Supernatural recap: Jack goes toe-to-toe with Michael
Well everyone, after a month-long hiatus, Supernatural is back and let me just tell you: It came back swinging. With no mention of dad’s recent visit, the boys jumped right back into doing what they do best and hit the road on a case. Which brings us to…
The hour opens in New Mexico, where a creature of some sort is making dinner … with human organs. And when he eats his victim’s eyeball, his own eyes turn into snake eyes and he can see the future. What he sees is Sam and Dean walking through the door of the home he’s in, which means it’s time for him to leave. So he grabs his pet snake Felix and hits the road. Moments later, the guys enter with Castiel and Jack — but why weren’t they in the vision? (More on that later.)
We come to find out that they’ve been chasing this particular monster for weeks, and even with Rowena helping them with a tracking spell, they can’t catch the thing — who by the way, has killed at least six men in New Mexico. When Rowena notices that the latest victim’s lips are black, she tells Jack to grab the snakeskin, and she and Sam hit the books. Rowena tries to inquire about how Jack is still alive (and seemingly fine) and how Dean is keeping Michael at bay, but Sam thinks it’s better to work the case in front of them. After all, staying busy and pretending things are fine is the name of the game for a Winchester.
Meanwhile, Cas and Dean are talking over coffee while Jack coughs up blood in the bathroom — and then uses magic to heal his own throat? Dean admits that the pounding in his head is constant and that he barely sleeps anymore because he can’t let his guard down for a second lest Michael escape. Before Jack returns, Dean reminds Cas that if they can’t find a solution, they have a plan b: “Coffin, ocean, done.”
It doesn’t take Sam and Rowena long to figure out what this new monster is, and they gather the guys for a briefing. When Dean compares it to an A.V. Club presentation, we get this amazing interaction:
Jack: “What’s an A.V. Club?
Castiel: “It’s a special group for people who do not play sports.”
Long story short, they’re hunting a gorgon, an ancient cursed being with an affinity for snakes and a hunger for human flesh. As for how the thing always knows when they’re coming, they can see the future by consuming human eyes (which we viewers already knew). And as we speak, the gorgon is doing just that to his next victim.
By the time Cas and Dean show up at the next crime scene, there’s a note on the dead body for Dean. It’s from Noah, the oddly innocent name of our monster, and Noah claims he can see Dean reading this note and he knows that Dean, the tall man, and the red-headed witch are chasing him. But he doesn’t mention Castiel, who’s currently standing next to Dean, or Jack. So this guy can’t see angels. That gives them an advantage. (Next: Jack takes on Michael)
Before Rowena does another tracking spell, she decides it’d be smart to create an antidote for this guy’s paralyzing poison (a.k.a. the reason his victim’s lips are black). To do so, she transforms Jack INTO A DOG. She and Sam then rush the dog to a vet, and when the vet leaves Jack alone on the table — really not a great call even if this were a real dog — Jack steals an anti-venom for Rowena’s spell. But as Jack puts it, “I just wish I could’ve got it before she took my temperature.” I have missed this show.
While Rowena performs the tracking spell, Noah finds his next victim, at which point he explains why he’s been targeting men lately. He does eat both men and women but “women have become so cautious lately. Must be that finally waking up from centuries of misogynistic oppression.” Is it bad that I like this guy?
Once Maggie calls with the information on how to kill a gorgon — cut off its head with a silver blade — Jack and Cas surprise Noah, who’s apparently a demigod. Cas feeds the antidote to Noah’s latest victim and sets him free, but it doesn’t take long for Noah to paralyze Castiel and knock Jack down. When Sam and Dean enter, the bad luck continues: Noah slams Dean’s head into a wall twice, knocking him out, and then Noah throws Sam across the room. Ultimately, it’s Jack who takes the guy’s head off, and when the antidote doesn’t work on Cas, Jack uses some of his magic to heal him. (Reminder: Every time Jack uses magic, it burns off a piece of his soul. Needless to say, Cas is not happy with Jack when he wakes up.)
As for Dean, he doesn’t wake up. They rush him back to the bunker, but Castiel can’t heal him. He can’t even see what’s going on inside his head. And spoiler alert: It isn’t good.
Back in his room, Jack can’t handle the idea of losing someone he cares about. Castiel reminds him that Sam and Dean are extraordinary, brave, special humans … but they’re still human. “Humans burn bright but for a very brief time compared to things like us,” Cas says. Eventually, humans die, and they have to carry on. Losing people is part of growing up. Jack’s struggling to see what the point is of being a cosmic being if he can’t save the people he loves, but Cas tells him, “The point is that they were here at all and you got to know them.” Ultimately, the pain of losing them is what will remind you of how much you loved them. “That sounds awful,” Jack says, and Cas admits that it is. “But it’s also living,” he says. Just as Jack starts to launch into his “I can use my powers to save Dean” speech, Dean wakes up and start breaking everything in the room as he yells “Where is he?!” According to Dean, Michel’s gone.
Just then, they head to the main part of the bunker to discover that Michael’s killed everyone, and then he burns out Maggie’s eyes right in front of them. As for Michael, he’s now using Rowena as a vessel. (She said yes after he threatened everyone she loved, meaning Sam, Dean, Cas, and Jack.)
Michael then drops Dean, Sam, and Castiel and as he has his fun blinding them, suffocating them, etc., Jack decides to use all of his power and fight back. Michael doesn’t seem too threatened by the child, but Jack reminds him that he’s not a child. “I’m the son of Lucifer. I’m a hunter. I am a Winchester,” Jack declares as he takes Michael’s head in his hands. (And by that I mean Rowena’s head, obviously). Jack then successfully expels Michael from Rowena and ingests his grace. So he sort of … ate him?
The hour ends with Jack declaring that Michael is dead before spreading his own wings and saying, “I’m me again.”
This is one of those situations where I don’t fully trust that Michael’s dead, so I don’t want to celebrate just yet. I’m not sure getting rid of Michael is going to be that easy, but let’s at least hope the healthy Jack stuff stays. All in all, this was a solid hour back. The gorgon of it all was a lot of fun, and I felt like the dialogue in this hour was particularly great. There were a handful of really good lines. And then bringing all of the Michael stuff to a head so quickly really sets the pace for the final episodes of the season. Who’s ready?
