Supernatural S10E11 Review
There’s no place like home…for torture and revenge in the latest episode of Supernatural.
Everyone’s favourite adorkable hacker/hunter/badass Charlie is back from OZ with a little problem for the boys to solve: the war in OZ forced her to go to the Wizard, wishing not for a heart or a brain or courage, but rather to be split into two. That’s right, Supernatural is taking the chance to dip into more Soap Opera territory with a good twin/evil twin storyline that sees Good!Charlie, Sam and Dean face off against Dark!Charlie.
Dark!Charlie is on a quest to prove herself to Good!Charlie by hunting down everyone that played a role in the death of her (their?) parents, including those that didn’t pursue the case and the drunk driver himself. I’m not entirely sure why she thinks this will convince Good!Charlie – who can’t even enjoy the view at a bar, let alone enjoy some good ol’ fashioned revenge – that she’s good to hang around with, but the storyline plays out as fairly interesting, especially with the added complication that whatever happens to Dark!Charlie also happens to Good!Charlie.
The final conclusion of this storyline isn’t particularly shocking or out of the blue – Dean unleashes a little bit of the Mark upon Dark!Charlie in a battle to save Good!Charlie (who, consequently, also gets the shit kicked out of her) and spirals further into self-loathing, even though Charlie (now whole) forgives him – and the whole ending feels a little Deus Ex Machina. I would’ve liked to have seen a little more of Oz, or a bigger, more intense final confrontation, but it’s pretty clear that this episode, despite it’s pretext, is about Dean and Charlie is merely a vehicle to explore new sides of his situation. Clearly, the show runners are pushing the whole idea of the need for balance between the good and the bad within an individual, which may just be the key for Dean controlling the Mark.
All in all, the episode is about as subtle as a tonne of bricks, with Charlie’s personality literally being divided into good and evil playing as a pretty heavy-handed metaphor for Dean’s struggle with the Mark of Cain. It feels a little like the show is beating you around the head with all the similarities between the two situations, but Felicia Day more than makes up for that with her impressive acting and sweet knife skills.
Unfortunately, apart from introducing the need for self-acceptance of your flaws, the story doesn’t really progress the quest to rid Dean of the Mark much, despite Dean’s newfound diet of egg-white omelettes, kale and eight hours of sleep a night. We can only hope that the story will pick up from here and we will start seeing some real proactive moves towards removing the Mark (Kale and lack of alcohol notwithstanding).
Review by Hannah Fitzpatrick
