‘Supernatural’: It All Goes According to Plan in ‘Unity’ — And That’s the Problem (RECAP)
[Warning: The below contains MAJOR spoilers for Season 15, Episode 17 of Supernatural, “Unity.”]
We’re in the endgame now (to borrow a phrase from Marvel).
The beginning of the end is officially here on Supernatural, which only has three episodes left after “Unity,” and that means it’s time for Sam (Jared Padalecki), Dean (Jensen Ackles), angel Castiel (Misha Collins), and nephilim Jack (Alexander Calvert) to put Billie/Death’s (Lisa Berry) plan to kill God/Chuck (Rob Benedict) and his sister Amara (Emily Swallow) in motion.
But while Dean may be willing to let Jack sacrifice himself to take out the Big Bad (after the half-angel killed the Winchesters’ mother) and escort him to complete the final ritual needed to do so, Sam and Castiel are determined to find another way.
And so Thursday’s episode sees Dean, Sam, and Amara moving the pieces into place for the plan … but whose exactly? Read on for the twist.
Dramatic & Poorly Timed Entrances
For Dean, Jack dying and killing Amara (to maintain the balance after taking out her brother, the part of the plan she’s not privy to) is the only way. For Sam, he’s had enough: “You ever get tired of saying stuff like that?”
But that’s when Amara shows up — Chuck alerted her to his return to this world (after he destroyed all the others) with shooting stars — so it’s time to get to work, caging him, as she thinks they’re doing. Cue the awkward (and heartbreaking) moment as Amara wishes she’d gotten a chance to know Jack sooner and thinks they’ll have a chance when this is over. But they can count on her, she assures Dean and reminds him, “you and I will always help each other.”
While Jack packs to leave for the final ritual, Dean is surprised his brother’s not joining them. Sam, instead, refuses to go along with it just because it’s in Chuck’s Death book. “Someone has to keep fighting for Jack,” he insists. “Last I checked, we don’t give up on family.” Then Dean delivers the crushing blow: “Jack’s not family. I know how you feel about the kid, I care for him, too, I do, but he’s not you, he’s not like Cas, he’s just not.” And poor Jack stands behind them, ready to go.
Trying to Talk Sense Into a Villain
Chuck seeks out Amara for her help. Now that he’s “saved the best [world to destroy] for last,” he needs her help for what comes next. He reminds her of the rules: “I can create, I can destroy, but I can’t do a hard reset, reboot everything, without you.” When she refuses, he figures it’s because of the “weird thing” she and Dean have (and no, he didn’t write that part).
But she’s not on anyone’s side. Instead, “someone needs to defend this world,” Amara explains, and she tries to get him to care about it, too, showing him what he created and even bringing him to some of his devoted followers. But he doesn’t care. Everywhere he looks, he’s reminded of his failures, and “zeroing out, starting fresh, that’s what I need.” He’s over humans, too, because they’re “just so boring.”
What about what Amara wants? “Balance, something we’ve never tried before. Creation and destruction. Light and dark. Brother and sister. United again, but on behalf of one world, this world, true balance. The way it was always meant to be,” she suggests, but she knows, “you can’t. You only care about your pleasure, your story.” And so she brings him to the bunker, where she can hold him long enough for the Winchesters.
Dudes, It’s Almost Game Time
After an awkward drive, Dean and Jack discover Billie’s led them to Adam (yes, that Adam, who describes himself as “God’s primo, first dude off the assembly line,” played by Alessandro Juliani) and an angel, Serafina (Carmen Moore). Adam takes Jack into the back of the shop for a pop quiz before he can hand over the spark of the divine (he passes). And as Jack learns, the plan to kill God is Adam (he’s wanted it for 300,000 years) and Serafina’s; Billie’s just helping them.
Then, to Dean and Jack’s surprise, Serafina stabs Adam (“dudes, chill,” he says) and pulls out one of his ribs before healing him. “This puppy is packing enough punch to create life, or in your case, destroy God,” Adam says. It’ll “start an elemental chain reaction that fuses your soul and your grace into a metaphysical supernova,” he and Serafina explain.
“You’ll collapse into a living black hole for divining energy, one nothing can escape, not the Darkness, not God himself. But once it starts, can’t stop it, so don’t use ’til game time,” Adam warns.
On their way back to the bunker, Dean pulls over and tells Jack he didn’t need to hear what he’d said to Sam, “not now, not with the weight that you’re carrying for us, for this world. I don’t know how to explain it, but when I found out about Chuck, it’s like I wasn’t alive, not really. Like my whole life I’d never been free, really free, but now me and Sam, we got a shot at living a life without all this crap on our backs. And that’s because of you. So I wanted to say, I need to say, thank you.”
When Dean’s phone buzzes, Jack realizes it’s time and takes the rib out of the bag. He powers up, his eyes glowing.
Trust Issues Lead to a Major Revelation
Sam decides he needs to talk to Billie, and he and Castiel find the key that will open a door to Death’s library. Once he walks through it, however, Sam finds it filled with dead bodies; The Empty (still using the visage of Rachel Miner’s Meg) is killing in an attempt to bring Billie to her. Sam tries to back away, but the Empty senses him.
“The Empty was supposed to be mine,” it explains. “Not even God held sway, but lies, sweet little lies. Billie said when she takes over, she’d make it all better,” but after its encounter with Castiel, it’s having trust issues. Billie wants to become the new God, the Empty reveals. “She’s all tingly for the rules, the good old days. … Everyone back to where they belong: realities, dimensions, graves. What should be dead dies, angels off Earth, demons back to hell, and I go back to sleep.”
The Empty thinks it can get Billie to show up if it hurts Sam, but he lies and says Death sent him to get God’s book because she can’t leave Earth. He says Billie sent a message that she’ll honor her promise. It works, but when he returns to the bunker (with the book), Cas alerts him to the fact that Amara’s there with Chuck.
The Heartbreaking Truth
Just as Sam’s telling Castiel Chuck and Amara can’t die, Dean rushes Jack into the bunker because he’s about to explode. Billie wants to become God, Sam tells them. Dean doesn’t care, as long as Chuck dies. As the brothers argue, Chuck reveals to Amara that this is his real ending … and Dean pulls his gun on Sam and orders him to move out of his way.
“What part of omniscient do you people not understand? So I can’t read my death book? So what? I control space and time,” Chuck says. “Just planted a few visions, goad Death a little, mess with a few outcomes, and bada bing. I mean, they think they can kill me?” That’s when he tells her the Winchesters’ real plan: to kill both of them.
They’re the only ones who get one another, he presses her. And so they can have that balance, the two of them back together and starting fresh. He offers his hand and Amara takes it, merging with him.
Meanwhile, Dean punches Sam in an attempt to get Jack to the room with Chuck and Amara. “If Billie takes over, everyone goes back to where they belong,” Sam informs his brother and Castiel. “That means, everybody from Apocalypse world — Bobby, Charlie — they get sent back to a place that doesn’t exist anymore. And everyone we saved, Eileen, she just dies again. And that’s just the beginning.” Dean would trade them all for Chuck in a heartbeat but … “What about me?” Sam asks. “Would you trade me?”
Dean can’t continue living with Chuck in control, though. “I know you feel like that,” Sam says. “I know you do, but you gotta trust me. My entire life, you’ve protected me. From Dad. From Lucifer. From everything. I didn’t always like it, you know? But it’s the one thing in the whole world that I could always count on. It’s the only thing I’ve ever known that is true. So please, put the gun away. … We’ll find another way, you and me. We always do.” (It’s just as emotional as it seemed it would be in a promo before Supernatural returned with these final episodes. And we know there are more heartbreaking moments like this to come for Sam and Dean before the end.)
That’s when Chuck makes his escape from the room/grand entrance. Amara is “in here somewhere,” he says when questioned about his sister’s whereabouts. They “came to an understanding.”
Just like Castiel has a “crack” since this is the only version to not do what he was told “after gripping [Dean] tight and raising him from perdition,” God’s tired of all of them. “I tried, but you’re all just too stupid, too stubborn, too broken. You know what? I’m over it. I’m over you,” he says. “You know what you do with broken toys? You throw them out.” So he doesn’t care if they kill each other like he wanted or not. But they will have to watch Jack die. The half-angel looks like he’s about to go all supernova.
Unsurprisingly, God’s been behind everything. How will they stop him now?
Supernatural, Thursdays, 8/7c, The CW