By: Matt Spaulding
I wish I had better things to say about this episode. That's not the way I want to start a review of the episode before the finale, but there it is. This episode, on the whole, was very plodding, only picking up towards the end. It had some good character moments, but, overall, wasn't riveting.
The episode primarily focuses, in the beginning, on Chuck/God and Lucifer's attempts to reconcile their relationship enough to be able to work together to defeat Amara. Chuck finally admits that Lucifer was indeed his favorite, but when he was wrong about Lucifer being strong enough to bear the Mark of Cain, he became angry with himself which is partially why he banished Lucifer (along with protecting humanity). This is a good character part of the story, with the family dynamic between two immortal beings being explored, but, in the end, isn't super compelling.
Once Chuck and Lucifer have made up enough to be able to team against Amara, they, along with the help of Sam and Dean, set about putting together a team they believe can defeat Amara in the absence of the Archangels. They gather up Rowena and a coven of witches, the angels in Heaven and Crowley and his demons to help them. The plan, since Amara's continued existence is as essential to reality as Chuck's, is to trap her back in the Mark of Cain, which will be carried by Sam, much to Dean's chagrin. How they came to this decision, I couldn't tell you. The "plan making" portion of the episode is a bit of a mess of a montage and I missed a lot.
Meanwhile, Amara finds Donatello the prophet from last episode and eats his soul, strengthening herself for battle. She willingly walks into the trap, knowing Rowena has betrayed her. She kills all the other witches, defeats Crowley's demons, survives a smiting from Heaven and heads in to face Chuck face to face. There is another great character moment here between Amara and Chuck, more of the family dynamic from earlier. Chuck confesses that he hated that he and Amara were equals and that he created reality so that he could rule over it. Now very weak, Amara seems ready to be trapped back in the Mark but, well, this wasn't the last episode of the season, so you can probably guess how that goes.
Like I said, despite the good character bits and a thoroughly surprising ending, the episode on the whole wasn't super compelling and honestly not very well structured. In fact, if not for the end, I wouldn't feel much excitement or tension going into the finale at all.
Final Grade: B-