Supernatural Season 15 Episode 2 Recap: “Raising Hell”

Supernatural Season 15 Episode 2
Misha Collins as Castiel, Jared Padalecki as Sam and Jensen Ackles as Dean in ‘Supernatural’ season 15 episode 2 (Photo: Colin Bentley © 2019 The CW Network)

In a rare occasion for The CW’s Supernatural, an episode’s end carried over exactly to the beginning of the next as Season 15 episode two – “Raising Hell” – was a continuation from the premiere. We picked up where we left off as Sam (Jared Padalecki) and Castiel (Misha Collins) discuss how they’re supposed to tackle the issue of keeping all of the townsfolk in Harlan, Kansas in one place as the people begin getting restless.

They’re unable to avoid letting slip a few people, and these guys don’t get a particularly pretty end as the ghosts on the other side of the barrier possess them to use them as hostages to get the heroes to put off the warding around the town. Oh, and the leader of the ghosts is Francis Tumblety – you might know him as Jack the Ripper. However, easily the most uncomfortable point of the episode arrived in the form of Rowena (Ruth Connell) and the returning Arthur Ketch (David Haydn-Jones), both of whom have a strange sexually-charged attraction the moment they set eyes on each other.

Rowena’s been summoned to make a soul bomb, much like the one she’d made in Season 11, in order to trap the ghosts into it. Ketch proves his usefulness by bringing in guns that use iron flakes that don’t harm the possessed victim.

We then get our customary ‘Dean Winchester is a total jerk’ moment when Castiel approaches him to apologize for not warning them about Jack, which eventually led to Mary’s death and over to now where they stood. However, Dean (Jensen Ackles) blows off Castiel’s apologies by saying he doesn’t care about him, or anything for that matter, because Chuck made everything out to be immaterial; whatever he made was a lie. Castiel argues the relationship they had was never a lie, but Dean ditches him to sulk some more. He then accompanies Ketch to investigate the disappearance of two hunters, when our very own former prophet Kevin Tran (Osric Chau) shows up to save Dean and Ketch from ghosts.

It turns out Chuck’s been a lying jerk longer than we thought, and he’d never sent Kevin to Heaven way back in Season 11 as we’d thought; instead, Kevin only just escaped Hell. Dean’s plan of using Kevin to stall the other ghosts’ plan doesn’t work, so he and Sam have to confront Jack the Ripper’s ghost to save Kevin from being devoured by him. While they originally believe their plan to ambush the ghosts with Rowena’s soul bomb worked, it turns out Ketch had been possessed this whole time. Dean thinks fast and shoots him with iron bullets, allowing Rowena to capture all the ghosts.

Still, this was far from a victory as Ketch is sent to the hospital, and there are millions of souls that keep coming out and will eventually get past the warding. Plus, poor Kevin is now trapped seemingly forever because Belphagor (Alexander Calvert) points out that any soul that has been to Hell isn’t allowed in Heaven (Bobby and John were exceptions because God liked the Winchesters back then), so Kevin decides to walk the Earth because the alternative is to go back to Hell.

Kevin bids the Winchesters farewell, filled with heartfelt sentiment and even an “I love you” before he fades away – we might have seen the last of this prophet on the show, who knows? In the meantime, Sam still holds some optimism while Dean wonders how they’re supposed to keep all the other souls at bay.

Over on the B-story, we have the return of Amara (Emily Swallow) who’s enjoying Reno way too much, before Chuck pays her a visit. It’s revealed that the shot Sam took on Chuck really did work, and Chuck isn’t doing well at all. He needs his big sister’s help, but Amara is far from welcoming. It’s also revealed that Chuck and Amara’s retreat didn’t have the positive result we’d thought, and Amara has come to realize Chuck will always be the narcissistic jerk who had locked her away. So, she decides not to heal him and abandons Chuck to be left alone, now with his powers significantly diminished. Finally, it appears as if Chuck and Sam have some sort of a connection now, as both of them feel the pain in the wound at the same time. If the past is any indication, this won’t lead to anything good for Sam in the long run.