In the eleventh episode of the eighth season of\u00c2\u00a0Supernatural<\/i>, this is the only episode of the whole show that matters, and just be prepared for me to be ridiculous and hyperbolic about all of this, okay? If you\u00e2\u20ac\u2122re intrigued, then it\u00e2\u20ac\u2122s time for Mark to watch\u00c2\u00a0Supernatural<\/i>.<\/p>\n
<\/p>\n
Trigger Warning: For discussion of queerbaiting<\/b><\/p>\n
This is what I want\u00c2\u00a0Supernatural\u00c2\u00a0<\/i>to be.<\/p>\n
The irony of what I wrote in my last review is glaring. I complained about the show hand-waving Dean\u00e2\u20ac\u2122s jerkiness? Charlie calls him out on it, and Dean admits he was a d-bag. I complain that the show can\u00e2\u20ac\u2122t seem to commit to\u00c2\u00a0any<\/i> sort of queerness beyond a joke or a passing reference\/character? This episode gives me Charlie again, who openly hits on multiple women and gets to make out with a faery, and it\u00e2\u20ac\u2122s just\u00e2\u20ac\u00a6 it\u00e2\u20ac\u2122s too much. It\u00e2\u20ac\u2122s too much because\u00c2\u00a0this is what I have always wanted from the show<\/i>.<\/p>\n
Let\u00e2\u20ac\u2122s discuss.<\/p>\n
Fandom<\/b><\/p>\n
This show has a fascinating relationship not just with its own fandom, but with the concepts of fans in general. It can run the gamut from Charlie to Becky in terms of how that portrayal manifests. And I\u00e2\u20ac\u2122ve been honest about the times when\u00c2\u00a0Supernatural<\/i> felt cruel in it\u00e2\u20ac\u2122s portrayal of fans, and Becky is a great example of that. But when I watched this episode, I understood the line between parody and respect. I understood that the show was absolutely trying to honor this massive, varied community. I understood that the jokes were not at the\u00c2\u00a0expense<\/i> of LARPers, that even when multiple characters tried to denigrate them by saying they were losers or loners, the truth is that this community is a powerful, transcendent experience for many of the people who participate in it. And on top of it all, the show puts validation within the script by furthering the development of Dean\u00e2\u20ac\u2122s geekiness. He doesn\u00e2\u20ac\u2122t\u00c2\u00a0grow<\/i> to think LARPing is cool. HE ALREADY KNEW IT WAS AMAZING AND HE JUST WANTED TIME OFF SO HE COULD PLAY.<\/p>\n
Why is that important? Because, like I\u00e2\u20ac\u2122ll talk about in a bit, it demonstrates that the writing staff want to do this shit justice. It demonstrates that they took this seriously, that they wanted to have fun with the absurdity of the concept while celebrating it existing in the first place. Historically, they haven\u00e2\u20ac\u2122t always been good at that, but the meta episodes have been getting better in that regard. And when it comes to an alternative fandom or group like this, I didn\u00e2\u20ac\u2122t get a sense of cruelty. While there are problems within fandom like this, Boltar\/Gerry is solely responsible for what\u00e2\u20ac\u2122s happened here. (Oh god, give me a few hours and I will talk about things like the whiteness of \u00e2\u20ac\u0153traditional\u00e2\u20ac\u009d fandom or fandom entitlement, both of which have subtle presences within this episode, but are not the focus of anything.) \u00e2\u20ac\u0153LARP and the Real Girl\u00e2\u20ac\u009d doesn\u00e2\u20ac\u2122t exist to tell us that LARPers are horrible people.<\/p>\n
If anything, that final scene, with Ponytail!Sam and Braveheart!Dean, is the most glorious validation I could imagine. I love it so much.<\/p>\n
Charlie<\/b><\/p>\n
I have no intention of taking back any of my criticism for how this show engages with queerness or gay characters. I\u00e2\u20ac\u2122m sticking to it because it\u00e2\u20ac\u2122s a problem, which is why this episode is both a breath of fresh air AND inspired a subtle frustration in me. After watching the show openly bait me with a Benny\/Dean romance (CHRIST, YOU EVEN HAD CHARLIE POINT TO IT, WHICH IS ALL THE EVIDENCE YOU NEED THAT ACTUAL QUEER PEOPLE CAN SEE THESE FUCKING RELATIONSHIPS WITHOUT BATTING AN EYE. LIKE, HOLY SHIT, WHEN YOUR OWN CHARACTERS ARE NOTING QUEERNESS WITHIN YOUR WORK, MAYBE YOU SHOULD START ACKNOWLEDGING IT), I was thrilled by watching Charlie just be so\u00c2\u00a0open<\/i> about who she is. There\u00e2\u20ac\u2122s no toying with the audience; there\u00e2\u20ac\u2122s no sleight of hand; there\u00e2\u20ac\u2122s no bait and switch. She\u00e2\u20ac\u2122s a lesbian, she hits on girls, she tries to hook up with a\u00c2\u00a0faery<\/i>, for god\u00e2\u20ac\u2122s sake! There\u00e2\u20ac\u2122s no denying the truth, and I love that this is unapologetically canon.<\/p>\n
And that\u00e2\u20ac\u2122s where the frustration lies. Charlie is written (and portrayed, of course) with brilliance, force, and joy. She is so utterly unlike any character on this show, and it\u00e2\u20ac\u2122s not just because of her sexuality being in the open.\u00c2\u00a0Charlie challenges the Winchesters AND WINS\u00c2\u00a0constantly<\/i>. Her presence is never disposable. She is integral to the stories she is given, and you can\u00e2\u20ac\u2122t have them if you take her out of the narrative. She has development all on her own that\u00e2\u20ac\u2122s independent of the Winchesters. She has scenes without them in it, and they matter! My frustration comes from my desire for\u00c2\u00a0every character to have this sort of robustness<\/i>. Why can\u00e2\u20ac\u2122t the show do this all the time? How can the same show that teases us with Destiel or Denny commit so fully to queerness in this one regard? Why can\u00e2\u20ac\u2122t most of these episodes feel as exciting and electric as both of Charlie\u00e2\u20ac\u2122s episodes?<\/p>\n
I know that there\u00e2\u20ac\u2122s a lot of shit that this show covers, that it is juggling multiple storylines, and that I\u00e2\u20ac\u2122m never going to like\u00c2\u00a0everything<\/i> a show does. I\u00e2\u20ac\u2122m not anticipating \u00e2\u20ac\u0153perfection\u00e2\u20ac\u009d from anything I\u00e2\u20ac\u2122m watching, though, and I don\u00e2\u20ac\u2122t consume things in this manner.\u00c2\u00a0But after the experience of watching this episode \u00e2\u20ac\u201c which thrilled me, made me laugh, and nearly made me cry because there is such a dearth of characters like Charlie on television \u00e2\u20ac\u201c I wanted\u00c2\u00a0Supernatural<\/i> to do this more often. I want this show to be this good way more than it is. Granted, I don\u00e2\u20ac\u2122t feel like many of the fans who believe this show stopped being good in season 5; I\u00e2\u20ac\u2122ve found a great deal to enjoy since then. (And I don\u00e2\u20ac\u2122t know that I could ever want a world without Charlie Bradbury in it.) So I just want to make it clear that I don\u00e2\u20ac\u2122t think\u00c2\u00a0Supernatural<\/i> is awful. But criticizing narratives and archetypes doesn\u00e2\u20ac\u2122t imply hatred. It means I love this \u00e2\u20ac\u201c a lot, I admit \u00e2\u20ac\u201c and I want the best of it. I just think that, after watching \u00e2\u20ac\u0153LARP and the Real Girl,\u00e2\u20ac\u009d this show could do so much better. Clearly, it can, or we\u00e2\u20ac\u2122d never have an episode like this.<\/p>\n
I\u00e2\u20ac\u2122m pretty sure this will be my favorite episode of this show, y\u00e2\u20ac\u2122all. It\u00e2\u20ac\u2122s got everything I could ever want within forty minutes, and that\u00e2\u20ac\u2122s both a blessing and a curse.<\/p>\n
The video for \u00e2\u20ac\u0153LARP and the Real Girl\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 eleventh episode of the eighth season of\u00c2\u00a0Supernatural, this is the only episode of the whole show that matters, and just be prepared for me to be ridiculous and hyperbolic about all of this, okay? If you\u00e2\u20ac\u2122re intrigued, then … Continue reading
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