Supernatural 13.21 ‘Beat the Devil’ promo

The CW has released the new promo for next week’s Supernatural Episode 13.21, titled “Beat the Devil,” directed by Phil Sgriccia and written by Robert Berens. In the promo, team save Mary and Jack — aka, Sam, Dean, Castiel, and Gabriel — with the help of Rowena make their way into the Apocalypse World to begin their rescue mission. Check out the Supernatural Episode 13.21 promo below and continue reading for a recap of episode 13.20 “Unfinished Business.”

Last night’s episode reunited Sam and Dean with the archangel Gabriel, who is on a vengeful path. After fighting off a couple of demigods — or “god-begotten monsters” — Gabriel reveals his backstory covering the time of his faked death in season five to how he ended up being imprisoned by Asmodeus. Gabriel was living a life of booze and porn stars but was betrayed by the demigods that had helped him lay low and sold Gabriel to Asmodeus right around the time of the first apocalypse. The vengeful Gabriel has already killed two of the brothers and is ready to take out the third before killing their father, Loki.

Up until now, fans have always believed that Gabriel himself was Loki. As the archangel explains, however, thousands of years ago Gabriel saved Loki’s life, causing the trickster god to owe him one. When Gabriel needed to go into “witness protection,” he assumed Loki’s identity as the trickster and the real Loki went off the grid. Later, when Dean and the real Loki meet, the trickster explains that he sold Gabriel to Asmodeus because he was responsible for the death of his father, Odin. Dean reminds Loki that Lucifer is the one who killed Odin, but Loki claims that when he gave Gabriel his identity, Gabriel agreed to leave his family affairs behind but he broke the deal and cost Odin his life.

Sam and Dean agree to help Gabriel, but not without some hesitation on Dean’s part. Dean takes Sam aside and tells him they know that revenge is an ugly business, but Sam says it doesn’t have to be. Dean likens Gabriel wanting revenge against Loki to Sam wanting revenge against Lucifer. This foreshadows two conversations later in the episode: After Sam and Dean help Gabriel finish off Loki and his son, Sam asks Gabriel if he feels better now after getting his revenge. Gabriel claims he does but appears to be lying. More importantly, the moment appears to imply that Sam, who can relate to the torture and trauma Gabriel suffered from Sam’s own history with Lucifer, seems to be hopeful that if he can kill Lucifer, maybe that will somehow make himself feel better, too.

After Gabriel agrees to help Sam and Dean after they helped him, Castiel helps the archangel settle into the bunker offscreen while Rowena continues her work on the demon tablet. The last scene of the episode comes down to an important conversation between the brothers after Sam finally asks why Dean keeps sidelining him recently and making Sam feel like he’s being put back at the kid’s table. He mentions how Dean went with Ketch to the AU instead of Sam, and in this episode, Dean went off by himself to confront Loki before Sam and Gabriel caught up with him. Dean finally admits that he’s doing all of this to protect Sam and won’t apologize for it. He brings up that the last time Sam and Dean went up against Lucifer and Michael, Sam died and went to hell. Now that Lucifer and Michael are back in the picture, Dean is scared of losing Sam again. He tells Sam: “I don’t care what happens to me, I never really have. But I do care about what happens to my brother.” But Sam cares about what happens to Dean, too, and that’s why he wants them to stick together. He tells Dean that they’re going to rescue mom and Jack together, and that “If we die, we’ll do that together, too.” Dean smiles after Sam walks away before a concerned look passes over his face, clearly still worried about what could happen to Sam.

As Sam, Dean, and Gabriel finish off Loki and his sons, Jack and Mary have been taking on Michael and his army over in the Apocalypse World, and Jack, feeling confident after three victorious battles against the archangel, is ready to make a big move against him. They investigate the emptied out angel headquarters only to find Kevin Tran (Osric Chau) left behind in the dungeon. He tells Jack and Mary that Michael plans to open a rift and invade our world. Later, when Jack decides to go after Michael instead of waiting for Bobby like Mary suggested, we find out that Kevin was left behind as a literal bomb. Michael promised Kevin that he would get to see his mom again in heaven, so he sacrifices himself, but not before telling Jack that Michael doesn’t want to kill him, he wants to break him. Kevin touches the sigil carved into his chest and kills everyone in the room aside from Jack and Mary. Jack is left feeling guilty and asks: “If I can’t keep them safe, then what’s the point?”

Supernatural 13.21 “Beat the Devil” will air on May 3 and is officially described as follows:

“Sam (Jared Padalecki), Dean (Jensen Ackles), Castiel (Misha Collins) and Gabriel (guest star Richard Speight, Jr.) must work together if they have any hope of bringing Mary (guest star Samantha Smith) and Jack (Alexander Calvert) home. Meanwhile, Rowena’s (guest star Ruth Connell) encounter with Lucifer (Mark Pellegrino) may alter the outcome of the journey for one of our heroes.”

Could “one of our heroes” be referring to Sam? Last month Padalecki teased that in episode 21 “Sam deals with something pretty harrowing and terrifying and has a few owies,” that caused the actor to spend many hours in the makeup chair after Sam is left “pretty beat up.” Could this be the result of Rowena and Lucifer’s encounter? Or will Sam’s harrowing ordeal occur in the Apocalypse World at the hands of someone else?

Supernatural follows brothers Sam (Jared Padalecki) and Dean (Jensen Ackles) Winchester. The thrilling and terrifying journey of the Winchester brothers continues in Supernatural‘s 13th season. Sam and Dean have spent their lives on the road, battling supernatural threats that include everything from the demon that killed their mother to the usual vampires, ghosts, shape-shifters, angels and fallen gods rampaging over the land. They’ve come out on top with the help of allies, both human and supernatural, but every victory comes at a price.