‘Supernatural’ season 11 episode 18 recap: Dead character is alive; Sam and Dean work with Crowley to save Castiel

“Supernatural” season 11 episode 18 has revived a dead character yet again. “Hell’s Angel” sees Sam and Dean Winchester (Jared Padalecki and Jensen Ackles) working together with Crowley (Mark A. Sheppard) to stop Amara (guest star Emily Swallows), imprison Lucifer and save Castiel (Misha Collins).

Spoilers ahead for ‘Hell’s Angel’

They say no one stays dead in “Supernatural,” and that’s true in this episode. Rowena (Ruth Connell), the powerful witch and errant mother of Crowley, has returned after Lucifer, occupying Castiel’s vessel, snapped her neck. She was resurrected by apparently her own spell. The witch had some tricks up her sleeve, and she used one to revive her. She is now working with Amara, who was a little shaken after her last encounter with the angels.

Crowley, meanwhile, has acquired another Hand of God item. He made a deal with a man who sold his soul 10 years ago. The man wanted to save his life so he provided Crowley with the Horn of Joshua, which could defeat Amara. Crowley killed the man anyway after he took the object.

Read: ‘Supernatural’ season 11 episode 18 spoilers: Lucifer returns to heaven, Crowley teams up with Sam and Dean [VIDEO]

He decided to work with the Winchesters again. However, they all had different goals.

Crowley wanted to exorcise Lucifer from Castiel’s vessel and return the original king of hell to the cage (so Crowley could take over Hell once more).

Sam wanted to defeat Amara first, and he knew only Lucifer could do that with the Hand of God.

Dean also wanted the same thing as his brother, but he wanted Lucifer out of Castiel’s vessel before Lucifer fought Amara. His reasoning was simple: What if Castiel wouldn’t be able to make it while Lucifer tries to defeat the Darkness?

And this was where the brothers argued. They both agreed that Castiel is family, but Sam argued that Castiel made his own decision and therefore they should honour it. Dean didn’t like it. He was adamant that they save Cas first.

Lucifer/Castiel was up in heaven, intimidating the angels in following him. The angels are understandably scared as they were told Lucifer was evil incarnate. But as he pointed out, he was the only one who could defeat Amara as he had done it before. Nevertheless, he appeared to have convinced heaven’s soldiers, and even proclaimed himself as God, which is a bit reminiscent of the time Castiel declared himself as the big man many seasons past.

A newly recuperated Amara rattled heaven with her sheer strength. Rowena was able to spy on the brothers and her son’s conversation, but chose to withhold information from Amara. She made her presence known to the boys and “Fergus” (Crowley’s human name), though, signalling her willingness to work with them.

And so the brothers and the mother and son worked together and called on Lucifer. With Dean dropping blood on a warding, they were able to talk to Castiel briefly. Dean begged their angel friend to reject Lucifer from his vessel, but Cas wasn’t able to answer.

In a remarkable move, Crowley possessed Castiel’s vessel to talk to Castiel directly. The devil told the angel to expel Lucifer, but Cas appeared to be indifferent and just continued to watch television. Lucifer (guest star Mark Pellegrino) also appeared and beat Crowley, who asked for help from the Winchesters. Crowley was able to escape, telling Sam and Dean that Lucifer’s hold on Castiel was too strong.

(It’s not the first time Crowley did a similar act, though. In season 9, he also possessed Sam while the angel Gadreel used Sam’s body for vessel, communicating with Sam directly to ask him to expel Gadreel.)

When the wardings cooled off, Cassifer (Lucifer in Castiel’s vessel) took the Horn of Joshua and tried to kill Sam and Dean. His Aunt Amara fortunately had good timing and showed up. Lucifer tried to use the Horn of Joshua to defeat Amara, but it turned out even with the Hand of God, Lucifer couldn’t defeat her. Once again, Amara saved Dean and Sam’s life, escaping the scene and taking Lucifer with her.

The Winchesters later on deliberated what happened, thinking how Rowena and Crowley were alike in the sense that they took off in the middle of the fight. (Not exactly true. Rowena hid from Lucifer and Amara because they would kill her, while Crowley only took off when there was nothing else he could have done.)

The brothers agreed to not get in the way of someone’s decision anymore. They would respect Castiel’s choice to let Lucifer use his vessel, even if they did not agree with that choice. Nevertheless, Dean told Sam, “Let’s go find that idiot and bring him home.”

Meanwhile, Amara decided to torture her nephew, thinking that Lucifer, as the first and probably favourite son, would be rescued by God.

Hell’s Angel episode review

It’s a fun day when the entire regular cast of the show (which round up to just four actors: Padalecki, Ackles, Collins and Sheppard) are in one episode. Even though both Collins and Sheppard were added as regular cast, they do not always have screen time on the show and together. So after several filler (but admittedly fun) episodes, the four actors have finally come together in one episode. It’s a bonus that Connell and Pellegrino were on as well.

And it’s not just the boys appearing all together at the same time, though. It’s them appearing and actually working together. All characters were used and had great use; no one sit idly on the corner. It’s also a delight to watch Collins switch from Lucifer to Castiel then back again in a heartbeat. No two characters are quite as disparate as the devil and the angel.

There were no real resolution in the episode; Castiel is still trapped inside his vessel while Lucifer uses it, and no one can still defeat Amara. However, the episode still feels rewarding for fans because for once, not everyone is working to kill the Winchesters (except Lucifer, but that’s another point). Their enemies even helped them achieve a common goal. Also, Crowley working with the Winchesters is always gold. Why is Crowley even called a villain in the first place? No one really hates him

“Supernatural” airs Mondays on TenPlay in Australia.