And so they’re back, one last time, for real this time. Hypable previewed Supernatural season 15, episode 14 “Last Holiday”, so if you’re keen to learn what the post-lockdown premiere looks like, read on.
The last time I wrote a spoiler preview for Supernatural (the mid-season finale!) I asked for time to please slow down to at least half-speed, to hit pause on the impending ending. And well… What can I say? Whoops.
When COVID-19 caused production to cease, the Supernatural cast were just two episodes shy of completing their epic saga. Rather than air all the filmed episodes as scheduled, The CW decided to yank the show off the air in March, holding back the completed episodes until after the show was able to film the elusive final two. After safety measures were drawn up and a strict quarantine was undertaken, the cast was able to return to set in late August to finish what they started, and on Friday September 11, the series wrapped for good.
So this has officially been the longest, most drawn out season of Supernatural ever, with Thursday’s return episode “Last Holiday” falling just two days shy of a whole year since the season 15 premiere. Can’t say this situation is exactly what I intended when I made that wish! But we’ve sure had a lot of time to reflect on the show and savor the goodbyes.
The CW will air the final 7 episodes during the show’s old timeslot – 8pm Thursdays – as a sort of season 15 2.0 situation. This was a smart move, because I get the feeling that if the show had been left hanging on episode 17 or 18 – at what is sure to be the crisis point of the core drama that will allow the story to be resolved once and for all – with only two episodes to come back to – the wait would have been agonizing and the payoff would be somewhat brief. This way, we get to immerse ourselves back into the rhythm of the Supernatural we know and love and gain back that momentum before the Really Big Stuff kicks off.
Although it wasn’t designed to be a hiatus-breaker, “Last Holiday” is actually an excellent episode to return on, for a number of reasons. Here’s what’s in store.
Spoiler Warning: This article contains generalized spoilers for Supernatural season 15 episode 14, “Last Holiday.” If you do not wish to be spoiled at all, do not read this article in advance of the airdate.
The official synopsis for Supernatural season 15, episode 14 reads:
MAKING UP FOR LOST TIME – Sam (Jared Padalecki) and Dean (Jensen Ackles) discover a wood nymph (guest star Meagen Fey) living in the bunker who is determined to protect her family, at any cost. Eduardo Sanchez directed the episode written by Jeremy Adams (#1514). Original airdate 10/8/2020.
If you want to know what to expect from Supernatural’s fall 2020 return, here’s 10 teasers plus 15 single word clues from our advance viewing of Supernatural season 15, episode 14 “Last Holiday.”
‘Supernatural’ season 15, episode 14 screener secrets
- Expect this to most likely be Supernatural’s last true standalone “monster of the week,” and certainly its final light and funny episode. It’s very insular and disconnected from the main plot of the season – it does not move the story forward at all, and there are no apparent lasting consequences from the events of this episode. That is not necessarily a bad thing, but you might say that the title signifies that it’s the last nice time we are going to get before things really kick off with the drama of the endgame. While I do feel like every second counts this season, it’s kind of relaxing to come back into Supernatural with something really feel-good, given the ~unprecedented times~ and the stress of the real world.
- It’s no secret, between official stills, and interviews from both back in March and in recent weeks, that this episode will feature a twee little wood nymph character who appears as an old lady and starts to act as a caretaker for the boys, whipping up treats, setting up holiday parties, and basically coddling them. Her name is Mrs Butters, and it’s a genuinely very lovely performance from guest star Meagen Fay – I was expecting this character to be way creepier than she is. Mrs B has a long history with the Bunker and its occupants, and her appearance also reveals some cool developments of what the Bunker is actually capable of. And she comes bearing aprons. So many aprons.
- There’s a great montage moment that shows the various holidays the boys are able to celebrate thanks to Mrs B wanting to make things nice for them, but keep an eye on the order of holidays shown. Holiday montages are often used in film and TV to intentionally mark the passage of time and quickly show the changing of the seasons – from summer to fall to winter and onwards – but here it’s carefully structured to imply that that’s NOT what’s happening – that they’re instead picking random days in quick succession to recreate the holidays shown. This episode takes place over a course of days or weeks, not many months or years. Let’s just say that if it did happen in real time, the montage would have covered over three years of time, and that’s obviously not the case – more a matter of making up for lost time. The timing of Sam’s birthday might be legit, though. Yes, Sam gets a birthday party – check another item off my season 15 wishlist.
- You think you’ve seen Dean Winchester at his sweetest, cuddliest and most adorable – maybe in “Mint Condition,” or under the love spell in “Various and Sundry Villains.” Maybe in “Tombstone,” where his joy at Cas’s resurrection plays out like those times when you’ve had a headache for ages and then you suddenly don’t have it any more, and you’re filled with relief and new energy, or “Regarding Dean,” when his own memory loss pares him back to a happy-go-lucky innocent. Maybe you loved the thrilled fanboy Dean in “Hollywood Babylon” or “Beyond the Mat,” or of course, “Scoobynatural.” All great. But I’m here to tell you that this episode contains the single cutest Dean moment in the history of Supernatural, and that moment happens when the boys return from a hunt and discover the first holiday Mrs B has set up.
- In an episode that’s essentially about having a housekeeper and caretaker, I was kind of relieved that it also played into the fact that Dean is their housekeeper and caretaker. Given the many references to his natural domesticity before, I’m glad they were able to present this circumstance in a way that doesn’t feel like “we are just slobby boys who only eat take-out and don’t clean.” Dean actually both starts and ends this episode by cooking, and the wood nymph’s old-fashioned approach to Men That Needing Looking After is not exploited – while it is servile, it feels more like relishing the nurturing of a grandma who delights in looking after her family, something Sam, Dean and Jack have never experienced. I hope Dean keeps some of her aprons.
- One of this episode’s most delightful and exciting things actually happens offscreen – as in, one of the boys heads out to meet with a popular Supernatural character for reasons and we don’t follow them. We only see the before and after back at home with the brother in question. The actor of that other character does not appear, but the character is canonically a part of the episode just out of view, and it might actually be my favorite takeaway – though there are still some question marks about what went down.
- The above offscreen character is not Cas. I know that some people might be bummed out that this fun episode about special family time doesn’t feature him, but honestly, if he was there, the episode would be moot because he would have been able to foil the threat in like two seconds, so it’s actually convenient, plot-wise, that he’s not. His whereabouts is made clear, though, in the first few moments of the episode – but I do wish he had been present for the final moment. You’ll see why.
- Jack is feeling the effects of his recently returned soul, and is still hurting, a lot, about what he did without it. The episode’s gravest moment focuses on Dean and Jack trying to come to terms with the breakdown in their relationship after Mary’s death, and that progress is the real character arc of the episode. When you’ve got beef with someone you can’t help caring about, there is nothing like that person getting threatened by another source to hammer home your love for them despite it all. There’s hope for them yet – or at least, a lot of acting in good faith.
- The real function of that telescope to nowhere is discovered, and this sort of throwaway moment might actually reveal quite a lot about what’s going on within the big picture story – especially regarding Chuck’s recent actions.
- While the threat presented in the episode is actually quite severe and certainly very powerful, the way it’s played is not – and that works. The guys’ reaction is in the vein of “aw, Jeez” and it’s tonally perfect – it makes for some really good and funny moments from both Sam and Dean. The solve is pretty simple. This is not an episode about stakes, it’s an episode about getting a break for once and taking the time to, as Mrs B says, enjoy the world they’re fighting to save. This one’s for every fan who ever said “we just want them to have nice things.”
Finally, have 15 random yet significant words without any context whatsoever: Luigi, dour, progressive, radar, trauma, millennial, lamia, underthings, test, tiger, puppy, keeping, trying, Sinclair, Eileen.
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