Supernatural Season 13 Episode 2 Review: The Rising Son

This Supernatural review contains spoilers.

Supernatural Season 13 Episode 2

The second episode of season 13 took things at a little slower pace, giving us a look at Jack’s development while also teasing us about Mary and Lucifer’s interaction in the alternate reality.

Jack is going to be an interesting yet challenging character to develop throughout this season. His parentage is certainly unique. Jack’s seemingly unlimited range of power will certainly be difficult to tackle and keep the audience interested if his character isn’t developed, and luckily it seems we’re getting that development as we travel from episode to episode.

We see glimpses of his personality, from unapologetically loving Scooby Doo (great Easter Egg for later!) to following Dean’s every movement to learn how to act. But the defining factor is how he has the potential to go to the dark side or not. This will continue to be a point of contention between the Winchester Brothers as they are firmly on different sides of this issue, and it’s quite amusing to see them argue back and forth early on when learning more about Jack’s power from the prophet Donatello. They both use what they hear from the prophet to fuel their side of the discussion.

Sam, possibly due to his own happenstance introduction into the dark side, is sympathetic with Jack and believes the boy can learn to be good. He’s on the nurture side of the argument, and finds opportunities to have heart-to-hearts with the kid.

Dean has himself firmly planted on the opposite side. Jack is the devil’s son, there’s no getting around that. After all the drama of trying to avoid his birth in the first place, it’s no wonder he’s not willing to play nice just yet. Dean may be more practical, but he’s also more stubborn.

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Even when Jack shows signs of being good and loyal to his Winchester family, Dean won’t budge on his mistrust. He’s very much like his dad in that way. Daddy Winchester was pretty clear cut on what needed to be hunted. It was only after he passed that Sam and Dean started discovering exceptions to the rule.

This episode also introduced us to a new player on the board: Asmodeus, the last Knight of Hell. He’s lookin’ for power in the wake of Lucifer’s departure and also wants a piece of that Jack action. His plot to open that special gate into hell to release some particularly nasty individuals will surely not just be a one episode wonder. I do think he’ll return to that plan at some point.

Finally, more chances to look through the looking glass and see what Lucifer and Mary are up to. I really enjoy their forced buddy cop pairing (how I see it going) because in no other situation would these two ever have to work together. Like it or not, Lucifer was right. They both have to work together if they want to see their sons.

The alternate dimension Earth also presents a very literal sandbox for the writers to play in. There’s no limit to what characters can come back or be portrayed by new actors, such as we saw with Michael in this episode. Death is never final in Supernatural, and now that we’ve added an alternate Earth, we can probably expect to see more familiar characters pop up for a cameo.

So this episode moved at a slower speed, but had a lot potentially tucked within. The scale of what’s going on throughout the season is becoming clearer. Angels, demons — everyone wants Jack either eliminated or on their side. Only time will tell what path the kid will take.