SPN 10-11 There's No Place Like Home Thoughts and Screencaps
I liked it! It was quite anvil-ly but it gave us some more hints at what the writers are getting at, and it finally dawned on me that a major theme for Season 10 had already been mentioned by Dean in a previous episode and referenced many times, and wow... I just looked up the title of one of the said episodes - The Things We Left Behind -- And I find another similarity. That's the kind of stuff I really enjoy! There was a lot of humor too! Good episode.
First of all, I loved Dean suffering all the "healthy food" and vege-drinks. Did you wonder at all if this was really the right way to go? I don't think it is. And I'll tell you why later.
Charlie... I really don't like her new hair style. The only way I can reconsile myself to it is to believe that Charlie had to cut it because she was fighting a war - and she couldn't very well divide it in the middle....ug. But I loved badass Charlie choking Dean!!!HAHAHAHA!!!!
Dean was totally duped this ep by "bad"-Charlie - ok, I really don't like the word bad... I think I'm going to switch to "mean." And just as we are wondering what is going on, up comes "good"-Charlie (should I change that too? how does "socially correct" Charlie sound? :P)
Both Sam and Dean agree that locking up mean Charlie is not the solution. And we know it isn't. Charlie needs that side of herself. And then of course we think of Dean and how the "killer" part of him is also important and not something that should be locked up - right?
Now Sam and Charlie go back to the bunker and we have some awesome research as Dean does the badass stuff. And here again - this part of Dean is also a good part of him, just as necessary as the part of him that is compassionate and kind and "socially correct." In their line of work, sometimes it is necessary to break the rules. (I've been looking at too many gifs and pics over at pinterest - that really reminds me of a Harry Potter quote I really should have pinned)
Anyway, Dean is dooped by mean Charlie and she kills the guy who killed her family and they have that talk at the bar.
DEAN: You lied to me.
CHARLIE: You lie to yourself. That's kinda your move.
And "That's kinda your move" is a key phrase we hear later. But what is she saying, really?
She points out some things - "I'm not the monster here, he was - he got what he deserved. You know I'm right." "You know what I learned about being dark? It sets you free - and part of you knows that's right too."
Is that what she is trying to say? That Dean is lying to himself when he thinks that his darker half is bad?
CHARLIE: There is no right, there is no wrong. There is just us, and them.
(Wait... but she just said that he got what he deserved - isn't she saying what she did was right?)
Anyway, we have Clive then deciding to kill himself (or mortally wounding himself anyway) in order to get the wizard over there.
CLIVE: What he has done is my fault. After all he is me and I am him. So, maybe it's time that both of us answered for our sins. It's the good thing to do, right? Right?
The wizard kills himself - "It's the good thing to do, right?" After letting his "mean" half wreck havoc for quite a long time. That seems uncomfortably similar to Dean's situation too. But that is not a solution for him is it. Mortally wounding the "socially correct" half just leaves the demon half and that's not good.
Both Charlies, on the other hand, are beaten up pretty bad by Dean but saved by becoming one again. So... it's either both mean and socially correct halves die together, or they become one. Mean Charlie says something interesting at the end,
MEAN CHARLIE: You did it. You killed the wizard. I knew it. The magic was in you all the time.
There is a similar line in Dumbo about the magic feather - which would seem to show that mean Charlie is saying that Charlie didn't need to separate herself to win the war. She could have done it as herself ... (It's also what Ruby says to Sam in Lucifer Rising)
But, it is also very similar to what the good witch says to Dorothy when she asks the witch for help in going home.
GOOD WITCH: You've always had the power to go back to Kansas.
DOROTHY: I have?
SCARECROW: Then why didn't you tell her before?
GOOD WITCH: Because she wouldn't have believed me. She had to learn it for herself.
TINMAN: What have you learned Dorothy?
DOROTHY: ... If I ever go looking for my heart's desire again, I won't go further than my own backyard. Because if it isn't there, I never really lost it to begin with.
This becomes rather meaningful in the following scene and can be seen as one of the themes of the episode by how it is represented in the title (Dorothy chants "There is no place like home" as she clicks her shoes together - right after the above conversation)
We then have our important last scene - in which we learn that Dean had been very very upset after having beat Charlie up. Sam talks to Cas about how he has "calmed down." I really would like to have seen a bit of crazy upset Dean. oh well. Sam and Charlie have their talk in which Sam asks her "So, are you...?" As in his usual "Are you good?" and Charlie answers, "Good? Bad? I think I'll just settle for balance." Which is what is going to be THE THEME for "curing" Dean. In quotes, because I don't think it will be about curing him as much as finding his balance. This is why I don't think abstaining from everything he loves is the solution. We will hopefully see him enjoy a burger or two soon enough.
Then Sam asks her about going to find adventure and Charlie says, "I think we have all the adventure we can handle right here." (I won't look beyond my own front yard - right?) SO FINALLY I am vindicated of my frustration with Charlie going to "find adventure" in OZ. I really could not understand how the writers would take back everything Charlie said about facing reality by making her go gallivanting off to OZ.
SAM: What about...
CHARLIE: Dark Charlie? She's ah... quiet. Just gotta keep moving forward. We all do.
Charlie looks very sad here. She misses mean Charlie. But she will definitely have a chance for mean Charlie to surface soon :P
Dean is very uncomfortable about looking Charlie in the eye after what he has done. She tells him she is not going to let what happened to her happen to him but Dean says how even Cain took centuries to stop from killing and Charlie says
CHARLIE: There is one thing that you have that he didn't. You're a Winchester
OK... that sounds a bit lame, and not very convincing to Dean anyway... but we will find out more of what she is talking about later, probably.
Then, as his reaction is not great, she goes on to say,
CHARLIE: I forgive you Dean.
DEAN: Yeah, well, I don't.
CHARLIE: I know. Kinda your move.
So we have Charlie saying again what mean charlie said before: both the I forgive you - which she said to the man who killed her parents - and "kinda your move" which she pointed out to Dean that he is lying to himself before at the bar. So we know that mean Charlie is there, just not taking the lead.
AND we have Dean showing that he cannot forgive himself for what he did... and this is where I remember that episode I mentioned. The Things We Left Behind and that restaurant scene with Cas. How Dean tells Cas that he has to let go, and Cas says, But YOU don't... This is such an important theme from the start of Season 10. The guilt that Dean is carrying from having been a demon and before that as well... and now again. He has to let go of the guilt to move on. Doesn't he?
Because of my review of Season 5 at my journal, I had fun seeing the similarity between Sam there and Dean here as well- especially as I think of how Sam craved the power the blood gave him and how possibly Dean also craves the power or the freedom the mark gives him as Sam pointed out last ep:
SAM: Dean, maybe there is a part of you that wants to give into it. And maybe you have to fight that.
I also have to mention, even though it's not as important as a theme or anything, that I just found out at SuperWiki that the title for The Things We Left Behind is actually a reference to a Steven King novel. I haven't read many of his books, but I am a fan of The Dark Tower series in particular. I also respect him very much as a writer. I like how his books are not just scary. Just like SPN :D
Anyway, there was at least one reference to Steven King in THIS episode as well - one which especially "caught my ear" was the reference to Topeka Kansas, the home of Charlie the Choo Choo (I get shivers down my back thinking of that EVIL engine and spooky town) - mentioned I think in at least a couple of his novels but especially in my favorite The Dark Tower series♡ And even if you are not in tune with that reference, Topeka is in Kansas, which is also the home of Dorothy, hmmmmm? So loved that.
On some even less important stuff I enjoyed -
Dean listening to a meditation tape in the car and this guy on the tape saying, "The key to quieting your mind is minding your quiet..." LOL!!!!!!!
The music at the doctor's lobby! Kenny G???! Hilarious!
I'm just going to go and pick a few screencaps too -
Dean with tortured guy! HOT♡
Dean looking at the whiskey *hearts* and reading about... mammograms??!
Dean pacing himself
Charlie - "You know it"
Dean.... and mean Charlie
"I'm sorry kiddo." "Prove it."
First of all, I loved Dean suffering all the "healthy food" and vege-drinks. Did you wonder at all if this was really the right way to go? I don't think it is. And I'll tell you why later.
Charlie... I really don't like her new hair style. The only way I can reconsile myself to it is to believe that Charlie had to cut it because she was fighting a war - and she couldn't very well divide it in the middle....ug. But I loved badass Charlie choking Dean!!!HAHAHAHA!!!!
Dean was totally duped this ep by "bad"-Charlie - ok, I really don't like the word bad... I think I'm going to switch to "mean." And just as we are wondering what is going on, up comes "good"-Charlie (should I change that too? how does "socially correct" Charlie sound? :P)
Both Sam and Dean agree that locking up mean Charlie is not the solution. And we know it isn't. Charlie needs that side of herself. And then of course we think of Dean and how the "killer" part of him is also important and not something that should be locked up - right?
Now Sam and Charlie go back to the bunker and we have some awesome research as Dean does the badass stuff. And here again - this part of Dean is also a good part of him, just as necessary as the part of him that is compassionate and kind and "socially correct." In their line of work, sometimes it is necessary to break the rules. (I've been looking at too many gifs and pics over at pinterest - that really reminds me of a Harry Potter quote I really should have pinned)
Anyway, Dean is dooped by mean Charlie and she kills the guy who killed her family and they have that talk at the bar.
DEAN: You lied to me.
CHARLIE: You lie to yourself. That's kinda your move.
And "That's kinda your move" is a key phrase we hear later. But what is she saying, really?
She points out some things - "I'm not the monster here, he was - he got what he deserved. You know I'm right." "You know what I learned about being dark? It sets you free - and part of you knows that's right too."
Is that what she is trying to say? That Dean is lying to himself when he thinks that his darker half is bad?
CHARLIE: There is no right, there is no wrong. There is just us, and them.
(Wait... but she just said that he got what he deserved - isn't she saying what she did was right?)
Anyway, we have Clive then deciding to kill himself (or mortally wounding himself anyway) in order to get the wizard over there.
CLIVE: What he has done is my fault. After all he is me and I am him. So, maybe it's time that both of us answered for our sins. It's the good thing to do, right? Right?
The wizard kills himself - "It's the good thing to do, right?" After letting his "mean" half wreck havoc for quite a long time. That seems uncomfortably similar to Dean's situation too. But that is not a solution for him is it. Mortally wounding the "socially correct" half just leaves the demon half and that's not good.
Both Charlies, on the other hand, are beaten up pretty bad by Dean but saved by becoming one again. So... it's either both mean and socially correct halves die together, or they become one. Mean Charlie says something interesting at the end,
MEAN CHARLIE: You did it. You killed the wizard. I knew it. The magic was in you all the time.
There is a similar line in Dumbo about the magic feather - which would seem to show that mean Charlie is saying that Charlie didn't need to separate herself to win the war. She could have done it as herself ... (It's also what Ruby says to Sam in Lucifer Rising)
But, it is also very similar to what the good witch says to Dorothy when she asks the witch for help in going home.
GOOD WITCH: You've always had the power to go back to Kansas.
DOROTHY: I have?
SCARECROW: Then why didn't you tell her before?
GOOD WITCH: Because she wouldn't have believed me. She had to learn it for herself.
TINMAN: What have you learned Dorothy?
DOROTHY: ... If I ever go looking for my heart's desire again, I won't go further than my own backyard. Because if it isn't there, I never really lost it to begin with.
This becomes rather meaningful in the following scene and can be seen as one of the themes of the episode by how it is represented in the title (Dorothy chants "There is no place like home" as she clicks her shoes together - right after the above conversation)
We then have our important last scene - in which we learn that Dean had been very very upset after having beat Charlie up. Sam talks to Cas about how he has "calmed down." I really would like to have seen a bit of crazy upset Dean. oh well. Sam and Charlie have their talk in which Sam asks her "So, are you...?" As in his usual "Are you good?" and Charlie answers, "Good? Bad? I think I'll just settle for balance." Which is what is going to be THE THEME for "curing" Dean. In quotes, because I don't think it will be about curing him as much as finding his balance. This is why I don't think abstaining from everything he loves is the solution. We will hopefully see him enjoy a burger or two soon enough.
Then Sam asks her about going to find adventure and Charlie says, "I think we have all the adventure we can handle right here." (I won't look beyond my own front yard - right?) SO FINALLY I am vindicated of my frustration with Charlie going to "find adventure" in OZ. I really could not understand how the writers would take back everything Charlie said about facing reality by making her go gallivanting off to OZ.
SAM: What about...
CHARLIE: Dark Charlie? She's ah... quiet. Just gotta keep moving forward. We all do.
Charlie looks very sad here. She misses mean Charlie. But she will definitely have a chance for mean Charlie to surface soon :P
Dean is very uncomfortable about looking Charlie in the eye after what he has done. She tells him she is not going to let what happened to her happen to him but Dean says how even Cain took centuries to stop from killing and Charlie says
CHARLIE: There is one thing that you have that he didn't. You're a Winchester
OK... that sounds a bit lame, and not very convincing to Dean anyway... but we will find out more of what she is talking about later, probably.
Then, as his reaction is not great, she goes on to say,
CHARLIE: I forgive you Dean.
DEAN: Yeah, well, I don't.
CHARLIE: I know. Kinda your move.
So we have Charlie saying again what mean charlie said before: both the I forgive you - which she said to the man who killed her parents - and "kinda your move" which she pointed out to Dean that he is lying to himself before at the bar. So we know that mean Charlie is there, just not taking the lead.
AND we have Dean showing that he cannot forgive himself for what he did... and this is where I remember that episode I mentioned. The Things We Left Behind and that restaurant scene with Cas. How Dean tells Cas that he has to let go, and Cas says, But YOU don't... This is such an important theme from the start of Season 10. The guilt that Dean is carrying from having been a demon and before that as well... and now again. He has to let go of the guilt to move on. Doesn't he?
Because of my review of Season 5 at my journal, I had fun seeing the similarity between Sam there and Dean here as well- especially as I think of how Sam craved the power the blood gave him and how possibly Dean also craves the power or the freedom the mark gives him as Sam pointed out last ep:
SAM: Dean, maybe there is a part of you that wants to give into it. And maybe you have to fight that.
I also have to mention, even though it's not as important as a theme or anything, that I just found out at SuperWiki that the title for The Things We Left Behind is actually a reference to a Steven King novel. I haven't read many of his books, but I am a fan of The Dark Tower series in particular. I also respect him very much as a writer. I like how his books are not just scary. Just like SPN :D
Anyway, there was at least one reference to Steven King in THIS episode as well - one which especially "caught my ear" was the reference to Topeka Kansas, the home of Charlie the Choo Choo (I get shivers down my back thinking of that EVIL engine and spooky town) - mentioned I think in at least a couple of his novels but especially in my favorite The Dark Tower series♡ And even if you are not in tune with that reference, Topeka is in Kansas, which is also the home of Dorothy, hmmmmm? So loved that.
On some even less important stuff I enjoyed -
Dean listening to a meditation tape in the car and this guy on the tape saying, "The key to quieting your mind is minding your quiet..." LOL!!!!!!!
The music at the doctor's lobby! Kenny G???! Hilarious!
I'm just going to go and pick a few screencaps too -
Dean with tortured guy! HOT♡
Dean looking at the whiskey *hearts* and reading about... mammograms??!
Dean pacing himself
Charlie - "You know it"
Dean.... and mean Charlie
"I'm sorry kiddo." "Prove it."