Supernatural: "Hammer of the Gods" Review

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Article Comments for [link=http://tv.ign.com/articles/108/1085724p1.html]Supernatural: "Hammer of the Gods" Review[/link]
by Diana Steenbergen

Summary: After the stellar "Point of No Return" last week, any episode would have a hard time measuring up, but it doesn't help that "Hammer of the Gods" is so uneven. The idea of gods from other belief systems joining together to stop the Judeo-Christian Apocalypse is a fascinating one, but in the end the concept falls apart a bit. Considering the fact that the gods spend a lot of time arguing that they are just as important as the angels, it is ironic that what is far more compelling in the episode is the return of Gabriel and Lucifer. [link=http://tv.ign.com/articles/108/1085724p1.html]Read Full Article[/link]

 

[henrik_lundberg88]

HAHA this was amazing episode me and my family where saying its heavy christan theme show but then out of no where they brought in all the other mythologies. But yes I was a bit puzzled about how they got dispatched but I think the bases is that the more worshippers the more powerful they are but that hasnt been mentioned. But you could argue that its still keeping the heavy christian theme by having it as the most powerful religon and implying its better than others, but the line lucifer then says in response to kali and baldr sayin what gives them the right "we werent giving the right we took it" was a great line and then you could read as a critic of christianities aggression to other religons showin prior now to everyone such as crusades and middle ages which was brilliant.

But also think what could be good is if they imply that there was a grand god that made all the other gods that has no links to 1 religon.

 

[DevSingh1359]

To be honest, outside of Mark Pellegrino making an appearance I had a very mixed reaction to this episode. I enjoyed Gabriel being in the episode (although disappointed that he was killed off) and I'm really excited to see that they've set up how the rest of the season will go.

Now, I'm not trying to debate religion or anything with anyone, but the introduction of gods from other religions along with the portrayal of them being violent and murderous beings really made me cringe. As a Hindu I understood their use of Kali and didn't take it seriously but I found their portrayal of Ganesh very offensive to Hindu culture...I was perfectly comfortable with only the Judeo-Christian God being the sole god of the universe within the show, it really didn't make any sense to me introducing these major gods of other beliefs and it just came across as "too Western" to have an angel be more powerful than gods of other pantheons.

I'm a believer in all religions and I respect all religions, but to me that just comes too close to saying that the Judeo-Christian God is the creator of all things including other gods, which I think is offensive to other belief systems that have their own origin stories pre-dating the One God. If they wanted to use gods of other pantheons, maybe they should've done their homework and gone after the right ones to use.

 

[zionich]

Actually , from my point of view, there not using the Judeo-Christian God, but more the Jewish God. There has been no refference to Jesus, which is where the term Christian comes from. Being a Christian myself, I try to just take the show for what it is, a good show. I dont expect any correct mythologies other that the way they percive it to be in there world. If they offend people, its the people they offends fault for expecting this to be advancing any religion.

There not preachers or avangalist, there just story-tellers entertaining people. I dont mean this in any percivied way of an attack on anyones belifies. Just dont expect a tv show made to entertain to be accurate to anything.

 

[Qalbert]

Episode had some great lines though.
Lucy, I'm home!
Lucifer, you're my brother, and I love you, but you're really a big bag of dicks.
and of course an Army of Darkness reference from Dean.
"All right, you primitive screwheads, listen up."

 

[grandslam2288Mercury]

I think this story will set up next year's and future stories. There is a reason they did not use gods like Zeus and most of his pantheon. And the gods falling so easy is understandable because they probably never faced an archangel. They would prob be powerful enough to take on normal angels.
What was disappointing to me is that Micheal an Lucifer battling would destroy the world, but Gabriel and Lucifer fighting caused a stain on the ground??? Come on, I know hes not Micheal but he is still an archangel.

 

[Corke20]

I think the reviewer might have had a bad day prior to watching this episode, b/c I thought it was outstanding (the humor especially).

The entire series has portrayed pagan gods as very petty and animalistic (being honored and paid homage to only for their powers - which we now see as minute when compared to angels). And I think the name-tag sequence was more for the SN audience (as most are barely out of high school - if that - and wouldn't be able to infur/have any clue who 90% of these gods are).

I loved Dean's Army of Darkness reference, and his entire monologue in that scene, and for that alone the episode gets a 9.0 from me. This isn't even mentioning the awesomeness that is both Pellegrino and Speight Jr.

 

[SoinxHaydFTW]

8.5 is ridiculous, this episode was way better than that...I would put it on a par with last week's (which while brilliant did not deserve a full 10.0) if not rank it higher. It had less character moments than last week's (though it did have the Gabriel - Lucifer brother face-off that keeps bringing the show back to the family issues and brother relationship that it's always been about, despite the epic scale of the plot) what it did have was more of a balance of character, plot development and action (important for this sort of show now and then). It could have done with a little more comedy, and I was a little dissapointed with how easily the Gods were killed, but other than that, I can't think of anything. Absolutely top-notch performances by all. As for the final scene being over-the-top, I just don't see it...it was merely Supernatural balancing that dark-creepiness with comedy (sneezing on the flu tablets, ha ha), that the show does so well, especially in the case of the horsemen it seems...looks to be a very focused ride to the end, 3 episodes to go...hello Death.

 

[TrisBiscuit]

I just can't believe they went the entire episode without playing "Hotel California".

 

[seadraen]

Well, be sure to hear the American Hindu association to tie the noose around the CW Network. They created a ruckus with simple non agitating movies like The Guru. I wish they do something. I mean at least the show can be accurate and non partial with the religious beliefs of every one that watches the show. India, as a matter of fact, Indians love this show and seriously speaking, Hinduism is way too old and stable a religion to be used in such a way. Eric Kripke and co should have at least created the right assembly of Godly personnel.

Now speaking about the episode, i found it the perfect episode after the wonderful "Point of no Return". The concept was spot on, but the characters were not up to the mark. Baldur died cheaply. Being a Hindu, i would demand them bringing the Creaters of the Universe. Religions should not mix because not only being a source of entertainment, people tend to associate their lives with the characters. I mean not the supernatural aspect, but the Family one.

 

[bubblyofart]

As great an episode as it was, anyone notice they kind of ripped off Neil Gaiman's 'American God's'????

It would have been quite an interesting way to go if some of the Gods survived they could of have had all out war against the devil to stop the Apocalypse.

 

[Zero9bound]

Yeah he said the episode was uneven, but it really was on the same level as last weeks episode. they really did a good job, i just think the reviewer was being an A-hole this week.

 

[Maxor127]

Haha "Prepare to meet Kali... in Hell!" I kept thinking of Temple of Doom too with the Kali parts. I can understand the name tags, because otherwise it would be a lot harder to tell what god they are supposed to represent, and I doubt they have the budget to CGI everyone.

 

[theunit27]

so, loki (gabriel) shows up and baldur and odin don't know he's gabriel?? c'mon...and Lucifer kills all those gods (including odin) that easily? and they show ganesh as evil? dumb. if anything, baron samedi would have sided with lucifer. this was crap.

 

[Modocsean]

Though I enjoyed the episode, I don't think they really portrayed the gods that well. Would it have killed them to give Odin an eyepatch? Wasn't Baldur a light-hearted sort of god? Why use him so darkly? An though it did look like Lucifer was actually putting some effort into it (it was that good Pellegrino acting), some more CGI would have been cool.
I've noticed that Supernatural is very Gaiman-esqu/Vertigo-oriented in its character developement. I love it! Keep it up!

 

[Codgin1986]

Good Ep, shame the Gods went down a little easy with the sixth season looming they could have used some to create a new ark and I agree about Pellegrino abosutley superb made me want to see him as the Joker ((Hope posting this isn't against the rules) http://www.facebook.com/#!/pages/Mark-Pellegrino-Should-Play-the-Joker/113283198704913?ref=ts) because the way in which he delivers some of his lines is breathtaking, real talent there. So now we know the end game lets hope the end of the season can go out with a bang (So if Season 6 is awful we can just pretend it didnt happen and reflect on how great the end of this season was lol)

 

[henrik_lundberg88]

Sorry but DevSingh1359 I get your point but you seem
to miss that they insult all gods all the time, and should lighten up, you obviously fine with them taken the piss out of christianity but not when its everybody.


Also you missed the line which Lucifer says: "We werent given the right we took it" which I think was a brilliant critic of christian aggression to other religons and it may of shown lucifers strength but it showed far more his cruelty and the fact the treatment by angels on humans is horrendous they look like dicks, the show has always said that christianities beings as jerks.

Also I think it wud be good to have a explaination to their power levels. But it is difficult but that line lucifer said was a great critic and you seem to have completely missed the point, its clear that the gods are as powerful as Archangels on the lower side of the scale but I think what you again missed was that there was only one way to kill the angels which was the blade which the gods didnt know about which again shows the hostility of christianity to other religons by not sharing.

Secondly a concept of something creating everythin is a great idea your just related it to judeo-christian, if I was writing a story and had all these gods start turning up if I came up for an source of them it would be a being or something that made all but isnt related to any religon its just lots of religons like to think their god is head honcho, when if there is a being its all the same god.

Also gods aint gonna give a crap about us when we alive hence all the suffering we endure especially in the context of this show so they aint gonna be nice fellas if they dont care, this shows portrayal of gods is a complete up yours to them and how they treat us or at least in the context of the shows universe, the show has always had it running that we are bugs before them.

 

[ngom52]

those gods remind me of south park's "super best friends"

 

[I_AM_A_DOUCHEBAG]

Lucifer was badass.

 

[FullmetalLeather]

sad to see Gabrielle die he was an awesome charecter

 

[ILikerolsenrob]

The written word of this review is really bad, the score is good enough, but the actual review is bad.

 

[TheManWhoWasNotThere]

this episode was entertaining for the most part my only problem with it was the ending. the introduction of pestillence was unneeded and as a part of the episode it felt more like they ran out of things to put in the episode so they just added his introduction as filler. which is pretty disappointing.

 

[jolt_jt]

Hey did anybody catch the line
"Dad loved you best, more than Michael, more than Me then he brought the new baby home and you couldn't handle it."


Who do you think Gabriel was referring to as the "new baby"?

 

[jolt_jt]

Hey did anybody catch the line
"Dad loved you best, more than Michael, more than Me then he brought the new baby home and you couldn't handle it."


Who do you think Gabriel was referring to as the "new baby"?

 

[nachitus]

“How about you do what we say, or we tell the Legion of Doom about you?”

 

[knobfish]

@jolt_jt

I think Gabriel was referring to humans as the "new baby", which works, keeping with the whole idea of armageddon as a family squabble.

 

[dannyv81]

the only bad part was the review lol, but seriously these episodes have been getting better. the only thing that they could have done a bit more creatively was making dean and sam drive by pestilence's car and continue it from there with the characters introduction but overall it was great

 

[jolt_jt]

oo, i was thinking maybe jesus? man that would be interesting!

 

[Jaybro7]

Jolt_jt, the "new baby" line is referring to
the Human Race...

Lucifer, Michael and Gabriel are "brothers",
GOD is their father. He then created Humans
and asked all Angels to worship Humans,
to look after them.

Lucifer refused and said he would only worship God.
God got Michael to banish Lucifer to Hell.

So the "New Baby" line is saying that Lucifer got Jealous of the "new family member" and got pissed...

The reviewer is spot on with this review. It wasn't that great of an episode. Funny one liners don't make an episode deserve a 9.0

Also, these aren't GODS, but DEMI-GODS, which have been established on this show before, going way bck to the first trickster Episode "Tall Tales", where Bobby fills the Boys in on them...

 

[DKRider93]

@ jolt_jt:

The "new baby" was a metaphor for humanity which came along and took Lucifer's place.

 

[zaffRazor]

the gods mentioned Pandora so there are more gods on another earth which is awesome so once this arc ends they have a good place to go afterward

 

[Volvagia_slayer]

Hey did anybody catch the line
"Dad loved you best, more than Michael, more than Me then he brought the new baby home and you couldn't handle it."


Who do you think Gabriel was referring to as the "new baby"?

Could be Jesus, but he probably meant humans in general. Adam if you need a specific human.

 

[Sajan87]

First of all I've always had a problem with how IGN reviews this show. The reviewer tends to rate the the awesome episodes too low or too high. Point of No Return and Hammer of the Gods were both amazing episodes and both should get no better than a 9.5, but I feel that since point of no return was the 100th episode, the reviewer decided to give it a couple extra points.

Secondly, Supernatural tends to take a dump all over numerous religions of the world. If you can't deal with that, stop watching the show because no one wants to hear your complaints. Enjoying this show requires a suspension of disbelief.

the gods mentioned Pandora so there are more gods on another earth which is awesome so once this arc ends they have a good place to go afterward

I'm betting that was a joke towards Avatar, which came out this Thursday too.

 

[Chaos-Gambit]

From the previews I thought this was going to be a filler episode. Boy was I wrong. It was pretty awesome to see the old Pagan gods and Lucifer single handedly kill almost every one. I was pretty saddened about Gabriel although I really loved the conversation between him and Lucifer. It was nice to see that even Lucifer has some semblance of a conscience when you could he was dismayed at having to kill his brother. Overall stellar episode in my book. Only 3 more episodes for the season.

 

[madman_devin]

coming off last weeks monster of an episode this one was still great but not as good. That's said it was really nice to see other gods seen and Lucifer finally go a little bad ass hands on for once.

I definitely don't agree with IGN score though it is more like a 9.3 as it did seem a bit off especially with Kali and this blood spell which we still have no idea why she would let them go.

But overall a great episode and some very funny and harrowing moments with a nice push to the plot finally giving the brothers a plan of some sort. Too bad only 3 episodes left.

 

[DavidW01]

Hey did anybody catch the line
"Dad loved you best, more than Michael, more than Me then he brought the new baby home and you couldn't handle it."


Who do you think Gabriel was referring to as the "new baby"?

Could be Jesus, but he probably meant humans in general. Adam if you need a specific human.

I got the sense he was referring to humans.

 

[fredinferno]

I can't wait for the episode where the CW has to edit supernatural for showing Lucifer killing the Prophet Muhammad.

 

[BulldogNation]

not really impressed with this epi. the shows writers ususually have a good grasp and are reletively accurate when it comes to theology(my major btw)but i was just really dissapointed with who they chose and their descriptions.

kali- really? she is supposedly popular but like a really low level reincarnation of one of the main gods. but this depiction was the best out of all.

ganesh- really? a black guy? talk abot irrelevant non-pertinent deties....he is just a to small to include.

odin? really? you know what this might only be because i study this stuff and thats why it bugs me so i will stop, but i think we can agree they didnt show the gods in the right manner.

could have had real potential, but then again maybe they included these lowest level deities just so an angel would be more powerful, because to show anything higher....would be god himself

 

[Hazza889]

@fredinferno

one ignit fool after the other.. the prophet muhammad isnt a god. havent u been watching supernatural. in the series chuck is a prophet he isnt a god and wasnt at the meeting doesnt take a genius to figure that out.

On a completely different note when Gabe said "then daddy brought the new baby home" <-- couldnt help to wonder if he was refering to Jesus or just Mankind as a general. interesting choices of word.

 

[cborey]

Totally offensive. The Hindu gods aren't 'pagan gods.' They're deities of a living religion. Basically, they made it worse when Kali gives her speech about how arrogant Westerners are. Is she implying that God is a Westerner? Or that his angels are? The arrogance was unbelievable. The goddess Kali slapped down by an archangel? Ganesh devouring human flesh? Jews, Christians and Muslims need to get over themselves. By instinct, they just depict other belief systems as inferior. It's their instinct, and frankly, I don't think I need to watch this show anymore.

 

[grandslam2288Mercury]

@cborey
Are u Fing kidding me? This show is based uoon the whole idea that the Judeo-Christian god is the only true god, therefore all other "gods" are pagan. It has nothing to do with real life. It is a story and in this world their explanation for any other god is that they are fake. They are not saying these gods are fake in the real world just in the world supernatural lives in. If you have felt this way how could you possibly watch this show this far. This has been apparent since last season that IN THE SHOW the Judeo-Christian is the closest to being right about God and angels.

 

[bjzdesign]

I do not know enough theology to decide who can kick who's ass, however, I did find, as the review mentioned, an unbalanced episode.

I have been watching Supernatural, as most of you, from day one. The show has matured from a very simple "hunt demons and kill them," to a very complex and mature series. I watch it for pure entertainment, and as an escape from reality once a week. I do not pick apart every episode, as that would just add another thorn to an already stressful life.

But I digress

I do enjoy reading everyone's feedback, and occasionally even learn something new, which is always a plus.

I think the show has taken an interesting turn, and although somewhat "unbalanced," the writers always manage to pull everything together, throwing the hardcore viewers into an all out manic frenzy waiting for the new season, including me.

Thanks for the comments, they are always a blast to read!!

Regards,
Bryan

 

[c00lizz]

I found Gabriel's death to be kind of a let down considering how much they've built up Archangels this season. Hell the one that killed Cas managed to shut down power in half the US by just being there.

 

[dav31092-tk]

they should have put Allah in there and Kill him just to make a statement to the Muslim community that it is just for entertainment purposes.

 

[Dredgon]

I actually thought this was really good, even after following last week's impeccable one! I loved all the gods and the mythology around that, and when Lucifer came in, it literally all went to Hell! He was so badass and just destroyed the place, but I am sad Gabriel is gone. Next week was set up cleverly, and I am looking forward to seeing Death, though I hope that Lucifer is not captured because I love his character so much! A 9.5/10!

 

[Axe23]

dav31092-tk, you do realize that Allah is just the Muslim word for God right? And that he's actually the same god as the Christian and Jewish god...

All three religions start from the same point with the same god and same background mythology. The disagreement comes from who the messiah is. The Jewish people believe the messiah hasn't appeared yet. The Christians believe it was Jesus and the Muslims believe it was Muhammad.

There's more to it than that of course and tons of tradition and back story unique to each of these branches, but my point is that it would make no sense for 'Allah' to appear here as 'Allah' would actually be the same God who has so far wanted almost nothing to do with the Apocalypse.

 

[trez008]

@cborey

well according to her yes god would be from the west considering Kali is the southeast asia. Plus as grandslam2288Mercury said the whole show has made all of the gods other than the Judeo-Christian god as eating people. Remember the X-mas episode with the pagan gods that ate people every year?

 

[MetroFly]

i also thought uneven. started out good. the portrayal of the gods was disappointing. the way they died really sucked. nothing magical, just getting punched and ripped apart by lucifer. I was also expecting more from gabriel's fight with lucifer. loki was one of my favorite characters, sucked he died.
all this hype about michael vs lucifer, makes me wonder why can't they just stick them with that angel dagger thingamajiggy if thats all it takes to kill an archangel.

 

[Trembledust]

Good episode. Sad to see Gabriel go...or is he really gone? hmmm. The actor who plays Lucifer did a bang up job as usual. I actually went "oh shit" when he appeared.

Ok now for the bad news...wtf??? @ the represensation of the gods. Ok ummm...Lucifer an Arch Angel kills Odin...king of the Norse gods with almost no problem? Bullshit. Odin is really suppose to be on par with the Judeo-Christian God. To have him killed easily...by an acrh angel is laughable. Hell Balder should of been able to go toe to toe with Lucifer. Actually if u have ever read any material on alot of the gods shown on this episode you'd know they should be able to go blow for blow with Lucifer.

The line from Kali indicating the nerve of you westerners when she was talking to Gabriel kinda made me go huh? Last I remembered the religion Gabriel represents originated in Isreal and the lands boarding it. That's not considered to be the west.

And what was up with the gods eating humans? That part I didn't get at all. I have read alot about Norse, and Greek mythology...never heard of the gods eating human flesh. Sacrifing humans in thier honor..yea...eating humans...that's a new one.

 

[grandslam2288Mercury]

DO PEOPLE NOT UNDERSTAND THESE GODS ARE NOT THE ACTUAL GODS FROM SCRIPTURE. ODIN IS NOT REALLY ODIN. ALL SCRIPTURE IS JUST AN EXAGGERATED VERSION. IN THIS SHOW THEY ARE NOT ACTUALLY GODS. THERE IS ONLY ONE GOD IN THE SHOW. THAT IS WHY THE SECOND MOST POWERFUL BEING EVER CREATED IS LUCIFER. THESE OTHERS ARE NOT GODS BUT MONSTERS THAT TOLD PEOPLE THEY WERE GODS. LUCIFER IS AN ARCHANGEL THE SECOND MOST POWERFUL THING TO THE ACTUAL GOD IN THE STORY.

P.S. I really like the idea that Gabriel is not dead. B/c it was way too lame of a way for him to die. And again how could he have possibly killed Lucifer when if Micheal tries it will destroy the world??????