 And so it is written, he will rise and so will an awesome season finale. Ooh, that's a hot mug, guys. Hey guys, this is my review of Lucifer Rising, the season finale of season four of Supernatural, episode 22. This is still such a good season finale. To put it in perspective, every single season finale of this show has gotten better. Technically speaking, I think that Devil's Trap is a perfect season finale in terms of how it goes, it progresses, and it is the only one that's gotten a seven out of seven so far, with all hell breaking loose getting a six out of seven, the same with No Rest for the Wicked. Season four's finale is such a good payoff for not only everything that we saw in season four, but everything that came before it, as well as laying down the groundwork for what would be originally the final season of Supernatural. The brothers have split at this point after having their feud in the hotel room in the previous episode. Sam is guilt-ridden, but pushing himself to the end to what he feels, and what he believes is the saving of the world by killing Lilith, while Dean doesn't want to do anything anymore until Bobby just basically throws over a table and says, you big whiny baby, family isn't supposed to be easy, it's hard, you fight for your family. And right when he's turned Dean around, Dean gets sucked up to wherever this room is, and Zachariah and Castiel are there, and they keep him in holding for the next phase. And here is where we slowly figure out what Castiel was wanting to tell Dean, is that Lucifer is going to rise regardless. The Angels have wanted this to happen ever since the beginning, they've just been kind of slow and dickish about it. Which makes me wonder whether Uriel was on the side of Zachariah, or if he was actually on his own side. That's a little bit of an aspect of the show that I never really got answered, and I kind of wish I knew a little bit more about it. And also speaking on it, this was the 100th episode of Supernatural, so this was a pretty big moment for the show, so it was pretty cool to see it not only happen on a season finale, but leading into season five. We see Zachariah spoon feeding Dean about what's to come, and essentially saying, yeah, this is it, you are going to be Michael's vessel, you're not meant to take down Lilith, you are meant to kill Lucifer. All the while we still really don't know what Lucifer and Sam's connection is, but we'll find that out in season five. And we see Sam go through a lot of struggles, especially with the moral compass of what to do with the nurse that has been feeding Lilith babies. And the thing I forgot to mention before is yellow eyes are evil Roberto Benedini from Life is Beautiful. He kills all these nuns in this convent back in 1971, and it's how he communicated with Lucifer and started the groundwork for what would be the apocalypse happening before us. This episode was written and directed by Eric Kripke, and while I've said in the past that Kripke has kind of this writing trope, means you can tell when it's a Kripke written episode, and those little telltales are obvious here, but they're very well fine-tuned. Whereas season three's finale had a conversation, a three-way conversation between Sam, Dean, and Ruby just going in a circle for like 20 minutes, nothing lingers in this episode. Nothing overstays its welcome. Everything moves along at a pace that is great towards building up to the crescendo, being when Sam kills Lilith. The editing and the camera work are so good. The slow move-ins with the high aperture focus on both Sam and Dean, it really shows that the haze that these characters are in, that they are so well-faceted into what they have, that they can't see anything else. There's a lot of close camera angles on everyone, really building up the intensity of the conversations and the arguments, and then the editing. When Sam gets all juiced up to take down Lilith and the blood-pumping becomes so evident and we are cutting constantly through back and forth, then when he hears Dean's voice and it almost breaks, it's kind of one of those Romeo and Juliet moments where you think that, oh no, maybe he's going to stop, maybe he's actually not going to kill Lilith. Another example for me is when Anakin chops off Mace Windu's hands, always kind of hope that something different will happen. And that's this moment in this episode you think and you hope that it might be a little different, but obviously it's not, but it's still such a great build-up of drama, such a great build-up for this finale. And then finding out that Ruby was behind everything, that she actually was coercing Sam this whole time. But then it also kind of brings up a little bit of a question to me about the idea of Sam's addiction to the demon blood because she says, you never needed the feather to fly, you could do it the whole time, Dumbo. Which makes me wonder if Sam actually did need the demon blood, but then we are going to see that in the finale of season five, he drinks a whole thing of it. So the demon blood thing's always been a little bit of an eh, maybe it'll be a little bit more clearer in coming into season five. Either way though, the acting on everyone's part is fantastic, Jensen's is really good, Misha is very good in this episode, I like when he slams Dean against the wall and just like, that's it, I'm fucking taking control of this and he does the blood work. And there's that little funny moment with him and Robert Benedict where Rob puts his hand on his shoulder and Cass Jostles like, and Rob like, oh okay. There's actually a deleted scene where the two of them exchange something, it's cut for a reason because there's a joke in that scene that falls flatter than flat, it's such a flat joke. And then Sam kills Lilith and the gate starts to open and it fades to white. And that is when the credits appear and that's when the season ended. I remember my dad and I being holy shit. What did they just do? Did they just pull that? Oh my god, we've got to wait the whole fucking summer now to see how this concludes, to see what happens next. I'll admit while season three is ending with Dean going to hell is probably one of the most pensive moments I've ever had in this show's history in terms of just wanting to know what would happen next. Season four did another great job with it. Admittedly maybe season one would have had the same kind of effect to me but I feel that season four is so far the best season finale that the show ever wrote but that's because it's basing itself off of what had been placed before it where season one is just a great season finale overall but this is a great one within the supernatural universe and is the best one so far. If it wasn't already obvious enough I'm gonna give Lucifer Rising a seven out of seven. This is a fantastic finale. This is a fantastic building point towards season five and also this is actually a great point for me to have a little bit of a break. At the time of this recording the date is February 8th. This is coming out May 20th. I haven't watched this much supernatural in this short amount of time in years. I haven't done it in a long goddamn time. This is almost a binge watch for me but in this case I had to take a pause every time I finished an episode and talk to you guys and talk to the cameras. At this point I'm probably about two months away from finishing my job as long as I'm still at the same productions but before I deviate too much let's talk about what you guys had to say about this episode. Let's read off your comments. My little essay seems a little long when it's read out loud sorry but I'm definitely gonna have to watch your review for Joker now. With Lucifer Rising there's much less for me to say. It's a great season finisher which is followed by an even better season. Awesome story and setup even if the monologue at the end is a bit much. I believe you're talking about Ruby there. The season four finale is actually a bit unremarkable for me. Maybe I'm in the minority here but I think it's the biggest limiting factor is Geneve as Ruby. I think Kate Cassidy would have done a better job. Can't wait for the season five reviews. Now yes now this has been a thing that's been brought up quite a bit about Geneve as Ruby and like I said they were trying to go for that more sympathetic kind of character basis. Yeah she's not really that talented but I see where they were trying to go. The angle that Kate Cassidy was going I couldn't have seen that working in terms of a romantic aspect but again writer strike all that kind of issue but yeah it would have been interesting to see what would have happened if Kate Cassidy is stuck around. Imagine the ending might have been a little bit more hmm it's hard to say because they're two different rubies really when you break it down. Love the synth pop soundtrack to this video not much to add here. Everyone else has made most of the points for me but this is one of my favorite supernatural finales. The acting direction writing keeps you hooked the entire time especially in the scene where Sam confronts Lilith and kills her after hesitating which I think is one of the most well put together scenes the show has given us. Yeah I'll agree with you that scene that whole the heartbeat everything is so well done in that part so much good tension. I always compare finales to each other and it seems to me that season 3's finale had a much more brutal bloody climax but this episode's climax is intense and emotionally powerful in a completely different way that still manages to shake you up. My only issue with the episode is that Sam appears to turn into a demon at the end. Eyes going black but it's basically unchanged after killing Lilith. This was never explained. We know that Chuck put them on the plane and cleaned up his addiction in the next episode but what's the explanation for this? Hope you enjoy the episode. Yeah I'll admit like even then it's still a little bit vague about what Chuck does and what not in this season considering they didn't have Chuck as God or throughout like what the entire time Kripke was there but it definitely is a little bit like it just it snaps off but there are going to talk about it in season 5 as I've already started to see her starting to go through my episodes. Yeah this episode was good. I really missed the good old days of the series. Can't wait for season 4 finale. Yep no it's been real fun. I hope you guys I hope you enjoyed this review too. This is my fourth favorite episode in the entire series. It is so good not even that terrible plot twist can ruin it. From the get go you can sense the ominous dark atmosphere that the episode presents from the massacre in the beginning to the implication that Lilith eats babies. There's so many dark moments like these that add to the experience rather than take away from it. The story is just riveting with twists and turns that you wouldn't expect. Some good like the angels wanting the apocalypse to happen and some really bad like Ruby being evil. No matter how hard Kripke tries he will never convince me that Ruby was a villain that Ruby being a villain was planned and like I said Geneva is just awful honestly what the hell is her performance here. When she says that she is awesome it's like she came on set drunk and was mouthing off crap. That's what the whole bit felt like but again it's like Keanu Reeves and Bram Stoker's Dracula. That's a good example just because she's terrible and that doesn't mean that the rest of the episode is excellent. In fact it's intense emotional dark and hell darkest hell and is one of the most kick-ass cliffhangers Lucifer is indeed rising. Yep no I'll it's definitely the weakest point at the whole episode because I get where she's coming from but again this is a character that clearly went through some changes from season three to season four. It would have been interesting to see Kate Cassidy do the role. Oh man it would have I'm very curious as to what that could have been. Lucifer Rising is my favorite season finale of Eric Kripke seasons for Supernatural. In the commentary Eric Kripke talks about how hard he tried to direct it in the style of Kim Manners and you can see that in the filming techniques. Utilized that Kim Manners would do. Yep no very much so especially with the whole heartbeat bit and all the the slow editing at the end. I can totally see that that Kripke was trying there. I love the priest who was possessed by Azazel. It's the right kind of deserving utilization of demonic horror. Apparently Eric Kripke as he brings up in his commentary he wanted it more bloody and gruesome and with a nun hung on the corpse but the CW didn't want them to go that dark. Shame really but such a great dark ritual to communicate with Lucifer and a wonderful tie-in to Sam's storylines in season one. Bobby calling Dean out to not be like John is one of the most memorable scenes of the show for me. I really love how the angels keep Dean contained in a heavenly-esque room with props to trick the camera work for making it look indestructible. An alternate take Eric Kripke had for the finale was Sam going to marry Ruby but he felt that was too cheeky since the actors ended up in a relationship and eventually married marriage together. I love the demonic nurse perfectly portraying the demon and the innocent nurse's host. Castiel finally stepping up to help Dean prevent uh prevent to prevent killing Lilith is my favorite part honestly hating Chuck even if uh especially with Castiel telling Chuck that they're just making up the story as they go along since once more violating what was originally intended to happen which brings me to honestly hating Chuck contacting hookers. Chuck and Amara seriously represent the horny gods and goddesses from greek and roman mythology anyhow I love how Dean's heartfelt message to Sam has changed into the bitter message by the angels yes I like that too I thought that was really good because you think like oh maybe they're gonna fix it but no they're they're still further manipulation of everything. The final showdown between Lilith and Sam reminds me of how John likely felt towards Azazel. I wish Sam's eyes had turned yellow like we foreshadowed in the episode yellow fever but still fantastic the amount of heartbreak Jared shows as Sam when he realizes that he set the devil free is so good and painful every time I watch it but Dean finally breaking down the locked door and hold and Sam holding Ruby in place for Sam for Dean to kill Ruby is one of the most satisfying kills on the show. Sam apologizing and then looking in terror as Sam tells Dean that Lucifer is coming and the season fading to an angelic white is so perfect as for season finale is where the brothers are in dread of an evil they unleashed onto the earth it doesn't get better than this yeah I will definitely say in terms of a continuity in terms of continuing over to the next episode yeah I'll say that season three season four has probably the best season finale I like season finale of five the best out of all of them but that's because it's kind of a definitive season three is also very good too it has probably one of the best endings but getting to it is a little bit tedious so yeah Lucifer rising is probably one of the best season finalists the show ever did from Lazarus rising to Lucifer rising this season comes full circle gotta love the literary symmetry this episode has all this suspense and drama that a good finale should have more importantly it fails earned because it's the accumulation of everything that's happened so far these days of flashbacks were brilliant cast peaked as a character when he drew that sigil in his own blood and Sam goes dark side felt strangely cathartic weirdly enough though my favorite part of the episode is actually Zachariah his conversation with Dean and the sole reveal of heaven's true intentions is one of the greatest twists in the entire series it's so satisfying revelation because the entire season you were wondering where the angels are and why aren't they doing more turns out they're just as stoked for the apocalypse as the demons yeah that is a good point that is probably one of the most underrated twists of the whole show in terms of the first five seasons because yeah you were kind of wondering what the hell how are we losing so badly why aren't the angels doing more and it turns out oh yeah they just wanted to happen happen too and they had their own kind of mystery and hidden kind of stories within like this their own secrecy and and deceit within each other that was really cool it was really cool to see that as reality sinks in for Dean the color temperature slowly changes from warm to cold emphasizing the tonal shift the pictures in the waiting room also change from bright pastel paintings of the bark period to gruesome depictions of heavenly and demonic warfare from the medieval period when Zachariah explains that Dean will be wanting to stop Lucifer he's pointing towards the famous painting saint michael killing the dragon foreshadowing Dean being michael's vessel holy shit i didn't notice that that's pretty good thank you for pointing that out that's an awesome little bit there thank you i absolutely love the finale of season four and it's my personal favorite finale of the show swan song was close but it that slightly but this slightly beats it wow i love the final five minutes so much especially the twist with low of being the final seal i also like that ruby reveals herself as a villain after the deed is done makes it much more impactful and lucifer being free made me so pumped for the next season everything was building up to this moment the brother spending the rest of the season trying to defeat lucifer is why i love these seasons a hundred percent totally agree with you even with ruby's kind of weird a bad acting it's just it's such a giant revelation that like oh fuck they release were lucifer it's such a great moment the only thing that really bothers me in this episode is ruby's premature victory boast did she not want to see lucifer i don't understand why she just monologues like a teenager when it's clearly going to get her killed i would have liked to see a reaction to the way that her lord handedly treats demons after how hard she worked to set him free only to be tossed aside with the rest i think it would have been more interesting to end the character interesting end for the character than what we got actually i could kind of agree with you on that considering how loyal she was like obviously we wanted to see her die but we wanted to see her die because like oh fuck she she caused the apocalypse this is bitch but with how nonchalantly lucifer treats as demons and just demons in general yeah actually would have been interesting to see what ruby's reaction would have been like most likely lucifer would have killed her but it or she would have turned sides but admittedly that's what Crowley's character is so you kind of get that there but no good point interesting what it would have been interesting to see all right that is it that is season four thank you guys so much so so much for tagging along and joining me on this journey once again we are now heading into the precipice the golden arc the be all end all the literal swan song of supernatural we are going to be heading into season five but before we get into that i got to do my season four review as well as the best and the worst episodes of the season so i'll be starting off with my review of season four first if you guys want to give me your thoughts about the season as a whole you can kind of margin it down to a paragraph or so put those thoughts in the comments below and i'll read those off in the season review and then i will do the best and the worst episodes of the season and much like the last two seasons the worst episodes of this season are gonna kind of be like an obligation uh there was one really bad episode of this season family remains that's kind of it but there obviously are a lot of very good episodes to talk about at the time of this recording i think i might be wanting to take a little bit of a break from season five but at the same time maybe i might have got the gunny up to keep going and continue dead on with season five anyways i've rambled on enough hope you guys enjoyed the video if you did leave a like and if you're interested in more subscribe if you hadn't thought about it already maybe you would like to consider helping me out on patreon that helps with the reviews it helps with me being able to do this on the side so if you guys are interested in that there's a link for that in the description below either way that's me clocking out thank you guys for joining me along for this season i can't wait to release this episode review over three months from now whoa i've never done this much forward preparation for this channel ever shows you guys how committed i am to this you like the video leave a like and if you're interested in more subscribe and i will see you guys with the season review next week thanks for watching the video my name is nits 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