Supernatural returned to begin it’s run to the end – again – with “Last Holiday” written by Jeremy Adams (who also wrote “ScoobyNatural”) and directed by Eduardo Sanchez. Originally, of course, this episode would have been a nice bit of fluff to relieve the tension after “Destiny’s Child.” As it is, it was a nice way to relieve the tension of 2020 and bring us gently back into the SPN universe. Meagan Fay is delightful as wood nymph Mrs Butters. A younger Dean (Jensen Ackles) would likely have been disappointed not to find a more lithesome nymph, but older Dean does like his creature comforts…
We definitely needed the long “THEN” sequence to remind us of where we left off. As the episode begins, Jack (Alexander Calvert) is still dealing with his soul coming back. Castiel (Misha Collins) is off looking for Amara – who also has to be killed in order to kill Chuck. Dean is cooking and Sam (Jared Padalecki) is researching. The Bunker appears to be starting to wear out – as Sam points out, it was state of the art in the 1950s.
The brothers make their way to the basement and the Bunker’s grid control/center, thingy. Dean decides to treat it like his computer with too many pop ups and hits restart. Typical Dean – touching things that he shouldn’t. Sam tries to protest, but it seems like it works. Until Dean walks into his room with his burger to find Mrs Butters folding his Scooby-Doo boxer shorts! Perfect! And a really nice shout out to Adams.
Mrs Butters informs Sam and Dean that she is actually a wood nymph, but she took care of her boys – the Men of Letters by doing the cleaning, cooking, laundry etc. Dean tells her that she can leave, and she becomes very upset – the Bunker is her home. She thinks it’s 1958, and Dean has to tell her that her boys are dead – killed by Abaddon. When they hadn’t returned from the ceremony – the one at which Abaddon killed most of them, Mrs Butters had put the Bunker in Standby mode. Fay is fantastic as she moves from bubbly, to sad, to bustling – I loved her noticing that it had been a while since the boys had done laundry!
Mrs Butters tells them that the Men of Letters used her magic to give the Bunker and extra “oompf” and she snaps her fingers to power it up, engaging the inter-dimensional telescope – and to Dean’s utter delight – the monster radar! She sends them off to take care of a nest of vampires. Sam worries that they might not be able to trust Mrs Butters. Dean suggests checking out the nest of vampires – if it’s for real, then they’ve caught a break. If not, they’ll take care of her.
Dean and Sam stop by Jack’s room to tell him they have a guest – and she’s making cookies… Jack is still traumatized. Mrs Butters does leave him a sandwich outside his door in case he’s hungry.
We get the requisite car scene between the brothers. Dean calls Mrs Butters a “magic Roomba” but Sam still has reservations. Dean points out that they live with the son of Satan. Sam counters that they are dealing with a lot, especially Jack. Dean replies that he’s been through a lot and he’s the picture of health. Sam declares that ignoring your trauma doesn’t make it go away – very true, Sam! Sam is sure that Jack is hiding something, but Dean insists that he just needs some space to work through it.
Dean is thrilled with the monster radar when they bust in the door and lop of the vampire’s heads. No research, no dead ends. But Dean is even more thrilled to return home to Christmas! Dean tells Sam, “We are so keeping her…” I loved how many previous episodes that there were echoes of in this episode. The vampires watching a vampire movie reminded me of “Monster Movie” – Christmas reminded me of “A Very Supernatural Christmas” and Abaddon – “As Time Goes By” – the episode in which the brothers discovered their legacy.
Sam is still skeptical as Mrs Butters serves him breakfast. As soon as Jack enters the room, Mrs Butters attitude changes and she wants to know what he is. Dean comes in – dressed in a delightful – and very silly – lavender nightshirt and cap. He declares that Jack is a millennial but not to let that throw her! He’s a good kid. Mrs Butters seems to change her tone and says if they vouch for him it must be alright and gives him a smoothie… Dean wants one but she gives him tomato juice for his cholesterol. The radar goes off – and Mrs Butters sends them off with packed lunches!
Jack helps Mrs Butters with the dishes and tells her that he didn’t have much to do with his father – Lucifer. Sam, Dean, and Mary are his family – and then he tells her that he killed Mary. It was an accident… Mrs Butters tells him that everyone does things that they aren’t proud of, but life gives you second chances – she seems to be being supportive and even gives him another smoothie.
There’s a nice musical montage of packed lunches, homecooked meals, holidays, and monster radar jobs. We also get a guest appearance of Dean with the grenade launcher and Sam with Thor’s hammer.
And then it’s Sam’s birthday and he gets a beautiful cake. Dean asks if he can have rice krispie treats for his birthday, and Mrs Butters is surprised that he wants to celebrate at his age! Which Jack thinks is hilarious. But she’s already made him a pan of them.
Jack happens upon Mrs Butters looking at some files in what seems to be a suspicious way. He asks her for another smoothie and finds a file on her – complete with film. The film shows Cuthbert Sinclair (Kavan Smith) discussing retrieving Mrs Butters from a Thule laboratory – and it’s been a while since we’ve heard anything about the Thules! Wood nymphs are naturally docile but react violently when family is threatened. Apparently she killed 200 men – and the film shows her ripping the head off a Thule for Sinclair! And then offering to get tea and cookies…
Jack goes looking for Sam, but he’s getting ready for a big date – with Eileen! We haven’t seen her since “The Trap” and we don’t get to see her here, but it’s encouraging that she and Sam still seem to be a thing. I loved Mrs Butters wanting to trim Sam’s hair! Dean, of course, has to give Sam the business. Mrs Butters gives Sam a dozen roses for Eileen and tells Dean to be nicer to his brother. She then tells him she fixed a tv in one of the rooms – the Dean cave – and the very tv that was damaged during “Scoobynatural!”
Jack is still reluctant to confide in Dean and confronts Mrs Butters on his own. She’s lead him into the dungeon. He tells her he saw the film. She asks how it made him feel, assuming that he enjoyed it and relished the Nazi-dog’s pain. Mrs Butters is afraid for Sam and Dean – they don’t know how powerful Jack’s become. It turns out that the smoothies have taken the edge off Jack’s powers – he’s as weak as a puppy – to make the Bunker safe again and to get rid of all the monsters.
Dean comes looking for a snack and Mrs Butters has one waiting for him, telling him to eat up, he’ll need his strength so that they can go and kill Jack. She has the archangel blade ready. She’s not going to let what happened to the others happen to Dean and Sam. Dean is disappointed – they had a good thing going and she had to go all “Nurse Ratched.” She reminds him that Jack killed his mother. Dean tries to make it better, telling her that they’ll go downstairs, let Jack go and forget it ever happened. And Dean ends up locked up with Jack. Mrs Butters decides that Jack has infected Dean – just like the serpent in the garden.
Sam wanders in – past his curfew according to Mrs Butters who is waiting up with good news and bad news. According to her, Jack has taken over Dean’s mind and they are both downstairs ready for Sam and Mrs Butters to kill them. Sam goes along with her. He says he’s going to his room to get his gun and calls Dean. He asks Dean why he didn’t call him – and Dean tells him that he didn’t want to interrupt the “date.”
Dean suggests Sam shoot Mrs Butters. Sam asks if that will work, and Dean tells him that Sam was supposed to look into how to take care of her, but of course, with all the holidays… they didn’t. Dean suggests Sam goes to the boiler room and hit Standby.
Meanwhile Dean and Jack try to get out of the dungeon. Jack suggests using his power, but Dean declares it to be too dangerous as it would be like sending up a flare to Chuck. Jack asks if Dean still thinks he’s a monster. Dean tells him he’s just going to say it – he’s trying, but he’s having a hard time forgetting what he did, but he’s not going to let an evil Mary Poppins take Jack out.
Sam tries to pull the gun on Mrs Butters. She tells him that she’s not mad – she’s disappointed. She forces him into a chair and ties him up. She’s determined that she’s going to teach him the same lesson that Sinclair taught her – and by the same means – torture! And once again we’re back to “A Very Supernatural Christmas” – and Sam loses some fingernails – YIKES!
Dean tries to beak the super handcuffs with the archangel blade and it blasts Jack into a cabinet. Sam’s taking too long, so Dean doesn’t want to wait. Dean uses the same technique to blast Jack through the locked door!
Dean smashes the reset button – he doesn’t hit the Standby – why? It seems to work – but it doesn’t, and Mrs Butters is furious. She’s not going to let it happen again. She’s not going to let Jack hurt their family. Sam insists that hurting Jack hurts them. Mrs Butters tells them that Cuthbert told her she couldn’t go back to her forest because of “things like that” – that is monsters like Jack. Sam tells her that Cuthbert used her and tortured her. Dean tells her that Jack can save the world – and isn’t that their mission? Mrs Butters is confused and breaks down, telling them that she misses her family so much.
Mrs Butters heals Sam’s fingers and apologizes to Jack. When Dean presses her, she admits that she’d love to see her woods again. They convince her to leave. She tells them that without her magic, the Bunker will revert to standby mode. She also tells them that the telescope is an inter-dimensional telescope. Dean says he looked in it and didn’t see anything – she tells them that’s not good – but of course, that’s because Chuck has destroyed all the other worlds. They give her the old picture of the Men of Letters – her boys.
In the final scene, Sam tells Jack that if there’s anything he wants to talk about he’s there. Jack is distressed because he’s supposed to kill God and a Wood Nymph got him. He’s worried he can’t do it, but Sam tells him that he’s the only one who can. Dean joins them and tells them that Mrs Butters was right – they are sometimes too busy – but he’s made Jack a birthday cake! It’s a pretty sad looking cake, but Jack thinks it’s great. It’s Dean’s version of an olive branch and Jack knows it. Jack makes a wish and blows out the candle.
This was a fun, light episode that continued the theme of the final season in calling back to so many of the previous episodes. It would have been a nice respite from the building tension, but as it was, it was a nice way to ease back in. It was also a necessary beat for Jack to adjust to having his soul back and to give Dean a little more time to come to terms with Jack, so that they’re all on the same page for the final run at Chuck and Amara. It was a little disappointing not to have Castiel back too after such a long hiatus, but Collins has always been a pretty irregular regular. What did you think of the episode? Do you think Jack can do it? Let me know your thoughts in the comments below!
