 Abandon All Hope, ye who enter here, because this episode kicks IAS. Ooh, that's a hot mug, guys! Hey guys, this is my review for Abandon All Hope. This is episode 10 of Supernatural Season 5. This also is the mid-season finale, and it's actually a frickin' fantastic episode. Everything about this episode is great. Supernatural once again continues its tradition of having really good mid-season finales. First off, a little bit of interesting trivia. For those of you who could catch it, the street where they encounter the Hellhounds, and then they blow up the store and whatnot, that's actually the exact same street set that they used for the end when they show the post-apocalyptic world with the Croton virus. This is the Watchmen set once again that's out in... it's technically Quitlam, but technically also New West. This set unfortunately does not exist anymore. It's actually one set that I really wish I could have seen in person. This street was used for so many episodes. It was even used for the 300th episode. This episode has the brothers finding the cult. We also get to meet Crowley for the first time. I love his introduction. Kissing the businessman and being like, you know, would you want to have bankruptcy or would you rather have 10 good years? Then Castiel does the funniest turn. Got it. And then when the brothers go to the house to get the gun from Crowley, I love the interaction with him. It's been so long since I've seen Crowley because he died so unceremoniously at the end of season 12. It's been four years since I've seen this character in person now, almost five. Really cool to see him again also without the beard too, but Crowley's going to be a really important character leading into this show obviously as we all well know, but just to see him be introduced and have a lot of that flavor from his Firefly character was really cool to see. They meet up with Joe and Ellen at Bobby's house and pretty much celebrating their last night before they go off and take the devil. And what Castiel says just before they take the photos, like, this is our last night on earth. Tomorrow we fight the devil. Everyone just kind of gets serious. Such a good cut to commercial because you're just building up all that tension. And then when they come to the town, Phil Segaria, the director of this episode, wanted to do two very cool things with Castiel. The first one is kind of a little bit of a trick where they pull up the car, Joe gets out, knocks on the window and says, Hey, it's a door ever heard of it. And he's all of a sudden he's there. He's like, Yes, I have. And then there's the other one where he looks up at the window and then they cut to the window. They look down at Castiel and they turn the camera and Castiel's in the room. I loved those two edits. Those were so good. Very cheap, but also very productive way of showing how angels can move through just instance. I love that use. They never really did this again in the show. It would always be the cut and then the guys going. So I liked how they got a little creative with it. I give credit where credit is due for that. Then they get attacked by the Hellhounds sent by Meg and Joe gets ripped apart. And as they get into the store, I remember seeing the attack and thinking, Oh, shoot. Well, Castiel is going to help save them, right? And then I realized and wait, no, he's actually in the fire ring, having the conversation with Lucifer. Really cool conversation. Again, seeing Mark Pelaringo as an actual character, being the devil, trying to sympathize, get sympathy from everyone, trying to win people onto his side with his silver tongue. Rather than being just a childish jerk, as he would be written as in ladder seasons, is so refreshing to see if a villain that has layers after a long and heavy scene and several conversations. Joe and Ellen decide to stay behind and let the bongo off to kill the Hellhounds. So Sam and Dean get a chance at the devil. It's a very emotional scene. There's a lot of emotion that happens out all the while. We're getting updates from Bobby via radio about Carthage and its history with the Civil War and why this is the place where the devil is, in fact, raising the angel of death, the King Reaper himself. There's an emotional goodbye, which I've always enjoyed. I always thought the acting between the four of them in this scene was very, very well done, obviously, especially between Dean and Joe. I thought that was a very good send off of the two of the characters, because this was something that never really happened, and this is as close as you can get. And then the explosion that happens, actually speaking, this was too big. Apparently in the commentary, Phyllis Garia talks about how this actually was too big of an explosion. It was a little bit more than they were expecting. And in fact, they actually had to pay more than they were going to in terms of damages for the set, because the explosion was so violent. And that's why it's such an effective looking explosion. You've got to kind of weigh that in terms of when you're doing special effects, explosions like this, there has to be a limit to what you can do. And obviously, you're not 100% able to tell how big the ordinance is going to be. But this is why when we do things like this, we always have a fire truck on set to make sure that these explosions, if they were to go wrong, we have a countermeasure to help us in case that something happens. Then they go to the pit where we see Lucifer covering up all the town's folk, where he says, you know, just got to do with the old fashioned way, women and children first, while it's a massive pit of bodies and they couldn't show it, they wouldn't be able to afford to. They hide it pretty well enough. He makes all the demons sacrifice themselves, and there's that really good line from him where he just slowly looks over, kind of shrugs his shoulders and says, they're only demons. Again, more layers to this villain that would eventually just be tarnished so poorly in the latter end of this show, but it's still so well established here. And then we get the great moment of Dean blowing his head off and then the devil getting back up again. I was so impressed with how much I went through when I was watching the scene live with my dad when the episode aired to the point where I didn't know what they were going to do after this. And then then it also brought up one of the best and most talked about fan theories and all of supernatural is there's only five things that gun can't kill and I happen to be one of them. And I remember talking with several people kind of going back and forth on what those five are. When they said the five, I doubt that they had any idea what all of them were. The episode ends with Sam and Dean eventually failing. The Lucifer saying, hey, we're probably going to meet up in Detroit just to let you know, throw the photo into the fire. And it ends with the cut on Joe and Ellen's face as their picture burns. Abandon all hope is a cutthroat nail biting episode. It is so good. There's loss in this episode. There's intrigue. There is a little bit of humor here and there, but really, this is a hard hitting serious episode. And I also can't mention this because this is also one of my other favorite parts is when the camera slowly rises in front of Lucifer. And he says, oh, hello, death. So good. Just everything about this episode, just so freaking good. So it's probably no bloody surprise to any of you that I'm going to give this episode a seven out of seven. This is honestly like one of the best episodes of this season. It's definitely going to be in the top five. If it's not, I will eat my shorts. I probably shouldn't say that because I've been wrong before, but I thoroughly, thoroughly believe this is going to be in my top five for this season. And I asked you guys what you thought about this episode. So let's read your comments off now. I should have figured there would be a lot of them, but here we go. One of the best mid-season finales the show has ever done. One, who would have thought Crowley would ever return this season, much less stick around for seven years. Great introduction with this character, some much needed humor for before the impending trauma hits. Two, Crowley's reasoning for allying with the brothers seems more realistic than Ruby's was, saying that she remember being human. It sets him apart as a unique and intelligent character, not binded by loyalty or fanaticism. Yeah, he's an anti-hero. He is purely looking up for himself. Essentially, he's kind of a low key, like a chaotic neutral. Three, the exit of Ellen and Joe, however heartbreaking, was well executed and where there you have the characters. I can definitely agree. Four, this is the first episode where the devil is present throughout most of the episode. We will not see him again for nine more episodes. That's true. Five, it is not remarked upon, but this is where the cult disappears. The idea of there being five things in creation that the gun can't kill is intriguing because it's given to us and then never explained, leaving it up to our imagination. And I like that. It kind of reflects again on my thoughts on what that mystery is with Chuck at the end of the season. The build up to Death's appearance works so well because it teases our fears and anxieties. He technically is never seen and yet he has referred to several times, helps drive the plot, rises in the episode and destructive power is glimpsed at the end on the TV. The rest of the season maintains this build up in other episodes without an actual appearance and it is a great writing strategy. Abandon all hope is the epitome of the hero's call. These brave people grimly prepare to take on Lucifer to save the world. They know what they're doing, what could happen and do it anyways. That they fail in the quest is honest. Helen staying with Joe to ignite the bomb broke my heart. Yeah, I remember being really surprised when that happened. I was not expecting it. It still hits me even now. Abandon all hope was intense and had many surprises from the death of Joe and her mom to Lucifer surviving the cult, to the introduction of Crowley, et cetera. Also, first time we learn of the grim reaper and all the other reapers being just more than one. I am pissed that these two characters, Joe and Ellen, never came back or even get a show in heaven. Like seriously, if they had managed Adam, that they couldn't have managed that. On its second thought, considering what happened to Adam, maybe not. And I can also agree with that too. It's unfortunate that we didn't get to see them again, but at the same time, I kind of imagined they would have been ruined. I really thought they were gonna appear in the season finale, but the series finale, but obviously COVID probably prevented that. Also loved Lucifer and Castiel's interaction, wherein Lucifer still had his mystique. The burning of the picture at the end was emotional, especially since it was pointless as they couldn't kill Lucifer and Joe and Ellen died for nothing. I like this episode, seven out of seven. Love it, just I like this episode. Fantastic. This is easily one of the bleakest and darkest episodes of Supernatural. And without a doubt, one of my favorite episodes from season five, very well acted and very moving. I really, I always liked Ellen and Joe and was so sad when they died in this episode. For them to sacrifice themselves was just so heartbreaking to watch. The introduction of Crowley was also really good. I overall, I give this episode a seven out of seven. I like it that we're all in the same line of thought here. Abandon all hope is great. It's a good way to show the brothers that they can't escape destiny. Anytime they try to prevent it, loved ones like Ellen and Joe pay the price. Thinking they can kill the devil and alter their predestined plans. And Crowley is great in the episode. He's there creating doubt on whether if Lucifer truly cares about demons. And knowing how he went out at the end of season 12, I'm going to cherish any screen time he gets on rewatches because he was probably one of the best one liners in the show. Likes playing both sides. Mark Sheffer kills it in the role. It's a crime of how he just went out like he did in season 12. Oh, I will scream that to the day I die that it made no sense of how they killed him off. Heck, I did a video talking about it. And really, I almost want to do a part two talking about how essentially Crowley leaving the show, the back broke when he left. The show just had none of its charm anymore, really. I love abandon all hope. Such a fantastic mid-season finale. I knew straight away the cult wouldn't work on Lucifer. I knew something like, he's one of the things that the gun can't kill what happened. I also love Ellen and Joe's death. It felt right and they were never properly brought back. Love your videos, Jeremy. You've made me rewatch slash binge classic supernatural again, the gold age of supernatural. Oh, I'm glad. Thank you for coming along though. I'm glad you guys are enjoying this and rewatching these because it's cool to just kind of get to have these conversations with you guys about it. The image of the reaper standing and waiting for a disaster and the fact that they do this every time something big happens is really creepy. Lucifer and Cass clashing ideals about the rebellion was a very interesting. My only problem is, I feel like Joe didn't get quite enough screen time before and although maybe I'm just too much of a fan of plots. It is quite sudden. You're not expecting that, which I think, again, I think works in terms of the loss felt. As for the image of the reapers, I didn't talk about that in my review initially, but yeah, that is a very good shot in the show. It's one that stays with a lot of people. Yet another one of my favorite mid-season finales and this one is heavy. You can feel from the beginning, the somber tone and the hopelessness as the title suggests. It throws you right into the action with the angels and demons and even death itself. Speaking of demons, I gotta talk about Rachel Minor as Meg. I know that Nikki Alcox did a great job, but Rachel Minor took her performance and gave me a pitch-perfect impression while also making the role her own. I never thought it was possible to put more sass to the sass, but she somehow did it. After this, she became one of my favorite characters. Actually, you know what? I 100% agree, and I always wondered why she went out the way she did. I always thought her death was really sudden, like it hurt when Crowley killed her, but I always thought it was sudden and I think that might have led into her diagnosis with MS. I was happy that she came back kind of later on in the show, but obviously it has taken a hold of her. I think she can only sit in a chair now, but I do miss her too. I'm looking forward to seeing her again, even though I don't think we'll see her again until season six. But let's face it. The thing people remember the most about this episode of Satan himself played masterfully by Mark Hilaringo. I love his manipulation, manipulative nature, as well as the fact that he doesn't lie. Probably a callback to Neil Gaiman's Lucifer comics. This episode also introduced us to Crowley, a character that I didn't like in this season, but eventually would become one of my favorite characters in the season. Honestly, I've been in all hope. It's as close to perfect dramatic episode as it can get. My only nitpick is that I didn't give a damn about Ellen and Joe dying. In fact, I was cheering when this happened. All right. I never really liked Ellen and in order for me to care if this makes me a soulless person, probably, but at least I'm honest about it. You know, everyone's in, you know, to their own opinion about them. I enjoyed their characters. I enjoyed the Ellen character and I did want to see more of them. I felt that just dropping them into this episode after having not seen them for a while, like, yes, they were in the war episode, but even then we hadn't seen them for an entire season. So I did feel like they could have done with a little bit more, I feel, a little bit more time on the show. For Ben and all hope or as I like to nickname it, enter Crowley is all emotions in one. They introduce Crowley who will return, they introduce Crowley who will turn into a great character with a shitty slap in the face ending years later and then make it very depressing by killing Ellen and Joe. Then having them square off against Lucifer back when he was extremely threatening rather than a clown. All in all, a really excellent episode. Pretty good for a mid-season finale. I'd definitely say it is pretty darn good. A Ben and all hope is definitely a great episode. It is one of my favorite introductions of one of my favorite male characters in the series, Crowley. I was really shocked when he willingly gave the cult to Sam and Dean and was surprised at what he says to them about Lucifer unlike the other demons. Crowley sees right through him. He knows that he only sees his kind of second class. Citizens who are expendable and I love the scene where Castiel sees all the reapers. It is such a great scene that is sad that Dab forgot about this part in season 14. I don't even remember what part in season 14 that would have happened in. And I miss this version of Lucifer as he is talking to Castiel, trying to get him to switch sides to manipulate him. Sucks that Dab also ruined this character as well. I totally forgot how different Lucifer was in the earlier seasons. And I was sad when both Ellen and Joe died, especially for the fact that their sacrifice was for nothing because Dean's plan did not work. And yes, I like this version of Lucifer too because you're not getting some blithering in it. You're getting the man who has a solid, solidly golden silver tongue. He is able to manipulate you. He's able to make you feel the very thing that should be wrong is actually right. And that is so expertly portrayed by Mark Pilgrimigo in this episode and just with his impersonation of the character of Lucifer. The final last one here, Abed and All Hope is definitely the best mid-season finale the show has ever done. And yes, I'm partial to it because Ben and Lynn wrote it. In season 14, episode nine, it has a similar feel to the boys going in with a weapon that they hope will kill the Archangel Michael except that there is no question season five did it better. From start to finish, the episode is perfection. I really tried not to make this as long post or analyze each scene. I love that we get an introduction to Crowley for the first time and him making a deal with a homophobic banker. Helen and Joe's death is absolutely devastating and perfectly acted in shot. Sam's connection to Lucifer even more revealed is heartbreaking, but nothing broke my spirits more than knowing that the cult didn't kill Lucifer and the Winchester's had to retreat with Bobby burning the hunter's photograph as a funeral pyre is very painful. Also I'm gonna go and also I'm gonna address a small elephant in the room. This is where Sam and Dean actually lose the cult. Well that was poorly shot since Dean was smacked by Lucifer and still holding the gun. I'm pretty sure it was scripted that he dropped it in Castile Rescue Sam and Dean because this is the last time we see or hear the cult until season six through the means of time travel and then until season 12. I actually completely forgot the cult disappeared in this episode. I completely forgot about that. I went through the rest of the season and I didn't even realize that, oh my gosh. Lastly, this is my theory about what the five things and creation of the cult cannot kill. And I'm gonna be honest, I'm kind of curious about what your list or theory is. Archangels, since it didn't kill Lucifer, Leviathan slash Eve, since it's mentioned only a bone to the righteous person and three blood types of a fallen angel, the ruler of hell and the blood of an alpha, supernatural, you know what, I'm just gonna see the list. And just to kind of speed this up, I'm just gonna say your five here, Joe. Archangels, since it didn't kill Lucifer, Leviathan's and Eve, Knights of Hell, which I'm pretty sure, yeah, it didn't work when it gains Abaddon, right? Anyone bearing the mark of Cain is incapable of death. And now this is merely spitballing, but the Shadeem that were briefly mentioned in season 13. And I commented on your thing saying, I can't believe I completely forgot about the fucking Shadeem, because I remember thinking, wow, that's a really cool idea. And they never came back once. Not once. Fucking Andrew, yeah. Okay, guys, that's all the comments. Thank you guys for commenting. And now the next episode is Sam interrupted. I've actually just already watched it. It is surprisingly a lot better of an episode. It's actually quite a horror-filled episode written by Andrew Daven and Dan Laughlin. So give me guys' comments about that episode because I'm actually pretty excited to talk about that one as well. Anyway, guys, I hope you enjoyed the video. If you did, leave a like and if you're interested in more, subscribe. Otherwise, see you guys next time. Thanks for watching the video. My name is Knitz, and you might remember me from the animated cult classic TV show, Undergrads. It's been a while, but I'm happy to say the click is finally getting back together in an all-new movie thanks to a successful Kickstarter campaign. But we are still asking for your support. To see any and all updates about the upcoming Undergrads movie, be sure to check out and like the Bring Back Undergrads Facebook page. And with any luck, we'll see you guys soon.