Supernatural: “There’s No Place Like Home” Review

Supernatural Season 10 Episode 11

Posted on February 3, 2015 by Michael Spring in Drama, Fantasy, Horror, Reviews // 0 Comments

Charlie’s return from Oz leads to an unexpected confrontation for the Winchesters.

The CW

A TALE OF TWO CHARLIES

Note: The following review goes into detail about the episode. SPOILER ALERT!

Charlie Bradbury has been an endearing presence on Supernatural during her sporadic appearances on the show. Her first appearance came way back during the Dick Roman days, and since then she has become one of the Winchester’s longest surviving female friends. Felicia Day excels in the role, and this episode was no different.

Considering the amount of creatures that are capable of changing their appearance in the Supernatural universe, I wasn’t buying into the whole “Dark Charlie” thing at the start. It soon became apparent though that this was a very personal mission for Charlie, and it looked like her trip to Oz had changed her completely. The swerve that Charlie had been split into two separate good and bad entities was a nice twist, especially with how we were introduced to Charlie’s good half. Dark Charlie was a highly entertaining version of the character to watch, and it was evident that Day was having a blast playing such a radically different Charlie.

Dean’s struggles with the Mark continued this week. While the Winchesters couldn’t find any new leads, Dean decided to be more proactive and try to gain control of his life. This involved quitting drinking and getting rid of some of his other bad habits. It’s great to see Dean making an effort, but it’s going to take a lot more than eating healthier to get rid of the Mark. Dean squaring off against Dark Charlie for the majority of the episode was a good call on the writer’s part. Dark Charlie could be seen as a sort of mirror for where Dean is headed. This was a version of Charlie that had absolutely nothing good left in her, and that’s where Dean could be headed if the Mark continues to influence him.

The CW

The conclusion of the episode offered up a whole lot of interesting elements. Charlie’s trip to Oz was mentioned a lot throughout the episode, and it sounds like it could have been really worth exploring over a few episodes. Dean’s control over himself inevitably broke, and he ended up beating the holy hell out of Dark Charlie. Having the Wizard of Oz actually show up here was pretty good too, and so was the exceptionally dark moment where Good Charlie basically shot an old guy in the face. This was done to stop the Wizard and eventually return Charlie to her previous state, but it was dark nonetheless.

THE BREAKDOWN

There wasn’t a lot of movement on the Winchester’s quest to remove Dean’s “demonic tramp stamp” this week, but Charlie’s return from Oz made up for that. Dark Charlie offered up a great parallel for Dean’s predicament, and it was also good to see Felicia Day playing a drastically different role than usual on the show. Sam didn’t really have much to do this week and the absence of Crowley and Castiel was disappointing again, but overall this was a great installment.