13.20 Unfinished Business

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SPN-1320.jpg
Title Unfinished Business
Episode # Season 13, Episode 20
First aired April 26, 2018
Directed by Richard Speight, Jr.
Written by Meredith Glynn
On IMDB Unfinished Business
Outline Sam and Dean are roped into joining Gabriel in his revenge plot against the demigods who sold him to Asmodeus years prior. In Apocalypse World, Jack's boldness in his battle against Michael leads to dire consequences.
Monster Loki
Fenrir Odensbane
Narfi
Sleipnir
Timeline Two weeks after 13.18 Bring 'em Back Alive
Location(s) Central City, Colorado
Apocalypse World
Monte Carlo
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Synopsis

In Central City, Colorado, Gabriel confronts Fenrir Odensbane in an alleyway. They duel, and Gabriel is injured while killing Fenrir with a wooden sword. He crosses Fenrir’s name of a list with his blood. Meanwhile, Cas is in Amarillo, Texas looking for Gabriel while Sam and Dean unpack in a motel room in Colorado, following separate leads on Rowena’s tracking spell. Gabriel knocks on their door, injured from his fight and looking for aid.

In the Apocalypse World, Mary worries over being able to care for all the refugees they’ve been saving, when Jakob find her and Jack in the forest to tell them that Michael’s church has been abandoned by the angels. Back in Sam and Dean’s motel room, Sam bandages up Gabriel and informs him that they don’t have any more of his grace. Gabriel tries to leave, but is too injured to stand. Back in the alley, Sleipnir and Narfi find Fenrir’s body and Gabriel’s blood, and call in their father for backup.

When Gabriel wakes up, he tries to leave, refusing to help Sam and Dean with the AU problems. He’s blocked at the door by Sleipnir and Narfi, who have come to avenge their brother’s death. They fight with Sam and Dean, but Gabriel eventually sneaks up behind Narfi and stabs him with a wooden sword while Sleipnir runs away. Dean refuses to let Gabriel go after him, and handcuffs him to the room divider while they dispose of Narfi’s body. Later Sam and Dean press Gabriel to tell how he became entangled with Norse demigods. After he faked his death with Lucifer, he went to them for help. Loki helped him take on his own persona as a disguise after Gabriel saved him from eternal torture by Odin. However later, they betrayed him and after knocking him out with a sigil, sold him to Asmodeus.

Gabriel tells them why he’s out for revenge, to hurt Loki for selling him to Asmodeus, by killing each of his sons and then Loki himself. Dean tells him revenge won’t solve anything, while Sam is worried that Gabriel’s grace is so depleted. Dean confronts Sam about his own motive for revenge against Lucifer, but neither he nor Gabriel are dissuaded, and they bargain to work together on both missions.

In the Apocalypse World, Jack relates what he can “see” at Michael’s church, and speculates that Michael abandoned it in retreat, in fear of Jack. Mary is skeptical and believes it’s a trap. Mary, Jack, and their troops enter Michael’s abandoned church and find a map with all his forces centering around New Orleans. Mary again believes it’s a trap, but Jack insists he needs to go to kill Michael. Their soldiers find Kevin Tran in one of the prison cells, and he tells them Michael plans to open a rift to their world in New Orleans. Jack and Mary and their men argue about taking Michael’s bait, and Jack finally tells them he’s made up his mind and going alone. Mary begs him to wait just one day for Bobby to arrive with reinforcements, and Jack hesitates.

Jack argues he should leave to kill Michael immediately, but Mary insists he wait. He’s about to leave when Kevin stops him, revealing a sigil carved into his chest-- Michael’s plan to entrap and kill everyone in that church in order to break Jack. Mary and Jack try to talk him down, but his guilt wins out and he detonates the spell bomb. Jack protects Mary, wrapping her in his wings, but all their companions and Kevin are killed in the blast. Jack despairs because he couldn’t protect all his human friends, but Mary consoles him.

At the Ophidian hotel where Sleipnir and Loki are waiting, Sam, Dean, and Gabriel ride up in the elevator. They engage in a fight with Slepnir and two guards, and in the melee, Dean takes the sword meant for Loki and slips away to the penthouse while Gabriel and Sam are busy killing Sleipnir and his guards. In the penthouse, Dean confronts Loki, who explains why he sold Gabriel to Asmodeus-- because he blamed Gabriel for Odin’s death at Lucifer’s hands. Meanwhile, Gabriel realizes where Dean’s gone, but the real Loki appears in the hallway with him, and Dean’s upstairs with his weapon.

Dean tries to stab Loki, but he’s only a hologram, but a hologram that can deal out blows. Sam runs up to bring Dean back with the sword, while Loki and Gabriel fight in the hallway. Gabriel is losing when Dean arrives and slides the sword across the floor to him just in time to deal the fatal blow.Sam asks if Gabriel feels better having gotten his revenge, and Gabriel lies and says yes. Dean is surprised that Gabriel sticks to their bargain and agrees to help them with their Apocalypse World problems.

Back at the bunker, Cas helps Gabriel settle in while Sam confronts Dean about his recent reckless actions-- going to Apocalypse World with Ketch and going after Loki. Dean tells him that he doesn’t care what happens to him, but he does care what happens to Sam, and he will try to protect him. Sam tells him in no uncertain terms that they are in this together, even if that means they die together.

Characters

Definitions

Music

None

Quotes

Kevin: I didn't have a choice! I... Y-you don't understand. I... I... I never used to believe in anything. Well, ex-except science -- quantum mechanical unpredictability. But then the end of the world happened, and everyone around me -- my friends, and my-my mom -- they all started to die. But God chose me? What... What does that even mean?! Michael said he wanted to save the world, not kill it. But he... he's hurt so many people. When I couldn't perfect the spell, Michael, he got mad and threw me in the dungeon. And I was so scared, but I fixed it. B-but I... I couldn't do it anymore.
Gabriel: After Lucifer, quotation marks, killed me, I needed to lay low. Luckily, I used to hang with a pretty resourceful crew. Found me a real top-shelf hideaway.

Dean: I thought this story had porn stars.
Gabriel: Ah! Good catch. My bad. I had it made -- all the booze I could drink, all the, uh, entertainment I could handle.
Sam: Okay! Why don't we just skip to the end?
Gabriel: So this is how it ended. By the time I came to, they had sold me to Asmodeus.
Sam: Why would they do that?

Gabriel: Hello? Lucifer? In case you don't remember, there was an apocalypse brewing at the time.
Gabriel: Every day, Asmodeus tortured me. Every.. day! He fed off my grace for years! He used me, he debased me until I was... What I went through... you don't forgive. Everyone who had a hand in it will die. Get me?

Sam: Yeah. We do.
Dean: Okay, you went through it. We get it. All right? But killing Loki? Not gonna change any of that. It's not. In fact, probably not even gonna make you feel better.

Gabriel: Well, agree to disagree, Dean-o. We all have our demons. Mine are here, in this town.
Dean: Not like I care about killing gods, okay? But this whole revenge kick? It's a waste of time.

Sam: What if it's not?

Dean: You've seen it, Sam -- with me, with Dad. Revenge only ends one way -- ugly.
Mary: I know you've been winning all these fights, and you want to take him on so bad. I was just like you, with hunting. But I learned the hard way -- thinking you can win all the time, running in blind into every fight? That's how you make mistakes. And the people here, they --

Jack: I'm doing this for them.
Mary: You can't help them if you're dead. And I can't lose another boy.

Jack: You won't. I'll come back, for all of you. I promise.
Kevin: You can't go. Michael... he told me to wait -- for Bobby, for all of you to be together -- but I can't. He wanted you to see.

Mary: Whatever Michael said, he was lying.
Kevin: No! Michael says... that when I get to Heaven -- when he lets me into Heaven -- I'll get to see my Mom again.
Mary: I've been to Heaven, and what's there... it's just memories. Nothing's real.
Kevin: I don't care! You don't understand. I... You don't know the things that I've done. I just want this to be over.
Jack: Your spell won't kill me.

Kevin: Michael doesn't want to kill you. He wants to break you. He said for me to tell you that, 'Even if you win, you still lose.' I'm sorry.
Jack: It's my fault. I said I'd protect them.

Mary: We can prepare and we can fight... and sometimes, things happen we'll never see coming.

Jack: If I can't keep them safe, then what's the point?
Loki: So you are Dean Winchester.
Dean: And you're the annoying god that we're wasting our time tryin' to kill.
Loki: Our treatment of your friend is payback for a slight of a more personal nature. The death of my father, Odin.

Dean: Oh, that wasn't him. Lucifer did that.
Loki: Ah. But why was my father there in the first place? To parlay, to deal with Gabriel's brothers. When we first made terms, I had only one condition -- I would give him my face, teach him to be me, the trickster, if he agreed to abandon the more volatile affairs of his family. Forever. When he hit that hotel, he broke that promise, and it cost my father his life.
Dean: The world was coming to an end.

Loki: That never mattered to him before. Gabriel had to be punished. Odin was a salty, disagreeable bastard. Truth is... he despised me. But he was my father. I'm sure you understand. What would you do for your father?
Dean: You remember what happened the last time we had front row tickets to the Lucifer/Michael show? 'Cause I do. You died... and went to Hell. But see, this time, the apocalypse isn't looking for us. We're actually looking for it. I don't care what happens to me. I never really have. But I do care about what happens to my brother.
Sam: Dean, we're going to that place, and we're gonna save Jack and Mom. Together. And if something happens, we will deal with it together. And if we die? We'll do that together, too.

Trivia & References

The episode is a tribute to the Quentin Tarantino movies Kill Bill: Volume 1 and Kill Bill: Volume 2, which were themselves an homage to martial arts films and Spaghetti Westerns. The movies follow Uma Thurman as The Bride who seeks revenge on assassins who tried to kill her. Gabriel, like the Bride, uses (wooden) samurai swords as his weapons of choice, and both characters have a kill list.

The similarity to the plot is even pointed out by Dean:

Dean: Okay, I think I know what this is.
Sam: Okay, what is this.
Dean: You. You're so hopped up on this Kill Bill fantasy of his.
Gabriel playing a kazoo before confronting Fenrir Odensbane is a reference to the character "Harmonica" from Sergio Leone's Once Upon a Time in the West. For many fans it also references the Saturday Night Special at Creation Cons where for the Louden Swain song "Medicated" the band, guests, and audience members play kazoos.
The music score in the episode by Jay Gruska also recalls themes from the Kill Bill films, and especially that of Ennio Morricone, who also scored many Spaghetti Westerns.
The "demigod faces" that Fenrir, Narfi, and Sleipnir display correspond with how they are perceived in Norse mythology. Fenrir has the visage of a wolf overlaid on his human face. Sleipnir has a horse. Narfi, who is a god associated with wrongdoing, has a skull overlaid on his face.
Gabriel: Come on. I felt your witch's tracking spell the second she laid it on me. Tasted like haggis.
Haggis is a Scottish delicacy which is prepared by cooking a sheep's heart, liver, and lungs along with various other ingredients inside a sheep's stomach.
Sam: You're trying to tell us you came here for R&R?

Dean: Yeah, this isn't exactly the Riviera.

Riviera is the Italian word for "coastline". The word is most often associated with the French Riviera and Italian Riviera, both known for their resorts.
Dean: Well, we just broke into a junkyard and stuffed the body of a demigod into a car crusher, so I think you owe us some answers.

Gabriel: Okay, they're not really demigods. Look, the whole Norse pantheon is its own weird thing. Think of 'em more like, uh, god-begotten monsters.

Demigods are typically the offspring of a god and a mortal human. In Norse mythology, many of the Æsir gods came from unions with jötnar and in the case of Loki's children, came from his union with various different species. Fenrir was the product of Loki and the jötunn Angrboða and Sleipinir was the product of the stallion Svaðilfari who mated with Loki, who shapeshifted into a mare to birth Sleipinir. Narfi, however was born of Loki and the Norse goddess Sigyn.
Gabriel: A few thousand epochs ago, I was out for a hike in the fjords. Came across Loki bound in a cave, snake dripping venom into his eye. Ugh. Apparently, he had some spat with his pops. Anyhoo, I freed him. Saved his life. Then my real brothers started going at it. I wanted out. Loki owed me one, so... he helped me ditch Gabriel and become him.
Gabriel is describing the Binding of Loki.
Dean: All right Uma, what's the plan?
A reference to the Bride from Kill Bill who was played by Uma Thurman.
Gabriel: Well, Sleipnir's a lot of things, but mainly, he is a coward. I will bet all the personal lubricant in the S.F.V. that after we killed Narfi, he ran straight back to papa's skirts.
S.F.V. refers to the San Fernando Valley in California, the center of the adult entertainment industry.
Gabriel: A deal is a deal. And if I'm being perfectly honest, tricks are for kids.
"Tricks are for kids" is the tagline for the breakfast cereal Trix. The phrase "Silly rabbit, Trix are for kids" was also used in Kill Bill: Volume 1.
The pose of Jack and Mary after the blast recalls the Pieta, an image found in renaissance Christian art of Mary cradling the dying Jesus. The most famous example is a sculpture by Michelangelo.
Reverse pieta.png

Minutiae

Michael Adamthwaite, who played Narfi, previously played Security Guard Bill in 7.20 The Girl with the Dungeons and Dragons Tattoo.
The liquor store that Fenrir exits before Gabriel kills him has a wolf logo.
Jakob mentions that the resistance has been fighting Michael for the better part of eight years, placing the start of the Apocalypse in 2010, revealing that the time table of events would have more or less happened the same way, albeit without Sam or Dean.
Dean: Hold on. I thought Loki was you.

Gabriel: It's trippy, I know. Look, remember when I told you I went into witness protection? Well, who do you think put me there?

This is a reference to 5.08 Changing Channels when, after Gabriel's identity is unmasked, he calls his disguise as the Trickster "my own private witness protection."
ApocalypseWorld-NA-Map.png

North America in Apocalypse World is seen to be divided up into districts. The East Coast is divided into "Northeastern" and "Southern Sectors," with most of New England designated as "Zone R4" and Canada being designated the "Northern Ice Fields." The Midwest from the Dakotas on is designated the "Great Barren Plains," within which Michael's Fortress appears to be located somewhere in the vicinity of Kansas or Nebraska. Montana and Idaho appear to be labeled as "The Void" with Utah, Nevada, Arizona, Colorado, and New Mexico making up the "Western District." The West Coast is simply marked as "The Rebels of California." Texas appears to have kept its name. There also appears to be impact/ground zero markings over Detroit and Los Angeles. There is also a wall running along the U.S. / Mexico border, where Mexico is simply designated as "South of the Wall." There also appears to be another wall along the U.S. / Canada border extending from the "The Rebels of California" to "The Void."


Dean: You know, none of this would've happened if you'd had just... stuck around and helped us fight Lucifer.

Gabriel: Hey, I did help you. "Casa Erotica"?
Sam: You call that help?
Gabriel: I call that art. But yes, without me, you two chuckleheads never would've known how to throw Lucifer back in the Cage.

In 5.19 Hammer of the Gods Gabriel left Sam and Dean information on how to use the Horsemen rings to open up the Cage in a Casa Erotica DVD.

Sides, Scripts & Transcripts

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