Supernatural did some nice work tonight. They paralleled Dean’s inner turmoil over the Mark and its ever-growing influence over him by taking Charlie and splitting her in two. We got to see the id of Charlie, the worst and darkest parts of her, contrasted with the good.
While perhaps not the most original idea in the world, it was executed in original ways. For example, Good!Charlie and Dark!Charlie are not so different from one another. Yes, of course, Dark!Charlie does evil things while Good!Charlie won’t even flirt with the hot bartender, but the distinction is choice. Good!Charlie and Bad!Charlie are motivated by the same things, but take different paths.
As well, good is not as concrete as it seems. We teach people that good requires always turning the other cheek; that committing violence is never acceptable. But we don’t really believe that; I would even venture that many of us, even the most liberal and pacifist of us, get enraged enough to use violence to an extreme. It’s how genocides are perpetrated and how we justify collateral damage. That old sword-and-shield mentality is as much a part of our DNA as breathing and eating.
It’s also telling that the more that Good!Charlie tries to draw distinction between herself and her evil counterpart, things get worse. She’s never happy that Dark!Charlie is looking for her parents’ killer, but there is also a hesitancy to condemn it as well. Deep down, Good!Charlie is still angry as well; her “inner darkness” was given a voice that all can hear but it doesn’t mean that it hadn’t been speaking before. Dark!Charlie is just as much a part of Charlie as Good!Charlie.
And that brings us back to Dean. Dean tries to go the Sam route with the lack of alcohol and no drinks and sleep; he draws a line and says, “this is who I want to be and all other me’s can stay on the other side of the line.” But that’s foolhardy; he is denying that the Mark is a part of him, when it is literally a part of him. You cannot deny how you feel; you can repress it and drop it into the deepest of darkest of stillest waters but it always come back. You can wrap it in chains and coat it in concrete and drop it in the center of the Earth, but it will always, always come back.
What Charlie had to do was to accept that evil part of her back in. She had to accept the blood on her hands and let it become a part of her, because it always was. To deny it is to lie to the one person you cannot lie to: yourself.
The thematic side of Supernatural was excellent. At times it was on the nose, and at times it was too subtle, but it gave a shot at personifying the underlying message of Supernatural’s tenth season. I thought from a craft perspective it did a really good job of that.
I’m gonna leave it at that.
Stray Thoughts:
– I do have some negatives: mainly, I thought Felicia Day as Dark!Charlie didn’t quite hit. For once I can’t blame the dialogue. She quite went the distance she needed to, committing to that part. It isn’t a bad portrayal, by any stretch of the imagination, but it didn’t land like Megatron’s proclamations landed in the last episode.
– More Sam, please.
– Did I mention I want more Sam, PLEASE?
– Even with my suspension of disbelief fully intact, the Oz stuff is hard to swallow. Not Supernatural’s fault; Oz is too much of a fairytale to allow myself to fully buy into it all.
[Photo via The CW]
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