Is Supernatural Season 14, Episode 19’s title a reference to Pandora’s Box?

The title Jack in the Box sounds worrying, but could it actually be a hint at something good? Could the Supernatural Season 14, Episode 19 title be a reference to Pandora’s Box?

When the titles for Supernatural Season 14’s last episodes were released, there was one that stuck out. Episode 19’s “Jack in the Box” was an ominous title, especially since it came shortly after the introduction of the Ma’lak box. We had this fear that Jack would be the one going into that box.

While that’s certainly still plausible, I started to look at other reasons for the title. One thing that struck me was Pandora’s Box and I started to wonder whether the title “Jack in the Box” could be some sort of reference to that.

What is Pandora’s Box?

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You’ve likely heard of the term “Pandora’s Box,” and not because of the jewelry company Pandora. Never used directly in the show’s mythology, there was a time when we wondered if the real mythology had been adapted to give us curse boxes. And in a way, I guess this connects directly to the possibility of Episode 19’s title being linked to Pandora’s Box.

In Greek mythology, Pandora was offered to Epimetheus, Prometheus’ brother, as a wife. She opened a jar that contained death, sickness, and the evils of the world. Despite closing it quickly, everything except hope had been released.

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How could this connect to Jack?

How is it possible that the title “Jack in the Box” could possibly connect to Pandora’s Box? After all, he hasn’t released anything into the world. He’s the one that’s caused death and destruction, even if he never meant to do it in the first place.

It actually links to this idea of his soul. Most of it is burned off. However, there’s a glimmer of hope that he still has some of his soul left. After all, he felt bad when Mary was killed. He wanted to bring her back and he feels bad.

Even before Mary, he was scared that the Winchesters would find out what he had done to Nick. Quite honestly, I don’t think what he did to Nick was the fact that he didn’t have a soul. He just viewed the situation in a black and white way. If he’d lost all his soul, he wouldn’t have cared about the Winchesters finding out the full truth and he certainly wouldn’t have felt bad for killing Mary.

So, we have this hope. Whether it’s false hope or not isn’t clear, but that’s the beauty of the mythology surrounding Pandora’s Box. Nobody knows if “hope” was real hope or false hope.

I could certainly be way off with my thinking. It could certainly just be a title based on the toy, a jack-in-the-box, and the idea is to put the Jack back in his box – the dangerous parts of the Nephilim back inside the mind of a fully-souled boy. We’ll have to wait to find out, but even if I’m wrong, I like the idea that there’s hope to save Jack.

What do you think the title “Jack in the Box” means? What do you hope to find out in Supernatural Season 14, Episode 19? Share your thoughts in the comments below.

Supernatural airs Thursdays at 8/7c on The CW.