Recap / Supernatural S 05 E 19 Hammer Of The Gods

Previous: Supernatural S 05 E 18 Point Of No Return
Next: Supernatural S 05 E 20 The Devil You Know

Recap of Supernatural
Season 5, Episode 19

Hammer of The Gods

Lucifer: They are broken, flawed abortions!

Gabriel: Damn right, they're flawed. But a lot of them try. To do better, to forgive. And you should see the Spearmint Rhino. I've been riding the pine a long time now, but I'm in the game now, and I'm not on your side, or Michael's. I'm on theirs.

Written by Andrew Dabb and Daniel Loflin.

Directed by Rick Bota.

Air Date: April 22, 2010.

The Winchesters take refuge in a motel that's way too swanky for its surroundings; turns out that the motel is a trap created by various gods (that's right, plural) who want to stop the Apocalypse by using Sam and Dean as bait.

Body count

For this episode = 2 humans, 9 gods, and 1 archangel.

For the series so far = At least 387 humans (of which 6 were witches), 61 demons, 33 ghosts, 19 zombies, 13 gods, 11 vampires, 10 angels, 9 hellhounds, 6 changelings, 3 shapeshifters, 2 ghouls, 2 werewolves, 2 dogs, 1 crocotta, 1 djinn, 1 rakshasa, 1 rawhead, 1 reaper, 1 rugaru, 1 shtriga, 1 siren, 1 wendigo, 1 whore of Babylon, and 1 wraith.

Tropes

---

• A Death in the Limelight/Back for the Dead: Gabriel gets killed by Lucifer.

• Always a Bigger Fish: Sam and Dean(and even Gabriel) are at the mercy of the pagan gods most of the episode. Enter Lucifer.
• Artistic License – Religion: Hinduism is the third largest religion in the world—hardly on the same level of global relevance as Baldur. Kali and Ganesh should be doing just fine on the worshipers front. (Also, Kali is really more of a sword-wielding goddess than a fireball-flinging one.)
  • Also the pagan gods' dietary habits are at odds with their cultural background. The show also largely glosses over the fact neopaganism and Voudoun still have practitioners.
• Astonishingly Appropriate Appearance: Pestilence is a haggard looking man who sniffles and sneezes everywhere, leaves a trail of mucus, is followed by flies, and drives a rusted, pea-green pinto.

• Big Bad: The pagan deities who hold Sam, Dean, and Gabriel hostage in the hotel. They quickly get upstaged and replaced by Lucifer.
• Blood Magic: Used to trap Sam, Dean, and Gabriel in the hotel.
• Chekhov's Gun: The Horsemen's rings are the keys to Lucifer's Cage.

• Curb-Stomp Battle: Lucifer effortlessly kills the gods.
• Curb Stomp Cushion: While still clearly outmatched Kali manages to at least put up a fight against Lucifer.
• Death of the Old Gods: The gods are pissed that they've lost their power and that the world is being destroyed by the Judeo-Christian Apocalypse. And then Lucifer shows up....
• Didn't Think This Through: Kali tries using fire on Lucifer, who'd spent centuries in hell! Obviously it's a total No-Sell.
• Did You Just Flip Off Cthulhu?: Sam cringes at Dean's deliberately disrespectful speech to the pagan gods. It actually works, because Kali starts taking him seriously.
• Divine Date: Turns out Gabriel and Kali have...history.
• Does This Remind You of Anything?: Kali's speech to Gabriel on the arrogance of 'Westerners' who think the whole world revolves around them.
• Don't Make Me Destroy You: Which lines up perfectly with Lucifer's Never My Fault personality.
• Dying Moment of Awesome: Gabriel dies buying Sam and Dean time to escape.
• Elephant in the Living Room: How Gabriel addresses the Apocalypse. Ganesh gets offended.
  Gabriel: Not you. The Apocalypse.
• Enemy Mine: Invoked by Dean as well as the pagan gods.
• Even Evil Has Loved Ones: Lucifer seems genuinely distraught at having to kill Gabriel. Kali, too, is upset over his betrayal.
• Fake Advertisement: Ghostfacers!

• Final Speech: Gabriel gives one via porno to tell the Winchesters how to get Lucifer back into the Cage.
• Flash Step: Mercury grabs samples of the Winchesters' blood, with them only noticing the cuts afterward.

• Fragile Speedster: Mercury. He's the fastest God but seemingly the weakest.
• Glamour Failure: Played for Laughs when Dean walks past an open hotel room containing an elephant...WTF? He walks back to look again and has an indignant fat black man close the door on him—the fat man turns out to be the Hindu god Ganesh, whose natural form is an elephant.

• Gotta Catch Them All: Turns out the way to stop Lucifer is to gather the four rings of the Horsemen, and they've got two already. Getting the others should be easy for our heroes, right?

• Humans Are Special / Humans Are Flawed: Gabriel gives a great one.
  Lucifer: So you're willing to die for a pile of cockroaches. Why?
  Gabriel: Because Dad was right. They are better than us.
  Lucifer: They are broken. Flawed! Abortions!
  Gabriel: Damn right they're flawed. But a lot of them try. To do better, to forgive. [beat] And you should see the Spearmint Rhino!
• Ice Queen: Kali curtly turns down Dean before he even has a chance to start his chatting-up routine.
• I'm a Humanitarian: The security guard killed in the teaser is chopped up and served as dinner. The other hotel guests are Locked in a Freezer until they're needed for appetizers.
• Incoming Ham: Gabriel. "Can't we all just GET ALONG?"

• Karmic Death: Gabriel is killed when Lucifer sees through his tricks. Which Lucifer taught him.
• Karma Houdini: Kali is still alive at the end of the episode even after all the horrible things she's done.
• Killed Off for Real: Gabriel courtesy of Lucifer.
• Kill the God: Lucifer kills seven of them, including ones from Norse Mythology (Odin and Baldur), Hindu Mythology (Ganesh), Classical Mythology (Mercury), Egyptian Mythology (Isis) and Voudoun (Baron Samedi). The Sole Survivor is Kali, from Hindu Mythology. Loki would count, but he's actually Gabriel, and therefore an archangel.
• Might Makes Right
  Baldur: You think you own the planet. What gives you the right?
  [charges at Lucifer, who rams a hand through his chest and out his back]
  Lucifer: No one gives us the right. We take it.

• No-Sell: Kali shoots fire at Lucifer. When it fades, he's standing exactly where he was before, smiling. Not even his clothing is damaged.
• Oh, Crap!:
  • For Sam:
    Sam: We are so, so screwed.
  • And later for Mercury.
    Lucifer: Checking in.
• Parental Favoritism: The Apocalypse is revealed to be just a giant temper tantrum that Lucifer is throwing because he's angry that Daddy loved humans more.
  Gabriel: Boo hoo! Daddy was mean to me, so I'm gonna smash up all his toys.
  Lucifer: Watch your tone.
  Gabriel: Play the victim all you want. But you and me? We know the truth. Dad loved you best. More than Michael, more than me. Then he brought the new baby home and you couldn't handle it. So this is all just one big temper tantrum. Time to grow up.
• Plague Master: Pestilence, who makes his entrance into the series by walking into a convenience store and spewing snot everywhere.

• Pun: Gabriel re: Kali. "The chick was all hands."
• Punch Catch: Lucifer to Baron Samedi.
• Red and Black and Evil All Over: Kali wears a red dress and a black skirt. And underneath, a black bra and panties. Rrrraw!
• "The Reason You Suck" Speech: Gabriel gives a brilliant one to his brother, Lucifer. Lucifer himself gives a rather impressive one to Mercury.
• Revealing Continuity Lapse: Early in the episode, Dean suddenly has a cut on his face that he didn't have before. It turns out that Mercury took a sample of his blood without him or the viewer noticing.
• Rewarded as a Traitor Deserves: Mercury.
• Shout-Out:
  • The whole episode is one to Neil Gaiman's American Gods.
  • To Babar and the Legion Of Doom.
  • "Luci, I'm home."
• Shut Up, Hannibal!: Aside from his impressive "The Reason You Suck" Speech, Gabriel also has this:
  Lucifer: Brother, don't make me do this.
  Gabriel: No one makes us do anything.

• Something Else Also Rises: "So this is me, standing up." [grabs porn girl] "This is me lying down."
• Squick: The end, when Pestilence comes.
• The Tape Knew You Would Say That: The DVD Gabriel leaves for the Winchesters.
  Sam: What the hell's going on?
  Gabriel: [Aside Glance] Sam, Dean, you're probably wondering what the hell's going on.
• Video Will: Gabriel gives this to Sam and Dean… in the form of a porno.
• We ARE Struggling Together: The meeting is an attempt to get the pagans working together against a common threat. Thanks to Mercury's treachery, they get trounced by Lucifer before they have a chance to do so.
• What Ever Happened To The Mouse: Kali was never seen or mentioned again after being put into the brother's car.
• With Due Respect: Mercury to Kali. Cue Blood from the Mouth.
• The Worf Effect: The hotel is filled with such A-listers as Kali, Ganesh, Baron Samedi, Odin, Baldur, Mercury, and Loki!Gabriel. By the time Lucifer shows up, he doesn't even need to touch most of them to kill them.
  • Worf Had the Flu: It's later revealed the pagan Gods get their power from worship (specifically sacrifices according to Word of God) so Baldur and the others really aren't in fighting shape these days. It's unknown how they would have fared against Lucifer at their peak. Although that idea rather falls down with regards to Kali and Ganesh, representatives of the world's third largest religion.