15.01 Back and to the Future

Title	Back and to the Future
Episode #	Season 15, Episode 1
First aired	October 10, 2019
Directed by	John F. Showalter
Written by	Andrew Dabb
On IMDB	Back and to the Future
Outline	Sam, Dean, and Castiel race to find a way to send all the souls Chuck released from Hell back before it is too late.
Monster	Hell Ghosts / Zombies
Timeline	Immediately after 14.20 Moriah
Location(s)	Lebanon, Kansas Harlan, Kansas
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Characters

• Sam Winchester
• Dean Winchester
• Castiel
• Jack Kline
• Constance Welch
• Mary Worthington
• John Wayne Gacy
• Belphegor

Definitions

• Angel Blade
• Anti-Possession Symbol
• Bloody Mary
• Castiel's Trench Coat
• Clowns
• Costumes & Disguises
• Demonology
• The Equalizer
• Ghost Possession
• Healing
• Hell Ghosts
• Impala
• Iron
• Lucifer's Cage
• Meatsuit
• Mirror Folklore
• Possession
• Salt
• Sammy
• Smiting
• Son of a Bitch
• Spells
• Table of Death
• Title Card
• Woman in White
• Zombies

Music

• "The Famous Final Scene" by Bob Seger & the Silver Bullet Band

(plays during "The Road So Far" recap of events and the opening scene until the title card; also played in 9.10 Road Trip)

• "Gimme What I Want" by Tony Stafford, Jr., Michael Smith, and NineOneOne (Extreme Music)

(playing in the girl's room when Bloody Mary attacks)

• "Too Good to Be True" by Lon Rogers & the Soul Blenders

(playing from the car stereo of the Woman in White victim; also played in 13.11 Breakdown)

Quotes

Dean: So, what? Chuck throws friggin' zombies at us now?!

Sam: I don't know if they're zombies, Dean. I think -- I think whenever the souls came up from Hell that they-they just...

Dean: They what? Just jumped into the nearest body?

Dean: Great. So we go outside, we get ripped apart. We stay in here, w-what, starve to death?!

Castiel: Well, I wouldn't starve.

Dean: Well, good for you.

Dean: Great. Son of a bitch. Chuck. Man, I knew it. I knew He would do something like this. He's always so squirrelly, you know, with the -- with the -- the robe and the beard and the smile that's, like, half-nice, half "I'm gonna rip your throat out."

Castiel: He's an abomination!
Belphegor: You're an abomination with that stupid, dumb trench coat.

Sam: Dean, this could be our Woman in White.

Dean: Dude, we sent her to Hell years ago.
Sam: Yeah, but she could be back.

Dean: Well, if she's back then they're all back. Every last one we ever killed. Let's go.

Dean: Rowena, we need your help, so move your ass. What? No, I'm not... Move your exquisite ass, please. Alright? Great.

Dean: So with all this going on, what's it like down there?

Belphegor: In Hell?
Dean: Yeah.
Belphegor: You ever seen an anthill when it's, like, set on fire? Okay, well, there we were, minding our own business, you know, flaying people for eternity, like you do, right? And then, every door in Hell just sprang open, all at once. You know? Souls got out. Sky cracked. And, uh, boom, ta-da, you know?
Dean: Wait. Every door? Even the Cage?
Belphegor: Yeah, even the Cage.
Dean: And Michael?

Belphegor: Well, last I heard he was just sitting there. Yeah, but if he got out, I mean -- ugh. I mean... he wouldn't hold a grudge, right?

Dean: Hey, do you remember when we were little? What I would do to distract you whenever I'd rip off a Band-Aid or something like that?

Sam: Yeah. You'd tell some stupid joke.

Dean: Yeah. Knock, knock.

Dean: Just when we thought we had a choice. You know, whenever we thought we had free will. We were just rats in a maze. Sure, we could go left. Sure, we could go right. But we were still in the damn maze. Just makes you think, if all of it, you know, everything that we've done... What did it even mean?
Sam: It meant a lot. We still saved people.

Sam: That's what He does, He gets bored and-and-and pulls the ripcord. I mean that's what He did with Apocalypse World, and-and probably with all of them. He moves on and starts another story. You know what? Good. 'Cause if He bailed, it's just us. For the first time, it's just us.

Dean: Yeah, and about 3 billion ghosts.
Sam: Yeah, well, what's one more apocalypse, right? But seriously, if we win -- when we win this, God's gone. There's no one to screw with us, there's no more maze, there's just us. And we're free.
Dean: So, you and me versus every soul in Hell? I like those odds. And you know what that means?

Sam: We got work to do.

Trivia & References

"Back and to the Future" is a reference to the Back to the Future films, as well as the fact that Sam and Dean are once again facing enemies from their past.

The name on the crypt that Sam, Dean, and Castiel take refuge in is "Carver," a reference to previous Supernatural writer and showrunner, Jeremy Carver.

Belphegor: Anyway, I'm guessing this whole, uh, hellmouth thing is kind of, uh, you?

In Buffy the Vampire Slayer, the hellmouth was the doorway to Hell located beneath the town of Sunnydale which the protagonists have to keep closed. It's mentioned in the series finale that there is also one in Cleveland, Ohio. In addition, Belphegor was one of the main antagonists in the Buffy novels The Gatekeeper Trilogy.

Belphegor: I mean, the last time I was on Earth, I mean, I was human. Ah, it was a while ago. I mean, but, you know, we were all worshiping this giant rock that looked like a huge penis, and... Anyway, folks back then, they were ugly. You know? Had a lot of humps. I mean, a lot. Look at 'em now. I mean, look at you. I mean, you're, uh, you know, gorgeous.

Belphegor may be referencing the Rudson Monolith, the tallest standing stone in the United Kingdom which dates back to the Neolithic era (10,000 - 4,500 BC), and does look like a huge rock penis. In lore Belphegor was often times depicted and worshiped in the form of a phallus. Belphegor's remarks about how much better looking people have become, and how he considers Dean to be gorgeous, also could be a reference to Belphegor being associated with licentiousness and orgies.

Dean: Hey, Casper.

Reference to Casper, the Friendly Ghost. In 1.01 Pilot Sam also refers to the Woman in White as Casper when questioning Dean about shooting her in the face.

Minutiae

As with every season, the title card has been updated. Among the images flashing on screen include an angel banishing sigil, an Aquarian Star, a cosmic background, a glowing Samulet, a Hell Ghost, burning angel wings, an iris / rift similar to season 13's title card, and an inverted pentagram. You can see these images here.

This is the third episode where the "The Road So Far" recap song has continued playing into the start of an episode, after 2.21 All Hell Breaks Loose: Part One and 14.01 Stranger in a Strange Land. Unlike those two prior instances, the music in "Back and to the Future" is not diegetic.

Appearing among the Hell Ghosts are Constance Welch aka Woman in White from 1.01 Pilot, Mary Worthington aka Bloody Mary from 1.05 Bloody Mary and John Wayne Gacy from 14.13 Lebanon.

Belphegor refers to Dean's time in Hell, where he was tortured by Alastair, until after 30 years Dean accepted Alastair's deal that he would stop the torture if Dean himself would become a torturer. Belphegor says he got to watch dean "work" and describes the things he did to people as not torture but "art".

Hell is revealed to have a newspaper, but terrible Wi-Fi.

Belphegor's interactions with the world around him suggest that he can see just fine even with Jack's eyes gone. In 4.01 Lazarus Rising, a demon who had her meatsuit's eyes burned out by Castiel couldn't see at all, though she was in the body at the time the damage was inflicted.

At the end of the pilot, there is a shot of Dean and Sam standing over the trunk of the Impala. As Sam tosses a weapon into he trunk he says, "We've got work to do" and closes the trunk. At the end of 2.22 All Hell Breaks Loose: Part Two, the scene is replayed with the brother's positions reversed. Dean tosses the Colt into the trunk and says, "We've got work to do." It is also re-created at the start of 10.05 Fan Fiction after Dean announces he has found a case. In "Back and to the Future", Sam says it and closes the trunk, while the image briefly flashes to the Winchesters closing the trunk at the end of the pilot.

Sides, Scripts & Transcripts

• 15.01 Back and to the Future (transcript)

Promotion

• Synopsis
• Photos
• Final Season "Believe" Trailer