15.19 Inherit the Earth

Title	Inherit the Earth
Episode #	Season 15, Episode 19
First aired	November 12, 2020
Directed by	John F. Showalter
Written by	Eugenie Ross-Leming Brad Buckner
On IMDB	Inherit the Earth
Outline	With everyone in the world gone, Sam, Dean, and Jack make their last stand against Chuck.
Monster	Chuck Lucifer Michael
Timeline	Immediately after 15.18 Despair
Location(s)	Kyoto, Japan New York City, New York Hastings, Minnesota Lebanon, Kansas
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Characters

• Sam Winchester
• Dean Winchester
• Jack Kline
• Chuck
• Lucifer
• Michael
• Betty / Death
• Miracle

Definitions

• Alcohol
• Angel Blade
• Archangel
• Archangel Blade
• Back to the Future
• Book of the Damned
• Chuck's Death Book
• Chuck's Endings
• Death's Scythe
• Eileen's Car
• Enochian
• Healing
• Impala
• Men of Letters Bunker
• Nephilim
• Reapers
• Resurrection
• Sammy
• Sam and Dean's Initials
• Season 15 Callbacks
• Smiting
• Spells
• Spiritus Vitae
• Table of Death
• Telekinesis
• Teleportation
• Vessels

Music

• "Get Together" by The Youngbloods

(playing as Jack restores the world)

• "Running on Empty" by Jackson Browne

(playing over the final montage as Sam and Dean drive off into the sunset)

Quotes

Dean: You're dead.

Lucifer: Uh, yeah, not so much. Um, after Pop nutted out and murdered pretty much everyone in the world, the Empty booted me with orders to find the missing God Book and use it on Chuck. Uh, normally I'm not very good at following orders as you guys know, but, uh, you do not want to mess with the Empty man. Total "B," especially after Jack blew up all over her and she killed Death. I mean, guys, never a dull moment. But that's the past. What's up?! We're a team again, guys.
Dean: Oh, that is not happening.

Lucifer: Yeah. Alright, team. I don't wanna bring ants to your picnic, but that ain't gonna cut it. Okay, think about it. If the Empty pulled me off the bench, it's cause the Winchester charm ain't enough, right?

Lucifer: Mikey, Mikey, come on, man. I get the bitterness. For all you did for the old man, you got no better from Him than me. The son voted 'Most Likely to Suck' and that sucks!

Michael: I did what I did because it was the right thing to do not to get His love.

Lucifer: Alright, well, that a good thing 'cause the man had no love to give -- not to you, not to me, not to... humanity. You see that now, right?

Sam: Wait a second. You're sure about this?

Betty: Of course I'm sure. I'm Death.

Dean: You've been Death for an hour.

Lucifer: So... buddy... you're gonna have to make a decision now. Uh, dump the losers and join Gramps and me on the winning team. Of course, this is the only way you're getting out of here alive 'cause your not strong enough to fight me now so... What do you say, kid? What do you say? Come on. Somebody's behind me? You don't learn.
Michael: Thanks for the blade.

Chuck: Why are you smiling?
Sam: Because, you lose.

Chuck: What... what did you do?

Dean: We won.
Chuck: So this is how it ends. My book.
Sam: See for yourself.
Chuck: There's nothing there.

Sam: Oh there is. But only Death can read it.

Dean: So we had to come up with a Plan B. That wasn't too hard, though, when we realized that Michael really is a daddy's boy. See, he didn't take it too well when we found out that you asked Lucifer for help. Oh, he was desperate to be the favorite again.

Sam: Since we couldn't read the book, we had to come up with a story about finding the spell which we knew Michael would feed straight to you.
Dean: All that prep work we did to turn Jack here into a cosmic bomb? Well it turned him into sort of a -- a power vacuum. He's been sucking up bits of power all over the place. So when the two heavyweights -- your boys -- showed up to duke it out, oh. That charged him right up.
Sam: See, we knew Michael would warn you and you'd show up here. And you did. And you killed your own son.
Dean: And you beat the crap out of us. Releasing all kinds of power. God power.
Sam: Jack absorbed it all. It made him...

Dean: Well, it made him unstoppable.

Chuck: This... This... This is why you're my favorites. You know, for the first time I have no idea what happens next. Is this where you kill me? I mean I could never think of an ending where I lose. But this, after everything that I've done to you... to die at the hands of Sam Winchester... of Dean Winchester, the ultimate killer... It's kind of glorious.

Dean: Sorry, Chuck.
Chuck: What? What?
Dean: See, that's not who I am. That's not who we are.
Chuck: What kind of an ending is this?
Sam: His power. You sure it won't come back?
Jack: It's not his power anymore.
Sam: Then I think it's the ending where you're just like us and like all the other humans you forgot about.
Dean: It's the ending where you grow old, you get sick and you just die.

Sam: And no one cares. And no one remembers you. You're just forgotten.

Jack: Dean, I'm not coming back home. In a way... I'm already there.

Dean: Where?
Jack: Everywhere.
Sam: So you are Him.
Jack: I'm me. But I know what you mean.
Sam: What if we want to see you? You know, or have a beer or whatever?
Jack: I'm around. I'll be in every drop of falling rain, every speck of dust that the wind blows, and in the sand, in the rocks, and the sea.
Dean: It's a hell of a time to bail. You got a lot of people counting on you, people with questions. They're gonna need answers.
Jack: And those answers will be in each of them. Maybe not today but... someday. People don't need to pray to me or to sacrifice to me. They just need to know that I'm already a part of them and to trust in that. I won't be hands on. Chuck put himself in the story. That was his mistake. But I learned from you and my mother and Castiel that... when people have to be their best... they can be. And that's what to believe in. Well... I'm really as close as this. Goodbye.

Sam: See ya, Jack.

Sam: It's pretty quiet.

Dean: To everyone that we lost along the way.
Sam: You know, with Chuck not writing our story anymore, we get to write our own. You know, just you me going wherever the story takes us. Just us.

Dean: Finally free.

Trivia & References

The "Inherit the Earth" is a reference to the verse in the Christian bible New testament Matthew 5:5

"Blessed are the meek: for they shall inherit the earth."

This verse was previously mentioned by Dean and the demon Casey in 3.04 Sin City.

The gas station where Dean finds the dog is called Route 66 and has the names Tod and Buz on the front sign. Route 66 was a '60s TV show following two guys -- Tod Stiles and Buz Murdock -- and their adventures as they travel across America. Eric Kripke has said the show was part of the inspiration behind Supernatural. The gas station also has Eric Kripke and Phil Sgriccia etched on the front door, and Kim M.

Sam: We'll give you what you want.

Dean: That's right -- the whole Cain and Abel thing.

Cain was the firstborn son of Adam and Eve. When Lucifer tried to corrupt Cain's younger brother Abel, Cain made a deal so that Abel's soul would go to Heaven and in exchange Cain's would go to Hell. Lucifer agreed on the condition that Cain kill Abel himself. As previously stated on the show, this fits with Chuck's pattern of having brothers kill each other as part of His story.

Michael: When God left Heaven, I was certain of his return. So I made sure all of the angels and prophets burnished his image on Earth. The all-knowing, all-seeing, all-caring God.

Michael says he was the source of the Abrahamic religions as he had the former prophets brand God's image on Earth. A piece of historical evidence is Mont Saint Michel on the island Mont Tombe at Normandy, France. The commune was built after the archangel Michael appeared to Aubert of Avranches in 708 AD telling him to build a church on the rocky island.

Lucifer: Yeah, this is what Pop wanted to get His hands on. Hmm. Did I say that out loud? Yeah, Pop was the one who let me out of the Empty. I'm sort of the new Favorite now. What did Dad say about you? Oh yeah. "Mikey's a cuck." You're a cuck.

"Cuck" is a shortening of cuckold, used to refer to a man who is subservient to a woman, and in porn where a man watches another man have sex with his partner. In recent years, it has become used by white supremacists to describe anyone who believes in something that they disagree with.

Lucifer: D'oh!

"D'oh" is the catchphrase of the cartoon dad Homer Simpson.

Minutiae

One day of filming had occurred when production halted on 13 March 2020 due to the COVID-19 pandemic.

On his birthday, August 20th, Misha Collins revealed spoilers on Twitter as to the cast (limited by COVID restrictions) currently filming this episode. Fans began putting two and two together.

Kimberly Sustad, who played Betty, previously played Amanda Willer in 7.11 Adventures in Babysitting.

Despite not physically appearing, Misha Collins is credited as a guest star, likely due to his voice cameo when Lucifer tricks the Winchesters into letting him into the Bunker.

Mark Pellegrino is credited as a "Special Guest Star" in the end credits instead of appearing in the opening credits. This was likely done to keep the surprise of Lucifer's return, similar to how he was credited at the end of 12.12 Stuck in the Middle (With You) and 14.01 Stranger in a Strange Land in order to keep a surprise the return of Lucifer and Nick respectively.

Jack, Dean, and Sam go to a diner called Sammy's Highway Cafe. Dean turns off a tap that is pouring Family Business beer, and later pours himself one.

There is a mechanic's called Showalter's after the director John F. Showalter. On the side is the slogan "one more..." in reference to there being one more episode.

After finding Miracle, Dean briefly breaks his own rule of no dogs in the Impala.

Miracle's (played by terrier mix Lexi) family posted behind-the-scenes photos of Lexi in the Bunker and the Impala.

As with Billie, when Betty became the new Death, she also got a brand new scythe and ring.

Lucifer is able to kill Death with his own power, something not previously known to be possible.

When Michael kills Lucifer, Lucifer explodes into ash instead of leaving behind remains. In addition, the archangel blade is clean of any blood.

The newscaster seen on the television in the diner is named for Post-production Coordinator Casey Hammons.

One of the skyscrapers in the city has the letters AKF as a tribute to Jared's Always Keep Fighting campaigns.

Castiel's and Jack's names have been added to the carving in the Bunker's table.

Along with the various scenes of Sam and Dean throughout the show's history, the ending montage also includes: Jessica Moore, Bela Talbot, Chuck Shurley, Death, Crowley, Zachariah, Anna Milton, Michael, Becky Rosen, Sheriff Donna Hanscum, Charlie Bradbury, Kevin Tran, Abaddon, Ruby, Kelly Kline, Jack Kline, Sully, Daphne Blake, Bobby Singer, Pamela Barnes, Ellen Harvelle, Castiel, Sheriff Jody Mills, Rufus Turner, Garth, Missouri Moseley, Gabriel, Rowena, Eileen Leahy, Jo Harvelle, Mary Winchester, Amara, Lucifer, Metatron, Arthur Ketch, Sister Jo, John Winchester, Asmodeus, Meg, Mick Davies, Belphegor, Kaia Nieves, Patience Turner, Claire Novak and Alex Jones.

The episode ends with a flashback to Sam shutting the trunk of the Impala from 1.01 Pilot (known as the "We Got Work to Do" scene), similar to how 15.01 Back and to the Future ended at the start of the season.

An anonymous source posted photos from the script of 15.18 Despair, including an "appendix A" scene in which all the alternate universe characters who were killed by Chuck in the silo return, presumably thanks to Jack. It's unknown whether this scene was filmed during "Despair" as planned or not, or why it was excluded from this episode as originally intended.

Sides, Scripts & Transcripts

• 15.19 Inherit the Earth (transcript)

Promotion

• Synopsis & Photos
• Inside: Inherit the Earth