13.20 Unfinished Business
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| 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 |
| « Previous Episode | Next Episode » | |
Contents
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
- Sam Winchester
- Dean Winchester
- Mary Winchester
- Jack Kline
- Gabriel
- Kevin Tran (Apocalypse World)
- Jakob
- Loki
- Fenrir Odensbane
- Narfi
- Sleipnir
Definitions
- Alcohol
- Apocalypse World
- Angel Wings
- Archangel
- Astral Projection
- Binding Link
- Casa Erotica
- Deities
- Demigods
- Grace
- Impala
- Magic Fingers
- Michael's Fortress
- Nephilim
- Old Norse Mythology
- Porn
- Queer and Gender Diverse Characters
- Silver
- Silver Bullet
- Spells
- Table of Death
- Trickster
Music
None
Quotes
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?
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.
Sam: What if it's not?
Dean: You've seen it, Sam -- with me, with Dad. Revenge only ends one way -- ugly.Jack: I'm doing this for them.
Mary: You can't help them if you're dead. And I can't lose another boy.
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.
Mary: We can prepare and we can fight... and sometimes, things happen we'll never see coming.
Dean: And you're the annoying god that we're wasting our time tryin' to kill.
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.
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 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.
- 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.
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.
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 is describing the Binding of Loki.
- A reference to the Bride from Kill Bill who was played by Uma Thurman.
- S.F.V. refers to the San Fernando Valley in California, the center of the adult entertainment industry.
- "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.
Minutiae
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."
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."
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.
