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Supernatural: Dark Dynasty

"Dean doesn't know? That always ends well."

Yes, we get it. Lying to Dean doesn't end well.

Nooooooooooooo!

It's just not a good sign when the death of a major continuing character makes you angry instead of upset. And yes, it's not like we didn't get a ton of foreshadowing. When Charlie became a hunter, the boys told her often that hunters die young. The beginning of the episode with the pretty redheaded victim and Styne flying out of the window was set-up so that when Charlie was cornered in her ugly motel room, we'd be seriously afraid for her.

But I'm still mad. Charlie is – was – a terrific character, a joyous nerdy foil for the Winchester brothers. To make it worse, she didn't even get more than a couple of scenes with Castiel. I was so looking forward to a lot of Charlie with Castiel.

Sigh.

Boy, did Castiel blow it big time. I am assuming he isn't going to be able to resurrect Charlie, right? Here's a thought. Maybe the much discussed Supernatural spinoff should take place in Heaven, Hell and Purgatory with all of the terrific characters we've loved that have died on this freaking show. There are way too many of them.

I did enjoy Castiel babysitting Witch and Nerd and the interactions of said Witch and Nerd, at least until it ended so badly. And the Stynes turning out to be body enhancing Frankensteins was a fun reveal that explained why they're so difficult to kill. Eldon banging his stump against the motel room door was a hoot, too, although the fact that he was standing in the MoL bunker with only one manacle and his other hand casually in his pocket was some obvious set-up for his de-handing escape method. What respectable dungeon features only one wrist manacle? I know we've seen two in the MoL dungeon before.

You know, I'd flounce out of the room and swear to never watch Supernatural again, but I absolutely loved that Crowley had a long, serious discussion with a hamster. And then there was the dartboard guy and the grouping. Plus I promised just a couple of days ago that I would review Supernatural until the bitter end. It's getting bitter, folks. Even with the hamster.

Bits:

— Life in the Frankenstein family can't be fun if you're the son and heir and you can still end up a lab rat. And btw, not good that the Stynes now know where the bunker is.

— The Book of the Damned, written by Agnes the hermit nun, cannot be destroyed. I didn't get that from Sam's motivation to save the thing, but … interesting.

— I got the impression that Rowena didn't realize that Castiel was an angel.

— Is Sam eating junk food like Dean now? Where are the Moose salads?

— This week: Omaha, Nebraska; Shreveport, Louisiana; Lebanon, Kansas. I liked that app on Charlie's computer for the weather in Lebanon.

— Charlie died in the Blackbird Motel. This week's most obvious symbolism, since black birds symbolize the arrival of evil and death. She did manage to send the boys a file that I assume has the translation of what the Book of the Damned actually says. If she had to die, could it at least be in order to get us past this Mark of Cain thing?

— Rowena's hair (same shade as Charlie's, interestingly) was pretty much perfect. Where is she getting her hair done while she's chained up? Must be a witch thing. Hey, if they absolutely needed to kill off a redhead...

Quotes:

Dean: "They screwed with financial markets, they helped Hitler get started, along with God knows what else. Probably disco."

Charlie: (to Sam) "Hey, it is you. In a beat up, prehistoric subcompact. But why are we meeting here? I could have come to the Death Star."

Rowena: "And you studied your craft where?"
Charlie: "Mostly a joint called Mas Java. It has excellent wifi."
Rowena: "I have not heard of this institution, and I know all the great global centers of witchcraft."
Charlie: "Makes sense. Because I'm not a witch, I'm a nerd. And I know all the great centers of nerddom."

Crowley: "Just for once I wish you trolls would bring me some good news. 'Sire, Missouri has boils.' Something cheerful."

Guy: "Some sort of clinical trial using student volunteers? He didn't mention eyeballs."
Dean: "Hm. I guess you're gonna ask about that from now on, huh?"

Sam: "Why would the Stynes be actually up to their eyeballs in murder?"

Castiel: "This call is pointless. My ride is here."

Crowley: "I need a minion!"

Charlie: "I am doing my best, but with her criticizing, breathing down my neck, trying to sign me up for team witch and moaning how the one good year for music was 1723, I am going crazy."

This episode had some good stuff, but I am so not happy with this particular character death. Two out of four melon ballers,

Billie
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Billie Doux has been reviewing Supernatural for so long that Dean and Sam Winchester feel like old friends. Courageous, adventurous, gorgeous old friends.

15 comments:

  1. I've been watching Supernatural since it started. That is the only reason I'm not rage quitting right now.

    Charlie's death feels like sloppy writing. Not because she died, but because we've seen this death before. Being a Winchester extended family member always merits a death sentence. I guess it's not surprising, but it is getting repetitive.

    Sure Bobby made it a long time, and comes back to remind us how much he's missed. But I don't get the feeling that Charlie will get that kind of love. I think she's yet another victim of the vocal minority of misogynist Supernatural fans that are now cheering that Charlie is dead.

    I know it's been five seasons, but weren't their appetites whetted when the show killed off Ellen and Jo for them?

    So yeah, I'm angry too. I'm pissed that yet another good character is gone. I'm upset that she died in such a forced and idiotic way. Everyone had to put their brains on a shelf for this to happen. Especially Sam and Castiel. Although Dean has once again lost a prisoner because;

    1.) he didn't keep watch on them.
    2.) he didn't chain them up properly.
    3.) he had an argument with Sam.

    Also, how in the hell did they track Charlie down to a motel in the middle of nowhere when she didn't have the book?

    Ah well. I guess until next week.

    Loved the review though. Sorry you're stuck with the show. If it makes you feel better, I am too.

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  2. I really enjoyed it up until the end. And the thing that ticked me off about the ending wasn't the death but the fact that it made no sense.

    I'd spent half the episode thinking how nice it was that they'd finally remembered they have a friend who's an angel and then they don't call him or pray to him - bearing in mind just wanting him there tells him where you are, according to earlier this season - when they need him. I re-watched Jump the Shark the other day and Sam suggested asking Cas to raise Adam back when they barely knew him (Cas) and he never gave much help beyond cryptic clues, yet now they never bother?!

    So I feel no emotion whatsoever over Charlie's death because my suspension of disbelief has been completely broken and all I see is the writing, I'm not in the story any more. (I just about got over it with Kevin on the grounds stolen grace might not be powerful enough to undo the work of another angel). If they throw in SOMETHING next week to explain why Cas couldn't raise her I'll be mollified so the whine may be premature but urgh.

    Other than that there was loads to love though - the ep made me laugh a lot. I was just thinking Charlie was totally turning into Willow Rosenberg, but it looks like she's turned into Tara Maclay instead...

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  3. Less than a month ago I told my wife they'd keep bringing Felicia Day back until they killed off her character. Sometimes it sucks to be right.

    RIP Charlie.

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  4. I also really enjoyed this episode. It was actually not charlies death that upset me the most, but the comment that in the styles family only the men get surgically altered. I actually Think that they needed charlies death to make Dean give into the mark, or go on a rampage against the stynes. Maybe she asked to be written out of the show, because of the web series she makes. And a death in supernatural is never final and I Think that when she have time again we will see her again.

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  5. I have majorly conflicted feelings.

    1) I didn't like Charlie. She's a walking reference machine and nothing more. There isn't much in the way of actual character there.

    2) I'm glad that SUPERNATURAL, for lack of a better term, got its balls back. It's felt like a very safe show the last few years, which it never did in its prime.

    3) Despite not liking Charlie, I have real trouble supporting her being fridged to motivate Dean.

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  6. I really hate when characters start making stupid mistakes just because the writers want something to happen.

    Who's brilliant idea was it to chain only one of the guy's hands?
    Why did he rip off his whole forearm when a dislocated thumb would have been enough (have you seen the size of the bracelet)?
    How did the other Frankenstein get Charlie's location?
    Castiel was moving Rowena so that Charlie could have some "alone time", so why would she sneak out like that?

    I think killing Charlie is a big mistake.
    I love Sam and Dean, but they've been working together for so long that they now are on the same page about everything.
    The only reason for conflict that's left is when one does somenting reckless to save the other. But we've seen that too many times already.
    Supernatural needs more characters, not less.

    Thankfully, Crowley was there.
    He reminded me of Scar (from The Lion King), talking to a mouse, bullying hyenas, and complaining about "being surrounded by idiots". I almost expected him to start singing...

    Anything with Mark Sheppard always gets five out of four from me. But the rest of the episode wasn't so great.

    Thanks for the review, Billie!

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  7. I liked Charlie, and that in itself demonstrates Felicia Day's huge amount of charisma as Charlie did indeed become a Mr. (Ms.) Wizard character -- an instant fix it to situations which should have been inherently difficult to fix. However, did I miss something? Everyone is implying that her death didn't make sense. I thought that the senseless violence was kind of the point. The Styne who killed her was in a rage as she had just destroyed his shot at using her work to decode the book. (In addition, she had thwarted his earlier attempts to get the book.)Killing folks just because they ticked you off usually denotes a villain.

    Like Raya, I am interested in how the Stynes found her without the book being there, but I am hoping that will be cleared up in the next episode.

    I'm rooting for the writers.

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  8. Anonymous, my particular problem with her death is they've given us no reason they couldn't just phone Cas, who could leave Rowena chained up for however long it took to drive over and revive Charlie. If that particular plot hole was explained away, I wouldn't have a particular problem with it (though still sad, as I liked her).

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  9. I was kind of ruined about this episode right after it aired, and I kept putting off watching it when I found out that Charlie got killed off. I finally got around to watching it, and I was surprised by how nice this episode was until the very end. Crowley -- everything Crowley in this episode was just superb, from playing darts on a live dude to having conversations with a hamster, and Castiel babysitting the Witch and the Nerd was hilarious too. It's the Winchesters that are getting old.

    Now, don't start tossing tomatoes at me, I love Sam and Dean, I've loved them since the very beginning of this show but everytime they argue, everytime conflict arises, I can't help but think "been there, done that," like that's literally what they do, they go out on a limb, make reckless, rash and downright stupid decisions to save one another while the other doesn't want to be saved and then by the end of the story arc the aforementioned is saved but with dire consequences.

    Supernatural feels like a misogynistic show. There, I said it. I didn't want to say it but I've said it. THEY KILL OFF EVERY SINGLE GOOD FEMALE CHARACTER THAT HAS EVER HAD THE UNFORTUNATE-NESS TO GRACE THIS SHOW. Charlie's death felt cheap, it felt like one of those TV deaths that have no meaning, where a character is done a disservice just because the writers need an excuse for 'emotional impact'. Someone above me commented that SPN needs MORE characters, not less, they're absolutely right. Sam and Dean have suffered enough, and their utter lack of love interests, of badass female characters, it all just screams unfair to me.

    Charlie was killed off for the sake of getting killed off. That's all I'll say. I swear to god if this was a different show I would have quit it a long time ago. Unfortunately, this is Supernatural, and like you, I'm going to be on the bandwagon till the (very) bitter end.

    Fingers crossed for a spin off featuring all the beloved, dead characters this show has lost.

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  10. Styne survives a three-storey jump yet struggles with a motel door? I've always relied on Supernatural to give me my weekly dose of, well, supernatural but things are just getting too hard to believe. Yeah I am one of those who think that the show peaked in season 5 and yeah I'm still watching when I should have just sodded off so well, knife me with an angel blade.

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  11. Okay. Now the Stynes absolutely have to die. On a side note, they're doing such a better job on setting up the Stynes as the big bads than they ever did with the Leviathans. Even having to type the L word in that previous sentence makes me role my eyes.

    Charlie's death sucks because, as you've noted, strong female characters don't last long on Supernatural (knock on wood for Jody Mills). I was completely choked up when the guys found her body, although given Sam's gagging, I really expected it to be worse (obviously nothing is worse than death, although death is not permanent in the SPN world, but I meant mutilation given the Styne proclivities). Charlie's death actually made me like Rowena even less than I already did. She's a whiny character and her whining drove Charlie out of the safety of the bunker to her death.

    Looking forward to next week to see if Cass can save her or if she gets a hunter's funeral pyre. And, oh Dean and Sam. That's not going to be a fun ride back. If Dean even lets Sam in the car...

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  12. I don't really buy the misogynism claims. It's not just women who die on Supernatural: everybody dies. I do agree that they tend to kill off their characters too soon; usually there is still a lot of unrealized potential there.

    Here's hoping that the "death isn't always goodbye" from last episode was foreshadowing. ;)

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  13. Charlie's death didn't enrage me like some fans, but it was very sad. This show is about drama. Life and death, horror and sometimes redemption. I try to trust in the narrative and just enjoy the ride. Sometimes the trust is mangled (Sam and Amelia), but mostly, I just want to believe. The best scene in this episode, one of the best of the series, is Sam sitting at the desk, looking scared to death, while Dean looms over him talking about the book that he knows Sam did not destroy. I was so scared during that scene, even before Sam's phone rang. I thought Dean was going to start swinging. So well done.

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  14. I had a feeling once Charlie was at the hotel she was going to die. disagree that spn just kills female characters as dean and sam "die" bobby. john. kevin. I was upset when she died but I figured she would die to give dean the motivation to give in to the mark.

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  15. I knew Charlie was going to di de to my trying to catch up with the series but still watching her final moments were just plain gut wrenching. Even if a viewer was "unspoiled " and Charlie death was a total shock, it really wasn't because through out the entire episode the foreshadowing was layer pretty thickly IMHO. FROM the first moment when that poor girl bit the dust, to when the Charlie/Rowena were introduced to each other. Yes, Rowena was right when she stated what Charlie thought were their "differences ", basically both women were the flip sides of the same coin...The story about the mad nun, how she knew good/evil were both present because basically "nature abhors" a vacuum, that without evil, there cant be good vs versa.
    Now on to the trope that the writers seem to be intent on using, which makes each season, feel like a wash, rinse, repeat idea. Yes, it's an old/probably tired idea but remember that at the base of the Winchester relationship is that anyone or anything we cared about has died, left or was a false premise, so we basically only have each other to rely on besides ourselves, because as I have been told growing up, you can't trust anyone and sometimes you can't trust family. It's boils back to Henry Winchester disappearing out of John's life, to start this cycle and it will continue until after awhile personal growth hopefully occurs for the Winchester men, fellow hunters, so that hopefully the cycle can be broken and people with deep emtional scars can hopefully find themselves, accepting themselves and others.

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