11.23 Alpha and Omega

Title	Alpha and Omega
Episode #	Season 11, Episode 23
First aired	May 25, 2016
Directed by	Phil Sgriccia
Written by	Andrew Dabb
On IMDB	Alpha and Omega
Outline	With Chuck dying and the world coming to an end, the Winchesters make one last desperate attempt to stop Amara that will come at a cost for both Sam and Dean.
Monster	Amara Vengeful Spirits
Timeline	Immediately after 11.22 We Happy Few
Location(s)	Lebanon, Kansas London, England Louisville, Kentucky Greenville, Illinois
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Synopsis

Castiel regains consciousness, and tells Sam and Dean that Amara removed Lucifer from his vessel and he is gone -- although Cas does not know where. Chuck is greatly weakened and revealed to be dying from Amara's attack. Rowena returns and takes them, and Crowley, outside, where the group sees that the sun is dying.

Somewhere in England, Lady Antonia Bevell watches news about the strange solar activity. After taking a phone call, during which she seems to accept to undertake a task, she heads through a door with the Men of Letters Aquarian Star symbol, to a secret basement room full of material on the Winchesters. She then says goodbye to her young son, and heads out to fly to Kansas.

In the Bunker, Dean settles down to drink his way to the Apocalypse -- as does Crowley. Chuck and Rowena compare notes on how hard parenting is. Sam is frustrated and insists that all is not hopeless. Dean and Cas head out to get more beer. Dean asks after Cas, who is guilty for letting Lucifer free. Dean reassures him did the best thing, and that he is a best friend and brother to him and Sam. A call from Sam has them heading back to the Bunker - there may be a way to stop Amara.

Chuck has agreed to help kill Amara, telling everyone that the Darkness can be cancelled out by light. They hit on a plan to use the power of souls to make a bomb to destroy her. Sam and Dean head to a haunted asylum to collect souls. Crowley goes to Hell and Castiel to Heaven, but neither the demons or the angels will help. Billie the reaper appears, and offers them souls from the Veil to use. She puts the souls into a bomb Rowena has constructed.

Meanwhile in a park, Amara talks to an old woman about family. "Even when you hate them," she says to Amara, "you still love them." With the bomb ready, Chuck needs to find Amara, and then someone with a personal connection to her, Dean, needs to get close with the bomb. The twist is that the bomb will be inside Dean - killing Amara will also kill him!

At the graveside of Mary Winchester in Greenville Cemetery, Dean says goodbye to Sam and Cas. He asks for a funeral with an "open bar, choir, Sabbath cover band, and Gary Busey reading the eulogy" and for his ashes to be scattered next to Mary's grave. Chuck sends Dean to Amara, and the rest of them head to a nearby bar.

Amara explains to Dean that it is not her who is dimming the Sun, it is Chuck dying. When he dies, so will everything including her. Dean explains that Chuck doesn't want her dead. He talks to her about the importance of family, and how he thinks what she really wants is a connection with her brother. He pleads with her to put aside her hate. Amara summons Chuck, and talks to him about how he hurt her and how all she wants is her brother back. He eventually agrees, and Amara heals him. The sun starts shining again. Outside the bar, Crowley, Rowena, Cas, and Sam see it too - but think it also means Dean is Dead. Amara and Chuck tell Dean they are going away to spend time together. Before they leave Amara thanks Dean for giving her back Chuck and says that she will also give Dean what he needs most.

Cas and Sam return to the Bunker. They are confronted by Lady Toni, who uses an angel banishing sigil to send Castiel away. She points a gun at Sam, but he advances on her. She shoots him. In a darkened field somewhere, Dean hears a woman cry out. As he approaches, he recognizes her. It is his mother Mary.

Characters

• Sam Winchester
• Dean Winchester
• Mary Winchester
• Castiel
• Crowley
• Chuck Shurley / God
• Rowena
• Amara
• Billie
• Lady Antonia Bevell

Definitions

• Adam and Eve
• Alcohol
• Angel Banishing Sigil
• Angel Blade
• Aquarian Star
• British Men of Letters
• The Cosmic Balance
• The Darkness
• EMF
• Ghosts
• Healing
• Hugs
• Impala
• Iron
• Key to the Bunker
• Men of Letters
• Men of Letters Bunker
• Moose
• Reapers
• Resurrection
• Salt
• Souls
• Soul Catcher
• Spells
• Table of Death
• Teleportation
• The Veil
• Vengeful Spirits

Music

• "Carry On Wayward Son" by Kansas

(plays during "The Road So Far" recap of events; also played in 1.21 Salvation, 2.22 All Hell Breaks Loose: Part Two, 3.16 No Rest for the Wicked, 4.22 Lucifer Rising, 5.22 Swan Song, 6.22 The Man Who Knew Too Much, 7.23 Survival of the Fittest, 8.23 Sacrifice, 9.23 Do You Believe in Miracles?, and 10.23 Brother's Keeper)

• "Don't Let the Sun Catch You Crying" by Gerry and the Pacemakers

(playing in the bar Sam, Chuck, Crowley, and Rowena are drinking at)

Quotes

Sam: Are you, uh... H-How do you feel?
Chuck: You know when you're driving and a bug hits your windshield? I'm the bug.

Rowena: So, that was a gun in your pocket.

Dean: Look, man. If you've got something for me to punch, shoot, or kill, let me know and I'll do it. I'll do it 'til I die. But how are we supposed to fix the friggin' sun?

Dean: You know what? This isn't gonna be enough. I better make a run. No reason to die sober, huh? You want to?
Sam: No!

Crowley: She's using you. It's what she does. Finds someone with power... cozies up... digs the claws in.

Chuck: Hmm. Yeah, well I'm not helping anyone right now, obviously. She's been... nice.
Crowley: For now.
Chuck: Now's kind of all we got.

Crowley: Whatever. I'm not calling you Dad.

Dean: How you doing? You good? I mean, you know, the whole Lucifer thing.

Castiel: I was just... so stupid.
Dean: No, no, no. It wasn't stupid. You were right. You were right to let Lucifer ride shotgun. Me and Sam wouldn't have done that.
Castiel: Well, it didn't work.
Dean: No, but it was our best shot, and you stepped up.
Castiel: I was just trying to help.
Dean: Well, and you do help, Cas. You know, I-- You know, sometimes, me and Sam have got so much going on that.. we forget about everyone else.
Castiel: Well, you do live exciting lives.
Dean: Yeah, that's one word for it. But you're always there, you know? You're the best friend we've ever had. You're our brother, Cas. I want you to know that.

Castiel: Thank you.

Dean: Wait, so now you wanna kill the Darkness? You're cool with this? 'Cause, you know, last time...

Sam: Look, Chuck's dying. Uh, no offense, God.

Chuck: Yeah, no, I -- I'm dying.

Castiel: Well, what about souls? They fuel your demon deals. Souls are living batteries. They're full of energy. They're full of light. Each one is as powerful as... 100 suns.

Rowena: H-he's not wrong.
Dean: Okay, so, if we got this kind of juice, then what?

Rowena: You get me enough souls... I can build a bomb.

Crowley: This is desperate... and stupid.
Dean: Well, desperate and stupid's pretty much all we got right now, so...

Dean: It's a Book of the Damned spell, boyos. Take this wee crystal. It'll suck up all the blimey ghosts. Just say the magic word.

Bea: I've been feeding these birds going on twenty years now. They're practically family. And I know that makes me sound like a crazy old bat, but... heck. My husband died a couple of years ago, and my son keeps slipping my these brochures for retirement communities -- a.k.a. where they send old folks to die, but not to make a fuss about it.

Amara: So you hate him.

Bea: Well, a little bit. Sometimes. But you know family. Even when you hate them, you still love them.

Sam: Dean, you know you don't have to do this.

Dean: 'Course I do. I just have to get close. I can do that, okay? I can do that.
Sam: You know, if this works, um, that bomb goes off.

Dean: I know.

Dean: You cool with this?

Chuck: No. I -- Even after everything she's done, Amara's still my sister. She's my family. I can't -- I don't want to see her dead, but...
Dean: Yeah?

Chuck: ...I understand.

Dean: Okay, look. I want a big funeral. All right? I'm talking epic. Okay? Open bar, choir, Sabbath cover band, and Gary Busey reading the eulogy.

Sam: Done.

Dean: And for my ashes, I like it here. Yeah. You know, as far as eternal resting places go.

Amara: With my brother getting weaker, the scales are tipping away from light.

Dean: And into darkness.

Amara: Into nothing. When God's gone. The universe -- everything will cease to exist. Including me.

Amara: My brother betrayed me. He locked me away for billions of years. He sent you to execute me.
Dean: No, no. No. He zapped me here, yes, but He didn't want this. This wasn't His idea. You're family. He doesn't want you dead. He doesn't want any of this!

Dean: Is this what you wanted?

Amara: No! I just wanted to hurt Him. I wanted to make Him pay.
Dean: Yeah, that's revenge. It'll get you out of bed in the morning, and when you get it, it feels great... for about five minutes. I've been there. Me and Sam -- we have had our fair share of fights -- more than our share -- but no matter how bad it got, we always made it right because we're family. I need him. He needs me. And when everything goes to crap, that's all you've got -- family. And you might be a-an all-powerful being... but I think you're human where it counts. You simply need your brother.
Amara: Just stop.

Dean: You don't want to be alone. Not really. I mean, hell. Maybe that's why you wanted me. But deep down, you didn't really want me... 'cause I'm not Him. So maybe I can kill you. Or maybe I can't. Maybe if I pull this trigger, we all live happily ever after, or maybe we die bloody, or maybe it doesn't matter, because maybe there's a different way. So I'm gonna ask you again. Put aside the rage. Put aside the hate. And you tell me... what do you want?

Amara: In the beginning... it was just you and me, and we were family. I loved you and I thought -- I knew... that you loved me.

Chuck: I did. I do.
Amara: But then you went and you made all these other things. I hated them. I hated you for needing something else, something that wasn't me. And then you locked me away, and all I could think about was making you suffer.
Chuck: You had your reasons.
Amara: I did. And I thought revenge would make me happy. But I was wrong. What you've made... it's beautiful. It took me a long time to see that. I know that we can't go back to the way things were. I don't want to. But I wish... I wish that we could just be family again.

Chuck: I do too.

Dean: What about us? What about Earth?

Chuck: Earth will be fine. It's got you... and Sam.

Amara: Dean, you gave me what I needed most. I want to do the same for you.

Toni: We've been watching you, Sam. What you've done, the damage you've caused -- archangels, Leviathans, the Darkness, and now, well -- the old men have decided enough's enough. I mean, let's face it, Sam. You're just a jumped-up hunter playing with things you don't understand and doing more harm than good. Now, where's Dean?

Sam: Dead. Listen, lady. I don't know who the hell you are or what the hell you want-
Toni: Stop.
Sam: Put the gun down.
Toni: I said stop.

Sam: You and I both know you're not gonna pull the trigger.

Trivia & References

"Alpha and Omega" is a reference to the thirteenth line in the twenty-second chapter of Revelation which deals with the coming of Jesus.

“I am the Alpha and the Omega, the First and the Last, the Beginning and the End.”

Alpha and omega are also the first and last letters of the Greek alphabet.

Crowley: Well... that was a complete and utter dog's breakfast, wasn't it?

Castiel: I didn't know dogs had breakfast.

"A dog's breakfast" refers to something that is a total mess.

Chuck: I'm not dead yet.

This could refer to the movie Monty Python and the Holy Grail, which contains this line.

Rowena: Now, Fergus was bright... Walked before his first birthday, but he hated pants. Hated them. He'd run around the village, his wee banger just flapping in the breeze.

Chuck: Adam and Eve were the same way.

In the creation story of the Abrahamic religions, the first humans - Adam and Eve - were originally naked.

Dean: Ghosts. Well, they're just souls with baggage, right?

Sam: Yeah, but we would need a whole lot of them.
Dean: Waverly Hills.
Sam: Waverly Hills Sanatorium. Of course. Thousands died there.

Waverly Hills Sanatorium is a hospital in Kentucky, used in the 20th century for people with tuberculosis. It is reputed to be one of the most haunted places in the US.

Dean: Get your Casper asses out here.

Casper was the eponymous ghost in the cartoon series Casper, the Friendly Ghost. Dean first referred to a ghost as "Casper" in the 1.01 Pilot.

Sam: Say the magic word! Dean, hurry!

Dean: Haggis!

The national dish of Scotland, haggis is a savory pudding of sheep's heart, liver, and lungs, minced with onion, oatmeal, suet, spices, and salt. It is traditionally cooked in the sheep's stomach.

Lady Antonia Bevell has some passing similarity to the character of Lady Penelope Creighton-Ward from the series Thunderbirds. Lady Penelope is an agent for Federal Agents Bureau (FAB) and also for International Rescue. Like Lady Toni, she is chauffeured in a Rolls Royce, although hers is pink.

It is revealed that the dying sun is a consequence of God's weakening. However, sunlight takes roughly 8 minutes and 20 seconds to arrive at the Earth. This time didn't seem to pass between Amara's attack and the moment Rowena notices the sun is different in the previous episode. Same rule applies when God is healed and the sun instantly appears brighter on Earth.

The old lady feeding the pigeons who speaks to Amara about family is reminiscent of the bird lady in the musical Mary Poppins. The song about her - "Feed the Birds" - is about the importance of charity and empathy.

Minutiae

Filming Locations: Map of known filming locations

Live tweets from the cast and crew during the episode broadcast.

Ronald Patrick Thompson, who played Driver, previously played Security Guard in 10.09 The Things We Left Behind .

Lady Antonia Bevell's cork board tracking the Winchesters includes: Sam and Dean's mug shots, photos from security camera footage of Demon Dean from 10.01 Black, photos of their Leviathan doppelgängers from 7.06 Slash Fiction, photos from 2.12 Nightshifter. Also included are photos of Jimmy Novak, the stained glass window of Castiel from 7.01 Meet the New Boss, a photo of Castiel as "Steve", and "Cassiel" scrawled on a post-it. A Winchester/Campbell family tree can also be seen, along with a photo of Henry, Millie and a young John. Sam's birth certificate can also be seen (through zooming in) it reads Sam's full name as Samuel William Winchester and John's full name as John Edward Winchester. However, Sam's birth date is listed as April 13, 1983, and Mary's full name is written as Mary Catherine Howard.

"Alpha and Omega" is one of only four episodes of Supernatural to not include a death of any kind (exception: The flowers Amara touches). Previous episodes with that distinction include: 4.18 The Monster at the End of This Book, 4.21 When the Levee Breaks and 10.17 Inside Man.

Sam and Dean previously visited Mary's gravestone in 2.04 Children Shouldn't Play with Dead Things.

Dean: Come on. You know the drill. No chick-flick moments. Come on.

Sam: Yeah, you love chick flicks.
Dean: Yeah, you're right. I do. Come here.

In 1.01 Pilot, Sam apologizes to Dean after an argument to which Dean replies, "No chick-flick moments."

Sides, Scripts & Transcripts

• 11.23 Alpha and Omega (Transcript)

Promotion

• Synopsis via KSiteTV
• Photos via The TV Addict
• Promo
• Extended Promo
• Sneak Peek
• "Sacrificio" from Shaving People Punting Things
• BTS Report by miss-deonaire
• BTS Photos by JustJaredJr.com
• BTS Photo by Jose Manzano
• BTS Photo by Jensen Ackles
• BTS Photo by Emily Swallow