The lead-up to the final episode ended with Sam walking out on Dean. Now, each brother tries to find a way to stop Lilith from freeing Lucifer from Hell. Dean has given himself up wholly to the angels and sworn allegiance, while Sam has been taken under the wing of the demon Ruby. Ruby has been feeding Sam demon blood in an effort to strengthen the demonic powers he gained as a result of being fed demon blood as a baby. In short, one brother will try and use the power of the angels while the other uses powers from Hell. This is the final episode of season four.
Eric Kripke's Supernatural - "Lucifer Rising"
As with every season finale, the episode opens with a montage of "The Road So Far" to the song "Carry On My Wayward Son." The audience gets a rehash of the season, and then the episode takes off swinging. The first scene shows a convent in Maryland, circa 1972. A priest is possessed by the Yellow-Eyed Demon, and after a very well-done and scary speech about his father (Lucifer) being caged by the convent's nun's father (God), he tells them the door to his prison opens at their convent, pulls a large knife, and as the camera pulls out of the chapel and onto a statue of a praying angel, we hear the screams of the nuns. It's a great start to the season finale, but from there things definitely slow down.
The show takes a second to go over how dramatic the situation is, and Jared Padalecki once again struggles to really bring the emotional impact his lines convey. Sam talks about how he's a lost cause, and Dean and Bobby argue over whether Dean should try and call Sam to patch things up. It's an attempt to raise the tension before the big finish, but unfortunately works more to waste time and remind viewers that Supernatural, for all its glorious television gore, is still a show on the CW Network, and that means overly-dramatic pretty people.
Sam confronts the demon trying to steal babies to feed Lilith, and Ruby tells him that the only way to beat Lilith is to torture the demon until she gives up Lilith's location, then drink all of herblood, killing it and the human host, who the demon lets speak in order to plead for her life. Dean is whisked away by the angels to a sort of green room, where he's offered his favorite burgers, beer, and the women of Gilligans Island. When he asked what the plan is, Dean is told that he's merely supposed to sit and wait for instructions. He tries calling Sam, but the angels keep his call from getting through, and tell him that he is purposefully being kept out of action in order to allow Sam to kill Lilith, whose death is secretly the final seal keeping Lucifer imprisoned. Dean convinces Castiel to help him escape, but fails to reach Sam in time. Ruby reveals that this has been her plan all along, the brothers kill her together, and then watch as the gate to Lucifer's sell begins to break.
The Final Word on the Supernatural Season Four Finale "Lucifer Rising"
While a good episode in its entirety, "Lucifer Rising" stuck to the season finale formula of waiting until the last few minutes before anything of note really happens. Fans clamoring to see Lucifer were left with a few more months to wait, and the lack of an all-out slugfest weakened the overall impact of the episode. Still, a show where the antagonists tend to fail in each season finale is a rare treat.
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