In the twentieth episode of the seventh season of\u00c2\u00a0Supernatural<\/i>, everything is perfect. Intrigued? Then it\u00e2\u20ac\u2122s time for Mark to watch\u00c2\u00a0Supernatural<\/i>.\u00c2\u00a0<\/p>\n
I can\u00e2\u20ac\u2122t.<\/p>\n
Endgame<\/b><\/p>\n
Looking back on this episode, it\u00e2\u20ac\u2122s kind of astounding to me how much happens in forty minutes. It\u00e2\u20ac\u2122s absolutely ridiculous that the first five minutes of this whole affair starts with Bobby, finally able to openly communicate with the Winchesters, telling them\u00c2\u00a0exactly<\/i> what Dick Roman has planned for the world: SLAUGHTERHOUSES. He\u00e2\u20ac\u2122s going to turn the entire human species into a lethargic and complacent form of cattle, FREE OF DISEASE (oh my god\u00c2\u00a0oh my god that<\/i>\u00e2\u20ac\u2122s why they wanted to heal them)<\/i>, and perpetually feeding the Leviathans. It\u00e2\u20ac\u2122s so fucked up and the show spends BARELY ANY TIME focusing on this because THERE\u00e2\u20ac\u2122S SO MUCH ELSE TO DO. And I actually love that this massive plot reveal is treated like it\u00e2\u20ac\u2122s nothing because\u00c2\u00a0Charlie<\/i>. Right? It\u00e2\u20ac\u2122s perfect. PERFECT.<\/p>\n
I don\u00e2\u20ac\u2122t understand the hunk of clay, though. Why is that so important? Oh god, please don\u00e2\u20ac\u2122t let there be something\u00c2\u00a0worse<\/i> waiting for me. PLEASE, NO.<\/p>\n
Bobby<\/b><\/p>\n
As if the tension and suspense laced within \u00e2\u20ac\u0153The Girl with the Dungeons and Dragons Tattoo\u00e2\u20ac\u009d wasn\u00e2\u20ac\u2122t enough, I had to spend a great deal of this episode worried that Bobby would turn into a vengeful spirit. (How would you have explained\u00c2\u00a0that<\/i> to Charlie??? Nevermind, she would have rolled with it, that\u00e2\u20ac\u2122s just the kind of person who she is.) The odds were\u00c2\u00a0heavily<\/i> stacked in favor of this happening because\u00e2\u20ac\u00a6 shit, it\u00e2\u20ac\u2122s the creature responsible for his death. And while we get a taste of the potential for Bobby Singer, Ghost Hunter (GET IT???), it\u00e2\u20ac\u2122s constantly tainted. The writers\u00c2\u00a0remind us that Bobby is\u00c2\u00a0so close<\/i> to becoming something to\u00c2\u00a0be<\/i> hunted, and it\u00e2\u20ac\u2122s clear that they\u00e2\u20ac\u2122re going to have to deal with him.\u00c2\u00a0Soon<\/i>. THANKS FOR CRUSHING ME,\u00c2\u00a0SUPERNATURAL<\/i>. I\u00e2\u20ac\u2122ll just start preparing for his second \u00e2\u20ac\u0153death\u00e2\u20ac\u009d right now. UGH.<\/p>\n
Charlie<\/b><\/p>\n
What can I say that hasn\u00e2\u20ac\u2122t already been said by probably\u00c2\u00a0everyone ever\u00c2\u00a0<\/i>in this fandom? I imagine that Felicia Day wouldn\u00e2\u20ac\u2122t have been keen on taking a role that didn\u00e2\u20ac\u2122t celebrate geekiness like Charlie\u00e2\u20ac\u2122s characterization done.\u00c2\u00a0Supernatural\u00c2\u00a0<\/i>is a mixed bag when it comes to depiction fandom itself, since it generally veers towards parody (the cruel kind) more than adoration. But Charlie Bradbury? Oh my god, y\u00e2\u20ac\u2122all. She loves Hermione and Arwen and Robyn and\u00c2\u00a0IS SHE ME?\u00c2\u00a0<\/i>HOW ARE WE NOT BEST FRIENDS\u00c2\u00a0RIGHT NOW<\/i>? Look, it\u00e2\u20ac\u2122s not just that Charlie is likable or that she likes the \u00e2\u20ac\u0153right\u00e2\u20ac\u009d things. (She loves Hermione the most, so let\u00e2\u20ac\u2122s be real, that\u00e2\u20ac\u2122s the \u00e2\u20ac\u0153right\u00e2\u20ac\u009d opinion.) Charlie\u00e2\u20ac\u2122s depiction is one that is\u00c2\u00a0respectful<\/i>. When she makes her nerd references, they\u00e2\u20ac\u2122re generally on the same par (or better) than all of Dean\u00e2\u20ac\u2122s nerd references. They\u00e2\u20ac\u2122re not there to make us believe she\u00e2\u20ac\u2122s weird or uncomfortable. She\u00e2\u20ac\u2122s treated like these aspects of her personality\u00c2\u00a0matter<\/i>, and that\u00e2\u20ac\u2122s a huge deal to me.<\/p>\n
Well, of course it\u00e2\u20ac\u2122s not as big of a deal as the reveal that CHARLIE LIKES GIRLS. Like??!?!?!?!?!?!?! THERE ARE ALMOST NO JOKES MADE ABOUT THIS AND THE ONE THAT\u00c2\u00a0IS<\/i> MADE IS IMMEDIATELY CRITICIZED BY CHARLIE AND ?!?!?!?!?! Her sexuality is addressed and confirmed and immutable within canon, and I AM SO THRILLED. I\u00e2\u20ac\u2122m thrilled because it affects the plot in a significant way, but it\u00e2\u20ac\u2122s not done in a way that\u00e2\u20ac\u2122s crass. I\u00e2\u20ac\u2122m thrilled because unlike practically every queer or gay character prior to this,\u00c2\u00a0she<\/i>\u00e2\u20ac\u2122s actually alive at the end of the episode<\/i>. (And yes, it\u00c2\u00a0is<\/i> kind of immensely ridiculous that it took this show seven years to give us a character like Charlie.) I\u00e2\u20ac\u2122m thrilled because she exists in the narrative in a way that centers her experience and\u00c2\u00a0elevates her. Even if they\u00e2\u20ac\u2122d not revealed that she was a lesbian, I could tell that she was going to be an important character within\u00c2\u00a0Supernatural<\/i> canon. It just means that much more to me that she\u00e2\u20ac\u2122s not straight.<\/p>\n
Charlie\u00e2\u20ac\u2122s role in this episode also fulfills one of my favorite tropes in the universe: a character being introduced to a secret \u00e2\u20ac\u0153world\u00e2\u20ac\u009d within theirs for the first time. Charlie\u00e2\u20ac\u2122s reaction to the world of leviathans and monsters and hunters is\u00e2\u20ac\u00a6 pretty much perfect for her character. There\u00e2\u20ac\u2122s horror, revulsion, and disbelief, but she very quickly just accepts that this is her new world. That doesn\u00e2\u20ac\u2122t mean she\u00e2\u20ac\u2122s now a perfect fighter, which is one thing I DEEPLY APPRECIATE about how this episode unfolds. She\u00e2\u20ac\u2122s\u00c2\u00a0terrified<\/i> of Leviathans and of Dick Roman. She is a genius on a computer, but the writers don\u00e2\u20ac\u2122t do that thing where they flip a switch and she\u00e2\u20ac\u2122s suddenly a perfect fighter. That\u00e2\u20ac\u2122s not who her character is, and it\u00e2\u20ac\u2122s so incredible to see\u00c2\u00a0how<\/i> she navigates this new world. There\u00e2\u20ac\u2122s a lot of awkwardness, particularly when she has to pretend to be straight, but she also has to improvise her way out of a couple disasters. None of them are physical. She uses her mind and her heart, AND IT\u00e2\u20ac\u2122S SO GREAT TO SEE THAT.<\/p>\n
Oh gods, y\u00e2\u20ac\u2122all. This episode was scary and funny and absolutely one of the best episodes of the whole show. It\u00e2\u20ac\u2122s a mythology-heavy story, and yet there\u00e2\u20ac\u2122s enough space to give us a brilliant chance to know Charlie and to fall in love with her and to IMAGINE WHAT IT WOULD BE LIKE IF SHE WAS IN EVERY EPISODE. It would be perfect, that\u00e2\u20ac\u2122s the answer. But I\u00e2\u20ac\u2122m thankful that she\u00e2\u20ac\u2122s alive, and I even think it\u00e2\u20ac\u2122s the most realistic ending to this adventure. This isn\u00e2\u20ac\u2122t her world, you know? While she hints at the end that she\u00e2\u20ac\u2122s used to moving around and changing her name, that doesn\u00e2\u20ac\u2122t mean she\u00e2\u20ac\u2122s ready to start fighting monsters. So she bids the Winchesters goodbye, and she urges them to never contact her again. It\u00e2\u20ac\u2122s the best option for her.<\/p>\n
Though I\u00e2\u20ac\u2122m going to CONSTANTLY HOPE THEY DISOBEY HER BECAUSE I NEED MORE CHARLIE IN MY LIFE.<\/p>\n
The video for \u00e2\u20ac\u0153The Girl with the Dungeons and Dragons Tattoo\u00e2\u20ac\u009d can be downloaded here for $0.99<\/a>.<\/p>\n Mark Links Stuff<\/b><\/p>\n – Mark Does Stuff is now on Facebook<\/a>! Feel free to Like the page, which I’m running myself, for updates and SILLINESS. In the twentieth episode of the seventh season of\u00c2\u00a0Supernatural, everything is perfect. Intrigued? Then it\u00e2\u20ac\u2122s time for Mark to watch\u00c2\u00a0Supernatural.\u00c2\u00a0<\/p>\n","protected":false},"author":1,"featured_media":0,"comment_status":"open","ping_status":"open","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"footnotes":""},"categories":[590],"tags":[591],"class_list":["post-4312","post","type-post","status-publish","format-standard","hentry","category-supernatural","tag-mark-watches-supernatural"],"_links":{"self":[{"href":"http:\/\/markwatches.net\/reviews\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/4312","targetHints":{"allow":["GET"]}}],"collection":[{"href":"http:\/\/markwatches.net\/reviews\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"http:\/\/markwatches.net\/reviews\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"http:\/\/markwatches.net\/reviews\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/users\/1"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"http:\/\/markwatches.net\/reviews\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/comments?post=4312"}],"version-history":[{"count":0,"href":"http:\/\/markwatches.net\/reviews\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/4312\/revisions"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"http:\/\/markwatches.net\/reviews\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media?parent=4312"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"http:\/\/markwatches.net\/reviews\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/categories?post=4312"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"http:\/\/markwatches.net\/reviews\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/tags?post=4312"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}
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