'Supernatural' Season 15 Episode 17: Will Dean's abusive parenting be responsible for Jack's death?
Can we agree that at this point the writers have just messed up any growth that Dean has shown in recent seasons? Even Chuck aka God seems to be done with Winchester drama as he calls Sam and Dean "broken toys". And for some reason, he also hates on Castiel who he calls "self-hating angel of Thursday". Treasure that line because it is the only funny one you get this episode.
Otherwise, it is just rinse and repeat of Dean's toxic masculinity routine and his abusive "I have to be the grown up" excuse to do downright hurtful things. Sam is again left to be the moral compass and emotional load bearer with Castiel supporting him through his doubts.
At the start of the episode, we see another epic Sam and Dean fight, which we haven't seen in a while. Sam invokes that F-word -- Family -- Supernatural's raison d'etre. And he is right to do so. Jack has grown to become family. He has become the collective son of Sam, Castiel and Dean. And then we hear Dean say the most hurtful thing he has said in a while. "Jack is not family. Not in the way you and Cas are," he says. The worse part is that Jack is standing right behind him when he says this.
When Sam refuses to toe his line and follow him for Jack's last power up, Dean says he will just have to be the "grown up" again. Dean has always had a mega chip on the shoulder of being the one facing horrors so that Sam didn't have to. We have repeatedly seen him put himself on the line. No matter how misguided some of those efforts to save Sam were, there was still some heroism in it. But this time, he isn't putting himself on the line. He is endangering Jack's life. He is the adult hiding behind the child, instead of the other way round.
Now is the time to consider if years of being the sacrificial lamb has damaged Dean so much that he can't see right from wrong anymore. Jack's final power up that turns him into a ticking time bomb is a trip out of town with Dean on the most awkward car ride ever to meet the first man, Adam. Adam tells them he has been waiting for thousands of years to get his revenge on God and hands Jack one of his ribs in a plastic ziplock bag. He tells Jack to only use it come "game time", because once he absorbs the Divine spark of life in his rib, he will become a Blackhole, capable of sucking in everything Divine in his path -- be it God or Amara.
Sam and Cas in the bunker are trying to contact Billie to figure out options and they discover the key to Death's library. Sam walks through it to find the Empty wearing the face of Meg the demon. She has been killing off Death's repears just to get Billie to call her back. But Billie is AWOL. The Empty tells Sam that Billie is going to become the new God, once there is a power vaccum and return things to the way they were -- angels in Heaven, demons in Hell with everyone who is dead going right back to being dead. Which means bye bye Sam's girlfriend Aileen and there will be no Castiel either.
Armed with the Death's book on Chuck (aka God) Sam comes back only to find Dean and Jack hurrying to the room where Amara has trapped Chuck. He tries to stop them because he has "Important Information". But Dean then decides to behave like a complete yahoo, waving his gun around, refusing to listen and generally being #NotGrownup.
Sam talks him back from the edge and it is clear Jack destroying Amara and Chuck and then leaving Billie (aka Death), the control freak, in charge is not an option. Only Jack is glowing and about to disintegrate, having already absorbed Adam's rib.
Meanwhile Chuck makes Amara realize that Dean has betrayed her and there will be no cage for him -- just death for both of them. Amara, who is always triggered by betrayal in any form, melts into Chuck as two Divine siblings become one form. Only Chuck's personality is frontside with Amara's Darkness powering him. Castiel is kind of disgusted by this turn of events. "You consumed her?" he asks, to which comes the "self-hating angel of Thursday" quip from Chuck.
Chuck is also very very disapointed that the Winchesters haven't killed each other yet. And decides he doesn't care about a scripted end with his "broken toys" anymore. They can all watch Jack die instead and then they will be all be "thrown away" along with the world so that Chuck can start afresh with silicon-based lifeforms it seems.
It might just be that Dean being an abusive parent to Jack, pushing him into harm's way by blindly obeying Billie, will be the reason Jack dies.
'Supernatural' airs on Thursdays at 8 pm only on The CW.