Aww there’s no place like home…. *wibble* I must admit to getting a little misty eyed at the end there. Me being me, I really hope that was Sam going, “Well, maybe.” He’s such a thoughtful guy, he would’ve considered what Dean said and why exactly he’s not thinking of the bunker as a home…but I’ll get to that!
There was so much to enjoy in the super fun “Slumber Party”. Writer Robbie Thompson managed to, once again, balance the light-hearted moments with the tension and pathos…including some stomach-ache inducing angst! This is what Supernatural does best. Blending humour, horror and hurties. I know of no other show that can mix-up such a range of emotions…in me! It’s one of the things I love about the show the most…the whiplash of feels!
The stiff, black and while flashbacks to the original Men of Letters had a lovely vintage style, cadence and language, which captured the period perfectly. It also helped to reinforce what the MoL were once like and how Sam and Dean are so very different. The long dead secret society where there was nothing worse than adventure! Can you imagine the Winchesters being brought up to live in that world? I can’t. Somehow I think, no matter how they were raised, adventure would always find them.
I’m not a fan of the movie The Wizard of Oz, but I’m pretty familiar with it. I thought the script integrated and updated elements of this much-loved story brilliantly. References to characters and how the reality was vastly different to the children’s classic was cleverly told and helped make what could have been a pretty ridiculous concept, feel grounded.
The Wicked Witch of the West was even creepier than the original witch! Cutting out her tongue (how hard core was that), made her scarier somehow, as did the fact that she couldn’t talk, she could only hiss and make growly noises – except when she let out that cackle, which made me clap my hands! Literally. The black stuff around her mouth reminded me of Danny DeVito’s The Penguin. It was gross. She was gross! I totally dug her.
Dorothy was a cracker. A real Amelia Earhart type and while I think that the actress sometimes looked a little out of her depth, I liked how they revisioned the character and worked her into the Supernatural Universe. I like a kickass chick. I like someone who is unapologetically his or her self.
That’s the reason I love Charlie. She is who she is. She’s funny and geeky and original and makes no excuses for that. But she’s also real. She’s not defined by her individual elements; she’s a whole of many parts, which makes her feel fully fleshed out. She’s brave, but also scared. She’s independent, yet craves family connections. She has a tragic past, but she rises above it with sass and a smile, both of which show her true vulnerability. She’s brilliant and she knows it, but still can’t help but smile to herself when she’s called the smartest person in the room.
When Charlie’s around the boys, they soften. We see a different side of them. Sam seems to take a great deal of glee in her and is more trusting to let her take risks if that’s what she wants to do. She’s going to Oz? Sam’s all beaming at her because he knows she’ll be excited. I feel like Sam and Charlie are kindred spirits in many ways. I feel like if she stayed for a while, they’d become great friends. Dean goes into mega-big-brother mode around Charlie and wants to protect her. He’s softer around her. He tries to be his gruff self, but he’s just not. He treats her like a little sister. I think he’d let her get away with just about anything. She sees right through his crap and calls him on it and he knows it and I think he secretly digs it.
Charlie helps to reflect the Winchesters back at themselves. Seeing Sam and Dean through her eyes, we see them just a little differently. She draws out of them conversations that they probably would have got to, but somehow she manages to get them there sooner. If for no other reason (though there are plenty of other reasons), this is why I love Charlie. This is why I love having different characters in the show, because having different people around Sam and Dean gives us a chance to see different sides to them. Plus Charlie loves the Winchesters. They don’t have a lot of people in their lives, let alone people who champion them, who tell them they can do anything when they work together, who most obviously thinks they’re awesome. They need that. A little validation never goes astray, especially for a duo that chronically self hate and self doubt like they do. Charlie has definitely become one of my favourite characters from the Supernatural series. I simply like her.
Okay, favourite subject time.
I positively got the warm and fuzzies when Dean came in with take out and season 1 of Game of Thrones. I like nothing more than thinking about the Winchesters having a night off, watching TV, sitting in the comfort of silently being with the one person you’re closest to. Two of my favourite scenes ever were the scene in “Swan Song” when we got to hear about what the guys did during their down time…ball games, watching the stars, normal things; then the scene in “Death’s Door” when they were bickering over liquorice on Bobby’s sofa. Ordinary moments that brothers share in their extraordinary life. The thought of them kicking back in the MoL bunker and watching a movie fills me with bubbles of joy!
Speaking of which, we finally got to see Sam’s room. I don’t know about you, but I had no clue that was coming!
I wasn’t really surprised by Sam’s room having a less comfortable vibe than Dean’s, regardless of how he thinks about the bunker and home.
Dean is a creature of comfort, Sam is more pragmatic. Just look at what they eat. Dean eats junk food and pie – the kind of foods that are bad for you but make you feel good. Sam eats salads, they’re healthy, they may not be emotionally satisfying (at least not for me) but they do the job they’re supposed to do.
In their rooms, Dean has a squishy mattress and Sam has a utilitarian one. Dean has his records, posters, vintage porn; all the things that make him feel comfortable. Sam’s room’s filled with files, books, things of necessity…including a big-ass TV!
I think their rooms not only demonstrate how differently they feel about the notion of the bunker as home, but also what different men they really are. I think Sam’s room probably is his style.
What Sam said about home made perfect sense, but I think there’s more to it than that.
People may question what a four year old would remember about home. Dean was traumatically ripped from his home at such a young age, but he was with his father. His father who would remember home and Mary and his boys as a family, (even if idealised) and I’m sure, at least in the early years, would talk to his eldest son about that. By the time Sam was the same age as Dean was when Mary died, Dean would have had years of his father’s recollections, grief, anger, yearning for the past. So though he was very young when his mother was taken from him, he was not too young to have his father talk to him about her and their life together. Sam was. The brothers have a different relationship with home.
And yes, in the past Sam has tried to create a home and each time it has been devastating for him. Jess and Amelia. But also to an extent, Bobby and Dean. Both of these men represented home to him too and both have been torn from his life. Yes he has Dean back, but I think part of Sam’s reluctance to reconcile himself with the notion that the brothers may now have a home as opposed to a base, is because he’s scared to go there, not just because of Jess or Amelia, but because the recent loss of his brother is still raw and what if he did relax just a little and make the bunker his home, what if they did find comfort there and what if in letting down that guard he was devastated by loss again? How would he survive that? I think there’s a hell of a lot to why Sam is unwilling to call the bunker home and I do think it’s unwilling as opposed to simply not seeing it as such. I think to allow himself that small level of contentment is just too scary, because the cost could be too great.
Of course in reality, as ham and cheese as it sounds, wherever they both are, it’s home. Car, cabin in the woods, crappy motel room, epic bunker, as long as they're together it’s home. They are each other’s home and I think on some level, they both understand that.
For Dean the bunker represents more than comfort it represents safety. This is a somewhere they are safe. This is a somewhere his brother is safe. But beyond that, this is somewhere his brother is happy. He saw what discovering the MoL meant to Sam. How that gave Sam a sense of place. For Dean, that would make the MoL bunker somewhere to treasure and that would most certainly affect how he feels and interacts with it. Sam is kinda happy in the bunker. Sam’s happy, Dean’s happy.
He’s a freakin’ marshmallow on the inside that Dean Winchester. Tough, snarky, flirty, badassed…but he was always the caretaker for his family. So yeah, it makes sense his room is nice, he cleans the kitchen, he cooks, he alphabetises his porn. I love how each little reveal and odd little layer makes his character that much richer. Just… Bless.
Except… yeah, then there’s the other stuff going on.
I was a tad concerned when Sam said he was going to get the computer to act as an angle alert. The damn thing would be going off the whole time that Sam was in the bunker! How would Dean cover that one up? Badly I’d say. He’s one hell of a sloppy liar. Oh yeah…all the lies. I need him to come clean. I hope that happens soon. Not that I think he’s going to sit Sam down and say, “Sammy, I need to talk to you about something…” more that Sam’s going to figure it out. He's already on his way there. Dean keeps telling shockingly, wobbly lies. Sam keeps waking up after being conked out and Dean goes…”Oh yeah the thingamabob got you, Sam.” Um. Okay. Sam’s questioning what’s going on around him and why Cass is gone and who the hell Zeke is. I can literally seeing the cogs in that great big brain of his turning and putting it all together. It’s coming and it’s going to hurt.
Last week I squirmed when Dean called on Zeke to help him find Cass, pushing Sam to the back of himself. This week I squirmed even more when he called on Zeke to heal Charlie. Yeah, had to happen and I get why they did it. For a start, Charlie can't die, (nope) but also Zeke had to be too weak to kill the witch or prevent the witch from influencing Sam’s mind (it’s getting crowded inside Sam). But… Hey Dean, what did I say last week? STOP THAT. It’s one thing to agree to let an angel into your brother to save his life, it’s another to keep asking that angel to pop out and lend a hand. Slippery slope, my pretty. Slippery slope. One that he’s sliding down at a great rate of knots. The whole thing is breaking my heart. For Sam and for Dean.
Personally, I think Sam’s going to be okay with the angel thing. He won’t be thrilled but I think he’ll be okay with it. But the lying? Uh-uh. And like I keep saying, I get it. I get why Dean’s lying. He’s scared to tell Sam, in case Sam reacts differently to how I think he will and instantly expels Ezekiel and consequently dies. Dean would be living in absolute fear of it all going south like that. But Dean is getting deeper and deeper into the lie and he’s getting deeper and deeper into Ezekiel’s debt. Which I think is the point. Two dead friends in two weeks with Zeke’s magical angel power being able to resurrect them. But every time he does something like that, Dean is indebted to him and every time he does something like that, Zeke’s weaker again which means he has to stay longer in Sam. Zeke says he doesn’t want that. I’m desperate to believe him. I still feel in my guts that Zeke is going to be on the up and up…not that there won’t be some drama around him beyond the taking of Sam as his vessel, but I still have no reason to doubt him other than I’m a fan of this show! Of course, bottom line, Dean wouldn’t be able to live with Cass’ or Charlie’s death on his hands. He had a powerful being available who could fix that, so he got him to fix it. Yeah, we get it Dean…but…just…stop.
Essentially though, I loved everything going on with the brothers in “Slumber Party”, including the stuff that gave me a frowny face. The take out and DVDs, the arguing over the hang in there kitty poster, the talk about home, Sam questioning Dean and Dean tap dancing like freakin’ Fred Astaire and especially the, "There's no place like home" moment between them at the end, which I think was Sam giving a little something to his brother, to help make him feel better. Just… Bless.
Other stuff I loved, like a lot…
The awesome bunker of awesomeness…the kitchen, the magical computer, Sam’s room, the garage, THE GARAGE. THE.GARAGE. Honestly, I think the bunker is like the Tardis; it operates on the fourth dimension!
Giving Crowley a crayon! Smarty-pants Winchester move that one. I love that they have him locked in the basement while they’re watching TV in another room. How truly bizarre.
The VFX. Especially the witchy green smoke, the two glimpses of Oz and the flying monkeys.
The ruby slippers. I loved the line “Seemed kind of tacky wearing a dead woman’s shoes.” Indeed!
The reference to the books and to Becky (Winchester 176). At least she's not samlicker81 anymore!
When Dean just pulled out his Colt and shot Crowley. “I think you’re aired out enough.” That was wicked hot!
The scene on the bed as they all ate popcorn, drank beer and watched Game of Thrones. Adorable. ADORABLE. (Invite me next time.)
And Sam’s little smile to Dean at the end…
*sigh* Even when they hurt…they hurt so good.
Thanks for reading!
-sweetondean
