Our Father, Who Aren't in Heaven
Written by: Brad Buckner and Eugenie Ross-Leming
Directed by: Richard Speight Jr.
Air date: December 12, 2019
Dean, Sam, and Castiel team up with Donatello to search for a way to defeat God and learn that they will have to ask Michael, the only one with whom God shared the information about his weakness. Meanwhile, Eileen works on a case involving vampires.
Tropes
- Always a Bigger Fish: Lilith may be the most powerful demon left alive, but Michael is the most powerful archangel alive, as she finds out in a very harsh way.
- Ambiguous Situation: Whether or not Michael has any part in Sam's torture back in the Cage is yet again brought into question. Previously, Sam has only remembered Lucifer torturing him, which meant Michael didn't do much or any torture. Face-to-face now, Michael does make a sarcastic comment about Sam looking better than he was in the Cage, but Sam doesn't rise up to the bait, which indicates that Michael just stood by and watched as Lucifer tortured Sam while doing nothing to either deter or help his brother in doing so.
- And Your Little Dog, Too!: Chuck possesses Donatello in order to threaten the Winchesters with what he'll do to Jodie, Donna, Eileen, et al.
- Armor-Piercing Question: Adam asks Michael if he still cares about being "the good son" even after God left him in the Cage. Michael asks Dean why he never apologized to Adam for leaving him in The Cage.
- Back from the Dead: In a way. Rowena is technically still dead, but her soul is now the Queen of Hell.
- Badass Fingersnap: Michael uses this to activate his spell making the people in the diner forget what they just saw after he kills Lilith.
- Been There, Shaped History: Rowena offhandedly mentions making Napoleon short.
- Big Eater: After getting out of Hell, Adam goes to a restaurant and orders one big burger with fries, a pizza, and a slice of cake (though he doesn't finish the cake, since Michael puts it away because Lilith touched it). Justified, since as he points out, he hasn't been able to eat anything in almost ten years.
- Broken Pedestal: Michael has his view of God completely shattered after Castiel reveals just what He had done to him and countless others, and decides to tell the Winchesters God's weakness.
- The Bus Came Back: Jake Abel returns as both Adam Milligan and Michael for the first time since "Swan Song", over nine years ago.
- Bullying a Dragon: After trying to convince him peacefully fails, Castiel tries to taunt Michael, his far older, and far more powerful archangel brother, even comparing him to Lucifer, of all people. This actually pushes Michael's Berserk Button, as he attacks and nearly chokes Castiel to death. Fortunately, this gets Castiel close enough for him to show Michael all of Chuck's lies.
- Call-Back: Michael mentions how Castiel called him "ass-butt" and set him on fire.
- Character Death: Michael obliterates Lilith when she attempts to take him to God.
- Curb-Stomp Battle: Michael obliterates Lilith in a matter of seconds, and while still restrained with supernatural handcfufs, easily has Castiel on a chokehold and would have killed him by snapping his neck if it hadn't been for Castiel using telepathy on him. It's been a while since we saw what a full-power archangel could do, and is still quite impressive.
- Dark Is Not Evil: Despite presiding over Hell, Rowena still considers herself an ally of Team Free Will, helping them to locate Michael as best as she can. She even advises Dean and Castiel to reconcile, since her death was what caused their rift in the first place. Michael also qualifies in a way: he's understandably angry about having been trapped in The Cage for years and in the beginning is still an arrogant, uncooperative jerk, but he eventually sees reason and even seems to consider Adam a friend of sorts.
- Dimensional Traveler: Michael just casually opens a portal to Purgatory after he tells Dean that he needs to collect the nectar from the Leviathan Blossom as part of the spell to seal away God.
- Do Not Taunt Cthulhu: Lilith, a demon, thinks it's a good idea to get right in the face of Michael, an archangel, and needle him about what's happened in his absence. This doesn't go well for her.
- Exposition Beam: After provoking a fight with Michael, Castiel presses his hands against Michael's forehead to show him all the evils Chuck has done and said.
- Glowing Eyes of Doom: Michael, being a fully-powered archangel, has these. His eyes briefly glow whenever he and Adam 'trade places', and they kick on in a sustained glow before he smites Lilith.
- God Is Evil: The opening scene has Chuck sitting inside a casino where he seems to have killed everyone in an instant. The lone surviving waitress is terrified as she steps over bodies to hand Chuck a drink while he keeps winning at slot machines and asks for another drink, not caring about what he's done.
- Heel–Face Turn: Michael presumably makes one when he decides to help the Winchesters after Castiel shows him what God did.
- Hell Has New Management: Rowena took over Hell after her death, becoming its queen.
- Jerkass Has a Point: Michael refuses to trust Castiel and the Winchesters and points out (rightfully) that Sam and Dean would let Lucifer walk free, and yet won't save their own brother, Adam, who was trapped in Hell for years.
- Laser-Guided Amnesia: After he kills Lilith, Michael looks around the diner to see all the other patrons watching in horror. He then orders them to forget what they just saw, snaps his fingers, and they go back to normal.
- Lured into a Trap: Chuck impersonates one of Eileen's friends to draw her and Sam out under false pretenses of needing their help to deal with a vampire coven.
- Mercy Kill Arrangement: Before starting to study the demon tablet, Donatello tells the Winchesters to kill him if it drives him insane again.
- My Greatest Failure: When listing all the regrets she had at the time of her death, Rowena only shows legitimate emotion when mentioning her tumultuous relationship with her son.
- Offscreen Moment of Awesome: Rowena somehow managed to take the reins of Hell and put all demons under her control while still being a human soul herself.
- Oh, Crap!: Lilith has just a second to realize she probably shouldn't have touched Michael (who has literally just compared her to bile) before his power flares and he smites her.
- Pet the Dog: Michael lets Adam have control of his own body again so he can get something to eat. He later shows genuine disgust towards Sam and Dean for letting Adam rot in hell.
- Screw This, I'm Outta Here: When Sam tells Donatello that it would probably be safer for him to leave, he immediately jumps up and runs out the door, only grabbing his coat and a bucket of fried chicken on the way.
- Sealed Evil in a Can: Since God can never be killed without destroying reality, the Winchesters figure that the only way to stop Chuck is to seal him away like Amara was before him.
- Talking to Themself: How Adam and Michael communicate when they're alone.
- Two Lines, No Waiting: The plot branches near the end, when Sam chooses to assist Eileen in her case, while Dean and Castiel follow Michael to open the portal to Purgatory.
- Unreliable Expositor: As Dean points out, the two people who told them that Michael had lost his mind while trapped in the Cage were God and Lucifer, both of whom are proven to be about as trustworthy as a used-car salesman. Turns out Michael's more or less fine, just a touch annoyed about having been trapped in Hell for a decade.
- Villain Override: Chuck can take over a Prophet at any time and use them as unwitting spies, calling it his own personal bluetooth.
- Willing Channeler: Michael and Adam have reached an "understanding" after spending years in the Cage with only each other for company, with both of them sharing time in Adam's body equally, although Micheal does 'take over' a few times just to mess with Dean and Sam, who he hasn't forgiven for the events of "Swan Song".
