4.22 Lucifer Rising
Title | Lucifer Rising |
Episode # | Season 4, Episode 22 |
First aired | May 14, 2009 |
Directed by | Eric Kripke |
Written by | Eric Kripke |
On IMDB | Lucifer Rising |
Outline | As only one seal is left to break, the angels are ready and Dean and Sam are intent on killing Lilith. |
Monster | Demons Angels |
Timeline | May 13th-14th, 2009 |
Location(s) | Sioux Falls, South Dakota Ilchester, Maryland Kripke's Hollow, Ohio |
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Synopsis
St. Mary's Convent, Ilchester, Maryland - 1972
Azazel possesses a priest at St. Mary's Convent and kills eight nuns in the chapel. Through a dead nun, he is able to speak to Lucifer, who tells him that he needs Lilith to break the 66 Seals that hold him captive. Lucifer tells Azazel he needs to find a very special child.
Present Day
Ruby and Sam stand near a car outside an abandoned house. Sam is upset over the fight with Dean, but when Ruby tells him they can patch things up later, Sam says that there won't be a later, and that he's changed for good.
At Bobby's place, Dean refuses to call Sam. Bobby calls him out on his behavior, and says he is behaving like his father, in failing to reach out to Sam. Bobby then tells Dean he is a better man than his father and begs him not to be like John.
At a hospital, Lilith's minion is stealing a baby for her to consume. Sam arrives and overpowers her. Back at the abandoned house, he tortures and interrogates her, and she tells him Lilith will be at St. Mary's Convent in Ilchester, Maryland at midnight the next night. Ruby tells Sam they need to keep the demon alive so Sam can feed on her blood to get the power he needs to kill Lilith. The demon withdraws to the recesses of the possessed girl's mind, so Sam is confronted with an innocent human.
Dean finds himself transported to what appears to be a luxurious hotel room - referred to as the Green Room by Zachariah. Zachariah & Castiel appear and Zachariah says they are keeping him safe in preparation for Lilith breaking the final seal. When he is alone, Dean finally calls Sam and leaves a message apologizing for what he said to him.
Sam bundles the possessed girl into the trunk of the car and they head to St. Mary's Convent in Ilchester, Maryland. He considers listening to Dean's voicemail, wondering if Dean was right all along. Two miles from the convent, they stop and Sam listens to Dean's message, but it has been changed - it is now Dean hurling abuse at Sam and rejecting him again. Resigned, Sam orders Ruby to kill the possessed girl so he can drink her blood to prepare to face Lilith.
Dean pleads with Castiel to let him see Sam, but Castiel refuses. When he confronts Zachariah, the angel finally admits that they don't want to stop Lilith from freeing Lucifer and that the upper echelons of the angels want the Apocalypse to happen in order to defeat Hell and bring about Paradise on Earth. He also reveals that Dean's role is to kill Lucifer once he has risen.
Later, Castiel returns and apologizes to Dean for deceiving him. Dean is angry and argues with Castiel, trying to convince him to help Dean and Sam stop the Apocalypse. He initially refuses, but then returns and, after cutting his wrist with Ruby's knife, draws an angel banishing sigil on the wall with his blood. Zachariah arrives to stop him, Castiel places a bloody hand in the middle of the sigil and Zachariah is sent away. Castiel says he will take Dean to Sam to stop him from killing Lilith - because her death is the final seal.
To find Sam, Castiel and Dean visit Chuck Shurley, who has foreseen that Sam is at the convent. An archangel arrives, and Castiel says he will hold it off before sending Dean directly to the Convent with a touch of his hand.
At the convent, Lilith and her minions have gathered. Sam and Ruby arrive, and Sam easily dispatches all of the demons and pins Lilith to the altar. Ruby sees Dean arrive and closes the chapel door, efficiently locking him out. Sam starts killing Lilith, but hesitates when he hears Dean shout his name outside the door. When he is taunted by Lilith, his eyes turn black and he ignores Dean's shouting, giving in to killing Lilith.
As Lilith's blood forms a spiral on the chapel floor, Ruby reveals to an appalled Sam that Lilith's death was the final seal and that she has been working to free Lucifer all along, Lilith's personal double agent who none of the other demons knew about, even Alastair. She tells Sam he didn't need the demon blood, that the choices he has made all year have helped him tap into his own power.
Ruby reveals that Sam was the only one who could bring back Lucifer, but before she can say why, Dean finally breaks in and rushes forward. Sam holds Ruby in place as Dean kills her with her own knife.
Suddenly a beam, of light thrusts up from the spiral of Lilith's blood.
Sam and Dean clutch at each other, as Lucifer is freed...
Characters
Definitions
- Alcohol
- Angel Banishing Sigil
- Angel Lore
- Apocalypse
- Archangel
- Bobby's Hats
- Dean's Bracelet
- Dean's Cell Phone
- Demon Blood
- Demon-Killing Knife
- Demonology
- Devil's Trap
- Get this
- Green Room
- Hello Dean
- Lucifer's Cage
- Ruby's Car
- Sammy
- Singer Salvage Yard
- The 66 Seals
- Son of a Bitch
- Star Wars
- Table of Death
- Telekinesis
- Timeline (Mythological Arc)
Music
- "Carry On Wayward Son" by Kansas
- (plays during "The Road So Far" recap of events; also played in 1.21 Salvation, 2.22 All Hell Breaks Loose: Part Two and 3.16 No Rest for the Wicked)
- "Patty Cake" by Juliana Wimbles
- (sung by Cindy McKellen)
Quotes
Dean: I told him, 'You walk out that door, don't come back', and he walked out anyway. That was his choice!
Bobby: You sound like a whiny brat. No, you sound like your dad. Well, let me tell you something. Your dad was a coward.
Dean: My dad was a lot of things, Bobby, but a coward?
Zachariah: Let us worry about that. We want you... focused, relaxed.
Dead Nun/Lucifer: I'm here, my son.
Azazel: It's so good to hear your voice, Padre. I have been searching for you for so long. You have no idea. The others have lost faith. Dickless heathens. But not me.
Dead Nun/Lucifer: You've done well.
Azazel: So, uh... how do I bust you out?
Dead Nun/Lucifer: Lilith.
Azazel: Lilith? Father, she's... trapped neck-deep in the pit. It won't be easy.
Dead Nun/Lucifer: Lilith. Lilith can break the seals.
Azazel: Yeah, okay. But what do I do?
Dead Nun/Lucifer: You must find me a child. A very special child.
Castiel: Why?
Dean: There's something I got to talk to him about.
Castiel: What's that?
Zachariah: Well... you can't make an omelet without cracking a few eggs. In this case... truckloads of eggs, but you get the picture. Look... it happens. This isn't the first planetary enema we've delivered. Uh, no, Dean. Probably shouldn't try to bash my skull in with that thing. Wouldn't end up too pleasant for you.
Castiel: What is so worth saving? I see nothing but pain here. I see inside you. I see your guilt, your anger, confusion. In paradise, all is forgiven. You'll be at peace. Even with Sam.
Sam: Oh, my god.
Sam: Dean... he's coming.
Trivia & References
- Dean is making an allusion to the Disney Channel Show The Suite Life of Zach and Cody about troublesome twin boys who live in a hotel.
The Green Room (the name given to the the room performers wait in before appearing on stage or TV), visually references the room in which Dave wakes up in the final segment of 2001: A Space Odyssey which is called "Jupiter and The Infinite Beyond" and which represents some realm beyond the mortal.
- Landscape with Apollo And Mercury Claud Lorrain
- The Swing by Jean-Honoré Fragonard
- Blind Man's Bluff by Jean-Honoré Fragonard
- Landscape with the Nymph Egeria and Mourning over Numa by Claude Lorrain
- St. Michael Killing the Dragon by Josse Lieferinxe
- The Damned Cast Into Hell by Luca Signorelli
- Folio 108 depicting Hell from 'Très Riches Heures du duc de Berry' by the Limbourg Brothers
- Last Judgement by Stefan Lochner
- St. Michael and the Dragon by Antonio and Piero del Pollaiuolo
- A reference to the holodeck in various Star Trek series, which was a virtual reality recreational room.
- Reference to the losing streak of the Washington Generals, the team that always lost in the staged exhibition matches against the Harlem Globetrotters.
Sam: I don't need one.
Demon Nurse: Look at you -- all 'roided up. It's like A-Rod and Madonna over here.
- The demon is referencing baseball superstar Alex Rodriguez (whom in the past has admitted to steroid use) and singer/songwriter Madonna. In 2008, Madonna was rumored to be having an affair with him, though she directly denied the allegations.
- A reference to the final battle in Star Wars.
Ruby: What's black and white and red all over?
- Ruby's referring to a popular joke called a newspaper riddle. "What's black and white and red all over?" "A newspaper."
- Reference to the 2000 black comedy film Nurse Betty.
- If something is "fait accompli", it means that it's an irreversible done deal.
- Zachariah is referring to the heavyweight championship boxing match between Muhammad Ali and George Foreman on October 30 1974.
- Zachariah apparently watched The Brady Bunch, where middle daughter Jan often complained about the attention her older sister got by saying: "Marcia, Marcia, Marcia."
When Zachariah tells Dean in the Green Room his destiny is to kill Lucifer he stands in front of a painting of the Archangel Michael killing Lucifer. The painting is Saint Michel terrassant le Dragon by 15th-century Flemish painter Josse Lieferinxe.
In 2.13 Houses of the Holy, Sam notices a similar painting of Michael killing Lucifer in the Church they visit (this version by the renaissance painter Raphael). Father Reynolds tells him:
- Father Reynolds: That's right. The archangel Michael, with the flaming sword. The fighter of demons, holy force against evil.
- Sam: So they're not really the Hallmark card version that everybody thinks? They're fierce, right? Vigilant?
- Father Reynolds: Well, I like to think of them as more loving than wrathful; but yes, a lot of Scripture paints angels as God's warriors. "An angel of the Lord appeared to them, the glory of the Lord shone down upon them, and they were terrified." Luke. Two nine.
- Zachariah is referring to Russell Crowe's character Maximus Decimus Meridius in the 2000 film Gladiator, who wins in a gladiator's duel against the corrupt Emperor Commodus. Parallels include: Dean being favoured by God (Lucifer's "Father"), like Maximus was favoured by Marcus Aurelius, Commodus' father; Lucifer and Commodus' betrayals of their fathers, and Dean and Maximus seeking revenge for the death of their families. Zachariah alludes that Dean will eventually win against Lucifer like Maximus won against Commodus.
- In Muslim belief, a martyr is promised 72 virgins after his death if he dies as a warrior.
- "Stepford" references The Stepford Wives, the 1972 satirical novel about a community filled with submissive housewives that may be robots created by their husbands.
- Possibly an allusion to the 1967 movie Guess Who's Coming to Dinner.
- In the 1941 animated Disney movie Dumbo, the eponymous elephant discovers he can fly with the help of his friend Timothy, the mouse, who helps him get the confidence by giving him a "magic feather." When he drops the feather, Timothy reveals the ruse, and Dumbo discovers it was his own ability all along. At Comic Con 2010, Kripke explained that the phrase referred to the series of decisions Sam had made, that resulted in Lucifer being freed.
Minutiae
Carver Edlund
P.O. Box 613
Kripke's Hollow, OH 43301
Sides, Scripts & Transcripts
- 4.22 Lucifer Rising (transcript)
- Lucifer Rising script (Production Draft, Kripke's director script)
Promotion
Episode Meta
- 4.22 Lucifer Rising: If There’s Anything Worth Dying For, This Is It by bardicvoice (May 2009); archive link, spn-heavymeta
- Bond, Silvia. 2009. The Last Temptation of Whatshisname: "Lucifer Rising" Season 4, Episode 22. Pink Raygun, May 19; archive link
- Chan, Suzette. 2009. Supernatural Talk: Tarts talk about Lucifer Rising. Sequential Tart, June 22; archive link
- Hero of Love - Supernatural - 4.22 "Lucifer Rising" by horusguard76 (May 2009); archive link, spnematography