I’ll say one thing for sure, Jared, Jensen and Misha are BRINGING IT this season. It’s very nice to see our boys give it all they got at the end of this, knowing how invested we all are. Well done!

THEN!

Billie wants to take over; The Empty is mad; Chuck and Amara become one; Jack is da bomb.

NOW!

The boys hustle an about-to-blow Jack back into the map room, and while Jack says to just let it happen, Dean is not having it!

Billie shows up. Dean is pissed that Chuck saw everything. Billie says that’s on them. If the boys had just followed her plan, it wouldn’t have mattered.

Our trio of heroes beg Billie to save Jack. She says there’s nothing to do. Billie sends Jack to explode in The Empty, much to everyone’s dismay. The Empty is annoyed that she’s being bothered yet again, and then suddenly realizes that Jack is gonna blow.

Jack goes BOOM.

Billie says she sent Jack to the Empty because it’s the only player on the board that can absorb the explosion. The vastness of it makes it… different, and there is a chance he survives.

Billie says she won’t bring Jack back until she gets God’s death book. Sam doesn’t want to give up the book, and accuses Billie of lying to them the whole time. Billie deadpans, “You got me.” (hee)

Billie, clearly annoyed by these whiny humans (and angel!), lays down the law. Give her the book if they want any hope of getting Jack back. Full stop.

Jack and the Empty reconstitute, and she is PISSED.

Sam finally hands over the book to Billie, and she reads the new ending. “Interesting.”

The Empty is mad because Jack made it loud, but before she gets the chance to crush his little skull, Billie brings him back to the bunker. Cass tries to go to him, but Billie claims Jack as hers. When Jack protests, Billie tells him he’s still useful.

Dean, sick of this shit, grabs Death’s scythe and nicks her on the shoulder. She recoils at the bright slash on her shoulder, and tosses Dean across the room. Billie makes an abrupt exit, leaving Jack behind.

Later that night Sam joins Dean for a drink in the library. It is the first quiet moment the boys have had together in days. Dean apologizes for all the madness earlier that day. He admits to being singularly focused, not willing to listen to reason, and Sam, the good brother that he is, says Dean has pulled him back from the brink too.

They asses their dire situation, and glumly toast with whiskey.

Back in Death’s library, a reaper gives her an update. She tells him The Plan Has Changed, as she holds a now gross, crusty shoulder wound.

Charlie!

Her girlfriend is making her eggs, and they are making plans. As Charlie raves about the non-rubbery eggs, Stevie’s plate crashes to the ground, and Charlie is left with an empty room, calling out “Stevie?”

Dammit, does no one get a break on this show??? (I love it, though)

Sam and Dean show up at Kim Manor (awwwwww), and Charlie tells the story of meeting Stevie. She didn’t know who else to call. When Sam and Dean ask if there were any signs before she vanished, Charlie, who is exasperated at this point, says there was nothing.

Sam and Dean exchange grim looks.

Jack and Cass are outside waiting by the car. Cass asks how Jack’s doing, taking his job as Jack’s dad seriously. Jack doesn’t know how to feel. He was ready to die for Sam and Dean and the world, he wanted to make things right. Now, he doesn’t know why he’s even here.

Cass tells Jack that the boys care about him because he’s him. Jack, still very much a puppy, doesn’t like how everyone is so mad. Jack doesn’t even have his powers, the thing he thinks everyone likes about him. He feels useless because he can’t protect anyone. (A running theme with Jack) He’s scared, and Cass says he is too. (sweetest little angel)

Our beautiful boys explain to Charlie what is going on with Death and Chuck. Charlie is mad that she finally let her guard down with love, and now this. She asks the boys if Stevie is collateral damage to them, if that’s what she will be too.

Sam’s phone rings as Charlie ponders the situation. It’s Bobby. Dean, clearly miserable about the current situation, apologizes to Charlie. Bobby tells Sam that another apocalypse world guy just vanished.

As the amount of missing begins to grow, Sam remembers that Eileen isn’t supposed to be alive. Charlie tells them to go, and our four boys jump in the Impala, racing to Eileen. As Dean drives, Sam and Eileen are texting, when she suddenly stops responding. The mood in baby is grim.

Dean sneaks a peek at Sam’s phone, sees Sam’s quiet alarm, and puts on the gas.

They roll up to Eileen’s street, only to find Eileen’s phone and things lying on the sidewalk. The title of this episode rears its ugly head, DESPAIR.

Sam concocts a plan: Gather everyone in a safe space, with warding up the wazoo. While Sam gets everyone they can find, Dean and Cass head off to find Billie, and end it.

D-Train is activating the phone tree, and they’ll all meet up later.

While putting gas in their car, Sam sees Jack staring forlornly off into the distance. Sam tells Jack he needs him to drive while he looks up spells and whatnot. It’s sweet, giving Jack some purpose. Everyone is being so nice to Jack!

Back at the bunker, Dean grabs the scythe, ready to finish the job. Cass trails behind as they make their way back to Death’s library.

Arriving at the secret silo, Sam and Donna hug as Jack heads off to help with the warding. Donna says Jody and the girls are on high alert, and even though she isn’t on Death’s list, she is there for anything they need.

Charlie arrives to help, saying she doesn’t want this to happen to anyone else. Sam gives her the Thank You eyes, and follows her to their last hope.

Sam finds Bobby inside, and assess the situation. Bobby tells Sam that he’s in charge. I don’t know where all these people came from, since the bulk of the AU people were vaporized last season, but apparently there are some left. Maybe they were off hunting, or getting on with their lives.

Bobby is worried about the “lav situation”, which is very practical of him, and something I wondered about as well. 🙂

The walls of the secret silo are covered with warding. Sam says he has a spell that will strengthen the warding. It’s all he’s got. Sam and Bobby seem skeptical.

While painting sigils on the wall, Jack spies a tiny sapling growing in the dank room. He goes to remove it at Donna’s request, and it molders as Jack tries to touch it.

Dean and Castiel arrive at Billie’s library, Cass with his angel blade, Dean wielding Death’s scythe.

Dean takes a swing, telling her to stop killing his friends, but Billie tosses him one more time. Cass lunges, but she just dodges him. Billie easily grabs Castiel by the throat, and presses him against the wall. She remembers him stabbing her in the back, and her hand tightens around his throat.

Dean stabs Billie with the scythe, right in her wound,. Billie cries out in pain, and Dean slams her against the wall. Billie catches the edge of the blade with her hand, a bright light glows where it cuts into her fingers. Dean has her pinned, and he tells her to stop killing his people. Billie says its not her. She laughs:

“You’re in the wrong place.”

Sam casts the strengthening spell, and the warding glows with power.

Billie says that it’s probably Chuck who’s getting people gone. She bares her teeth and grits out that they are wasting time.

People back in the silo begin disappearing, one by one. The randos we don’t know, then Charlie, Bobby and then Donna, too! Seems as though Chuck is disappearing all of their friends? The only two left in the not-so-secret silo are Sam and Jack. They gawp at each other. DESPAIR

Billie says the first wound Dean inflicted was fatal, and shows him the now gooey and spreading wound. Billie doesn’t care about any of it anymore. What she does want to see, is Dean dead. She gathers her strength, and flings Dean and Cass across the room. But Billie is wounded and slow, and Dean and Cass are able to scramble back to their feet, and find the door back to the bunker.

Castiel and Dean scamper around, trying to come up with a plan. Billie appears on the landing and puts a strangle hold on Dean’s heart. She is furious, and to her, Dean is the worst of them all. He is a death-defying, rule-breaking little human, all the things that Death despises.

Cass tries to help Dean, who is bent over in pain. Billie heads straight for them, but when she thinks she has them, we see they have escaped down a corridor. Billie follows them, running her scythe down the tiled wall as she teases Dean, knowing she will win.

(Lisa Berry runs with this version of Billie, and she is killing it!)

Dean and Cass reach the torture room, and Castiel paints a blood sigil on the door. It won’t keep Billie out forever, but gives the boys precious moments to devise a plan.

Dean knows they’re trapped, and a resounding feeling of despair paints his face. Billie pounds on the door, each slam of the fist breaks down the sigil a little bit more. Dean is mad at himself for not being strong enough to hurt Chuck. He lambasts himself for only being a killer. He wishes that in these final moments, they could be with Sam and Jack.

“Everybody’s gonna die, Cass. Everybody. I can’t stop it.”

THIS IS DEAN’S WORST NIGHTMARE

Cass and Dean exchange looks, both knowing that Billie’s gonna get through that door and kill them.

Castiel has an idea. He tells Dean about his deal with The Empty. Dean is confused, tears in his eyes. Castiel tells him that he knows he can summon the Empty by experiencing a moment of pure joy.

Castiel says that he always wondered what that moment of joy would look like. He knew he couldn’t have the one thing he always wanted, and realizes that the happiness isn’t in the having, but in being.

Castiel tells Dean that all those things he thinks about himself, that he’s Daddy’s blunt instrument, and deals only in death and chaos, is wrong. That the real truth is that Dean has done everything for love. Knowing Dean has changed him, and taught him how to care about Sam and Jack and the world.

Dean is stunned, and he tells Cass not to do this. Dean hates it when the people he loves try to say goodbye.

Castiel affirms that he is indeed saying goodbye. He says it with tears in his eyes, and relief on his face. He tells Dean that he loves him, and the overwhelming outpouring out of emotion summons the Empty just as Billie breaks through the door.

Cass shoves Dean aside, leaving a bloody handprint on the same shoulder as when he raised Dean from perdition. The Empty’s gooey blackness reaches out and engulfs Castiel, and snags Billie too!

The Empty retreats, and leaves a stunned Dean, all alone on the floor.

GAH!

SWEETEST LITTLE ANGEL

Sam tries over and over to call Dean. Jack asks if it was just their friends who disappeared. Sam doesn’t know, and we cut to scenes of places without people. (Some say it reminds them of Avengers, I say it reminds me of The Leftovers. YMMV) Sam and Jack exchange worried looks. They quietly freak out!

Dean sits alone and crying as his phone buzzes with Sam’s calls next to him.

I love that Castiel sacrificed himself for Dean. I love that Castiel learned what love is from Dean. Dean has thought of Castiel as a brother since season six.

They have had their ups and downs, just like most families, but Dean has fought for Castiel as hard as he has for all of the others dead and gone. He made sure Castiel knew he was family one more time back in season eleven.

This show is all about the love. It’s one of the things that draws me to it. And Dean weeping alone at the end? Well, to me that is Dean feeling the loss of someone he would have given his life for. That’s Dean’s deal, he fights for the ones he loves, and has sacrificed himself over and over for them. When one of them returns the favor, it is always world changing.

When Dean was at his lowest, someone who is his family returned the favor. Reminded him that he is loved. That he is worthy of love.

There was a running joke back in the early days of this show that Sam and Dean never said I love you to each other, even though they clearly did. And now, as we round the corner of the series, we have yet another beloved character do what Sam and Dean could never do for themselves, show them the love they deserve.

It’s a crushing blow, but I think it will be the thing to snap Dean out of his despair, and give him the will to fight all the way to the end.

That’s how I see it.

NEXT! (It’s almost over, and I just can’t)