Supernatural – The Rising Son

By: Stacy Miller

The episode opens in Hell where a demon named Drexel (Alex Barima) is standing by the King of Hell’s chair. “Protecting the throne Drexel?” another demon (Adil Zaidi) asks, a bottle of alcohol in his hand. Drunk demon reminds that Lucifer (Mark Pellegrino) promised that he would return but didn’t. Drexel remains hopeful that Lucifer will be back and will make Hell great again. No sooner has Drexel finished speaking then there is flickering lights alerting the demons to an entering presence. “What did I tell you,” Drexel says, pleased that he was right. But Lucifer doesn’t enter. The demons meet Asmodeus (Jeffrey Parise) who announces that he will be ruling until such time Lucifer returns with his (Lucifer) son. And there will be changes. “The corporate lackeys of the Crowley era are being purged,” says Asmodeus, “The good old days of fire and brimstone are back.”  Simply put, there will be hot times in Hell again! With that, Asmodeus calls forth four demons including Drexel. “As for the rest of y’all” Asmodeus says before smiting the remaining demons to the shock of Drexel. “There’s a new sheriff in town” adds Asmodeus, flashing the yellow eyes of a Prince of Hell.

Meanwhile, Sam and Dean (Jared Padalecki and Jensen Ackles) with Jack (Alexander Calvert) are twelve hours away from the Men of Letters bunker.  Sam offers to take over driving for Dean yet Dean never wants Sam to drive. Sam is understanding that losing their mother and Castiel (Misha Collins) is a lot to process and wanted to give Dean a break. Dean still believes that Jack is evil and reminds Sam that every time they’ve pretended otherwise where a demon or supernatural being is concerned, people they’ve loved have gotten hurt.  So, they need to take care of the problem. “The problem may be the only way of getting mom back,” Sam tells Dean, believing Jack could help bring Mary home. “Mom’s gone, there’s no fixing that,” Dean says.

In the Alternate Earth, Lucifer tells Mary (Samantha Smith) that she needs to pick up the pace if they are to ever get out of there. What does it matter, he’s only going to kill her anyway says Mary. Lucifer tells Mary she’s wrong. Sure, in a perfect world he’d kill her and her plotting sons, but this isn’t a perfect world and he needs her to trade to her boys for his boy. Mary can’t imagine why Lucifer would possibly want to raise a child. Lucifer tells Mary that’s because she has no idea about him or what he wants.

Back in Hell, Drexel tells Asmodeus that Lucifer is nowhere in all of Hell, even the cage. No matter, Asmodeus wants Lucifer’s son found; the child is no longer an infant and has infinite power and knowledge and must be trained to rule Hell. “With me as his humble adviser of course,” says Asmodeus.  But Drexel thinks not finding Lucifer is a bad call. He (Drexel) knows how Lucifer can be when he’s pissed off and Drexel has no intention of getting on Lucifer’s bad side. Asmodeus is familiar with Lucifer’s temper.  He points to his face and tells Drexel a story about how he once got on Lucifer’s bad side by freeing the savage Hell beasts known as the Shedim, who Lucifer feared and rightly so.  But Asmodeus was arrogant and believed he could control the Shedim. Lucifer punished Asmodeus for his disrespect and the pain and humiliation of that forged a bond between them. Asmodeus is certain that Drexel will start to follow his (Asmodeus) commands as well.

Sam, Dean and Jack arrive at The Black Hat Motel. Dean thinks stopping at a motel is a bad idea, but Sam begs to differ saying “Dude, you were hallucinating sheep on the road. We need a few hours.” Jack turns on the television and watches Scooby Doo which he exclaims “is wonderful.” But Dean turns it off and tells Jack to sit on the couch and read a book.  Dean gives Jack the hotel Bible then leaves with his brother pick up takeout. Sam and Dean return with burgers. When Dean tells Jack to slow down, Sam says “You ever see you eat.” Sam and Dean grab some beers and Jack does the same. Dean gets parental and takes the brew from Jack. “How old do you think you are?” Dean asks Jack. “Three days, seven hours and forty-two minutes,” Jack answers and then drinks his beer.  Jack mentions that the book Dean gave him (The Bible) mentions his father Lucifer and also God, who Jack reasons is his grandfather which makes him (God) family so that’s good. Sam knows that some of the things Jack can do is because he (Jack) said Kelly taught him, but asks is there anything else Jack can do. Jack doesn’t know the full extent of his powers and especially what it means to teleport. When Dean asks if Jack wanted to be outside the door what would he do, Jack gets up and walks to the door. Then, he opens it and goes out! Jack knocks on the door and Sam lets him back in. “Like that,” smiles Jack, proud that he was able to show how he would be able to get outside the door.  When Dean questions him about whether his father ever reached out to him before he was born, Jack has a flash of Lucifer communicating with him telepathically. A short while later, a man walks towards Sam and Dean’s motel room.  He is tackled to the floor by the Winchesters and they point their guns at him. They are surprised to see Prophet of the Lord Donatello (Keith Szarabajka). “Sam, Dean…is God with you?” Donatello asks the Winchesters.  Donatello explains that after Amara sucked out his soul when he comes to a mortal crossroads, he asks himself “What would Mr. Rogers do?”  Since God left, Donatello realized he was retired and considered buying a condo. Then, he felt a wave of power.  This surge wasn’t like God’s but something else.  Sam explains that it was Jack, who is a Nephilim. Sam and Dean realize that if Jack was able to give off a power that reached Donatello, they need to protect him (Jack).

So, it’s off to the local tattoo place. The tattoo artist is shown the protection symbol to draw on Jack. “We’re brothers, it’s kind of like our family crest,” Sam explains. The pain of the tattoo needle causes Jack to instinctively throw the tattoo artist across the room.  Annoyed, Dean tells Jack that he needs to ‘man up’ when he feels pain.  But once the tattoo is affixed to Jack’s skin, it immediately disappears.

Back at The Black Hat Motel, Sam debates with Dean and Donatello whether they can teach Jack to control his powers. Both Dean and Donatello believe that Jack’s nature may not allow him to be taught to be good. Hurt by what he hears, Jack is able to teleport out of the room.  Sam finds him in the alley and tries to explain to him why the others feel like they do. Sam says that although they have to protect Jack, they also have to protect others from Jack.

Dean goes to a bar and talks with the bartender. After he leaves, the bartender reveals himself to be Asmodeus. At The Black Hat Motel, Donatello questions Sam about how powerful Jack is.  Sam tells Donatello that he doesn’t know, but lore states that a Nephilim can turn out to be more powerful than the angel or in this case archangel that sires it.

In the Alternate Earth, Mary is almost killed by a freedom fighter who mistakes her for an angel as in this Earth angels are killed. Lucifer saves Mary’s life and tells her that as soon as they get out of this “theme park” it’s a win for both of them.

Sam talks with his brother about working together; they have to be on the same page in order to keep Jack on the right side of things. Sam tells Dean that he knows what’s going on. They’ve lost people they loved and everything is upside down right now.  But Sam reminds that they’ve been down this road before and always make it to the other side when they work together. Donatello enters the room and says that he wants to talk about Jack.  Sam is confused since they just talked about Jack.  Donatello replies that they didn’t because he was out grabbing extra spicy burritos.  When Sam, Dean and Donatello go to Jack’s room, they discover that he is gone. “Who or what was I talking to, a shifter?” Sam wonders. “What would a shifter want with Jack,” Dean says annoyed.  Suddenly, Donatello senses Jack’s power and tells Sam and Dean the direction Jack was heading.  But first, he and the Winchesters have to fight some demons who are also after the kid.

Meanwhile, Asmodeus wearing Donatello’s face tells Jack that he must rescue some brave soldiers called the Shedim from the ground in order to be a hero. Sam, Dean and Donatello head to Jasper, Wyoming a place that has its own Gate to Hell.  Sam reads lore in which Jasper is said to hold unimaginable evil creatures that were too evil even for the pit.

Back in the Alternate Earth, a group of angels not believing Lucifer is Lucifer as they know that Michael defeated the real Lucifer, attempt to smite him. Lucifer is angry that they don’t recognize him and want to kill him so he snaps his fingers and kills them first. But another angel soon appears.  Make that an archangel. “Don’t you recognize me brother?” Michael (Christian Keyes) asks Lucifer.

In Jasper, Asmodeus as Donatello convinces Jack to concentrate his power into the hole to release the Shedim. Fortunately, Sam, Dean and Donatello arrive just in time to keep the Hell beast from escaping onto the Earth. When he is shot at by the Winchesters, Asmodeus ditches his Donatello disguise. He uses his power to choke Sam, Dean and Donatello, but Jack demands he stops hurting his friends.  Asmodeus then makes his getaway.

As Mary watches, Lucifer and Michael fight to see which Archangel is superior.

At the Men of Letters bunker, Dean again tries to convince Sam that Jack could one day turn on them. Later, Dean finds Jack repeatedly stabbing himself although he knows it won’t hurt him. Jack worries that he will hurt someone. “My brother thinks you can be saved,” Dean tells Jack. “But you don’t believe that,” Jack says. “No, I don’t.  And if it comes to that, then I’ll be the one to kill you,” Dean promises.