15.03 The Rupture

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SPN-1503.jpg
Title The Rupture
Episode # Season 15, Episode 3
First aired October 24, 2019
Directed by Charles Beeson
Written by Robert Berens
On IMDB The Rupture
Outline With Hell ghosts about to break through the containment spell and invade the world, Rowena proposes a spell that will require a trip to Hell to execute.
Monster Hell Ghosts
Ardat
Belphegor
Timeline Immediately after 15.02 Raising Hell
Location(s) Harlan, Kansas
Hell
Lebanon, Kansas
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Synopsis

Hunters watch as ghosts hit the magical barrier constructed by Belphegor like fireworks in the sky. They note the hits are coming faster.

In the graveyard Rowena tells the Winchesters, Castiel, and Belphegor how her spell will strengthen the barrier. She needs a quiet, ghost-free place near the epicenter, and is taken to the Carver mausoleum where Sam, Dean, and Castiel first took refuge. On their way they pass by the massive hole Chuck created that leads to Hell.

Rowena tries to cast the spell, but she is overcome with the ghosts’ rage and falls down in anguish -- exclaiming they’re all going to die. Rowena explains that there are too many ghosts and they are too strong. Belphegor walks out, and Castiel follows. He goes to the rupture and says he has an idea, but that Castiel won’t like it.

Inside, Dean preps for battle, telling Sam he isn’t giving up without a fight. Sam is overwhelmed, but Dean is angry. Belphegor returns and explains his plan, which involves Lilith's Crook, which is in Lilith's Chamber in Hell. Belphegor explains that the crook is actually a horn that, when blown, will draw in all the escaped inhabitants of Hell. Rowena says she can then close the rupture - described by Belphegor as more of a tear or a wound than a portal - like healing a wound after the souls are inside using a spell of her own creation. She needs Sam’s help, as he’s close to a seasoned witch. Someone will need to throw the “bomb” into the rift while she and Sam stay protected. Dean volunteers. Belphegor offers to get the crook, and claims he needs protection, looking to Castiel. Dean agrees, leaving Castiel feeling like he must go.

Meanwhile, Ketch wakes up in the hospital. He is about to leave when he is attacked by the demon Ardat. She wants Belphegor, who Ketch was meant to kill for her, but he is reluctant to reveal his location. Ardat then realizes that Ketch is protecting his friends. When Ketch won’t give up his friends at any price, Ardat kills him by ripping out his heart. As the spell supplies Rowena needs are brought to the crypt by the hunter Stevie, Ardat texts Dean from Ketch's phone and Dean unwittingly reveals the details of their plan.

Castiel and Belphegor prepare to enter Hell through the rupture, with Belphegor taunting Castiel that the Winchesters don't care about him. Castiel pushes Belphegor into the hole and jumps in after. In Hell, they find Lilith’s Chamber, which is being ransacked by a demon that Castiel quickly dispatches. Belphegor explains that the horn is safe inside a box with Enochian warding. Castiel realizes that Belphegor wanted him to come to read the Enochian. Castiel recites the words -- verses singing praise to Lucifer -- but nothing happens. Belphegor points out that maybe it needs to be sung, so Castiel sings the Enochian and the box opens. Just as Castiel is handing over the horn, Ardat appears and attacks. She reveals that Belphegor has been playing a long game and wants to rule Hell. Belphegor kills her with an angel blade while Ardat is distracted and tells Castiel that he plans to use the horn to draw all the souls into himself, giving him god-like power. He pushes Castiel away and sounds the horn, causing the souls to start rushing back to Hell and into Lilith's Crook.

Meanwhile, Dean has taken up position near the hole, with the hex bag that will help close it. Rowena has prepared the ingredients, and together she and Sam perform the spell. The hex bag Dean holds starts to glow, giving him the signal to throw it down into the rupture, causing it to start to close.

In Hell, Castiel overcomes the horn’s power and is able to stop Belphegor, which also stops the souls returning. Belphegor pretends to be Jack for a moment to stop Castiel, but Castiel calls him a liar and smites Belphegor to a cinder, destroying the horn in the process.

Topside, Rowena notices something is wrong and that the crook has not worked. She states that she has one last spell she can use, as she pulls out her last resurrection charm from the flesh of her shoulder. Rowena tells Sam there is a spell that will work, and will contain all the souls. Death Is an Infinite Vessel is a spell which requires only two ingredients -- the blood coursing through her veins and her last breath. This will draw all the souls into her body, where they will be trapped until, over time as her corpse decays, they will slowly be released. However, Rowena says she cannot kill herself -- she still values her own life too much. She explains that Sam, as was written in Death's notebooks, must be the one to kill her. Sam protests and refuses, but when Rowena asks if he’ll let the world, and Dean, die instead, he knows the answer. Sam hugs Rowena to him, stabbing her in the process.

Castiel emerges from the hole. When Dean asks what went wrong, Castiel tells him that he killed Belphegor and the horn is destroyed. Dean is incredulous when, suddenly, they notice the ghosts being drawn into Rowena as she walks to the rift with a somber Sam behind her. With a last farewell, she jumps into the rupture and it closes behind her.

At the Bunker, Dean checks in on a grief-stricken Sam. He tells him the townsfolk of Harlan are okay, and that Ketch was found killed, probably by a demon. He reassures Sam that he had no choice about Rowena and they stopped the last apocalypse that Chuck threw their way because of it.

In the library, Dean is getting a drink when Castiel comes to ask about Sam. When he apologizes for what Rowena sacrificed, Dean picks a fight over what happened, directly blaming Castiel for Rowena's death, despite knowing Belphegor's ulterior motives. Castiel realizes that Dean still blames him for Mary's death. He confronts Dean about his anger and lack of concern for him, and says he's dead to Dean. With Jack dead, and Chuck gone, and the brothers having each other for support, Castiel says he feels it is time for him to move on and leaves.

Characters

Definitions

Music

None

Quotes

Belphegor: Okay, now that we're waiting for the witch's hooch to kick in, can we finally admit the obvious? Uh, she failed. So if we're keeping score, that's, uh, one for the demon, uh, zero for the witch.
Dean: I'm not gonna give up. That's what I'm doing. Not just gonna sit in this crypt and wait for the walls to come down.

Sam: You heard Rowena.

Dean: Yeah, I heard her, okay? Ghosts are gonna bust out, and they're gonna swallow this world. And you wanna what, just relax? Take a knee? No. No, we were gonna end this, Sam. Like you said. We're gonna be free.
Dean: I mean, this whole mess, you know? Th-this -- This sloppy-ass ghostpocalypse -- that's Chuck's ending? No. No, I don't think so. After everything that he has put us through? I'll be damned if I'm gonna let some glorified fanboy get the last word.
Ardat: Such valor -- and for what? One profoundly irritating demon? No. I think you're protecting others. Humans. Your friends. And you won't give them up? Not for any price?
Ketch: Not at any price.
Castiel: You're wearing Jack, who was like a son to me, like a coat. Every second in your presence is intolerable. It's an abomination. You're an abomination.
Rowena: I don't care about anything enough to take my own life. Not you, your brother -- not even the world. But I believe in prophecy. I believe in magic. And I'm here, and you're here, and everything we need to end this right is in our hands. I know this in my bones -- it has to be this way. Do it! Kill me, Samuel! I know we've gotten quite fond of each other, haven't we? But will you let the world die, let your brother die, just so I can live?
Rowena: Goodbye, boys.
Dean: We did it, though, man. It's over. God threw one last apocalypse at us, and we beat it.

Sam: Yeah.
Dean: What you did... Rowena... You didn't have a choice.

Sam: I know.
Castiel: The plan changed, Dean. Something went wrong. You know this. Something always goes wrong.
Dean: Yeah, why does that something always seem to be you?
Castiel: You used to trust me, give me the benefit of the doubt. Now you can barely look at me. My powers are failing, and -- and I've tried to talk to you, over and over, and you just don't want to hear it. You don't care. I'm... dead to you. You still blame me for Mary. Well, I don't think there's anything left to say.

Dean: Where you going?

Castiel: Jack's dead. Chuck's gone. You and Sam have each other. I think it's time for me to move on.

Trivia & References

Rowena: It will work. The “Rafforza l’incantesimo” is a potent transubstantiation spell. It can turn gossamer into concrete.
Gossamer are thin films of cobwebs.
Rowena: It wouldn't matter! Those things -- It would be like tossing mouse traps at the Great Plague. I'm telling you -- it's over!
The Great Plague of London was the last major epidemic of bubonic plague from 1665 to 1666. The plague was known to be spread by rat fleas.
Belphegor: Yeah, you know, one of those, uh, curvy-ended canes that shepherds use? Little Bo-Peep? It's just a nickname. Doesn't matter.
"Little Bo-Peep" references the nursery rhyme of the same name.
Ketch's alias Mr. Blackmore may be a reference to Elizabeth Blackmore, who portrayed Lady Toni Bevell, or to Ritchie Blackmore, the lead guitarist of the British hard rock band Deep Purple.
Stevie: Right. One owl skull.

Dean: R.I.P., Hedwig.

Hedwig is the name of Harry Potter's pet snowy owl.
Hell's appearance in the episode includes hexagonal basalt columns along the walls, reminiscent of those found at the Giant's Causeway, famously generated by volcanic activity during the Paleocene Epoch in modern day County Antrim in Northern Ireland. Their use for the appearance of Hell was also seen in Lucifer when the series was produced by both Fox and Netflix, though Lucifer used bluish light with falling ashes and a thunderous cloudy sky as opposed to the fiery orange red light and red cloudy sky seen in the episode. This type of rock formation also appears in the 2018 film The House That Jack Built's depiction of Hell.
Castiel: It's awfully quiet down here.

Belphegor: Yeah. Too quiet. Sorry, I thought we were doing a bit.

"It's quiet... too quiet" is a line of dialogue that has appeared throughout various forms of entertainment as early as the 1934 Western The Lucky Texan.
Belphegor: Dude. Is that the Haxon Ring?
According to writer Robert Berens, this is a reference to the name of Bobby Krlic’s band The Haxon Cloak.
Castiel being forced to sing to open the box containing Lilith's Crook may be a reference to the episode of Lucifer titled "Orgy Pants to Work", where it was revealed Castiel is known to constantly sing in the Silver City (Heaven), much to the annoyance of the other angels.
The scene where Rowena absorbs the Hell ghosts into her womb and falls into Hell is reminiscent of a scene from A Nightmare on Elm Street 5: The Dream Child where Amanda Kreuger absorbs Freddy's soul into her womb and locks herself away in the Dream Core.

Minutiae

Sharon Taylor, who played Ardat, previously played the Crossroads Demon in 6.04 Weekend At Bobby's.
Belphegor: She never needed to use it. When she ruled, it was enough for us that we knew she could. And then when Crowley took over, he had other forms of discipline -- endless lines, endless paperwork. Not that he liked to spend a lot of time down there, anyway, with us.
A reference to Crowley's never-ending queue version of Hell from 6.20 The Man Who Would Be King and in general Crowley's more bureaucratic take on damnation and his dislike of being in Hell.
The statues of the cloaked skeletal figures in the corridor leading to Lilith's Chamber all have their hands clasped in prayer, which are all pointing downward instead of the traditional upward.
Ardat using Ketch's cell phone to trick Dean is similar to what Ketch himself did in 12.18 The Memory Remains after killing Mick Davies.
Rowena's sacrifice is similar to both Sam's in 5.22 Swan Song and Crowley's in 12.23 All Along the Watchtower. Her last words, "Goodbye, boys," mirrors Crowley's own "Bye, boys."
Part of the music known as "Americana" or the Winchester Family Theme by Jay Gruska, plays as Castiel tells Dean he is leaving.

Sides, Scripts & Transcripts

Promotion

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