‘Supernatural’ Season 14 Episode 17 Recap: “Game Night”

By
Saim Cheeda
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Supernatural Season 14 Episode 17
Alexander Calvert as Jack and Samantha Smith as Mary Winchester in ‘Supernatural’ season 14 episode 17 (Photo: Diyah Pera © 2019 The CW Network)

When this season started out, we thought it would be about Alternate Michael’s quest for power, but Supernatural’s season 14 episode 17 “Game Night” made it clear that it was all leading toward Jack’s fall from grace.

Now that the Michael thing’s been done with, the B story of the season took center stage this week as we returned back to the exploits of Nick (Mark Pellegrino) – the guy who is Lucifer through and through in evilness. We touch base with Old Donnie (Keith Szarabajka) as he’s making dinner – for a guy who’s soulless, the guy sure does have a lot of personality – and enjoying the heck out of the process. Donatello is interrupted when a stranger shows up, ties the prophet, and painfully injects him with a mysterious substance.

We are treated to a family game night at the Men of Letters bunker as Jack (Alexander Calvert), Dean (Jensen Ackles), and Mary (Samantha Smith) are about to sit down for a game while Sam’s out picking dinner, before Dean gets a chilling message from Donnie begging for his help. Donnie also speaks in a language none of the heroes can understand.

When Dean can’t get through Sam’s cell, he and Mary hit the road for Donnie’s. An incensed Sam (Jared Padalecki), who’s still dealing with guilt at losing his friends, translates the message with Jack. It is revealed to be a Bible verse about the Devil. Obviously, Nick’s behind everything.

Dean and Mary find the Devil’s number one fan at Donnie’s house being all nonchalant. Clearly, he’s got something up his sleeve. Dean tries to beat the information of Donatello’s whereabouts out of Nick, who reveals that he’s poisoned the prophet and he has only 24 hours to live before it takes effect. Dean and Mary bring Nick back to HQ where an even more livid than before Sam is prepared to make Nick pay.

However, Dean makes him stay put while he interrogates Nick. Meanwhile, Mary makes a similar speech she’d given to Dean in the car to Sam, about how he’s a good man and how he shouldn’t blame himself for all the people he’s lost, and the people Nick’s killed. If you know Supernatural, you know this is going to lead up to something happening to Mary soon enough. Dean’s efforts are fruitless, and Nick only agrees to talk to “his son” – Jack.

Jack is enraged enough during their little chat that Nick headbutts him when the boy gets up in Nick’s face. Jack’s bleeding face is quickly healed by him, though, and he tells the others that Nick has agreed to show him where Donatello is.

While Jack and Mary stay behind (a trademark boneheaded Winchester decision), Sam and Dean are taken to a warehouse. Dean heads inside while Sam keeps an eye on Nick in the car. At the bunker, Jack is able to detect that the injection Nick used has angel grace in it, not poison. Upon being informed of this, Sam pulls a gun on Nick and asks him what he’s planning. Nick candidly reveals he used Donatello, whose prophet status makes him unique, to talk to Lucifer in the Empty – remember many episodes back when he’d woken up there?

In a flashback, we see Lucifer communicate through Donatello to Nick that he needed Jack’s blood to complete the process of extracting Lucifer from the Empty, hence why Nick headbutted Jack in order to get his blood smeared on his shirt. This whole thing was a ploy to get Jack’s blood. In a meta moment, Nick argues that “nobody stays dead anymore,” and Sam should know best. Nick, who’s become the world champion of unlocking handcuffs by now, does so again and attacks Sam.

Supernatural Season 14 Episode 17
Jensen Ackles and Jared Padalecki in ‘Supernatural’ season 14 episode 17 (Photo: Michael Courtney © 2019 The CW Network)

Meanwhile, Dean is in trouble himself with demons, whom Nick has employed, while saving Donnie. Weirdly, Dean easily kills the demons, while Sam somehow can’t beat Nick of all people in a fight. Nick flees after bashing Sam in the head with a rock, and Sam seems to be in severe danger.

Dean arrives and calls Mary to inform her of the terrible scenario, as Nick has fled to the inside of the warehouse and is summoning Lucifer with Jack’s blood. However, Jack uses his powers and teleports himself and Mary to Nick, where Jack flings a creepy-looking essence of Lucifer back in the Empty just before he possesses Nick. Jack, in a fit of uncontrollable rage, grotesquely snaps Nick’s hands (it really is rather hard to look at), before incinerating Nick’s skin – it’s not confirmed, but it looks like Nick might be dead. Jack then teleports to Sam and heals him. When he returns to Mary, the Winchester matriarch displays yet again why she’s a terrible fit to be a mother by chastising Jack for how he seemingly killed Nick.

An enraged Jack can’t take any more of Mary’s ridicule – she seriously should’ve shut her trap rather than kept going on about how Jack’s changed. Jack throws his hands around his head when Mary tells him she’ll tell Sam and Dean what he did, and we don’t see what happens as the last we see is Jack’s distraught face as he whispers Mary’s name. Did he finally rid the fandom of Mary’s worthless existence? We don’t find that out this episode.

Over on the B story, Castiel (Misha Collins) and Anael (Danneel Ackles) try to locate something that Joshua the Angel once used to communicate with God. Castiel figures only God can help in restoring Jack’s soul and wants to appeal to Chuck – looks like Castiel’s forgotten just how much Chuck sucks as God. They head to Joshua’s old roommate; whose sardonic attitude brings out the badass Cas for a moment as Castiel threatens the man to reveal the item Joshua used.

The man directs them to the thousands of items lying around in the emporium. It resembles the Room of Requirement from Harry Potter, only crappier, and Cas and Anael start sifting through the junk. This is pretty much all they do the whole episode, with some dialogue that isn’t really interesting or important, before Castiel spots the amulet that God had responded to in season 11. As expected, Chuck doesn’t respond and Joshua’s friend tells them it never worked for Joshua either.

Although the episode was fast-paced when it came to the main plot, it just wasn’t as thrilling as it could’ve been. And although Lucifer is my favorite villain and among my favorite characters, I don’t like the idea of making him the baddie yet again. Supernatural should be shooting for new villains, but it appears the show wants Lucy back as the bad guy for the 15th – and final – season.

With God expected to return in the finale, expect things to get very messy as far as Jack is concerned. We have no idea what he did to Mary at present.




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