‘Supernatural’ Season 15 Episode 15 Recap: “Gimme Shelter”

Supernatural Season 15 Episode 15
Misha Collins as Castiel and Alexander Calvert as Jack in ‘Supernatural’ season 15 episode 15 (Photo: Katie Yu © 2020 The CW Network, LLC)

I hate to join the fans who constantly whine about the treatment of Castiel (Misha Collins) on The CW’s Supernatural, but with only five episodes left after season 15 episode 15, “Gimme Shelter,” you’d think they’d give the guy the respect he deserves.

The episode establishes some of the cosmic lore of the universe, along with giving me more reason to dislike aspects of Sam and Dean as I’ve done since about midway through season 14. In any case, this week’s story wasn’t exactly bad, but just wasn’t as large in scale as I’d expected.

To start off, Dean (Jensen Ackles) and Sam (Jared Padalecki) get a lead on Amara (Emily Swallow) – the extreme easiness with which they did makes me shake my head, to be honest – and plan on going there alone. They decide not to tell Castiel what their intentions are with Amara either, once again treating him like a sidekick by talking over him and forcing him to take Jack (Alexander Calvert) along on a case because they don’t want either of them messing with their pursuit of Amara.

Reluctantly, Castiel agrees to do so and he and his son – yeah, the episode really stresses on how Jack is basically his child – head off to Missouri. In a pretty good display of character development, Castiel plays his fake role as an FBI agent perfectly, while Jack does the upside-down badge thing Cas had done so long ago. The manner of the victim’s death makes them believe a demon is to blame. However, they find out from the Crossroads Demon Zack, a guy who tries hard to emulate Crowley’s charisma, that Rowena has forbidden any more deals. This means the baddie has to be a human.

Their investigation leads them to a faith-based community center, where Pastor Joe – played by the same guy who once appeared as Dean’s favorite, Dr. Sexy M.D. – encourages them to join. Jack bonds with Joe’s daughter Sylvia, who is distraught at the death of her ex-boyfriend, the victim at the beginning of the episode. Jack also learns that Sylvia is angry at her father, who spends more time in his inclusive-style of faith than with her.

Jack’s own issues are made clear once he finds himself unable to introduce himself as the community’s newest member, leading to Castiel bailing him out by speaking instead. In quite an impassioned speech, he admits he lost his faith but regained it within himself when he became a father. Of course, this gives me more reason to want Castiel and Jack to become the main characters rather than Sam and Dean. During this time, scenes are interspersed showing Valerie, a member of the community who had disappeared, being tortured in a trap that could easily qualify for the Saw series.

Her torture is then broadcast in the community center, with Valerie already having had three fingers severed. Long story short, it turns out that the true killer is none other than Sylvia. As she reveals, she hates her father’s inclusivity of other faiths into the church and is killing those whom she doesn’t think qualify to her view of religion.

She’s in for the shock of her life when she tries to stab Jack and finds out it has no effect on him. Castiel also exposes his status as an angel by healing Valerie, and the duo have no difficulty apprehending Sylvia. In a twist, the cop who takes her in is revealed to be the demon Zack, implying that this story’s probably not over.

Supernatural Season 15 Episode 15
Emily Swallow as Amara, Jensen Ackles as Dean and Jared Padalecki as Sam in season 15 episode 15 (Photo: Colin Bentley © 2020 The CW Network, LLC)

Sam and Dean don’t need to drive too far to meet Amara, as she instead comes to them. Earlier, a conversation between them had revealed that the brothers have decided to dupe Amara and then kill her so that Chuck’s death can be balanced out. I’ll say it again, I really don’t like how the Winchesters have been made to be so self-serving and duplicitous. They try to sweet talk Amara and pretend they’re her friends, but she doesn’t budge as she has no intention of killing her brother.

Sam’s ready to admit defeat, but the ever-pissed off Dean heads back in to confront Amara again. He shames her for bringing Mary back (when are you going to shut up about this, Dean?) as his mother just died again. Amara admits she’d resurrected Mary to show Dean that his mother wasn’t perfect as he’d thought and hoped that seeing this would make him realize that his fantasy wasn’t worth holding on to. Still, she’s moved by Dean’s extreme emotions about being used by Chuck and relents to the idea of taking down Chuck when Dean lies that he won’t ever hurt her, especially after she’s shown her vulnerability around him.

While coming back, Jack admits to Castiel that the plan Billie has for him to kill Chuck is turning Jack into a bomb. He’s okay with dying because he thinks this is the only way Dean and Sam will forgive him for killing Mary. Obviously, Castiel isn’t happy with this plan and resolves to find another way to beat Jack. When talking to Dean later on, it appears as if he might be telling Jack’s plan to him, but this isn’t shown.

Overall, this was an okay episode that would have been better if only Jack and Castiel were in it. Sam was, by and large, meaningless here, while Dean’s whole angry man thing has lost its charm. Let’s see what the rest of the episodes have in store and if I’ll find more reasons to hate on the brothers going forward.