All Hell Breaks Loose I and II completely sealed my love for this show. This is TV at its finest. Solid writing and set-up, incredibly well delivered scenes. Jensen Ackles (Dean Winchester), Jared Padalecki (Sam Winchester), Jim Beaver (Bobby Singer), Fredric Lehne (Yellow-eyed Demon), especially stood out. Part one developed the set-up for the mind-blowing part two, and as such, had a few slow spots full of exposition. It was neatly broken up by some big developments: the roadhouse is no more, where’s Ellen? Ash is dead! (that’s me kind of sobbing) The ending of part one is probably one of the finest moments of TV out there. Jensen and Jared completely nailed that scene, and huge kudos to the director of this episode (I’m sorry, I have no idea who you are, imdb says Robert Singer for part one and Kim Manners for part two, though I know that’s not always reliable). Every nuance of that scene hit just right, from boneless Sam, to distraught Dean desperately trying to convince himself that Sam was going to be okay, to that final, heart breaking moment when he realized Sam wasn’t.

 

Part two kicks right back off by breaking the viewers all over again. Sam’s really dead, Dean’s really devastated, and Bobby knows Dean’s really in trouble. Did he suspect Dean would do something so stupid? I kind of think he did. Yes, Dean gives in, we know he was thinking about it the whole time he’s staring at Sam, and what he does is so perfectly in character that for any other show I would’ve railed at the predictability, but sometimes, to be true to the character and the show, you have to go to predictable places. Dean has already said before that he’ll do just about anything for his family. And he hasn’t ever forgotten the fact that he isn’t even supposed to be alive.

 

So, he buys Sam’s life back and gets one year to live. Bobby’s confrontation with Dean in the junkyard is truly one of the highlights of this two-part finale.

 

The big showdown in the cemetery was exciting. Poor red-shirt Jake, but I didn’t like you anyway. The yellow-eyed demon finally loses, and is that a reluctant “No!” Yes, it is! I have to give Kripke and co. props for wrapping up a story line. All too often shows drag them out, beat them to death, and create some serious resentment on the viewers’ part, but Fredric Lehne did such a wonderful job portraying this bad guy that I hate to see him go.

 

Same with Papa Winchester. I figured there wasn’t going to be a miraculous resurrection, but I still hoped, just because I’d love to see him pop up some more down the road, but at least he’s no longer suffering in hell. And he saved his boys one more time. Jeffery Dean Morgan was excellent as John Winchester and I hate to see him go, too (see a common thread).

 

And that brings me to the final big thing I would love to kiss Eric Kripke for – the secret, the deal -- it’s out in the open, they all know about it. I can’t tell you just how much I hate television shows that give a character this huge, awful secret, and then keep taunting viewers with the revelation only to pull back, and doing it repeatedly. Here, before the episode even ends, Sam knows what Dean did, and that brings us to the wrap-up.

 

In the season one pilot, Dean’s the one watching out for Sam, devastated after losing Jess. Sam tosses the gun into the trunk and says “We got work to do.” Here, Sam’s promised to save Dean, taking on the protector role, and the flipside continues as Dean is the one to toss the gun into the trunk this time and say, “We got work to do.” Excellent homage to the beginning as we start off on a whole new arc. Supernatural, I’ll be there with bells on when you premiere season 3 in the fall; have an excellent summer and thanks to everyone on the show for their hard work and an incredibly well done job.