Let’s Speculate: Supernatural 15.08 “Our Father Who Aren’t In Heaven”

THEN:  The flashback shows Adam (who was really a ghoul taking on his body and memories) calling the Winchesters and introducing himself, Cas calling Michael/Adam “Assbutt” and setting him on fire, Sam pulling Michael/Adam into the chasm into hell.  We see potential futures of demonic Dean attacking Sam, the God-wound, Eileen being brought back to life, Chuck typing the words, “Supernatural:  The End,” and one of the Winchesters asking, “How are we supposed to fight God?”

NOW:  The Lucky Elephant Casino is bright and cheerful, though one inebriated customer has apparently passed out leaning on the bar.  But then there’s another sprawled body, then another.  A frightened cocktail waitress in fishnet stockings and high heels delicately steps through the carnage.  She’s holding herself tightly in control, though she’s obviously shaking with terror.   A tray with a fancy drink with an umbrella is balanced on her hand as she approaches the slot machines.  Someone is pulling the crank; three pink elephants roll up; coins rattle out into the overflowing tray.  The waitress breathes deep and approaches the customer.  It’s Chuck.  He looks over his shoulder at her.  “You went easy on the rum this time?” he asks, then adds darkly.  “You don’t want to see me cranky.”  He yanks the umbrella out of the glass and tosses it aside.  The waitress tries to smile.

SUPERNATURAL:  “Our Father, Who Aren’t in Heaven”

In a dark alley, Eileen is being thrown against a wall.  She rallies, exchanging blows with a monster.  Ducking around a corner, she pulls a knife, then leaps out and almost plunges it into Sam.  Immediately, she pushes him aside and impales the monster that was looming behind Sam; then she grins.  Sam had been worried that she’d left without leaving a note; she gently chides that he’s being a little over-protective.

Back in the bunker, Eileen is enjoying a bagel when Dean enters triumphantly.  He’s found something that may help in their fight with God:  the demon tablet.  Dean asks why if God was so powerful, why he had to write tablets so humans would know how to restrict demons and angels from hurting them?  Couldn’t God just protect  humans himself?  The very existence of the tablets proves that God’s power is limited.  “An Achilles’ heel!” Sam exclaims.  “A weak point,” Dean counters.  “That’s what that  . . . ” Sam begins to explain.  There’s one problem:  they can’t read the tablet.  But Dean says he has that covered.

Cas pounds on a front door:  “I know you’re in there.”  Determinedly, he walks to the window.  Donatello is inside:  “Go away!”

Donatello’s demand was overridden however.  In the next scene, he’s in the bunker where Team Free Will has been catching him up on events.  Donatello is very leery about their plan, but they tell him that, although they can’t kill God, they can imprison him.  Donatello wants to know if they have the power of God.  Sam tells him, “One thing at a time.”  “When I go crazy again, just shoot me,” Donatello says fatalistically.

He settles down to decipher the tablet.  Greasy fast food is placed nearby, and Sam, Dean, and Cas are all hovering a few yards away, ostensibly reading but really outright staring at the prophet.  When he glowers, they look away, only to return moments later.  Despite the uncomfortable scrutiny, Donatello is able to discover something.  Metatron had made some personal observations in an attempt to understand God:  he had written that the Almighty guards his secret fear, but he has shared it with his favorite.  That would be Michael.  Perhaps they could get Michael out of the cage; he’d help them defeat God.  Suddenly, Donatello screams and collapses back in his chair.  “Where’s the fun in that?”  he asks them.  “This story is getting better and better.”  They stare for a minute, realizing that it’s no longer the prophet — it’s Chuck.  Since a prophet speaks the Word of God, he can become his mouthpiece.  Chuck moves Donatello’s head and facial features, but the rest of his body remains passively slumped, arms hanging down at his sides.  Chuck says he likes throwing things at them and having them bat them back:  “it’s fun; like tennis . . . with monsters!”  But he doesn’t like what they’re planning, and if they keep going down that path, he’s going to go all-powerful.  He’ll go after Jody, Donna, Eileen, basically everyone on their phone list.  “So drop it, kay?” 

Time has passed.  Sam reports that the bunker’s warding is intact so Chuck has been able to get through.  They tell Donatello he might be safer at his own home, and he happily runs out.  They wonder how much of their plan Chuck overheard.   If he knows what they want to do, won’t he be able to stop them?  “Like hell we’re dropping this,” Dean declares.  Cas is concerned about Chuck’s threat to those they love, but the Winchesters tell him that it’s only a matter of time before Chuck hurts them anyway, or just goes after the whole world, their loved ones included.  “We have to take God down,” Dean says intensely.  Cas doesn’t seem quite as determined as the brothers, so Dean tells him if he wants to stay behind, he can.

They gather around a table with a bowl.  Sam prepares the magical ingredients from Rowena’s spell as Eileen watches.  Dean slices his palm and squeezes his hand tight so his blood falls into the bowl.  “Here.  Let me,” Cas says.  He holds his outstretched hand over Dean’s and an angelic glow pours out, healing Dean’s wound.  “Thanks,” Dean acknowledges.

Sam recites the charm.  Cas drops a lighted match into the bowl.  A magical purple flame flares up.  Sam, Dean, and Cas all have one hand in the bowl.  A bright light fills the room; when it fades, the men have disappeared, leaving Eileen.  

They reappear in a dark, rock-lined space.  Sam and Dean pull out angel blades.  “This way!” says Cas.  He’d recently been in hell with Belphagor and he leads them into the same hall lined with tall, cloaked and hooded statues.  Suddenly, three grimly serious women in black suits appear:  demonic guardians of hell.  Though the Winchesters and Cas fight back, they’re overpowered and taken to the ground.  A knife is at Cas’s throat when a women’s commanding voice rings out:  “Stop!”  

It’s Rowena.  Flanked by four large men in black t-shirts and pants, she looks regal in a deep red dress and an elegant hairdo.  “Hello, boys,” she smiles.

She tells them that they did want to see the one in charge.  That’s her.  Yes, she died and went to hell.  “And they gave you the throne?” asks Sam.  “I took it!” she states.  When she asks why they’ve come, they explain that they want to get Michael to help them fight God, but she says that, when God opened up hell, all the locks were opened.  Michael/Adam could be anywhere.  “Find him!” she screams at her minions, then she smiles and winks at the Winchesters.  

Eileen is waiting in the bunker near the spell bowl that has sent the others to hell when her laptop lights up with an incoming call.  It’s Sue, a hunter friend, thankful Eileen is answering.  “You thought I was dead?” asks Eileen.  “It didn’t take.”  They’d worked a ghoul cas together, and now Sue wants help with some vamps.  Eileen tells her that she’s in the middle of something.

Rowena, sipping a drink, is settled on her throne like a contented cat in an armchair while Cas and the Winchesters sit on rock-like seats in front of her.  The rest of the room is dark.  Rowena admits that she misses somethings like in-the-flesh sex and Amazon delivery, but, here, she’s queen.  They revere her; they fear her, which is better.  She holds out her glass to Sam and sweetly asks for another.  After he leaves, she looks at Dean and Cas and says that she’s picked up a wee tiff.  “Fix it!” she demands.  She tells them she has some regrets like making Napoleon so short or telling Mick Jager he didn’t have a future.  She also regrets everything with Fergus.  But once you’re dead, you can’t make it right:  “So fix it!”  Dean and Castiel sort of look sideways at each other, but Sam reenters with Rowena’s drink.  A demon enters nervously to report that Michael is nowhere to be found.  Where is he?

At a table in a diner, a man takes a big bite of a burger.  It’s Adam.  still dressed in the same clothes as he wore in that long-ago day in Stull Cemetery.  He is savoring every bite.  “It’ll kill you,” says a voice.  “Worth it,” states Adam.  Adam is facing himself across the table:  one is his inner projection of Michael, who is still in habiting his body.  Michael admits that he doesn’t know much about this world and says that Adam will have to be his guide.  He isn’t sure what he should do:  his brother is dead, his father is gone.  He tells Adam that at least he has the Winchesters.  “I met them once,” Adam retorts.  “They let me rot in hell.  Family sucks.”  

Dean is in the bunker calling Donatello who’d thought he was off the case.  “Nope, you’re on the team,” Dean tells him, to which Donatello is sarcastically thrilled.  Dean asks him if he’s felt any surge of power lately.  Donatello, confused, says no.

Sam and Dean reconnoiter in the bunker to compare notes.  Sam says that there’s no activity lately that screams archangel.  Dean tells him that Eileen did good, getting them back from hell.  He thinks it’s adorable and earlier, he was in a bad place, plus he didn’t want to jinx it, but if there was ever anyone Sam could settle down with, it could be her:  she gets it, she gets them.  Sam doesn’t think having a relationship is possible for them; Dean admits that he tried it and it didn’t work, but he has hope for Sam.  “You could do worse; she could do better, a lot better,” he teases.  Then, leaving, he places a hand on Sam’s shoulder:  “Happy for you, Sammy.”

Adam looks around the diner at the people and reflects that he’s going to need to get a job to pay for food and a place to live.  He certainly can’t go back to college.  Suddenly a cheerful voice says, “Hello, Michael” and a perky young blonde swings into the booth.  “Lilith,” he growls.  “I’m back, baby,” she announces, “and I was sent to fetch you.  Your daddy – he’d like a word.”  Michael is still with anger and disgust.  Why would his Father send a demon?  She’s a speck of infernal bile, he says, stiff with cold disapproval.  Lilith flippantly points out that they worked together once to bring on the Apocalypse.  Michael is unmoved, so Lilith places a hand on his wrist.  “I can’t fail him!” she says intently.  Michael stares at her; his eyes begin to glow.  Suddenly a burst of light suffuses the booth.  Lilith disappears.  The light fades and Michael looks around to see everyone in the diner frozen in shock staring at him.  “Remember nothing,” he commands, snapping his fingers.  Everyone returns to their normal activities.  

Donatello calls Dean to tell him that thanks to that burst of power, he knows where Michael is.  “There!  There!  There!”  He starts yelling and Dean is sure he’s lost it until the prophet clearly says that he’s just stopped in Cairo, Egypt.  Then he asks to be excused; he needs bourbon.  “We know where he is, but we can’t get to him,” Dean says.  “Then we bring him to us,” Cas states.

Cas sits alone in the bunker and begins to pray aloud to Michael. He seems to be on a landing near a stairwell.  There’s a chess board near him, and sometimes we view him framed through a circle in the iron railing of the stairs.   “We didn’t know each other well,” he says.  “You’ve been through a terrible ordeal.  Much has changed while you’ve been absent from earth and from heaven.  It’s not what it was.  Your Father is not what He was.  We are in a battle.  You are a warrior.  I’m not your enemy.  We have the same enemy:  God Himself.”  His eyes glow blue with grace as he reaches out to Michael.

Castiel walks into a large space in an old factory.  “There’s a flutter of wings, and Michael/Adam appears.  “You remember me?” asks Cas.  “You called me assbutt.  You set me on fire.  Are you hear to beg forgiveness?”  Instead of being contrite, Cas lights a ring of fire, trapping the archangel.  Then two shadows appear on the strip curtain door nearby, and Sam and Dean push their way through, approaching together silently.  Dean produces the angel-warded handcuffs.  “Castiel, what have you done?” asks Michael.

In the bunker, a cuffed archangel is pacing..  “Even for you, especially for you, this is stupid,” he says to Dean.  “You look well, Sam.”  “We need your help,” Cas tells him.  Michael is amazed that they dare ask when they left Adam trapped in hell.  Sam says they’ve had to get used to losing people.  They said goodbye because they thought they had to.  “Then tell HIM,” Michael says, eyes flashing.  Adam comes to the forefront and gives them a little smile.  “Hi, Sam.  Hi, Dean.”  They’re surprised that Michael has let Adam say anything, but he tells them that he and Michael have come to an agreement.  Dean says he knows they bailed on him and doesn’t know what to say.  “How about I’m sorry?” asks Adam only to interrupted by Michael.  “Enough!  Why am I here?”  When they tell him God is back, he says that his father will usher in Paradise.  “No, he won’t.  Paradise is boring, and God doesn’t want to be bored.  We’re just his puppets,” Dean says.  Suddenly, Adam resurfaces, stopping their attempts to convince Michael.  “Give it a rest; he’s not listening.”  

Adam and Michael are talking.  “You forgive them,” the archangel asks.  “Hell, no,” Adam responds, but he adds that the Winchesters believe this strongly, and if they believe it, it’s probably true.  Michael cannot fathom acting against his father; his very existence is because God willed it.  “Maybe you don’t now your dad as well as you thought you did.  Parents keep secrets,” Adam tells him. “Why can’t you ask the question?”  “Because asking the question means I’m showing that I doubt him,” Michael replies.  “You still care what he thinks?” wonders Adam.

Eileen’s friend calls again asking for help with the vampires she’s hunting.  She sends Eileen directions but then gets cut off.  Eileen tells Sam that her friend is in trouble, and they leave together.  

Cas checks in to see how Michael is doing, but it’s Michael who’s there.  “I’m not going to betray him,” states Michael adamantly.  “Why not?” Cas replies.  “He betrayed you.  I pity you.  You were never God’s favorite.  You were just a tiny part of his story.  At least Lucifer knew that God couldn’t be trusted.  He was the smart one.” But he’s gotten too close.  Despite the cuffs, Michael reaches out to Cas, grabbing him and slamming him into the table.  He drags him across the table, then spins and chokes him.  Cas reaches up and places his hand on each side of Michael’s head.  “I’ll show you!”  Images and scenes rip through Michael’s mind:  God praising the Winchesters as his favorite, God planning on destroying people, God killing the nephilim, God planning the end.  Each successive scene is worse and worse for Michael, whose face flushes and grimaces.  When Cas finally lets go, he lets his hands fall from Cas’s neck.  Michael’s eyes are wide and horrified.  

Dean enters the kitchen to get a beer.  Cas is sitting at the table.  “Maybe you went too far,” Dean remarks.  “Maybe,” says Cas.  “Maybe you went too fast,” Dean adds, then asks, “What’s he doing now?”  “No idea,” responds Cas.  “We didn’t bond.  He said, ‘Leave.  Get out.  I want you dead.'”  Cas asks where Sam is, and Dean tells him he left with Eileen.  Suddenly, earthquake-like tremor shake the room.  They run back to find Michael sitting down, still stoic but obviously overwhelmed by what he’s realized:  “God lied to me!  I’m not even the only Michael!”  

Eileen pulls up behind her friend’s truck.  The door is wide open, but no one is there.  They approach slowly, shining flashlights to find any indication of what happened, but Sam realizes that there are no vampire signs anywhere.  There’s no one there.  “Look again,” says Sue, appearing nearby, but then her body dissolves and it’s Chuck standing there.  “Hi, Sam.”

Michael says, “So yes, I will help you.  I know how to do what was done to the Darkness.”  He gives them the spell and tells them the ingredients.  They have most of what is needed:  the nector from a leviathan blossom which of course is in Purgatory.  He snaps his fingers, and a rift appears.  They have 12 hours.  Dean unlocks the cuffs, but as Michael turns away, he asks, “Can I talk to him?”  Michael turns, and some of the aloof stiffness relaxes as Adam comes to the forefront.  “Adam, I want you to know, we are sorry.  You’re a good man.  You didn’t deserve that.”  “DO we get what we deserve?” asks Adam.  He smiles, wishes them, good luck, and walks out.  Cas and Dean look at the rip in space and time that will open the door to the violence that is Purgatory.  

THE END

The mid-season finale has aired!  Let us know what you thought of the episode.  Here are a few questions to get the discussion going:

1. Did Rowena’s appearance surprise you?
2. How satisfying was Lilith’s destruction at the hands of Michael? What did you think of Michael?
3. Did Dean and Cas trust Michael too easily?  
4. Have we seen the last of Adam/Michael?
5. Sam and Eileen have been found by Chuck.  What happens next?
6. Do we get what we deserve?  Do you want a universe where people do, eventually, get what they deserve?
7. Which plot are you most interested in seeing in January:  Chuck confronting Sam, Cas and Dean in Purgatory, a budding romance between Sam and Eileen, Rowena ruling Hell, or more interaction with Michael/Adam?

Let’s speculate!!!

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