Supernatural Season 13 Episode 22 Review: Exodus

This Supernatural review contains spoilers

Supernatural Season 13 Episode 22

There’s something about the episode before the finale. For Supernatural, it’s usually a bit of a slow boil, essentially a long intro to the actual finale. The majority of the episode besides that was dialogue heavy. 

Those dialogue scenes do form important connections between the angelic family of Jack, Lucifer, Castiel and Gabriel, especially since the boy is curious about his father. Although Dean is very resisted, Jack demands this chance to fill in the missing blanks about his dad. He’s adopted, I get why he wants to hear straight from the horse’s mouth. What follows is a lot of half-truths that need to be corrected by a grumpy Gabriel.

And Lucifer? He’s genuinely upset that he does not impress his kid. He doesn’t act that way at first, but it is shown in his subtle ticks. His tension is palpable as he talks to Gabriel about it later on. You can practically feel him gritting his teeth. 

Gabriel serves as a great foil to Lucifer. Castiel never quite measured up in this department. Gabriel, being an archangel, has more family history. I loved Gabriel here, as he now openly says that humanity is beautiful, deserving of saving.

I like the plan to shanghai the 25 survivors back to our world in order to regroup. It opens up a lot of story potential for the future, introducing all these new and familiar-looking characters. 

We finally got to see more of Alterna-verse Bobby this episode. He mostly served to make me nostalgic, especially with key pieces of dialogue that had a double meaning. “It’s good to see you boys again,” was the first one that hit me hard. He may be wearing a beret but he’s still Bobby, dangit. Later, when he says, “Thanks boys, welcome to the family,” you can almost hallucinate that our Bobby is back.

Ketch and Charlie make an appearance. Mostly their job this episode is to get caught. At least we have a sweet moment where Sam embraces Charlie. Ketch makes a Monopoloy based insult so I can’t fault him too much for being a victim this episode. Ketch said to an angel, “Take the B & L Railroad…straight to hell.”

Evil Castiel is…unnerving. The accent, the uncontrollable mouth twitching… it’s creepy and uncomfortable. In other words, good work, Misha! When the inevitable “Cas fights his evil twin” moment arrives, we get a really lovely admission from Cas that echoes Gabriel’s earlier sentiments: He prefers humans to angels. Thanks Cas. We like you a lot too.

Parts that fell flat for me: people jumping away from the Michael comet explosion. They were a little too staged. Nice for a musical, perhaps, what with the jumping and splayed arms and legs, less so for a climactic moment.

Gabriel, you ain’t dead right, you’re foolin? I’m really concerned because we know he wasn’t at full strength, and the scene eventually comes back to his glazed over eyes. Oh no, Gabriel’s really gone isn’t he? That’s why we got this redemptive arc for him at the end of this season. Why, Supernaturalwriters, why?!?

And of course, our teasing ending that will surely lead to next season: Lucifer making a pact with Michael. Although it was predictably cut to black before he states his decision, I think we see the writing on the wall. Lucifer will work with Michael to get back to the other side, then turn on him. 

“Exodus” isa generally subdued episode, with much of the action pushed into the last ten minutes. We didn’t get a ton of our favorite one-liners, and Lucifer wasn’t on his A Game here. Not the greatest ep, not the worst. I’m still going into this finale concerned for what Hell is going to break loose. Or should I say, Michael?