‘Supernatural’ S15E1 recap: “Back and to the Future”
It’s finally arrived. The last season of The CW’s Supernatural has come, no matter how much we wished it would never end. Despite the tears and heartbreak over the beginning of the end, the series definitely started its final season off with a hell of a bang.
We start where we left off last season: Chuck, like any author, is upset that his story has gone in a direction he did not like, so he decided to control-alt-delete the world in one last attempt at apocalypse. Third time’s the charm, right?
The boys are left surrounded by a horde of demons who took on whatever body was nearby as Chuck welcomed them to the end, leading to where we are now: our favorite hunters fighting for their lives against the horde.
The boys end up locking themselves away in a mausoleum, quickly running out of options as the horde tries to burst in. Of course, in the spirit of Supernatural, things take a turn for the better in a way no one expected when Jack (Alexander Calvert), thought to be dead, wakes up!
It’s not actually Jack unfortunately, but a demon named Belphegor who took over Jack’s body, since it was close by. He’s able to help the boys escape by blasting the demonic souls out of their bodies, letting the boys slip by.
For those skeptical of this new player, you’re not alone. Belphegor claims he wants to help the boys restore Hell since he actually liked his job of torturing souls, but keeping an eye on him seems like a smart move. Though charming and witty (reminding us a certain King of Hell), Belphegor has some respect to earn from both TFW and the audience before he can be considered an ally.
It helps that Belphegor shares his knowledge of a spell that can contain the demons as a quick fix to stop them from roaming all over the world after the boys realize there is still time, as no news outlets report anything odd has happened. The only downside: the town of Harlan, Kansas is the only place nearby to put them, and they have a very large and very much not demon population to evacuate.
Before the boys can put that into action, a blast from the past appears: the bloody car that was the undoing of none other than the Woman in White (Shanae Tomasevich), the very first monster the boys took on. If she’s here, who else could be back and out for blood? The boys aren’t sure, but they do know this: they gots work to do.
The boys get started by evacuating Harlan using their fake FBI gear to convince the locals of a gas leak as the spirits start to move in. As Belphegor explains what they may need for the spell (some salt and a human heart: easy peasy, right?), Sam (Jared Padalecki) gets an unfortunate scare when he and Cas (Misha Collins) end up face to face with John Wayne Gacy, otherwise known as the Killer Clown.
After dealing with the pesky spirit, Cas goes to heal Sam but gets distracted by the wound Sam got from shooting God with the Equalizer. He gives it the old college try, but it doesn’t work. Instead, Sam has a vision.
Fans will remember Sam’s prophetic abilities from earlier seasons that had all but faded from the plot by this point. Bringing it back is a monumental deal, especially considering what Sam sees: himself as his evil “Samifer” self, with Dean (Jensen Ackles) on the ground saying “Sam, please.”
The vision itself is terrifying, especially considering the meaning: the boys could after all be forced to play out the mega match of all time as vessels of Michael & Lucifer. As to that, we can only wait and see. Cas explains the gun is powered by multidimensional energy, but we’re left with no immediate answers as Gacy returns with some help and the fight continues.
Dean and Belphegor are also interrupted from their conversation about Dean’s work with Alistair and what exactly happened when Hell’s gates opened. (Apparently the Cage is open, but Michael hadn’t jumped up to return topside with the rest.) The Woman in White returns and they battle the spirits as Belphegor works on the spell, using the sheriff’s heart. (Waste not, want not, we suppose.)
The spell thankfully works and Sam gets a mother and daughter out of the crossfire. Dean and Cas share a quick moment, but tensions are still high between the two after everything with Mary. What will be in store for them no one knows (though Destiel shippers will no doubt be holding their breath).
The boys meet up back at Baby, with Dean and Sam chatting over what lays ahead as Dean tries to clean Sam’s wound from the Equalizer. Sam points out that now that Chuck has left, after this they’ll be free. But they’ll still have to go against every soul in Hell to finally get that promised freedom. Can they do it? As Dean says, “I like those odds.” Personally, we do too.
“Back and to the Future” ends with a tasty drop of nostalgia: a callback to the ending of Supernatural’s pilot. Sam says the iconic line as Baby’s trunk is closed and we cut to black.
“Back and to the Future” contains enough twists and turns to get fans excited for what lies ahead, raises some great questions the season can hopefully answer, and sprinkled in enough humor and emotion to tug at the heartstrings of fans. In short, as the old saying goes, though endings are the saddest part, this season will hopefully have a happy middle to match this incredibly happy start.
