We won’t be getting new episodes of Supernatural for a while, thanks to the coronavirus shut down; so I’m, well, super-pleased that the hour we went out on for the time being was this one: a fun, surprising episode that saw Sam and Dean dealing with their doppelgangers from another world and had some amazing surprise guest stars.

The main plot of the episode was that Billie, aka Death Herself, had a new step for Jack in their plan to kill God. The quest? Find an object called “The Occultum” which I think is Latin for “Maguffin.” The Winchesters don’t know what this thing will do or how, just that they need it and the last person that had it? Good ‘ol “Sister Jo” aka the angel Anael, played by Danneel Ackles, wife of a certain Jensen Ackles who you might know.

Here’s where I’m going to get really nitpicky. The guys find Jo and discover that she sold or gave the Occultum to the demon Ruby for safekeeping. Now, we know Jo ran away from her boring job in heaven a while ago to make money as a fake faith healer but … I thought she escaped heaven in the chaos that ensued after Michael went into the cage and Castiel started his war with Raphael in season six. So why was she on earth in season four?

Whatever. It gave the audience a huge treat with the return of Genvieve Padalecki (wife of Jared) as Ruby. She was one of the castmembers I really wanted to see back on the show before the end of it all. It was a treat to see both wives of the Winchesters on screen together, at last, being completely fabulous in a flashback.

Jo told the boys that the Occultum was in hell, and Sam and Dean went to find it. Of course, it was a lie and trap though. But Cas, wisely, didn’t trust that information, so he did what he always does: something rash and foolish. He kinda sorta … killed himself and went to the Empty to talk to Ruby?!

This was actually fine though because it led us to the best part of the episode: the Empty took the form of another demon we know and love in order to speak to and torture Cas—Rachel Miner’s Meg. (Yes, this means this episode checked off TWO of the returns I wanted in the final season.)

It was so wonderful to see Miner back and in such great form. If you’re not in the loop, Miner took a step back from acting after Meg’s death on the show in season eight, due to adjustment to life with MS. After some time she came back into the fandom, appearing at conventions and even taking over as the executive director of the charity founded by Misha Collins, Random Acts. Miner is very beloved by the fans so it was so, so great to see her back.

Cas got the right information from Ruby and the boys were off to find the Occultum at a church surrounded by hell hounds. But there was a complication: Chuck. Chuck might check in on him while he takes a break from, you know, destroying the multiverse.

Yup. That’s a thing that’s happening on Supernatural and there’s no team of paragons to stop god from wiping the slate clean across all the worlds he’s made. It’s not good but it means another version of Sam and Dean tried to flee their dying world and ended up in ours. Well, our Sam and Dean’s.

(Oh and does the fact that our actual world is part of Chuck’s multiverse say anything about the current state of things here in reality?)

These AU Winchesters were very fussy, drove a tiny car and turned their noses up at beer. It was an extremely upsetting reflection of who they could have been with a loving father and lots of money, but I’m not really sure if I liked this as much as other parts of the episode.

The portrayal felt like a parody of something, but I’m not sure what Ackles and Padalecki (the male ones) and the writers were trying to spoof. Were they making fun of rich actors like themselves (there was a joke about Sam owning a plane, which Padalecki does) or were they straying into tired, fey stereotypes of less than masculine men. The show is usually better than this and it was off.

Still, the other Sam and Dean held down the fort while the real Winchesters (including Jack and Cas) went and found the Occultum. Jack, of course, ate it and ended up in the garden of Eden where he got his soul back. It was a much-needed development for Jack and I’m so glad to see him finally processing the damage he did last season.

Overall, I’m happy that we got to go into this mini-hiatus with visits from some of our favorite demons and a lot of fun mixed in with some big developments. Supernatural only has two more episodes left to shoot before the series ends, but we’re not sure when that will happen. As it is, I’m glad the apocalypse means we have a little more time before we have to say goodbye to the Winchesters for good.

(image: Jeff Weddell/The CW)

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