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hells_half_acreCharlie Episode Time!!!
(And yes, I'm aware that I'm going to have a LOT of trouble with an episode towards the end of this season - thankfully, we aren't there yet. In the mean time...)
There's No Place Like Home
They say "Oz" a LOT in the preview.
And that, friends, is why you should put away your garden hose when you're done with it.
Not that that dude had any hope of outrunning anyone with his hands tied like that (and also older and overweight).
Ah, Dark Charlie...
Sam: "Alright, just keep me posted, okay? Yeah, you got it. ... wait, Cas, you there? Hey, thanks. Yeah."
- See, fandom, Castiel DOES get thanked by the Winchesters for all he does with them. Sam even made sure to thank him before ending a call, like it was IMPORTANT. So, Castiel is not a completely mistreated puppy, no worries.
Sam: "You made eggwhite omlettes?"
Dean: "Yeah, breakfast of champions - you know, if you're a dork like you."
Sam: "And you slept past seven."
Dean: "Yeah, well, until we get answers on this Mark of Cain, I am on a twelve step program not to backslide."
...
Dean: "[...] so, haven't had a drink in a week; eight hours of rag time everynight, and now this masterpiece."
Sam: "That's three steps."
Dean: "Shut-up and eat."
*eat*
Sam: "Wow, that's awesome."
Dean: "It's crap. Ugh..."
- So, we have an interesting pattern of behaviour here. When Dean is just succumbing to the MoC, we know that he doesn't eat or sleep. When we've seen him fighting again, but in denial of the MoC, he acts agressively like himself (burgers, eating, especially). Now, we see him NOT in denial, but also fighting - and his solution is to agressively be NOT himself, but a little more like Sam (at least in the food/health department.... Sam still drinks.)
- The thing about sleeping though is you can't actually force yourself to sleep. If Dean isn't sleeping, then he's just lying in bed staring at the ceiling and pretending he's sleeping for 8 hours. Or, he's medicating himself.
- Also, I like eggwhite omlettes.
Research montage! I love research montages.
Sam: "What the hell?!"
Dean: "Cain or Crowley?"
Sam: "Charlie."
Dean: "Is she back from Oz? She didn't call?"
- Oh my god, I think that's the most domestic thing that Dean Winchester has ever said. He's so hurt. I fully expect him to watch the video and be like "Look at her! She is too skinny! You go bring her home, I'll make her some food.... she will get cold out in the Other Worlds without some meat on her bones. I'll also knit her a sweater."
Dean: "You're saying Charlie tortured someone? OUR Charlie?! Yay high, wouldn't hurt a hobbit, practically sparkles!?"
- I love the "practically sparkles" description. The "hurt a hobbit" is cute too, though it doesn't really compare to the original saying, because people swat flies all the time - which is why the saying works - but hobbits are a small peaceful people who make snacks and NO ONE would hurt them.
Dean: "Talk, you son of a bitch! Talk!"
- I love Sam trying to figure out where the line is between supporting Dean and stopping him.
Guy: "I will be disbarred!"
Dean: "That will be the least of your worries, I promise you that."
- Oh man, Dean's so great at being intimidating, despite being super super pretty.
- And it is hard to tell with Dean, what's the MoC pushing him and what's just Dean - I mean, Dean was a torturer in hell long before the MoC.
Sam: "Celeste Middleton. Celeste. That's Charlie's real name. Guess she's looking for the person who destroyed her family."
Dean: "Can you blame her? You know, we just gotta find her, before she does something nobody can walk away from."
- I like in this episode how they find out what Charlie's real name is, but they never once call her it - she remains Charlie. I don't know, I guess I see it as a respect thing.
- Also, I like how the boys at this point are running on the assumption that they're chasing CHARLIE (and in a way they are, but they also aren't), and so they're really coming at this from the most compassionate way possible - because that's their friend, so yeah, they're like "okay, Charlie decided to get revenge, we've both been there - it's just that our revenge was against non-humans, so we could justify it better... but still, murder changes a person and we should protect our sparkle child."
Dean: "Guilty much?"
- Hehehe. I love that line. Also, because one time me and my sister were on a bus trip and we passed a building that had burned down, and she said "whoa, fire much?" and for some reason it was the funniest thing we had both ever heard at that moment and we laughed forever.
Sam: "Anti-Authority Disorder, Clinical Depression, Violent Outbursts... Charlie was uh..."
Dean: "Dude, if a shrink interviewed us at that age, do you think the report would be all kittens and rainbows? Come on. She's a good kid, there's gotta be an explanation for this, there's just gotta be."
- Uh, Dean, I hate to break it to you, but you are also.. uhh... I mean, I know your point is that you and Sam would have gotten similar words assigned to you, but I'd also like to point out that you two aren't exactly the healthiest adults either when it comes to your psychology? You do kill things for a living...and you both enjoy it. I mean, it's good to channel that stuff into something where you can do some good, and you are, but... if your point is that despite your childhood you grew up to be well-adjusted, that might be inaccurate. BUT, if your point is that Sam shouldn't be throwing stones in his glass house, then you are spot on.
Dark!Charlie: "Should have known Rocket and Groot would track me down."
- I love that reference.
Dark!Charlie: "Oh, Sam, you're adorable, you're not to hurt me. In fact, that's your problem. All good guy code, no bite. What a waste. And you, always letting this albatros hold you back."
Dean: "Alright, okay, I don't know what's going on here, but this, this is not you."
- I love how Jared and Jensen chose to act this scene. Sam looks genuinely hurt, whereas Dean is like "this is ridiculous" and he even puts his hand on Sam, and it might be a command to lower his gun, but I think it's a "don't even listen to that, you're not an albatros, my little pumpkin."
(Uh, I don't know why I'm making Dean into an overly affectionate mother-figure in this episode, but it appears to be a thing that is happening.)
I love the thigh chock-hold and Dean's "crap!"
Good!Charlie!!! I love their expressions.
Good!Charlie: "...and let me just tell you, being good is really annoying! Normally in a place like this I'd be pounding Harvey Wallbangers and checking out the bartender's ass. Now, all I want o do is sip club soda and send her to college."
- Awww... cute and hilarious. It reminds me of one of my fave Hawksley Workman songs "Girls on Crutches" which is basically just about how he wants to home cook meals for strippers and make sure they get home to their mothers.
Good!Charlie: "...going after the person who mu-mu-mu- took my parents away is her messed up way of showing how close we are."
- As soon as Charlie can't say "murder" Sam goes right into "you are too precious for this world" face. It's amazing and awesome.
Dean: "Charlie, it's not who you are, it's a twisted version of-"
Good!Charlie: "Me."
- This episode is very much, anviling, the fact that at the end of the day Dean not only has to cure the MoC, he's also got to accept the things he does while being influenced by the MoC. He could blame it on the MoC, but the MoC might just be highlighting and emphasising the darker murderous parts of Dean... and Dean has to come to terms with that.
Good!Charlie: "...so I can just lock her away, forever."
Sam: "Charlie, that's not an answer."
- The great thing is that Sam is already in forgiveness mode. He doesn't care that there's a darkness in Charlie. I mean, of all people, I think Sam would be the MOST forgiving of people having a darkness in them. Sam already knows the only answer is reunification, so that Good!Charlie can temper her darker half.
- Actually, this episode is very much about forgiveness.
Sam: "I need you to hack into Barbara's bank accounts."
Good!Charlie: "I can't. It's bad. I told you, being good is annoying."
Sam: "How about this - how about you guide me through the process, and then I'm the bad one!"
- I love Sam, I really do. And I love how that works.
I do like how Dean is... not torn about protecting the drunk driver who killed Charlie's parents, but not happy about it either. It's one of those cases where it's someone that you would not be sad if they died, but killing them yourself would be wrong.
Ah, manipulative Dark!Charlie.... getting what she wants by playing Dean like a fiddle. Dean's big mistake is not staying exactly at her shoulder.
Ah well. Charlie is no a murdidlyurderer.
And then Dean goes back to the bar and orders a shot of whiskey.
Dean: "You lied to me."
Dark!Charlie: "You lied to yourself. That's kinda your move."
- And once again we get the theme of people WANTING to be lied to. This is what Dark!Charlie means. Dean was in the same place as Sam in 10x09, he wanted even Dark!Charlie to be good, so he convinced himself that she wasn't lying - when really, anyone with a single-minded focus (which she seemed to have) would most likely be lying in that scenario.
Dark!Charlie: "You know what I learned about being dark? It sets you free. And part of you knows that's right too."
- This is some Dostoevsky shit right here.
- But, Charlie is basically the temptation of the MoC here. She knows that blind rages feel food, and if you don't have to put up with the guilt about what you've done afterward, then, yay for you!
Dean: "Listen, Dark Charlie"
Dark!Charlie: "Oh grow up! There's no right, there's no wrong. There is just us and them."
- "There is nothing either good or bad, but thinking make it so."
Man, Felicia has white skin... like, porcelain white.
Dean: "What happened, my friend strike out?"
Bartender: "Your friend? She just left out the back door."
Dean: "No, no, no, oh, you son of a bitch!"
- That's the second time that Dean has called Dark!Charlie a son of a bitch - both for doing something to Baby. The thing I love about it though is that Dean's insult doesn't change for the gender. It'd be easy here for them to have him just call her a bitch, but it's nice that although the insult is still in there in a round-about way, he still uses a male-insult for her rather than an overtly misogynist one.
And then Good!Charlie finds out that Dorothy might be in trouble. I know that there was a cut scene somewhere in here where we actually find out what happened in Oz with Dorothy, it'd've been nice if it'd been left in.
Dark!Charlie: "You hit like a girl who never learned how to hit."
- Love it.
So, Good!Clive forgives Charlie right before she shoots him - and the line "I forgive you" is repeated a LOT in this episode. That's also one of the running themes, is forgiveness and what that means to a person - both the forgiver and the forgived. I'd articulate it more, but I'm really not sure what to say about it.
I think Dean must have just forgotten about the physically link. Poor Charlie. Though, I know it's a point that basically his rage overrules his mind and causes him to forget in the rush of things.
Dark!Charlie: "You did it, didn't you. You killed the wizard. I knew it. The magic was in you all the time, Celeste."
- Awww, I love that line. I mean, I know in one interpretation it's sort of...dark... but it's really about being able to be brutal when you need to be brutal and being able to be kind when you need to be kind.
Meanwhile, Dean feels horrible.
But Charlie gets really great Sam hugs!
Sam: "Yeah, yeah, he's better - or, he's calmed down now. Cas, we gotta find Cain - or we gotta find something, you know? Right. Yeah, I know, I hear ya."
- Sorry, I just love Sassy conversations, even if they are one sided. I love how Sam and Cas are allys this season in their quest to save Dean. Another possible ending the MoC storyline is if Sam and Cas actually had found a solution by working together, rather than Sam taking the reigns and diving into murky waters and then dragging a reluctant Cas in with him later.
Sam: "So, are you?"
Charlie: "Good, bad? I think I'll just settle for balanced."
- That's really the goal with all mental illness right there.
Poor Dean. Jensen does such a good job of portraying how much he wants to go to his friend and love her to death, but how much he's rooted to the spot because he's super sorry about nearly beating her to death.
Sam: "Yeah, maybe, I found this book - it's a lore book. Book of the Damned."
- So, the funny thing is that Sam's print off is a book with the author Charles Fort...in a library, that has an ISBN number and was published in 1919 by a publisher. Uh... that's not the book that Charlie comes back with. It makes me wonder just how much they had thought this season out ahead of time, because right now it looks like "not very much." Because he should have shown her some fuzzy photograph or an ancient mysterious looking tome.
Sam: "So, does this mean, no more adventure?"
Charlie: "I think we have all the adventure we can handle right here?"
- So, as much as I liked Charlie being sparkles - I also like the fact that she's no longer romanticizing hunting. I know some people don't like the fact that Charlie becomes tempered after Oz, but... I don't know, I guess I like the fact that Supernatural characters always change with their experiences. Even if the changes aren't fun ones, I still appreciate that none of these characters are static.
Charlie: "We are going to fix this. I'm not going to let what happened to me happen to you."
- Awww
Charlie: "Yeah, well, there's one thing that you have that [Cain] didn't. You're a Winchester. I forgive you, Dean."
Dean: "Yeah, well, I don't."
Charlie: "I know, it's kinda your move. How's that working out for you, huh?"
Dean: "I'm so sorry, kiddo."
Charlie: "Then prove it."
- I love how Charlie fits under his chin.
- But I love the "then prove it" line, because being sorry really is about action, not words.
- The Winchesters are descended from... oh wait, well, they're not really. They're descended from both Cain and Abel. You gotta wonder which one is the Michael line and which is the Lucifer line... because Cain sold himself to Lucifer, but Lucifer was wooing Abel first. So, did Cain's sacrifice make him the "good" angel or the did the Mark mean that he was forever the vessel for Satan? Probably the latter. MY POINT IS: Charlie actually has a point here, because, in my headcanon, the Campbells were the Lucifer line and the Winchesters were the Michael line...so, the fact that Dean is both Michael and Lucifer's potential vessel means that he IS something that Cain isn't. It'd also have been cool if that had factored into the cure, but that's far too complicated, I suppose.
- I also like the fact that Charlie can call Dean out on his stuff - like never forgiving himself for anything, and that not being super healthy. I love that Charlie can actually get them to TALK to - like, honestly tell the truth about things. They always sum-up their lives for her everytime she sees them.
Charlie: "If I find something, I'll call. If not, I'll just keep digging."
- Well, that could be an explanation. She could read the book and then discover that the book is about another book - one that's an ancient tome of mystery and darkness.
Sam: "You good?"
Dean: "No."
Sam: "She's right, Dean. You can do this. We can do this."
Dean: "Then let's get to work."
- I like that Dean is honest in the end - that he's not alright. Though, I don't think he's as hopeful as Sam.
CUT SCENES
1.
Sam and Charlie in the car! Sam telling Charlie about the MoC. And then Charlie tells Sam about Oz. She flew a dragon. She was there for multiple years - because time passes differently in Oz. Her dragon's name was Biscuits.
Charlie: "Decisions are hard."
Sam: "What do you mean?"
Charlie explains that she let her darkness out in order to save Dorothy. Dorothy became like a sister to Charlie, and when she was kidnapped, Charlie used Dark!Charlie to save her.
Sam: "Sometimes you have to do the bad thing to do the good thing."
Charlie: "Doesn't make it right though, does it."
- And here's Sam's theme for the rest of the season.
2.
Dean in the parking lot of the salesman's place - a cop on a segway tells him to stop loitering, either go into a business or "mosey".
So, second scene defiitely extraneous, but it would have been really nice to have the scene with Charlie and Sam. Ah well.
COMMENTARY!
Commentary is with Robbie Thompson (Writer), Felicia Day (Charlie), and Phil Sgricca (Director)
Robbie: "My name is Robbie Thompson and I play Sam Winchester."
Felicia had never been to the suburbs in Canada and she discovered that they are exactly the same as the American ones.
Felicia was a little bit intimidated by the script, but it was a lot of fun.
Robbie: "The only thing better than Felicia Day is two Felicia Days."
Felicia only had a problem on the days where they had to go back and forth.
Felicia actually lost her hair because of a thyroid issue that made it fall out - hence why she had to change her haircut so drastically.
Praise for Jared and Jensen. Felicia is amazed how they can just snap right into the character. Robbie talks about how he genuinely was worried about Jared being sick when they were filming PacMan Fever and Sam was going through the trails.
Robbie: "Turns out he was acting. So, he was fine. I gave him a hug anyway, because whenever you can hug Jared you should hug Jared."
Felicia: "He gives good hug... he and Nathan Fillion, I think top huggers - top ten huggers of all time."
Robbie: "I would like to be in a group hug in this situation."
The picture was actually of Felicia when she was 14. She used to send it to boys on the internet... and you have to read her book for that story.
Robbie jokes about how he wrote a 17 page psyche profile for Charlie for this episode. Felicia said she did homework too - she wrote two columns, and wrote "Dark!Charlie: Bad and Good!Charlie: Good"
Robbie and Felicia are really great joking together in this commentary. They have a good rapport.
Robbie praises Jensen being scary.
Robbie: "..Oh god, don't look at me like that! Or, actually, maybe look at me like that?"
Phil: "No, you don't want him to"
Robbie: "No, he's scary, very scary."
Phil praises the CGI shot of the Impala.
They praise the art department. Felicia praises Serge, the DP, for the different lighting that he used and how he made her look good.
Felicia only had one picture of herself as a kid where she looked like she might be a tortured youth, everything else was too wholesome.
Felicia bought new underwear for the thigh-choke scene, because she was paranoid.
They talk about how they did the switch between Charlie's in what looks like one continuous shot - there was a sneaky cut. I didn't even realize - well done.
Robbie talks about how he wrote the story too long.
Felicia talks about how Good!Charlie kinda makes Felicia want to punch her. She talks about how Good!Charlie is something she's done before, but she usually doesn't play characters like Dark!Charlie - confidence is not something that Felicia usually plays/has.
Robbie talks about using the split of Charlie to foreshadow Dean's renewed descent into Demon!Dean.
Robbie points out the shot-out to one of their focus pullers in the bottle at the bar - Matt Titchner (probably spelling that wrong.)
They talk about Sam's hair, when Felicia points out that it's longer than hers. Robbie points out that Sam has a bob this year, and he's not sure he likes it. Phil wants to go military cut with Sam. Felicia is astounded. Robbie tells Phil that he just made a million people cry. Robbie wants it long and he misses "the porkshops", Phil agrees. Robbie says they have to get the boys wet more often.
Felicia praises hair and make-up.
Robbie and Felica talk about Charlie's shirts - Robbie usually emails her to ask her what sort of shirts she wants on the show. So, they've had Saga, Rat-Queens, and this episode has "What Would Falkor Do?"
They talk about the cut scene with the guard that tells Dean to leave the parking lot.
Felicia talks about the props being just made up words or nonsense. Phil talks about people freezing the frame, so now they make sure that at least the first paragraph makes sense.
Robbie talks about how he gave Dean the Elvis Prestly fake name - because Dean would be an early Prestly fan.
Felicia talks about how she couldn't remember her lines in one scene, and she was tempted to put her lines on the computer screen that no one could see - but she's a professional.
Felicia talks about trying to be good with the knife but sort of failing.
The scene between Charlie and Dean in the real-estate office happened on two different days in two different locations, because they ran out of time at the location after filming Dean's coverage.
The scene with the salesman - that was the day that GamerGate revealed Felicia's personal information on internet, so she was already having a rough night. Phil hadn't known that.
Felicia talks about how she loves Canada, because she loves Jaywalking in Canada and having people look at her like she's insane. (Uh, okay, maybe in the suburbs? I jaywalk a fair bit.) Phil tells her that they don't give tickets for jaywalking in Canada, and Felicia tells him not to tell her that, because he'll break her heart. Then they joke that you just have to say "Sorry" - which they pronounce the Canadian way (ie: the correct way, because that's a f*cking O, people.) Then they have a laugh.
Robbie: "So, I have a question - Dark!Charlie killed a guy, so does Charlie go to Heaven or Hell?"
Phil: "Maybe in the middle. Maybe Purgatory."
Robbie: "That's where the monsters go. Or is she a monster.."
Then they joke that every room is a waiting room - or can function as a waiting room. "You can wait in the reading room and read in the waiting room."
Robbie talks about the cut scene. "Not everything fits, kids."
Felicia: "What kind of phone is that?"
Robbie: "That's the iPhone 12, because Supernatural has to take place in the future because we jump so many years."
- ROBBIE SEALS HIS POSITION AS MY FAVOURITE WRITER!
Felicia: "iPhone 12 is an implant in our right eye, guys."
Then they talk about Johnny Mnumonic and Cyperpunk stuff, which Felicia loves.
Felicia thought they were using Raymond Burrs house and that he died there - but apparently that was a misconception, according to Phil, so now she's disappointed.
Felicia had never done a shot before and she was "less successful than I thought I'd be."
She did it the first time when they were on Jensen's coverage.
Phil: "It was like your mouth was closed and you just poured it on your face"
Felicia: "I have never seen Jensen so close to breaking. Just, his right lip quirked, ever so slightly."
One of the guys: "He played it off like manpain."
Felicia: "And then in the end, he was like 'what just happened?'"
- They cut it around it. Felicia is disappointed.
Felicia: "Guys, I'm the only woman to drive, Baby!"
- FIRST woman. There's been others since.
Felicia jokes about eating a bunch of cheetos in the car.
They joke about the other four keys to Oz, which are just OUT THERE SOMEWHERE.
Robbie: "I mean, we've all been there - we've all been grabbed by a coven of witches. For me it was junior high - changed my life."
They talk about having actors come on multiple times in different parts.
Felicia: "Really?!"
...
Robbie: "We've been on for 700 years, so..."
Felicia could not hit her mark while driving Baby.
Robbie talks about watching the dailies and seeing the fight between Charlie and Dean made him sad.
Felicia likes the green rope.
Jensen made fun of the way that Felicia held her fists up, "like the 20s" which made her really mad.
Felicia: "Good!Charlie wouldn't even jaywalk."
Phil: "Not in Canada."
Felicia: "Not in Canada, where there's not even any repurcussions. Now you've shattered my dreams of rebellion."
Robbie: "This whole scene is a sad face emoticon."
They joke about how all the punches were real, because Felicia needed a nose job.
They had a really good body double, so they never needed a split-screen. The body-double is one of the stunt-doubles, and is also an actor, and Felicia really loved having her there, she was good.
They talk about the VFX not being as awesome as they had planned, because they ran out of time.
Robbie: "And again, the hand stuff, it's not shaking!"
Felicia: "Not shaking, because he loved it."
...
Robbie: "Someone give that man a hug. Please let it be me!"
Felicia loves the Men of Letter's set.
Phil wants the gizmos in the background to actually do stuff.
Felicia explains how they use a real cast on the arm, which means they have to saw it off at the end of the day and it's terrifying.
They talk about Felicia's shirt, which is a music reference - Phil's big into music.
Phil likes it when they're beat up, because it communicates the life really well.
Robbie likes the cuts on Jensen as well, to show that Dark!Charlie did a number on him.
Felicia likes the end - and the fact that Charlie has a new quest to save her friend.
Felicia: "And we know what happens, but-"
Robbie: "no."
Felicia: "Sad face emoticon."
Felicia wonders if there has ever been a woman as tall as the boys on the show - nope.
Arrivaderci Bitches was a suggested improve by Phil.
Robbie likes to write tags where they're actually honest with one another. He laments that he didn't write in a hug.
Phil: "Well, there is a piece in the gag reel where something happens, I can't say."
Felicia: "Really?! I can't wait to see the gag reel!"
Phil: "It's from the backside, as you're walking up the stairs"
Robbie: "Take it easy, it's a family show."
Phil: "It's some funny stuff. These Texas boys."
Felicia: "They're so funny."
Robbie: "They do like to hold one another."
Phil: "Can the hero make it through the night."
Robbie: "Checkout Season 11 to find out."
Then they joke that they should now do a commentary of an episode of the wire, where they swear the whole time. And that no one is still watching the credits, except Robbie's mom. "Hi Mom, I love you...still."
And done! See you next weekend for another! In the meantime, I hope Hellatus is going okay for you. :)
(And yes, I'm aware that I'm going to have a LOT of trouble with an episode towards the end of this season - thankfully, we aren't there yet. In the mean time...)
There's No Place Like Home
They say "Oz" a LOT in the preview.
And that, friends, is why you should put away your garden hose when you're done with it.
Not that that dude had any hope of outrunning anyone with his hands tied like that (and also older and overweight).
Ah, Dark Charlie...
Sam: "Alright, just keep me posted, okay? Yeah, you got it. ... wait, Cas, you there? Hey, thanks. Yeah."
- See, fandom, Castiel DOES get thanked by the Winchesters for all he does with them. Sam even made sure to thank him before ending a call, like it was IMPORTANT. So, Castiel is not a completely mistreated puppy, no worries.
Sam: "You made eggwhite omlettes?"
Dean: "Yeah, breakfast of champions - you know, if you're a dork like you."
Sam: "And you slept past seven."
Dean: "Yeah, well, until we get answers on this Mark of Cain, I am on a twelve step program not to backslide."
...
Dean: "[...] so, haven't had a drink in a week; eight hours of rag time everynight, and now this masterpiece."
Sam: "That's three steps."
Dean: "Shut-up and eat."
*eat*
Sam: "Wow, that's awesome."
Dean: "It's crap. Ugh..."
- So, we have an interesting pattern of behaviour here. When Dean is just succumbing to the MoC, we know that he doesn't eat or sleep. When we've seen him fighting again, but in denial of the MoC, he acts agressively like himself (burgers, eating, especially). Now, we see him NOT in denial, but also fighting - and his solution is to agressively be NOT himself, but a little more like Sam (at least in the food/health department.... Sam still drinks.)
- The thing about sleeping though is you can't actually force yourself to sleep. If Dean isn't sleeping, then he's just lying in bed staring at the ceiling and pretending he's sleeping for 8 hours. Or, he's medicating himself.
- Also, I like eggwhite omlettes.
Research montage! I love research montages.
Sam: "What the hell?!"
Dean: "Cain or Crowley?"
Sam: "Charlie."
Dean: "Is she back from Oz? She didn't call?"
- Oh my god, I think that's the most domestic thing that Dean Winchester has ever said. He's so hurt. I fully expect him to watch the video and be like "Look at her! She is too skinny! You go bring her home, I'll make her some food.... she will get cold out in the Other Worlds without some meat on her bones. I'll also knit her a sweater."
Dean: "You're saying Charlie tortured someone? OUR Charlie?! Yay high, wouldn't hurt a hobbit, practically sparkles!?"
- I love the "practically sparkles" description. The "hurt a hobbit" is cute too, though it doesn't really compare to the original saying, because people swat flies all the time - which is why the saying works - but hobbits are a small peaceful people who make snacks and NO ONE would hurt them.
Dean: "Talk, you son of a bitch! Talk!"
- I love Sam trying to figure out where the line is between supporting Dean and stopping him.
Guy: "I will be disbarred!"
Dean: "That will be the least of your worries, I promise you that."
- Oh man, Dean's so great at being intimidating, despite being super super pretty.
- And it is hard to tell with Dean, what's the MoC pushing him and what's just Dean - I mean, Dean was a torturer in hell long before the MoC.
Sam: "Celeste Middleton. Celeste. That's Charlie's real name. Guess she's looking for the person who destroyed her family."
Dean: "Can you blame her? You know, we just gotta find her, before she does something nobody can walk away from."
- I like in this episode how they find out what Charlie's real name is, but they never once call her it - she remains Charlie. I don't know, I guess I see it as a respect thing.
- Also, I like how the boys at this point are running on the assumption that they're chasing CHARLIE (and in a way they are, but they also aren't), and so they're really coming at this from the most compassionate way possible - because that's their friend, so yeah, they're like "okay, Charlie decided to get revenge, we've both been there - it's just that our revenge was against non-humans, so we could justify it better... but still, murder changes a person and we should protect our sparkle child."
Dean: "Guilty much?"
- Hehehe. I love that line. Also, because one time me and my sister were on a bus trip and we passed a building that had burned down, and she said "whoa, fire much?" and for some reason it was the funniest thing we had both ever heard at that moment and we laughed forever.
Sam: "Anti-Authority Disorder, Clinical Depression, Violent Outbursts... Charlie was uh..."
Dean: "Dude, if a shrink interviewed us at that age, do you think the report would be all kittens and rainbows? Come on. She's a good kid, there's gotta be an explanation for this, there's just gotta be."
- Uh, Dean, I hate to break it to you, but you are also.. uhh... I mean, I know your point is that you and Sam would have gotten similar words assigned to you, but I'd also like to point out that you two aren't exactly the healthiest adults either when it comes to your psychology? You do kill things for a living...and you both enjoy it. I mean, it's good to channel that stuff into something where you can do some good, and you are, but... if your point is that despite your childhood you grew up to be well-adjusted, that might be inaccurate. BUT, if your point is that Sam shouldn't be throwing stones in his glass house, then you are spot on.
Dark!Charlie: "Should have known Rocket and Groot would track me down."
- I love that reference.
Dark!Charlie: "Oh, Sam, you're adorable, you're not to hurt me. In fact, that's your problem. All good guy code, no bite. What a waste. And you, always letting this albatros hold you back."
Dean: "Alright, okay, I don't know what's going on here, but this, this is not you."
- I love how Jared and Jensen chose to act this scene. Sam looks genuinely hurt, whereas Dean is like "this is ridiculous" and he even puts his hand on Sam, and it might be a command to lower his gun, but I think it's a "don't even listen to that, you're not an albatros, my little pumpkin."
(Uh, I don't know why I'm making Dean into an overly affectionate mother-figure in this episode, but it appears to be a thing that is happening.)
I love the thigh chock-hold and Dean's "crap!"
Good!Charlie!!! I love their expressions.
Good!Charlie: "...and let me just tell you, being good is really annoying! Normally in a place like this I'd be pounding Harvey Wallbangers and checking out the bartender's ass. Now, all I want o do is sip club soda and send her to college."
- Awww... cute and hilarious. It reminds me of one of my fave Hawksley Workman songs "Girls on Crutches" which is basically just about how he wants to home cook meals for strippers and make sure they get home to their mothers.
Good!Charlie: "...going after the person who mu-mu-mu- took my parents away is her messed up way of showing how close we are."
- As soon as Charlie can't say "murder" Sam goes right into "you are too precious for this world" face. It's amazing and awesome.
Dean: "Charlie, it's not who you are, it's a twisted version of-"
Good!Charlie: "Me."
- This episode is very much, anviling, the fact that at the end of the day Dean not only has to cure the MoC, he's also got to accept the things he does while being influenced by the MoC. He could blame it on the MoC, but the MoC might just be highlighting and emphasising the darker murderous parts of Dean... and Dean has to come to terms with that.
Good!Charlie: "...so I can just lock her away, forever."
Sam: "Charlie, that's not an answer."
- The great thing is that Sam is already in forgiveness mode. He doesn't care that there's a darkness in Charlie. I mean, of all people, I think Sam would be the MOST forgiving of people having a darkness in them. Sam already knows the only answer is reunification, so that Good!Charlie can temper her darker half.
- Actually, this episode is very much about forgiveness.
Sam: "I need you to hack into Barbara's bank accounts."
Good!Charlie: "I can't. It's bad. I told you, being good is annoying."
Sam: "How about this - how about you guide me through the process, and then I'm the bad one!"
- I love Sam, I really do. And I love how that works.
I do like how Dean is... not torn about protecting the drunk driver who killed Charlie's parents, but not happy about it either. It's one of those cases where it's someone that you would not be sad if they died, but killing them yourself would be wrong.
Ah, manipulative Dark!Charlie.... getting what she wants by playing Dean like a fiddle. Dean's big mistake is not staying exactly at her shoulder.
Ah well. Charlie is no a murdidlyurderer.
And then Dean goes back to the bar and orders a shot of whiskey.
Dean: "You lied to me."
Dark!Charlie: "You lied to yourself. That's kinda your move."
- And once again we get the theme of people WANTING to be lied to. This is what Dark!Charlie means. Dean was in the same place as Sam in 10x09, he wanted even Dark!Charlie to be good, so he convinced himself that she wasn't lying - when really, anyone with a single-minded focus (which she seemed to have) would most likely be lying in that scenario.
Dark!Charlie: "You know what I learned about being dark? It sets you free. And part of you knows that's right too."
- This is some Dostoevsky shit right here.
- But, Charlie is basically the temptation of the MoC here. She knows that blind rages feel food, and if you don't have to put up with the guilt about what you've done afterward, then, yay for you!
Dean: "Listen, Dark Charlie"
Dark!Charlie: "Oh grow up! There's no right, there's no wrong. There is just us and them."
- "There is nothing either good or bad, but thinking make it so."
Man, Felicia has white skin... like, porcelain white.
Dean: "What happened, my friend strike out?"
Bartender: "Your friend? She just left out the back door."
Dean: "No, no, no, oh, you son of a bitch!"
- That's the second time that Dean has called Dark!Charlie a son of a bitch - both for doing something to Baby. The thing I love about it though is that Dean's insult doesn't change for the gender. It'd be easy here for them to have him just call her a bitch, but it's nice that although the insult is still in there in a round-about way, he still uses a male-insult for her rather than an overtly misogynist one.
And then Good!Charlie finds out that Dorothy might be in trouble. I know that there was a cut scene somewhere in here where we actually find out what happened in Oz with Dorothy, it'd've been nice if it'd been left in.
Dark!Charlie: "You hit like a girl who never learned how to hit."
- Love it.
So, Good!Clive forgives Charlie right before she shoots him - and the line "I forgive you" is repeated a LOT in this episode. That's also one of the running themes, is forgiveness and what that means to a person - both the forgiver and the forgived. I'd articulate it more, but I'm really not sure what to say about it.
I think Dean must have just forgotten about the physically link. Poor Charlie. Though, I know it's a point that basically his rage overrules his mind and causes him to forget in the rush of things.
Dark!Charlie: "You did it, didn't you. You killed the wizard. I knew it. The magic was in you all the time, Celeste."
- Awww, I love that line. I mean, I know in one interpretation it's sort of...dark... but it's really about being able to be brutal when you need to be brutal and being able to be kind when you need to be kind.
Meanwhile, Dean feels horrible.
But Charlie gets really great Sam hugs!
Sam: "Yeah, yeah, he's better - or, he's calmed down now. Cas, we gotta find Cain - or we gotta find something, you know? Right. Yeah, I know, I hear ya."
- Sorry, I just love Sassy conversations, even if they are one sided. I love how Sam and Cas are allys this season in their quest to save Dean. Another possible ending the MoC storyline is if Sam and Cas actually had found a solution by working together, rather than Sam taking the reigns and diving into murky waters and then dragging a reluctant Cas in with him later.
Sam: "So, are you?"
Charlie: "Good, bad? I think I'll just settle for balanced."
- That's really the goal with all mental illness right there.
Poor Dean. Jensen does such a good job of portraying how much he wants to go to his friend and love her to death, but how much he's rooted to the spot because he's super sorry about nearly beating her to death.
Sam: "Yeah, maybe, I found this book - it's a lore book. Book of the Damned."
- So, the funny thing is that Sam's print off is a book with the author Charles Fort...in a library, that has an ISBN number and was published in 1919 by a publisher. Uh... that's not the book that Charlie comes back with. It makes me wonder just how much they had thought this season out ahead of time, because right now it looks like "not very much." Because he should have shown her some fuzzy photograph or an ancient mysterious looking tome.
Sam: "So, does this mean, no more adventure?"
Charlie: "I think we have all the adventure we can handle right here?"
- So, as much as I liked Charlie being sparkles - I also like the fact that she's no longer romanticizing hunting. I know some people don't like the fact that Charlie becomes tempered after Oz, but... I don't know, I guess I like the fact that Supernatural characters always change with their experiences. Even if the changes aren't fun ones, I still appreciate that none of these characters are static.
Charlie: "We are going to fix this. I'm not going to let what happened to me happen to you."
- Awww
Charlie: "Yeah, well, there's one thing that you have that [Cain] didn't. You're a Winchester. I forgive you, Dean."
Dean: "Yeah, well, I don't."
Charlie: "I know, it's kinda your move. How's that working out for you, huh?"
Dean: "I'm so sorry, kiddo."
Charlie: "Then prove it."
- I love how Charlie fits under his chin.
- But I love the "then prove it" line, because being sorry really is about action, not words.
- The Winchesters are descended from... oh wait, well, they're not really. They're descended from both Cain and Abel. You gotta wonder which one is the Michael line and which is the Lucifer line... because Cain sold himself to Lucifer, but Lucifer was wooing Abel first. So, did Cain's sacrifice make him the "good" angel or the did the Mark mean that he was forever the vessel for Satan? Probably the latter. MY POINT IS: Charlie actually has a point here, because, in my headcanon, the Campbells were the Lucifer line and the Winchesters were the Michael line...so, the fact that Dean is both Michael and Lucifer's potential vessel means that he IS something that Cain isn't. It'd also have been cool if that had factored into the cure, but that's far too complicated, I suppose.
- I also like the fact that Charlie can call Dean out on his stuff - like never forgiving himself for anything, and that not being super healthy. I love that Charlie can actually get them to TALK to - like, honestly tell the truth about things. They always sum-up their lives for her everytime she sees them.
Charlie: "If I find something, I'll call. If not, I'll just keep digging."
- Well, that could be an explanation. She could read the book and then discover that the book is about another book - one that's an ancient tome of mystery and darkness.
Sam: "You good?"
Dean: "No."
Sam: "She's right, Dean. You can do this. We can do this."
Dean: "Then let's get to work."
- I like that Dean is honest in the end - that he's not alright. Though, I don't think he's as hopeful as Sam.
CUT SCENES
1.
Sam and Charlie in the car! Sam telling Charlie about the MoC. And then Charlie tells Sam about Oz. She flew a dragon. She was there for multiple years - because time passes differently in Oz. Her dragon's name was Biscuits.
Charlie: "Decisions are hard."
Sam: "What do you mean?"
Charlie explains that she let her darkness out in order to save Dorothy. Dorothy became like a sister to Charlie, and when she was kidnapped, Charlie used Dark!Charlie to save her.
Sam: "Sometimes you have to do the bad thing to do the good thing."
Charlie: "Doesn't make it right though, does it."
- And here's Sam's theme for the rest of the season.
2.
Dean in the parking lot of the salesman's place - a cop on a segway tells him to stop loitering, either go into a business or "mosey".
So, second scene defiitely extraneous, but it would have been really nice to have the scene with Charlie and Sam. Ah well.
COMMENTARY!
Commentary is with Robbie Thompson (Writer), Felicia Day (Charlie), and Phil Sgricca (Director)
Robbie: "My name is Robbie Thompson and I play Sam Winchester."
Felicia had never been to the suburbs in Canada and she discovered that they are exactly the same as the American ones.
Felicia was a little bit intimidated by the script, but it was a lot of fun.
Robbie: "The only thing better than Felicia Day is two Felicia Days."
Felicia only had a problem on the days where they had to go back and forth.
Felicia actually lost her hair because of a thyroid issue that made it fall out - hence why she had to change her haircut so drastically.
Praise for Jared and Jensen. Felicia is amazed how they can just snap right into the character. Robbie talks about how he genuinely was worried about Jared being sick when they were filming PacMan Fever and Sam was going through the trails.
Robbie: "Turns out he was acting. So, he was fine. I gave him a hug anyway, because whenever you can hug Jared you should hug Jared."
Felicia: "He gives good hug... he and Nathan Fillion, I think top huggers - top ten huggers of all time."
Robbie: "I would like to be in a group hug in this situation."
The picture was actually of Felicia when she was 14. She used to send it to boys on the internet... and you have to read her book for that story.
Robbie jokes about how he wrote a 17 page psyche profile for Charlie for this episode. Felicia said she did homework too - she wrote two columns, and wrote "Dark!Charlie: Bad and Good!Charlie: Good"
Robbie and Felicia are really great joking together in this commentary. They have a good rapport.
Robbie praises Jensen being scary.
Robbie: "..Oh god, don't look at me like that! Or, actually, maybe look at me like that?"
Phil: "No, you don't want him to"
Robbie: "No, he's scary, very scary."
Phil praises the CGI shot of the Impala.
They praise the art department. Felicia praises Serge, the DP, for the different lighting that he used and how he made her look good.
Felicia only had one picture of herself as a kid where she looked like she might be a tortured youth, everything else was too wholesome.
Felicia bought new underwear for the thigh-choke scene, because she was paranoid.
They talk about how they did the switch between Charlie's in what looks like one continuous shot - there was a sneaky cut. I didn't even realize - well done.
Robbie talks about how he wrote the story too long.
Felicia talks about how Good!Charlie kinda makes Felicia want to punch her. She talks about how Good!Charlie is something she's done before, but she usually doesn't play characters like Dark!Charlie - confidence is not something that Felicia usually plays/has.
Robbie talks about using the split of Charlie to foreshadow Dean's renewed descent into Demon!Dean.
Robbie points out the shot-out to one of their focus pullers in the bottle at the bar - Matt Titchner (probably spelling that wrong.)
They talk about Sam's hair, when Felicia points out that it's longer than hers. Robbie points out that Sam has a bob this year, and he's not sure he likes it. Phil wants to go military cut with Sam. Felicia is astounded. Robbie tells Phil that he just made a million people cry. Robbie wants it long and he misses "the porkshops", Phil agrees. Robbie says they have to get the boys wet more often.
Felicia praises hair and make-up.
Robbie and Felica talk about Charlie's shirts - Robbie usually emails her to ask her what sort of shirts she wants on the show. So, they've had Saga, Rat-Queens, and this episode has "What Would Falkor Do?"
They talk about the cut scene with the guard that tells Dean to leave the parking lot.
Felicia talks about the props being just made up words or nonsense. Phil talks about people freezing the frame, so now they make sure that at least the first paragraph makes sense.
Robbie talks about how he gave Dean the Elvis Prestly fake name - because Dean would be an early Prestly fan.
Felicia talks about how she couldn't remember her lines in one scene, and she was tempted to put her lines on the computer screen that no one could see - but she's a professional.
Felicia talks about trying to be good with the knife but sort of failing.
The scene between Charlie and Dean in the real-estate office happened on two different days in two different locations, because they ran out of time at the location after filming Dean's coverage.
The scene with the salesman - that was the day that GamerGate revealed Felicia's personal information on internet, so she was already having a rough night. Phil hadn't known that.
Felicia talks about how she loves Canada, because she loves Jaywalking in Canada and having people look at her like she's insane. (Uh, okay, maybe in the suburbs? I jaywalk a fair bit.) Phil tells her that they don't give tickets for jaywalking in Canada, and Felicia tells him not to tell her that, because he'll break her heart. Then they joke that you just have to say "Sorry" - which they pronounce the Canadian way (ie: the correct way, because that's a f*cking O, people.) Then they have a laugh.
Robbie: "So, I have a question - Dark!Charlie killed a guy, so does Charlie go to Heaven or Hell?"
Phil: "Maybe in the middle. Maybe Purgatory."
Robbie: "That's where the monsters go. Or is she a monster.."
Then they joke that every room is a waiting room - or can function as a waiting room. "You can wait in the reading room and read in the waiting room."
Robbie talks about the cut scene. "Not everything fits, kids."
Felicia: "What kind of phone is that?"
Robbie: "That's the iPhone 12, because Supernatural has to take place in the future because we jump so many years."
- ROBBIE SEALS HIS POSITION AS MY FAVOURITE WRITER!
Felicia: "iPhone 12 is an implant in our right eye, guys."
Then they talk about Johnny Mnumonic and Cyperpunk stuff, which Felicia loves.
Felicia thought they were using Raymond Burrs house and that he died there - but apparently that was a misconception, according to Phil, so now she's disappointed.
Felicia had never done a shot before and she was "less successful than I thought I'd be."
She did it the first time when they were on Jensen's coverage.
Phil: "It was like your mouth was closed and you just poured it on your face"
Felicia: "I have never seen Jensen so close to breaking. Just, his right lip quirked, ever so slightly."
One of the guys: "He played it off like manpain."
Felicia: "And then in the end, he was like 'what just happened?'"
- They cut it around it. Felicia is disappointed.
Felicia: "Guys, I'm the only woman to drive, Baby!"
- FIRST woman. There's been others since.
Felicia jokes about eating a bunch of cheetos in the car.
They joke about the other four keys to Oz, which are just OUT THERE SOMEWHERE.
Robbie: "I mean, we've all been there - we've all been grabbed by a coven of witches. For me it was junior high - changed my life."
They talk about having actors come on multiple times in different parts.
Felicia: "Really?!"
...
Robbie: "We've been on for 700 years, so..."
Felicia could not hit her mark while driving Baby.
Robbie talks about watching the dailies and seeing the fight between Charlie and Dean made him sad.
Felicia likes the green rope.
Jensen made fun of the way that Felicia held her fists up, "like the 20s" which made her really mad.
Felicia: "Good!Charlie wouldn't even jaywalk."
Phil: "Not in Canada."
Felicia: "Not in Canada, where there's not even any repurcussions. Now you've shattered my dreams of rebellion."
Robbie: "This whole scene is a sad face emoticon."
They joke about how all the punches were real, because Felicia needed a nose job.
They had a really good body double, so they never needed a split-screen. The body-double is one of the stunt-doubles, and is also an actor, and Felicia really loved having her there, she was good.
They talk about the VFX not being as awesome as they had planned, because they ran out of time.
Robbie: "And again, the hand stuff, it's not shaking!"
Felicia: "Not shaking, because he loved it."
...
Robbie: "Someone give that man a hug. Please let it be me!"
Felicia loves the Men of Letter's set.
Phil wants the gizmos in the background to actually do stuff.
Felicia explains how they use a real cast on the arm, which means they have to saw it off at the end of the day and it's terrifying.
They talk about Felicia's shirt, which is a music reference - Phil's big into music.
Phil likes it when they're beat up, because it communicates the life really well.
Robbie likes the cuts on Jensen as well, to show that Dark!Charlie did a number on him.
Felicia likes the end - and the fact that Charlie has a new quest to save her friend.
Felicia: "And we know what happens, but-"
Robbie: "no."
Felicia: "Sad face emoticon."
Felicia wonders if there has ever been a woman as tall as the boys on the show - nope.
Arrivaderci Bitches was a suggested improve by Phil.
Robbie likes to write tags where they're actually honest with one another. He laments that he didn't write in a hug.
Phil: "Well, there is a piece in the gag reel where something happens, I can't say."
Felicia: "Really?! I can't wait to see the gag reel!"
Phil: "It's from the backside, as you're walking up the stairs"
Robbie: "Take it easy, it's a family show."
Phil: "It's some funny stuff. These Texas boys."
Felicia: "They're so funny."
Robbie: "They do like to hold one another."
Phil: "Can the hero make it through the night."
Robbie: "Checkout Season 11 to find out."
Then they joke that they should now do a commentary of an episode of the wire, where they swear the whole time. And that no one is still watching the credits, except Robbie's mom. "Hi Mom, I love you...still."
And done! See you next weekend for another! In the meantime, I hope Hellatus is going okay for you. :)
