Many years ago, SUPERNATURAL set up an arc that would pit the Winchesters against one another by having them serve as vessels for two warring archangel brothers: Lucifer (Sam Winchester) and Michael (Dean Winchester). The Winchesters refused to fight one another as the angels in an apocalyptic show-down and only Sam said “yes” to Lucifer and become the archangel for a short time, eventually jumping into Hell to save the world. But at the end of season 13, Dean said “yes” to Michael (albeit, an alternate universe’s version of Michael) in order to save his brother and Jack from Lucifer and to defeat the devil. That accomplished, Michael then took over his vessel’s body and split for parts unknown.
Three Weeks Gone
When the show returned for its fourteenth season, three weeks had passed in the series’ timeline. We opened with Sam driving his brother’s beloved car, returning from Atlanta after hitting a dead end in his search for Dean/Michael. Upon Sam returning to the bunker, we learned that the alternate universe’s hunters had spent these weeks settling in and hunting all manner of supernatural creatures in this world. When updated about some nearby vampires, Sam took charge, showing us that the other hunters are following his orders. Mary, meanwhile, was clearly worried about her son running himself ragged, but she remained positive they would find her eldest boy, even if she later revealed that she’s desperately hanging on to that positivity in order to keep her sanity over losing Dean.
While visiting the bunker’s gym for the first time, we saw that Bobby Singer had taken over training a de-graced Jack, who is finding it tough to deal with problems without using his powers. Sam tried to help cheer Jack up, but it’s clear Jack is feeling demoralized. And then we saw Sam have a conversation with someone else — Nick (a.k.a. Lucifer’s former vessel). That’s right, the archangel blade may have killed Lucifer, but it didn’t kill the person whose body he was inhabiting (a role Mark Pellegrino hadn’t played since season 5 of SUPERNATURAL). Locked in a warded room, he seemed to be having trouble remembering everything he had done as the devil and didn’t seem to have much useful information about Michael or Dean.
The New Crowley?
Meanwhile, Castiel headed to Detroit, searching for his own lead on Michael. Enter Kip, a demon who fancied himself the next Crowley/King of Hell. Castiel quickly pushed aside Kip’s pleasantries, telling him he was seeking information on Dean and threatening him if he didn’t speak up. Instead, Kip set his demon buddies loose on Cas, beating him up and taking him as bait. Soon after, Kip used Cas’ phone to call Sam and demanded an audience with him. He gathered up Mary, Bobby, Jack and the hunters to go save Castiel.
As they waited for Sam to arrive, Kip told Castiel that he had recently come to a realization — he wanted “everything”. Specifically, as he soon told Sam, he wanted to become the new King of Hell and he wanted the deal Crowley had struck with the Winchesters — that they would look the other way about his demon deals and various nefarious actions if he was helpful from time to time. Sam insisted they had no such deal with Crowley and he didn’t care if Hell had no king. A fight between the hunters and the demons ensued when Sam refused Kip again, with Sam eventually killing Kip and declaring “there will be no new king of Hell! Not today and not ever. ” The demons, demoralized by the loss of their leader, smoked out of their vessels.
Later, back at the bunker, Sam revealed that Ketch was in London searching for the “magic egg” they had previously used to kick Lucifer out of the President, but Ketch couldn’t find it. Castiel apologized for screwing up again and then went to have a heart-to-heart with Jack, who had gotten very beaten up during the fight. Cas insisted that his grace would return in time and that he was still useful to them because they were a “family”.
What Do You Want?
Meanwhile, while Sam and his friends/family were hunting for Michael, we saw him first meeting with a Muslim man at the start of the episode, asking him what it was he was looking for. Apparently Michael had been traveling the world for weeks asking various leaders, holy men and killers “what do you want?” But this man disappointed him, saying he wanted peace and love when Michael knew that wasn’t true.
So Michael turned next to Sister Jo (played by Jensen Ackles’ wife, Danneel Ackles). We learned that she’s still using her angelic powers to make money and she spotted Michael’s holy and glowing visage (his “true face”) upon seeing him. He asked her the same question he asked the man earlier: “what do you want?” She claimed she wanted designer fashion, but he disagreed. He claimed she was a rebel who pretended to care about pretty things, but it was all just a game. “These trinkets, they don’t make you happy, they just pass the time. They’re not what you really what”. Instead, he claimed she wanted love — to have a home and a family.
Later, after Sam was heading to bed for some much-needed rest, we saw Jo call him, telling him “we have a problem” and alerting him to her meeting with Michael.
After being disappointed once again, Michael turned to one last person — specifically, a vampire. “You know exactly what you want,” Dean said to the vamp. “You don’t pretend to want to help people or save the world. Your want is pure and simple and clean. And that’s why you are worth saving. That’s why we’re going to work so well together. Because you…you just want to eat.”
Fade to black as the show hints that Dean will be gathering himself an army of vampires.
Watch a preview for the next episode below and tune in to an all new episode of SUPERNATURAL on October 18 at 8:00 p.m. ET/PT on The CW.
