Supernatural Season 15 Episode 11 Review: The Gamblers

Sam and Dean try their luck in a magic pool hall with dire consequences while Cass poses as an FBI agent on Supernatural's "The Gamblers."

Supernatural Season 15 Episode 11 Review

This Supernatural review contains spoilers.

Supernatural Season 15 Episode 11

Sam and Dean have seen a lot of troubles in their life, but nothing quite compares to being a normal person devoid of special divine luck. That special luck was how Sam and Dean have gotten out of any number of scrapes, miraculously had no money problems and skirted death an astounding number of times.

Without that, they now have normal problems. In fact, Sam has to get annoyed at Dean for eating their last travel sandwich because for once they have to be on a budget. Add to that Dean’s lactose intolerance, Baby’s tendency to break down, and — oh, right — literally God wanting them dead? They’ve got a laundry list of troubles that have landed them at a magic pool hall for people who need luck.

In a separate story, we see Castiel posing as “Agent Lizzo” — bonus points for a more topical musician alias, Cass. He’s called to a town where Jack has been seen — murdering what appears to be an innocent doctor. It’s horrendous, but when the curtain is pulled back, it’s clear that Jack was murdering angels — ones that had been feeding on human souls. It’s good to know Jack isn’t out there killing innocent people, but it’s also disturbing how he’s consuming bits of angel in order to grow stronger. Sounds a little like a demon blood saga a number of years back, if you recall.

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This episode also adds to Supernatural’s mythology, and answers a question I’ve had since Season 5 — if we have Judeo-Christian things such as God, angels, etc…how do we also have other religion’s gods as well? Shouldn’t they cancel each other out? Fortuna reveals it all in a dramatic speech to the Winchesters. God created Man, Man worshipped other things, so God created the gods to tell both epic stories…and take the blame when things went wrong. This addition to the mythology works perfectly with Chuck’s character and explains all these different deities existing in the same world.

The kicker in this episode is the fact that Dean and Sam lose — but they did so while trying to save the lives of all the people trapped in the pool hall. It’s incredible, really, and we could have given them a pass for focusing on their much bigger world-ending problems instead of a handful of unlucky gamblers. It’s that very spirit that turns Fortuna’s opinion of them, giving them their luck plus freeing her other trapped souls.

Fortuna sends a message to the boys: “Don’t play his game. Make him play yours.” These words ring with so many implications and weigh heavy with importance. You can bet that however they try to best Chuck in the end, they’ll have to turn the tables so he’s fighting on their terms. I like those odds better already.

The Winchesters and Cass reunited with Jack by the end of the episode. May the record state that I’m not crying, you’re crying. With Jack’s return, perhaps we have a piece of the puzzle of how to defeat Chuck. Jack is on the road to getting himself powerful enough to take Chuck on, a journey that seems to eerily parallel Sam’s similar route to best Lilith when he had his demon powers. The end of the scene still shines with positivity though, and defeating Chuck seems a more achievable goal.

Last episode ended on a bleak note. It’s truly fantastic how that was turned around in this episode, giving both the viewers and our main characters a heaping dose of hope.

Supernatural returns Monday, March 16, because The CW can’t wait to throw Supernatural fans off their game.

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Keep up with all our Supernatural season 15 news and reviews right here.

Rating:

4 out of 5