hella standing up for humans, which is kinda weird since it used to be his thing to punish and kill them, but alright. (K: The way I see it, this is a lot like Spike’s “I want to save the world because my food source is here” speech from the end of BtVS season 2…) (S: Ohhhhhh, I can accept that, nice comparison.)

Lucifer calls people “broken, flawed, abortions” which yeesh. Gabriel says that he’s here now, but he’s on the humans side. Lucifer gets quiet and teary and says, “Brother, don’t make me do this.” Damn you guys, the acting from this man. Lucifer says that he where Gabriel’s heart truly lies, just as the camera pans up and we see real Gabriel creeping up on Lucifer with the sword. Trick Gabriel looks shocked as Lucifer sadly quirks his eyebrow, turns around, and stabs Gabriel. Lucifer says that Gabriel learned all his tricks from him and pushes the knife in deeper. Lucifer breaths heavily and tearfully as we pan up and see Gabriel dead on the floor, for real this time, because the gorgeous wings are there.

        K: I may have cried when this first aired. I still refuse to accept that Gabriel is dead. Don’t care about the wings. DON’T. FUCKING. CARE. 

Samantha: I know. This was/is a rough blow. It sadz my heart. (But also omg the acting from these two here.)

After the not commercial break we see a red screen that says everyone in the film is over 18, while porn music plays. Then the title, Casa Erotica 13, comes up on the screen. A scantily clad woman lays on a bed writing in her diary. We pan out to see that Sam and Dean are watching this, because it’s the DVD Gabriel wanted guarded. The boys are super confused until room service turns out to be Gabriel with a bad fake mustache. He porn puns a little and starts making out with the girl while the boys make grossed out faces. Then he turns to the camera and addresses Sam and Dean. If they’re watching this, he’s dead and they’ve got zero shot at killing Lucifer.

    K: I kind of love this, even though it’s totally ridiculous.

Samantha: Gabriel says they can try and trick trap him back into the cage. The key to it is the 4 Horsemen’s rings. Well hot damn! We’ve already got some of those! He says he finally wasn’t afraid to stand up to his brother and then starts having sex with the girl so the guys shut the laptop. Dean expositions that we just need Pestilence and Death’s rings.

We cut to a man getting out of an old car in front of a general store. He goes inside and there’s some flys buzzing around and he’s got a gross bad cold. His hands are all snot slimy and he sneezes on things. OMG this is so gross give me back Lucifer sticking his hands through people. (K: AGREED URGH.) He asks about cold medicine and then sneezes all over the clerk and oh my god I cannot. This is Pestilence and episode over.

I really like this episode. I think it’s that good blend of funny and dark. It’s super sad to see Gabriel go, who has always provided some of the best episodes. I think it was really interesting to see other religions’ perspectives on it, and I appreciate them trying, even if I don’t think it ever comes up again. I also am not sure how logical it is that Lucifer would be more powerful than a bunch of gods, but it definitely makes me more scared of him and showed us how horrifying he is. I think the Ghostfacers thing fit because it was already going to be a slightly quirky episode with The Trickster involved, further proved by the Casa Erotica ending.

K: I quite enjoy this episode – there’s a lot of fun stuff to enjoy with a decent side of EW GROSS WHY. But as much as I like Gabriel’s farewell DVD, it DOES end up feeling eeeeeever so slightly like the writers went “Oh shit, there’s only three episodes left until the season finale. QUICK, FIND THE PLOT!!”

 

Next time on Supernatural: The boys go after Pestilence in S05 E20 – The Devil You Know.