Supernatural Recap — Episode 9.04, "Slumber Party."

This week’s episode was awesome, and I do not use that term lightly. Though it was just a filler episode, it did what filler episodes are supposed to do—which is amuse you so much that you completely forget to complain about the plot hardly advancing. And “Slumber Party” pulled that off incredibly well.

For one; Charlie Bradbury is back, played by the ever lovely Felicia Day, and that’s really all you need to know to realize that this episode is going to be awesome. I’m not even being facetious with that—for some reason all of the episodes with Charlie in them happen to be extremely well written and put together, and thank goodness for that, because these characters deserve nothing short of that.

To the recap:

The story that sets up the episode is set 75 years earlier, when a hunter named Dorothy brings the Wicked Witch of the West, from the actual Land of Oz, to the Men of Letters lair so her and two guys can figure out how to kill said witch. However, the witch escapes and attacks them, and Dorothy captures the witch’s soul in a jar as a last resort—at the cost of trapping her own soul, as well.

This jar sits there for approximately 75 years.

Now, back to present day.

Sam figures out that a display in the lair lit up on the day that the angels fell, showing all the places that the angels did fall—and he reasons that if it did it once, it can do it again, and they can use it to track where the angels are. The trouble is, it’s hooked up to a way old computer and neither of them have any idea what to do with it. And, in their meddling, Dean accidentally stumbles into a shelf which knocks over a specific jar. Oops.

But, they don’t know that just happened, so they call Charlie to help with their computer issue and of course she gets it fixed right up. That’s when they realize there’s something weird behind the shelf, so the Winchesters pull it back and cut open a weird cocoon that’s formed.

Dorothy falls out.

So, a little weird, and they bring her up to speed with the whole future thing, but luckily she’s a hunter and isn’t too fazed. She just says that since she’s out, the witch must be out, so they should probably get to that. So the Winchesters go one way and Dorothy and Charlie go the other.

Meanwhile, the witch ended up in Crowley’s chamber, and asks him where to find a “key.” Crowley helps her along the way, and once she’s gone, the Winchesters show up and ask him about the witch. In exchange for getting up and walking around, he gives them all the information he knows, which is…she was looking for a key, and he has no idea what it is. Then they lock Crowley back up. So much for him.

So the Winchesters go back to Dorothy and ask what this key is, and she says that it’s the key to Oz, and if the witch gets it then she’ll go there and wreak havoc again which is not good. Luckily, Dorothy knows what this key looks like, and shows a drawing to Dean, who recognizes it. So, Dean and Charlie go to get the key and Sam and Dorothy stay on the defensive.

But, while Dean and Charlie are looking for the key, who should show up but the witch? She takes the key from Dean and tries to zap him—but Charlie jumps in the way and takes the hit herself. Dean shoots at the witch and she retreats, and then he turns to Charlie, who is…dead.

They killed Charlie. And it was really horrible.

But, since it’s Charlie and there would possibly be riots if she died or was permanently Put On A Bus, Sam runs up, Dean calls Ezekiel, and convinces said angel to bring Charlie back. Isn’t that handy? I imagine they’re going to have to stop doing this eventually, but I’m enjoying it while it lasts.

Of course, Dean has to make up a lame excuse again, but no one really pays much attention because there’s a witch on the loose. So the Winchesters go and try to stop her—meanwhile, Charlie realizes that the Wizard of Oz books were actually written to give hints about how to kill the witch, because the author was Dorothy’s father who was a man of letters who spent his entire remaining life trying to figure out how to kill the witch. Yeah, it’s a little weird.

Anyways, she realizes that the red shoes must be the trick to it, and tells Dorothy this. Luckily, Dorothy has a pair of those and they go to get them. Unluckily, when the Winchesters meet up with the witch, she mind controls both of them and sends them after Dorothy and Charlie.

Charlie kicks Dean in the balls and Dorothy slams a metal pole into Sam’s face, which buys them a split second to make a plan—Charlie takes the shoes and goes to stop the witch and Dorothy stays to fight the Winchesters.

So, of course, Charlie finds the witch at the door to Oz she’s created and stabs her with heels and saves the day. Yay Charlie! Sam and Dean are released from mind control and they all live happily ever after.

All in all, it ends on a positive note.

Oh, but one thing. There’s been talk about a Supernatural spin-off series that’s apparently being set up in episode 20—and let me say now, there is probably nothing better suited to a spin-off series than Dorothy and Charlie’s adventures in Oz. Nothing will ever live up to this. Ever.

So I’m keeping an eye on the writers here.

Catch the next episode of Supernatural on November the 5th at 9/8c, only on the CW!