Written by Nadia Dardon
With Gabriel gone and everything that has happened in the previous episodes, the Winchesters are in great need of help. They need to find a way of fighting against Michael, but before that they need Gabriel’s grace to open a rift back to the Apocalypse World. Unfortunately, they are running out of options. So Dean, Sam, and Castiel reach out to the witch Rowena in the hopes of getting her help in finding the archangel Gabriel.
However, Rowena has been getting new power and now she’s burning people alive. The news catch the Winchester’s attention, and so now they have to deal with her. While the brothers chase down Rowena, Castiel decides to pay heaven a visit.
Angels and Heaven
Even though angels loathe him and will most likely kill him on sight, Castiel reaches out to the angels in heaven. Given the circumstances on Earth, Castiel wants their help in finding Gabriel and fighting against Michael.
After Castiel encounters no trouble getting into Heaven, he tells the few angels he finds there about Gabriel and the situation about the ‘new Michael’. The angels mention that they could help each other, but before Castiel can question what they meant with that, Naomi walks in. Castiel seems surprised, having thought of her as dead. She tells Castiel that a drill to the head did not kill her and that she just needed time to recover and even though she is not completely recovered, she has little choice.
When Castiel walked into heaven, he noticed the flickering lights. Naomi explains that the flickering lights are caused by the lack of power in heaven. Angels are usually the ones that keep the power in heaven running, but now there are only 11 angels left. Having only 11 angels, none of them can leave heaven and help search for Gabriel. They do, however, want Castiel to find the archangel because he is needed in heaven.
Naomi also informs Castiel that heaven will not be able to hold much longer, and it will crumble soon. If heaven were to crumble down, all the souls that are in heaven would be released to the Earth. That would mean billions of ghosts causing chaos on the world. Castiel agrees to keep on looking for Gabriel, seeing how severe the situation is, and Naomi closes the gates of heaven for now.
Witches and Death
Meanwhile, on Earth, Sam and Dean are on their way to find Rowena when a reaper pops up in the backseat of the Impala. It turns out that ever since Dean travelled to the veil, Death has had the reaper Jessica looking after the Winchesters. However, she is only making her presence known in that moment because of Rowena’s actions.
Not only has the witch been burning people alive, she has also been killing reapers. Rowena is causing people to die before their time, which affects fate. Jessica explains to the Winchesters that if Rowena keeps killing people before they are supposed to die, she could mess with the universe. If Sam and Dean don’t stop her, Death will be forced to use the ‘restart button’, which means a mass kill-off to wipe the board clean. Jessica also reveals that Sam and Dean have to stop her, because in every version of Rowena’s story, her death is caused by Sam Winchester.
Before the brothers are able to catch up with her, Rowena calls them to arrange a meeting in a bar. She brings her personal bodyguard with her, and during the meeting with the Winchesters, she explained that everything she’s been doing is to get Death’s attention. Rowena blames herself for her son’s death, and she wants to get Crowley back.
Unfortunately, Sam and Dean reveal that Rowena’s death is meant to be caused by Sam. So she kidnaps him and threatens to kill him. Death appears then, and Rowena learns that Death is now Billie. When Rowena demands to have her son back or else she will kill Sam Winchester, Billie tells her no. Death is not very fond of blackmail, so she tells Rowena to go ahead and kill Sam. But Rowena does not kill Sam, instead she directs her powers towards Billie except she is not affected by Rowena’s powers. She tells Rowena that no matter how powerful she is, there are some things in life she has to deal with.
In that moment Dean and Jessica arrive. Billie leaves, but not before telling Dean she will see him soon. In the aftermath of everything, it leaves Sam and Dean with Rowena. The Winchesters ask for her help to get Gabriel, also letting her know that Lucifer is back. While Rowena is still very scared of Lucifer, she is now more scared of Sam. Having the knowledge of who will kill her seems to weight down on her more than the devil himself. But Sam likes to think that, if they work together, they may be able to change Rowena’s fate.
Final Thoughts?
Altogether, I was glad to see them touching Crowley’s death and the impact it had on Rowena. It was also surprising how little angels are left and I am waiting to see what will happen to Heaven.
While I felt the episode was a bit of a filler, I am happy to see an emotional side to a character that has had many faces in the show. The Rowena in this episode was certainly different from the one in previous seasons. She seems to want to redeem herself, and maybe at the pace of the season she’ll be able to. We’ll just have to wait to see what else the season has to give us.
