Supernatural S13E18 Review: Bring ’em Back Alive

Last night’s episode of Supernatural was completely stuffed with action from start to finish. We also saw the return of a fan favorite, and we saw the departure of a villain.

Wow. I mean, how about last night’s Supernatural?  Can we just stop and appreciate the cinematography in that episode? And the top notch acting? Okay, let’s move on.

Last night we watched as several main plot points were pushed forward. And yet another obstacle appeared for the return of Mary and Jack. Let’s sit back, learn some Enochian, and look at what happened last night. Since there were several separate plots, I’ll review each plot separately, and then combine them as they joined up.

“Impossible and stupid.”

Let’s start with Ketch and Dean in the Apocalypse World. When the rift spits them out, Dean doesn’t recognize where they are. In fact, he seems to be in a completely different part of the country than where Mary and Jack are, since it’s winter where they land. Dean and Ketch begin their trek to find Mary and Jack when they stumble upon a group of angels executing some resistance humans. The men watch as the angels kill some anonymous humans, but it’s when they remove last person’s hood that Dean and the audience are taken by surprise. It’s Charlie! And kudos to the show and Felicia Day for keeping this return under wraps. I was truly surprised as she was unhooded, having not expected to see her.

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Dean’s new mission after seeing Charlie is to rescue her. He blames himself for her death and is feeling a lot of guilt. Along the way to rescue Charlie, Dean and Ketch encounter an angel out to gather POWs. The angel shoots Dean, and Ketch ends up killing him. The bullet that hits Dean is poisoned, so Ketch cooks up an antidote. This creates a turning point between the two adversaries. Dean and Ketch are able to find the POW camp, light the place up, and rescue Charlie. The three of them go back to the rift just in the knick of time to send Dean back through. Just as he goes through, Dean watches Ketch and Charlie turn to defend themselves against in incoming Angel attack.

“Your family needs you.”

Meanwhile, we catch up with Sam and Cas as Sam is telling a displeased Cas that Dean has gone into the Apocalypse World with Ketch. Sam explains that they also have an important task to do, with Gabriel suffering some intense PTSD after being held captive with Asmodeus. Gabriel is cowering in the corner of his room, in the dark, and he refuses to talk. Not only that, they can’t get him to take his grace, even though that would help him get back to full health.

Later, Cas returns to the room to find the walls covered in Enochian. It is the story of how Gabriel survived. The story is pretty simple: Lucifer killed a double, and then real Gabriel went to Monte Carlo and hung out with porn stars. Very Gabriel of himself.

In one of the most moving scenes of the episode, Sam confronts Gabriel. He gives a very inspirational speech. He explains that it took him a while to find his place in the world, but he found it. And he’s pretty sure that Gabriel’s place is here, helping them. Helping his family. Somehow, Sam is able to get through to Gabriel. When Sam mistakenly calls the porn stars hookers, Gabriel speaks for the first time.

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“Find Bliss.”

Lucifer is not adjusting well to his new role as king of heaven. In fact, no one really feels satisfied with his role. Especially Jo. Since being back in heaven, all Lucifer has done is demand the angels look for Jack. Jo pushes him to play the role of God to the fullest, so he listens to prayers of “whiny” people. And then he crashes an exorcism, where he removes the demon from the body of the woman and smokes some priests. This job isn’t as easy as he thought it would be.

All he wants to do is get Jack, and use him to help recreate the world in his image, and find bliss. Jo is aghast at the selfishness of his goals. The viewers are not. This is typical Lucifer. Lucifer makes things worse when he admits that there is no way he can make good on any of his promises. He can’t make new angels. Jo riles him up to the point where he’s choking her, but he stops short of killing her. She walks away, essentially “breaking up” with him.

“I’ve always hated that dumbass suit.”

And now we come to what was certainly my favorite scene of the episode. Asmodeus has found Gabriel, and he has given Sam and Cas a head start. Sam has added wards to the bunker, but they’re not enough. In an amazingly lit scene, we watch Sam and Cas walk down a hall, the red emergency lights of the hall juxtaposing with the flickering of the sigils on the wall. There’s a brief fight, but it’s over before it begins. They’re no match for Asmodeus. He monologues as his lackies take Gabriel out. He pauses to torture Cas and Sam a bit, and that is the last straw for Gabriel.

Gabriel fights off the lackies, and turns his attention to Asmodeus. Asmodeus scoffs and makes a snarky comment about Gabriel not being strong enough. That’s when Gabriel heals himself and shows off his wings. And I gasps and squealed at the television. Have I mentioned this was my favorite sequence of the episode? And then, Gabriel kills Asmodeus. And Hell has no one in control of it once more.

https://twitter.com/squeevening/status/984594717399769088

“Thanks for the redemption arc.”

Sam and Cas are excited to see Gabriel back to his full glory. They explain to Gabriel everything that is happening with the Apocalypse World and Michael and welcome him to the fight, which he scoffs at. He has no intention of sticking around, no matter how much they beg. He leaves without another word.

When Dean returns through the rift, he notices the mess in the bunker. He gets excited when he learns Gabriel is back to his normal self. However, those hopes are dashed when he learns Gabriel has bounced. When Sam and Cas tell him they gave Gabriel back his grace, and they don’t have any left, Dean is understandably upset. They can’t get the rift to open back up. Ketch, Charlie, and everyone else are still in the other world. They just can’t seem to catch a break.

Performer of the Week

Everyone say it with me: Jensen Ackles. Ackles gave another top-notch performance this week, and it makes me wonder why the Emmys or Golden Globes don’t respect CW shows more because he should have a mantle full of awards by now.

Beginning when he saw Charlie for the first time through until he rescued her, you could feel the guilt oozing from him. He saw Charlie as a sister and takes full blame for her death. And Ackles made you feel every single ounce of the guilt he had been carrying around. Especially when he was talking to Ketch about it.

The scene at the end of the episode cemented my choice for me. The frustration. The hurt. The loss of hope. All telegraphed in that scene where he yelled and destroyed things. As the camera panned up and focused on his face, you didn’t need any dialogue to know how Dean was feeling, Ackles let you know.

Next: Supernatural recap: Dean and Ketch see [Spoiler] in the Apocalypse World

What did you think of this week’s Supernatural? Are you happy that Gabriel killed Asmodeus?  Do you think we’ll see Gabriel again? Please let us know in the comments below. 

Supernatural airs Thursdays at 8/7c on The CW. Like SPN Hunters on Facebook for more updates and reviews.