Review: Supernatural Episode 1518, “Despair”

With a title like “Despair,” you know the latest episode of Supernatural will leave us weepy. We call fan service on the show confirming that ship, though.

We bid a tearful but sadly anticipated farewell to a beloved major character, Dean turns his seething sights on Billie (or is it the other way round?) and many familiar faces return, only to disappear again. “Despair” is a truly bleak but necessary offering as we hurtle towards the end.

However, the biggest shock came when the Supernatural writers sold their souls, pandered to the fans and set shipper hearts aflutter by making Destiel canon. For those of you who don’t know or care about the Supernatural ships, Destiel was created by those who wanted Dean and Castiel together. At best, I’ve always found shipping culture annoying but confirming this particular ship felt baseless. Despite what the shippers have been writing for years, there has never been any indication that Castiel’s feelings towards Dean were anything other than familial or brotherly. Not once, even for a brief second, did I get the impression Castiel was in love with him.

The episode picks up directly from where “Unity” left off. Jack is on the brink of exploding in the bunker. A distressed Castiel encourages him to take deep breaths — it’s like trying to put a band-aid on, well, a ticking bomb — but Jack begs them to take him outside so he doesn’t hurt them. Dean seems particularly panicked and unwilling to give up on him. Who was the one who helped him along to his current position again?

Anyway, it’s water under the bridge. Dean’s rapid 180 gave me whiplash, but I love him and I forgive him. It’s the writers who will bear the brunt of my everlasting grudge.

Supernatural — “Despair” — Image Number: SN1518A_0067r.jpg — Pictured (L-R): Lisa Berry as Billie, Jared Padalecki as Sam, Jensen Ackles as Dean and Misha Collins as Castiel — Photo: Colin Bentley/The CW — © 2020 The CW Network, LLC. All Rights Reserved.

Billie appears in the bunker ominously holding her scythe and voices her displeasure with the boys. She rests the failure of the plan squarely on their shoulders, not on Chuck’s omniscient ability. Castiel begs her to save Jack, but while she can’t stop it, she can intervene. She proceeds to send Jack to The Empty where, moments later, he explodes.

Billie explains that Jack was a bomb designed to specifically destroy cosmic forces. Now that Chuck and Amara were gone, The Empty was the only entity left who could absorb the impact of the bomb. However, Jack may not be dead, she tells them. Killing Chuck and Amara would’ve killed him, but while The Empty is not as powerful, it’s vast. She warns them, however, that if both survive, The Empty will be irate. Fortunately, she can’t come to Earth unless she’s summoned.

If Jack’s still alive, Billie agrees to bring him back but only once Sam returns Chuck’s book to her. Sam confronts her, saying her plan was always to betray them and restore order, which means returning everyone to their original worlds and killing all who were resurrected or given a second chance, including them. While there’s nothing to stop her from following through with her plan once she gets the book back, Billie reminds Sam that he doesn’t have a choice; she’s Jack’s only hope of escaping The Empty. Sam unceremoniously gives it back to her and she wastes no time reading the new ending, despite Dean hassling her to hurry up and save Jack. What she reads seems to please or intrigue her. “Interesting,” she says.

In the vast black eternity of The Empty, Jack appears reassembled but powerless. Unfortunately, The Empty begins reassembling too, and as predicted, she’s livid. “You did this! You made it loud,” she bellows, holding Jack’s face in a crushing grip. But before she can obliterate his skull, Billie snaps him back to the bunker.

However, she refuses to hand Jack over to the boys, saying he’s still useful. While Sam’s busy protesting, Dean charges forward, grabs the scythe and swipes at Billie, cutting her shoulder and causing her to drop the book. She sends Dean flying across the room before vanishing.

Later that night, Sam finds Dean drowning his sorrows in a glass of whiskey; he’s also unable to sleep. Dean apologizes to Sam for his behavior. He says it’s as though he couldn’t stop and uses what sounds like a “shark smelling blood in the water” metaphor. Victory and Chuck’s death were within their grasp, it’s all he could focus on and nothing could snap him out of that headspace. Naturally, Sam forgives him, saying Dean’s snapped him out of far worse.

They now stare down the very hopeless barrel of a gun: Chuck is most likely more powerful than ever, having absorbed Amara, Billie is salivating to end their lives, Jack has no more power and Michael has been ignoring their contact. I forgot about Michael, as did everyone else, including the writers. I love it when they arbitrarily dredge up characters from obscurity to fill plot holes. Yet the Winchesters drink to “somehow” finding a way.

Back in her library, Billie walks through the halls with an air of wrathful intent. The plan has changed, she confirms to one of her librarian minions.

The story then drastically shifts to Charlie 2.0 cleaning guns at the table while her hunter girlfriend Stevie (Victoria Katongo) makes breakfast. After frowning at my screen for 10 minutes, I welcomed Felicia Day’s happy, pleasant face. It was good to see Charlie again, even if she wasn’t the original. We know all too well that happiness or any trace of domestic bliss is short-lived on Supernatural, and poor Charlie 2.0 doesn’t even have a chance to finish her breakfast before Stevie vanishes.

A little while later, Sam and Dean are checking for signs of the supernatural at her apartment. After she recounts what happened leading up to Stevie’s disappearance, the Winchesters seem to realize something at the same moment.

Jack and Castiel wait outside so as not to overwhelm Charlie 2.0, giving them a chance to talk. Jack expresses his feeling of purposelessness now that the plan has failed. He says he was ready to die and to make things right. Castiel tells him he never needed absolution from them, they care about him for who he is, not for what he can do. They both admit to feeling scared, however.

Back in Charlie’s apartment, Dean tells her they’ve made some big enemies. Sam elaborates, explaining Death’s intention to send everyone from the alternate world packing. While they can’t be sure, Stevie fits the pattern. Visibly upset, Charlie asks if they’re just collateral damage to the Winchesters. Harsh, girl!

Sam gets a call from Bobby notifying him that another “apocalypse world refugee” has disappeared. It confirms that no one’s safe.

Realizing Eileen is also in danger, Sam and company rush off. While urging her (via text) to get out of the house and somewhere public, her replies suddenly stop, sending waves of tension rippling through the car. Moments later, they arrive at her house, only to find her phone (how cute that she has Sam as her wallpaper) and bag lying on the ground. Sam does his best not to fall apart, knowing he can’t afford to. His wheels start turning and he tells the others they need to get everyone on Billie’s list to a safe, central location where they can put up every bit of warding known to them.

On a side note: it’s a pity Sam and Eileen’s relationship fell by the wayside. She’s important to Sam, yet the relationship was reduced to little more than texts and dates that were alluded to. I’ll concede, though, that perhaps it was due to Covid-19-related safety measures. Social distancing, y’all!

Dean agrees that Sam should execute his plan, but he’s forged one of his own: finish what he started by going after Billie. He reasons that he may not have been able to kill Chuck, but at least he can kill Billie using her blade. Castiel says he’ll accompany Dean, so the brothers say their somber goodbyes and go off separately.

We then see another familiar face: Donna (Briana Buckmaster) is on the phone with Sam. She’s found a secure spot: an abandoned silo. She’s texted the coordinates to the relevant people and she’s instructed Bobby to do the same. “What’s the plan when you get here?” she asks. “I’m still working on that,” Sam replies. “Okey doke,” is her good-natured response. The trust she places in him is heartwarming to see.

Sam and Jack arrive at the silo and are greeted by Donna, who explains that Bobby is there with his crew, more alternate world refugees are on their way and she’s informed the other hunters — Garth, Jody etc. — of the situation. They’ll be ready to spring into action if needed. Sam explains they’re not on Death’s list and neither is Donna, so they should be safe. What was so incredibly touching about this scene is how Donna and the Winchesters’ other allies have come forward to do their part to help, which Sam appreciates. It felt like one big figurative group hug.

The silo is filled with those believed to be on Billie’s list. Protective warding covers the walls. Bobby tells Sam he’s in charge, and that when these people were told the instructions came from Sam, no one hesitated to follow them. Here come the waterworks.

Sadly, the warding, which Sam bolsters with one of Rowena’s spells, doesn’t work, and people begin disappearing. Sam watches Bobby, Charlie and Donna vanish before his eyes until only he and Jack are left. Frantic and devastated, Sam and Jack wander outside and Jack asks a very pertinent question: “Sam, was it just them?” The tragic answer is no; we’re shown scenes of a world void of people.

While this takes place, Dean and Castiel arrive at the bunker, grab Death’s scythe and enter her library. However, Billie doesn’t appear to be caught off guard. “Hello, boys! What’s the plan, take me down with my own weapon?” she asks. Billie says this time, Dean needs to have better aim, but he says he wasn’t trying to kill her the last time. He is now, because she’s started killing his friends.

Billie then sends Dean flying across the room, which tends to happen in every single fight they have with an omnipotent being. While she tries to throttle the life out of Castiel, Dean stabs her with the blade and manages to pin her against the wall. “It’s over, call it off! Stop killing my people!” he orders.

Finally, Billie confesses she’s not the one responsible, Chuck almighty is. She lets them in on another secret: the cut from the blade is fatal, and she uncovers a rancid-looking wound. With her inevitable death looming, she expresses that her one wish before the end is to see Dean dead. With that, she grabs the scythe from him and takes a violent swipe at them. I believe the cat has just become the mouse.

Dean and Castiel hastily retreat from the library and scramble around the bunker aimlessly, trying to think what to do next. Dean doubles over in pain as Billie uses her power to start crushing his heart. “It’s you, Dean, it’s always been you. Death-defying, rule-breaking: you are everything I live to set right, to put down, to tame. You are human disorder incarnate,” she says while she stalks them through the bunker. So, a peaceful discussion is out of the question then?

Castiel drags Dean to safety and blocks Billie’s grip on Dean (and his heart) by drawing a blood sigil on the door. Castiel clings to the last shred of hope they have, saying that maybe if they can wait it out long enough, she’ll succumb to her wound. If they can’t wait it out, Cas proposes they fight, but Dean knows they’ll lose. His guilt comes crashing down on him as he declares he’s led them into another trap, and all because he wanted to hurt Chuck but couldn’t. He needed to kill something and let his anger guide him. “And because that’s all I know how to do,” Dean laments, drowning in the knowledge that the people they love are going to die and there’s nothing he can do about it. Dean and Castiel both know that Billie is going to get through the door and she’s going to kill them.

However, Castiel remembers that there is someone who can challenge Billie: The Empty. He quickly gives Dean the rundown of the deal he made with The Empty in order to save Jack’s life and how, when he experiences a moment of true happiness, she/it would be summoned and would claim him for all time.

Castiel admits that ever since he made the deal, he wondered what his true happiness would even look like, but he never found an answer. I, too, had pondered this question. I did not expect his startling, tearful confession though.

“The one thing I want is something I know I can’t have,” he says, looking Dean straight in the eye and knocking the wind out of my sails. But as if Dean and I weren’t stunned enough, he goes on. “I think I know now. Happiness isn’t in the having, it’s in just being. It’s in just saying it.”

Dean is the picture of absolute bewilderment. You and me both, buddy. He questions what Castiel is talking about, and Cas says he knows that Dean sees himself the same way their enemies do: destructive, angry, broken and as John’s blunt instrument. “And you think that hate and anger, that’s what drives you, that’s who you are. It’s not. And everyone who knows you sees it. Everything you have ever done, the good and the bad, you have done for love. You raised your little brother for love. You fought for this whole world for love. That is who you are.”

He continues: “You’re the most caring man on Earth. You are the most selfless loving human being I will ever know. You know, ever since we met, ever since I pulled you out of Hell, knowing you has changed me. Because you cared, I cared. I cared about you, I cared about Sam, I cared about Jack. I cared about the whole world because of you. You changed me, Dean.”

Admittedly, I was terribly weepy at this point but I’m an emotional wreck of a person in general. To me, Dean’s reaction seemed like a mix of touched and confused. The implications of what Castiel is saying appear to be dawning on him, but he doesn’t address it. Possibly because he is also caught completely unawares.

“Why does this sound like a goodbye?” Dean asks. “Because it is. I love you,” are Castiel’s final words. He looks at Dean with all the love and longing in the world while Dean begs him not to go through with sacrificing himself. The blackness of The Empty begins to appear in the bunker as Billie’s relentless banging on the door continues. Castiel places his hands on Dean’s shoulder and pushes him out of the way. His touch leaves a handprint on his jacket, much the same as the handprint he left on Dean when he pulled him from Hell. Billie enters the room, but Castiel, in his moment of true happiness and with a smile on his face, gets pulled into The Empty, and Billie along with him.

Dean is left stunned and broken on the floor. When Sam calls, he ignores it and breaks down in tears. Understandably so, because not only has he just lost his family, but he has to grapple with the intensity of what he’s just learned. My man Dean is overwhelmed!

Castiel’s death is gut-wrenching, even for someone who’s had time to prepare and come to terms with the possibility — The Empty has been a dark cloud looming over Cas’s head ever since he made the deal. It was the perfect, most fitting way for him to go, though — by choice and while protecting someone he loves. What threw me for a loop was the decision to make Castiel’s feelings towards Dean romantic in the eleventh hour. It felt strictly like fan service. Some have argued that it was an expression of brotherly love but I have to disagree, the wording felt expressly clear in its meaning.

It really hurts to say goodbye to our fiercely loyal, loving, oblivious trenchcoat-wearing angel. A special thanks and congratulations go out to Misha Collins, who has done an extraordinary job of portraying him so endearingly and passionately all these years.

This episode marked the pinnacle of hopelessness and despair in the journey thus far, and I don’t have the fortitude to imagine the emotional battery that the penultimate one has in store. How will Dean cope with Castiel’s sacrifice and admission of love? Has everyone else on the planet disappeared and can/will they be brought back? I assume that because Michael was randomly mentioned in this episode, he’ll make an appearance at some stage but with almost no one left, destroying Chuck looks to be all but impossible.

Lastly, is Dean technically responsible for reaping Billie, since he delivered the fatal cut and will this be significant in any way? Will someone else be taking her place?

Super highlights

The Winchesters have Chuck’s book, and although the revised ending still remains a mystery, they must have it for a reason. I don’t know who will be able to read it now that Billie’s dead, but I’d like to know what she found so interesting.
Jack may not have his powers, but he came back changed. While in the silo, a small growing plant immediately dies when his hand hovers over it. At this stage of the game, it has to be of consequence.
In an attempt to make Jack feel useful, Sam asks him to drive, saying he has work to do and he can’t drive and look for spells at the same time. You could almost see the purpose returning to Jack’s face. This small but kind gesture is worth mentioning.

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