The finale road through familiar faces continues on Monday night’s episode…
There’s enough to unpack so let’s get started.
First there’s Alternate Sam and Dean who initially show up seemingly as a one-off joke, then a little later as a callback joke, and finally a “this how your life could have turned out” joke. That last is less funny since the visual punchline was already delivered. Instead, we get to see what Sam and Dean’s life might have been like if John didn’t die.
The better twist is that while our brothers Winchester might lament not having their father, the alternate brothers (Dean especially) envy the freedom such a loss provides. The reason they dress so well and look so polished and not tired, is because John had the bright idea to get paid to hunt monsters, the downside being he eventually went public with the company (as a rule I’ve learned in life going public is NEVER a good thing). This partly evokes memories of the corporate structures that both Hell and Heaven have followed in the past in this series (again the running theme being corporations suck).
As for why an Alternate Sam and Dean show up, that’s fairly simple: Chuck is going around destroying worlds and escaping to another one was their bid to survive (they also mention John traveled with them, but he isn’t here now, could this be how we get to see Jeffrey Dean Morgan in the finale???). In the end they are eager to stick around, but of course Dean’s not having it. I will say bits like these are one of the big reasons I’ve loved this show all this time, they really do know how to have fun not only with their characters, but at their expense.
Meanwhile, it’s a trip down cameo lane for us, courtesy of Death Billie. She tasks the boys with finding a McGuffin called the Occultum. After an offscreen convo with Sergei (the shady shaman) Cass, Sam, and Dean pay Sister Jo (played by Danneel Ackles – wife of…you guessed it, Jensen!) a visit. She turns out to have been frenemies with Ruby, who, according to Jo, stashed the item in Hell for safe keeping. Seeing as how we’re past the point where traveling to Hell might have been a hang-up, Sam and Dean drop down in search of the prize only to realize they’ve been had.
Cass, who doesn’t trust Jo for shit, conjures up his own plan with Jack’s help. He travels to the Empty which gives us our next two forgotten faces. While calling for Ruby who should appear but Meg (in her more familiar Rachel Miner version, no offense Nicki Aycox)! I was thrilled to see Yellow Eyes’ demonic “daughter” on the screen once more – even if it was just the celestial entity that runs the Empty and hates Castiel using her visage.
Following some casual threats, “Meg” allows Castiel his audience with Ruby. Fun fact – Jo is played by Jensen’s wife, while Ruby is played by Jared’s (Genevieve Padalecki). Talk about your first wives’ club, er…only wives’ club in this case, but you get the joke. Cass’ plan pans out much better with Ruby divulging to him the real location of the Occultum (so long as he promises to get her out of the Empty, which apparently isn’t as empty as the name would suggest – sounds a lot like Hell to me).
With everybody united and the Alternates playing their part as “Sam” and “Dean” in case God’s looking in, our quartet go to the hiding spot of our episode’s purpose. They must have the right place because Hell Hounds are guarding it. As Sam – all by himself for no real reason, I mean…yeah, Cass and Dean are looking around for the thing, but what the fuck is Jack doing? As you can probably tell, I’m not a fan of that boy…Anyway – bars the door against the bloodthirsty hounds, Dean, Cass, and Jack do their best Indian Jones impression to uncover the hidden. They ultimately succeed with Jack eating the fruits of their labor (a perfect term for it since it transports him to the Garden of Eden).
And as the hellhounds break on through to the other side, Sam, Dean, and Cass are ready to make their last stand when a bright light appears and vanquishes the beasts. It’s Jack, back from Eden, and surprise! He has his soul back. Umm…the fuck?
All in all I enjoyed this episode. While I’m not all about Jack, I do find the twist return of his soul to be an interesting one. I’m hoping this means a bit more on the mythology surrounding the concept of the Garden. Of all the religious incidents and places Supernatural has made mention of, Eden hasn’t come up that often (aside from failing to protect it leading to Gadreel’s debasement, and later impersonation of Ezekiel). Given that the snake is the one who appears to trigger Jack’s soul-regrowth, I’m wondering if God has anything to do with souls really…I like it when a show makes me curious.
Unfortunately, due to the current situation, the news is that this episode will be the last for a while. It’s too bad, but fingers crossed the gods of network allow the fans their just desserts and show the remaining 7 episodes.
