<P> 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 BuddyTV . "(You) have to realize that without (Azazel) 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". The results of the poll revealed that Azazel had won with 75% of the votes, with the second - highest percentage of votes for another character (Alastair) being only 9% . </P> <P> 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's 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 . </P> <P> 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...the scare factor went up", she wrote . 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". Diana Steenbergen of IGN deemed Lehne's performance "charismatic and quietly sadistic without being overdone". Despite this praise, she was happy to see the character die because "it frees the show from bogging down by having the Winchesters chasing after the same villain endlessly" and "opens up the opportunity to explore new plots". </P> <P> Pileggi's casting in "In the Beginning" was "a cool move" for Charles, who found his performance "scary". Similarly, Steenbergen called Pileggi "a force to be reckoned" who "has a chance to be both funny and disturbing". According to publicists of Warner Bros., the fans "were very happy with what (they) did" in the episode . </P>

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