The Spear
Written by: Robert Berens
Directed by: Amyn Kaderali
Air date: December 13, 2018
Michael in a new vessel gathers his forces in Kansas City, Missouri. He's made a plan to turn the entire city using his enhanced vampires and werewolves, the latter including new recruit Garth Fitzgerald IV. Team Free Will look to bring Michael down, permanently if possible. To do that they'll need Dark Kaia's spear.
Tropes
- Back for the Dead:
- Sam effortlessly decapitates Melanie, who was last seen in "Gods and Monsters".
- Object examples: Kaia's spear was last seen in "The Scar", while the hyperbolic pulse generator was last seen exactly two seasons ago, in the mid-season 12 finale "LOTUS". Michael ends up destroying them moments after he takes them.
- Badass Fingersnap: Michael's message to his monsters at the end to start attacking people en masse is signaled through a fingersnap.
- The Bad Guy Wins: The episode ends with Michael destroying both Villain Beating Artifacts brought by the Winchesters, repossessing Dean, and unleashing a monster army to wipe out all of Kansas City.
- Batman Gambit: Before he left Dean seven episodes earlier, Michael left a crack that allows him to possess him again, but this time, with Dean sufficiently weakened after months of trauma, he will no longer be able to fight from the inside.
- Brainwashed and Crazy: Garth, who drinks Michael's grace/blood mixture, is forced to attack Sam and Jack, despite clearly showing unwillingness to do so.
- The Bus Came Back: Garth's last appearance was in "Sharp Teeth", which was almost five years ago.
- Death Is Cheap: Castiel says to Jack that dying and coming back is "practically a rite of passage around here."
- Fake Defector: Garth goes into Michael's operation in order to help Sam and Dean. It doesn't really work out that way.
- Feed the Mole: Michael uses Garth to send false intel about his/her forces taking out Kaia in Omaha. Dean and Castiel are the only one's who show up at Kaia's hideout because Michael wants them to get the Spear first.
- Gender Bender: It is revealed that Michael has been possessing a woman since he left Dean, though everyone still invariably calls him a "he".
- Hope Spot: Team Free Will are able to corner Michael and Dean prepares to stab him with Kaia's spear. Then he stands still while Michael's vessel drops dead. Dean proceeds to break the spear and gloat at the others, revealing that Michael has repossessed him.
- Kansas City Shuffle: Aptly enough, given the episode's setting. Michael's real plan all along was to bring Dean back within his grasp, breaking the Spear and perhaps more importantly, Dean himself.
- Redemption Demotion: Now that he's working with the Winchesters, Ketch lacks the British Men of Letters' resources, and also seems more prone to making dumb errors.
- "Shaggy Dog" Story: Team Free Will frantically search for the two powerful weapons capable of injuring Michael, only for him to shatter them away at the end like they are nothing.
- Shout-Out: Another werewolf calls the blood/archangel grace mixture a "chug jug". Talking to Garth, he has to clarify that he's talking about Fortnite
- Villain-Beating Artifact: The heroes attempt to search for the hyperbolic pulse generator, an object that was previously seen to have the ability to expel archangels, and the titular spear, which can injure archangels, as a way to fight Michael.
