Supernatural recap: Michael helps the Winchesters in their fight against God

If you ask me, final seasons — particularly of shows that have been on for as long as Supernatural — should be all about bringing things full circle, at least somewhat, and returning to the major stories that have made the series what it is. And with this fall finale in particular, Supernatural is doing just that.

We start at a casino where … everyone is dead? Well everyone except God, who’s playing a slot machine, and the one waitress he needs to make him a drink. Clearly, this guy is not in great shape.

Cut to Eileen, who’s in excellent shape, on what looks like a werewolf hunt. Just after Sam shows up to check on her — she didn’t leave a note — she kills the thing and the two of them head back to the bunker, where he eats his salad and she grabs a burger. (Is this indicative of Eileen filling the Dean role? What if the series ends with Dean dying and Sam living with Eileen?! Sorry, I’m getting ahead of myself.)

Dean walks into the room to reveal that he’s thought of something, and it has everything to do with the demon tablet. God dictated the demon tablet so that there would be a way to seal angels and demons back into heaven and hell if he was out of commission. But if God’s untouchable, why would he need a back-up plan? Dean thinks God has a weak spot, and that means they need a reluctant Donatello to come read this tablet for them.

As they explain it to Donatello, if Chuck could lock up Amara, maybe he can be locked up. They’re not looking to kill him, because creation would fall apart without him, but if they could sentence him to an eternity of solitary confinement, their problems would be solved … they think.

Donatello starts translating the tablet when he notices something: Metatron included some annotations, some personal observations, while writing the thing. According to Metatron, God has a “secret fear” that “he shares only with his favorite.” And back then, Michael was his favorite. The same Michael who helped Chuck overpower Amara once upon a time. Translation: We need to talk to Michael.

But first, the boys have to talk to Chuck when he uses Donatello as a “Bluetooth.” Speaking through the prophet, God tells the boys to “let this one go,” or else he’s going to go after Jody, Donna, Eileen, and essentially “everybody on your speed dial.” But if the boys know anything, it’s that everyone is already in danger, and they’ll remain that way as long as Chuck’s around. So, after they send Donatello home — clearly it’s not safe to have him here listening to their plan — they copy the spell Rowena used to send them to hell in the past.

Then, together, Sam, Dean, and Cas head to hell. They’re quickly greeted by three female demons who proceed to kick all of their asses. One of my favorite moments of the episode is Dean saying what we’re all thinking when he yells, “Are any of us winning?!” The answer is no. At least not until a fourth woman shows up and puts an end to all the fighting: ROWENA!!!

When Rowena died, her soul went to hell, and now she — and her amazing new hairstyle — is the queen of hell! Dean explains that they’re looking for Michael, but seeing as how God opened every door in this place, he could be anywhere, on hell or earth. Rowena, always backing the boys, sends all of her demon minions out to look for the archangel while she catches up with her favorite mortals (and Cas).

While all of this is going on, Eileen is standing guard in the bunker, making sure that the spell is still working until the guys make it back. That’s when she gets a Skype call from Sue Barrish, a hunter she worked a ghoul case with in the past. Sue asks for her help on a vamp case in Omaha. Eileen says she’s a bit busy at the moment, but she tells Sue to call her once she’s ready to attack the nest.

Back in hell, Rowena stops Sam from apologizing, telling him, “You killing me was one of the best things that ever happened.” She then delivers this amazing line: “Yes there are things I miss about being alive: flesh-on-flesh sex, Amazon doesn’t deliver here … yet.” But she’s loving life as a queen. “I should’ve died a long time ago,” she says before asking Sam to refill her drink. And while Sam’s gone, she turns her attention to the tension between Dean and Castiel. “Fix it,” she tells them. Or else, in death, it might haunt them. Speaking of, Rowena does have a few (AMAZING) regrets: “Making Napoleon so short was just bitchy, telling Mick Jagger he had no future when I dumped him, and well, everything with Dear Fergus.” But once you die, you can’t make any of it right, so like she said, “Fix it!”

Just then, Sam returns with her drink and a demon returns with some news: Michael’s not in hell. Rather, he’s in a diner.

We then flash to said diner where Adam and Michael are sitting in a booth and chatting while Adam eats his first burger in 10 years. We see two of them, but it’s made clear that Michael is only in Adam’s head. The two, who are clearly friends after all that time in the cage, discuss next steps. Michael doesn’t exactly have a family to return to, and as Adam says, he met Sam and Dean once and “they let me rot in hell.” So yeah, family sucks.

Adam is contemplating getting a job when Lilith shows up and Michael takes over. She claims Chuck sent her to retrieve Michael, but he’s not interested, so the archangel burns her to a crisp and then snaps his fingers and makes everyone in the diner forget what they just saw. BUT something good did come out of that: Michael using his powers means Donatello can sense him. However, Michael loves to hop from one place to the next, which makes locating him … difficult.

At the bunker, Sam and Dean finally get a moment to talk about Eileen. Dean hasn’t said anything up until this point but despite the fact that the whole “family thing” hasn’t worked for Sam and Dean in the past, Dean admits that Eileen understand the life. And she’s hot. “You could do worse,” Dean tells his younger brother. “And she could certainly do better, like so much better. I’m happy for you Sammy.” Again, could this mean they’re setting things up for Dean to be gone and Sam to go back to living a normal life when this series ends? We’re still a ways off, but it’s definitely a possibility.

When Donatello calls Dean and says he’s having trouble tracking Michael, Castiel decides to bring the archangel to them. Cas then prays to Michael and tells him that “your father is certainly not who you knew.” He explains that Michael needs to understand the fight he’s walking into and that God is now the enemy. Just like that, Michael shows up and the boys — with a crazy awesome entrance — trap him with holy oil before putting the angel cuffs on him.

Also, shoutout to this amazing interaction. When Cas asks if Michael remembers him, he says, “You called me assbutt and set me on fire.” HE SURE DID.

Back at the bunker, the boys discover that Michael and Adam pretty much switch in and out. As Adam explains it, they came to an agreement in the cage when they only had each other. But before Sam and Dean can apologize to their half-brother, Michael shows back up and wants answers. What’s so bad about his dad being back? If God is back, he’ll usher in paradise! (Please forgive him, this guy is really far behind.)

When Michael decides he’s done listening to the boys, he lets Adam take control again, and when the boys leave him be, Adam tries to convince Michael that Sam and Dean are trustworthy. But as Michael tells him, they’ve been together for years but “my father and I have been together for eternity.” Adam tries to explain that maybe God is having a “mid-eternity crisis,” but Michael’s not having it. The good son can’t doubt his father, even if he left him to rot in the cage.

Elsewhere in the bunker, Eileen gets another call from Sue. She’s about ready to move on the vamps. And when the call cuts out just as a vamp attacks, Eileen grabs Sam and the two of them hit the road.

Castiel then pays Michael another visit and tries a different tactic: He tells him that he was never God’s favorite, that he was just a tiny part of his story. “You weren’t even the star. At least Lucifer knew that God can’t be trusted. I guess he was always the smart one.” When Michael attacks Cas, Cas uses the contact to show Michael what’s been happening with God, essentially his evil highlight reel.

And it works. “God lied to me,” Michael says, dealing with everything he just saw, including the fact that he’s not even the only Michael. He then hands over the spell that they used to lock Amara away. The ingredients are all relatively simple … except for one: The nectar from a Leviathan blossom. It’s a flower that only grows in purgatory. Michael then opens a rift to purgatory, one that will stay open for 12 hours. Then, just before he leaves, he lets Dean talk to Adam. Dean apologizes and tells his half-brother, “You’re a good man. You didn’t deserve that.” Adam responds, “Since when do we get what we deserve?” He then wishes Dean and Cas good luck in purgatory(!!!).

As for Sam and Eileen, they arrive in Omaha just in time to realize that something’s off. There are no vamps. And Sue? She’s really Chuck.

And that’s where we leave things for 2019: Sam’s about to talk to Chuck and Dean and Castiel are headed to purgatory, which was a shared experience for them the last time, so maybe returning to it will help them mend things. I definitely don’t think we’ve seen the last of Adam/Michael, because as great as the spell is, they’re going to need some help using it. If this hour is the setup for the back-half of the season, I can’t wait to see what it has in store.

Related content:

• Supernatural star Rob Benedict says we ‘have not seen God go off yet’
• Supernatural series finale to air in May following a move to Mondays
• Supernatural star Jake Abel reveals he’s playing both Adam and Michael in the fall finale