On Oct. 10, the first episode of the 15th and final season of Supernatural premiered, featuring brothers Sam and Dean Winchester fighting against strange creatures as they always have. However, now the duo has been entangled in several trials to save the world, all leading to the only logical conclusion: fighting against God himself, or as God prefers to be called, Chuck.

Fourteen years ago, the first episode of Supernatural aired, featuring Sam and Dean who team up to find their father who had gone missing on a hunt — but not just any hunt. This was a hunt of supernatural creatures, including just about any ghosts, demons, urban legends, or pagan gods the audience could think of.

The first episode of the last season began with its quintessential lookback at the previous season with the familiar words “The Road So Far” appearing while the song, “The Famous Final Scene” by Bob Seger starts and images of last season’s chaos flashing across the screen. Even through all the chaos of this intro, Chuck’s words, “Story’s over. Welcome to the end,” proves to be the most important idea of recap.

The intro song bleeds into Sam and Dean’s present moment, showing them fighting against an army of freshly escaped demons, but these are not the only demons Chuck released to make his escape. He released every single soul that was in Hell, most likely to be the true final test for the Winchester brothers.

It is impossible to shake the idea of finality from the episode, even when it occasionally tries to make use of its classic humor. With all of the three billion or so souls being released from Hell, it is also impossible to go a few minutes in the episode without being bombarded with spirits they sent to hell from the first season, going so far as to include the White Lady, the series’ very first antagonist.

Even Castiel, a fan favorite and a pillar of the show since the fourth season, becomes a side note for this episode to focus on the original cast and evoke the feeling of the first season. The last lines and last shot of the episode are exactly the same as the last of the pilot episode, cementing the return to the spirit of the first season for the last 19 episodes.

The show has undoubtedly had quality issues throughout the years, but the first five seasons have always had a special place in the mindset of the show. While I personally have had many issues with the recent seasons, the show has always been unapologetically itself, unafraid to acknowledge their mostly-teen-girl fanbase, make fun of themselves, and keep their borderline soap-opera-esque moments as a key part of the show.

Supernatural dips its toe into ending the show every few seasons, with a fulfilling opportunity for an ending establishing itself before an unexpected, last minute twist serves to keep the show going, so seeing this full return and serendipity in this episode, I was genuinely shocked and happy. The only way for the show to get over its own fear of ending, to get out of Chuck’s maze for the characters, is to commit wholeheartedly to doing a full, unapologetic, Supernatural style ending, being as heavy handed and melodramatic as it wants to be.

This episode showed me that the show is ready to end and ready to return back to that sincere time in the show — their beginning.