Long ahead of Titus Welliver thrilled viewers as Detective Harry Bosch on Bosch, he was a character actor who played components in a plethora of films and tv shows. From Lost and Deadwood to Sons of Anarchy and The X-Files, Welliver produced his mark on the tv business, normally playing villainous roles. But do you try to remember the time Welliver was on Supernatural? Yes, the paranormal horror series that starred Jared Padalecki and Jensen Ackles as Sam and Dean Winchester as soon as pitted the pair of monster hunters against a nicely-cast Welliver, who showed up in the fifth season episode “Good God, Y’All.” There’s much more to this episode than meets the eye, and the complete issue hinges collectively on Welliver’s flawless overall performance as the biblical Horseman of War.

Supernatural

Two brothers adhere to their father’s footsteps as hunters, fighting evil supernatural beings of several sorts, which includes monsters, demons, and gods that roam the earth.

Release Date

September 13, 2005

Creator

Eric Kripke

Seasons

15

Studio

The CW

“Good God, Y’All” Brought Titus Welliver on Board as the First Horseman: War

The second episode of Season 5 kicks off with Sam and Dean getting sent to River Pass, Colorado soon after Bobby (Jim Beaver) receives a distress get in touch with from his old hunting buddy, Rufus Turner (Steven Williams). Turns out, the complete town is infested by demons, and Rufus has been top a resistance group against the black-eyed evil spirits. When the brothers arrive, they are greeted by Ellen Harvelle (Samantha Ferris), whom they have not observed because the show’s second season finale. Ellen sends the boys back out to get guns, ammo, and salt to repel demons, only for Sam to get into an altercation with a band of them. Returning to the church exactly where the survivors are hunting out, the Winchesters teach the townsfolk, which includes a man named Rodger (Welliver), how to defend themselves.

As Sam and Ellen go out in search of other folks, they are ambushed by Rufus and Ellen’s daughter, Jo (Alona Tal). Ellen escapes, but Sam is captured, providing Roger — who has somehow discovered his way into the other camp — the likelihood to reveal himself to Sam as War, as in the 1st of the Four Horsemen. Of course, alternatively of riding in on a literal red horse, he drives a red Mustang. It turns out there are no demons in River Pass at all. Rather, the Horseman of War is manipulating the townsfolk into killing every other. Through War’s energy, everybody is hallucinating the demonic plague, resulting in mass amounts of bloodshed. As Sam learns this, Dean and Ellen come up with the answer themselves, relating it to Revelation 8:10 and the look of the star Wormwood, which poisoned the town’s water provide. But soon after War/Rodger tends to make the survivors assume Dean and Ellen are demons, they are forced to flee.

Dean and Ellen meet up with Rufus and Jo, and soon after a swift tussle with a single a different, they all recognize that they’ve been deceived. Teaming up, the hunters take back handle of River Pass as they dodge the angry townsfolk attempting to kill them. Sam and Dean confront War, cutting off the Horseman’s ring—the supply of his power—and he vanishes into thin air. Once War is defeated for very good, the town returns to regular. Everyone mourns more than their actions, and the hunters leave River Pass for very good. Afterward, Sam and Dean go their separate strategies soon after the fallout from Season 4 and the earlier episode (even though we know that will not final terribly lengthy).

Titus Welliver Is One of the Few ‘Supernatural’ Villains Still out There

Though he does not have a considerable quantity of screen time in “Good God, Y’All,” Titus Welliver’s overall performance right here operates completely for this story. As War, he pretends to be a human, Rodger, who is just as scared as everybody else. At 1st, we do not suspect Rodger to be something much more than he initially claims. The way Welliver plays him, he’s merely a grieving widower who watched his wife’s eyes turn black ahead of she attacked him with a brick. The truth is that War was playing the Winchesters as excellently as the actor plays his element in the episode. It’s his in-universe acting techniques (inciting each sides of the conflict) that turned the town into a warzone, and the Bosch star appears as cool as ever as he grins at the madness that ensues.

When Welliver reveals himself as War, the fearful, glasses-wearing citizen shifts immediately into a confident supervillain with a penchant for disaster. Credit is due to Sera Gamble, who penned this episode, as nicely as Welliver for pulling this off so smoothly, and it is right here that the cleverly titled “Good God, Y’All” (you know, soon after the Edwin Starr song) requires a sharp turn. War is maybe a single of the most hazardous villains in all of Supernatural due to the fact, with the use of his ring, he has the prospective to trigger much more conflict and chaos than any one at this point in the series, save perhaps the Devil himself. The way he carries himself (as if he’s nicely above Sam and the rest of humanity) embodies the notion of war so completely and additional emphasizes how powerless humanity actually is against such reckless hate.

“You can’t kill war, kiddos,” the Horseman teases just ahead of Sam and Dean take away his jewelry. As if he had under no circumstances been there in the 1st location, Was vanishes, a trick his brother Pestilence (Matt Frewer) would pull later on in “Two Minutes to Midnight.” As a single of the most highly effective entities in the Supernatural universe, it appears like a error for the Winchesters to let him go with no consequence. As it stands, the Horseman of War is a single of the couple of big antagonists (in spite of appearing only in a single episode) who is not killed outright by either Sam, Dean, or Castiel (Misha Collins). However, in “The Devil You Know,” the demon Brady (Eric Johnson) reveals that each War and Famine (James Otis), who had likewise been defeated, are nothing at all to be concerned about soon after the loss of their rings.

This ‘Supernatural’ Episode Thrives on Chaos — and Sets up Season 5’s Climactic End

What tends to make an episode like “Good God, Y’All” so meaningful is the active chaos that ensues due to the fact of it. The town of River Pass feels like a post-apocalyptic wasteland, and the season-lengthy theme of the biblical Apocalypse is felt right here for the 1st time. Future episodes such as “The End” and “Abandon All Hope” would echo this notion, but it begins right here. After all, series creator Eric Kripke intended for Season 5 to be the climactic finale for Supernatural, with the season-ender “Swan Song” wrapping up the completed 5-season story arc he’d planned. Of course, Supernatural continued for ten much more seasons, with every a single receiving progressively much more convoluted. Sure, there are some gems there, but Season 5 would’ve been a higher note to finish on. It’s no wonder Kripke plans to finish The Boys with its fifth season.

“Good God, Y’All” is a thrilling apocalyptic adventure that requires the brothers Winchester to some of their darkest points however. The addition of Titus Welliver as the Horseman of War is only a bonus, as he “sits back and watches the show.” It’s funny that an individual who would develop into such a higher-profile actor due to Bosch and the sequel series Bosch: Legacy would discover his way to Supernatural for this a single-off, but when watching him execute, it feels correct. Minus Julian Richings, who played the Horseman of Death, Welliver is maybe the most notable of the Four Horsemen. He’s sharp, swift on his feet, and eager for bloodshed in a way that his “brothers” have been not, and it is only due to the fact of the Winchesters that his program is foiled at all. Deceiving hunters is no uncomplicated game, but possessing deceived a handful of the greatest tends to make War a single of the greatest baddies in Supernatural‘s earliest years. It’s just as well negative Titus Welliver could not have returned as the villain for much more.

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