WiC Watches: Supernatural season 15

5 of 6

Supernatural — “Galaxy Brain” — Image Number: SN1512b_0087b.jpg — Pictured (L-R): Lisa Berry as Billie, Alexander Calvert as Jack and Misha Collins as Castiel — Photo: Bettina Strauss/The CW — © 2020 The CW Network, LLC. All Rights Reserved.

Episode 1512: “Galaxy Brain”

Taking big, stupid risks for the sake of one life? The Winchesters are definitely back from their hiatus and they’ve teamed up with Sheriff Jody Mills for some alternate universe action.

“Galaxy Brain” goes down a path involving an intense amount of recollection about characters and plots I’d long since forgotten about. On purpose. Remember the dreamwalkers Kaia and alternate world Kaia (Kaia 2.0)? Do you recall Kaia 2.0 killing Kaia in “the Bad Place” and then hitching a ride to Sam and Dean’s world through a rift? I didn’t (want to) either — the alternate world storyline was probably my least favorite — but it started coming back to me as things progressed.

The episode starts with events that happened four weeks prior on Earth 2 where Hillary Clinton is the President of the United States. Shifty-eyed Chuck walks into Radio Shed (cute) and dumps his destructive intentions on a poor sales guy who just wants to do his job. In a self-indulgent monologue, he explains that after creating the world, he couldn’t stop, so he created other worlds with “different combinations, scenarios, characters. Different versions of the same characters” — his other “toys”.

He’s frustrated that only the real Sam and Dean won’t go along with his Cain and Abel plot. So because they challenge, disappoint and surprise him, they’re the only ones who really matter. He then announces he doesn’t need any more distractions and it’s time for the board to be cleared, which is Chuck-speak for destroying all the other worlds and focusing on the important one. This sets the events of the episode into motion.

We then cut to the real world, present day. In Sioux Falls, Jody investigates a cow mutilation, which turns out to be human-inflicted violence, not a monster problem. She notices someone running into the barn and doesn’t take the opportunity to bail in the opposite direction. She investigates, of course, and is set upon. We later learn it’s Kaia 2.0, who is using Jody to lure the Winchesters into an ambush.

At the bunker, the Winchesters and Castiel discuss Billie’s plan for Jack (which requires him to eat hearts), the problem of him still being soulless, his return after months in The Empty and upsetting the cosmic balance if God is killed — their conversations are so much more interesting than the ones I have. Sam is concerned and apprehensive, Castiel trusts in Jack and Dean believes in Billie because she’s a stickler for the rules.

Meanwhile, Jack silently prays to Death/Billie and encounters the bored-looking reaper Merle instead, who has been sent by Billie to keep an eye on him in her absence. I liked her from the very moment I saw her “over it” attitude towards her babysitting duties. Jack has a lot of questions about Billie leaving him in the lurch, but Merle’s advice is for him to lay low and not use his powers under any circumstances, so as not to alert Chuck to his ‘alive’ status. Advice that evidently means nothing to him.

Supernatural — “Galaxy Brain” — Image Number: SN1512a_0141b.jpg — Pictured (L-R): Kim Rhodes as Jody Mills and Jared Padalecki as Sam — Photo: Katie Yu/The CW — © 2020 The CW Network, LLC. All Rights Reserved.

After getting a call from a captive Jody, the Winchesters rush to her rescue, where Kaia 2.0 kicks their rear ends before being subdued. She reminds them of their promise that Jack would help her get back to her own world, which is dying. Its destruction has been revealed to her through Kaia’s eyes — who, in fact, is still very much alive, alone and scared in the alternate world.

The revelation floors Jody and the Winchesters — more than it did me as I’d apparently forgotten all about how close they were to her — catapulting them on a single-minded mission to rescue Kaia. With Jack and his powers off limits, they scramble to find other ways to jump worlds, much to “not Kaia”’s irritation.

After guilt-tripping Jack and then explaining why she’d made a mistake and why she didn’t belong in that world, Kaia 2.0 begs Jack to help them. He uses his power to dreamwalk in Kaia 2.0’s mind and sees Kaia’s bleak circumstances in the alternate world. Spurred by her dire situation, Jack declares that helping her is the right thing to do, forcing an exasperated Merle to make her presence known to the surprised Winchesters. She points out that him being willing to risk it all for one life is “Winchester dumb.”

Threats pass between the two of them and Jack emerges the victor. Merle begrudgingly assists with finding the safest and smartest way for him to open the rift without being detected by God. Death “never has to know,” Jack adds. Merle informs the Winchesters that they didn’t repair the cosmic warding properly after Amara removed it and while it can’t be restored permanently, she can get it back up for a while with Castiel’s help. Castiel urges Jody to stay behind too, for Claire’s sake. His compelling argument is that if they fail to save Kaia, Claire will be devastated but if she loses Jody as well, she’ll never recover.

In short, they open the rift to the Bad Place, rescue Kaia and Kaia 2.0 elects to stay behind. Her world is moments away from ending, thus sealing her fate, which she embraces. Back in the real world, Jody and Kaia are reunited. She happily agrees to move to Sioux Falls to live with Jody and Claire, so off they go. Chuck is none the wiser — success!

It’s not a happy ending for our friend Merle, though. In a dramatic entrance, Billie cuts her down with her scythe for being the weakest player and failing to keep Jack in line. After staring them down for what feels like eons — even I could feel her silent judgement — she expresses her disappointment in Jack and the importance of seeing the big picture.

“I understand that one life means nothing in the grand scheme. That girl you saved from a dying world, you think hers was the only one? They’re all dying. All the worlds, each and every world but this one,” she tells them, explaining that Chuck has been wiping the slate clean for the end.

When Sam questions what her endgame is, we learn that when Billie became Death, she inherited Death’s knowledge and his library, and that everyone has a book that writes itself, including God. She confirms that Chuck the almighty (douche) can die. Jack has his part to play, as do Sam and Dean, who are “the messengers of God’s destruction.”

Back on Earth 2, Chuck relaxes in a recliner in the Radio Shed, watching the destruction of the worlds on several television screens with alarming indifference. Some worlds are more complex and take longer to extinguish than others, he explains to the disheveled sales guy who’s been serving him for weeks. After lying to the poor man that everything will be just fine, he exits the store as a fiery meteor crashes. I really disapprove of Chuck’s existence.

I wasn’t particularly fond of the alternate world plot resurfacing and Kaia surviving seemed contrived. Her rescue itself was quick, far too easy and under-emphasized. I can only assume that it served as a plot device to propel us towards Billie’s revelation, because the only way this episode truly advanced the primary storyline was by revealing Sam and Dean’s destiny. And it was great to see Jody again.

It also revealed that maybe Dean and Castiel weren’t misguided in their stances. Billie does indeed intend to reap God, and while Jack doesn’t have a soul, he does have a genuine desire to do good.

Super highlights

How have Jody and Castiel never met before this? How did I not realize they’d never met? For me, this was the episode’s biggest surprise.
Castiel’s restored faith was heartening to see. When Jack died, he tells Dean he was lost in a way he’d never experienced before because he’d believed Jack had a big destiny and the story wasn’t over yet. For him, Jack’s return meant his beliefs were right.

Home/Sci-Fi Movies and Shows