Review for 5x19 'Hammer Of The Gods'

[galathea]

Last week the writers brought the brothers’ reconciliation arc to a preliminary resolution, so it was to be expected that they turn their attention to the apocalypse plotline now. Hammer Of The Gods, by courtesy of Andrew Dabb and Daniel Loflin, is plot plot-driven rather than character centric, which is not exactly my favourite kind of episode, but the story is decent enough and the characterisation for Sam and Dean feels appropriately brotherly, which follows well from Point Of No Return. Compared to the brilliance of the episodes that preceded it, however, Hammer Of The Gods feels like a let down, even if it does have enjoyable qualities.



Hammer Of The Gods is one of those rare episodes that I find really hard to review. I like the story well enough and the brotherly characterisation is consistent, so I don’t find it necessary to write a lengthy rant about the flaws of the episode, but it also doesn’t engage me on a deeper level, so I am not really inspired to write a lengthy analysis about its strengths either. I am mostly invested in the psychological journey of Sam and Dean, and this episode simply doesn’t give me much to work with on the character level. I enjoy the Trickster to an extent, but not enough to delve into a character analysis that goes beyond what I have already written about him in previous reviews, and we (and the Winchesters) have no history with the one-shot characters, so I have no real reason to look into them more closely either. And the plot, while in itself a neat idea – if handled very clumsily – has no real far reaching consequences for the mytharc, so I would only analyse it for the sake of the plot itself, and it just didn’t grip me enough to make the time and energy worthwhile. Ultimately, I was left with the decision to either write about themes and/or characters that I am not particularly passionate about or cut the depth/extent of my review. I suppose, I landed somewhere in the middle in the end.

Sam: "I’m not giving up."
Dean: "Nobody is giving up. Especially me. We’re going to find a way to beat the devil. And we will find Cas. We’ll find Adam. But you are no good to me burned out."

I guess it comes as no real surprise that my main attention while watching Hammer Of The Gods turned to Sam and Dean’s characterisation in the aftermath of their first steps towards a genuine reconciliation, and to my relief the brothers’ interaction felt natural and followed well from the previous episode. I think it is especially interesting to look at the differences between The End/Fallen Idols and Point Of No Return/Hammer Of The Gods here. When Sam and Dean first reunited in The End, they did so out of necessity, rather than desire, and in their effort to move on from their difficult past and focus on the task at hand, i.e. fighting the apocalypse, the brothers repressed their issues instead of dealing with them. Consequentially, their teamwork in Fallen Idols suffered from the tension and mistrust that frequently emerged between them, and while they struck a compromise in the end, Sam and Dean’s relationship remained unsteady in the weeks to come. In contrast, when the brothers reunited in Point Of No Return they faced their issues head-on, painful as it was, and came out on the other side with a renewed sense of faith in each other. Consequentially, their interaction in Hammer Of The Gods is easy and natural. There is genuine concern for and support of each other, smooth teamwork, good-natured brotherly banter and the few moments of tension are situational, rather than personal.

Apparently the brothers put Dean’s resolution to take initiative, instead of passively waiting for Lucifer to make his next move, into action over the last couple of weeks and tried to find a possible way to defeat Lucifer and uncover Adam and Castiel’s whereabouts. Alas, to no avail. Despite that set-back though, Dean’s spirit is visibly lifted throughout the episode, at times cheery even, which at first glance might be odd, given that he hit rock bottom just last episode, but I think that his behaviour is actually par for the course, as Dean tends to overcompensate every now and then. In the brothers’ initial conversation at the dining room, however, Dean’s playful attitude instantly turns into genuine concern and honest reassurance at seeing Sam’s exhaustion and frustration, thus demonstrating that he found his inner big brother back. As for Sam, in the last couple of weeks Sam has been so focused on Dean, that his own fears and issues were mostly pushed to the back of his mind, so it’s no surprise that now that his brother is back on the same page, a reassuring and steady presence at his side, he turns introspective again. As usual Sam counters his own fears by obsessively focussing on their mission, apparently running himself ragged in the process, but despite his frustration with the unexpected detour to the hotel Elysium, Sam responds to Dean’s honest concern for his well-being with easy acceptance.

The moment it becomes clear that their stay at the hotel is not just an unexpected, but welcomed day off to recharge the batteries for them, both brothers are instantly focussed though – all earlier light-heartedness forgotten – and both make the safety of the innocent victims trapped in the hotel their top priority. I always mourned the fact that the brothers numbed themselves to the inevitable collateral damage in their line of work over the last couple of years, so it was really nice to see Sam and Dean’s concern for the innocent people back here. I also enjoyed that despite Dean’s initial unease at Sam’s suggestion to summon Lucifer on the off-chance that Kali and the other gods might be able to defeat him, he supports his brother’s approach in the end, however risky. It’s an active gesture of trust that effectively demonstrates Dean’s willingness to return the faith Sam had in him just last episode. He doesn’t doubt his brother’s strength to withstand Lucifer anymore. ♥ So, overall the characterisation of Sam and Dean in Hammer Of The Gods has been very enjoyable, which is definitely one of the strengths of the episode.

Zao Shen: "Don’t mock my world turtle."

Eric Kripke is a self-confessed Neil Gaiman fan, and I think it’s pretty obvious that the plot of Hammer Of The Gods takes its cues from Gaiman’s popular novel American Gods, in which the god Odin tries to unite several mythological heroes and old gods – like Kali, Balder, Anubis or Loki – in an epic fight against the new American Gods, namely mass phenomena like the internet or the media. The central idea of the novel is that gods and mythological creatures exist because people believe in them and that they derive their power from the number of their followers – a concept that has been employed in the Supernatural universe as well, most notably back in Hell House, where the brothers fought a tulpa, a creature that came into existence simply because people believed in it. I also assume that the writers based Lucifer’s superiority to all other deities depicted in Hammer Of The Gods on this very concept, relating Lucifer’s strength to the fact that the Judaeo-Christian belief system is the predominant religion in America.

Furthermore, the show frequently dealt with pagan gods and how they were affected by the decrease in followers over the centuries. Usually they were shown trying to adapt to the situation by forcibly taking the human sacrifice that once had been given willingly by their worshippers. Like for example the winter solstice gods in A Very Supernatural Christmas, who were forced to blend into society when Christianity became predominant or Leshi, the forest god from Fallen Idols, who started to feed off of random worshippers from different cultures, when it was banished from its natural habitat. Some gods managed to survive by retaining a small community of worshippers, like the norse god Vanir in Scarecrow, who granted the people of Burkittsville good crops, as long as they offered an annual human sacrifice. So, pagan gods and their struggles to get by in times where their existence is undermined by Judaeo-Christian beliefs have a long standing history in the show, and given that with the arrival of the angels the Judaeo-Christian theology became the dominant narrative frame of the story, it makes sense that Hammer Of The Gods tries to interrelate the different entities of the Supernatural universe here.

That all being said, however, it’s sad the writers didn’t make an effort to employ the different deities they gathered here in a more meaningful manner, instead they used them in a mostly humoristic capacity. It’s not that I didn’t enjoy the absurd bickering between Kali, Baldur, Odin, Zao Shen, Ganesh or Mercury, but there was a lot of wasted potential in the premise. There have been a couple of moments in the episode, where the writers seemed to make a substantial comment about the interrelation of the different belief systems, for example when Lucifer points out that nobody gives them the right to reign over the world, they simply take it, but it’s not expanded upon, so it’s difficult to discern if that was deliberate or simply accidental.

As a side note: I know that some fans took offence at the way the different gods have been depicted in the episode, first and foremost at the fact that they are presented as cannibals – although I think androphagous is the more accurate term, after all, it’s not humans who feast on humans here – although mythology-wise none of the (named) gods who attend the gathering actually demand human sacrifice or eat human flesh. While I agree that there is no internal story reason for that particular plot point, I suspect that this aspect of the story was added to fill the weekly gore quota. Supernatural is a horror show, after all. Now, I have no real problem with this issue, just like I have no real problem with the fact that angels are depicted as malevolent or that the show twists bible excerpts every which way to serve their story. I don’t think the writers ever set out to be politically correct and/or historically accurate in their interpretation of the various texts they use as inspiration for their own little tale, and I think it depends on personal sensitivities if someone perceives the writers approach as creative freedom or as disrespect. Personally, I definitely fall on the side of creative freedom.

Overall, I think it is important to keep in mind that Supernatural has always been about humanity as the only true good force of the universe, nothing demonstrated that better than the introduction of the angels to the show, who in the end were just as corrupted and self-serving as the demons. The show has often made a point of presenting any kind of religion/belief system as flawed, and consequentially faith in higher powers has usually been depicted as misdirected and/or exploitable for nefarious purposes. As far as I recall at the moment, Supernatural has only once presented faith in God in a positive light so far, namely in Faith, where Layla had been able to draw strength from her belief that even if she couldn’t understand God’s plan for her, it would turn out for the best. Ultimately though, the show tends to emphasise that the only faith worth having is the faith in people. A standpoint that has just been corroborated in Point Of No Return, where it was Sam’s faith in Dean that saved his brother, not to mention in Hammer Of The Gods itself, where Gabriel makes a final stand by choosing humanity over his angelic brothers.

What else was noteworthy:

(1) I have always had a bit of an ambivalent attitude towards the Trickster/Gabriel, because while I love the character – which is to no small part owed to Richard Speight’s appealing portrayal of the character – I have a huge dislike for the Trickster’s preferred kind of humour, which often makes the themes and the tone of Trickster episodes a bit of a pain for me. Still, I am sad to see him go, because I always enjoyed his interaction with Sam and Dean. I already discussed Gabriel’s position in the heavenly family drama back in my Changing Channels review, so won’t repeat myself here, but I am happy that I was accurate with my prediction that Dean’s parting words during their last encounter will serve as a wake-up call for the angel and finally motivate him to take a position in the conflict between his brothers. Gabriel’s ultimate confrontation with Lucifer was not only very touching, but also gave the character a satisfyingly heroic exit. The fact that Gabriel in the end comes down on the side of humanity is very consistent in terms of characterisation, after all, he chose to leave heaven and live amongst humans instead and has always been depicted as someone who enjoys the hedonistic aspects of human life tremendously.

(2) I really enjoyed Lucifer’s return in the episode. While I always loved the creepiness of the character, the raw violence expressed in Lucifer’s bloody slaughter of Ganesh, Baldur and the other deities, added a new level of terror to the character. Furthermore, the contrast between Lucifer’s contemptuous and cold-blooded murder of the gods and his genuine sorrow at the prospect of killing his little brother Gabriel was fascinating and further deepened his characterisation. I think it’s amazing that the writers managed to make Lucifer such a 3-dimensional character, especially given how little actual screen time he got over the course of the season.

(3) I really love the final reveal that the key to defeating Lucifer is to simply lock him up in his cage again, as I always found the notion that Sam and Dean would be able to actually kill the devil a bit presumptuous. Additionally, I am very pleased that the rings of the four horsemen do serve an actual purpose in this season’s story arc. However, the fact that this particular solution is so conveniently handed to Sam and Dean on a platter by Gabriel here, is dissatisfying. While I can rationalise Gabriel’s decision to keep the possibility to trap Lucifer to himself till now, after all, his belief in Changing Channels that the ultimate fight between Lucifer and Michael has to play out according to prophecy has clearly been genuine, I would have preferred if the reveal had been woven more organically into the story somehow. It always looks cheap and clumsy to have your main characters simply stand around like stupid children, while someone else explains to them how it is done.

In conclusion: Hammer Of The Gods was a decent, but not terribly exciting, opening act for the run of final episodes that will undoubtedly revolve around retrieving the remaining two rings and subsequently trapping Lucifer in his cage, quite possibly using Sam as bait in the process. It’s probably not an episode I will rewatch often, but I liked it well enough for the most part.