S05.E19: Hammer Of The Gods

[DittyDotDot]

A group of gods plot to stop the Apocalypse.

 

Okay, it's time to address the elephant in the room...Hee!

 

This episode has had the weirdest effect on me over the years. The first time I watched it I was totally indifferent to it and possibly hated it a bit. But, over the years it has grown on me and currently I'm a little in love with it--it feels somewhat old-school Supernatural and is a little bit of fun in the midst of all the sad and droopy that is the end of S5. I'm still not cool with all the characterizations of all the Gods, but can easily ignore that for the delight that is Gabriel. Also, the actor that play Mercury is all sorts of super-fantastic and I think this is Mark Pellegrino's best Lucifer episode in S5 (although, I could have lived without another reiteration of his sad tale of woe--what is that, four times? Enough already!). It's also nice to see Dean enjoying life again and taking pleasure in food and a nice room. I especially appreciate the scene where he tries to pick up Kali and I especially adore the scene where he gathers all his bravado to insult the Gods while trying to make a deal with them at the same time. Overall, a nice break from the grim and dreary and reminds me of why I loved this show to begin with.

 

ETA: Forgot to mention how the end of this episode, with Pestilence, grosses me the hell out. I usually just skip it. I guess I should give the show kudos because I'm sure that's what they were going for, but seriously can barely look at my screen during this part. Makes me want to ralph.

Edited October 20, 2014 by DittyDotDot

[Demented Daisy]

One of my S5 favorites, despite the death of Gabriel.  Though I still hold out hope that he went back into witness protection.  

 

An amusing aside for me -- Norse mythology was perhaps over-represented in this episode.  Odin, Baldur, "Loki".  ;-)

[DittyDotDot]

I like to think Gabriel is out there too! I hope he's still making annoying frat boys dance with aliens! Hee!

[SueB]

My favorite bit is when Dean starts flying without a net as he negotiates with the gods. Pouring himself a drink, name calling, and then saying they can eat him -- literally.

[catrox14]

I forever hate this episode for it's destruction of the other gods in favor of the judeo-christian gods and how the other gods were represented as so much worse than Lucifer. It just left a seriously bad taste in my mouth.  The MOST powerful god pretty much anywhere was Kali and she's reduced to nothing because she loved Gabriel or he loved her or something? Whatever show. 

 

Plus I've never been a fan of Gabriel but I was a fan of the Trickster and I still resent that they made the Trickster into Gabriel. Bleh.

[AwesomO4000]

Also the look on Sam's face when he says that one of the gods just has to scrub some symbols from his ribs and Lucifer will show up, but Cali shrugs and says "or we could just break them." Hee: poor, Sam, trying to be helpful and not expecting that in response.

 

And the whole Dean/Sam exchange when they realize that they are in waaay over their heads.

 

There was just too much fun in this episode for me to hold the missteps against it. Also Lucifer really started stepping up his game here. He'd killed a lot of people and demons before, but now he was branching out into other gods without batting an eye, showing that this wasn't just going to affect a small part of the world, but that he intended on destroying all of it one way or another.

 

Also, the actor that play Mercury is all sorts of super-fantastic and I think this is Mark Pellegrino's best Lucifer episode in S5 (although, I could have lived without another reiteration of his sad tale of woe--what is that, four times? Enough already!).

 

I agree the guy who played Mercury just made him so smarmy that I entirely believed he'd be the weasel and rat everybody out. As for Lucifer boo-hooing, by this point I expected it as part of his character. He'd been in that cage for so long - maybe by himself or with very limited contact - that now he just wanted to tell everybody his sad tale of woe, complete with all of the delusions he'd been telling himself all of those years. Maybe if he said it enough, everyone else would believe it too. I've known people like that. They don't ever think they've told their story enough. So yes, annoying, but also what I expected from Lucifer at this point. And oh, man, now that I think of it, poor Sam:

I wonder how many times he heard that same speech over and over again while he was in the cage with Lucifer.

[DittyDotDot]

I'm also in love with the negotiation with Gabriel resulting in "then people are going to be asking, 'why are you guys walking around with no hands.'" That whole exchange cracks me the hell up.

 

I forever hate this episode for it's destruction of the other gods in favor of the judeo-christian gods and how the other gods were represented as so much worse than Lucifer. It just left a seriously bad taste in my mouth.  The MOST powerful god pretty much anywhere was Kali and she's reduced to nothing because she loved Gabriel or he loved her or something? Whatever show.

 

I'm not sure Lucifer came out of it looking better than any of the other gods. I thought they did a good job of showing all the gods were whiny, self-entitled, petty, little jerks--including Lucifer. Or that's how I saw them, anyway.

[catrox14]

Eh, even though Lucifer was a whiny child here he still won.  I dunno, I haven't watched the episode but about 3 times so maybe I've missed something in the nuance of the message but on face value it still bothers me.

 

I was also like good lord the anvils on my head about the parallel to Sam and Dean...come on show we get it. Always with the anvils.

[mertensia]

I like the episode. I figure any God with a modicum of common sense heard "Winchester Brothers" and declined.

The fighting between the Gods that starts with Odin insulting the turtle always makes me laugh. As does the fact that the squabbling Gods (except for Kali) have completely forgotten about Sam and Dean who are wisely trying to sneak away.

[DittyDotDot]

Eh, even though Lucifer was a whiny child here he still won.  I dunno, I haven't watched the episode but about 3 times so maybe I've missed something in the nuance of the message but on face value it still bothers me.

 

I had a weird dream about this episode last night and am currently debating re-watching it today, but came and read through the thread first. Anyway, I was thinking about this and I think this actually makes good sense within the show--Lucifer being more powerful and winning, that is. Within the confines of this universe, Gods seem to have power because people believe in them

we literally give the power of our souls to them, but that idea isn't really developed till S6

. So, Lucifer wins only because he is more powerful than the other Gods, not because he is actually better than any of them. And, it's us humans who have given that power to Lucifer. In a sense, humans are the making of their own downfall here.

[AwesomO4000]

So, Lucifer wins only because he is more powerful than the other Gods, not because he is actually better than any of them. And, it's us humans who have given that power to Lucifer. In a sense, humans are the making of their own downfall here.

 

Which is an interesting observation, because that could be an interpretation of what Samifer said to Dean in "The End" : that it was humans who were the flawed, violent, and evil ones and had caused all of the destruction, but "how many of you blame me for it?" Maybe he was hinting that part of his power was because people had given him that power by believing he had it in the first place - like a self-fulfilling prophecy. In SPNverse, maybe the more people that believe in Lucifer's influence, the more he actually has.

[supposebly]

So, that is why God is mostly gone?  ;-)

 

I like the idea but it gives Lucifer even less responsibility since it makes it humanity's fault that he's around. I always thought that he was also the agent of Free Will, compared to Michael who went with "fate" and father's will.

 

I think the idea was at the time that he wasn't really necessary for humans to be violent and evil but he gets blamed for it because that's what humans do.

 

Of course he is wrong, if we go Alt Testament, he was the snake in paradise, introducing temptation and Free Will in the first place. One could think of it in the sense that he tempted Adam in order to show his father how flawed they are and that's why he doesn't want to bow down to them.

 

So, overall, it's mostly his ego, as Dean said, that's the problem.

[AwesomO4000]

I agree that it's definitely Lucifer's ego that is the problem. With my interpretation of "Swan Song" that ego was also his undoing.

 

I also don't think the theory of power and souls - which they went into a little more in season 6 about the soul part - takes away the responsibility for what Lucifer did and does. Maybe even the opposite if you look at it from the perspective of with great power comes great responsibility.

 

I think I wasn't clear. I wasn't meaning to say that Lucifer is like a tulpa in that people believe he's evil and so he is. I was just saying that Lucifer maybe has more power because people believe he exists and/or maybe do things in his name. What Lucifer does with that power is his choice - his "free will" as you say. Just as some humans are choosing to do evil, and they may say "the devil made me do it," but actually they chose to do it. However when people choose to do evil and blame it on the devil, does that give Lucifer power, is maybe the question.

 

Or it could just be belief in Lucifer that gives him power. The show somewhat hinted at that idea with Mr. and Mrs. god in "A Very Supernatural Christmas." The implication seemed to be that because they didn't have as many followers anymore, that they were no longer as powerful as they used to be and so therefore had to assimilate and live a more mundane "life" and get what they could get without all of the followers and sacrifices. The gods still existed, but they were less powerful, because people didn't really believe in them so much anymore.

 

But since a lot of people in SPNverse believe that Lucifer exists and/or do things in his name, perhaps he has more power than other deities and entities that people don't really believe in so much anymore. That doesn't excuse what Lucifer does with that power though - that's entirely on him what he chooses to do with it, and apparently his main goal was to use that power to feed his own ego and to prove that he was right... no matter how much destruction it takes or how many people he has to kill to do so. So yeah: evil.

[supposebly]

 

I wasn't meaning to say that Lucifer is like a tulpa in that people believe he's evil and so he is.

 

I see. I misunderstood.

 

I'm taking my thoughts on Lucifer's Free Will to The End. I think the discussion makes more sense there.

[Dobian]

I enjoyed this one as a "fun" episode, though it did get heavy near the end.  But I'm not really a fan of introducing this whole hodge-podge of cross-cultural gods.  I think it completely muddies the show's mythology.  It was great to see Loki/Gabriel again, I was totally bummed to see him go.  his Casa Erotica goodbye to the brothers was hilarious.  When I saw the outcome of his showdown with Lucifer, though, the first thing I thought was, you should have confronted Lucifer with your real self, and have your fake self come up behind him, knowing that Lucifer would probably anticipate a fake/real switcheroo.  So Lucifer turns on the fake you while the real you stabs him in the back.  Oh well.

Edited April 21, 2016 by Dobian

[Ubiquitous]

This was an interesting ep, but why were all the gods eating people?

[DittyDotDot]

2 hours ago, Ubiquitous said:

This was an interesting ep, but why were all the gods eating people?

That's what gods seem to do on this show, it's how they power up.

[Hanahope]

It was nice to see other gods did exist, but that was a weird way to see them.  Definitely sad to see Gabriel die, but always love the shadow wings.

[bettername2come]

"Elysian Fields Hotel." Nice touch. Kali's repeated "no" was funny. How many times have they used that square-patterned room divider? Oh, Dean. You had to know one night off with all you can eat pie and Casa Erotica was too good to be true. Ha! Dean walked right past the elephant in the room. Okay, that's two Babar references this season. I think I know Dean's favorite children's book. Okay, the gods wearing nametags is funny. "Oh, we are so, so screwed." "Don't mock my world turtle." I love that they tried to just walk out. I kind of love when they just try an idiot plan. "By the way, next time I say 'let's keep driving,' let's keep driving." "You were uber-boning us!" "Well, then people are gonna be asking 'why are you guys running around with no hands?'" Love Sam having to hold Dean back from saving the guy. Why is there a Ghostfacers commercial in the middle of my DVD episode? I love Loki just hiding in the backseat. Damn, Nick is not looking good. "And they call me prideful." Aw, Gabriel saved Kali. Richard Speight does well with the more serious stuff of this episode. "Don't forget you learned all your tricks from me." Gabriel! They are really tearing through the recurring characters. "Sam, Dean, you're probably wondering what the hell's going on." Ew, ew, ew. Pestilence is gross. But he has nice taste in vanity plates.

[RulerofallIsurvey]

I remember knowing something was up the moment I saw "Elysian Fields".  I remember enough of my 6th grade Greek/Roman mythology for that.  Or maybe it was that old Hercules show? ;)  Good, creepy beginning though.  I don't appreciate wet Sam nearly enough.  I also remember wondering what the heck was wrong with that chick to shut Dean down so fast.  Okay, now I know.  

"Please be tomato soup" was good.  I thought Odin, Ganesh, and Baron Samedi were well cast.  Not so sure about Kali and especially Mercury.  In fact, I always thought it was kind of strange that the only Roman god we saw at the convention was Mercury, who wasn't even a majorly powerful god.  I mean, where's Jupiter or Juno?  Or Mars or Apollo?  I think it's infinitely interesting that the judeo-christian apocalypse overrode any of the other world ending scenarios.  Of course I realize, before anyone gets up in arms, that SPN is based on judeo-christian mythology, so there's that.  I have to say though, that I kind of like the gods from other religious traditions showing up on SPN and how they incorporate them.  I wish we'd see that more.  And then Gabriel/Loki showing up.  Right after Sam asks 'what's our next move', Dean's first thought is to break the people out of the freezer.  I don't think I appreciated that enough until tonight - that they didn't immediately try to save themselves first, like most people would , (get the heck out of Dodge).  Not Sam and Dean.  I really like that entire scene between Dean/Sam and Gabriel.  Gabriel was so blowing smoke that it was because of some old fling with Kali that he was helping them.  I picked that up first time through too.  

"Winged ass-monkeys" - guess Gabe really knew what he was talking about.  Wings - like kotex.  Lol.  And Dean continually insulting them during his speech - PRICELESS.  

Yee..ouch.  Those pagan gods are "worse than humans, worse than demons."  That says a lot.  But Damn - if Lucifer, as an archangel, was powerful enough to take out all those pagan gods in his decaying Nick-suit, then shouldn't Gabriel have been also?  Even though Kali had his blood, he was only bound to her.  I do love Gabriel's "Boo-hoo" speech to Lucifer.  "Time to grow up."  Indeed.  Dean to Kali: "get in the car, Princess".  Ha ha ha.  But then what did they do with her?  Next we see Sam and Dean, Kali is not there.  

I always did like the angels that were on the side of humans.  I absolutely refuse to believe that Gabriel is Dead Forever.  The first time around, and still this time, I really loved, that "It's a plan" and they went with it.  

[DeeDee79]

On ‎8‎/‎4‎/‎2017 at 10:34 PM, RulerofallIsurvey said:

I remember knowing something was up the moment I saw "Elysian Fields".  I remember enough of my 6th grade Greek/Roman mythology for that.

Wasn't that the place where the gods/goddesses spent their afterlives? I think I heard that when I watched a movie about Alexander the Great. Hmm...

[RulerofallIsurvey]

15 hours ago, DeeDee79 said:

Wasn't that the place where the gods/goddesses spent their afterlives? I think I heard that when I watched a movie about Alexander the Great. Hmm...

Well, the god and goddesses were immortal in Greek mythology, so for them there would be no 'afterlife'.  ;)  The Elysian Fields were basically the Greek equivalent of Heaven, but also part of the Underworld - a place 'at the ends of the earth'.  (And I might have some of this wrong, it's been awhile since I read up on it.)  Originally, according to Greek poets Hesiod and Homer, only people who'd gained the favor of the gods, Zeus in particular, were allowed in.  Later, according to Virgil, it was home to the 'blessed dead', or righteous. 

[DeeDee79]

On ‎1‎/‎5‎/‎2018 at 9:14 AM, RulerofallIsurvey said:

Well, the god and goddesses were immortal in Greek mythology, so for them there would be no 'afterlife'.  ;)  The Elysian Fields were basically the Greek equivalent of Heaven, but also part of the Underworld - a place 'at the ends of the earth'.  (And I might have some of this wrong, it's been awhile since I read up on it.)  Originally, according to Greek poets Hesiod and Homer, only people who'd gained the favor of the gods, Zeus in particular, were allowed in.  Later, according to Virgil, it was home to the 'blessed dead', or righteous. 

Yes, that's exactly right. Thanks for the refresher; I remembered some of it but not all :)

[Leunar]

In my opinion, one of the best episodes ever. Brilliant.
Sometimes I show friends of the scene from my favorite series (SPN) and very often they are cut out scenes from Hammer of the gods

[Iju]

On 21/10/2014 at 10:01 AM, SueB said:

My favorite bit is when Dean starts flying without a net as he negotiates with the gods. Pouring himself a drink, name calling, and then saying they can eat him -- literally.

....but i did take that literally. what else could he have meant?

-------

i'm confused. did gabriel just take loki's body? did loki actually die in that episode and gabriel took his chance? did gabriel copy loki's look and power? was gabriel loki all along? is loki sharing his body with gabriel together????????

well dang. sucks that kali didn't want dean. she was actually pretty hot ;_;

"Just one day off was all I wanted." sorry dean, looks like you can't have even a day off during the apocalypse.

i was lost when dean said they had taken two rings, one from war yes, but famine??? it must have been the episode i skipped. but most importantly FINALLYYY. they have a plan! you can do it boys! i have faith!

um can anyone picture me and my sister and my mother clinginess to each other and screaming at the pestilence scene? because that's how grossed out we were. would not watch that again for a million dollars.

[catrox14]

9 minutes ago, Iju said:

i was lost when dean said they had taken two rings, one from war yes, but famine??? it must have been the episode i skipped. but most importantly FINALLYYY. they have a plan! you can do it boys! i have faith!

Yeah, you should really go back and watch My Bloody Valentine. It's actually pretty important to the entire arc of s5 and especially for Dean.

[DittyDotDot]

18 minutes ago, Iju said:

i'm confused. did gabriel just take loki's body? did loki actually die in that episode and gabriel took his chance? did gabriel copy loki's look and power? was gabriel loki all along? is loki sharing his body with gabriel together????????

Gabriel created Loki as a form of witness protection after he ran away from Heaven. He'd been hiding out being different tricksters for centuries.

[gonzosgirrl]

38 minutes ago, Iju said:

....but i did take that literally. what else could he have meant?

Generally speaking, oral sex.

[DeeDee79]

35 minutes ago, catrox14 said:

Yeah, you should really go back and watch My Bloody Valentine. It's actually pretty important to the entire arc of s5 and especially for Dean.

Not to mention that it was such a good episode!

[Iju]

hi everyone, i didn't see your replies there because i was flooded with 13+ the other day. 

 

On 08/04/2018 at 9:52 PM, DittyDotDot said:

Gabriel created Loki as a form of witness protection after he ran away from Heaven. He'd been hiding out being different tricksters for centuries.

wait, so it was actually loki in mystery spot as well? well shucks, now that he's dead we're not going to get any REAL trickster action, we never did. i feel cheated >:(

On 08/04/2018 at 10:11 PM, gonzosgirrl said:

Generally speaking, oral sex.

oh....okay >.>

[Arynm]

I refuse to believe those old Gods are dead. if someone believes in them,they exist.  I read too much Percy Jackson to believe that they are gone. American Gods has taught me the same lesson. Diversity is good!

I missed most of the line up. I saw Kali, Baldur, Ganesh, Odin and Mercury. Who else was there? I was missing my Aztec and Egyptian Gods. where was Ra and Quetzalcoatl to kick some ass?  Maybe I just missed the nametag. There are some serious badass Gods out there, I felt like they could have put up a bit more of fight against Lucifer.

[DeeDee79]

12 minutes ago, Arynm said:

I refuse to believe those old Gods are dead. if someone believes in them,they exist.  I read too much Percy Jackson to believe that they are gone. American Gods has taught me the same lesson. Diversity is good!

I missed most of the line up. I saw Kali, Baldur, Ganesh, Odin and Mercury. Who else was there? I was missing my Aztec and Egyptian Gods. where was Ra and Quetzalcoatl to kick some ass?  Maybe I just missed the nametag. There are some serious badass Gods out there, I felt like they could have put up a bit more of fight against Lucifer.

Baron Samedi ( Haitian Voodoo God ) and Zao Shen ( Chinese God ) were the other two. Along with the ones that you mentioned I believe that's everyone that was there.

[The Companion]

Gabriel!!! Noooooo!!! I loved Gabriel/Loki/The Trickster so much. I loved his episodes and he was amazing until the end. 

I enjoyed the first half of this episode which had you asking yourself what the hell was going on. I loved bringing in other deities. I loved Dean's bravado when facing them and the twists related to Gabriel. Then Lucifer shows up and it takes a turn for me. Actually it is the same complaint I have had in the past, which is that the ultimate showdown here comes in human form. The gods are cut down like random extras, in human forms and showing 0 interesting powers. Maybe it is the belief concept mentioned above, but without being established it just reads as these other gods being about a powerful as a random human on the street, which is insulting and boring. 

Nonetheless, I really enjoyed Kali and found it to be a fun episode until they killed Gabriel.

And that last scene? I love horror and I am good with a decent amount of gore, but apparently I draw the line at phlegm. My risk averse brain draws the line at snot and I had to actively try not to vomit.

[Katy M]

On 12/7/2019 at 11:35 PM, The Companion said:

Gabriel!!! Noooooo!!! I loved Gabriel/Loki/The Trickster so much. I loved his episodes and he was amazing until the end. 

I feel like I'm the only one who doesn't love Gabriel.  I don't hate him or anything, really.  I just kind of feel like he's a bit overrated.  I will duck down to avoid rocks now.

[The Companion]

1 hour ago, Katy M said:

I feel like I'm the only one who doesn't love Gabriel.  I don't hate him or anything, really.  I just kind of feel like he's a bit overrated.  I will duck down to avoid rocks now.

This is how I feel about Crowley so far. 

[Katy M]

48 minutes ago, The Companion said:

This is how I feel about Crowley so far. 

I won't put my 2 cents in worth about Crowley since I've seen more of the show than you have.

[The Companion]

19 minutes ago, Katy M said:

I won't put my 2 cents in worth about Crowley since I've seen more of the show than you have.

I appreciate that and I fully recognize that I may come around on him. 

[MagnusHex]

Just watched this episode for the first time. God, that title led me into thinking this was the Mjolnir episode. What a shame. I mean, c'mon, HAMMER of the Gods? Where's Thor? lol And the MCU movie did come out two years prior to this episode. I thought Sam and Dean were gonna wield Mjolnir to fight against Lucifer. Sam might not be worthy anymore, but Dean sort of is (being capable of wielding the stake the killed the Whore of Babylon after all). I even looked up Thor's fight against the frost giants to remind myself how powerful Thor was in Phase 1. lol But I guess Lucifer would've just snapped Sam and Dean away before they could even reach for his head. 😉

I legit teared up at the Gabriel scene though. It's kinda ironic since I've seen Constantine's version of Gabriel, and she loathes humanity.

Just three episodes left. Looking forward to seeing how it all ends.