Supernatural: Pac-Man Fever (8x20)

This episode offered everything I could have hoped for. I think it was the first episode this season that didn't focus exclusively on the larger mythology that I truly adored. In fact, this definitely gets my vote for favorite episode thus far, and I'm including "Goodbye Stranger" in that consideration. So... that should tell you something. The plot was compelling, but it wasn't the focus, nor should it have been. Instead, we got to dive deeper into Charlie Bradbury's character, and let me tell you, it did not disappoint.

The plot is basic - people are turning up dead, and Charlie shows up with the details. Sam is too sick to hunt, but he wants to come along anyway, poor sick moose that he is. Charlie is unconscious due to dijin interference, and Dean uses African Dream Root to get into her head, where he discovers a video game. Apparently, this game is similar to the one that Charlie hacked and stole when she was younger, which has forced her to remain on the run. Dean discovers the truth about Charlie's mom - she's in a coma - and in order to get out of the video game's loop, Charlie has to let go of her fear of losing her mother. Eventually, she does, and the two wake up. Charlie leaves, but not before telling Dean she loves him and Sam that he'll pull through this, just like he's done everything else.

Let me break it down a bit further and discuss all of the things I really loved about this episode.

Throw-backs to earlier mythology. Much like "Taxi Driver," this episode had a lot of tie-ins to things from earlier seasons of the show. I think this episode handles them a lot better, to be honest. For one, we've got the Carver Edlund books. I was ecstatic to hear about these again, although it did make me realize how much I miss Chuck. When Charlie brings the books up, the look on Sam and Dean's faces is priceless. I also love the dialogue here: "Did those books... really happen? Wow. That is some meta-madness. Thanks for saving the world, and stuff." Then we've got the monster-of-the-week, which actually turned out to be a pair of dijin, mother and son. I loved seeing these creatures again, especially because of how properly menacing they were in their appearance all the way back in Season 2. Then there's the African Dream Root, which Dean uses to try to help Charlie. Yes! Thank you for remembering that this stuff exists and actually using it to help on a case. It's rare for a show like this to use elements from previous episodes so well without feeling the need to over-explain. For those who haven't watched this show from the beginning, it wouldn't matter that they didn't know what the Dream Root did. It's pretty self-explanatory. But for those of us in the know, it was still a fun throw-back.

The Bat Cave/The Men of Letters. I'll be brief, but I just adored the new things we discovered about the Men of Letters' HQ this week. For one, apparently they can make and receive phone calls without being traced, which is awesome, and for another, they have a shooting range! That is bad-ass! This place is seriously a hunter's dream come true, and I gotta say I really love the stabilizing influence it's having on the show. Other locations, such as the Roadhouse and Bobby's place, are both now unusable for good reason, and I'm hoping that this new home base sticks around for a long time to come. It gives the show something to ground it in place, and I think that ends up being more important than might originally be anticipated.

Dean and Sam. I think the writers of Supernatural have secretly been reading fanfiction to figure out what we all want most in the world. Sick!Sam, Caring!Dean, Winchester hugs, the whole shebang. Dean's insistence that Sam take a break from hunting was really sweet. I laughed when Sam couldn't hit the targets, and Dean's random phone call just to check in was also really cute. The opening scene between them was fantastic. Dean's reaction to Sam's bedhead: "I'm telling you, give me five minutes with some clippers." Dean throws Sam a beer and he misses it. It crashes onto the floor and shatters. "That's why we don't have nice things, Sam." Great! Also, at the end of the episode, we got another hug. Do you realize that that makes two hugs in two episodes? That's the third hug this season! There's a bit of fan service going on here, but as a fan, I really don't mind. Sam was really suffering this week, and Dean was really suffering watching it. You can just feel the fear rolling off of Dean in waves. He's truly terrified of losing his brother and Jensen is of course killing it with the amazing acting.

The video game sequence. What a great build-up, and what a great payoff for Charlie's character. The video game world was really cool. I liked how simple it all was - it wasn't trying to be all high-tech and digital. It was just... reality, but all sort of lit weird and with vampires running around. When Dean saw Sam lying in the hospital bed, Jensen really sold the moment with a patented Dean-Winchester-loves-his-baby-brother look. Charlie makes the moment even more poingnant with her line: "Is this my nightmare, or yours?" When Charlie finally lets go, we get to see that Felicia Day is more than just a comedic actress. She's got some serious acting chops, and it was really nice to see. Her crying and hugging Dean just after they woke up was really nice too.

Charlie. Just... Charlie. I love her. And this was maybe my favorite appearance from her yet. I really hope they continue to bring this character back in the future. And that they don't kill her. Please. She had some fantastic moments. The trying-on-clothes montage was hilarious! When Dean turned the music off, her sad look and whiny "montage!" was perfect. Her commentary on the Winchesters was spot-on. "You guys fight like an old married couple!" She also has the best line ever: "But I don't wanna miss the broment!" I love that she's sort of our meta-fandom member now that she's read the Carver Edlund books. As I mentioned before, Felicia Day can seriously act when she's given the room to get into some more serious moments. I really admire her work in this episode. Some other great Charlie moments included her saying "come with me if you want to live" and her "I love you" at the end with Dean. I think my favorite comedic moment was when she was trying to distract the coroner by asking for fashion advice. "I am new to the whole power-suit thing, and yours is killer. Where do you get them?"

Charlie was also very insightful about the situation she had wandered in on. She saw that Sam was sick (okay, that's not insightful, that's just obvious) and she picked up on the tense atmosphere immediately. I loved her gentle encouragements to both Dean and Sam that things were going to be okay. I kind of think the Winchesters needed that this week. In all, it was a regrouping of sorts for our boys, as they gear up into the next mythology-based episode.

I also thought that Charlie's back-story was excellent. It seemed to jive really well with everything else we've learned about her. She likes the stuff that she likes because of her mother, and she feels guilty for what happened to her parents. I think it's wonderful to see the inner turmoil underneath the comedic cover, and it's also nice that although Charlie is hurting because of her mother, she is still going to be able to soldier on. The ending scene, where she read The Hobbit to her mother, was perfect. The very last word of the episode was "comfort" and I actually think that it encompassed a lot of the themes of this episode and of this season.

There are only a few small reasons why this episode isn't getting a perfect rating from me. One: the dijin makeup looked way cooler in Season 2. Two: The scene at the beginning when Dean wakes up in Charlie's dream was super predictable. Flash-forwards rarely work unless they have a purpose. And... three.

Okay, three might be my own brain getting too fussy, but there's this general trend that really bothers me on Supernatural, and I know I've mentioned it before: Dean gets to have really close relationships with all sorts of characters, and Sam doesn't. It was really sweet to see Charlie and Dean bond, but Sam didn't get as deep of a connection with her. Why does he leave to let Dean say goodbye to Charlie privately? Why can't we have at least one likable character that Sam forms a deeper bond with than Dean does? This is not the end of the world, or anything, but I just get sick of Sammy not having anyone to love besides his big brother. 

Alright. As you can tell, I think this episode kicked some ass. I'm excited to see the next installment!

9.5/10