Supernatural's Season 15 Premiere Resurrects a Few Blasts From the Past

It's fitting that Supernatural opened its fifteenth and final season with Bob Seger's "Famous Final Scene." More than just a reminder that we're at the beginning of the end, the song harks back to an emotional moment in Season 9 that saw Dean (Jensen Ackles) grieving the loss of his friend Kevin Tran (Osric Chau, who is set to return this season). In the Season 15 premiere, Dean and the rest of Team Free Will find themselves in a similar position: reeling from the death of their adoptive son Jack (Alexander Calvert), who Chuck (Rob Benedict) killed just moments before.

Surrounded by a horde of zombies possessed by demon souls who escaped from hell following Chuck's (Rob Benedict) petty finger snap, the Winchesters and Castiel (Misha Collins), who carried Jack's corpse over his shoulder, find sanctuary in an empty crypt. This show has always loved bringing back deceased characters in interesting ways and in this episode Jack becomes a meatsuit for a low-level demon who sounds like he watched Goodfellas one too many times. Shout-out to Cas, who, in a fierce display of emotion, orders the hijacker to vacate his son's body. Unfortunately, this demon also wants to send his fellow supernatural baddies back to hell, which means they're going to have to work with him whether Cas likes it or not. Their new ally proves himself useful and ejects the demon souls from the bodies they're inhabiting, buying the gang enough time to escape.

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On their way to the nearest town, where they believe the ejected souls have gone, the group discovers an abandoned car with blood smeared all over the windshield. It's a gruesome but familiar scene that fits the MO of one of the Winchesters' first cases: the Woman in White. If she's back, that means everyone the Winchesters have killed over the last decade-and-a-half have also returned to earth, and that's a huge problem. Especially since the escaped evil spirits now walking the earth include Bloody Mary (Jovanna Huguet), who wreaks havoc on a pre-teen slumber party, and serial killer John Wayne Gacy (Shaun Magee), who slaughters an entire children's birthday party except for a woman and young girl who escape. If the Winchesters hope to save lives, they've gotta move fast.

Returning to one of the Winchesters' favorite disguises, Sam impersonates an FBI agent to convince a sheriff to immediately evacuate the town under the guise of a leaked pipeline. Cas can't even stand to look at Demon Jack and joins him, while Dean hangs back in the Impala with their unlikely new ally. This is the perfect opportunity for said demon to ask about the identity of the body he's currently inhabiting and rip our hearts out in the process. Raise your hand if your tear ducts burst like a broken pipe when Dean described Jack as their kid!

Unexpected gut-punch aside, the Season 15 premiere also had its fair share of humorous moments, like Demon Jack fanboying over Dean's work with Alastair in hell a few years back, and Dean calling Rowena (Ruth Connell) to move her "exquisite ass" to help them with a spell.

The town might be clearing out but there's still major trouble ahead. Chuck opened every door in hell, including Lucifer's cage, which means that Michael might be among the 2 to 3 billion demonic souls that have escaped. Dean just rid the archangel from his mind and now it looks like he'll have to fight that battle all over again. But he can't worry about that right now, because they've got a town to save. While the Winchesters don't yet have a plan for capturing every soul, Demon Jack knows a spell that will contain the group of demons terrorizing the locals. All he needs is a human heart, which conveniently falls into his lap when the sheriff turns up dead. He was murdered by the Woman in White, who reappears just in time to be sent packing by Dean and his pointy ax.

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Meanwhile, Sam and Cas take on John Wayne Gacy, who stabs Sam in the abdomen. Although Cas is able to heal that wound, he can't even touch Sam's gunshot wound stemming from shooting Chuck with a gun that can kill anything. As Cas attempts to heal it, we see a quick shot of Evil Sam and Dean saying, "Sammy, please." Plus, Cas reveals that he felt an energy that he hadn't before while touching it. Given that Sam looks to be possessed by Lucifer in a new trailer for Season 15, it could very well be a vision of what's to come.

Just when they thought things couldn't get worse, though, Sam and Cas find themselves face-to-face with additional ghosts, including Bloody Mary and Lizzie Borden. Their hectic battle, during which Sam accidentally shoots Cas, ends when Demon Jack enacts the spell to contain the ghosts. Moments later, Sam tackles his fear of clowns head-on by (timidly) telling a cackling John Wayne Gacy to shut up. Go Sam! You're doing great, sweetie.

When Sam and Dean finally reunite, Dean immediately checks on his younger brother and realizes there's no exit wound from when he got shot. Despite a little pain, Sam appears to be fine, for now. Dean even gets him to laugh with a silly knock-knock joke while patching up the wound. But even this sweet brotherly moment can't detract them from the issue at hand: Chuck. Realizing that the creator of the universe orchestrated their entire lives, Dean starts to question everything they've done. Was it all for nothing? Sam is more optimistic, arguing that what they do matters because, at the end day, they save lives. He also believes that Chuck has gone off to write another story and that they have real free will for the first time in their lives. Whether he's right or wrong about that remains to be seen. What matters most right now are the billions of demons currently walking the earth.

In a moment that echoes the show's pilot, Sam says, "We've got work to do" before shutting the trunk of the Impala. If you look closely, that final shot transitions to footage from the first episode of Sam and Dean closing the trunk to end the scene.

Memorable Quotes:

"I said get out of him. I'm not gonna ask again."-- Angry Dad Castiel

"He was our kid, kinda." -- Dean breaking our hearts while talking about Jack

"Move your exquisite ass, please." -- Dean giving Rowena the respect she deserves

"You shot me." -- Cas to Sam

"Yeah, what's one more apocalypse right?" Sam asks Dean

Supernatural airs Thursdays at 8/7c on the CW.

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