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Azazel (Supernatural)
Encyclopedia
Azazel is a fictional character on The CW Television Network
's drama and horror television series Supernatural
. He serves as the primary antagonist during the first two seasons. A demon
, he feeds his blood to infants so that they will grow up to develop demonic abilities. His endgame of using one such child to release Lucifer is not revealed until much later in the series. Azazel is referred to by nicknames such as "The Demon", "The Yellow-Eyed Demon", or "Yellow Eyes" throughout the first two seasons, his true name not being revealed until the third season. Due to the character's demonic nature of taking different hosts, Azazel has been portrayed by numerous actors, but all have maintained his sadistic sense of humor and Jack Nicholson
-like mannerisms. Critics and fans alike have met him with universal praise.
of the series, but plot devices such as flashbacks and time travel detail his background in later seasons. His earliest chronological depiction occurs in the fourth season finale, "Lucifer Rising". Having spent years searching, Azazel (Rob LaBelle
) finally located the doorway to Lucifer's prison in 1972. The fallen angel tasked him with freeing the demon Lilith from Hell—she is needed to break the 66 seals holding Lucifer captive—and to find him a "special child". By the following year, he began making demonic pacts with young individuals; in exchange for a wish, he would be allowed to enter their homes ten years later. Azazel (Christopher B. MacCabe) eventually comes across Mary Campbell, the future mother of series protagonists Sam
and Dean Winchester
. After taking possession of her father (Mitch Pileggi
), he kills her mother and stabs himself to kill his host. Mary's fiance, John Winchester
, is the demon's next victim. However, Azazel makes his usual offer, giving her the chance to resurrect John; she reluctantly agrees.
In 1983, Mary discovers Azazel standing over baby Sam's crib; he had been feeding his blood to the infant. Upon being interrupted, the demon pins her to the ceiling, slashes her stomach and causes her to burst into flames. Mary's death inspires John to dedicate his life to hunting down Azazel, at the same time training Sam and Dean to hunt supernatural creatures. As revealed in the fifth season finale, "Swan Song", Azazel sent demons to possess important people in Sam's life, secretly manipulating him as he grew up. However, Sam eventually leaves the life of hunting to attend college. Azazel orders the assassination of Sam's girlfriend Jess, whose death prompts Sam to return to hunting after leaving the life to attend college.
Because demons cannot be killed by conventional means, the Winchesters track down the Colt—a mystic gun capable of killing anything—in "Dead Man's Blood". In the following episode, "Salvation", they trace the omens caused by the demon's presence to Salvation, Iowa. Like he has done with Sam and countless others, Azazel plans to visit a six-month old and feed it his blood so the child will later develop demonic abilities. Although Sam interrupts the demon's plans and saves the family, Azazel teleports away to avoid being shot. Meanwhile, the demonic Meg Masters and her "brother" Tom kidnap John, and then set their sights on Sam and Dean.
Meg tracks the brothers down in the season finale, but they capture her within the titular devil's trap—mystical symbols capable of rendering a demon powerless—and exorcise her. The real Meg, now dying from previously-sustained injuries, discloses John's location. Sam and Dean rescue him—they are cautious and test him with holy water to make sure he is not possessed—and are forced to kill Tom in the process. After being taken to a secluded location, however, John is revealed to be possessed. An angry Azazel chastises them for killing Meg and Tom—he deems them his "children"—and begins to torture the brothers. John temporarily retakes control, giving Sam the opportunity to grab the Colt. Unable to kill his father, Sam shoots John in the leg, and the demon flees from his host. As the Winchesters make their escape, a demonically-possessed truck driver crashes into their car. Dean is left dying in a coma, forcing John to sell his soul and the Colt to save him. Azazel (Fredric Lehne
) takes possession of a Reaper (Lindsey McKeon
) and saves Dean from death.
Azazel's last appearance chronologically is in the second season finale "All Hell Breaks Loose
", where he kidnaps Sam and the other young adults that he had infected. He visits Sam in a dream, and reveals that his "special children" must fight to the death to determine who will lead his army. Although Sam is the demon's favorite, the super-strong Jake Talley becomes the winner. As Dean sells his soul to another demon in exchange for Sam's resurrection, Azazel gives Jake the Colt and coerces him to travel to a cemetery in the middle of a giant devil's trap. Though Sam and Dean, along with other hunters, attempt to stop him, Jake uses the Colt as a key to unlock a mausoleum there; this action briefly opens a gateway to Hell, releasing Lilith and hundreds of other demons. However, John's soul also escapes, and distracts Azazel long enough for Dean to shoot him dead with the Colt.
Azazel returns in the sixth season premiere, "Exile on Main Street", as an illusion in Dean's mind caused by a poison of the creature he was hunting. Dean sees Azazel killing Lisa like he did his mother and poisoning Ben with demon blood, like he did to his brother.
Though the writers modeled Azazel's personality after Al Pacino
's demonic sense of humor in the film The Devil's Advocate
, they gave actor Jeffrey Dean Morgan
free rein over the character's mannerisms for "Devil's Trap
". Only directed to "be different from John", Morgan changed his voice and mimicked Jack Nicholson
's "freaky" speech pattern from The Shining
. This "Nicholson-esque quality" continues with actor Fredric Lehne
. Though uncertain of why he was specifically sought out—Lehne chalks it up to his previous working experience with executive producers Kim Manners
and Robert Singer—the role was offered to him without an audition. The actor avoided copying Morgan's portrayal, but noted that the writing "lends itself to doing it in a certain way". Since Azazel changes human hosts periodically, Lehne's initial appearance in the second season premiere, "In My Time of Dying", was intended to be a one-time deal. Thoroughly impressed, however, the show runners kept him for the season finale. A minor scheduling conflict forced him to film his scenes with Morgan in "All Hell Breaks Loose, Part Two
" a month apart using green screen. Despite the character's death, Lehne returned to the role in the sixth season premiere as a hallucination.
A dream sequence in "All Hell Breaks Loose" hints at Mary Winchester's connection to Azazel. Although the writers intended to address this in the third season, it was pushed back to the fourth season episode "In the Beginning" due to the 2007–2008 Writers Guild of America strike
. Mitch Pileggi
was asked by Kripke to enact this revelation—the two had previously worked together on the series Tarzan—and the actor accepted because Kim Manners
and much of the Supernatural crew had also worked on The X-Files
. While Pileggi emulated Lehne's performance, he also tried to "put his own spin on it".
Morgan, Lehne, and actress Lindsey McKeon
wore hard, colored contact lenses during their portrayals of Azazel. The lenses eventually became painful, and would greatly obscure their vision. The production crew placed sandbags on the floor to help Morgan and Lehne locate their marks, and a grip
held Lehne's hand as he walked around a campfire in "All Hell Breaks Loose". McKeon's brief scene in "In My Time of Dying"—she touches actor Jensen Ackles' forehead—took nine takes to film because she kept missing. Although Pileggi was fitted for the lenses, production ultimately added the effect digitally at "appropriate moments".
. "[You] have to realize that without YED there would be no reason for the boys to hunt in the first place," viewers wrote, also calling him the "oldest arch nemesis" and a "classic supernatural badass".
Both Karla Peterson of the San Diego Union-Tribune and Maureen Ryan of the Chicago Tribune
felt that Morgan gave "his best and most believable performance of the season" in "Devil's Trap
", with the latter adding, "He was really on fire in that scene, and it brought a whole new intensity to his performance." Diana Steenbergen of IGN
found him "menacing, with his low voice and the cruel words ... trying to tear them apart emotionally before tearing Dean apart literally", and enjoyed the sadistic and "vicious humor" that makes the character "more sinister". However, she believed that Azazel having a family was an unnecessary parallel with the Winchesters that "doesn't quite make sense". After viewing the episode, Brian Tallerico of UGO gave his opinion that the series should follow Buffy the Vampire Slayer format of having a different recurring villain each season. "If the firestarting demon is the Big Bad for the first two seasons, that's fine," he commented, "but don't drag it out longer than that. Fans will get bored. And there's nothing scarier than that.
Tina Charles of TV Guide
was happy to see the "appropriately creepy" Lehne return to the role in "All Hell Breaks Loose
". "The second he popped in at ghost town central," she wrote, "the scare factor went up." Likewise, Tom Burns of UGO deemed all of Lehne's scenes "damn near riveting", while Brett Love of TV Squad described him as "a perfect evil menace". Pileggi's casting in "In the Beginning" was "a cool move" for Charles, who found his performance "scary". According to publicists of Warner Bros., the fans "were very happy with what [they] did" in the episode.
The CW Television Network
The CW Television Network is a television network in the United States launched at the beginning of the 2006–2007 television season. It is a joint venture between CBS Corporation, the former owners of United Paramount Network , and Time Warner's Warner Bros., former majority owner of The WB...
's drama and horror television series Supernatural
Supernatural (TV series)
Supernatural is an American supernatural and horror television series created by Eric Kripke, which debuted on September 13, 2005 on The WB, and is now part of The CW's lineup. Starring Jared Padalecki as Sam Winchester and Jensen Ackles as Dean Winchester, the series follows the brothers as they...
. He serves as the primary antagonist during the first two seasons. A demon
Demon
call - 1347 531 7769 for more infoIn Ancient Near Eastern religions as well as in the Abrahamic traditions, including ancient and medieval Christian demonology, a demon is considered an "unclean spirit" which may cause demonic possession, to be addressed with an act of exorcism...
, he feeds his blood to infants so that they will grow up to develop demonic abilities. His endgame of using one such child to release Lucifer is not revealed until much later in the series. Azazel is referred to by nicknames such as "The Demon", "The Yellow-Eyed Demon", or "Yellow Eyes" throughout the first two seasons, his true name not being revealed until the third season. Due to the character's demonic nature of taking different hosts, Azazel has been portrayed by numerous actors, but all have maintained his sadistic sense of humor and Jack Nicholson
Jack Nicholson
John Joseph "Jack" Nicholson is an American actor, film director, producer and writer. He is renowned for his often dark portrayals of neurotic characters. Nicholson has been nominated for an Academy Award twelve times, and has won the Academy Award for Best Actor twice: for One Flew Over the...
-like mannerisms. Critics and fans alike have met him with universal praise.
Biography
The tyrannical leader of the demon world, Azazel first appears in the pilot episodePilot (Supernatural)
"Pilot" is the first episode of the television series Supernatural. It premiered on The WB on September 13, 2005 and was written by series creator Eric Kripke, and directed by David Nutter...
of the series, but plot devices such as flashbacks and time travel detail his background in later seasons. His earliest chronological depiction occurs in the fourth season finale, "Lucifer Rising". Having spent years searching, Azazel (Rob LaBelle
Rob LaBelle
Rob LaBelle is an American film and television actor.-Early life and education:He was born in Minneapolis, Minnesota.-Career:LaBelle has made appearances, many as a character actor, in dozens of film and television roles, most in the science-fiction genre, and is probably best known for his role as...
) finally located the doorway to Lucifer's prison in 1972. The fallen angel tasked him with freeing the demon Lilith from Hell—she is needed to break the 66 seals holding Lucifer captive—and to find him a "special child". By the following year, he began making demonic pacts with young individuals; in exchange for a wish, he would be allowed to enter their homes ten years later. Azazel (Christopher B. MacCabe) eventually comes across Mary Campbell, the future mother of series protagonists Sam
Sam Winchester
Samuel "Sam" Winchester is a fictional character and one of the two main protagonists of The CW Television Network's Supernatural along with his older brother Dean. He is portrayed by Jared Padalecki.-Background:...
and Dean Winchester
Dean Winchester
Dean Winchester is a fictional character from The CW Television Network's Supernatural, portrayed by Jensen Ackles. He hunts demons, spirits and other supernatural creatures with his younger brother Sam.-Background:...
. After taking possession of her father (Mitch Pileggi
Mitch Pileggi
Mitchell Craig "Mitch" Pileggi is an American actor. Pileggi is known for playing FBI assistant director Walter Skinner on the long-running popular series The X-Files. He also had a recurring role on Stargate Atlantis as Col. Steven Caldwell...
), he kills her mother and stabs himself to kill his host. Mary's fiance, John Winchester
John Winchester (Supernatural)
John Eric Winchester is a fictional character on The CW Television Network's drama/horror television series Supernatural, and the protagonist of the comic book spin-off series Supernatural: Origins. Developed by series creator Eric Kripke, the character is mainly portrayed by Jeffrey Dean Morgan...
, is the demon's next victim. However, Azazel makes his usual offer, giving her the chance to resurrect John; she reluctantly agrees.
In 1983, Mary discovers Azazel standing over baby Sam's crib; he had been feeding his blood to the infant. Upon being interrupted, the demon pins her to the ceiling, slashes her stomach and causes her to burst into flames. Mary's death inspires John to dedicate his life to hunting down Azazel, at the same time training Sam and Dean to hunt supernatural creatures. As revealed in the fifth season finale, "Swan Song", Azazel sent demons to possess important people in Sam's life, secretly manipulating him as he grew up. However, Sam eventually leaves the life of hunting to attend college. Azazel orders the assassination of Sam's girlfriend Jess, whose death prompts Sam to return to hunting after leaving the life to attend college.
Because demons cannot be killed by conventional means, the Winchesters track down the Colt—a mystic gun capable of killing anything—in "Dead Man's Blood". In the following episode, "Salvation", they trace the omens caused by the demon's presence to Salvation, Iowa. Like he has done with Sam and countless others, Azazel plans to visit a six-month old and feed it his blood so the child will later develop demonic abilities. Although Sam interrupts the demon's plans and saves the family, Azazel teleports away to avoid being shot. Meanwhile, the demonic Meg Masters and her "brother" Tom kidnap John, and then set their sights on Sam and Dean.
Meg tracks the brothers down in the season finale, but they capture her within the titular devil's trap—mystical symbols capable of rendering a demon powerless—and exorcise her. The real Meg, now dying from previously-sustained injuries, discloses John's location. Sam and Dean rescue him—they are cautious and test him with holy water to make sure he is not possessed—and are forced to kill Tom in the process. After being taken to a secluded location, however, John is revealed to be possessed. An angry Azazel chastises them for killing Meg and Tom—he deems them his "children"—and begins to torture the brothers. John temporarily retakes control, giving Sam the opportunity to grab the Colt. Unable to kill his father, Sam shoots John in the leg, and the demon flees from his host. As the Winchesters make their escape, a demonically-possessed truck driver crashes into their car. Dean is left dying in a coma, forcing John to sell his soul and the Colt to save him. Azazel (Fredric Lehne
Fredric Lehne
Fredric Lehne is an actor who has appeared in over 200 films, mini-series, and television shows as well as many stage productions including works by Shakespeare, Molière and Ibsen on Broadway...
) takes possession of a Reaper (Lindsey McKeon
Lindsey McKeon
Lindsey Johnson McKeon is a two-time Daytime Emmy-nominated American actress, and distant relative of Australian celebrity, Harry McKeon. She is best known for her roles as Marah Lewis on Guiding Light and Taylor James on One Tree Hill...
) and saves Dean from death.
Azazel's last appearance chronologically is in the second season finale "All Hell Breaks Loose
All Hell Breaks Loose (Supernatural)
"All Hell Breaks Loose" is the joint title for the two-part second season finale of the CW television series Supernatural. It consists of the twenty-first and twenty-second episodes of the second season. "Part One" was first broadcast on May 10, 2007, and the second part aired the following week...
", where he kidnaps Sam and the other young adults that he had infected. He visits Sam in a dream, and reveals that his "special children" must fight to the death to determine who will lead his army. Although Sam is the demon's favorite, the super-strong Jake Talley becomes the winner. As Dean sells his soul to another demon in exchange for Sam's resurrection, Azazel gives Jake the Colt and coerces him to travel to a cemetery in the middle of a giant devil's trap. Though Sam and Dean, along with other hunters, attempt to stop him, Jake uses the Colt as a key to unlock a mausoleum there; this action briefly opens a gateway to Hell, releasing Lilith and hundreds of other demons. However, John's soul also escapes, and distracts Azazel long enough for Dean to shoot him dead with the Colt.
Azazel returns in the sixth season premiere, "Exile on Main Street", as an illusion in Dean's mind caused by a poison of the creature he was hunting. Dean sees Azazel killing Lisa like he did his mother and poisoning Ben with demon blood, like he did to his brother.
Characterization
Deeming Azazel to be "an angry soul", actor Fredric Lehne believes that him being "denied Heaven and everything else that's good in the universe" has "[translated] into anger and vengeance". A demon with a sense of humor, he takes pleasure in seeing people suffer. "The more pain—mostly psychological pain—he causes, the happier he is," Lehne explained. "He gets off on the power of turning people to his will." This quality suggests to the actor why the demon favored Sam as the potential leader of his army. Being the "most ripe for picking" because he had the "sweetest" heart, Sam was "most desirable for corrupting" of all the children. "If I could turn him," Lehne noted, "then I had truly won."Development
Al Pacino
Alfredo James "Al" Pacino is an American film and stage actor and director. He is famous for playing mobsters, including Michael Corleone in The Godfather trilogy, Tony Montana in Scarface, Alphonse "Big Boy" Caprice in Dick Tracy and Carlito Brigante in Carlito's Way, though he has also appeared...
's demonic sense of humor in the film The Devil's Advocate
The Devil's Advocate (film)
The Devil's Advocate is a 1997 American horror film directed by Taylor Hackford starring Keanu Reeves, Al Pacino and Charlize Theron, and based on a novel by Andrew Neiderman....
, they gave actor Jeffrey Dean Morgan
Jeffrey Dean Morgan
Jeffrey Dean Morgan is an American actor, best known to television and movie audiences as Denny Duquette on Grey's Anatomy, patriarch John Winchester on Supernatural, and as The Comedian in the 2009 superhero film Watchmen....
free rein over the character's mannerisms for "Devil's Trap
Devil's Trap
"Devil's Trap" is the twenty-second episode of the paranormal drama television series Supernaturals first season. It is the season finale, and was first broadcast on The WB on May 4, 2006...
". Only directed to "be different from John", Morgan changed his voice and mimicked Jack Nicholson
Jack Nicholson
John Joseph "Jack" Nicholson is an American actor, film director, producer and writer. He is renowned for his often dark portrayals of neurotic characters. Nicholson has been nominated for an Academy Award twelve times, and has won the Academy Award for Best Actor twice: for One Flew Over the...
's "freaky" speech pattern from The Shining
The Shining (film)
The Shining is a 1980 psychological horror film produced and directed by Stanley Kubrick, co-written with novelist Diane Johnson, and starring Jack Nicholson, Shelley Duvall, and Danny Lloyd. The film is based on the novel of the same name by Stephen King. A writer, Jack Torrance, takes a job as an...
. This "Nicholson-esque quality" continues with actor Fredric Lehne
Fredric Lehne
Fredric Lehne is an actor who has appeared in over 200 films, mini-series, and television shows as well as many stage productions including works by Shakespeare, Molière and Ibsen on Broadway...
. Though uncertain of why he was specifically sought out—Lehne chalks it up to his previous working experience with executive producers Kim Manners
Kim Manners
Kim Manners was an American television producer, director and child actor best known for his work on The X-Files and Supernatural.-Early life:...
and Robert Singer—the role was offered to him without an audition. The actor avoided copying Morgan's portrayal, but noted that the writing "lends itself to doing it in a certain way". Since Azazel changes human hosts periodically, Lehne's initial appearance in the second season premiere, "In My Time of Dying", was intended to be a one-time deal. Thoroughly impressed, however, the show runners kept him for the season finale. A minor scheduling conflict forced him to film his scenes with Morgan in "All Hell Breaks Loose, Part Two
All Hell Breaks Loose (Supernatural)
"All Hell Breaks Loose" is the joint title for the two-part second season finale of the CW television series Supernatural. It consists of the twenty-first and twenty-second episodes of the second season. "Part One" was first broadcast on May 10, 2007, and the second part aired the following week...
" a month apart using green screen. Despite the character's death, Lehne returned to the role in the sixth season premiere as a hallucination.
A dream sequence in "All Hell Breaks Loose" hints at Mary Winchester's connection to Azazel. Although the writers intended to address this in the third season, it was pushed back to the fourth season episode "In the Beginning" due to the 2007–2008 Writers Guild of America strike
2007–2008 Writers Guild of America strike
The 2007–2008 Writers Guild of America strike, more commonly referred to as simply the Writers' Strike, was a strike by the Writers Guild of America, East and the Writers Guild of America, West ....
. Mitch Pileggi
Mitch Pileggi
Mitchell Craig "Mitch" Pileggi is an American actor. Pileggi is known for playing FBI assistant director Walter Skinner on the long-running popular series The X-Files. He also had a recurring role on Stargate Atlantis as Col. Steven Caldwell...
was asked by Kripke to enact this revelation—the two had previously worked together on the series Tarzan—and the actor accepted because Kim Manners
Kim Manners
Kim Manners was an American television producer, director and child actor best known for his work on The X-Files and Supernatural.-Early life:...
and much of the Supernatural crew had also worked on The X-Files
The X-Files
The X-Files is an American science fiction television series and a part of The X-Files franchise, created by screenwriter Chris Carter. The program originally aired from to . The show was a hit for the Fox network, and its characters and slogans became popular culture touchstones in the 1990s...
. While Pileggi emulated Lehne's performance, he also tried to "put his own spin on it".
Morgan, Lehne, and actress Lindsey McKeon
Lindsey McKeon
Lindsey Johnson McKeon is a two-time Daytime Emmy-nominated American actress, and distant relative of Australian celebrity, Harry McKeon. She is best known for her roles as Marah Lewis on Guiding Light and Taylor James on One Tree Hill...
wore hard, colored contact lenses during their portrayals of Azazel. The lenses eventually became painful, and would greatly obscure their vision. The production crew placed sandbags on the floor to help Morgan and Lehne locate their marks, and a grip
Grip (job)
In the U.S. and Canada, grips are lighting and rigging technicians in the filmmaking and video production industries. They constitute their own department on a film set and are directed by a key grip. Grips have two main functions...
held Lehne's hand as he walked around a campfire in "All Hell Breaks Loose". McKeon's brief scene in "In My Time of Dying"—she touches actor Jensen Ackles' forehead—took nine takes to film because she kept missing. Although Pileggi was fitted for the lenses, production ultimately added the effect digitally at "appropriate moments".
Reception
Azazel has been met with universal praise from critics and fans alike, with the latter voting him as the best villain of the series in a poll conducted by BuddyTVBuddyTV
BuddyTV is an entertainment-based website based in Seattle, Washington, which generates content about television programs and sporting events. The website publishes information about celebrity and related entertainment news through a series of articles, entertainment profiles, actor biographies and...
. "[You] have to realize that without YED there would be no reason for the boys to hunt in the first place," viewers wrote, also calling him the "oldest arch nemesis" and a "classic supernatural badass".
Both Karla Peterson of the San Diego Union-Tribune and Maureen Ryan of the Chicago Tribune
Chicago Tribune
The Chicago Tribune is a major daily newspaper based in Chicago, Illinois, and the flagship publication of the Tribune Company. Formerly self-styled as the "World's Greatest Newspaper" , it remains the most read daily newspaper of the Chicago metropolitan area and the Great Lakes region and is...
felt that Morgan gave "his best and most believable performance of the season" in "Devil's Trap
Devil's Trap
"Devil's Trap" is the twenty-second episode of the paranormal drama television series Supernaturals first season. It is the season finale, and was first broadcast on The WB on May 4, 2006...
", with the latter adding, "He was really on fire in that scene, and it brought a whole new intensity to his performance." Diana Steenbergen of IGN
IGN
IGN is an entertainment website that focuses on video games, films, music and other media. IGN's main website comprises several specialty sites or "channels", each occupying a subdomain and covering a specific area of entertainment...
found him "menacing, with his low voice and the cruel words ... trying to tear them apart emotionally before tearing Dean apart literally", and enjoyed the sadistic and "vicious humor" that makes the character "more sinister". However, she believed that Azazel having a family was an unnecessary parallel with the Winchesters that "doesn't quite make sense". After viewing the episode, Brian Tallerico of UGO gave his opinion that the series should follow Buffy the Vampire Slayer format of having a different recurring villain each season. "If the firestarting demon is the Big Bad for the first two seasons, that's fine," he commented, "but don't drag it out longer than that. Fans will get bored. And there's nothing scarier than that.
Tina Charles of TV Guide
TV Guide
TV Guide is a weekly American magazine with listings of TV shows.In addition to TV listings, the publication features television-related news, celebrity interviews, gossip and film reviews and crossword puzzles...
was happy to see the "appropriately creepy" Lehne return to the role in "All Hell Breaks Loose
All Hell Breaks Loose (Supernatural)
"All Hell Breaks Loose" is the joint title for the two-part second season finale of the CW television series Supernatural. It consists of the twenty-first and twenty-second episodes of the second season. "Part One" was first broadcast on May 10, 2007, and the second part aired the following week...
". "The second he popped in at ghost town central," she wrote, "the scare factor went up." Likewise, Tom Burns of UGO deemed all of Lehne's scenes "damn near riveting", while Brett Love of TV Squad described him as "a perfect evil menace". Pileggi's casting in "In the Beginning" was "a cool move" for Charles, who found his performance "scary". According to publicists of Warner Bros., the fans "were very happy with what [they] did" in the episode.