Supernatural: All Hell Breaks Loose (Part 1/2)
June 25, 2021 5:45 AM - Season 2, Episode 21 - Subscribe

Sam and the other "special children" are abducted by the Yellow-Eyed Demon and taken to a ghost town, where the ultimate battle begins.

Quotes:

Dean: Hey, don't forget the extra onions this time, huh?
Sam: Dude, I'm the one who's going to have to ride in the car with your extra onions.
Dean: Hey, see if they've got any pie. Bring me some pie! Love me some pie!

Andy Gallagher: Have you got something of Dean's on you, like something he touched?
Sam: I've got a receipt, if that'll work.
Andy Gallagher: Yeah [looks at receipt]. D. Hasselhoff?
Sam: Yeah, that's Dean's signature. It's hard to explain.

Trivia:

On the DVD commentary, the writer of this episode, Sera Gamble, says that The Breakfast Club (1985) was the inspiration for its plot (in both the movie and this episode, five disparate young people are trapped in a circumscribed space and learn about each other's lives and personalities).

Jensen Ackles has said that he didn't even need to think of someone closer to him dying as just the thought of Jared Padalecki dying hurt him enough. After cut was called Jensen stayed on his knees crying and hugging Jared. After, he had to go "walk it off" for a bit.
posted by orange swan (7 comments total)
 
This episode was like a fucked-up marriage of The Breakfast Club and The Highlander

Ava turning into a killing machine is not an outcome I would have expected. 

Poor Ash! What a horrible end for him and his mullet.
posted by orange swan at 5:47 AM on June 25, 2021 [2 favorites]


I wasn't expecting either Ash's ending or Ava's, and while I was disappointed that we wouldn't be getting more Ash in the future, I was impressed that the show was able to surprise me with how it treated two previously existing characters, so that's a good thing (I think). I'm guessing that for viewers who were watching the show as it aired, it upped the stakes considerably as to who was safe, who wasn't, and how far the writers would go.
posted by sardonyx at 12:58 PM on June 25, 2021


Big fan of Aldis Hodge.

What an ignoble end for Ash. I... kind of liked that Ava (specifically) went full dark side.

That's got to be pretty damned old time-y to have a couple of burlap bags full of salt. I wonder if modern de-icer/ ice-melt works as anti-demon salt?

I guess they're all in on the mythos now.
posted by porpoise at 4:53 PM on June 25, 2021 [1 favorite]


I'm pretty sure there is an episode in a police station where somebody specifically says they've got road salt (so de-icing salt) in storage that can be used to blockade some doors and windows.
posted by sardonyx at 5:12 PM on June 25, 2021 [1 favorite]


I really like the eeriness of the opening bit in the car. The speed it goes downhill from Dean thinking about his pie, to the diner full of people, to the ominous staticky radio, to the empty diner, brrr.

I can't remember if I first saw Aldis Hodge here or on Friday Night Light first, but he's so good. Jake Talley as a character is...there's some stuff going on there, but Hodge sells the hell out of it.

Ava is so fun. She loves being evil and I love it for her. I guess they didn't want to just leave it at Andy, Ava, and Jake, so they could kill off a few people first, but what a bench.

Man, I always forget that the Roadhouse itself is not actually really on the show that much or for that long (I think Eric Kripke didn't like it.) I'm not THE hugest fan either, but it punches above its weight in staying power.

For a show that will have no shortage of death scenes (dear god), I do love this one. I like that instead of dramatic last words you just get a couple awful seconds where Sam's not dead but he's not really there anymore, and I thought it was a really effective choice to have neither Dean nor the audience actually see him die, he's just gone between one shot and the next before Dean can process what's happening.
posted by jameaterblues at 7:57 PM on June 25, 2021 [1 favorite]


I really liked Ash and I'm still bummed they killed him off so fast.

The thing that bugs me here is that Azazel's plot makes absolutely no sense. Throwing away useful tools like the Special Children on a battle royale is stupid and unworthy of somebody who's wrapping up a plan he's been working for over twenty years now and is planning to campaign against the world going forward. Figuring out which one will be the best number 2 by making them fight each other is stupid and doesn't select for actual lieutenant qualities. Throwing Andy into the mix, the guy whose power explicitly doesn't work on other Special Children is stupid and accomplishes nothing but throw away a resource. I guess Azazel has no use in his upcoming war to destroy humanity for a dude who has mind control powers? Lily's another- Azazel can't find a use for a good-looking person who can kill by touch? It's stupid.

Azazel's never shown to be a fool until this episode. This? This is some shit straight off the Evil Overlord List.
posted by Pope Guilty at 10:46 PM on June 25, 2021 [1 favorite]


It's exactly the Evil Overlord angle that I dig the culling (and multiple rounds of culling).

It's Evil. That's their brand. They don't do it for efficiency, it's an ideological thing. Look at (all, but US prominently these days) politics.

That and the very real possibility of imaginary internet Hell points to accumulate from their peers.

But point taken. It was heavy handed. A more subtle hand might have promoted subversion and power jockey-ing as a first choice, and death if necessary or convenient. To preserve the sublieutenants and specialists to use as fodder later.
posted by porpoise at 11:49 PM on June 25, 2021


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