Supernatural: Slumber Party

Filed under: Recaps & Reviews

Witches, hunters and nerds oh my!

In 1935 when the Men of Letters lair was first used, a legendary hunter brought a witch in that would eventually become the stuff of legends. Flash forward the future and Sam thinks that he may have found a way to track the angels and keep Castiel safe. It's a great plan but when Sam runs into a technical issue with the lair's "computers" and an accidental spill, they call Charlie Bradbury for help. Charlie arrives and manages to figure out their system Gucci Jewelry and that is when they discover the spill in the form of a large grey cocoon on the wall. The boys cautiously tear it open and find the hunter from 1935 stuck inside; young and alive. As it turns out, they have found Dorothy of Oz and she tells them that the wicked witch is now free. After learning from Crowley that the witch is looking for the key to Oz, they know they have to stop her before she unleashes her flying monkeys. To make matters worse, the wicked witch has no interest in Oz but now wants to set her army loose on earth. If the Winchesters want a happy ending to this fairy tale, they have to stop her once and for all.

While Slumber Party could have been a fun and campy episode, it fell far short of its goal. Each episode that features Felicia Day is apparently supposed to be silly but Supernatural never quite goes to the heights it needs to. Although we heard some of the stories and had a few glimpses of Oz, why didn't the episode put the characters in that world? Budget is most likely the key factor there but having the witch use green lightning as her powers was almost as unoriginal as throwing the boys into walls like the demons and angels do. In The Wizard of Oz, the world was alive and Dorothy and her gang were attacked by trees and other fantastic characters which could have been applied here. What if some of the strange things in the lair suddenly came alive from the presence of the witch rather than "green eyed possession"?. The colours of the lair could have started to change to look more surreal. Slumber Party had a good concept but if the witch had tried to collapse our world into Oz and Supernatural did a few things differently, it would have been a stronger episode.

Though she played the part well, Tiio Horn's portrayal of Dorothy lacked a certain edginess to it. This was supposed to be a daring and confident version of Dorothy that was unlike anything we had seen but a lot of Dorothy's dialogue was plain, giving Horn even less to work with. I also expected to see Dorothy in action with a fight scene between her and the Winchesters to but it strangely didn't happen and I was left to assume that they mostly beat her up. Dorothy mentioned that while the events in the story did happen, they weren't quite accurate and that idea should have also extended to the character. If the Dorothy in Supernatural had some of the endearing qualities of the original from the series, it would have lent a comedic element and familiarity this latest iteration lacked.

Felicia Day made her return this season and with any luck, it will be a while before we see her again. Day does an excellent job of bringing her charm, timing and wit to the role of Charlie but we've seen this every time and it feels more like he is playing herself at this point. Even DJ Qualls has been given more character development with Garth over the years. While I enjoy Day's character on Supernatural, there needs to be more to keep me interested and a better reason than an IT problem for her to return.

At first he seemed cool but Ezekiel has quickly become the "get out of jail free" card. Sam and Dean seem to be teetering on death each episode but Ezekiel is there every time to bail them out and it's quickly lowering the stakes and the value of the character. If Supernatural wants us to think that our heroes can get hurt they need to stop relying that character as a crutch to the story.

Slumber Party was neither campy nor was it horror but rather stuck in between and the result was confusing. I applaud Supernatural for taking the risk but when they do these episodes they need to jump in with both feet and not just dip their toes. We'll see what jewelry distributor happens next week in Bad Boys.

Have a comment? Share your thoughts below or chat with me @Extra_Lives

Tags: Supernatural, Dean Winchester, Sam Winchester, Dorothy, Jensen Ackles, Jared Padalecki, Tiio Horn, Charlie Bradbury, Felecia Day

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