Recap / Supernatural S 13 E 19 Funeralia

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Recap of Supernatural
Season 13, Episode 19:

Funeralia

Written By: Steve Yockey

Directed By: Nina Lopez-Corrado

Air date: April 19, 2018

Sam and Dean pursue Rowena in Portland, Oregon as she goes on a killing spree against people whose time isn't up yet, but her real target seems to be Reapers. Meanwhile, Castiel appeals to Heaven for help it might not be able to provide.

Tropes

• All for Nothing: Rowena has realised that her constant quest for power meant nothing in the end since all it did was alienate her from the people she loves and lead to the deaths of Oscar and Crowley.
• All-Powerful Bystander: Death instructs one of her Reapers to advise Sam and Dean, but not provide any direct help. She does eventually show up to explain to Rowena that what she wants is simply not going to happen.
• Asshole Victim: Rowena's victims are white collar criminals from the pharmaceutical industry who got away with it.
• Astral Projection: Rowena casts a projection of herself while having a sitdown with Sam and Dean. When they try to cuff her, the illusion dissolves and the real Rowena (who's watching them from the end of the room) proceeds to flee.
• The Atoner: Rowena is desperately trying to blackmail death by killing Reapers in order to bring Crowley back from the dead due to the guilt she feels over abandoning him all those years ago. After this fails Sam and Dean offer to let her join Team Free Will since they now believe she can be redeemed.
• Canon Discontinuity: In season 8, it was asserted that Reapers were a form of angels, a cousin species perhaps. However, in this episode that focused on reapers being killed, their death shadows are markedly distinct from angel death shadows, specifically, they lacked wings of any sort. Also, in the plot line discussing the potential extinction of angels, Naomi specifically says there are around 11 angels remaining in heaven and on earth and she does not include the Reapers in this count, nor do Billie or Jessica indicate that reaper numbers are dwindling in any way. In fact, their main concern about Rowena's attacks are that she's defying fate in a way that may require them to institute a plague or world war to balance the numbers properly. It appears that the writers listened to the huge amount of Fanon Discontinuity and decided that the reapers are their own species rather than a sub-set of angels.
• Comically Missing the Point: Jessica asks Sam and Dean what they know about the Butterfly Effect. Dean's response: "It's the second-best Ashton Kutcher movie".
• Drowning My Sorrows: Indra, the angel tasked with guarding the gates of Heaven, has pretty much become a wino.
• Endangered Species: No new Angels have been made since the dawn of creation, and so the copious amounts of Angels killed every season since season four has resulted in their near extinction as of this episode, with only around a dozen left.
• Faking the Dead: Naomi reveals that she survived Metatron's taking a drill to her head, then laid low and allowed reports of her death to spread while she regrouped. She admits that it did scramble her brain for a while, though.
• Filth: Jessica mentions that Dean has a VHS tape hidden under his bed partially titled "Sweet Princess Asuka Meets the Tentacles of Pl..." before he cuts her off.
• Friendly Enemy: Rowena has now become this to the boys especially Sam thanks to their shared trauma at the hands of Lucifer. When its revealed that Rowena's actions threaten the natural balance of life and death and Sam is the only one who can truly kill her off neither he or Rowena want to go through with killing the other.
• Funny Background Event: While Dean and Bernard are beating the snot out of each other, an elevator door opens to reveal a chic young couple. This seems to be their floor, but they stay on and let the door close.
• Locked into Strangeness: Naomi's hair is now whitish blonde and choppier than it was before Metatron tried to kill her.
• Love Makes You Evil: Rowena starts to kill off Reapers (attracting them by killing an Asshole Victim and then waiting for the Reaper to inevitably appear) in an attempt to blackmail Death because she never forgave herself for Crowley's death, despite this having a lot of negative butterfly effects on the natural order.
• My God, What Have I Done?: Rowena has finally realised that her quest for power has left her alone in the world and she now feels immense guilt for abandoning Crowley as doing so led to him becoming a Demon and eventually dying. Dean tells her that ultimately Crowley made his own choices in life like they all do.
• Nausea Fuel: Jessica reveals that Dean has been keeping a cheeseburger in his room for three days in case of "emergencies." Sam is understandably grossed out.
• No-Sell: Rowena throws all the magic she's got at Billie, who doesn't even seem to feel it.
• Not Brainwashed: When Bernard finally speaks he tells Dean that he's working for Rowena because she's hot and pays him a lot of money, not because she put a spell on him.
• Oh, Crap!: Cas has a major one when he learns from Naomi that there are only about a dozen Angels still alive and that, once they are all gone, all of the souls that reside in Heaven will fall back to Earth as ghosts.
• The Problem with Fighting Death: Rowena goes around killing Reapers to try to blackmail the current Death to bring Fergus back from the dead. As it turns out, Death doesn't submit to blackmail and can afford to wait out any momentary chaos that Rowena could ever bring about. Rowena, the most powerful witch in the world at this point, loses it and just tries to attack Death outright, who is completely unfazed.
• Screw Destiny: Rowena learns that every iteration of her death will be at Sam's hands according to Death's books. She tries to circumvent it by killing Sam, but ultimately can't bring herself to do it. Sam encourages her to not just accept her predetermined death but find a way to circumvent it.
• Spontaneous Human Combustion: Mentioned by name. Rowena is actually incinerating her victims, but of course the locals have no other logical explanation for it.
• The Stars Are Going Out: The lights in Heaven flicker because there are hardly any angels left to power it.
• Stealth Hi/Bye: Jessica repeatedly startle the boys by appearing behind them unannounced and saying something chipper.
• Sympathy for the Devil: Once Rowena's motivations are made clear it becomes very easy for the boys to sympathise with her giving how far they have gone to protect their own family. Even Billie takes a moment after Rowena breaks down into tears to tell her that sometimes, no matter how much power a person gets, they can't get back what they have lost and that people need to move on.

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