Season 15 Callbacks

The final season of Supernatural has many returning characters, and callbacks to events of earlier seasons.

Returning Characters

• Adam Milligan
• Alex Jones
• Amara
• Anael
• Arthur Ketch
• Becky Rosen
• Benny Lafitte
• Bess Fitzgerald
• Chuck Shurley
• Dark Kaia
• Donatello
• Eileen Leahy
• Garth
• Jules
• Kaia Nieves
• Kevin Tran
• Cosmic Entity in the guise of Meg
• Michael
• Rowena
• Ruby
• Sergei

Creatures and Spirits

• Constance Welch
• Demon Dean / Deanmon
• Evil!Sam
• Grigori
• John Wayne Gacy
• Leviathans
• Lilith
• Mary Worthington
• Samifer
• Canids

Spells and Weapons and more

• The soul catcher, a device Rowena used in 11.23 Alpha and Omega to collect souls and make the soul bomb to use against Amara, is used to capture the Hell ghosts.
• Rowena has to remove her resurrection charm that she has used twice before to cheat death.
• In 15.05 Proverbs 17:3, Dean and Sam pose as U.S. Wildlife Service "Agents Ford and Hamil" using the same fake IDs from 1.03 Dead in the Water. There is a running gag that Dean doesn't look like his picture anymore.
• Sam produces Ruby's knife to kill Lilith. Lilith remarks that he was only able to kill her in 4.22 Lucifer Rising because she let him.
• Sam uses a devil's trap bullet to trap Lilith, although it is unable to hold her for long.
• Dean uses a witch-killing bullet to to kill Emily the witch.
• Sam and Eileen find Rowena's Spellbooks which document everything she knows about magic. These journals have only made brief cameos in previous seasons before 15.06 Golden Time. Sam completes and uses an unfinished resurrection spell Rowena originally planned to use for Mary to revive Eileen.
• The voodoo doll created by Emily and her mother to torture Sam appears similar to the Twigs & Twine Doll created by Miss Beverly in 12.20 Twigs & Twine & Tasha Banes.
• Dean looks to the Demon Tablet to find a way to trap Chuck.
• Dean grabs his grenade launcher before entering the monster fight club, but once again doesn't get to use it.
• Castiel discovers an angel sword in a victim's possessions and realizes that he was a Grigori from what Tamiel told Sam about the swords and his kind. Kabaiel tries to kill Castiel with his own angel sword, but is instead killed by Castiel.
• Billie uses Death's Scythe to kill Merle for failing to keep Jack in line. In addition, Merle disintegrates in the same manner that Death did when Dean killed him with the scythe.

References to Past Events

15.01 Back and to the Future

• Dean speculates that Chuck's actions may have unlocked Lucifer's Cage and freed Michael where he was trapped at the end of 5.22 Swan Song.
• Belphegor refers to Dean's time in Hell as a torturer under Alastair between Seasons 3 and 4.
• Confronted with John Wayne Gacy's ghost, Sam has to face his fear of clowns like in 7.14 Plucky Pennywhistle's Magical Menagerie.
• Sam says We Got Work to Do and closes the trunk, while the image briefly flashes to the Winchesters closing the trunk at the end of 1.01 Pilot.

15.02 Raising Hell

• Ketch and Rowena refer to their previous meeting, when the British Men of Letters captured Rowena several years prior and during her interrogation Ketch discovered that she implanted a special charm that could revive her if she is ever killed. In exchange for her release, Ketch made a deal with her to have the same charm implanted in his body, which he later used when he was killed by Mary Winchester in 12.22 Who We Are.
• Francis Tumblety attempted to absorbed Kevin Tran's spirit, the last time this act among ghosts had been seen was with Whitman Van Ness in 7.19 Of Grave Importance.

15.03 The Rupture

• Lilith is mentioned when her method of controlling demons working on Earth is explained via her crook, which offers a way to stop the "Ghostpocalypse."
• Belphegor's plan to take in a vast number of souls so their power would make him invincible and God-like recalls Castiel actions in opening the portal to Purgatory and absorbing the souls there. This gave him great power and he proclaimed himself the new God.
• Rowena's sacrifice in 15.03 The Rupture is amalgamation of Sam's sacrifice in 5.22 Swan Song and Crowley's sacrifice in 12.23 All Along the Watchtower. Her last words, "goodbye, boys," mirrors Crowley's own "bye, boys."

15.04 Atomic Monsters

• Sam's nightmare is of a world where he embraced the demon blood and went full Dark Side. It's revealed that he had killed Bobby and Jody and is the leader of a demon army, as Azazel intended in 2.21 All Hell Breaks Loose: Part One. When he kills Dean with his psychic powers, his eyes went black as they did when he killed Lilith in 4.22 Lucifer Rising.
• Becky Rosen references the plot to 7.08 Season Seven, Time for a Wedding! in which she drugged Sam with a love potion and married him in Las Vegas.
• Chuck typing the story on Becky's computer at the end of 15.04 Atomic Monsters is reminiscent of the ending of 9.18 Meta Fiction when Metatron is typing more recent events in the form of a story on his typewriter. Both characters also talk about knowing the end of the story and working out how they get there.

15.05 Proverbs 17:3

• In Sam's nightmare, Dean attempts to kill the Lucifer-possessed Sam with the Colt, only to have Lucifer heal the injury and burn Dean alive. This references both when Dean tried to kill Lucifer, possessing Nick, in 5.10 Abandon All Hope... and similarly failed, and when his alternate 2014 self tried to kill the alternate 2014 Lucifer with the Colt while he was possessing Sam in 5.04 The End. The nightmare Lucifer even wears the same white suit from the latter instance.
• The beginning scene where Ashley Monroe and her friends are stalked by the werewolves Josh and Andy May is reminiscent of the scene from 1.02 Wendigo where Tommy Collins and his friends are stalked by the wendigo. In both episodes, three people are attacked at their campsite and two of them are taken before the monster moves on to the third, who in both cases survives the attack.

15.06 Golden Time

• Castiel uses the alias Clarence Worley while working a djinn case in Wyoming. Clarence was Meg's nickname for him through Seasons 5 and 8.
• The bunker is shown to have a phone setup reminiscent of Bobby Singer's and Garth's, used to back up aliases for hunters in the field. Like Bobby and Garth, Dean backs up Castiel's FBI alias. However, Dean simply hangs up on Castiel, leaving him to pretend he's still talking on the phone in front of the sheriff.

15.07 Last Call

• While Dean catches up with Lee Webb, he mentions how he suffered from ghost sickness at the hands of the buruburu Luther Garland in 4.06 Yellow Fever.
• Dean and Lee Webb were hunting buddies while Sam was in Palo Alto attending college at Stanford.
• Dean sings karaoke with Lee Webb, which is a reference to singing karaoke in 10.01 Black during his demonic misadventures with Crowley. Dean even wears the same clothes on both occasions.

15.08 Our Father, Who Aren't in Heaven

• Donatello and the Winchesters worry about him going insane again when he reads the demon tablet as he did in 13.14 Good Intentions.
• God speaking through Donatello is similar to Lucifer speaking to Nick through him from the Empty in 14.17 Game Night following an injection of angel grace.
• There are a number of references to the (first) Apocalypse, and Adam/Michael being locked Lucifer's Cage with Sam/Lucifer.
• When greeting the Winchesters and Castiel as the new Queen of Hell, Rowena goes "hello, boys," her son Crowley's traditional greeting to them.
• Rowena's admonishing of Dean and Castiel to fix their friendship is similar to Ellen Harvelle's spirit threatening to kick Dean's ass from beyond the grave if he didn't talk to Sam in 7.07 The Mentalists.
• God, disguised as a female hunter, communicates with Eileen Leahy in a similar manner to how He communicated with Becky Rosen in 5.01 Sympathy for the Devil while disguised as Chuck Shurley and passing on the message about the Michael Sword.
• Michael killing Lilith in a flash of white light is reminiscent of Lilith's love for attacking her enemies with blasts of white light, as seen in 3.12 Jus in Bello and 3.16 No Rest for the Wicked. In the former case, she was believed to have killed Nancy Fitzgerald and Victor Henriksen in this manner until Henriksen revealed otherwise during the Rise of the Witnesses in 4.02 Are You There, God? It's Me, Dean Winchester.
• Michael acting like a petulant child mirrors Lucifer's own petulant reaction in 11.22 We Happy Few after being reunited with God. In Michael's case, he retreated behind Adam so that he didn't have to listen anymore. In Lucifer's case, he hid out in Sam's room to avoid God.

15.09 The Trap

• Dean and Castiel make several references to their time in Purgatory between Seasons 7 and 8.
• A Leviathan reveals that Benny was ripped apart by vampires for helping Sam and Bobby escape after the events of 8.19 Taxi Driver. Benny is still a Purgatory legend for escaping from Purgatory and then returning.
• The Leviathan tells Dean and Castiel that Eve wants revenge for killing the Alphas and absorbing all of the souls of Purgatory.
• Chuck's threats to persuade Sam not to imprison him is reminiscent of Zachariah's attempts to convince Dean to give Michael his consent in 5.04 The End. Both parties show the Winchesters alternate futures where they live in an apocalyptic version Earth and eventually lose in the end. Both versions of Dean in these alternate futures lose hope in themselves and their allies. However, while Dean continued to refuse to give his consent, Sam is more receptive to the alternate future he sees.

15.10 The Heroes' Journey

• Garth once again displays his tendency towards hugging people. This time, Dean proves to be more receptive.
• Dean and Garth remark on Garth's claims to have killed the Tooth Fairy on his very first case. Garth insists that "she had it coming."
• Dean tells Cutty that the Winchesters have killed demons, angels, Alphas, and gods.
• The fight club promo for the Winchesters' fight uses their mug shots from 2.19 Folsom Prison Blues.
• Garth is once again knocked out by a monster during a fight. However, this time he recovers in time to kill the monster and save the day. Garth once again quips that an enemy "got Garthed" after disposing of them as he did in 7.18 Party On, Garth.

15.11 The Gamblers

• After Sam comments that he'd originally thought the coins from Fortuna's pool hall were hexed or cursed, Dean brings up the Rabbit's Foot from 3.03 Bad Day at Black Rock which was cursed to give the owner good luck which turned sour after the object was lost.
• The Winchesters refer to their past of hustling pool to make money to survive, something that hasn't been seen since 10.17 Inside Man. It's also shown that, unlike many of their other skills such as lock-picking, Sam and Dean really are good at pool on their own from their years of experience without the added luck God gave to them.
• Fortuna's pool hall is reminiscent of the witch Patrick's poker games in 5.07 The Curious Case of Dean Winchester. In both cases, the victims die if they lose too much, and both Fortuna and Patrick choose to play against Sam rather than take on Dean for a rematch. However, unlike Fortuna who skims luck off of each person's winnings, Patrick detests cheating, relying on intuition rather than reading minds or using magic to rig the game in his favor. Sam, who is not as skilled as Dean at pool or poker, manages to beat them both.

15.12 Galaxy Brain

• Jack looks at Mary's initials on the library table.
• Dean and Castiel talk about how he and Kelly recognized Jack's goodness in previous episodes.
• Dark Kaia revealed that when she accidentally stabbed Kaia Nieves with her spear in 13.10 Wayward Sisters, she tended to her wound before making her way to the Winchesters' world, revealing that Kaia is alive in The Bad Place and has been fending for herself for two years.
• Jody explains that after Kaia's supposed death, Claire became obsessed with seeking revenge for two years, particularly after she told her that Dark Kaia made her way to their world. She said Claire loved Kaia and would do anything for a chance to get her back.
• Jack used his powers to dreamwalk with Dark Kaia which mirrors when he dreamwalked with Sam, Dean, and Kaia in 13.09 The Bad Place.
• Merle talks about when Amara penetrated the warding in the Bunker to enter it in 11.22 We Happy Few.
• Castiel talks to Jody about how he took everything from Claire when she was younger and he may never forgive himself for it.
• Merle's death mirror's Death's death in 10.23 Brother's Keeper.
• Dean remembers his first meeting with Death in Chicago during the Apocalypse a decade ago in 5.21 Two Minutes to Midnight where he prophesied that he would one day reap God in the end.

15.13 Destiny's Child

• The alternate Sam and Dean arrive when their car appears in the middle of the bunker's armory, mirroring how God teleported the Impala into the same location in 11.21 All in the Family.
• Dean talks about Sam's theory of the Cosmic Balance from 11.23 Alpha and Omega where if Chuck and Amara are both killed, the multiverse would continue to operate.
• While talking in the first flashback, Anael and Ruby mention Ruby's first blonde meatsuit from season 3.
• Anael's betrayal to the Winchesters in 15.13 Destiny's Child mirrors Anna Milton's betrayal in 5.13 The Song Remains the Same.
• Several references are made to Sam and Ruby's prior relationship and her death at the hands of the Winchesters.
• Castiel and Jack talk about Mary's death from 14.17 Game Night and 14.18 Absence. While Jack acknowledges that what he did was a mistake, he still doesn't feel anything because of his soullessness, which disturbs him.
• The Cosmic Entity takes on the form of Meg and uses her term of affection Clarence for Castiel, even greeting him with Meg's customary "Hello, Clarence."
• Jack, Castiel, and the Cosmic Entity mention Castiel's deal with the Entity in 14.08 Byzantium.
• The church where Ruby hid the Occultum is reminiscent of the church used in 8.23 Sacrifice where Sam tried to cure Crowley to complete the third trial to seal the gates of Hell.
• In the Garden of Eden, Jack experiences flashes of events from several previous episodes in Seasons 13 and 14 as his soul is restored.
• After he gets his soul back, Jack is shown to be grieving Mary's death from 14.18 Absence and pleads with Sam and Dean to forgive him.

Meta references

Detail of Becky's Supernatural merchandise

• 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.
• In 15.04 Atomic Monsters, we find Becky is still a Supernatural fan, writing fanfic and making miniatures. The Supernatural merchandise in Becky's house was a combination of commercial Supernatural merchandise, items made by fans, and some things made for the show. The plaid quilt and other sewn items were made by Stef, aka @arachnobite, who also made Jensen's Red Hood and Batman costumes. A carved Supernatural-themed chess set in the living room was gifted to Jared at EyeCon in September 2008 by by Sandra Echeverri (@Sanpao19).
  
• Becky's notes about Chuck's new manuscript can be seen as a meta commentary on the episode itself. Many of her notes such as there being no classic rock and neither Sam nor Dean mentioning Castiel and a cornered Sam and Dean listening to the "villain's" monologue happen in the episode. Her claims that the story has low stakes cause Chuck to write a new dark ending, which is mirrored in the episode when he disintegrates Becky and her husband.
• In 15.07 Last Call, Lee Webb quips that Dean can't just lip-sync to "Eye of the Tiger" when no one's watching. This is a reference to the Jensen Sings outtake for 4.06 Yellow Fever where Jensen Ackles lip-syncs to "Eye of the Tiger."
• In 15.10 The Heroes' Journey, the Winchesters and Garth talk about how Sam and Dean are the heroes of the story while Garth is just a special guest star or a recurring character and not a main hero.
• In 15.12 Galaxy Brain, while preparing to destroy all of the alternate universes, God say He needs less of the "failed spinoffs." The Bad Place was an alternate universe created for the Wayward Sisters spinoff and is destroyed in the episode. Over the years, there have been many other proposed spin-offs that never made it off the ground such as Supernatural: Bloodlines and the Ghostfacers Web Series.