"The Rupture" – Supernatural S15E03 Review

That's it? Kind of anticlimactic.

Yes, in "The Rupture" two recurring characters Supernatural seemingly died. And *spoiler* got a decent send off. Rather than *more spoilers*, who got an unceremonious sendoff. But if fans were expecting some big God-induced Apocalypse, they're going to be disappointed. Three episodes and the Winchesters have resolved the problem. Sure, God is still out there and there's no reason to believe he's just going to stop... Apocalypting because the Winchesters stopped his first easy-to-stop Apocalypse.

It's just that the "Ghostpocalypse" (yes, Dean called it that) took place in one relatively small town, and didn't involve anyone actually doing anything other than Team Winchester. Yes, there were Hunters, but they just wandered around the perimeter. They didn't even provide cannon fodder. They just wandered around the perimeter and looked grim. I'm sure the creative team has other plans for the season and they didn't want to spend it on a world-tour with hundreds of participants, fire raining from the sky (and we got squids raining from the sky in the Watchmen premiere anyway), cats and dogs living together, and such. But if you don't throw in some Apocalyptic stuff, God's Apocalypse doesn't seem very... Apocalyptic.

Want to know who died? Keep reading. Team Winchester is still dealing with the fallout from the spirits leaving Hell. Which involve the ghosts throwing themselves at Belphegor's mystic barrier spell and emitting red sparks. Presumably the process isn't fatal, or what passes for fatal with the spirits.

Team Winchester retreats to the crypt from the season premiere. And they come up with a plan to stop the Ghostpocalypse. Belphegor and Castiel will travel to Hell and get Lilith's Crook. Which is a horn that they can use to summon the spirits (And demons. What demons? We haven't seen any freed demons.) back to Hell. Sam works with Rowena to cast a spell to "heal" the rupture. Dean will drop the payload into the hole in the graveyard the spirits are emerging from. This is supposedly very dangerous for Dean, but there's never any danger that we see. So why bother bringing it up?

Ketch wakes up in his hospital bed, and the demon after Belphegor, Ardat (Sharon Taylor), shows up and they fight. When Ketch refuses to give up Belphegor's location because it will betray the Winchesters, Ardat rips his heart out. *more spoiler* (Ketch) is dead.

In Hell, Castiel tells Belphegor why he can't stand the sight of him. Belphegor taunts Castiel about how readily Dean volunteered Castiel for the Hell Trip. They eventually get the Crook, Ardat shows up, and reveals that Belphegor plans to use the Crook to absorb the spirits (and demons. Again, what demons?) of Hell to become its new ruler. Belphegor kills her, then reveals that Ardat was right and blows the horn. The spirits flow back to Hell and into Belphegor through the Crook. Castiel manages to kill Belphegor, after a brief bit where Belphegor pretends to be Jack to get Castiel to stop.

With that plan kaput, Rowena tells Sam that she has a backup: if she sacrifices herself, she can absorb the spirits into her body and take them to Hell, and they'll remain trapped there after her body breaks apart from the strain. Rowena needs Sam to kill her because she can't do it, and because Death's books prophesied that Sam would kill her. He eventually says "No"... and then rams a knife into her stomach. So *spoiler* Rowena is dead too. She walks to the rupture and falls in.

Castiel joins up with the Winchesters, and they find out Ketch is dead. Sam doesn't take having to kill Rowena too well. Dean lays into Castiel about how he keeps screwing up, and Castiel figures that Dean is still mad at him about Mary's death. Castiel says that it's time for him to move on and leaves. Way to stick by your friend Sam in his time of suffering.

Judging from the previews, it looks like we're back to a more light-hearted post-Apocalyptic adventure next week.

As I noted, Rowena (Ruth Connell) gets a decent sendoff. Ketch (David Haydn-Jones) less so, but the creative team hasn't known what to do with him since the Men of Letters storyline got wrapped up a while back. I can't blame them for wanting to bring Haydn-Jones back: he's a good actor. But the character never seemed to quite fit in post-Men of Letters. So if they killed him off to give the season some "teeth" and to wrap up loose ends, I can't say I blame the creative team for doing so.

And is it just me, or could Haydn-Jones and John Barrowman be brothers?

Rowena's death is a little more problematic. She's another character that has been all over the board, from evil witch to neutral ally to this week's "sacrifice herself to save the world" noble hero. There's been a progression of sorts, but the creative team has spent more time telling us about her transformation than showing us. Again, I'm not surprised that the creative team killed off Rowena: they seem determined to clear the board in the final season. But it seemed like she had more to contribute.

Belphegor (and Jack's body) get disintegrated when Castiel smites him. I wouldn't think they could come up with a way to bring Jack (Alexander Calvert) back. But they managed to do it in the first three episodes of this season. With magic, anything is possible. So they could do it. Should they? I don't know. It seems pointless to make a writing effort to bring Jack back at the same time they're killing (Rowena, Ketch) or ditching (Castiel) other characters.

Sam is all troubled that he had to kill Rowena. Dean is more of a dick to Castiel than usual. As Castiel notes, his powers have been fading (why?) and he's tried to talk to Dean about it, but Dean has shut him out. What about Sam? Has Sam been shutting Castiel out, too?

As I kind of predicted a couple of reviews ago, Supernatural looks to toss out at least one light-hearted episode. Then will eventually return to a darker plot for the at least the rest of the season. Chuck is still out. So is Ardat, but she doesn't seem to be much of a threat. Demons just aren't that big a menace to the Winchesters these days. Demons are kinda like ghosts, and at the end of the day the Ghostpocalypse was just the Winchesters dealing with another monster outbreak. The ghosts never seem to be that big a menace: not as much as Michael's super-boosted monster army last season.

But there are still plenty of characters to resolve the fates of: Garth, Jody, Donna, and the Girl Gang, and Apocalypse World Bobby come to mind. So I'm sure that along with the usual plots, schemes, comedy episodes, and Big Bad shenanigans, the creative team will have a busy time of it this season.

But that's just my opinion, I could be wrong. What do you think?