Supernatural recap: 'Rising Son'

Here’s the thing about Hell: It’s a lot like a kindergarten classroom. Without a teacher in charge, things fall apart. And there’s always that one kid who freezes, unsure of what to do, and waits for the next authority figure to give him/her instructions. In this case, that kid is Drexel, the demon currently standing guard at the throne and wondering when Lucifer will pull them out of “chaos.” “He will make Hell great again,” he tells his fellow demons. But for now, Lucifer’s a little busy, so instead, Asmodeus walks in. Asmodeus, it turns out, is the fourth Prince of Hell, and he’s going to run things until Lucifer can return. He and his Southern twang are ready to return Hell to the days of fire and brimstone. His top priority? Finding Lucifer’s son.

Speaking of Jack, he’s currently sleeping in the back seat of the Impala while Sam and Dean disagree on just about everything. Sam is hoping “the kid” can help them save mom, but Dean doesn’t think they can fix what happened to mom. As for Jack, Dean’s ready to kill “it,” as soon as he figures out how.

Meanwhile, mom and Lucifer are putting on their own episode of Running Wild With Bear Grylls — minus Bear, sadly — as they venture through apocalypse world and Lucifer explains why he’s not interested in killing Mary: If Sam and Dean have Jack, then he intends to exchange Mary for his son. You know, if they ever get out of here. And here is a place where angels spontaneously throw fireballs at you. But hey, at least it gives Mary the opportunity to put some distance between herself and the devil.

Back in Hell, Asmodeus gives Drexel — but really the audience — a quick history lesson in terms of his relationship with Lucifer: It seems Lucifer is the one responsible for the scars on Asmodeus’ face. Back in the day, Asmodeus freed the shedim — some sort of savage creature that was so dark God wouldn’t allow them into the light — because he thought he could train them, but apparently, Lucifer feared the shedim and locked them up. In his disappointment, he then scarred Asmodeus. That humiliation then forged an eternal bond. “I am his to command,” Asmodeus says.

Up on earth, Dean is harder to command, but Sam eventually convinces him to pull over — all it took was Dean hallucinating sheep on the road — so that the guys can spend a night at a hotel and get something to eat. And Jack LOVES it. Well, mostly he loves the TV in their room, especially when it’s showing Scooby-Doo re-runs (a nice nod to this season’s upcoming crossover). But it takes Dean about three seconds to kick Jack to the couch with none other than the Bible as his recommended reading material.

Dean and Jack then chow down on some burgers while Sam wards the room. (Hotels everywhere MUST have signs up banning these guys if they go around spray-painting every room they stay in.) In an adorable twist of events, Jack has decided to learn how to behave based on Dean, as he copies his every move, even grabbing a beer despite the fact that he’s the ripe old age of “3 days, 17 hours, and 42 minutes.”

Jack then starts asking questions about what he read in the Bible, particularly the fact that it mentions his father. “Oh yeah, he’s big in the Bible. Lots of screen time,” Dean jokes. Also, we get this great interaction.

Dean: “He’s Satan.”
Jack: “And that’s bad?”
Dean: “Damn straight.”

Then there’s God. “Is he famous or something?” Jack asks. Sam explains that God, you know, created everything, and Jack realizes that God is his grandfather. And family is a good thing…sometimes.

Sam then decides to take this opportunity to ask Jack about his powers. For example, can he teleport? Only, he doesn’t know what that means, so Dean puts it more simply: If he wanted to be on the other side of their room door right now, what would he do? Cue Jack getting up, walking to the door, and leaving the room. “It’s possible he’s more human than we thought,” Sam says.

Moments later, the boys hear footsteps outside the room. (And yes, this is after they let Jack back in.) They open the door to find a soulless Donatello, who claims that whenever he’s at a moral crossroad, he asks himself, “What would Mr. Rogers do?” (It’s something we could all learn from, honestly.) As for why Donatello is in Wyoming, he claims that a few days ago, he was knocked off his feet by a wave of power. He then followed that power all the way here, to Jack. All this does is make Dean realize Jack is “less human than we thought,” but Donatello claims that Jack’s power is nothing like Lucifer’s. Jack’s power is not dark or toxic. But considering that others could follow in Donatello’s footsteps and try to find Jack, Sam and Dean take him to a nearby tattoo parlor to answer a long-debated question in the fandom: Yes, Sam still has his tattoo! And they’re going to get Jack one, too. That is, if he stops throwing the tattoo artist across the room at the first hint of pain.

Once Jack accepts the pain like the mature human he is, he walks away with not one, but two tattoos to protect him. Only, both tattoos heal just moments later. Maybe they should take a page out of the Teen Wolf handbook and burn them into his skin? Or they could just return to the hotel and argue some more. As Dean puts it, you “didn’t see Cas smiting someone every time he got his teeth cleaned,” which brings up a very important question: Did Cas ever get his teeth cleaned? Suddenly, I’m worried about his dental hygiene. (Next: Michael makes his big entrance)

At this point, Sam explains that they don’t know if Lucifer’s DNA is stronger than Kelly’s DNA, or if it’s even stronger than Jack’s connection to Cas for that matter. And that brings us to the very core of why Dean doesn’t trust Jack: “You mean the connection that got Cas killed,” Dean says. Sam sticks to his guns, arguing that they can teach Jack not to be evil, but even Donatello says you can’t ask a lion not to be a lion. Just as Dean proclaims that Jack is “not God, he’s not Cas, he’s not Simba, he’s the freakin’ devil,” they turn around and find that Jack is gone. Turns out, the kid can teleport.

Sam finds him outside the hotel and explains that Jack needs to get a grip on his skills so he doesn’t hurt anyone. “Is that why Dean hates me?” Jack asks, but Sam promises Dean doesn’t hate him. Dean’s frustration simply manifests as anger…and fear. Why is Dean afraid? Because, as Sam explains, Dean feels like it’s his job to protect everyone: “Right now we need to protect you, but we also may need to protect people from you.” Jack wonders if he’s worth all of this, but Sam assures him that his mother thought he was, and so did Cas. And so does Sam.

While Sam talks to Jack, Dean grabs a drink at the bar and has a brief heart-to-heart with a waitress who turns out to be Asmodeus. Looks like the Prince of Hell is hot on their trail.

The next morning, after Jack crashed with Donatello, the prophet comes to talk to Sam, who’s read some lore saying that “a Nephilim becomes more powerful than the angel who sired it.” In other words, Lucy ain’t got nothin’ on his future son. But Sam is still hopeful that they can mold Jack the right way, and Donatello hopes he’s right.

Before getting back on the road, Sam attempts to give his brother a pep talk and get them on the same page. “We’ve been down before. We find a way, we fix it, because that’s what we do,” Sam says. “Jack wants to do the right thing. Jack’s scared to death of who he is, and he’s scared of you.” Before Dean can respond, Donatello walks in. But wait, wasn’t Sam just talking to Donatello? NOPE. And suddenly, Asmodeus has Jack, and Sam and Dean are fighting off demons in the hotel. (Major props to Dean for his angel blade-throwing skills.)

In a field, Asmodeus (still in his Donatello mask) tells Jack that God wants him to fulfill his destiny by rescuing the shedim and freeing them. Essentially, he wants Jack to create a hole in the earth so that these demon soldiers can crawl out. Apparently, Jasper, Wyoming — where they are — is home to its own gate to Hell, and this particular gate, according to John’s journal, leads to a place “where unimaginable evil emanates from creatures too wicked for the pit to hold.”

And Jack nearly frees them. A few of these creatures almost crawl out when Sam and Dean arrive with the real Donatello. And when Asmoedus reveals himself and starts choking Jack’s friends, Jack loses focus and the earth closes up. Jack turns his anger on Asmodeus, who gets out of there before anything else can happen.

Back at the bunker, Sam reveals that Asmodeus is the fourth and final Prince of Hell, but when he tries to tell Dean that Jack saved them today, his older brother still isn’t convinced. Dean then heads to bed, but he’s distracted when he finds Jack stabbing himself repeatedly in his room. “What the hell am I?” Jack asks as all of his wounds heal. “I can’t control whatever this is,” he tells Dean. “I will hurt someone.” Dean explains that Sam thinks Jack can be saved, but Dean admits he doesn’t. “If I’m right, and it comes to killing you,” Dean says, “I’ll be the one to do it.” He then takes the knife away from Jack, grabs his beer, and leaves.

Over in apocalypse world, Mary’s on her own when she runs into another human who just so happens to be a creep. But before he can do anything, Lucifer shows up and puts his fist through the guy’s chest. He then tells Mary that they need each other if they both want to get their boys back. He also doesn’t really give her much of a choice.

But it turns out Lucy isn’t the biggest baddest thing in this world. After Lucy kills a handful of angels, Michael shows up, wings and all. Lucifer attempts to explain how he’s here — alternate universes, inter-dimensional travel, blah — but it doesn’t really matter. These brothers are always going to do one thing: fight. And so they do. But when Michael wins, he decides not to kill Lucy. “Maybe I need you,” he tells him. And suddenly, the shoe is on the other foot.

I have to say, I’m really liking this season. This episode had a solid mix of drama and comedy, whether we’re talking about the great Jack dynamic or some of Lucy’s one-liners. Jack is feeling like a combination of Sam when he was struggling with his dark side and Castiel when he first entered the show in terms of the energy he brings, and that, combined with the Lucy-Michael of it all, is reminding me of some of the show’s early days. What did you think? Hit the comments below or find me on Twitter @samhighfill.