After the events of last week’s hilarious episode where Sam and Dean deal with real-life problems like normal people due to God’s curse, the brothers journey to Alaska to try to get their luck back while Castiel chases down a case.
Keep reading to find out everything that went down in Supernatural, “The Gamblers.”
Playing the game of their lives. New #Supernatural starts NOW on The CW! pic.twitter.com/6aYjb6Ekn8
— Supernatural (@cw_spn) January 31, 2020
We start out the episode where the brothers are in the Impala, driving to Alaska. How long have they been on the road looking for someplace Garth says will maybe supercharge their luck? Sam asks if that’s really going to fix their “problem,” and Dean replies that it couldn’t hurt. He doesn’t know how much more of this “normal life” crap he can take — between the credit cards, the car trouble, and the “constant freaking heartburn.” Sam simply tells Dean if he changed his diet … All he’s saying is that this place isn’t even in the lore and that no one’s ever heard of it other than Garth. Dean’s not giving up, saying it’s there; it has to be. “Chuck didn’t do this to us just to teach us some messed-up lesson. He wants us off our game. He wants us weak.” Dean tells Sam that Chuck’s coming for them, and when he does, if they haven’t figured this out, they’re DOA.
Meanwhile, Cas returns to the bunker to find a note from Sam that they are going to Alaska. Cas answers one of the burner phones in the bunker, and it turns out to be a call from Jeb Evans from the Cushing, Oklahoma Sheriff’s Department. Cas proceeds to tell him that his name is “Agent Lizzo,” which keeps Cas on his A game for names. Sheriff Evans tells Cas they’ve got a homicide down there, and his file says their suspect might be one of his. Cas is confused; the murderer is someone they’re looking for. Sheriff Evans tells Cas, or Agent Lizzo, that the file says Agent Watts started a file on him last spring and to call with any information regarding a Jack Kline. When Cas hears that, it’s like a flood of relief washes over him.
Sam and Dean stop at a cafe, much to Sam’s dismay, telling Dean they’re on a budget. The guys ask the waitress what they can get for $4.60, and after she leaves to grab a slice of pie (two forks) and a cup of coffee, and Sam breaks out a map. Sam says if Garth is right, they take a road, but it doesn’t look like there’s anything up there. When the waitress returns, Dean asks her what’s up with that road. The waitress thinks they’re kidding, and Sam tells her they’re just headed that way and wanted to know if there’s anything up there. The waitress says there’s an urban legend about this place in the middle of nowhere. A pool hall that is … magic? “They say that if you get up there and you win, then you come back lucky. Like, hit-the-Powerball lucky.” However, the waitress says one of their regulars, Leonard, went out to find the place since the bank was coming for his house, but he never came back. Sam guesses they now know what the downside is. Dean is still saying it could be awesome; it’s pool, the game of champions. If pool is the way to get their mojo back, they may not be as screwed as they thought.
Back to Cas, Sheriff Evans has sent him a video of security footage. In the video, Jack comes into view, knocking on the window of the doctor’s office. The doctor opens the door, and Jack attacks him. The signal goes out for 2 1/2 minutes, and when the signal comes back on, Jack sits down with the doctor’s heart in his hand, and Jack eats it.
Sam and Dean get to the pool hall, and Dean tells Sam to relax; they might actually have some fun. They sit down at the bar and ask the bartender, Evie, if they want to get themselves a game; how would one do that? Evie calls for Pax, and he takes Sam and Dean back to his office. Pax says they don’t bet with money but use special coins. Pax tells them to touch it. When Dean does, the coin starts to glow. Pax says everybody walks in there with a certain amount of luck. That glow is Dean, about average. But, Pax tells them, he sets that coin on the pool table, and he gets himself a game. And if he wins? Dean just might see his fortune improve. And if he loses? “Play again. Have a good time.” However, Pax says if the coin goes blank, that means you’re out of luck, and you have to leave. Dean asks Pax, when he wins, can he split the luck? Pax says it’s his. He can do what he wants. Sam and Dean talk it over, and Sam is not up to the idea. Dean tells him they barely made it out of that monster fight club, they need this, and Sam knows it. Sam sighs, giving up, and Dean tells Pax, “let’s give it a go.”
Sam and Dean are just standing around, waiting to start a game. “You know, if the fish aren’t biting, throw ’em a little chum.” Dean breaks up the balls, telling Sam loudly that he’s a little rusty. Everyone looks at him, and a woman puts her coin on the holder, indicating she wants to play. Sam goes over to the bar, telling Evie it’s not really his thing. Sam asks Evie what the woman’s deal is. Evie says Moira has been there a while; her sister’s in a coma. “Everybody wants something.” Sam tells Evie that places like this don’t exist for no reason. Evie says most people think it’s a Godsend. After getting the eight ball in, Dean’s coin glows.
Sam is telling Dean about Evie, how it was like she was telling him to cut their losses.
Dean: “Come on, man. I’m on a roll.”
Sam: “Dean, you won one game.”
Sam thinks the place sucks you in, and if you keep playing, you’ll lose. If you keep losing … Dean says you go all Leonard. Dean tells Sam they need to minimize their risk and maximize their profit. Sam tells Dean one more game. After starting a new game, the guy, Joey Six, asks Dean his name.
“Well, my name’s Dean Winchester. And I’m gonna kick your ass.”
Dean ends up winning, and both coins glow.
Dean tells Sam the plan worked, and “let’s hit the road.” Sam wonders about everyone else and tells Dean to just give him some time; he needs to figure this out. “Dude, we’re in a fight with God, okay? And, we just got our mojo back.” Sam asks Dean if he really thinks there’s enough luck in that coin to make up for whatever Chuck took from them, and Dean asks why doesn’t he give it a whirl? He’ll go for a quick drive; if Baby treats him right, then he knows they’re out of the woods.
Meanwhile, Cas meets up with Sheriff Evans, who tells Cas a local transient spotted Jack in some sort of altercation. However, she ran away when she saw the other guy had a sword, and it looks like he had used it. Cas asks Sheriff Evans if there are any abandoned buildings in town, and when he mentions an old church, Cas asks where it is. Before Cas leaves, Sheriff Evans tells him he called him for answers. “I know. And I intend to find them.”
Dean comes back inside, telling Sam the car’s dead again, and it didn’t even make it out of the parking lot. The coin blows. Dean thinks Sam’s right; it didn’t have enough juice. Sam looks at the coin, saying at first, he thought maybe the coins were hexed or cursed. When you win, you’re taking luck from whoever you beat. Joey Six beat how many people? All of that accumulated luck should have been passed to Dean. But what if someone’s stealing, every game, skimming luck off the top? Sam thinks it’s the woman on the coin, Atrox Fortuna. The Roman Goddess of Luck. Now, what do they do? Evie tells Sam and Dean she can’t help them, but Sam wonders why warn him in the first place. So he’d take his brother and go. Sam asks Evie if she’s there, and Evie tells him she doesn’t know. She only talks to Pax, her son.
Jack is in an old church, having been captured by a Grigori. He tells Jack he knows what he is; he’s powerful, so why not use it and fight back? “As a soldier, I respect your silence, tactically misguided as it may be.” The Grigori asks Jack why he’s killing his kind; they have their frequency of angel radio. And before he died, his brother called to him.
Sam walks up to Pax, saying he has a question, and Dean puts a knife to his throat when he gets up. “Where’s your mom?” Sam calls out to Fortuna, and Dean says they have her son. Fortuna/Moira comes up to them, saying that’s enough. Sam says they know she’s skimming luck off what they won; they want it back. “Or I kill him.” Dean lets Pax go and tells Fortuna to play him for it again. Fortuna tells Dean when she plays someone; they get a read on them. And he is just a “beach read.” Sexy but skimmable.
“Lady, I’m Tolstoy.”
Fortuna walks over to Sam, saying he could be interesting. Sam says he’ll play. “But not for our luck. I’ll play for the lives of everybody here.” Fortuna tells Sam no, only for his luck. If he loses, she gets their lives.
The Grigori is slicing Jack’s chest, and Jack says he can’t kill him. “I can make you suffer.” The Grigori puts his sword to Jack’s neck, and Cas comes in, immediately fighting the Grigori and successfully using his blade on him, saving Jack. Cas unties him, and they hug.
Sam ends up winning the game against Fortuna, and Dean tells her she knows the deal, even up. However, Fortuna says, why don’t they make it interesting? They’re going to fight God; that’s the stuff of heroes, right? So they’re going to need the luck of heroes; Hercules, Cuchulain, Gilgamesh. Fortuna helped them all; she can help them too. She says another game, double or nothing. Sam agrees and says not for more luck; if he wins, she has to let everyone go. Fortuna says she’s not stopping them, and Sam tells her she has to give back the luck she stole when he wins. Close up shop. Fortuna agrees. Unfortunately, she ends up winning. “You challenged the Goddess of Luck in her own joint. What did you think was gonna happen?” Dean says they had to try.
Sam and Dean walk out of the hall, and Dean says he thought she was going to kill them. Sam tells him she doesn’t have to; their luck will do that on its own. Sam says they can’t just leave them, and Dean tells him he knows. “Let’s go find some Wi-Fi and see what kills Lady Luck.” The door opens, and Evie walks out, along with everyone else. Evie tells Sam and Dean Fortuna shut it down. Why? “Because of you.” Fortuna said she thought their kind had gone extinct. Their kind? “Heroes. Like the old days.” Fortuna gave Evie a message and said, “Don’t play His game. Make Him play yours.” Evie gives them their coin, and Sam takes it, the coin glowing in Sam’s hand and then in Dean’s. They get in Baby, and she’s running as smoothly as ever. “We’re back, baby.”
The guys get back to the bunker, and Dean is still trying their luck on a scratcher. “What the hell? So much for that ‘Luck of Hercules’ crap.” Sam says, so they didn’t win the lottery, but no car trouble, credit cards work, and back-to-back bacon double cheeseburgers didn’t kill Dean. “That was beautiful, by the way.” Sam says Fortuna thinks they’re real heroes; maybe they don’t get all the shortcuts. Cas walks in, and Sam asks if everything’s okay. Jack walks in, and Cas tells them it’s really him. Sam walks over to him and hugs him. Later, TFW 2.0 are sitting around the table, drinking, and Sam’s trying to get the story straight. He ate the Grigoris’ hearts? Jack says he had to.
Sam tells Jack he could’ve called them, and Jack says every day he wanted to come home, but he couldn’t. Jack says if he doesn’t stay hidden and uses his powers, his grandfather will know he’s back, and he’ll try and kill him again. Chuck’s afraid of Jack, and that’s why they have to wait. Billie kept him hidden in the Empty until Chuck went off-world. Billie let Jack out when it was safe to do what he has to. The hearts were just the beginning. Jack says they made him strong, but he’s not strong enough.
“If I do exactly what she says, if I follow her plan, then I’ll get stronger, and I’ll be able to kill God.”
Supernatural Thursdays are officially a thing of the past, as Katy Keene will be taking over SPN’s time starting February 6. The show will be on hiatus for the next six weeks, returning on its new night, Mondays, at 8 p.m. ET/7 p.m. CT on The CW on March 16, followed by season 2 of Roswell, New Mexico.
