Supernatural Season 15 Episode 2 Review: Raising Hell

This Supernatural review contains spoilers.

Supernatural Season 15 Episode 2

It’s not often we see a regular episode of Supernatural pick up where the previous one left off — that’s usually reserved for season finales. In this case we see Sam, Dean, Cas, and Not-Jack (Belphegor – but who is going to remember that name?) still in the quarantined town, trying to hold things together until they can figure out a plan against the ghost and demon horde banding together outside. By the end of the episode, it doesn’t appear like the boys might not be leaving just yet. The crack in Hell is still spewing countless foes for them, and they need a solid plan.

My complaint last episode was that the ghosts weren’t acting like ghosts. In fact, the climax of the story with them simply running after our boys was a touch ridiculous, being that they can disappear and reappear at will. That seems to have been addressed this episode, as ghosts get the drop on people in their trademark otherworldly way. Rules are needed to make sense of fiction, so when we forget those rules, it breaks the suspension of disbelief.

The ghosts and demons followed the rules perfectly this episode, with none other than Mr. Ketch providing a perfect example. Dean gives Mr. Ketch an iron chain to wear around his neck to ward off possession. When Jack the Ripper gets him in his clutches, the chain must have fallen off. During the scene where Rowena is trapping tons of souls in her crystal, Ketch is noticeably not wearing the chain, signaling to the viewer that something is amiss. Of course, that’s when it’s revealed that Ketch was possessed.

This episode is chock full of guest stars: Rowena, Mr. Ketch, Amara, Kevin. Finding out that Kevin has been wrongfully imprisoned in Hell this whole time makes one hope he meets a peaceful end — along with anyone else who shouldn’t be there. I imagine Kevin’s not the only friendly face to come from there this season. We can surely expect this to be revisited later, with future guest stars and perhaps another attempt to get Kevin back to Heaven.

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Chuck and Amara’s scenes played up on the familiarity and grudging atmosphere of family who’ve been on a long road trip and don’t really want to hang out right now. Amara is definitely living the life of luxury right now, and finds it suspicious Chuck wants to run off again. When she touches Chuck’s injured shoulder, Sam’s injury flares up at the same time. The two are definitely connected and this opens up all sorts of potential in the future.

The comic relief this episode is heavily placed on the romantic and suggestive things that Rowena and Mr. Ketch say to each other. It should be eye-roll worthy, but damned if I didn’t feel some hope there that they’d find love with each other. Call me a sap, it’s fifteen freakin’ seasons and the end of the world. So what if a once super evil witch and a swarthy British Man of Letters get together. Love is love.

I can’t get over how well Alexander Calvert is playing his new character. The smugness of his demon is just too good. Contrast that to his hopeful and innocent Jack and his dangerous side when Jack chipped away at his soul last season — this guy is shaping up to be quite the actor. The sunglasses help sell this by obscuring his eyes and getting him into character, but the actor holds himself differently when he plays Belthegor than when he is Jack.

This last season is definitely the time to explore new interpretations of the same characters. We’ve introduced God as the bad guy for one. Seeing Kevin play “the bad boy” for a few minutes was also good — and what a nice way to bring back a fan favorite.

Emily Swallow also gets to play a new angle on her character. Amara started out more aloof — emotionally distant (yet still emotionally damaged ie: see relationship with God) and now she’s a girl about town, getting massages, enjoying life. No longer is she the harbinger of darkness — she’s more akin to a girl taking a semester abroad to find herself. I enjoy this new facet of her character. It’s more interesting to see someone who isn’t a blank slate — someone more emotionally receptive to what goes on around her. I do hope we see her again, but if we don’t, it was still a fun chance to see her before the series ends.

“Raising Hell” isn’t the heaviest hitter at first, but with new elements thrown in like Kevin’s wrongful Hell-scapades and Amara rebuking God and the spirits continuing to enter the Earth, we’ve got a lot of building on the new world of this final season.

Bridget LaMonica is a contributor at Den of Geek .Read more of her work here or follow her on Twitter @BridgetLaMonica.