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Though their introduction into the storyline created a couple holes in the narrative, they’ve since become a really interesting aspect of the story. There’s also more continuity in the way the episode delves, yet again, into the Men of Letters. It makes the season feel like a coherent whole, with a storyline that’s not put together from the bits and pieces offered by various writers. Sam continues to possess the emotional complexity he’s had throughout the season, still longing for a home and seemingly aware of at least some of the burden Dean seems to be carrying. There’s also continuity in the emotional and character aspects: Dean is still quite clearly caring the burden of the Ezekiel-related decisions he’s made, which involve both Sam and Castiel. The first one is continuity: it picked up where I’m no Angel left off, to some extent resolving the cliffhanger that was Castiel leaving, as well as dealing with the long-term problem that the angels are after him. How fitting.Īnd, convoluted plot aside, there were a lot of other strengths to this episode. Plus, she also brought up Supernatural’s favorite method of commenting on itself: the in-series Supernatural novels- and now we now have a resolution to the problem of how Charlie has managed to read about Castiel if the Supernatural novels stopped being published at season three.
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Still, in the end, Charlie did get to be a hero and go on a quest – here’s to hoping she comes back triumphant in another episode. Here’s a hint: it’s probably not as awesome as it looks. It’s an apt allusion to the fact that half of us viewers would probably drop everything to go hunt with the Winchesters if we could. But most interesting is Charlie’s desire for a real quest, which she (vainly, it seems) sought out through attempting to hunt. The discussion of spoilers and the desire to read the books before watching the show, for example, is something that a number of viewers are doubtless familiar with. Charlie seems to be Supernatural’s new stand-in character for the fan, and she picks up where Becky Rosen left off with her meta-commentary. That leads into some pretty amazing meta-fictional commentary on geekiness and stories of heroism. We may love the Winchesters, but sometimes it’s nice to see other characters win out. Still, it was an interesting twist to see Charlie and Dorothy (the geeky fangirl and the badass, sassy female hunter) save the day while our hunter heroes were possessed. Charlie really didn’t need to temporarily die, for example. Plus, the plot development as the Winchesters, Dorothy, and Charlie chase the witch felt utterly arbitrary, with a lot of turns thrown in for no reason. There’s a lot of convoluted myth-making, much of which feels arbitrary: a witch who can turn into demon smoke and possess two people at the same time while remaining conscious, combined with a key to Oz, killer heels (literally), and strange zappy witch magic? Also, if Sam already has an angel in him, how does he get possessed by a witch? It leaves a little too many questions unanswered. But then it turns out that Oz exists (it begs the question… is it a parallel universe? Did God create it? Did fiction literally come to life?).
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There’s a 1951 computer which works by magic – okay, we’ve seen weirder things. It gets a little too ridiculous, and that’s even by Supernatural standards. Unfortunately, about a third of the way through, the plot loses a lot of its steam. It’s another instance of Supernatural drawing on other genres and styles to create its own unique fictional hybrid, integrating the familiar Winchester-style hunting with a classic black-and-white film. Stylistically, the black and white beginning immediately marks the episode as something unique and interesting, and the ensuing intertwining of past and present both offers an intriguing narrative and an ‘out of the box’ episode. The episode begins with a fascinating flashback to the Men of Letters in the 1930s, offering us a scene with both humour and a glimpse back into history.