Listen, this was a really tough episode!

Lots of unexpected deaths, and some really emotional moments, and it was so great!

I was hoping they would bring the drama for the final season, and this eppy brought it.

THEN!

Lots of ghosties. Ketch saved the day, then got possessed, then was carted off to the hospital after Dean shot him full of salt bullets(?) Jack is Belphegor, and is “helping”.

NOW!

Team Free Will (v. 42?) tromps through the cemetery, talking to the hunters they have left at the ghost front, as they try to come up with a plan. They barricade themselves in the Carver mausoleum, all grumbly and testy with each other.

Rowena tries a spell to contain the hellish souls, and after an initial burst of shimmering purple fills the sky, the spell fails and leaves Rowena panting with fear.

It’s too far gone, she says. Those spirits are furious, and strong, and it looks like everyone is gonna die.

Dean is all, NOPE. He is so mad that Chuck did this, and he is not gonna sit back and let it all go to hell, so to speak. He loads a bandolier full of salt shotgun shells, readying for what may be his final fight.

BelpheJack mentions that the gaping hole in the ground is a wound produced from Chuck and his tantrum. Also, that there is a Lilith artifact down in the pit that could maybe help! (Freaking Lilith!) Lilith’s Crook, really a horn, that when blown calls all the souls back to Hell. Dean asks if it works, and BelpheJack says she never needed to use it, because the demons were all down with Lilith’s plan, but he’s pretty sure it will work.

Rowena says that if that hole is just a wound, then she can devise a spell that will heal it, but she needs a second, and volunteers Samuel, as he is pretty close to a witch these days. (Sam seems mildly perturbed by this, but she’s not wrong!) Someone needs to toss the hex bag in the hole when the spell is ready, so Dean volunteers for the unprotected post, and then he volunteers Castiel to go with BelpheJack in pursuit of Lilith’s crook. Castiel grumbles, but agrees.

Heading to the rift, BelpheJack taunts our sweetest little angel about how Dean doesn’t seem too keen on him these days, and Castiel does the best thing, and pushes the demon into the pit. Heeeeeee. Castiel jumps in after, and the two head into Hell, and find Lilith’s room pretty easily.

Hell is always talked about as this vast pit of horrors, but whenever the show goes there, it seems to be pretty small, and really easy to find the stuff anyone needs. Just sayin’. 😉

MEANWHILE

Ketch wakes up in the hospital, and as soon as he gets his bearings, pushes himself out of bed, wanting to get back to the fight. The nurse is adamant he stay, as Ketch searches for his clothes, when a doctor appears in the doorway.

That’s no doctor! That’s the demon Ardat, mentioned previously, who has come to punish Ketch for not only not killing Belphegor for her, but then refusing to tell her where the demon is. Ketch valiantly refuses to give up his friends, even as Ardat wraps her hand around his throat. She snatches Ketch’s still beating heart from his chest, and when she finally releases him, he crumbles to the floor, dead.

OR IS HE?????

(Ketch used one of Rowena’s resurrection spells once before. Who’s to say he didn’t finagle one out of her last episode. Or maybe missing a heart trumps a resurrection charm? Who knows? I do hope he gets a better death than crumpled on the floor of a hospital, an afterthought to Sam and Dean. Even though he was kind of a dick.)

Ardat uses Ketch’s phone to get info from a clueless Dean, and she is on her way!

Back in the mausoleum, the ingredients for Rowena’s spell have arrived! Everyone is still grumpy and tactless, and this whole thing is getting to everyone.

After a brief tussle with a ransacking demon, Cass and BelpheJack find Lilith’s room, and the sealed box that contains the crook. As there is no lock, they surmise that the verse carved into the box must be recited to open it. Cass, knowing Enochian, realizes this is the real reason he was invited along. But being a team player, Cass reads the verse, and nothing happens. With a mischievous grin, BelpheJack suggests that Cass has to actually sing the verse for it to work, and unfortunately, the show doesn’t let us hear the whole tune, which is a shame.

Just as we are ready to blow the horn, Ardat shows up! She says that Belphegor is the real villain, right before Belphegor kills her. He grabs the horn and mini-monologues about how the horn is really a siphon, one that he will use to corral all the souls inside of him to be come a god, ala Castiel end of season 6, except evil, stronger than Crowley, or Lilith, or anyone.

He blows the horn, pushing Cass back with a gusty wind as the souls begin rushing back. Samuel and Rowena take this as their cue, and begin the spell, which sets Dean’s hex bag to glowing, and Dean tosses it into the hole. and the rupture starts to close.

Castiel finally reaches BelpheJack, and attacks him, pinning him to the floor, and rage smites him and the horn until there is only a charred skeleton left. Castiel swallows a sob as he looks down at what he has done, destroying Jack’s body, which fills him with sorrow as he looks up towards Heaven, I suppose.

Back up top, Rowena says something is wrong. The spell has frittered out, and while Sam wanders away,  his mind racing for another option, Rowena grabs the Winchester goody bag, rummaging through it as she tells Sam there is one more spell she can try. She is sure it will work. It is easy peasy, only two ingredients needed. She shoves a blade into her shoulder and digs out her last resurrection charm and tosses it aside.

An aghast Samuel looks on as Rowena tells him her plan. She will be the vessel to carry the souls back to Hell, but here’s the rub: the two ingredients are her blood as it courses through her body, and her last breath.

Samuel is all No Way, Jose, but Rowena reminds him of Death’s prophecy, that he is the one who kills her. Sam is horrified, and refuses to comply, but Rowena knows its the only way. She looks Samuel in the eye, and tells him that even though she still wants to live, her life doesn’t compare to the whole world. She believes in magic, and she believes in prophecy, and she puts the knife in Sam’s hand, and places the tip of the blade against her belly.

A distraught Sam reels as he loses the battle of his conscious, and steps towards the witch, plunging the blade into her pink gown as they embrace. Rowena cries out as Sam steps back, and she twists the knife into her gut for good measure.

Castiel has made it out of the pit, and tries to fill in Dean on what happened with the demon, but Dean’s still boiling anger towards his former best friend cuts him off. As Castiel tries to get through Dean’s thick skull, souls begin flying around them, They look over and see a bleeding Rowena, souls flying into her open wound, followed by a heart-broken Sam, walking towards them.

It all clicks into place for the battling boys, and Rowena steps up to the edge of the rupture, tells the boys goodbye, and tosses herself into the hellfire below.
It’s been a while since this show made me really cry, but this one totally got me. Ruthie Connell was amazing, and I’m so happy the show gave her such a spectacular exit.

Back in the bunker, Sam and Dean talk about how they avoided yet another apocalypse, and Sam informs Dean of Ketch’s demise. The whole thing feels like a hollow victory, which so often happens on this damn show. I love it.

Dean is getting a well deserved drink in the library when Castiel comes to talk. He feels terrible about what happened, but Dean is having none of it. Realizing that no matter how much he apologizes, Dean is being his stubborn self. And after a particularly harsh exchange, Castiel tells Dean that he knows he’s dead to Dean, and he decides its time to move on. It is gut wrenching after all they have been through, and just as I was getting over the loss of Rowena, the show gives us this:

HARSH

I really hate it when Dean gets like this. Poor Castiel, that sweet little angel.

This was an excellent episode, and hopefully sets us up for a great final season. And probably a lot of people we love dying. Looking forward to it!!

QUOTES!

Dean: “I mean, this whole mess, you know? This sloppy-ass ghostpocalypse, that’s Chuck’s ending? No. No, I don’t think so. After everything he has put us through? I’ll be damned if I’m gonna let some glorified fanboy get the last word.”

Stevie: “Right. One owl skull.”  Dean: “R.I.P., Hedwig.”

Castiel: ‘You’re wearing Jack, who was like a son to me, like a coat. Every second in your presence is intolerable. It’s an abomination. You’re an abomination.’

Rowena: “I don’t care about anything enough to take my own life. Not you, your brother, not even the world. But I believe in prophecy. I believe in magic. And I’m here and you’re here and everything we need to end this right is in our hands. I know this in my bones, it has to be this way. Do it! Kill me, Samuel! I know we’ve gotten quite fond of each other, haven’t we? But will you let the world die, let your brother die, just so I can live?”

NEXT!

Looks like a good old fashioned Sam and Dean monster hunt, which I am ALL FOR.