"Dark Dynasty"
Original Airdate: May 6, 2015
A hero can be a lot of things. In most cases, a hero is more or less the good guy of the story. It is a person with mostly noble qualities, such as bravery and strength: someone we root for to save the world, or simply to do what’s right, despite what the consequences might be. Usually, the hero is the one who wins. They face off with the villain, and there’s violence and bloodshed, but in the end, it’s the hero that steps out of the wreckage and claims victory.
But it doesn’t always work like that. Sometimes the hero goes into a situation they know they won’t make it out of, but they accept their fate regardless, because they know they’re making the right choice. They could easily just cower in fear, give the villain what they want in return for a chance at survival, but they don’t. That’s not what a hero does. A hero stands their ground and refuses to give up.
Such is the death of Charlie Bradbury, our Queen of Moons and beloved redheaded nerd.
“Sam and Dean are like my brothers. I love them.”
“I know. And that steadfast loyalty will be your undoing, my girl.”
I’m definitely not crying. There’s a leak in the ceiling or something, and it’s raining. These are definitely not heartbroken tears streaming down my face. Shut up and pass me a tissue, and ignore the loud sniffling sounds as I do my best to recap the highlights of this episode.
Still lurking around behind Dean’s back with Rowena, Sam brings in both Charlie and Castiel to help in their attempt to translate the Codex and the Book of the Damned. For the most part, we’ve seen Dean as completely clueless to all of this, but in this episode, his doubts finally start to show, and it becomes more obvious to him that Sam’s been up to something shady. The odd, late nights out somewhere unknown, the constant phone calls that he continues to shrug off -- it takes a liar to know one, and Dean’s no stranger to secrecy.
Once more, the brothers find themselves facing off against Eldon, one of the Stynes… or should I say… the Frankensteins? As it turns out, Mary Shelley was a family acquaintance, revealing their secrets through her book and forcing them to go underground and alter their family name. It’s only when Eldon mentions that the Book of the Damned is protected by a spell that prevents it from being destroyed that Dean really begins to realize that his brother has been lying to him all along. Something did burn, but it wasn’t the real book.
Dean leaves the room briefly to confront him, but barely a moment passes before they hear a noise, running back to the room Eldon had been chained in to find that he’s escaped. All that’s left behind is a torn off arm just hanging there -- there are plenty of “need a hand” puns I could put here, but I’ll spare you.
Meanwhile, annoyed of the constant bickering with Rowena, Charlie slips away, feeling the only way she can really focus on her research on the book’s translations is if she’s alone. She checks into a motel, but with the help from one of his brothers, Eldon easily tracks her down, determined to get what belongs to their family.
And here’s where all that hero stuff comes in… Charlie could have easily given her notes up, and in return Eldon might have spared her. She was merely caught in the crossfire of what the family truly wanted, which is the Book of the Damned, so maybe, just maybe, things might have gone differently had she just handed it over. The thing about heroes, though, is a lot of them will die for what they believe in. Charlie refused to allow their one and only chance to help Dean fall into the wrong hands, so in the very last moments of her life, she uploaded what she had and destroyed the device.
Also, can I just point out, Charlie died wearing a clown shirt, of all things? I’m not sure if that was done on purpose, or not, considering one of Sam’s biggest fears are clowns, but yeah. I only noticed that during my rewatch of this episode and that made it all the more traumatizing.
No matter what anyone says about this episode, no matter how negative the reactions were, I believe Charlie Bradbury died a hero, and that’s what we should focus on here. She chose her family over her own life, and if that doesn’t make her a Winchester, I don’t know what does. We’ve definitely lost a part of the family, here, but then again, this is Supernatural. No one is ever really gone for good.
Memorable Moments/Quotes:
- “You won’t forget the grocery shopping, will you?” I can just picture Sam sneaking off to a grocery store, trying to decide between which snacks to bring Rowena. Actually, they should have shown that in this episode. That would have been great.
- “I have not heard of this institution, and I know all the great global centers of witchcraft.” “Makes sense, cause I’m not a witch. I’m a nerd. And I know all the great centers of nerdom.”
- “What are you? Witch or nerd?” “Angel.” “Beg pardon?”
- “Dean doesn’t know? Sam, this never ends well.” IT NEVER DOES.
- “Just for once, I wish you trolls would bring me good news. ‘Sire, Missouri has boils.’ Something cheerful.” Every Crowley scene in this episode was gold. Using someone as a dart board, talking to the hamster… I’ve said it before and I’ll say it again, I NEED some kind of King of Hell spin-off or prequel type thing.
- “It sounds like blood sugar is dipping in here. I got snacks.When I was human, I grew very fond of these pork rinds.”
- “I’m happy I got a murder to focus on, though.” Only on Supernatural does that constitute as a normal thing to say.
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