Supernatural - The Gamblers

 I cringe when a pool player is riding a hot streak and gets a hot head. There is this "lucky" bar with pool tables where if you are in need of good fortune thanks to life beating you down, Lurlene's is the place to try and win some luck. These coins are provided and each pool player can touch them to see where their luck currently is and compete to win so luck (and life) improves. Dean is very confident in his abilities as a pool player since he's been at it since he was a kid. Dean's damn good, too, outlasting two players (one with a sister in a coma, the other a former PBR bullrider trying to extend his life since he's got destructive cancer)

Look, I really like "Supernatural" but one of my quirks sometimes for certain shows is just coming and going here and there. I just get that itch to watch a few episodes of the show, even as I acknowledge that it comes with a price. The subplot of this episode has Castiel looking for Jack, getting some help from a cop with footage of Jack eating the heart of a "doctor". Kabriel (Ryan Hesp) has this sword and Jack follows him. Kabriel hides from behind him, tying him up, cutting on Jack. But Castiel surprised Kabriel, and when the two engage in a very minor battle Castiel stabs him with a sword he found at the doctor's office where Jack killed the man. All of this follows the series logic and I realize that dropping in on the eleventh episode of the fifteenth season willy-nilly isn't exactly wise.

But I really had a good time when the episode centers on the goddess of fortune, Fortuna (gods were created by God when humans decided not to worship him, even though, as she explains it, he doesn't take too kindly to being forgotten too long), "skimming off the top" from those who play in her establishment, so they can't quite achieve the big "profit" they so need in order to get ahead. These poor saps can't ever quite get away. Dean and Sam are the monkey wrench that gum up the works. Lynda Boyd is a lot of fun as Fortuna, a snappy, clever god who knows how to lure in the desperate and hold them at bay. Sam and Dean see the players and want to help them, while trying to gain enough traction they can reverse all the bad luck they  have been having in order to even stand a chance against God.

"Supernatural" has some ballsy plotting to it. Humans and angels preparing to "kill" God. God is the villain of the fifteenth season. The topic of God isn't really something I'm personally comfortable with. I stay away from too much discussion about religion, politics, or sports. But the show plays fast and loose with not only God, heaven, angels, and gods, building an entire framework on the Brothers Winchester, not only staying alive but combating the dark forces that continuously undermine their lives. A trip to Alaska in order to take a gamble on reversing their fortunes so they can better equip themselves against God, playing pool with an ancient and slick goddess of fortune who loses an actual game to Sam, who is supposed to be inferior to Dean (taking up her offer to go "double or nothing", Sam countering with a wager to bet not for luck but to free all the "captives" as well) is so outrageous I credit the writing team for concocting such surreal plotting. This whole entire arc, which includes Jack planning to gain his strength so he can truly kill God, goes all out...I guess that is why it had such longevity. 

Hanneke Talbot is the overworked bartender, pretty much surrendered to Fortuna since her luck ran out. Lalo Espejo is the bullrider who wins one game against in debt Rob Bruner, later once he's kicked out of the bar, gets hit by a truck! 3.5/5