Supernatural Review: Season 8 Episode 11 "LARP & The Real Girl"

By: Robbie Thompson

**Spoilers**
If you have not yet seen this episode, please go and do so before proceeding.

            IMHO this should have been called The LARPers Strike Back, but I guess we'll go with what we were given. Not that I'm complaining, mind, because what we were given is no slouch of an offering. This episode sparkles with wit and humor and is a reminder that yes, even after eight seasons, this show has not lost its touch when it comes to humor and poking fun at themselves and the world. Charlie Bradbury returns to SPN and I am more in love with her than ever, Sam and Dean are reintroduced to their old nemesis of LARPing, and Dean recites Braveheart while dressed in chain mail and a blond wig that, for once, makes his hair longer than Sam's. I think I've died and gone to Heaven...so let's not waste any time and jump right in!


Favorite Moments & Random Thoughts:


- Okay, so, hobbling, belladonna poisoning, and whatever it was that killed that geek in the opener (I forget the exact term) is just nasty. Humankind really does come up with some awful, cruel ways to do each other in, don't we?

- Also those marks? I'm not sure whether to make a Harry Potter joke or a Lord of the Rings pun. Oh decisions, decisions!

- "We have the most powerful weapon we've ever had against demons, and we can't find a way to use it." "Yeah, well, Kevin's on it. And when he finds something, he'll call. So we wait. Look, we have both had a rough go over these past couple of weeks. And, uh... I know what you gave up wasn't easy. Maybe we ought to take the night off – go see a flick, hit a bar or two, have some fun. You remember fun, don't you, Sammy?"  Ouch.

- I think it's really funny, quite sweet, and the tiniest bit creepy that Garth has taken up Bobby's banner and has become sort of the control center for hunters. He's the go-to man people call whenever they're looking for a case, but he's taken it a step further and set up GPS tracking on everyone's phones and devices so he can assign cases. Sam is reasonably creeped out by this.

- "You've been Garthed." That only gets funnier the more times I hear it.

- So is Dean still using the EMF meter he built out of a walkman? I thought they lost it at some point. Did he make a new one? Hmmm...

- The sheriff in this episode is the best non-recurring character, hands down. He's just so chill and even cheerful about everything...and he's not even stoned like Ranger Rick was. He's just too awesome for freak outs.

- "So...is there anything missing from the body?" "You mean apart from the arms and legs?"


- "I am a mage. I will destroy you." See, kids, this is why roleplaying over electronic devices (particularly when getting violent) might not be the best idea. What if your buddy is ruined and someone reads those texts/messages? *gulp!* Whoops.

 - The entire scene in the interrogation room leaves me in stitches. I'm not certain which is funnier, Sam and Dean's utter confusions or the beauty of the moment whenever the realization finally dawns on them.

- We get a reference to The Real Ghostbusters.

- The way Dean looks over at Sam makes me wonder if he's remembering that fanboy couple or if he's making a jab at Sam about Becky. Either way, it's hilarious.

- The way Ed dies is absolutely disgusting, though. I'm getting flashbacks to Bloody Mary, and not good ones either. Did they HAVE to do the bleeding from the eyes bit?

- "God forbid he was contagious...I'm going to go dip myself in hand sanitizer."

- I absolutely LOVE the website for Moondoor. Honestly it looks like the sort of place that would be a little slice of utopia. I love the attention to detail they put in. Everything from the foam swords to the varying-degrees-of-time-and-effort-costumes to the LotR rip-off names (like Shadow Orcs) is just perfection.

- And then, of course, you have Charlie who is now Queen of Moondoor. Naturally.

- FINALLY SOMEONE NOTICED THAT SAM AND DEAN USE FAKE ID BADGES! In all the years of their scams, nobody has ever questioned it. Guess it took one LARPer to know another...

- Charlie, once again, opted to stay behind and help because her friends were in danger. I love the way they never show her as not being afraid or even not being cowardly and selfish. She is. She's ready to run, even though she's tired of it. But when push comes to shove she will make the right choice. That is the mark of a well-written character!

- And she crowns Dean like the princess he is...how can you not love that?

- Dean gives really good pep talks.

- It's interesting how, at the end of this episode, Charlie goes back to using the alias of 'Charlie'...presumably because that's the name Sam and Dean know her as. She's tired of running. She's going to decide who she is and then stick to that.

- I really think it's funny, given how cross he was about it last time they tried, just how into LARPing Dean turns out to be. He relishes that wooden sword. He has fun dressing up in medieval garb. He's excited about Charlie being queen. Sometimes I think that Dean is just a big kid because he never got the chance to be one whenever he actually was a kid. (That's probably why Sam usually ends up giving in to him too. He just wants to see his big brother happy.)

- Charlie has some fun with it too and by the end of this episode Sam and Dean have totally accepted Charlie into their family circle. She has literally become the sister they never knew they wanted. And Charlie, in direct contrast to their parting in The Girl With The Dungeons & Dragons Tattoo, tells them to contact her if they ever need anything and pretty much makes them promise to at least text her once and a while. Welcome to the Winchester family, Charlie. Enjoy your stay!

- Dean looks quite excited at the idea of interrogating a Shadow Orc and observes, just a bit too cheerfully, that clearly the Geneva Convention doesn't exist in medieval Moondoor.

- Sam, while Charlie and Dean are hanging out in the forest with the orcs, goes and has a little adventure of his own the technology 'portal to the future' tent where all the LARPers can go to make sure they're caught up on their RPG. The game shown on screen is the one Felicia Day voiced a character for...I can't remember the exact name.

- He also gets hit on by 'Gholandira' who thinks that doing a genre mash-up with him in her tent would be just wonderful. It's nice to see that SPN isn't invoking the dull and untrue Nerd Are Virgins Not By Choice trope that seems to cause such hilarity elsewhere.

- "I have a crush on the queen. Could you put in a good word for me?" "Trust me. You're not her type." Poor guy...

- Charlie gets captured by a fairy named Gilda. Drat. I was hoping for a Shakespeare reference...couldn't they have named her Titiana? Still....I'm not complaining. Because it's a fairy. And I think Charlie may have found her true love. And we get a good old-fashioned information exposition dump as Gilda reveals her master's evil plans. Apparently someone is taking the game WAY too seriously...

- Guess the lesson to be taken from that is that role playing is fun, but eventually you have to face up to the trials of real life. Don't waste away in a fantasy land.

- It's a lesson that Boltar the Furious CLEARLY didn't learn as (with a classic villain cloak cowl reveal) he shows us just what can happen whenever you try to live your life entirely inside your made-up dreamworld. Basically you become deranged and lose track of reality. Geek crack gone too far, actually.

I want a foam sword that will do that...

- Boltar bought his spell book off of Ebay. *snort*

- Sam gets strangled...again...by a suit of armor while Dean gets in a duel with Boltar, taunting all the way. "Loser in real life, loser in the game!"

- And Charlie manages to restore balance to the Force by grabbing the spell book binding Gilda to Boltar and stabbing it a la Chamber of Secrets with a cheeky remark about how SHE'S the one to rescue the damsels in distress. Gilda says goodbye to her rescuer and takes Boltar with her into the faerie realm to be judged. Going by what Dean experienced in Clap Your Hands If You Believe, his punishment is NOT going to be fun!

"Is that...the speech from Braveheart?!"
"It's the only one he knows."

- So after that gloriously wonderful climax Sam and Dean get ready to say goodbye, only to realize that Charlie's army is down several people. What follows is, hands-down, probably the best Winchester moment ever: Dean in a long, blond wig reciting the speech from Braveheart to a band of nerds (and his brother and sister) only to be interrupted by a rogue Frisbee. Oh...it is beautiful!

 

           This episode is just a lot of fun and it's definitely a SPN classic. The return of Charlie is done very well and doesn't feel forced at all, the humor is impeccable and still retains its irreverent and screwball nature while at the same time packing in a lot of heart, and we got to see Dean in chain mail. I'm not seeing any downsides there! LARP & The Real Girl is a 5/5.

What did you think? Do you agree with my rating? If not - what would you say differently?