The Big Picture

• «All Hell Breaks Loose» is a two-part Season 2 finale of Supernatural that wraps up the entire plot line neatly and feels like an intense, apocalyptic thriller.
• The episode focuses on high stakes, as the world could go up in flames if the Winchester brothers don’t stop the demonic army from being unleashed.
• The two-part narrative showcases a reversal of roles for Sam and Dean, with Sam taking on a leadership role and thriving without Dean, while Dean struggles to find his identity without his brother.

It’s been a few years since Supernatural concluded back in 2020. Jared Padalecki and Jensen Ackles played Sam and Dean Winchester faithfully for 15 seasons, casually saving the world and hunting evil along the way. This journey took the monster-hunting brothers all across America to take down ghosts, demons, witches, and, well, you name it, they’ve probably killed it. But across Supernatural‘s plethora of seasons, there was only one finale that warranted a two-part expansion, unable to be contained into a single 40-minute episode. This Season 2 finale stood tall as a two-hour apocalyptic blockbuster that essentially ended the series, only to rebirth it anew. If you haven’t guessed already, we’re talking about «All Hell Breaks Loose,» an apt title for what could easily have been Supernatural‘s end.

What Happens in ‘Supernatural’s «All Hell Breaks Loose?»

After a season of grieving their father, John Winchester (Jeffrey Dean Morgan), who died in Dean’s place after making a deal with the Yellow-Eyed Demon (often played by Fredric Lehne), paired with two years hunting the same creature that killed their mother and Sam’s college girlfriend, Sam and Dean have been through a lot. They’ve met other hunters with connections to their father’s past, discovered Sam’s demonic psychic abilities, and are slowly realizing that the Demon’s plan is much bigger than they originally gave it credit for. All of this comes to a head here at the end of Season 2.

«Part 1» starts with Sam being abducted and waking up in a ghost town called Cold Oak, South Dakota, where he discovers that he isn’t the only one of the demon’s Special Children there. Others are with him (albeit each with their own special abilities), but most notably Ava Wilson (Katharine Isabelle), whom the brothers met earlier that season, and newcomer Jake Talley (Aldis Hodge), a U.S. soldier with super-strength. After being hunted by a demonic little girl, the survivors discover that Ava has been picking them off one by one, waiting for her time to strike Sam down and take her place at the Demon’s right hand. Meanwhile, Dean and Bobby (Jim Beaver) search for Sam, only to arrive too late. The first part ends in a brawl between Sam and Jake, who each have been visited by the Demon who claims that only one of them will walk out alive.

Though it looks as if Sam has at first supernaturally overpowered Jake, the soldier kills the younger Winchester just as Dean and Bobby arrive. In «Part 2,» Dean makes a deal with a Crossroads Demon (Ona Grauer) to resurrect Sam, which leaves him with only one year to live. Having located old Yellow-Eyes in Wyoming, the Winchesters, Bobby, and Ellen Harvelle (Samantha Ferris) get there too late to stop Jake from opening a Devil’s Gate to Hell. Though they close the Gate, it isn’t before Sam and Dean confront the Yellow-Eyed Demon, and, with the help of the ghost of their father (who literally climbed out of Hell for his boys), kill him with the demon-killing Colt. After making peace with their father, the boys hit the road again, now ready to take on all the evil spirits they couldn’t stop from getting out.

‘Supernatural’s Two-Part Story Is Necessary

If this two-part episode feels more like a Supernatural movie, that’s because it basically is. After two years of hunting together and fighting for their father, the only way this leg of the show could’ve ended was with a two-hour sendoff. The truth is, in many ways, these episodes mark the end of an era. By the next season, the show became more serialized and introduced new cast members to supplement our favorite Winchesters. Characters like Ruby (Katie Cassidy; Genevieve Padalecki), Castiel (Misha Collins), Crowley (Mark A. Sheppard), and Jack (Alexander Calvert) were series regulars during their respective tenures, meaning that Supernatural became more than just the Sam and Dean show.

But not here. With «All Hell Breaks Loose,» the cast and crew composed a spectacular symphony of thrills and chills that wrapped up the series’ entire plotline (to this point) neatly with a bow. Sure, there were still some loose ends (Dean’s year-to-live being the biggest), but the Winchesters’ long-time-coming revenge on the demon later identified as Azazel, their final moments with their father, and the self-sacrificial nature of their relationship all come to a head here. Almost every question we’d asked since the «Pilot» is answered, and while the show would later reveal that Azazel was only working on behalf of Lucifer (Mark Pellegrino) to prepare Sam for the Apocalypse, the Season 2 finale feels awfully like the end.

Of course, it needed to feel that way. Up until this point, the show had asked more questions than it answered, with various monster-of-the-week breaks in the middle to keep us guessing. So, naturally, when «All Hell Breaks Loose» starts revealing more about Azazel’s «war between demons and mankind,» series creator Eric Kripke and company hit the gas, hard. Later on, when Supernatural was adapted into an anime (no, seriously), the series ended with an adaptation of «All Hell Breaks Loose, Part 2,» opting to only adapt the first two seasons of the original show. No doubt, they felt as if Supernatural, as it once was, really ended here, and there’s some truth to that.

‘Supernatural’s Season 2 Finale Takes Risks

«All Hell Breaks Loose» raises the stakes the highest they’ve ever been to this point. Previously, the Yellow-Eyed Demon’s plans felt unclear and personal rather than global in scale (national maybe, but not global). And certainly not world-ending. We know that demons cause chaos, but they never felt terribly organized apart from old Yellow-Eyes himself. But here, Azazel’s plans of unleashing a demonic army have come to pass, and there’s seemingly no stopping it. For the first time on Supernatural, the world really could go up in flames. Thankfully, the Winchesters take out the Demon, which results in the congestion of their forces from this point forward.

But the longer the show went on, the bigger the stakes always got. By Season 5’s «Swan Song» (arguably the best episode of the series), the Devil himself has the world under his boot before Sam and Dean succeed in trapping him. Given this was Eric Kripke’s preferred ending, it makes sense that the conflict got a bit more biblical, but after 10 more seasons of universe-shattering plots, well, it gets stale pretty quickly. But that’s not the case here. «All Hell Breaks Loose» feels like an intense, apocalyptic thriller in all the best ways, expertly balancing both the world-ending stakes and personal woes our heroes sift through. Sam is conflicted about his part in this dark plan, while Dean is distraught at the thought of losing his brother.

While shows can often make the mistake of putting too much emphasis on either the plot or the character’s own emotional arcs, Kripke and co-writer Sera Gamble (who would run the series following Kripke’s departure) merge the lines to seamlessly construct a narrative worthy of our attention. Sam’s battle against the literal demon on his shoulder is as much about his own soul as it is the fate of humanity, and when he’s resurrected from the grave (only to brutally kill Jake), Dean must ask if what he brought back was really his brother. Of course, it was, but that doesn’t mean that Sam hasn’t been changed.

The Winchester Brothers Reverse Roles After Season 2

Of course, what makes this two-parter flow so well is the emphasis each hour places on its leads. No doubt, 43 minutes isn’t enough time to focus adequately on both Sam and Dean’s arcs during this time of high strangeness, so the writers instead opt to split their focus in two. Generally speaking, «Part 1» focuses more on Sam’s story, while «Part 2» better highlights Dean’s. Throughout the first hour, Sam shows his skill set as a leader. Without Dean there, he steps up and leads his merry band of survivors to safety, teaching them the ins and outs of hunting as quickly as he can. In some ways, Sam thrives without Dean there to take charge, which is what attracts Azazel to him in the first place.

As Yellow-Eyes tries to seduce Sam to the Dark Side, there’s a part of the young Winchester who buys his own press. No, he never entertains the thought that he should be in charge of a demonic horde, but he certainly sees himself as a leader (and would become one by the show’s end, though for the good guys). Conversely, without Sam, Dean is basically in shambles. His entire life, Dean has always been told what to do by his father, and since John’s death, Dean’s had to take that mantle on himself. That goes for keeping Sammy safe too, and being the one responsible for putting him down the moment his eyes go black. Understandably, it proves too much.

So when Dean fails, the only thing he knows to do is the exact thing his father did, because, in truth, Dean doesn’t know who he is outside his father. Throughout the series, he figures it out, but he is never as confident when standing alone as he is with Sam by his side; and the rest of the series proves it. From the end of Season 2 onward, Supernatural puts a greater emphasis on Dean than it had before, drastically shifting course. When the series started, Sam was the clear protagonist, and while Dean was equal in value, the story centered on Sam’s emotional arc. From here on out, Dean is the driving force of Supernatural, which is fitting since he’s always in the driver’s seat anyway.

«All Hell Breaks Loose» Is ‘Supernatural’ at Its Best

In some respects, the early seasons of Supernatural were the show’s best. Each episode acted as a mini-horror movie, and for the most part, they weren’t bogged down by the constant apocalypses and the angel-on-demon violence that would later characterize the series. As the series progressed, it bypassed its status as a weekly horror show, detouring into a modern fantasy epic that pulled from every religion and mythology imaginable (though, generally, Judeo-Christian texts). No doubt, Supernatural wouldn’t have lasted as long had it not adapted to the times, but episodes like «All Hell Breaks Loose» remind us how put together and distinct the show was at the beginning.

Aside from masterfully balancing Sam and Dean with the impending destruction around them, this two-part finale excels at putting all the pieces of the show’s intricate mythology together. Whether it’s bringing Ellen back, making Bobby a regular part of the series (which would remain true until the show’s end), destroying the Roadhouse, or finally using the Colt on the creature John Winchester intended it for, everything feels providential in the best of ways. Sure, some of the special effects are a bit dated now, but the closure you feel when Sam and Dean can finally say goodbye to the ghost of their father is a type of catharsis that the series couldn’t replicate for another 256 episodes.

It’s nearly impossible to pick a favorite Supernatural episode, and even harder to pick the best, but there’s no denying that each hour of «All Hell Breaks Loose» has been marked by fans as both. If IMDb ratings mean anything, «Part 2» ranks within the series’ top 10 episodes, with «Part 1» not far behind. That’s pretty…