Supernatural Review: ‘Welcome to Oz’
Supernatural’s strong streak continued with “Welcome to Oz.” At first the concept of Oz existing in the Supernatural universe seemed a bit farfetched, and when I first heard about the concept for this episode I was worried that the writers might be running out of ideas. But strong guest stars and an interesting take on the “Oz” mythology saved this episode.
Felicia Day’s character, Charlie, was back and once again I thought she was great. I really like when she shows up because she gives the Winchester brothers someone to have fun with, and it’s nice to see them interact with someone aside from other hunters or angels. Whenever Charlie shows up the Winchesters seem to smile a lot more. One of my favorite moments from this episode was the Game of Thrones marathon that ended with Dean’s declaration, “Wow, that Joffery’s a dick.” It was a nice touch to see them simply having fun like normal people since it’s so rare for the Winchesters to do that.
The show’s main storyline of the week dealt with the “real” Dorothy and the Wicked Witch. According to the episode Dorothy was a hunter who followed her father, Frank Baum, on an assignment for the Men of Letters to Oz. Her father wrote the Oz stories as a way to leave clues for his daughter on how to defeat the Wicked Witch and to tell her story, though Dorothy mentions that her father changed several things in the books. Dorothy, in the 1940s, manages to capture the witch but is unable to kill her, so she imprisons herself with the witch until the Winchesters accidently free them.
Once the Witch is free, Dorothy reveals that she is trying to find a key to return to Oz. Dean remembers seeing the key so this leads to a frantic search around the Men of Letters’ compound. It was a basic set-up, but it gave us some good lines like Charlie’s comment that Dean meticulously organizes his porn collection, but he can’t keep track of important things.
The angel Ezekiel shows up to bring Charlie back to life after she is killed by the witch. This almost blows Dean’s cover story since he accidently calls Sam “Zek.” This scene really highlighted my problem with all these secrets. Sam won’t be thrilled at the idea of sharing his body with an angel, but it seems better than risking a close friend’s life to keep a secret.
My favorite thing about this episode came near the end. Sam and Dean are both possessed b the witch and out of the fight. So it is Charlie and Dorothy who save two brothers by killing the witch. After all the times they’ve saved her it’s nice to see Charlie repay the favor. I also enjoyed the fact that the Winchesters were saved by something other than angels and that it was two women who did the job.
The episode ended with Dorothy returning to Oz to continue her fight there and she invites Charlie along with her. The episode ends with Sam and Dean looking out into Oz with a look of pure wonder on their faces. It was a nice reminder that they haven’t seen everything the world has to offer and they can still be surprised.
Edited by Jennifer Brake
