 The angels are falling, and so is this hot tag. Hey guys, this is my review for Sacrifice, the season finale of Supernatural season 8. This is the end of the first initial season entirely done by Jeremy Carver. This has the brothers coming to a head, taking on Crowley to stop him from killing people who they have saved to finalize the demon trials and closing the gates of hell at a risk that they are not fully aware of. Whereas Castiel and Metatron are continuing to try and shut the gates of heaven, or that is what is initially told. However, Metatron appears to have ulterior motives and Castiel might just be a puppet and about to make the biggest oof in the history of oofs that he has made. Sacrifice, I do remember significantly when I saw this when it first came out. I remembered the ending. However, I did not remember how it got there, particularly how they got Crowley in the position of being cured. And I feel like there is a reason as to why, and it's because of just how the episodes put together. Before I get on any kind of Curtisism or anything, I will point out a lot of the stuff I like. The first being Mark Shepard. I know that a lot of people talk about the conversation between Sam and Dean when Dean is trying to convince Sam to not kill himself to finish the trial, but I feel that Mark Shepard really gives the best performance out of anyone in this episode because it is so out of the norm of what he has given as Crowley. His entire slow decline into this other character, this humanly character. And the loss of his accent is bravado. Just his mannerisms are so well defined by Shepard, I understand why he just did not really care to do his character anymore past season 9 and 10. Because this was the peak of trying something different for an actor. I think that his dissension, or I guess he would actually call it ascension from being a demon, this monster, this person who has done all sort of dirty tricks to being someone who is starting to come to the realization of all of the awful they've done. I only ask because given my history raises the question, where do I start? And some may say that it's a little bit more obvious this time around than the demon that was in the initial test, but one, that was like a two minute clip. And two, this is a demon that has done God knows how many things to be where he is. Crowley's been around for a while and with the kingship comes a lot of guilt. Guilt if you were, you know, human. And that leads into Sam's basically confession about everything that has led to him to this point, all of the failures he's done, and just letting Dean down. And the emotion on that was so well done. However, I think that Dean's counterarguments stupid. I want you live. Other people will die if I don't finish this. Think about what we know. We have enough knowledge on our side to turn the tide here. I've already thrown you in the pit once before, but no, this is more important. I mean, you think I screw up everything I try? You think I need a chaperone? Remember? Come on, may this know what I meant. That's exactly what you meant. Gotta live here. And that's why I kind of feel that maybe, just maybe, we could have spent a little bit more time on this. This episode and the one before it was, it really got stuff going. And we have been bum rushing it. And I can see why Andrew Dab would take these notes and take this idea. Because in my opinion, the complete just give over to Metatron by Castiel is done way too quickly. I feel that a sum of the rapidness in terms of how stuff happens, like literally, they slap cuffs on Crowley. And that's it. That's all they have to do. I understand these are special demon cuffs, but I do also feel like this is a bit of a convenience. And I can actually make a very strange comparison here. I'm currently going through a Doctor Who marathon with my wife. I watched pretty much all of David Tennant's runs, but I didn't really watch Met Smith because I don't know, I was a bit prejudiced against the guy's giant noggin. I don't know. I just wanted me some Tennant more. And when he was gone, I didn't care. I did watch some of the Christmas specials though. However, Steven Moffat really loves to have conveniences in his scripts. And when there are questions or circumstances that are pretty dire, sometimes he's just like, hey, skip forward. They'll figure it out. Wait, you left that fucking cliffhanger, bro. What do you mean you're not going to answer it? And I feel that Supernatural is doing that kind of convenient writing with this finale. All of that said, do I think it's bad? No, I still think this is a good episode. I think that the camera work in this is so good for a show that was so static. There's a lot of shots, handheld, down on the floor, a lot more dynamic camera work. The entire segment of when Avedon comes into the church was actually really entertaining to watch. I enjoyed it immensely. I think that the stakes and how the story rises to its climax is very good. I like how the episode ends. Do I think Castiel is a giant fucking idiot throughout this entire episode? Pretty much. I understand the one to right his wrong. And to the point where he literally says to Dean, I know I'm right. Dean, I'm not wrong. I'm going to fix my home. To literally being proven wrong in less than 30 seconds. This is why I don't remember this season too much because I found that a lot of the stories that Carver did were kind of watered down retreads of what Kripke had done. And that's not a thing against Carver in terms of what he had. I said the same thing for Dab. When you have gone for so long, you can only do variations of stories so many times without kind of retreading yourself. I think that the conveniences in this episode are too numerous for a finale. I feel that there could have been a lot more development beforehand. Like good lord, you could have got rid of the terrible fucking kids hunter episode. What was that 18 or and you could have put in a good one. You could have put in one that was furthering the narrative. But no, you had to do this one instead. Overall, do I think sacrifice is good or is it's bad? I still think it's good. But I do not think it is the genuine gold seven out of seven. I was originally going to give it. I actually had that in my list with how many people have said this episode is that good. I'm like, yes, it has to be. It's like the best one since has it been the best finale since season five? Yes, I'll give you that. For the most part, I kind of still like season six is finale. I still actually I don't know. I'm going to have to go look at my review for that. Either way, sacrifice sets up a lot for what is going to come. It puts Metatron as a villain who even though I know he kind of sucks as a villain does have some implications in the next season. I think Frally, Mark Shepard's performance is the best. I was really heartstrong when Sam was making his confession to Dean. I thought Dean's kind of counters were a bit bullshit, but that's just me. I thought that while Castiel was attempting to try and write a wrong, he's still a fucking idiot in this episode. And then with the conveniences, it takes it out of perfect, but it still does have a great impact on the episode and the supernatural as a whole. It still does have some really hard hitting moments. I think the entire bit with the church once they get inside the church, which by the way, they literally pulled the same fucking mistake that they did with Abaddon by leaving Frally and the church unattended. I understand he's got the neck brace and everything like that, but still, good Lord dudes, why? Why did you think you could do... Anyways, everything inside the church aside for Dean's is great. I like how the episode ends. It's a classic moment in supernatural history. You didn't think that that could happen after season five, but they did it. This is probably one of the most iconic moments in supernatural history outside of the initial five seasons in my opinion. However, there is some issues with this episode, which is why I cannot give it what I was going to originally give it. In the end, my rating for sacrifice is a five out of seven. I've probably never said it's so negative when I've given something a five out of seven, but I had to establish why I'm that critical. There are a lot of issues in this episode that people kind of just seen the gloss over. And not to say that the episode isn't good, it's just, it's not perfect. That's the main point of this video and this argument. However, I have rambled on long enough. Let's see what you guys have to say. Sacrifice is probably my favorite season finale in the show. Everything, for me at least, came to get well, and even some of the less well-written storylines earlier in the season like Abaddon Returning, Dean Bullying Sam, Pettitron, and Cass working together. I like the twists, the turns, and the double crosses. They reminded me at the moment of what supernatural did during the Kripke era finales, but with a different vibe to it. I'm curious to see what you think of it at the beginning of Crowley's humanity, how it deserved to be loved. Both amusing, sad, and sympathetic is delivered by Jeopard. The ending with the angels falling, the boys' personal issues coming to an end again, and the return to Jody Mills. Yeah, I forgot to mention that Jody was in this episode. Like I said, I do like some of it. I do like a majority of it, but there's just some bits that I'm like, ah, I don't know. There are some flaws to it. To be honest, I don't care for this episode at all. The fact that Crowley seems to be dumbed down in this episode, just to be caught in a trap that anyone could see coming a mile away was just dumb. I will admit, yeah, that one was a bit of a quick thing. Abaddon was treated badly in this episode. She had telekinesis that could have been used to stop the mages flying at her. Closing the gates of hell kills the person that closes it, but Metatron closed the gates of heaven with nothing happening to him, to the one that closes the gates. I mean, yes, a spell, but yep, I don't know, you actually are pointing out some things. Not a fan of how the grace is removed from an angel. You would think that getting angel grace would be harder to remove than a cut. I kind of get that, but then also that it gets a spell, right? Then a thing that Metatron only knew about it, okay? The problem with this episode is a lot of things happen that never really, are never really solved, are fixed. Like angel wings only being mentioned, but never done anything about to fix them. Oh, that actually might be a good point, because we'll see, I guess as the show goes on, if those come back all of a sudden. I really enjoyed the season finale, definitely better than seven. I will agree with you on that one. I was totally shocked to see Jody on a day with Crowley. That was interesting to see how close he got to her. Glad they decided to make Crowley the final trial by turning him human. I love seeing Dean put the handcuffs on him for Castiel. He's so determined to believe in Metatron that it's lie. It's that he's not realizing he's walking straight into a trap. I really enjoyed the end standoff between Naomi and Metatron. I totally get why he wanted revenge against the angels for kicking him out of his home. I do understand why Castiel and Dean at first didn't believe Naomi. Mark Shepard also did a great job in the church scenes, and one of the angels fell from heaven is just so great. That's something I'm not going to deny at all. That is an iconic supernatural moment. Give Carver that out of everything he did in his run. I think the angels falling is by far one of the most iconic visual parts of the show post-season 5. This episode was great. The acting and emotional moments for sheer perfection. It's so good to be able to overlook the flaws like Sam's soon-a-cidal desire, needing a bit more of a build-up. The Abaddon not killing Crowley are Sam completely leaving her demon race up to fade up to chance. We don't care because the episode was that great. The real problem is on rewatch due to the events of the next season, the fandom itself debating on if not closing the gates of hell was the right call, and if Dean only did it because he wanted to not be alone, this debate soils the perfect finale. That actually, yeah, no, that's a good point. You've turned that around. I like how you did that. I'll address the thing I hate the most. Yes, Dean would be devastated to Sam die with the implication that Dean needs Sam because he can't make his own friends or connect with other people's BS and applies to more to Sam. Throughout the season, we've seen nothing but Dean bonding with other people, Benny, Cass, Garth, Charlie, Chrissy. As for Sam, the only character he's been bonded with was Meg, Bobby, and Sarah, all of whom are dead. Well, what about, um, oh good lord, I'm forgetting her name now, but the love interest of this episode of the season, hell, you could even easily interpret Sam's sacrificial mindset because he realized Dean is his only friend, but he thinks he's ruined their relationship or will ruin it or fears that Dean could easily replace him. I'm not trying to diss Sam, but the show screwed him and the and the friend's department. Nearly all of the recurring characters not counting love interests have a better relationship with Dean. Our more emotional moments with him are just more screen time with him than Sam. The only thing I, the show gave Sam more friends with season one and 14, but that was all off screen. I would have loved to see Sam bond with hundreds. I can get where you're coming from that actually is a good point. I guess my thing for Sam is like how many times has he had his heart broken by just, you know, circumstance like with heart or with, uh, Chris, uh, Jessica, sorry, like, holy crap. I don't even remember Jessica by the end of it. Oh my God. I forgot Jessica was the thing as for the gates. Let's remember this isn't season five. There's no demon doom, save plot or urgency to complete the task. This was the brother's own plan. And yes, the world would be a safer place with demons gone, but what's the point of dying to get rid of one threat when one, when another one comes along to screw up the world and it's partially your fault for it? Metatron only rose to power because the bro, the brothers visited him so they have a responsibility to stop him. And if their roles were reversed, neither brother would want to do that face alone. Now that's actually a good point. That could have been a little bit more into the reason why Sam doesn't complete it. Like that could have done something of that could have happened and that could have persuaded them to not do it, but they don't do it because they just don't want Sam to die. That is an added factor at the end, but that's like that could have been weaved into making that choice a little bit more reasonable, at least for sacrifice is easily the second best finale season finale after swan song. And one of my personal favorite episodes probably top 15. I mean, you have two of the most iconic scenes of supernatural. Well, I guess three because I forgot about the like oh shit moment. It was the it was watching the angels fall the way that there was shot that presented it would felt so epic, but you also have Crowley's famously does the alert does the delivering I deserve to be loved monologue, which is really really written and acted. First time I watched that I teared up because I could feel or at least suspect Mark Shepherd was pulling from something deep within him this informed Crowley's arc for the rest of the series until season 11. Anyways, this humanized Crowley and showed us that he what he really was thigh though a deadly grand opportunist and conniving bastard Crowley really wanted the power for the perceived love that he would get from it. We didn't know about Romina yet in retrospect of the scene and the one from season 11 where Romina gives him the hate you because the hate you because I have I didn't know there's a bit of a spelling here. I loved you spiel and to mark to me marks Crowley one of the most tragic characters of supernatural and Sam ready to die for the weight of his guilt was also well written and acted all in complaint would have been that Sam is always treated like the bad guy by everybody and whenever Dean messes up it's never really addressed by anyone except Sam and never seems like Dean really gets his feet held to the fire like Sam's does that's actually another very good point that's actually true because I feel like that's how it's been for quite a bit for Sam's legacy in this show like God forbid Sam fucks up because Dean's done it quite a bit and he's never really felt any wrath from that I think why many people like sacrifices because it has a similar structure to swan song it kind of feels like a second real ending for the show Sam has to sacrifice himself for closing the gates of hell and send all the demons back similar with how they tried to get Lucifer back in the cage and I did like this until Dean talks to Sam out of doing it I don't remember the specific now but I'm not going to rewatch it because of that it's completely undone Dean's development that he went through in season five but this was the thing that most of the seasons after five did undoing development of the characters and this was kind of downhill for me but I must admit the ending setup something was something really interesting and that is the fall of the angels that made me look forward to season nine but after three episodes they abandoned this how usual for the show runners yeah I think that carver gave dab a lot of ideas I guess so I know what I'm walking into I still think it's a solid finale but I prefer season six the man who knew too much for mysterious aspects and hundred unpredictable it was absolutely me too it also was written by kripke but it was far it was far better than season seven but swanson is still superior of all of them overall eight out of ten yep no I actually agree with you on a lot of that sacrifices is my favorite season finale of the show because this is mainly an inverse of what happened of everything that happened in the show from season one to five the acting is absolutely top-notch from everyone in the episode still get the feels when Crowley calls out that how much he deserves to be loved the visuals were absolutely incredible especially with the angel falling at the end it is also a great finale because it really leads into a moral grace dance for sam and dean when they choose each other opposed to the greater good it's a perfect segue leading into season nine that deals with the consequences of what happens when the to the world when they don't let the don't go down the self-sacrifice route looking back at the season besides boredom I'm left with a feeling of Jesus this season introduced a whole lot of shit to name a few nights of hell the idea of an ethylums are a thing scribe of god and oh yeah the ability to cure demon I feel some of these could have been used as their own conflict but instead they're all crammed into one like the writer's room was always on fire and looking for something new they can come up with ending in an uneven season although Crowley's breakdown is pretty good and Abaddon was so hot four to seven I actually kind of agree there's a lot of uh in the middle like for a show that had 23 episodes this season it really did feel like a lot of them were not as well utilized like season seven had a ton of filler episodes but there was at least some good and some bad season eight had a lot of filler episodes but a lot of them were just mid so yeah I can see your point in here as well all right guys thank you for your comments I hope I haven't pissed all of you off I hope you have understood where I've been coming from with this review but now we move on to the season finale and then afterwards will be the best and the worst by the way I have something in the works for you guys if I haven't already announced it I'm going to be doing a video with Jay the zoomster for those of you who have been watching his videos he's done really great recaps of the eras of supernatural some that I've agreed with some that I haven't even used a bit from one of my videos about the directing of supernatural in one of his videos so that was really cool I thought that was really nice of him to do so I'm very much looking forward to our conversation and I'm very much looking forward to showing you guys the results of that conversation because we're talking about this season anyways got that's all from me hope you enjoyed the video if you did leave a like and if you're interested more subscribe and until then I'll see you guys next week