Quick Reaction: 8x20 Pac-Man Fever
Apr. 24th, 2013 10:19 pm![[personal profile]](https://www.dreamwidth.org/img/silk/identity/user.png){kind=small}
hells_half_acreThis week, I'm cat/house-sitting, so I got to watch early with the east-coast - but then I had to make dinner, because I was hungry. BUT! It also means that I have a PVR (That's DVR to you, Americans, and "-box" to you Brits... I don't know what they say in other countries, sorry folks).
Having a PVR means that I can rewatch while I type up my reaction... this way, I'm less likely to forget things. Also, I can timeline right away. It also means that probably despite watching the show early, you aren't going to see this reaction until the usual time I post it. :P
Anyway, ON WITH THE SHOW...
The teaser - so they've been starting the show in media res and then backtracking a fair bit lately, I find, but you know, I don't actually mind it. I LIKE it. It means that we get more Winchester time instead of just some random teaser death.
Okay, so SUIT!!! Or, rather, uniform!! Unf. My god, man. It's even single-breasted - usually it's only double-breasted suits that get my attention, but damn, apparently if you're Jensen Ackles, all bets are off. Did you see his WAIST?! And I'm not talking about his stomach, I'm talking about the sides of him, that spot between the ribcage and the hip on either side where you'd rest your hands while you... um... yeah, anyway... man looks good.
I love the overhead tracking shot while he's stepping over the bodies in the hallway. And yeah, did I mention he was gorgeous?
Cut to the bunker and 24 hours earlier, and we get sleepy Sammy! I love Sleepy!Sammy.
"Give me five minutes with some clippers"
"Shut-up"
- How much do I love that they actually mentioned Dean's opinion of Sam's hair? Answer: A lot! And if Dean DOES go at him with clippers, can we see that scene too please?
I love Dean throwing the beer bottle! And it just smashing in the other room. "This is why we don't have nice things, Sam" - um, Dean, I think you don't have nice things because you THREW a beer at your brother rather than handing it to him like a civilized human being. :P
SHOOTING RANGE! Poor Sam though... he's feeling so bad that he can't even shoot straight. :(
Email from Charlie! Who is, apparently, still using a Charlie Bradbury account. I guess she figures that now that Dick's dead, she's safe to go back to her old aliases. Also, Sam and Dean are subscribed to "Mythology Weekly" and I find that adorable. Also, possibly a website that finds and rates diners in the US. They have very narrow interests.
And we find out more mystical magic Men of Letters bunker trivia - apparently whatever warding spells are on it also keep people from tracking cellphone signals. I still wonder how Sam hooked up the wifi, but maybe they have a spell for that too. ;)
CHARLIE! I know there are probably people out there that do not like Charlie, but I am not one of them.
I love how Charlie knows there's something off with Sam right away, and you can see why, when Sam goes to hug her, he basically uses her briefly to hold himself upright. Imagine being little Charlie and having all of Sam Winchester using you as temporary support in a hug...
Also, HUGS! This episode was so full of them and it made me happy. Say what you will about The Carver, I do approve of the increase in hugs this year. I mean, yes, it makes them a less special experience - but I think it's actually a little more in keeping with NA culture... at least as I know it. We are a huggy people (at least in Canada and the US, I've never been down to Mexico, so I don't know their stance on hugging.)
Comic convention in Topeka... a likely story... and there definitely wouldn't be one mid-week. Though, hey, at least I know this is midweek. Any time information is good information!
"Holy Awesome. Too bad they got wiped out... though, that is what they get for the sexist name."
-Hahaha, I'm pretty sure Charlie is the new fan insert with this line. I love Dean's reaction to it too.
The boys are still playing Moondoor! Awesome! They are going to the "mid-year jubilee" - I'm going to go ahead and assume that's sometime in the summer.
And Charlie's been doing her research. I'm not surprised. If I found out monsters were real (and a threat), the first thing I would do is research everything I could about monsters. Knowledge is power! I like Dean's reaction though, because you can tell he doesn't like it. He wants Charlie to stay away and stay safe, which is kind of funny, because that was Sam's whole argument for getting away from hunting... oh Winchesters, I don't know if you're hypocritical or you just keep changing your mind about what "safety" actually means.
And she found the Carver Edlund books!!! I actually think this is pretty ingenious, as we see in this episode, it allows Charlie to know everything she needs to know about Sam and Dean to basically skip a bunch of steps to having a very "family" feel with them. She knows them enough to love them, even though this is only the third time she's ever actually hung out with them. On the other hand, this skips a whole bunch of "getting to know you" friendship building episodes that are always fun (and one of the main reasons I like crossovers)... but on the whole, I think it was really clever. Also, it evens the playing field later on when Dean discovers Charlie's real identity and "origin story"... Charlie already knew his, so it actually puts them back on even footing.
Also, I guess Chuck managed to get that last series of books printed posthumously, because Charlie knows that Dean and Sam saved the world.
"Sorry you have zero luck with the ladies"
-Aww, poor Sammy. He has luck with the ladies, he just... you know, has bad things happen AFTER the luck with the ladies.
"We need to find every single copy of those books and burn them"
"They're online now, so good luck with that."
- Ouch. Once it's on the internet, it's there forever. Poor boys.
SHOOTING RANGE! This time it's Charlie that has to prove herself, and she does with flying colours!
BRO SHOPPING TRIP! Seriously, Dean and Charlie is my Supernatural brotp, I think. (Along with Sam and Jody Mills). And I love Dean making Charlie a fake FBI badge while Charlie creates her own montage.
But bro shopping trips are a great time to talk about your feelings... and Dean once again confides in Charlie about his relationship with Sam, and the fact that Castiel is MIA and also can't heal Sam anyway.
"Must be nice having a brother - someone to always watch your back"
- Oh man, now I'm thinking that Charlie is LONELY and I'm back to my Benny-feelings... DEAN, ALL YOUR BROS ARE LONELY! YOU NEED TO CUDDLE MORE! (My prescription for all problems is cuddling, fyi. I once got upset and cuddled my best friend, and he politely asked if it would be rude if he continued to play Final Fantasy while I did so... I said yes - we are bros for a reason... also, possibly this is why I like the Dean/Charlie brotp, you just have to reverse the genders and you get me and my best friend.)
I like Dean's brief phone conversation with Sam, and how pissy Sam is with him when he thinks that Dean is actually calling just to check up.
I also like Sam's "close enough" when he once again fails to hit the target.
So, the Djinn-cousin/morgue-lady looks REALLY familiar. Does anyone know what she's been in? Or has she been in SPN before? Or did I meet her in Vancouver once? (Uh, I don't actually expect you to answer that last question.)
Also, the fact that she asked for their form should have told us that she was the monster. NO ONE EVER DOES THAT!
I also like the conversation that Dean has with Charlie about breaking and entering vs. hacking. The physical versus the virtual. It's interesting! Also, I love the fact that as a teenager Charlie hacked into NORAD. And I also love the fact that Dean knows the War Games reference - seriously, Sam might be the knowledge nerd, but Dean is definitely the geek of the Winchester brothers.
Gross dead body... like any kid would ACTUALLY poke a bloated corpse with a stick?! I mean, seriously!?!
(See, it only took me a half hour to get to the first commercial break... oh dear)
"Charlie, why don't you go talk to the witnesses"
"But I don't want to miss the broment."
"Charlie!"
-Hahaha, oh man, yeah, Charlie is totally the new and improved Becky... no offense to Becky, of course.
"Dean, you cannot look after the both of us. I need to be out here. Play through the pain, right?"
"Come on, don't quote me to me."
- Oh boys, you are so messed up.
"Sounds like something you should read about. In a book, at home!"
- I love how they actually HAVE A HOME. Sorry, I just had to take a moment to say that.
"Is he leaving? He's leaving!"
"It's alright. I stole your car. I think I know where he's going."
"Cool... wait, you stole my car?"
- What's not to love about being friends with the Winchesters? Haha... seriously, I love them. Also, we've come such a long way from Sam in S1 who was a little bit ashamed of stealing a car in Scarecrow.
"What took you so long?"
"I stopped for gas"
- Hehehehe...
So, Charlie heads off the coroner and the boys head off the morgue. And the body has been burned within hours... yeah, that's not suspicious. Especially if they actually thought it was an outbreak of something.
I love Charlie's coat too.
So, the Djinn off-shoot thing is... you know, I guess it's okay... I just would prefer it if it didn't seem so convenient, but then I suppose all monsters on Supernatural just so happen to be convenient.
Charlie goes off to get food and promises not to forget the pie... but, she finds out the hard way that there's a reason Sam always forgets the pie...Charlie, for some reason, stops on her way to pick up food in order to send money... *shrug* We do get to see some of her other aliases though... Christine K. Le Guin, Annie Tolkien, Susan Asimov. US, Canadian, and I think UK? aliases.
The monster is the coroner! As we learned from Amy Pond, it's the perfect cover for a monster. Really, Sam and Dean should check the backgrounds of each coroner they meet at this point. :P
So, we find out that Charlie's real last name is Middleton, and her mother is in a coma and her dad's dead... and it's been that way since she was 12?! I wonder who she lived with, she doesn't appear to have any family now. I doubt someone with Charlie's talents would let herself get lost in the foster system for very long. Poor Charlie.
"Gertude seemed like a cool mom too - kind, strong, taken from her family way too young... remind you of anybody?"
- Uh, Dean, I think you're projecting... there's no way you could get all that from a coma patient and a nurse that is not old enough to have known her much before the accident.
Also, just a small note, I doubt someone who's been in a persistent vegetative state for 20 years or so would look as healthy as Gertrude.
I love the shot though that tracks Dean through the bunker and then rests over his shoulder on that low angle towards Sam. That was kind of cool.
"My manly man friend is going to come get you..."
"Oh, let him come, he reeked of fear as well."
- Firstly, I can't decide if I love or hate Charlie calling Dean her manly man friend.. on the one hand, it's very damsel in distress, but on the other hand, it's kind of hilarious.
- Secondly, I love the fact that the Djinn smelled fear on Dean too. Because Dean is afraid, he's just better at hiding it... basically because he's been trained to hide it since he was five.
I love the fact that Dean got Sam to punch him to put him to sleep, but I just want to point out that the last time they took African Dream Root, they fell asleep instantaneously.
"Come with me if you want to live!"
- I think this makes up for any misgivings I had about the "manly man" line, because Charlie's still the badass hero, even in her recurring nightmare.
Also, I get my answers to Charlie's backstory... she stole and released a videogame when she was 12 as well, and got arrested, and has been on the run ever since. So, yeah, I'm guessing that was after her parents' death("s"). Poor Charlie.
Dean finds out that there are two Djinn and proceeds to freak the fuck out (silently and buried inside.)
Seriously, LOOK AT HIS WAIST!
"It's an infinite loop, like pac-man without level 256"
"Level what?"
- I love this line. I just read Ready Player One though, so that might have something to do with it. I recommend the book, by the way, if you like videogames and/or the 1980s.
And one of the patients in the videogame in Charlie's mind is her mother... and it's sad. And even though I have no soul, by the end of this episode I was kind of teary for Charlie, though it really didn't kick in until the very end of the episode.... because I have no soul.
The other patient is Sam. I like Charlie's line "Is this my nightmare or yours?" - but it's actually really interesting, because it means that Dean's affecting Charlie's dream.... which is something we've only seen Sam do in the past, and only deliberately, and when he did it they implied that his ability to do so might have been preternatural (even WITH the African Dream Root), but here we see Dean doing it subconsciously. This fits into my theory that Dean and Sam are actually both pretty preternaturally powerful, but Sam's powers are more conscious and visible (and demon-blood dependent sometimes), and Dean's are all subconscious and subtle.
But Sam doesn't need rescuing on the outside! He's still badass enough to get his villain monologuing while he goes in for the kill. Helps that it's a teenager, I think.
And then we get the big Dean speech about letting go that saves the day... and Charlie's horrible guilt that she accidentally killed her parents....and it's sad. Charlie just wants to tell her mom that she loves her one more time.
But Dean's speech works, and Charlie is able to defeat the dream.... and then they wake up and cuddle. SEE! CUDDLES FIX EVERYTHING! Bro-cuddles!! I also love Sam's look to Dean while he hugs Charlie, the look that clearly says, "Tell me what the fuck is going on, damn it!"
I also love how Sam calls Charlie "your highness"... I would like this trend to continue, please and thank you. Charlie must forever be their Queen.
AND THEN SAM INVITES CHARLIE TO DIG THROUGH THEIR ARCHIVES BECAUSE SHE IS A "WOMAN OF LETTERS" AND ALL OF MY DREAMS COME TRUE!!!
MORE HUGS!
Dean and Charlie goodbye...
"What about you, you going to let it go?"
"Never"
"That's my boys..."
- Ugh, I LOVE this. Because they're talking about two different things... Charlie is talking about saying goodbye to her mom and getting closure, but Dean is talking about never abandoning Sam, or never stopping to believe in him... and yeah, it's kind of perfect. I mean, for all Dean SHOULD have to be able to let go of Sam EVENTUALLY, I think even Charlie recognizes that they aren't at that place yet.
"I love you"
"I know"
HUG and KISS ON THE HEAD
- I love this. SERIOUSLY LOVE. Because this episode really isn't about letting go of the ones you love when it's their time (we had that in S3 and S7), it's actually about making sure that the people you love KNOW that you love them. That you take every opportunity to tell them, so that it never feels like it's too late.
- And I love that Charlie loves Dean, and that Dean loves Charlie... and... yeah, I just really love Charlie, you guys. I want her to be the little sister they never wanted.
And then we know that Dean learnt the lesson of the episode too, because he goes straight into the bunker and HUGS SAM!! And it's perfect, because Sam's bracing for a fight, but all he gets his a whole bunch of love being thrown at him. Oh boys....
Charlie says goodbye to her mom by reading the Hobbit... and this is the part that makes me cry, goddamn it. Even on the second watch... and the fact that it ends with "... and that means comfort." My heart, geez, it's almost as though I have one.
Next week's promo: Looks like we're definitely heading into quite the 3 episode finale arc. Next week is written by Edlund too, whom I adore.... so man, I am looking forward to it!!
So, I don't think I missed anything this week, but let me know in comments if there's anything you want to discuss more!
Having a PVR means that I can rewatch while I type up my reaction... this way, I'm less likely to forget things. Also, I can timeline right away. It also means that probably despite watching the show early, you aren't going to see this reaction until the usual time I post it. :P
Anyway, ON WITH THE SHOW...
The teaser - so they've been starting the show in media res and then backtracking a fair bit lately, I find, but you know, I don't actually mind it. I LIKE it. It means that we get more Winchester time instead of just some random teaser death.
Okay, so SUIT!!! Or, rather, uniform!! Unf. My god, man. It's even single-breasted - usually it's only double-breasted suits that get my attention, but damn, apparently if you're Jensen Ackles, all bets are off. Did you see his WAIST?! And I'm not talking about his stomach, I'm talking about the sides of him, that spot between the ribcage and the hip on either side where you'd rest your hands while you... um... yeah, anyway... man looks good.
I love the overhead tracking shot while he's stepping over the bodies in the hallway. And yeah, did I mention he was gorgeous?
Cut to the bunker and 24 hours earlier, and we get sleepy Sammy! I love Sleepy!Sammy.
"Give me five minutes with some clippers"
"Shut-up"
- How much do I love that they actually mentioned Dean's opinion of Sam's hair? Answer: A lot! And if Dean DOES go at him with clippers, can we see that scene too please?
I love Dean throwing the beer bottle! And it just smashing in the other room. "This is why we don't have nice things, Sam" - um, Dean, I think you don't have nice things because you THREW a beer at your brother rather than handing it to him like a civilized human being. :P
SHOOTING RANGE! Poor Sam though... he's feeling so bad that he can't even shoot straight. :(
Email from Charlie! Who is, apparently, still using a Charlie Bradbury account. I guess she figures that now that Dick's dead, she's safe to go back to her old aliases. Also, Sam and Dean are subscribed to "Mythology Weekly" and I find that adorable. Also, possibly a website that finds and rates diners in the US. They have very narrow interests.
And we find out more mystical magic Men of Letters bunker trivia - apparently whatever warding spells are on it also keep people from tracking cellphone signals. I still wonder how Sam hooked up the wifi, but maybe they have a spell for that too. ;)
CHARLIE! I know there are probably people out there that do not like Charlie, but I am not one of them.
I love how Charlie knows there's something off with Sam right away, and you can see why, when Sam goes to hug her, he basically uses her briefly to hold himself upright. Imagine being little Charlie and having all of Sam Winchester using you as temporary support in a hug...
Also, HUGS! This episode was so full of them and it made me happy. Say what you will about The Carver, I do approve of the increase in hugs this year. I mean, yes, it makes them a less special experience - but I think it's actually a little more in keeping with NA culture... at least as I know it. We are a huggy people (at least in Canada and the US, I've never been down to Mexico, so I don't know their stance on hugging.)
Comic convention in Topeka... a likely story... and there definitely wouldn't be one mid-week. Though, hey, at least I know this is midweek. Any time information is good information!
"Holy Awesome. Too bad they got wiped out... though, that is what they get for the sexist name."
-Hahaha, I'm pretty sure Charlie is the new fan insert with this line. I love Dean's reaction to it too.
The boys are still playing Moondoor! Awesome! They are going to the "mid-year jubilee" - I'm going to go ahead and assume that's sometime in the summer.
And Charlie's been doing her research. I'm not surprised. If I found out monsters were real (and a threat), the first thing I would do is research everything I could about monsters. Knowledge is power! I like Dean's reaction though, because you can tell he doesn't like it. He wants Charlie to stay away and stay safe, which is kind of funny, because that was Sam's whole argument for getting away from hunting... oh Winchesters, I don't know if you're hypocritical or you just keep changing your mind about what "safety" actually means.
And she found the Carver Edlund books!!! I actually think this is pretty ingenious, as we see in this episode, it allows Charlie to know everything she needs to know about Sam and Dean to basically skip a bunch of steps to having a very "family" feel with them. She knows them enough to love them, even though this is only the third time she's ever actually hung out with them. On the other hand, this skips a whole bunch of "getting to know you" friendship building episodes that are always fun (and one of the main reasons I like crossovers)... but on the whole, I think it was really clever. Also, it evens the playing field later on when Dean discovers Charlie's real identity and "origin story"... Charlie already knew his, so it actually puts them back on even footing.
Also, I guess Chuck managed to get that last series of books printed posthumously, because Charlie knows that Dean and Sam saved the world.
"Sorry you have zero luck with the ladies"
-Aww, poor Sammy. He has luck with the ladies, he just... you know, has bad things happen AFTER the luck with the ladies.
"We need to find every single copy of those books and burn them"
"They're online now, so good luck with that."
- Ouch. Once it's on the internet, it's there forever. Poor boys.
SHOOTING RANGE! This time it's Charlie that has to prove herself, and she does with flying colours!
BRO SHOPPING TRIP! Seriously, Dean and Charlie is my Supernatural brotp, I think. (Along with Sam and Jody Mills). And I love Dean making Charlie a fake FBI badge while Charlie creates her own montage.
But bro shopping trips are a great time to talk about your feelings... and Dean once again confides in Charlie about his relationship with Sam, and the fact that Castiel is MIA and also can't heal Sam anyway.
"Must be nice having a brother - someone to always watch your back"
- Oh man, now I'm thinking that Charlie is LONELY and I'm back to my Benny-feelings... DEAN, ALL YOUR BROS ARE LONELY! YOU NEED TO CUDDLE MORE! (My prescription for all problems is cuddling, fyi. I once got upset and cuddled my best friend, and he politely asked if it would be rude if he continued to play Final Fantasy while I did so... I said yes - we are bros for a reason... also, possibly this is why I like the Dean/Charlie brotp, you just have to reverse the genders and you get me and my best friend.)
I like Dean's brief phone conversation with Sam, and how pissy Sam is with him when he thinks that Dean is actually calling just to check up.
I also like Sam's "close enough" when he once again fails to hit the target.
So, the Djinn-cousin/morgue-lady looks REALLY familiar. Does anyone know what she's been in? Or has she been in SPN before? Or did I meet her in Vancouver once? (Uh, I don't actually expect you to answer that last question.)
Also, the fact that she asked for their form should have told us that she was the monster. NO ONE EVER DOES THAT!
I also like the conversation that Dean has with Charlie about breaking and entering vs. hacking. The physical versus the virtual. It's interesting! Also, I love the fact that as a teenager Charlie hacked into NORAD. And I also love the fact that Dean knows the War Games reference - seriously, Sam might be the knowledge nerd, but Dean is definitely the geek of the Winchester brothers.
Gross dead body... like any kid would ACTUALLY poke a bloated corpse with a stick?! I mean, seriously!?!
(See, it only took me a half hour to get to the first commercial break... oh dear)
"Charlie, why don't you go talk to the witnesses"
"But I don't want to miss the broment."
"Charlie!"
-Hahaha, oh man, yeah, Charlie is totally the new and improved Becky... no offense to Becky, of course.
"Dean, you cannot look after the both of us. I need to be out here. Play through the pain, right?"
"Come on, don't quote me to me."
- Oh boys, you are so messed up.
"Sounds like something you should read about. In a book, at home!"
- I love how they actually HAVE A HOME. Sorry, I just had to take a moment to say that.
"Is he leaving? He's leaving!"
"It's alright. I stole your car. I think I know where he's going."
"Cool... wait, you stole my car?"
- What's not to love about being friends with the Winchesters? Haha... seriously, I love them. Also, we've come such a long way from Sam in S1 who was a little bit ashamed of stealing a car in Scarecrow.
"What took you so long?"
"I stopped for gas"
- Hehehehe...
So, Charlie heads off the coroner and the boys head off the morgue. And the body has been burned within hours... yeah, that's not suspicious. Especially if they actually thought it was an outbreak of something.
I love Charlie's coat too.
So, the Djinn off-shoot thing is... you know, I guess it's okay... I just would prefer it if it didn't seem so convenient, but then I suppose all monsters on Supernatural just so happen to be convenient.
Charlie goes off to get food and promises not to forget the pie... but, she finds out the hard way that there's a reason Sam always forgets the pie...Charlie, for some reason, stops on her way to pick up food in order to send money... *shrug* We do get to see some of her other aliases though... Christine K. Le Guin, Annie Tolkien, Susan Asimov. US, Canadian, and I think UK? aliases.
The monster is the coroner! As we learned from Amy Pond, it's the perfect cover for a monster. Really, Sam and Dean should check the backgrounds of each coroner they meet at this point. :P
So, we find out that Charlie's real last name is Middleton, and her mother is in a coma and her dad's dead... and it's been that way since she was 12?! I wonder who she lived with, she doesn't appear to have any family now. I doubt someone with Charlie's talents would let herself get lost in the foster system for very long. Poor Charlie.
"Gertude seemed like a cool mom too - kind, strong, taken from her family way too young... remind you of anybody?"
- Uh, Dean, I think you're projecting... there's no way you could get all that from a coma patient and a nurse that is not old enough to have known her much before the accident.
Also, just a small note, I doubt someone who's been in a persistent vegetative state for 20 years or so would look as healthy as Gertrude.
I love the shot though that tracks Dean through the bunker and then rests over his shoulder on that low angle towards Sam. That was kind of cool.
"My manly man friend is going to come get you..."
"Oh, let him come, he reeked of fear as well."
- Firstly, I can't decide if I love or hate Charlie calling Dean her manly man friend.. on the one hand, it's very damsel in distress, but on the other hand, it's kind of hilarious.
- Secondly, I love the fact that the Djinn smelled fear on Dean too. Because Dean is afraid, he's just better at hiding it... basically because he's been trained to hide it since he was five.
I love the fact that Dean got Sam to punch him to put him to sleep, but I just want to point out that the last time they took African Dream Root, they fell asleep instantaneously.
"Come with me if you want to live!"
- I think this makes up for any misgivings I had about the "manly man" line, because Charlie's still the badass hero, even in her recurring nightmare.
Also, I get my answers to Charlie's backstory... she stole and released a videogame when she was 12 as well, and got arrested, and has been on the run ever since. So, yeah, I'm guessing that was after her parents' death("s"). Poor Charlie.
Dean finds out that there are two Djinn and proceeds to freak the fuck out (silently and buried inside.)
Seriously, LOOK AT HIS WAIST!
"It's an infinite loop, like pac-man without level 256"
"Level what?"
- I love this line. I just read Ready Player One though, so that might have something to do with it. I recommend the book, by the way, if you like videogames and/or the 1980s.
And one of the patients in the videogame in Charlie's mind is her mother... and it's sad. And even though I have no soul, by the end of this episode I was kind of teary for Charlie, though it really didn't kick in until the very end of the episode.... because I have no soul.
The other patient is Sam. I like Charlie's line "Is this my nightmare or yours?" - but it's actually really interesting, because it means that Dean's affecting Charlie's dream.... which is something we've only seen Sam do in the past, and only deliberately, and when he did it they implied that his ability to do so might have been preternatural (even WITH the African Dream Root), but here we see Dean doing it subconsciously. This fits into my theory that Dean and Sam are actually both pretty preternaturally powerful, but Sam's powers are more conscious and visible (and demon-blood dependent sometimes), and Dean's are all subconscious and subtle.
But Sam doesn't need rescuing on the outside! He's still badass enough to get his villain monologuing while he goes in for the kill. Helps that it's a teenager, I think.
And then we get the big Dean speech about letting go that saves the day... and Charlie's horrible guilt that she accidentally killed her parents....and it's sad. Charlie just wants to tell her mom that she loves her one more time.
But Dean's speech works, and Charlie is able to defeat the dream.... and then they wake up and cuddle. SEE! CUDDLES FIX EVERYTHING! Bro-cuddles!! I also love Sam's look to Dean while he hugs Charlie, the look that clearly says, "Tell me what the fuck is going on, damn it!"
I also love how Sam calls Charlie "your highness"... I would like this trend to continue, please and thank you. Charlie must forever be their Queen.
AND THEN SAM INVITES CHARLIE TO DIG THROUGH THEIR ARCHIVES BECAUSE SHE IS A "WOMAN OF LETTERS" AND ALL OF MY DREAMS COME TRUE!!!
MORE HUGS!
Dean and Charlie goodbye...
"What about you, you going to let it go?"
"Never"
"That's my boys..."
- Ugh, I LOVE this. Because they're talking about two different things... Charlie is talking about saying goodbye to her mom and getting closure, but Dean is talking about never abandoning Sam, or never stopping to believe in him... and yeah, it's kind of perfect. I mean, for all Dean SHOULD have to be able to let go of Sam EVENTUALLY, I think even Charlie recognizes that they aren't at that place yet.
"I love you"
"I know"
HUG and KISS ON THE HEAD
- I love this. SERIOUSLY LOVE. Because this episode really isn't about letting go of the ones you love when it's their time (we had that in S3 and S7), it's actually about making sure that the people you love KNOW that you love them. That you take every opportunity to tell them, so that it never feels like it's too late.
- And I love that Charlie loves Dean, and that Dean loves Charlie... and... yeah, I just really love Charlie, you guys. I want her to be the little sister they never wanted.
And then we know that Dean learnt the lesson of the episode too, because he goes straight into the bunker and HUGS SAM!! And it's perfect, because Sam's bracing for a fight, but all he gets his a whole bunch of love being thrown at him. Oh boys....
Charlie says goodbye to her mom by reading the Hobbit... and this is the part that makes me cry, goddamn it. Even on the second watch... and the fact that it ends with "... and that means comfort." My heart, geez, it's almost as though I have one.
Next week's promo: Looks like we're definitely heading into quite the 3 episode finale arc. Next week is written by Edlund too, whom I adore.... so man, I am looking forward to it!!
So, I don't think I missed anything this week, but let me know in comments if there's anything you want to discuss more!
