Supernatural 8x20 "Pac-Man Fever"

Welcome back from the mini hiatus, peeps. Only a few more episodes to go until season eight is over, if you can believe it. I suspect we'll get two more seasons and go full decade style, though sometimes I wonder if it's worth it to keep doing these posts. They take time, man!

I suspect Dean hugs are pretty great.

Anyway, this episode featured the return of new guest star favorite Felicia Day as Charlie. The opening was interesting, actually, because you're sort of like wait, are we in the past? Is this another time travel thing? But no, spoiler alert, it's not. Also different from the norm in that it wasn't some rando getting killed but rather featured Dean.

Back in the Men of Letters bunker, the boys are trying to figure out where Kevin is, without much luck. Sam is looking like shit, the second trial having taken more out of him than he expected. So much so that he can barely stand up straight and certainly can't shoot straight. Which means that when they get an email from Charlie saying she's got a case for them, Dean is in no mood to let him come along on the case. I'm sure we all know just about how long that lasts. Charlie, however, does tag along to investigate the weirdness (basically some people's insides have been jelly-fied, with a weird blue hand print left on them, and no one knows why, etc), and we have some similar upside down FBI badge shenanigans that always seem to plague Dean whenever he's with a hunting newbie.

Sam shows up despite being told to stay behind, which turns out to be rather helpful later on. Working together, they figure out that the thing that's been killing the poor hapless people is something related to a djinn, which means they know how to kill it, but they aren't quite sure who it is since they can pass for people.

Charlie decides to take a leave of absence at this point while the boys do some more research, but they are rather concerned about her, because she's been acting a bit fishy since she arrived. Good thing they've been paying attention, too, because she ends up getting captured by the djinn-abe in question. They split up to try to find her, and Dean discovers that she's been in town to visit her mother, who's been in a coma in the nearby hospital for 16 years. Sam, meanwhile, is able to track down the djinn-abe, and therefore Charlie, only to find that the djinn has already dosed Charlie with the blue voodoo. And even after killing the djinn and giving Charlie the antidote, she's not waking up.

Since it's not a regular djinn, the antidote doesn't apparently work the same. So, Dean ends up having to drink some African dream root to go inside Charlie's head to help her get out. Inside, she's battling super vampires, video game style, but every time she beats the level, she just gets sent back to the beginning. As we learned with Dean's foray into djinn land, the only way you can get out is if you stop the dream. In this case, stop fighting. It ends up being a somewhat sappy moment involving Charlie having to let go of her mom and such to get out.

On the outside, Sam has to fight off another djinn, and despite his weakened state, he is able to do so rather easily since said djinn is just a teenager without much skill. He still looks like crap, though.

In the end, Charlie decides she has to say goodbye to her mom for real, while Dean decides to give Sam a hug and hunker down to find Kevin and get this trial business done with already.

Random Thoughts:

- Pretty enjoyable episode overall, always fun to get geeky references in Charlie episodes. Found out more background information about her, though I'm not sure everyone was especially clamoring for that? Sure.

- What exactly are these trials doing to Sam? In the preview for next week's he said something like they're changing him. Changing him how? Hmm.

- Charlie read all of the Carver Edlund books and seemed to gain a new respect for the brothers through them. She also called them her boys at the end, so I mean, she's definitely kind of representative of the fandom in a less gross way than Becky.

- Do you ever wonder where your djinn would send you - for either your happy place or your fear place? I really have no idea!

Quotes:

Dean, saying what many of us have been thinking about Sam's hair: I'm telling you, give me five minutes with some clippers...

Dean: That's why we don't have nice things, Sam.

Charlie, to Sam: Sorry you have zero luck with the ladies.

Charlie: Son of a pantsuit.

Dean: Don't quote me to me.

Sam, later Charlie: I hate that thing. And I want one.

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