“Supernatural” Episode 10.11, “There’s No Place Like Home;” Starring Jensen Ackles, Jared Padalecki, and guest starring Felicia Day; Written by Robbie Thompson; Directed by Phil Scriccia.
It’s incredibly hard to go wrong with something that involves both Robbie Thompson and Felicia Day. They both tend to bring a warmth to “Supernatural” and I just generally find both of their talents to be delightful. While this episode might not have been what we’ve come to expect from a Charlie episode, it was absolutely a great hour of storytelling.
Dean’s on a twelve-ish step program to regain control of his life. Booze abstinence is really just a bonus, as he’s seeking control over the Mark of Cain rather than his other vices. Our episode opens on Dean serving up egg white realness as Sam searches the headlines for cases or clues to help Dean. What he finds instead is that Charlie has apparently returned from Oz – and not only did she not call, she might not have come back “right.”
It seems Charlie has gone darkside and is following a trail of corruption and lies to find the drunk driver who murdered her parents. He not only went unpunished, but he erased every trace of his crime from all public records. The brothers catch up to her at victim number two and find not the sparkly, little sister Charlie they know and love but a sleek, cold, and focused version of her. She cracks an insult at the duo, bests them both in combat, and escapes. As our Winchesters watch her drive away, Charlie Bradbury pulls up with a smile and a quip.
Wait, what?
Per light-Charlie’s explanation, she was convinced by the Wizard, you know, of Oz, that in order to win a war for the Emerald City, she had to split herself in two and allow her badness to take form unrestrained. So she did. I mean, if the Wizard of Oz tells you to release your id, you do it. Right? Well, maybe that’s not such a good idea. But I’m getting ahead of myself.
Dark Charlie screwed everything up but wants Light Charlie to appreciate her, so she decides that vengeance is the way to make that happen. I know, to us that seems like a terrible suggestion but we are not made of pure unrestrained impulse. Light Charlie is trying to stop her – erm – self before she does something unforgivable.
The brothers split up to help out their pal. Sam and Light Charlie hit the books and the records while Dean sets out to impede Dark Charlie. Oh, and to make matters more interesting, Dark and Light Charlies share a physical experience. So if Dark gets beat up, they both experience the damage and pain.
Long story short, Sam and Charlie find a surviving Man of Letters who knows about Oz and then find out the Wizard is a bad guy but they defeat him. Dean does some shitty stuff, hurts people, feels bad. Aaaaaaaaand fin.
Hm. Going back and reading that it sounds pretty ridiculous. It sounds a lot like the show bastardized the most well known children’s tale in the history of everything and used the whole ego/id thing as a poorly veiled metaphor for Dean’s struggle. Uh…. huh. They did. But it was cool, man, I promise!
The stories were edited together to pace the show perfectly. While you could kind of see where the whole thing was going, the bits with the Wizard and Dark Charlie’s end game still managed to have impact. I was, in fact, so engrossed in my watch that these are the only four notes I took:
- what’s up with the harness cam on the opening scene?
- Gabriel and Collins. NICE.
- There’s a really prominent score which I haven’t noticed in a while.
- Dean’s bad side wants out real bad, or maybe it’s the DT’s. Dude drank A LOT.
The use of that particular camera technique in the opener sticks out like a sore thumb even more on a rewatch. I bet a lot of fans think that the Gabriel/Collins aliases were an in-joke, but they’re not. And the score was super heavy on the bassoon which is a surefire way to make me grin.
I really don’t have a lot more to say. The dark side metaphor, as previously mentioned, was a tad heavy handed but for the most part this is exactly what I want from this show: It strayed a bit from a seasonal arc but still resolved an old plot, it was well written with perfectly balanced amounts of kitsch, laughs, and heartbreak, and I was completely attentive without having to think too much. I will admit that I’ve watched the episode twice, and I’ve caught new “Wizard of Oz” references each time. So there might be a third view in my future…
I’m absolutely not saying that I don’t think “Supernatural” should aspire to the heights of Good Television. I should, and it on occasion it’s reached those lofty goals. But the show is obviously at its best when it doesn’t try too hard, when it lets the emotions come organically instead of through melodramatic (and at this point trite) family conflict. I would never compare “Supernatural” to “Breaking Bad. Not because I think one is inherently more watchable than the other, only because I have very different expectations and needs from each show. So I love episodes like “There’s No Place Like Home” not in spite of the places where others would find flaw, but because of them.
Sadly, this episode’s resolution means we will likely never get that Dorothy and Charlie Oz spin off. Happily, the likelihood of more Charlie appearances is high. So, you know, glass half full.
What did you think, friends? Did you have fun during this episode, maybe even shed a tear or get a little misty? Where would you rank Charlie on your list of favorite “Supernatural” ladies? Talk to me in the comments below, and I’ll see you next week!