**Spoilers**
If you have not yet seen this episode, PLEASE go and do so before proceeding.
I had a feeling whenever Dean started this week off with a Star Wars reference that it was going to be a good episode. What I didn't know, however, was that is was going to be a GREAT episode...though the title really probably should have tipped me off. This is my second favorite Supernatural episode ever (losing to Monster Movie alone) and is one of the best things to come out of the post-Kripke era.
The main reason for its greatness comes from the main character. Charlie Bradbury is one of the most adorable, lovable, wonderful geek role models that this show has ever produced. Even those that, as a rule, don't care for the women of this show at least tolerate Charlie. I think the only people I've ever met to dislike her were the folks who can't stand Felicia Day's...Felicia Day-ness. And it's not because the script is telling us to like her either (because the script told me to like Ruby Mark I and I didn't). She is just honestly a great character.
The second reason this episode works is because of all the geek in-jokes. References galore! We've got Star Wars references, Star Trek references, gaming references, Harry Potter references, and lots and lots of Lord of the Rings references. I approve highly of this. It speaks my language.
Favorite Moments & Random Thoughts:
- This episode operates on a fractured timeline, thus creating crisis façades and lots of misleading cliff-hangers. And it's glorious. Sometimes this type of format backfires in a major sort of way, but here it pays off and really gives the episode a unique feel.
- I think I caught a reference to Aladdin in the opening scenes where Dean asks Bobby if they open the lid on his flask and he just 'genie's' his way out. But then again, that could just be a reference to lore in general...
- Dean really has a drinking problem. It's almost as bad now as it was whenever he first got back from Hell.
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- "They're not hunting anymore. They're engineering the perfect herd." Well that's...disturbing. Suddenly the Leviathans seem just a bit more menacing than before. I know I said that Doctor Who has sort of numbed me to the whole 'alien/supernatural-being-infiltrating-our-government/economy' plot, but somehow this development redeemed them a bit in my eyes. They're still not as scary as Crowley or Lucifer, though, and I'm still not entirely sure if I buy them being the Big Bad of Purgatory.
- I love the way Dean is more concerned about the Leviathans finding out about where he stowed Baby than about them knowing all the Winchester aliases.
- I love the little dance Charlie does in the elevator once she's sure one one is watching. We've all been there whenever something like 'I'm Walking On Sunshine' is playing...
- "Honestly, I've always had this problem with authority (no offence) so I realized the only way to get away with being me was to make myself as indispensable as possible." Take notice, fanboys and fangirls the world over. That's some darn good advice.
- I really want Charlie's Princess Leia teeshirt. And her cubicle is a nerd's dream work zone. Lord of the Rings posters, Star Trek Pez dispensers, and a Hermione bobble head that she uses for inspiration. I can relate to that. I have a Redwall poster that I still use to this day.
- Her co-worker in the IT department seems like a nice fellow too. It's also nice to see that the writer's aren't invoking the tired old Nerds Are Virgins Not By Choice trope that seems to be inserted to cause much hilarity (note the sarcasm) in other shows.
- Dick Roman sounds like a creeper when he's talking to Charlie. No wonder she had no trouble thinking he could actually be a monster!
- Have I mentioned all the Lord of the Rings references?
Charlie: "Dick Roman gave me an assignment."
Harry: "Is that good?"
Charlie: "It means the Eye of Sauron is on me."
Harry: "Well if you need anything, I'll be back in the Shire."
- I honestly don't understand how anyone could find all of that coding to be thrilling. I know guys that do, but it just seems a bit boring to me. I can turn my computer on and I can put in the password to log in. That's enough for me!
- "That was a hard little Chamber of Secrets, wasn't it?"
- It cracks me up that Frank has a confidential, encrypted file for March of the Dimes. He really has a thing about that, doesn't he?
- If I were Charlie, I would have made sure to double-check for security cameras before I opened the file about Roman Enterprises. Call me paranoid, but...
- "I'm pretty sure I spent the last 24 hours hacking into a loony bin." Did you meet Daffy Duck in there? Sorry, sorry. That joke is bad, I know. Charlie won't think Frank's so crazy once she sees Dick's buddy devour her boss. Poor girl...that looked nasty.
- She keeps her cool whenever Levi!Pete calls her on the phone, though, claiming that she left because of...a lady thing. Then she cheerfully says "Gotta go, cramps!" before hanging up on him and packing her valuables (i.e. geek merchandise and computer) away.
- It is then that the Winchesters break into her apartment (really, there's a reason everyone thinks they're criminals) and Charlie exhibits that spark Dick was going on about by attacking those two hulking boys with a replica of Sting (the sword, not the singer).
- The fake commercial in the middle of this episode for Sucrocorp makes me laugh. Although, just that company name sounds suspicious.
- Charlie and the Winchesters concoct a battle plan (around Charlie's wonderful Arwen desktop wallpaper) while Bobby looks on. This scene embodies everything I love about Charlie. There are geeky references galore, but we also get to see what her character is made of. She's obviously scared and a bit disgusted by what she's learning (and explicitly tells the Winchesters not to tell her what else is out there in the dark), but realizes that her life is over anyway and so figures she had better go down swinging and maybe save a few Tom and Harry's along the way rather than run like a coward.
- Charlie sings when she's nervous. Dean promises a no judgement zone. Good thing too, given that his calming agent of choice usually involves a bottle of whiskey or a few rounds of humming Metallica.
- I love the way Sam gives Charlie a pep talk using Harry Potter comparisons (even if Dean did call him 'Dumbledork').
- Dean calls her 'Veronica Mars'. At this rate I should just go through and list each and every single quote with a reference in it and you'd probably be able to follow the plot of the episode very well just with those.
- I want to know why Charlie peeled that strip off of one card and put it on the other to re-swipe. Would that give her higher clearance? If so...where'd she get it? Was it just a plain strip to pull off a 'error' trick where they monitor assumes you're legitimate but with a bad card so they let you through? Or did it just help over her tracks? I'm curious...
- Charlie said if it took longer than 15 minutes to hack Dick's desktop she deserved to be eaten. Wow. She takes her chosen profession seriously!
- Apparently she has a tattoo of Princess Leia sitting on a ten-sided die? Huh. Guess that's where the title comes in.
- Dean giving Charlie a hand in flirting her way past the security guard never fails to make me snicker. Especially the way they both say "I feel dirty" after its over.
- Of course Charlie does hack the desktop in record time and even manages to talk her way back past the suspicious guard (with a bit of help from Bobby who bought her time) without Dean's help. She then sends all the information she's gleaned to the Winchesters, prompting Sam to say this:
Favorite Moments & Random Thoughts:
- This episode operates on a fractured timeline, thus creating crisis façades and lots of misleading cliff-hangers. And it's glorious. Sometimes this type of format backfires in a major sort of way, but here it pays off and really gives the episode a unique feel.
- I think I caught a reference to Aladdin in the opening scenes where Dean asks Bobby if they open the lid on his flask and he just 'genie's' his way out. But then again, that could just be a reference to lore in general...
- Dean really has a drinking problem. It's almost as bad now as it was whenever he first got back from Hell.
- "They're not hunting anymore. They're engineering the perfect herd." Well that's...disturbing. Suddenly the Leviathans seem just a bit more menacing than before. I know I said that Doctor Who has sort of numbed me to the whole 'alien/supernatural-being-infiltrating-our-government/economy' plot, but somehow this development redeemed them a bit in my eyes. They're still not as scary as Crowley or Lucifer, though, and I'm still not entirely sure if I buy them being the Big Bad of Purgatory.- I love the way Dean is more concerned about the Leviathans finding out about where he stowed Baby than about them knowing all the Winchester aliases.
- I love the little dance Charlie does in the elevator once she's sure one one is watching. We've all been there whenever something like 'I'm Walking On Sunshine' is playing...
- "Honestly, I've always had this problem with authority (no offence) so I realized the only way to get away with being me was to make myself as indispensable as possible." Take notice, fanboys and fangirls the world over. That's some darn good advice.
- I really want Charlie's Princess Leia teeshirt. And her cubicle is a nerd's dream work zone. Lord of the Rings posters, Star Trek Pez dispensers, and a Hermione bobble head that she uses for inspiration. I can relate to that. I have a Redwall poster that I still use to this day.- Her co-worker in the IT department seems like a nice fellow too. It's also nice to see that the writer's aren't invoking the tired old Nerds Are Virgins Not By Choice trope that seems to be inserted to cause much hilarity (note the sarcasm) in other shows.
- Dick Roman sounds like a creeper when he's talking to Charlie. No wonder she had no trouble thinking he could actually be a monster!
- Have I mentioned all the Lord of the Rings references?
Charlie: "Dick Roman gave me an assignment."
Harry: "Is that good?"
Charlie: "It means the Eye of Sauron is on me."
Harry: "Well if you need anything, I'll be back in the Shire."
- I honestly don't understand how anyone could find all of that coding to be thrilling. I know guys that do, but it just seems a bit boring to me. I can turn my computer on and I can put in the password to log in. That's enough for me!
- "That was a hard little Chamber of Secrets, wasn't it?"
- It cracks me up that Frank has a confidential, encrypted file for March of the Dimes. He really has a thing about that, doesn't he?
- If I were Charlie, I would have made sure to double-check for security cameras before I opened the file about Roman Enterprises. Call me paranoid, but...
- "I'm pretty sure I spent the last 24 hours hacking into a loony bin." Did you meet Daffy Duck in there? Sorry, sorry. That joke is bad, I know. Charlie won't think Frank's so crazy once she sees Dick's buddy devour her boss. Poor girl...that looked nasty.
- She keeps her cool whenever Levi!Pete calls her on the phone, though, claiming that she left because of...a lady thing. Then she cheerfully says "Gotta go, cramps!" before hanging up on him and packing her valuables (i.e. geek merchandise and computer) away.
- It is then that the Winchesters break into her apartment (really, there's a reason everyone thinks they're criminals) and Charlie exhibits that spark Dick was going on about by attacking those two hulking boys with a replica of Sting (the sword, not the singer).
- The fake commercial in the middle of this episode for Sucrocorp makes me laugh. Although, just that company name sounds suspicious.
- Charlie and the Winchesters concoct a battle plan (around Charlie's wonderful Arwen desktop wallpaper) while Bobby looks on. This scene embodies everything I love about Charlie. There are geeky references galore, but we also get to see what her character is made of. She's obviously scared and a bit disgusted by what she's learning (and explicitly tells the Winchesters not to tell her what else is out there in the dark), but realizes that her life is over anyway and so figures she had better go down swinging and maybe save a few Tom and Harry's along the way rather than run like a coward.
- Charlie sings when she's nervous. Dean promises a no judgement zone. Good thing too, given that his calming agent of choice usually involves a bottle of whiskey or a few rounds of humming Metallica.
- I love the way Sam gives Charlie a pep talk using Harry Potter comparisons (even if Dean did call him 'Dumbledork').
- Dean calls her 'Veronica Mars'. At this rate I should just go through and list each and every single quote with a reference in it and you'd probably be able to follow the plot of the episode very well just with those.- I want to know why Charlie peeled that strip off of one card and put it on the other to re-swipe. Would that give her higher clearance? If so...where'd she get it? Was it just a plain strip to pull off a 'error' trick where they monitor assumes you're legitimate but with a bad card so they let you through? Or did it just help over her tracks? I'm curious...
- Charlie said if it took longer than 15 minutes to hack Dick's desktop she deserved to be eaten. Wow. She takes her chosen profession seriously!
- Apparently she has a tattoo of Princess Leia sitting on a ten-sided die? Huh. Guess that's where the title comes in.
- Dean giving Charlie a hand in flirting her way past the security guard never fails to make me snicker. Especially the way they both say "I feel dirty" after its over.
- Of course Charlie does hack the desktop in record time and even manages to talk her way back past the suspicious guard (with a bit of help from Bobby who bought her time) without Dean's help. She then sends all the information she's gleaned to the Winchesters, prompting Sam to say this:
- They find out that Dick is having a package sent to him via express and that one of his goons is sitting there waiting to receive it. One thing that always creeps me out about the Leviathans is how they're always casually mentioning 'grabbing a bite' or 'time for a quick snack' whenever they see someone walking by that looks handy. It's just so...gross!
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- The scene where the boys disguise themselves as airport attendees to plant the borax bomb brings back memories of Seasons 1 and 2 and the many uniforms they donned. Back in the days when they looked young enough for FBI to be a last resort. Oh sweet nostalgia!
- "Nothing is unbreakable." Crap. Guess I'd better start learning how to encrypt all those embarrassing half-finished song lyric files I have on my hard-drive!
- I love the way Bobby takes the time to weaken the glass of the RRE building before going and royally kicking the snot out of Dick Roman, giving Sam and Dean and in to jump through (looking both comically dramatic and ridiculously heroic) to help save their new ally from being eaten. That's one thing I like about Charlie...she may be smart and capable and all that, but she still has limitations and sometimes needs help. She's not able to do anything outside of her established abilities. She's a well-rounded character of strengths and weaknesses who sometimes saves the day and sometimes needs saved.
- "The special monsters always need a real special sword." And this is why reading fantasy could save your life one day!
- Sam and Dean are clearly worried about Bobby becoming a vengeful spirit, and it's easy to see why. While his actions in this episode were mostly controlled, him working in an environment where he is saturated with action and information concerning his murderer isn't good for him. Considering that he's a ghost, it's amazing he's lasted this long.
And so ends this adventure with the wonderful Miss Charlie Bradbury...thankfully it will not be the last. She's a delightful character - full of surprises and great moments, but never coming off as over the top or unbelievable. The episode itself had plenty of twists and turns and too many geek references to count. They really outdid themselves this week, considering that this is a show that exploits references almost as much as Buffy. The story was solid, the characters were great, and some elements for the season finale were introduced. The Girl With The Dungeons & Dragons Tattoo is a 5/5.
What did you think? Do you agree with my rating? If not - what would you say differently?
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