Dammit! Hilarious episode. I wondered when this show would become good. I have flashbacks to 100 QUESTIONS, and how good this show actually was in its last few episodes (I know, there were only six of them, but I watched them all). Can it be that ARE YOU THERE, CHELSEA? will also be that funny in a couple of episodes? So, why aren’t the writers able to bring the fun in during the pilot? Damn TV pilots to hell!

I loved the Celibacy Jam session. Especially the battle between Sloane (Chelsea Handler) and Nikki (Natasha Leggero) was to cry for. And I was actually crying, when Nikki started to baby-cry and brought Sloane to leak on the stage. The funniest scene in the episode, and probably even the funniest scene in a multicam sitcom in years (probably not, but I can’t remember having laughed that hard during a multicam sitcom). I hope Chelsea Handler has some time to continue her starring in this one, because I wanna have more of the duel Nikki vs. Sloane. It wouldn’t be bad, when this show had a running comedy gag, and since this one worked in this episode, the writers should work on it. Otherwise the show falls back to being unimportant and forgettable with the next episode.

I also liked that Dee Dee (Lauren Lapkus) was included in a plot, and didn’t just stand there, like in the last episode. Even though I wonder how Chelsea (Laura Prepon) is BFF with her after two episodes of nothingness. Maybe it’s just because Dee Dee isn’t much of a character yet, and only being used for the comedy of the show. But it was good to have her at the front of a story, giving her a romance. And Dee Dee looked much cuter in not being the running gag of the show.

There could have been more gags with Luke (Austin Butler) though. It’s a bit awkward to see him guest starring in this show, dating a Twentysomething, while he’s flirting with a deaf teen in another show. What a shame that the writers haven’t continued to make a joke out of his character, when he was dry-humping Chelsea in the van (though I don’t believe a Christian with a hung for celibacy would dry-hump a “hot” blond in-between music sessions). His singing act at the end was horrible though. Austin might become a real rocker in the future, but he should stay away from singing and performing in the shows he stars in. Doesn’t look very good.

It’s nice that the writers seemed to have found the groove of the show. A few more dirty jokes, and it could actually be considered a sister of 2 BROKE GIRLS. I wouldn’t mind to have another dirty sitcom. But the writers should stop trying so hard to make this show look like “people in a bar making dirty jokes”. The comedy should be more fluently. 7.5/10

There's a cross in the canyon

And now the mountains in the canyon have a leak

Very exciting episode. The case was a bit uninteresting in the beginning, but as soon as Patrick (Simon Baker) established James (David Paymer) as the serial killer, the episode grew interesting, and I just knew it would be connected to Red John near or at the end. That made the ending terribly predictable though. Especially during the interview scenes, when I was just thinking about the possibility that Patrick was thinking “Hopefully Red John watches, and will strike”. It’s kinda interesting to see it this way: James was the serial killer, and in front of the camera, he was driven to Red John by Patrick himself, who just wanted it to happen. I don’t know if that’s gonna be a good thing for the story though. Now that Red John is back in the open, I wonder if something is gonna happen with the story in the third season finale. Everyone thinks Red John was killed by Patrick. And is Red John really that stupid to come back to the living, just because Patrick was ballsy enough to ride another serial killer to death?

That will be the question until the next Red John episode. Other than that, it was a good one, thanks to the story of James, and how Patrick wanted to arrest him “in the morning”. I was pretty excited during the scene in the factory, the supposed killing room. Not just a little thrilling scene, but also surprising when Karen Cross (Missi Pyle) was standing there with her camera team. Nice that even the writers can surprise me here sometimes, letting James shine as the intelligent serial killer, who knows what he is doing. The episode could have ended before the Red John cliffhanger though. Like, establishing James as the actual serial killer, and make an ongoing story out of it. Ending the episode during the interview, when it was clear James is the killer, and Patrick knows all about it (and that James knows Patrick knows). But noooo, the writers have to ruin this fun for me, killed off James and brought back Red John. If that’s clever… we’ll see.

The first half of the episode was lame because of one reason: The story with Richard (William Mapother) went nowhere. First he’s delivered the main suspect of the serial killing, just because Patrick made Lisbon (Robin Tunney) have a hunch, and in the middle of the episode his case is gone, because “he’s a photographer”? Sorry, but I wanted a better resolution to this one. Who knows, maybe something is still coming (I’ll doubt it), but spending too much time in the whole hunch thing at the beginning, and abandoning it for Red John in the middle of the episode is just lame writing.

That didn’t kill the fun I had in the second half though. I wonder how many episodes like this will be in the rest of the season. 7.5/10

Ethan Rom is actually crying for once

Interview with Patrick and a serial killer. How exciting!

A very good episode. Seems like the story is finally developing, though it kinda is not. I was a bit confused about it myself, but while the story of the terrorist act is still standing somewhat still, the story between Carrie (Claire Danes) and Brody (Damian Lewis) got a huge development – which saved the episode, but which couldn’t have been more thrilling here. I mean, when Carrie and Saul (Mandy Patinkin) have the chance to see Brody in action, they should do more than just what they have done. I especially can’t believe that Carrie was so reluctant about that topic at first, and didn’t want Brody to be part of the interrogation. Saul’s reasons for Brody’s involvement were sound, and I wonder why Carrie didn’t see it this way.

Also nice that the investigation was used to bring the Raqim plot back on track. I never would have expected that it got back on the radar of the writers and the characters, just because of an e-mail address. I loved the comment of the technician (“You owe me dinner. Possibly even sex”), and I hope that the next episode will rock because of this. Doesn’t hurt to finish this storyline really fast, since it was kind of nothing in the past two episodes. Raqim and his shady girlfriend could be used to make not just Carrie believe that Brody might be a sleeper.

Anyway, the interrogation was nice. Beginning with how violent-free it was, going over to the ridiculous way of torturing (now you know why such music actually exists), ending with the sudden suicide. I was expecting something like this though, when Brody repeatedly expressed his wish to stand in front of Afsal Hamid (Waleed Zuaiter), to tell him very bad things. I was expecting that this story might be a plot by the writers to either build some mystery around it, or to make the audience believe that Brody might in fact be a sleeper. So, the razor thing didn’t surprise me at all. Though I wondered for a bit if this would happen, even after Brody attacked Afsal in the interrogation room.

Saul’s little side plot was surprising though. I can’t say it was interesting, because it kinda felt like the writers forced him to have a private life. Mira (Sarita Choudhury) seemed an interesting character, and judging from what happened here, I’m seeing a divorce. But I also find it a bit unbelievable that Mira and Carrie would be something like best friends. I always thought your mentor in the work business is only your mentor and not a guy whose private life you know inside out. Or maybe I just don’t know the American way of life here. In addition, his interrogation methods were interesting. First he greets Afsal, as if he were a human being, and he wasn’t keen on torturing him. Which is kind of interesting, when you see another (unintentional?) contrast in the scene, where he fixed the carpet in his office.

The little scene with Carrie, Maggie (Amy Hargreaves) and the two kids (Renee St. Gelais, Rachel St. Gelais) was cute though. In contrary to Brody’s family scenes, I like those, and I wanna see more of those. I would almost think that the writers plan to kill off Carrie’s sister in the future. Develop her as the loving family member, and then kill her off just for fun. That’s what I would do. (And what I would do is almost always a cliché). 8/10

Looking at the enemy

Looking at the future of the family

Uuh, say what? Such a simple plot is being used for the introduction of one of the Four Horsemen? Kinda lame, isn’t it? I would have imagined that the Horsemen are gonna be used as four annoying siblings, who just want the one thing, and don’t know how to talk to each other. Similar like the Seven Sins opener of the third season, just much better, and with some of the sins reappearing in future episodes. Who knows, maybe the Horsemen will reappear in the future. But do I believe it after the “silliness” of this episode?

The story was partly okay. A smalltown, angry townboys, people killing each other and thinking the other party are demons. But I can’t think of any reason why Ellen (Samantha Ferris) or Jo (Alona Tal) weren’t realizing the truth behind the threat. I mean, the “demon party” was in a hideout, basically waiting like themselves – is there any reason for a demon to just sit around, wait, and do nothing? At least Ellen, when she was the major recurring character in this episode already, could have asked herself some question. That she started after Jo called her a “black-eyed bitch” makes me question if people not named Winchester know what’s actually going on in Demonland.

Also, the story wasn’t really catchy for me. You use it to get some drama and tension between Sam (Jared Padalecki) and Dean (Jensen Ackles), so that the break-up at the end is somewhat better explained than before the episode. I can kinda understand Sam’s decision, but I don’t believe he made the decision either during or right after the events in River Pass. Because once again, the episode showed why the brothers are still alive and kicking the shit out of the demons, and even Sam would know it would hurt the cause, when Sam and Dean don’t hunt together anymore. It makes for an interesting story, if the writers would hold it together for more than just one episode.

That Titus Welliver was the bad guy of the episode was clear to me after the camera moved from survivor to survivor. It’s the curse of casting, especially back in the time when the episode aired – after all, Welliver was already known as “Man in Black”. At least the little twist of him being one of the Four Horsemen was interesting. When he mentioned his siblings, I was imagining a Horsemen related episode in front of my eyes, but then this episode continued and basically disappointed me. Especially since it was so damn predictable. Of course Sam and Dean wouldn’t die, of course the writers wouldn’t risk killing of Ellen and Jo, after they were absent from the complete fourth season (IIRC). So, the whole second half was basically just one big blah.

But now to the episode title: It was God, who saved Sam and Dean from Lucifer’s rising? Somehow that little thing reminds me of DOGMA. God is not in Heaven, instead he might be in Mexico. I wonder what God really is doing, but now that Castiel (Misha Collins) is on the lookout for him… Not that I expect for God to ever be found, but when you have the devil, you better bring God into the game. At least something fits in here. 5.5/10

Super bones - now you can sell them on the black market

Black eyes don't always make you evil

Seemed like an alright season premiere. Lucifer is among us, the brothers are ready to fight, the angels are fucked, and Castiel (Misha Collins) finally disobeyed in the most literal terms of the word. I would have seen latter much earlier in the fourth season, like, when Anna was still around. Better late than never. But I really want to know how Chuck (Rob Benedict) knew about Michael’s sword in John’s storage room. I was thinking he knew from Castiel, before he vanished, but how did Castiel know? Or was it all just a scheme from Zachariah (Kurt Fuller) to lure Dean (Jensen Ackles) into the storage room and tell him he’s the sword? He could have had that much easier…

Seriously, those question make me angry. When I think about those question, how did the writers not think about them? How was it not possible to realize that the stunt in the storage room didn’t make any sense at all? Yeah, you have a crazy scene with a crazy executive angel, who would do anything to make war, not love, with Hell, but in terms of storytelling, that scene was not logical, was not needed. When the season starts like this already, I shouldn’t bring up my hopes for a grand fifth season, should I?

Seems like this episode was all about Michael’s sword, and Lucifer finding his vessel in the B arc. Not really that much for a season premiere I might say. First off, Nick’s (Mark Pellegrino) story was kind of interesting, judging from his background, but it felt like the audience was given a clear reason why he said yes. The only thing is just that the audience needed just that one word (yes) and not a whole minor arc surrounding Nick’s decision. I would have also accepted Lucifer in his vessel in the beginning already, not making the Nick detour. The same happened with Castiel after all, and we got the story of his vessel much later. I didn’t need Nick’s story. I also didn’t need the detour with Bobby (Jim Beaver) being angry at Sam (Jared Padalecki), despite the demon talking and not Bobby. But I know that the conflict between Sam and Dean is necessary after the mess of the final season four episodes. That’s the only good thing coming out of the “drug” story: It makes Dean not trust Sam anymore, and it makes Sam act. If the writers make Sam act.

The beginning… whoa, what was I annoyed again, after I got the answers. So, the angels didn’t save Sam and Dean. Does it mean Lucifer just saved his future enemies, because it was somewhere written that Dean is Michael’s vessel? I don’t even understand why Castiel was saved. Normally he would have been destroyed by the archangel protecting Chuck, but now he’s still alive and kicking? I so hated it, when Castiel brought out that it wasn’t the angels who saved him and the brothers. I also hated that Sam got clean while being transported into the plane. Pretty convenient to just delete that storyline within seconds. When the writers don’t want to go another withdrawal, they are packing out magic methadone – very very convenient, and totally hatable. I wouldn’t mind for Sam to go through another difficult phase. Think Jack Bauer in season three of 24. It would have not be a problem to show a little of the aftermath of the last season four episodes in this episode (and less of a little bit in the next). Illogical. Inconsistent. As usual. 6/10

Touch the wall for some magic!

A house glows

Are you kidding me? What am I gonna do with this episode, which literally gave me nothing to work with. Another simple inmate-of-the-week episode, which had nothing to do with the mystery of the show. In fact, I don’t even know if the writers knew during the production what the big secret will be. Or if they knew when they would release it into their scripts. When I hear Rebecca (Sarah Jones) saying that 302 bad and scary people have returned, I wonder if she’s also talking about the guards. I wonder if all the returnees are as evil as the previous two inmates. I wonder if even the little robber or innocent man (there will definitely be an episode about the smaller people) will be the evil, serial killing guys. Three episodes in, and the show still doesn’t have any kind of focus. Super-lame and disappointing.

Even the story couldn’t entertain me, though Kit Nelson (Michael Eklund) was a creepy enough character to make it worth the while. I don’t even wanna think about the possibility that the show tries to go into all the inmates and guards first, before going into the story of how they vanished and why they returned. Am I really gonna waste my time with generic standard plots, without them ever going into something of a serialized storyline, or going into the mystery of the plot? Why not bringing Lucy into the 60s plot, letting the audience realize she’s not just in danger in the present storyline, but also part of the Alcatraz history back in the 60s (and maybe even the 50s). It would have been a great opportunity to bring Lucy into that plot after last episode’s cliffhanger, but the writers didn’t. Why not? In addition, they could have somehow delivered something for the bigger picture of the show. It’s the second episode in a row, where Rebecca and Diego (Jorge Garcia) just take it that another time traveler is back, continuing where he left off before Alcatraz happened, without anybody asking any kind of question. What am I supposed to think as a viewer, who has enough of all this bullshit mystery?

I was thinking exactly that, when Diego came with “When I was eleven”, didn’t finish his story, and Rebecca ended with “You’re having an origins story by yourself”. I was vomiting right there – why not telling what happened to Diego right in that scene? Why not giving away the secret right there, right now, letting Rebecca have something she can think about. But noooo, nothing was told. Instead Diego just told his story to Dylan (Will Shadley), who we probably won’t see ever again in the show, and the heroine of the show still doesn’t know about her partner’s childhood (it also makes me ask why Emerson [Sam Neill] knows). That’s just silly writing, and I would never let the reader or the audience dance around a hot topic, which isn’t supposed to be released into the story just yet. Either say it out loud or let it be. Or bring the question marks of that little mystery into the plot, where it makes sense. But don’t just do nothing and let it stay in the room like an elephant.

I don’t even wanna ask the other questions. Most notably why Emerson canceled the Amber alert. But I fear that all those questions are just part of the mystery plot, which will never be mentioned again in this season. Like the possibility that we will have zombies at the end. Or that plan Emerson has about his old friend. Questions in a row of even more questions. And I’m tired to be asked all this crap, when the writers don’t give me any reasons, why I should continue watching this show.

The flashbacks were more interesting this time. But only because Kit was a sorry bastard with all those creepy guys. What a shame there wasn’t more about him though, since his own story was missing in the present storyline. I would have loved to see more scenes with his father (Mackenzie Gray). I would have also loved to see what happened with him in the sound-proof solitary (but hey, the writers barely give answers already, so why showing those scenes in the first place?). Unfortunately, the flashbacks always feel like filler. They seem unimportant in the first place, because they only give background to the villain of the episode. Yet the background given mostly has nothing to do with the plot of the present. So, here the writers still have to learn to connect both timelines to make the stories more compelling.

Yes, my hate for this show is speaking now and clouding my mind. But I just can’t carry a show over a span of multiple years with those kind of mystery building. When I facepalm throughout two thirds of the episode, it’s obvious I will never be a friend of the mystery. Same thing happened with TERRA NOVA just a month ago. Now it’s happening again with ALCATRAZ. I really hope mystery shows like FLASHFORWARD or THE EVENT (and now this one here) are dead now. You can build mysteries and asks questions, but don’t be so silly about it. Don’t ask those questions and forget them for the next ten (thousand) episodes. Remember Mister X from the FRINGE comic episode? Well, there you have it. That’s ALCATRAZ, only worse, because I still don’t care about the characters. 3/10

Someone is angry and someone is annoyed

Fire and crazy guy in the hole!

It was a pretty solid episode, but mostly thanks to Tommy (Henry Thomas) and Annabeth (Madison McLaughlin). Interesting that Lisbon (Robin Tunney) has a family (duh…), which was never mentioned before, and also interesting that Tommy seemed to have all kinds of problems as a “single” father with a crazy ex-wife and a pretty cool daughter, who loves her aunt. Yeah, all clichés and everything, but at least it was nicely done, since it gave Lisbon some nice moments. Not as a cop, but as a family member.

That made the case mostly uninteresting (as always), but this time I didn’t care. Not many twists turning the story around like a tornado, instead pretty much straight-forward. When you keep the Zubov (Carlo Rota) plot out of it. But even this story was kinda funny with Grace’s (Amanda Righetti) little undercover stint, and the fun she probably had in arresting Zubov. I wonder why those kind of cases can’t be the A plot of the season, and why it always has to be a murder plot.

Anyway, the investigation didn’t wow me. The writers kept it easy this time with the drugs as a reason (and before that with a simple DUI and assault), but the story should have gotten rid of Officer Price (Malcolm Barrett) early on. I just don’t believe he wanted to be involved in the case, just because he missed the clue with the trunk. That almost made me think about the possibility that he might have been the killer at the end. But that wasn’t the case, and now I don’t know what the meaning of is character was in this episode. There really is no reason why he should have stayed with the investigation.

Annabeth was cool. I hope she’s gonna be a returner, especially since she mentioned to be a cop, like her auntie. When THE MENTALIST should still be on the air in five years or so, let her return to the show, and have her investigate her own case. Also, bring Tommy back. For a brother of a major character, he wasn’t annoying, and it was fun to see him lie and cheat, while his daughter is holding a shotgun, being kick-ass. Also: Get the whole Grace/Rigsby thing out of my way. Now they are talking about Sarah (seems like it was for the first time), and Rigsby (Owain Yeoman) not knowing what love means and all. Sounds kinda ridiculous, especially when you plan to bring them back together again. 7/10

The teenager flirts with the cop who has a girlfriend

Patrick takes some rest. Oh wait, he's still working...

Finally, something happens. With the end of the FISA warrant and the end of the surveillance (interesting what you learn when you watch television), Carrie (Claire Danes) finally has to step up and do something. After the annoyance of seeing her sit on her ass for three episodes, it’s a treat to see that the warrant wasn’t expanded. And it’s more interesting to have Carrie interact with Brody (Damian Lewis), instead of just watching him. Could be interesting to see how she is talking to him without letting show she knows everything about him.

That was the only good thing about the episode though. Especially the terrorist couple seemed to be horrendous. When I think about the scene where Aileen (Marin Ireland) put the American flag out the window, showing Raqim (Omid Abtahi) he has a tail, it lets me wonder why the guy who called her didn’t call him to tell him that. Or why she didn’t call him back in an instead to tell him he has a tail. Why the suspence-fake scene with the American flag? I can’t imagine Raqim didn’t have a phone on him or in his car while he was driving. In addition, the writers could have introduced that couple a bit better, I know stuff about him thanks to the investigation with the CIA, but I don’t know anything about her. Without the IMDb I wouldn’t even know her name, and now they’re supposed to be the new terrorist couple, doing something, planning an attack? No, not for me. Something is missing, so I will not take this story for granted.

The whole Brody drama was again pretty much uninteresting. I want to care whether he has some psychotic problems and hallucinations, but the emotional side of his mind could be implemented way better into his characteristics. Does Brody even question himself and his sanity? Does Jess (Morena Baccarin) question his sanity? Does Carrie even question his sanity? The only ones who seem are the Vice President and his little wannabe-sexy aide Elizabeth (Linda Purl). At least this part of the show could be interesting for the future. Brody involved in politics, sitting in the most official office of offices… In the long run, it looks awesome to have terrorist in politics and in the office. But then again, Brody obviously has a mission. Or not. Meanwhile, his little family drama is also not really that interesting. But lightly intriguing. Brody killed the deer, and he’s pretty pissed off at Miken (Diego Klattenhoff). I can understand this, but the writers are stalling here. Brody should better tell Mike and Jess what’s going on with him. When Jess has to do it (“You can’t even fuck your wife”), something is wrong.

But it’s nice to see that Carrie has something to work with now. I liked that her theories aren’t being handled with the crazy stamp, and that her investigation against Abu Nazir is in fact an investigation within the CIA. People believe her, operations are being prepared, and the threat is being taken seriously – and all of this, despite any hard evidence coming from Carrie. Okay, David (David Harewood) still believes Carrie might be a bit crazy about the case, but at least the operations against Abu Nazir are being taken seriously. Other than that, the little spy plot with the other agent seems interesting. I just hope that story (as well as the hing with the terrorist couple) is not gonna take much longer. First off, the latter kinda reminds me of the worst of 24, and the good ideas of SLEEPER CELL; second, letting the good guys wait until they find out the truth is not always good. For storytelling reasons. 6.5/10

Not a flashback. Just hallucinations

Not a loving couple. Just UC terrorists

The episode was okay. When you watch the five-parter back to back, you probably won’t notice how this episode completely steps on the break and doesn’t even develop. The only thing happening here was that everybody learned about the birth and the engagement, that Danny (Bradley Whitford) couldn’t see the baby, and the “fateful” interview at the end. Other than that, the episode was pretty much repeating itself over and over. Noticeable in Matt’s (Matthew Perry) efforts to tell the “story” of the Jordan’s baby, and that he forgot to tell everybody about the engagement. It happened twice! One time too many.

That made the episode tiring at some points. Like, when Danny was trying to see the baby, but couldn’t because the nurse was a bitch. Or that the questions and answers about Jordan’s operation didn’t bring anything: She’s okay, she’s bleeding, but she’ll come through. Then she’s okay, but it’s hard to tell, she’ll come through anyway. This was Danny’s whole plot in the episode, and it’s basically nothing, because nothing was shown or told. Pretty lame in my opinion. At least the talking rounds went somewhere, when Matt and Harriet (Sarah Paulson) arrived at the hospital. Like Danny telling Harriet that Matt is no one she would ever meet again. Giving fake hope that the two might get back together. Or the fact that Matt knows Danny shouldn’t see the baby, because it doesn’t give him legal rights. Unfortunately, that little sub plot wasn’t even a sub tone, when Danny saw the baby. Because there was no character nearby him, who knew what Mary (Kari Matchett) told Matt. Add sub text into your story and it works better, instead Danny seeing the baby was just this: Danny seeing the baby. Him being a happy guy for a couple of seconds, while Jordan is either bleeding, dying or getting through.

Simon’s (D.L. Hughley) part of the story was also something I didn’t really understand. Maybe Simon’s distrust to the army, and what they are saying to Tom (Nathan Corddry) was written in, because Sorkin needed a reason for Simon to speak up at the end. Maybe it was just a simple ploy for generating another story for the third part in this trilogy. Because I would have never done such a foolish thing, like Simon did to the press. But he was always a hotheaded guy, which is why I never really liked him in the first place. I still don’t like Simon after numerous counts of rewatches. Instead of making Simon important at the end, Sorkin could have continued to make Tom the tragic hero of the episode. He was just sitting there, listening to Boyle (James Lesure), asking questions, getting no answers… Literally nothing happened here.

The flashback story was good though. Interesting how the story looks, when you get to 9/11. THE WEST WING and THIRD WATCH did 9/11 episodes in October 2001. Now STUDIO 60 ON THE SUNSET STRIP did one, more than five years later. I bet Sorkin wanted to say something about the topic, which is why he chose to connect the ransom kidnapping of Tom’s brother with the aftermath of 9/11 and comedy in 2001. And it was really interesting. Going on the air? Not going on the air? What sketches to write? How to write them without pissing off people and the network? It could have been a whole episode, instead just half of it. But I also like how it was connected to the eventual fact that Matt and Danny got fired from Studio 60. Neat how an important message in a flashback story gets connected to the background story of the main characters… 6/10

Sitting and waiting is the thing to do

Talking to the press in a harsh voice is also a thing to do

What an anticlimactic season finale. More than half of the episode, Dean (Jensen Ackles) is not able to do anything; more than half of the episode, Sam (Jared Padalecki) is doing something to waste time until he plans to waste Lilith (Katherine Boecher). And at the end the female characters “just” die while Lucifer “just” rises. Sorry, but that wasn’t even thrilling. I don’t know what the major problem of this episode was. Maybe the whole background story with Sam’s craving for blood, or maybe that the apocalypse wasn’t really much of an apocalypse, because nothing was coming. Lucifer is rising, and the episode ended. As if season five is all about a genius Lucifer and nothing else.

Yes, I didn’t like the episode. Though I actually liked that with Lilith breaking the last seal, the apocalypse would come. I liked the flashback scenes with the nun sacrifices, and I liked that Sam was given an even bigger background, though it totally contradicts with everything Azazel (Rob LaBelle) was saying to Sam in the first two seasons. I thought he was building himself an army Sam (or one of the other kids) would lead against whatever thing the army would fight against, but now this whole thing was just to break the final seal? Pretty inconsistent, isn’t it? Sure, it can all be about lying as well, but I just don’t believe that Eric Kripke was thinking of Sam breaking the final seal, when he connected Azazel, all the special kids and the mythology of the demon army one of the kids was supposed to lead. Also, it might be just coincidences that Sam died in “All Hell Breaks Loose”, and that Dean had to make a deal to get Sam back, which brought him to Hell, which ultimately brought him to break the first seal. Pretty convenient right there, and I really don’t believe this was all in Lucifer’s plan. Especially when Sam could have died so easily back in the season two finale.

The episode still wasn’t really good. The whole torture game with nurse Cindy (Juliana Wimbles) bored me, and didn’t even have a proper endgame. Was the demon chick still in the nurse’s subconscious mind at the end? Because she wasn’t even shown during the final scenes. Just a question which needed a bit of answering for me, since it was one of the open storylines of the episode. In addition, Ruby (Genevieve Padalecki) being the evil all along was soooo … necessary. Yeah, Kripke needed a reason for Ruby to be in the show, and her being the gal who frees Lucifer from Hell, or who has created a long-haul plan to do so, was the only way to explain her being in the show. At least she had a reason at the end, but I didn’t like it. During the season I was actually hoping that the writers could establish a love romance between a demon hunter and a demon, or that they would do more than just writing how Sam sucks out blood. But no, obviously Kripke didn’t have any great ideas for Ruby. At lest she’s dead now. I really couldn’t stand her this season.

And finally the whole anticlimactic thing. Dean hanging around in the green room, because the angels didn’t want him out there. And not even Dean was able to do anything. He just stood there, discussed, tried to talk through the phone to Sam, and was literally doing nothing. How could he? Kripke chose to jail him up, since there wasn’t much of a story here. The same goes with Sam, who rather tortured a demon for a while, instead of sucking it up and calling for help to find Lilith. I just didn’t like how the characters weren’t doing anything doing the first half of the episode.

And the ending sucked. Lilith sits there, dies, Ruby laughs, explains herself, Dean kills her – I thought this was the beginning of the apocalypse. I thought some more people would be there to either cheer for Lilith, or all the hunters to prevent the apocalypse from happening. That there would only be the two demon chicks and two hunters was … off.

No, I did not like the finale. But the fact that Lucifer has risen from Hell now, proves for an interesting fifth season. Who knows, maybe the writers can do something with this. They started great with Lilith and the 66 seals, they went over to a shitty drug-related storyline, which probably led to this shitty finale. It really was an up-and-down season, similar to the second season. Hopefully the fifth season can do anything better. 4.5/10

Mirror images - as if they were something special

Lilith is having fun in her white dress