Wednesday, January 28, 2015

Supernatural 10x11 "There's No Place Like Home" [Contributor: Deena Edwards]


"There's No Place Like Home"
Original Airdate: January 27, 2015

Darkness.

It's something a lot of people struggle with every now and again, and as this episodes makes clear, it's not always easy to fight something that's a part of who you are. In fact, it can be almost impossible. Much like Dean is still struggling with keeping his own dark urges under control, our very own lovable redhead, Charlie Bradbury found her own inner darkness unleashed, quite literally.

At the bunker, we find the eldest Winchester, eating egg white omelets that he cooked himself.  “Dean can cook?” you ask. Well, as it turns out, not so well, at least in his opinion. In order to keep himself in check to help avoid any more incidents with the Mark, he’s apparently started eating healthy, quit drinking, and is actually sleeping like a regular human as opposed to his typical greasy burger eating, alcoholic, maybe-four-hours-of-sleep-every-other-night-at-the-most ways we’re all used to seeing.

He and Sam are doing the usual research thing, poring over old books and internet articles when Sam stumbles upon footage of a certain former IT girl beating up a district attorney. Okay, “beating up” is putting it lightly. She mentions torture -- not exactly a word that comes to mind when you think of Charlie Bradbury. Their first instinct is that Charlie is back from Oz, hunting on her own, and the DA was just a demon she was after. Still, it doesn’t sit well with them, and they decide to hit the road and talk to the recent vic -- who, as it turns out, has ties to Charlie’s past. More specifically, the car accident involving her parents’ deaths. They also find out her real name: Celeste Middleton.

The man denies to know anything about the case at first, but Dean sees through it, knowing immediately he’s lying. As much as he’s doing to ward off the Mark’s bad energy, he’s still on edge, which is obvious when he teeters on the edge of control and threatens the truth out of the DA, who finally gives in and reveals the name he gave to Charlie -- a woman named Barbara Cordry, a councilwoman who supposedly played a part in covering up the drunk driving incident. Upon hearing a scream from the woman’s house, they break in to find her with a knife to her throat, held by none other than the Queen of Moondoor herself, though it’s clear right away, from the way she talks to her overall demeanor, that there’s something off about her. This isn’t the Charlie we all know and love, the Hermione-loving fangirl who wouldn’t hurt a Hobbit.

After a little tussle with Dean, she escapes, leaving Baby’s tires slashed. Before he even has a moment to let that tragedy sink in, another car pulls up and behind the wheel is… CHARLIE? Sweet Lord of the Rings, what is happening?!

Charlie, the real Charlie, sits them down and explains to them that there’s two of her now -- one good, one bad. Back in Oz, she made a deal with the Wizard, who, with the Inner Key of Oz, forced her to unleash her true darkness, quite literally, in order to win the war. Charlie and her dark self are connected physically still; if she’s hurt, the other one will experience the same injuries, and vice versa. She also reveals that the dark version of her broke the key to Oz, so there’s no way to get back to the Wizard. Much like a Winchester, she’s wracked with guilt, blaming herself for the actions of her dark self, but Dean and Sam assure her this isn’t her doing.

Agreeing that they need to find Dark Charlie before she finds the drunk driver responsible for the car crash all those years ago, Charlie helps Sam hack into the council woman’s bank account, which leads them to a man named Russell Wellington, the same man who killed Charlie’s parents. Dean argues that she doesn’t need to be anywhere near him, and instead volunteers to go himself, but when he arrives to interrogate the man, he soon finds out they’re not alone.

Meanwhile, Sam and Charlie are back at the bunker, looking through old Men of Letters files for information about the key. After a bit of digging, they discover the Key of Oz was discovered by Clive Dylan, a former Men of Letters member who traveled to Oz, leaving the key behind on Earth. After being rescued by Dorothy’s father, he returned to Earth, changing his name. Despite being over a hundred years old, he no longer ages, due to how differently time passes in Oz. Little do they know, however, while stranded there, much like Charlie he was split into his good and dark sides by a coven of witches, the dark half becoming who we know as the Wizard.

Back at Wellington’s office, Dark Charlie convinces Dean to allow her near Russell -- a mistake that costs the man his life and allows her to escape once again, later on with the Impala, no less. She follows Dean to Clive’s house, where Clive explains that the only way to summon the Wizard is to mortally wound himself. Sure enough, a few moments after the bullet is buried in his abdomen, his Dark half appears, using his magic to choke Sam, while outside, Dean and Dark Charlie are fighting, inflicting the same injuries on the Good Charlie inside. Charlie realizes that the only way to stop the Wizard is to kill Clive, so with one last fatal bullet, Sam is released by the Wizard’s magic, and both Clive and the Wizard are dead.

Sam carries Charlie’s bloodied, beaten body outside, snapping Dean out of his violent daze. Dean steps back, staring in shock of what he’s done to her, that he allowed the Mark to take over once again. Sam lowers Charlie down next to her dark half along with the Wizard’s key, returning her dark half back into her own body.

The final scene is a heartwarming one, a sweet moment (I swear I got a cavity just watching it) shared between Charlie and Sam as they decide her next move, which is to hunt down a lore book that might help them with the Mark. She promises Dean they are going to fix what’s happening to him, and then proceeds to forgive him for what he unknowingly did to her back at Clive’s. Of course, he doesn’t forgive himself, as that is the Dean Winchester way of self-loathing, but he apologizes, pulling her into a brotherly hug that made me come very close to shedding actual tears.

After the events in this episode, it’s obvious Dean is going to have to do a lot more than quit alcohol and bad food cold turkey to keep himself under control. We can only hope that Charlie returns soon (because after this episode I love her even more, which I didn’t think was possible) and that the book she’s after proves helpful in some way later on. As much as I love Dark Dean, it’s safe to say these poor guys need a bit of a break.

Memorable Moments/ Quotes:
  • “Our Charlie? Yay high? Wouldn’t hurt a Hobbit? Practically sparkles?”
  • “What the hell is kale?” This line was even more hilarious to me given one of the episodes of Parks and Recreation I was watching before this also mentioned kale. 
  • “Should have known Rocket and Groot would track me down.” 
  • “Normally in a place like this, I’d be pounding Harvey Wallbangers and checking out the bartender’s ass. Now all I wanna do is sip club soda and send her to college.” 
  • “Blah blah blah, repressed feelings. Blah blah blah, passive aggression.” Dark Charlie just summed up the entire show in ten words, basically.
  • “Dick!Charlie just hotwired Baby!” Okay, but can people stop stealing and/or damaging that glorious car? You mess with the Impala, you mess with Dean.
  • I can’t get over the “little sister” dynamic Charlie has with Sam and Dean. Even though she’s only been in a handful of episodes over the past few seasons, she’s already become family to them.
  • “Arrivederci, bitches!” I love how, after getting her butt totally kicked, sleeping for two days straight, and going through something pretty traumatizing, she’s still basically the same old Charlie.
  • It was the small things that made this a really good episode for me. Dean’s occasional trembling hands, showing his struggle to keep the Mark’s urges at bay. The cute little interactions between Sam and Charlie and the way he gets to play big brother when she’s around. Dean constantly referring to Charlie as “kiddo.” The hugs near the end. THE HUGS YOU GUYS. I have so many feelings.

5 comments:

  1. So excited that you've started putting a Supernatural recap on here! One of my favourite shows of all time :D Thanks to Deena for writing it! I love that you too feel all the feelings - it's a common problem whilst watching Supernatural I find!

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    1. Yay! I don't watch Supernatural but I'm so excited to have Deena aboard and that you love what she's writing so far. She's such a sweet friend and a great writer. :) :)

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  2. Yay! A Supernatural recap! It's always hard to find well written/insightful pieces... Loved yours, well done.
    I've been watching the boys since the very beginning.... and it never fails to amaze me how they still manage to tear my heart out when they are faced with saving someone they love. I mean; we are used to Sam being all tender and sweet but when Dean does it??? The FEELS.... Each time he called her "Kiddo" and hugged her it made me want to hurl myself through the TV to hug him....
    Looking forward to more of your recaps!!!

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    1. Glad you enjoyed, Gia! I'm so thankful to have Deena aboard who always does justice with whatever she reviews and doing a great job with Supernatural. :)

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  3. Dean can immediately see through a lie. And just like Dean an experienced DUI lawyer is aware of the complexities and controversies that surround DUI cases and works towards the best outcome for their client. A friend of mines works with Los Angeles DUI lawyer and often tells about importance of hiring an experienced attorney.

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