The last seven episodes of Supernatural start airing this Thursday on The CW. I’ve still got two more episodes to recap here, but before I dig into “Galaxy Brain” and “Destiny’s Child,” I want to make sure everyone’s up to speed on the latest news.
SPN news and updates
Netflix has the whole series up to season 15, episode 13, “Destiny’s Child” available. But if you don’t have Netflix, this week (today, specifically) TNT will air Season 15 from the beginning. I’ve included the schedule at the bottom of this post.
Jensen Ackles and Jared Padelecki will appear on CBS’ The Talk on Wednesday, October 7.
Read a feature article/interview in American Cinematographer about Serge Ladouceur, CSC, who has shot 320 episodes of Supernatural since 2005. He talks about the show, the cast, and the many challenges of shooting a complex special-effects rich, apocalyptic saga.
Here are the trailers I’ve seen so far for the upcoming episodes:
- Supernatural: The Final Season
- Supernatural: The Final Chapter
- Promo: Au Revoir (I shared this one last Friday, but I’m sharing it again because, OMG, it’s so good—except for Jared Padelecki’s French accent) The Serge Jared mentions here, is Serge Ladouceur, whose interview is mentioned above.
And now, on to our last recaps.
Season 15 act 3 part 2: Chuck returns in “Galaxy Brain”
The time: four weeks ago. The place: a Radio Shed on Some Other Earth. The president: Hillary Clinton. Chuck, a.k.a God (Rob Benedict), walks into the shop. He takes control of the big screen TVs across one wall, and displays images of many other worlds he’s created. He monologs about how, of all the worlds he’s created, of all the Sams and Deans he’s written about, only one world and one pair of brothers really matter to him. It’s time to wipe the slate clean, he decides. And that’s when Chuck goes full Kali on the universe: Chuck starts destroying all the other worlds.
At the bunker, Sam (Jared Padelecki), Dean (Jensen Ackles) and Castiel (Misha Collins) sort out their thoughts and feelings about nephilim Jack’s return from The Empty (where angels and demons sleep after they’re killed). They’re especially concerned about his compact with Billie (a.k.a. as Death, played by Lisa Berry). She’s preparing him for a showdown with Chuck, but the preparation is unsettling. Furthermore, Jack doesn’t have a soul, so his reactions are unpredictable and his judgment is questionable. Dean says he trusts Billie enough to follow her lead, at least until they learn more.
Old debts
Dean gets a phone call from Sheriff Jody Mills (Kim Rhodes). She’s been taken hostage. Sam and Dean take off. When they arrive at the abandoned barn, they find Jody tied up. They discover Dark Kaia (Yadira Guevara-Prip), who’s got a mad on at the Winchesters. We first met Dark Kaia when she traded worlds with Kaia Nieves in the episode “Wayward Sisters” back in Season 13. Dark Kaia comes from an alternate Earth, a world known only as The Bad Place, and she wants to get back. Sam and Dean borrowed the spear she brought with her when they needed help to stop the Archangel Michael. She expected them to return it. But Michael broke the spear; it’s lost.
Kaia took Jody hostage because she wants to go back to the Bad Place. She shares memories with Kaia Nieves and knows that her home is dying. She’s doesn’t fit into this world and even if her world is ending, she’d rather be there. The headline: Kaia N. is still alive, trapped as well.
All those rules
Sam, Dean, Jody, and Dark Kaia return to the bunker. The trouble with getting Dark Kaia back to the Bad Place and getting Kaia N. home is that it would mean using Jack’s powers. Billie has warned Jack that if does that, Chuck would surely notice. They can’t break that rule; he’s not strong enough to face Chuck yet.
While they try to figure out what to do, they chain Dark Kaia up and leave her with a beauty magazine. I couldn’t help but notice that this character, who hates this world, doesn’t understands it, and pushes away the magazine in frustration, is also wearing beautifully-applied mascara and lipstick. But I digress.
As they discuss options, Merle (Sandra Ferens), a reaper, appears. She works for Billie and warns them that their plans to use Jack’s powers to get to the Bad Place are “Winchester dumb.” She threatens to tattle on Jack (Alexander Calvert) if he uses his powers. Jack tells her to go ahead; she’ll pay the price if she lets him get away with it. At that point, she offers to help get them across and back as fast as possible and maybe keep them off of Chuck’s radar as well as Billie’s.
The Bad Place
The trip to the Bad Place is a quick one. Dark Kaia knows exactly where she’s going and they find Kaia N. quickly. The end of Dark Kaia’s world is literally nigh. Dark Kaia is staying and she welcomes the end with open arms. Sam, Dean and Kaia N. head back through the rift as quickly as they can, home before Chuck might notice.
But someone did notice—Billie. She appears in the bunker and kills Merle for aiding the Winchesters and allowing Jack to use his powers. She tells them that they’re playing a bigger game than they understand, and they’re only as strong as their weakest players. Billie tells Sam and Dean that they are the harbingers of God’s destruction and they can’t fool around anymore.
In the meanwhile, Chuck’s continuing to destroy world after world. He’ll soon come for Sam, Dean, Castiel, and Jack.
The doppelgangers
The bunker shakes. Crashes and booms emanate from the armory. Sam and Dean investigate. When they get there, they find a tiny, adorable, teal Fiat 500. A very different Sam and Dean step out of the car: they wear soft shoes, designer clothes, gold watches, and Sam is wearing a silk scarf and a man-bun. These are not the working-class kids we’ve come to know and love. Beyond the car is a sparking golden rift. Before these two very different sets of Winchester brothers get to say anything more than “What the hell?” the rift flashes and these fancy-schmancy Winchesters disappear. This episode, “Destiny’s Child,” gives us a glimpse of the forces our heroes will deal with.
Billie appears in the bunker—people come and go so quickly there!—and tells our Winchesters that the posh brothers they saw were running because Chuck was destroying their reality. He’s almost done destroying worlds. They need to prepare for his return. She has Jack’s next step: finding an object called the Occultum. She doesn’t know what it is, but it’s powerful and they need it.
Sam and Dean discover their other-worldly twins are trapped in an in-between space–between one world and another. They’re visible in the wall of the armory. Cas tells them he thinks they’re safe for the moment.
The wives make an appearance
As many Supernatural fans know, both Jared Padelecki and Jensen Ackles’ wives are actresses and they have appeared on the show in the past, Genevieve Padelecki as the demon Ruby and Danneel Ackles as Sister Jo, a.k.a the angel Anael. In this episode, we get to see them perform together for the first time. We learn that both Jo and Ruby have had experience with the Occultum. While Jo sends Sam and Dean on a goose chase to Hell, Castiel convinces Jack to drain Cas’s essence so that he can nearly die and go to the place where dead angels and demons sleep: The Empty. That’s where he can talk to Ruby. He learns what Sam and Dean couldn’t: the location of the Occultum.
Upon everyone’s return to the bunker, Sam and Dean decide that, having the location of the Occultum, the four of them should go retrieve it. Concerned that Chuck may pop up, they find a way to suck the posh brothers back into the bunker and set them up as decoys. The four of them interacting is one of the great comic situations of the season. The contrast is hilarious: our hardened heroes learning about their soft, spoiled counterparts and their significantly different lives.
and Sam’s man-bun | The CW
Back to the garden
Sam, Dean, Castiel and Jack pull up outside an old church. Hellhounds guard its doors. Our heroes hightail it inside and locate the Occultum which, for all the world, looks like a Golden Snitch from the Harry Potter books. And like the Golden Snitch, it comes with a riddle: To be inside of the Occultum, the Occultum must be inside of you. Jack promptly eats it.
He awakes in a garden—the Garden of Eden. He has a brief conversation with a young girl and an even briefer encounter with a snake perched upon a tree who asks him, “Who are you really? Who are you meant to be?” Jack passes out. He reappears in the church where Sam, Dean and Castiel await him.
The boys get Jack back to the bunker. They send their doubles off to find their own fate, and then turn their attentions to Jack. In the kitchen, they find Jack weeping. Jack tells them he’s sorry. Why didn’t he understand how they felt about their mother’s death? Could they ever forgive him for killing her? His soul is back, Castiel explains. Sam and Dean’s expressions both soften.
Off into the unknown
That concludes my recap of season 15. From here on out, we’re in new territory. Thursday night’s episode is called “Last Holiday,” and the trailers I linked to above include clips from the show. Given that we’ve seen Sam and Dean carving pumpkins and Dean dressed up in the very same violet-colored nightshirt and cap that his cartoon avatar wore in “Scoobynatural,” I suspect we’re in for a helluva ride. I’ll see you all on Friday morning!
Rewatch Season 15 on TNT
Here’s the TNT schedule as posted on their site. All times are Eastern:
Tuesday, October 6
1:00 PM S15|E1: Back And To The Future
2:00 PM S15|E2: Raising Hell
3:00 PM S15|E3: The Rupture
Wednesday, October 7
10:00 AM S15|E4: Atomic Monsters
11:00 AM S15|E5: Proverbs 17:3
12:00 PM S15|E6: Golden Time
1:00 PM S15|E7: Last Call
2:00 PM S15|E8: Our Father, Who Aren’t In Heaven
Thursday, October 8
10:00 AM S15|E9: The Trap
11:00 AM S15|E10: The Heroes’ Journey
12:00 PM S15|E11: The Gamblers
1:00 PM S15|E12: Galaxy Brain 2:00 PM S15|E13: Destiny’s Child
Janna Silverstein is a writer and editor, an all-round professional nerd living in Seattle with two cats, a really big TV, and lots of books. She used to have a life before Supernatural gave her something to think about during the global pandemic.
