Many spoilers ahead for Episode 18 of Supernatural Season 14, called "Absence."
Supernatural is notorious for killing off its characters and then bringing them back, to the point that one actor was even able to pick his favorite of the many ways his character died. So, when last week's episode ended with the implication that Jack had done something awful to Mary after burning off the remnants of his soul and killing Nick, it didn't necessarily mean that she was dead and gone for good. Well, "Absence" revealed that Jack killed Mary, and it seems like she might not be coming back.
That Jack killed Mary was actually revealed so early in the episode that I 100% believed that she'd be either alive or the stage was set to bring her back by the time the credits rolled, but that's not what happened. Sam and Dean set off in search of Jack and Mary, and they found the cabin where Jack had the showdown with the unhinged Nick.
Nick's body was so bloody and beaten that even Sam was appalled at what had been done. Behind the house, the boys discovered a large blast mark, which would later prove to be where Jack accidentally killed Mary. Desperate to undo his mistake, Jack nabbed Rowena and told her to use her magic to bring Mary back. Rowena tried to tell him that necromancy never ends well, but he didn't want to hear it.
Eventually, Rowena refused to do what he wanted, so he blasted her away and went to perform the ritual himself. Although the ritual was successful insofar as it brought back Mary's body, there was no life in it, and nothing to be brought back. It was nothing but an empty shell.
The brothers were distraught as they learned that the warning signs about Jack had been ignored, leading Jack to do this awful thing. Dean was furious at Cas for concealing the truth about Jack killing Felix, but Sam brought him around to the reality that they were all at fault. Jack could have been stopped. After recovering the shell that was the only body Mary had left on Earth, Sam and Dean burned her in the traditional hunter sendoff.
Of course, this isn't the first time that Mary's body has been burned. Literally one of the first things viewers learned about Mary was that she burned on the ceiling of baby Sam's bedroom thanks to the Yellow-Eyed Demon, and she came back from that. Still, the sendoff seemed very... well, final. She got the hunter burial, and the boys accepted her death without giving any sign that they intend to try and make any deals with demons or pursue any dark magic to bring her back.
Their acceptance was helped by learning how she died and where she went after her death. Castiel went to Heaven to try and confirm that Mary really was dead. While he couldn't find Naomi, he did find out what he needed to know from another angel, who told him that Mary died instantly and painlessly. According to her, Mary "is complete."
Castiel still went in search of Mary, and he found her Heaven. Here's how he described Mary's Heaven to her sons:
She's with John, and there's no sorrow and no guilt. Just joy.
Mary already went through being pulled out of her Heaven once before, and it was a difficult adjustment period for her as she got to know her adult sons. Would it really be fair of them to do it to her again? She's complete and joyful and reunited with John.
The boys may miss their mom and they may be incomplete without her for the time being, but they love her too much to rip her out of her wonderful Heaven just because they want her back. The show that rarely kills off major characters really may have killed off Mary for good.
After all, only one season is left before Supernatural is gone for good, and the team behind the scenes have the opportunity to plan everything out ahead of time. It doesn't have to involve Mary. Hey, maybe the boys can be reunited with both their parents if they get a Butch Cassidy and the Sundance Kid-style ending. Jeffrey Dean Morgan did say he'd return for the end of the series.
The next new episode of Supernatural airs Thursday, April 18 at 8 p.m. ET on The CW. Called "Jack in the Box," it will see Castiel and the Winchesters investigating a series of suspicious deaths with a biblical element to them.
