In Supernatural’s “There’s No Place Like Home” Charlie Bradbury (Felicia Day) returns from the Emerald City, but she’s found that getting “home” isn’t as simple as clicking her heels and chanting. The episode is directed by Phil Sgriccia and written by Robbie Thompson, who also penned “Slumber Party” (9×4), the episode where Charlie leaves for Oz.
“There’s No Place Like Home” begins with a familiar scene: Someone has been attacked and is trying to escape. The man, whose hands are bound, makes it outside – where his attacker is waiting for him. The surprise is that his attacker is Charlie, though she looks different with straight hair, dark clothes, and controlled features, and she doesn’t speak with the same lighthearted cadence. She tells the terrified man that even though he’s told all he knows, she’s still going to torture him because “who doesn’t love a little torture?” This isn’t the Charlie who left with Dorothy Baum for an adventure down the yellow-brick road.
The scene after the title card takes place in the bunker, bringing Dean Winchester (Jensen Ackles) and his younger brother Sam (Jared Padalecki) into the episode. Sometimes, I find Monster of the Week episodes frustrating because they are so often disconnected from the larger storylines; it’s as if the Winchesters forget about everything but the MOTW at hand. However – this is not the case with “There’s No Place Like Home.” (Thank you, Robbie!) The bunker scene opens with Sam on the phone with Castiel. We only hear the tail-end of the conversation and Sam asking Cas to keep him posted and thanking him, but it’s a direct bridge to last week’s “The Hunter Games.” Later, when Sam is researching, Dean makes a comment about Cain and Crowley, which is another nice connection.
Sam’s putting his phone away when Dean gracelessly drops a plate of food in front of him before taking his own seat. The egg white omelets are part of Dean’s “Twelve-step program not to backslide.” He hasn’t had a drink in a week, is sleeping eight hours a night instead of his infamous “four hours every once in a while” (5×4), and is eating well. It’s his attempt to handle to the Mark, though he assures Sam that when he’s “rid of this demonic tramp stamp, I’m back onto booze, burgers – and more booze.”
In their research, Sam discovers footage of Charlie attacking the man – Peter Harper (Paul McGillion) – from the opening scene. The brothers are surprised, Dean especially: “Our Charlie?,” he asks incredulously. “Yea high, wouldn’t hurt a hobbit, practically sparkles?” Dean immediately calls her phone, but there’s no answer. He tells his brother that there must be a reason, but Sam isn’t so convinced: “Look at the footage.” Dean points out, “You know what we do. Taken out of context, it doesn’t look that much different. She could be hunting.” Context, as we know, can change everything. The brothers decide to investigate, and we see Dean packing his bag. He unsheathes his knife, and his hand begins to shake. He struggles with it only for a second before Sam comes to the door asking if he’s ready. Dean says he is, shoving the re-sheathed knife into his bag, and they leave.
Posing as FBI agents, Sam and Dean question Harper, who reveals that this is about the Middletons’s car accident, though he denies knowing details. Neither brother believes him, and Sam tries to logic Harper into telling the truth, explaining that the attacker didn’t let the previous victim go until she gave up Harper’s name. So what did Harper give up? When Harper still won’t admit anything, Dean snaps just enough to make Sam watch nervously. The older Winchester grabs the guy, tilting his chair, getting in his face, and disregarding Harper’s claim that he’s “the victim here.” The lawyer finally admits that after the files were sealed years ago, he’d been given money to drop the case. Dean wants the name, and Harper protests, “I will be disbarred.” Dean doesn’t care: “That will be the least of your worries. I promise you that.” Harper wisely takes Dean seriously and tells them, “Councilwoman Barbara Cordry.”
While Dean’s driving, Sam peruses Charlie’s social services file, bemused that they’ve discovered her real first name: Celeste. It’ s easy to discern that she’s after the person who destroyed her family. Dean says, “We’ve got to find her before she does something nobody can walk away from.” That’s a pointed comment coming from Dean, especially since he’s done quite a bit that he can’t walk away from.
At Cordry’s, the brothers are again in their FBI suits, and I giggled when Sam introduces them: “I’m Special Agent Gabriel and this is my partner, Special Agent Collins.” I love that the Genesis shout-out can so easily double as a shout-out to Gabriel/Richard Speight Jr. and Misha Collins. Cordry says that she doesn’t know what they’re talking about and to schedule an appointment with her assistant. After she shuts the door in their faces, Dean quips to Sam, “Guilty much?” Sam agrees.
The brothers (now dressed casually) stake out Cordry’s house. Dean suffers through eating a healthy wrap – “What the hell is kale?” – while Sam reads Charlie’s file. He’s concerned by its details and Charlie’s diagnoses, but Dean tells him to consider what reports of them at that age would’ve said. Before that conversation can go any further, they hear screams from inside the home. They break inside and discover Charlie holding Cordry at knife-point. Charlie’s not surprised, observing, “Should’ve known Rocket and Groot would track me down.” The Winchesters quickly note how different Charlie is, and Dean asks outright, “What the hell happened to you in Oz?” Charlie answers, “Everything I wanted. An adventure.”
She disregards the Winchesters as a threat, pointing out their “problems.” Sam is “all good guy code, no bite” and Dean lets Sam be the “albatross” holding him back. At this, Dean puts his gun away and tries to reason with her: “We don’t want to hurt you, kiddo, but we’re not going to let you do this.” I find it interesting that Dean calls Charlie “kiddo” so often in this episode; what does it suggest about how he views their dynamic right now? Charlie and Dean fight, resulting in the thigh choke that will go down in history. She kicks him above the neck and escapes. By the time Dean gets outside, she’s driving off, and he sees the Impala’s slashed tire. (Though, if Charlie was parked closely behind the Impala, how did the Winchesters not see her enter the house? Did the kale distract them?) Dean exclaims with his classic, “Son of a bitch” – and then a familiar yellow car drives by and a horn beeps. It’s Charlie, and the Winchesters are more than surprised to see her. I really enjoy the humor that Day, Ackles, and Padalecki give to this scene.
The trio winds up at a bar, where Charlie is explaining that there are two Charlies and, Dean asks, “Dick you is some sort of a ninja?” “She is a badass, yeah,” Charlie acknowledges before explaining that there was a war for Emerald City, so to keep them from losing, she’d made a deal with the Wizard of Oz: “I had to unleash my true darkness, which he meant literally.” The tactic worked, and Dark!Charlie won the war singlehandedly. The two are still connected physically – if one is injured, so is the other – but this Charlie is “good.” Dark!Charlie isn’t just killing to kill, though – she’s trying to win Good!Charlie back. This concept is really intriguing to me; if Dark!Charlie is “wooing” Good!Charlie, what does that suggest about how the halves are split? about who has the most control? At this point, Good!Charlie wants nothing to do with her darker half, though she can still see the problematic nature of that. As she says, “I keep calling her ‘she,’ but ‘she’ is ‘me.’ I’m the one doing this.” Dean refutes this: “It’s not who you are. It’s a twisted version –” Charlie finishes his sentence, reiterating her point, “of me.”
Here it’s made blatant that Charlie is functioning, in part, as a narrative mirror for Dean. She wants to lock away and remove Dark!Charlie, just as Dean wants to repress/remove the Mark, but can either of them succeed? Sam doesn’t think that locking Dark!Charlie is an answer, and Dean, who’s watching his own tremors persist despite all his efforts to repress the Mark, agrees. Dean has an alternative suggestion: They’ll get back to Oz, get the key, and fix things. But Charlie says that her darker half has broken the key; there’s no way to Oz. Sam turns Charlie’s attention to finding the source of the pay-off money before Dark!Charlie does. Because this Charlie is “good,” she can’t partake in her usual hacking methods, but Sam has a solution: “You guide me through the process, and I’m the bad one.” Meanwhile, Dean gets refills on their non-alcoholic drinks and stares at the bottles along the back wall. The bartender grabs one, exposing the mirror. When Dean sees his reflection, his expression is troubled and he looks away. His hand is trembling again.
Sometime later, they discover the money’s source: a realtor named Russell Wellington. Charlie gets emotional, and Dean attempts to control the situation, but she resists his protectorship, arguing, “secrets are bad.” The brothers then tell her what they’re thinking: Dean doesn’t want her around Russell, and Sam doesn’t think locking dark Charlie up will work. “She may be dark, but she’s still a part of you,” he points out. She reluctantly admits that Sam is right and suggests they go to the bunker to research a way to mend the key. At this point, the trio splits up: Dean goes to protect Russell; Sam and Charlie head for the bunker. Dean doesn’t really want this particular protection detail but is reminded that he is protecting Charlie too. Good!Charlie reiterates, “If Dark!Charlie gets hurt, so do I.” It’s an important reminder.
After Dean leaves, Charlie asks Sam if his brother’s okay, and Sam answers that he’ll tell her on the way. It’s interesting to think of how similar the situations are here: Just as Charlie’s dealing with her “dark” half, so is Dean, only he bears the key that unlocks his. While Sam and Charlie get into research at the bunker, the Mark-of-Cain bearing hunter is parked in the Impala outside Wellington Realty, listening to self-help tapes and eating almonds. He tosses the tape in exasperation just as Russell (Barclay Hope) arrives. Dean follows him inside, signing in as a potential client under the name “Presley.” He seems awkward in the waiting room, dressed much more casually than the other would-be clients, but he takes a seat and eventually becomes engrossed in a fitness magazine anyway.
Research turns up that Clive Dillon is the Man of Letters who discovered the key; he’s the one Frank Baum rescued from Oz, at the same time that Dorothy got stuck there. After Clive’s return, he retired and went into a MoL “witness protection.” If Sam and Charlie can locate him, even though he’s well over a hundred years old now, they figure he can help them.
Back at the realty company, Russell doesn’t take Dean’s interest in finding a “dream home” seriously. He cuts off Dean’s description with, “Judging from your cheap shoes and your faded jeans, I’m guessing the only house you’re in the market for comes with wheels. Now look, I’m a busy man. My time is extremely valuable. I prefer not to have it wasted by some hayseed.” How many times have the Winchesters, especially Dean, been judged as “less than” because of their clothing and/or behavior?
Russell picks up the phone – ostensibly to call security – but Dean hangs it up for him. “Who the hell do you think you are?,” he barks. Dean responds, “I’m the guy who’s going to save your life.” He confronts Russell about the accident, though the man denies knowing anything about it. The office’s lights go out, and Dean orders him to stay put. Russell does stay, though he tries to call out again, only the line’s dead now.
Dean confronts Dark!Charlie, who says that she just wants to talk with Russell and that things got out of hand with the other victims. “This was never about revenge – I want him to see my face. I want him to see what he did to me. To us. That’s all.” She even hands Dean her knife, and he hangs back, letting her go into the office. Russell either (amazingly) recognizes her or he’s figured out who she must be: “Celeste.” He’s shaken and apologizes: “I’m so sorry. What I did – I was young. I was stupid. What I took I can never give back to you. But what I did after the accident? That never should’ve happened, and I wasn’t drunk for that. I was stone cold sober. It was selfish and wrong. And I should pay for it. And I will pay for it.”
Dark!Charlie tells him, “You took everything from me.” He apologizes again, and she looks back at Dean, who nods. She verbally forgives him but then slams the door shut, blocking it with a chair. Smoothly, she stalks forward, grabs a letter opener, and fatally stabs him. By the time Dean breaks in, Russell’s dead, and Charlie’s escaped out the window. Dean calls Sam to update him. He and Charlie are on their way to Clive’s. Charlie’s upset over Russell’s murder, but she won’t accept Dean’s apology. “It’s not your fault; it’s mine,” she says. Dean tries to tell her “it’s not on you,” but Sam interrupts, directing the conversation away from the messy topic of accountability and back towards their mission at hand.
When the call ends, we see that Dean’s at the bar, breaking his no-alcohol fast. Dark!Charlie joins him, rebuffing that she lied to him. “You lied to yourself. That’s kind of your move.” Dean acknowledges his issues. “I’ve made mistakes. But I’ll pay for mine. And you’ll pay for yours.” Dark!Charlie says she’s not the monster, though. “He was. He got what he deserved.” She also shares, “You know what I learned about being dark? It sets you free. And part of you knows that’s right, too.” This is a telling conversation between the two, and it emphasizes Dean’s backsliding with alcohol, and his battle with the Mark for control of his “self.” But who is Dean – does he know anymore? He has trouble accepting all parts of his personality, and he keeps separating the Charlies too. It’s a reminder when he calls this Charlie “Dark!Charlie.” Her pointed response is, “Grow up. There’s no right, no wrong. Just us and them.” Dean taunts her with Sam and Charlie’s plan to “put you back to where you belong.” “Back into Charlie?,” she asks. “Is that where I belong?” Dark!Charlie poses a good question. And I wonder even more what she’d planned to do if her attempts to woo Good!Charlie were successful; does she want them to exist separately, operating of their own volition, or in tandem?
Under the guise of flirting with the bartender, Dark!Charlie sneaks out and hotwires Baby. When Dean realizes, he runs outside, but it’s too late. He calls Sam and tells him Dark!Charlie’s on her way, though he told her the wrong town as misdirection. (Thank goodness for that clarification; I seriously doubted Dean’s judgment for a moment there.) At Clive’s home, the former MoL is explaining that the key can only be fixed in Oz. Charlie asks, “There’s no going back? I can’t put my darkness away?”
Clive tells her that while in Oz, his id had also been released; his darker half eventually became the Wizard of Oz. Charlie’s shocked and worried because Dorothy’s running the Emerald City with the Wizard by her side. If there’s no key, they can’t get back, but Clive acknowledges there’s a summoning method. He pulls out a gun because “If I am mortally wounded, he’ll have to come back here to save us both.” Charlie protests that there has to be another way, but Clive counters, “What he’s done is my fault. After all, he is me, and I am him.” I feel like I’m missing information here – If the Wizard helped split Charlie to win the War, and if he’s helping Dorothy, is he still all “dark”? Is there more to this scene that we didn’t get to hear? Why would Clive only now consider suicide to end his id’s reign? Is Clive truly so moved because of Charlie and her split-plight and worry for Dorothy?
Dean arrives at Clive’s house just in time to hear the gunshot. Dark!Charlie pulls up in Baby before Dean can get inside. He tells her, “You’re not going anywhere near her. I’m not going to let you corrupt her.” This is an odd twist because Good!Charlie’s right – she is Dark!Charlie and vice versa – why doesn’t Dean accept that here? He’s separated the two in his mind it seems (and forgotten the warning that hurting one hurts the other). He threatens, “You take one more step, I’m going to put you down.” Dark!Charlie’s unfazed: “There’s the Dean I love.”
Inside, the Wizard (Carter Kinsella), arrives through a mirror; he’s younger than Clive since time moves so differently in Oz. Sam sees the key dangling from the Wizard’s belt and pulls a gun on him. The Wizard simply restrains him with magical bonds. Charlie exclaims in pain; though no one’s hurt her, Dean’s outside, and he just punched Dark!Charlie. Sam begs the Wizard to let him go so he can help Charlie, but the Wizard won’t: “Your friend wanted to be a hero. And you know what happens to heroes? They die.” While the Wizard turns his powers on Sam, choking him, Clive gets Charlie’s attention and points to the gun lying nearby.
Outside, Dean accuses Dark!Charlie, “You hurt my friend.” She throws a painful verbal hit: “I learned it by watching you.” The physical fight continues, and Dean breaks her arm. While Dean attacks Charlie, the Wizard continues his attack on Sam. Charlie finally grabs the gun and tearfully tells Clive, “I’m sorry.” He says, “I forgive you. We both do.” A shot rings out, and Sam’s released from the magical torture, his bonds disappearing. When Clive died, so did the Wizard. Dean is still fighting Dark!Charlie when Sam retrieves the needed key from the Wizard’s belt.
Dean’s pummeling Dark!Charlie when he hears Sam yelling his name. He looks up and sees his friend’s bloody body in Sam’s arms, then looks back down and realizes what he’s done. He steps away, and Sam positions the Charlies side-by-side. Dark!Charlie asks her other half, “You did it, didn’t you? You killed the wizard. I knew it. The magic was in you all the time, Celeste.” Sam puts the key in Good!Charlie’s hand and light shoots up; Dark!Charlie goes spirit-form, lifts into the air, hovers over Charlie, and then the two merge. Sam runs to Charlie’s side and hugs her, comforting her as she cries. Dean stands back, looking horrified; he checks his hand, and it’s not shaking, but it’s covered with Charlie’s blood.
Back at the bunker, a bruised Dean is doing research. Sam’s nearby, though seemingly out of earshot, and having a phone conversation with Cas. He assures his friend that Dean’s better or, at least, “he’s calmed down now…. We gotta find Cain or we gotta find something…I hear you. You got it. Thanks.” Again, I love that this episode doesn’t forget about Cas’s existence and how he’s helping Sam and Dean; though we don’t get details, I assume he’s searching different avenues for information about the Mark.
Charlie comes into the room; she’s badly bruised and has a broken arm. We learn that she’s slept for two days in a row, and it seems she’s preparing to leave. Sam asks, “Are you…” She finishes the thought: “Good? Bad? I think I’ll just settle for balanced.” She sees Dean and asks Sam if they’ve found anything else about the Mark. He shows her a search return for the Book of the Damned, originally published in 1919, and tells her it’s in a library in Tuscany but…um… the entry also lists a paperback version and an ISBN, and Amazon has plenty of copies, even a Kindle version that can be purchased for 99 cents. Perhaps, though, the Supernatural universe doesn’t have Amazon? If that’s true, at least Charlie gets to enjoy a trip to Italy, though I hope it doesn’t keep her away as long as Oz did!
Sam asks about Dark!Charlie, and Charlie tearfully tells him, “She’s – um – quiet…Just gotta keep moving forward. We all do.” She looks towards Dean as she says this, and then she walks over to him. “We are going to fix this,” she says. “I’m not going to let what happened to me happen to you.” Sam adds that Cain’s lived with the Mark, but Dean counters with, “Yeah, after centuries of murder.” Charlie assures him, “There’s one thing you have that he didn’t – you’re a Winchester.” Dean doesn’t look assured, though, and Charlie adds, “I forgive you, Dean.” He huffs: “Yeah, well, I don’t.” Charlie’s not surprised by his response: “I know. Kind of your move. How’s that working out for you, huh?” It’s a good question, and one that Charlie is uniquely poised to ask. All she gets in return is an eyeroll, but Dean hugs her and apologizes, “I’m so sorry, kiddo.” Both are teary, yet Charlie doesn’t say okay or accept his apology; instead, she says, “Then prove it.” Charlie hugs Sam goodbye and promises she’ll be in touch when she finds something.
After she leaves, Sam asks, “You good?” Dean answers honestly, “No.” Sam tells him, “She’s right, Dean. You can do this. We can do this.” And it does seem possible – with Sam, Cas, and Charlie all working to save Dean. For a moment, anyway, Dean accepts the possibility, “Then let’s get to work.” Sam walks back towards the books, and Dean stands alone a moment, looking at his hand; it’s not trembling. Is that because fighting Charlie temporarily slaked the Mark’s thirst? Or is it because with his found family on his side he feels hopeful again? Dean looks up at the door, a contemplative expression on his face, and slightly nods his head in what I hope is acceptance of what he’s just been told by his brother and the little sister he never wanted (7×20).
I really enjoyed “There’s No Place Like Home.” Charlie always adds a strong energy, and though the parallels between her and Dean in this episode are heavy, they get the point across: Dean’s going to have to work on self-acceptance to have a chance at defeating the Mark. I’m anxious to see what happens in the season’s remaining episodes as Sam, Cas, and others work together to keep Dean grounded and to keep him Dean. Can they succeed? Or will Dark!Dean wreak havoc (again)?
Next week, Dean is de-aged in another Monster of the Week installment. Dare we hope for more narrative tie-ins to the larger arc and the missing regulars? Watch the preview here. Supernatural airs Tuesdays at 9 pm ET on the CW network.