All Hell Breaks Loose (Supernatural)

For the Charmed episode, see All Hell Breaks Loose .

For the album by thrash metal band Destruction, see All Hell Breaks Loose (album).

"All Hell Breaks Loose (Supernatural)"

"All Hell Breaks Loose" is the 21st and 22nd episodes of the second season of the television series Supernatural. It is a two part season finale.

Plot Summary

Part 1

Dean and Sam are in their car at the parking lot at an out of the way diner and Sam goes inside to buy their dinner. The Impala's radio begins breaking up and Dean realizes that something is wrong and rushes into the diner. Everyone in the diner has been brutally butchered, there are traces of demonic sulfur, and Sam is nowhere to be found.

Sam wakes up in a seemingly deserted town surrounded by woods on all sides. He runs into the psychic Andy Gallagher (from "Simon Said"). Together, they discover Ava who claims to have no memory of the last 5 months since her disappearance and still believes the last time she saw Sam was just 2 days ago.

They soon meet two more people: Jake, a soldier who had been in Afghanistan up till the previous night, and Lily, a woman from San Diego who can stop hearts with her touch.

The others are skeptical when Sam tells them that the Demon spirited them to the town. Jake doesn't believe Sam and goes off on his own to explore the town. He is lured by a young girl into one of the buildings, but once inside, the girl turns into a hideous demon and attacks him. Sam rushes in and disperses the demon with an iron poker. Sam and the others decide to head back into the main part of town and try to figure out how to leave the town. When they walk inside a house none of them notices that Lilly holds back and she is then seen walking alone in the woods where she begins to hear strange noises. When the others finally realize she is missing, they go outside and find her dead body hanging from a windmill.

Ash calls a frantic Dean with a lead on Sam's whereabouts. Ash says that he can't give Dean the information over the phone because its not safe and Dean and Bobby, whom Dean had called to help find Sam, agree to meet Ash at the Roadhouse. When Dean and Bobby arrive at the Roadhouse they find the place completely blown up. There is no sign of Ellen and recognizing a watch on one of the burnt bodies, the hunters believe Ash to be dead.

Back at the town, Sam wishes he could contact Dean and Andy informs him that his powers have enhanced and he can now transmit images into the minds of people. He projects an image of Sam and the town's bell into Dean's mind. Dean receives the images, but does not know what they mean, he describes the images to Bobby and Bobby is familiar with the bell and tells Dean he knows where Sam is. Dean and Bobby race off to South Dakota to find Sam.

Back in town, Sam has a dream where the Demon informs him that Sam was brought there to take part in an elimination contest, pitting him against the other "special children". The Demon wants the ultimate winner to lead his impending apocalyptic war and tells Sam that he is his favorite. He shows Sam what happened that night in the nursery when his mother was killed. Sam is shocked and disgusted to find out that the Demon had slit its wrist and was letting drops of his blood fall into his mouth. When Sam's mom walked in on the Demon she said, "It's you!," causing Sam to question how his mother knew what and who the Demon was.

Sam wakes up to find Ava missing. While Sam and Jake are outside looking for her, Andy finds her back in the back room of the house and questions where she went. Ava discreetly removes some of the salt from a window sill that had been placed there as protection and a black demonic cloud slips through. The young girl demon forms and attacks and kills Andy while Ava simply watches. She finally starts to scream and hearing her, Sam rushes into the house and questions her about Andy's death. She says she doesn't know what happened to him, but Sam becomes suspicious when he sees the broken salt line and continues to demand she tell the truth. Ava confesses that she knows she had been in the town for five months and that her powers have since increased. She can now summon and control demons. In an attempt to stay alive, she killed all the other “soldiers” who arrived before Sam, calling herself the "undefeated heavy-weight champ". When she attempts to summon the demon to kill Sam, Jake, who has super strength, turns up and snaps her neck, killing her.

Jake tells Sam that the Demon came to him and told him that only one of them would be able to leave the town. Although Sam tries to dissuade him, Jake wants to stay and fight the Demon and let Sam be the one to leave. Sam tells him that they can work and fight the Demon together, but Jake refuses to listen and begins to fight with Sam. Sam is able to knock Jake semi-unconscious, he picks up a club but is unable to kill Jake. Sam hears Dean call out to him and as a wounded Sam limps with relief toward Dean, Jake sneaks up behind him and stabs him in the back with Sam's own discarded knife. As Sam starts to fall to the ground Dean races to him and Bobby runs off chasing Jake. Sam collapses into his brother's arms and Dean comforts him by telling him that the injury is not that bad and assuring Sam that he is there to take care of him. Sam does not respond and a distraught Dean realizes that Sam is already dead.

Part 2

After the fight between Jake and Sam, Dean has to deal with the repercussions of his interference. He is distraught, he won't eat and forces Bobby to leave him alone. While Dean is alone with Sam's body, he reminisces out loud about their childhood, how it was his unspoken duty to protect him, and how he believes he finally screwed up. Dean asks Sam what he's supposed to do before taking off in the Impala to go to a crossroads. Just as in "Crossroad Blues", he summons the Crossroads demon - this time, in order to make a deal to save Sam's life. The demon refuses to make a deal, saying that she'd rather watch Dean suffer. Dean negotiates though; for Sam's life, she gets to have Dean's soul after only one year. Dean seals this deal with a kiss, and immediately Sam wakes up.

Soon after, Sam is examining his wounds and asks Dean what happened after he got stabbed. Dean says that Bobby patched him up, but Sam is skeptical. Dean repeatedly tells Sam that he needs to rest, and that they've got time. Sam says there's no time. They go to visit Bobby, who is thoroughly surprised to see Sam "up and around." He looks at Dean gravely, and Sam notices.

Bobby then shows Sam and Dean a map of demonic activity in Wyoming: the whole state is a hotbed, except for one area in southern Wyoming. Bobby asks Sam to try and figure it out while he and Dean go and get some supplies. In the yard, Bobby is upset and yells at Dean about his decision to make a deal with a demon. This is cut short after they hear a mysterious noise nearby. When they investigate they discover Ellen, whom they thought to be dead when the Roadhouse burned down.

Inside, she tells them that Ash's important information was stored in a safe at the Roadhouse, and Ellen has it. It's a map of Wyoming, with X's marking spots here and there. Bobby says that these are all churches built by Samuel Colt, the creator of "the" Colt, and that they are all connected by iron railways. Dean deduces that it is a rather large and ingenious Devil's Trap, where the iron and the churches prevent demons from coming in...or from coming out. In the center is an old cowboy cemetery.

Meanwhile, Jake is heading to the exact spot in the center of the Devil's Trap, coached by the Yellow-Eyed Demon. He hands Jake the Colt and tells him that it's the only thing that can destroy him; Jake considers killing the Demon right there, but with some persuasion (the Demon threatens his family), Jake heads to cemetery. As he passes the gravestones, Dean is concealed behind one. Jake is about to insert the Colt into the keyhole, but Sam, Dean, Bobby and Ellen spring out and train their guns on him. He looks at Sam like he's seen a ghost and says that he can't be alive. He then laughs and shows that he has honed his psychic abilities by telling Ellen to put her gun to her head and to shoot if they come near. She fights against his will, but is forced to comply. Jake puts the Colt in the keyhole, and as he does so, the hunters advance on them, Bobby and Dean moving the gun quickly from Ellen's head before it goes off. Sam ends up shooting Jake dead - 4 times in the back, and 3 times in the face even after Jake pleads for mercy - much to Dean's surprise. But the gates have opened, and all hell has broken loose.

Demons start to escape through the gate, in large enough numbers to break the iron rails of the trap. The Yellow-Eyed Demon can now enter the Devil's Trap, and he attacks Dean. Sam attempts to fight him, but the Demon tosses Sam away. Thanking Dean for bringing Sam back, which he claims not to have been expecting, the Demon taunts Dean how he liked Sam better than Jake and then asking him whether he is certain that what he brought back is "100% pure Sam". He aims the Colt at Dean, but at this moment, John Winchester has climbed out of Hell and attacks the demon, pulling him out of his human host. Dean gets the Colt, and when the Yellow-Eyed Demon gets up, Dean fires a clean shot straight to the "heart", killing it. John approaches his boys, smiling, and they have a moment together, though no words are exchanged. A tear drops from John's eye, and he vanishes into a light.

Dean views the corpse of the Demon and says that was for their mother. At the Impala, Sam questions Dean, and Dean tells him about how he died, and that he made a deal. Sam says he will do whatever it takes to get him out of it. Ellen and Bobby are present, and Bobby says that the army has escaped and that the war has just begun. Dean and Sam walk over to the trunk, Dean smiling as he drops the expired Colt inside. Just as Sam said in the pilot episode after Jess died, Dean says, "We've got work to do."

Production

There were a number of problems faced by the crew of Supernatural in creating "All Hell Breaks Loose." The originally epic script had to be pared down, the locations had to be changed a number of times, and notes from television executives had to be endured.

Reception

A Movies Online reviewer felt that the writers of Supernatural did a brave thing in wrapping up the main storyline, unlike shows such as Lost where the story is allowed to become more and more convoluted. They felt this double episode was innovative, and that "everything with the Winchester brothers is constantly changing and getting better."

Brett Love of TV Squad liked that instead of just focusing on another case, part 1 of "All Hell Breaks Loose" had "weight and importance that a good finale should have." In regards to part 2, he felt that although he knew Sam wouldn't stay dead from part 1, the show handled Sam's coming back well. He felt Ona Grauer was "delightful" as the cross roads demon; describing her as a "supernatural used-car salesman."

Tom Burns of Underground Online had previoulsy critisized Supernatural for ruining a suprise ending by giving it away in the show's recap. For part one, he noted that its ending was given away in the CW's preview for the episode which showed Sam stabbed in the back and collapsing into Dean's arms, which was the very last scene of part one. Burns like the episode, but did find some fault with it. He felt that each scene with Frederic Lehne as the Demon was "riveting." On the other hand, he felt that part one focusing on Sam and part two on Dean was a mistake since "Supernatural's strongest asset has always been the chemistry between the leads." Also, the season had set up the question of whether Sam was going to "go evil" and this episode didn't follow through, which Burns described as a "tease."

Featured Music

• "Foreplay/Long Time" - Boston (Part 1)
• "Carry On Wayward Son" - Kansas (Part 2)
• "Don't Look Back" - Boston (Part 2)

Quotes

Quotations related to All Hell Breaks Loose, Part 1 at Wikiquote

External Links

• All Hell Breaks Loose, Part 1 at TV.com
• All Hell Breaks Loose, Part 2 at TV.com