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Supernatural - Book of the Damned - Review

Apr 16, 2015

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Supernatural, “Book of the Damned,” was written by Robbie Thompson and directed by PJ Pesce. The other episode that Pesce directed was last season’s “King of the Damned,” so apparently he’s there “Damned” specialist. The episode also marks the return of Charlie (Felicia Day), and Cas (Misha Collins) finally getting his grace back. In many ways, this episode is a nice tribute to much that has come before – a nice season 10 walk down memory lane. However, it also feels to me like we may be setting up for next season to be a victory lap and the series last. Of note in this episode is the terrific music and Jerry Wanek’s sets. There are also a few glorious brotherly moments.

Having just finished watching Arrow, I wasn’t sure if I was still watching it during the opening scene as we see a hooded figure running through an alley with a weapon strapped to their back! I wonder if this sequence was shot with the idea that it would be the first airing in the new Wednesday time slot. Regardless, how cool is it that Charlie carries a katana – like Michonne from The Walking Dead! Jacob Styne (Jeff Branson) and his family have been following Charlie for some time in order to get back the Book of the Damned. Charlie gets away, but not before being shot.

Meanwhile, back at the Bunker, Sam (Jared Padalecki) is still lying to Dean (Jensen Ackles). Dean walks in (in a fan-pleasing hoodie) on Sam on the phone to Cas, which Sam plays off as a wrong number. Dean, however, somewhat surprisingly, tells Sam everything he learned from Rowena (Ruth Connell) and Crowley (Mark Sheppard). They’re interrupted in discussing the Mark as a curse by Charlie’s call. She’s stitched herself up with dental floss – so the wound is “minty fresh” (nice Shrek reference!). If you aren’t familiar with fan fiction, stitching wounds with dental floss is a pretty common trope – as is Dean in a hoodie.

Charlie fills them in on the Book of the Damned that she rescued from a ruined monastery crypt. She tells them that it’s “a spell book for doing or undoing any damnation.” She also tells them about the tattoo she saw on Styne. They in turn give her directions to one of Bobby’s many cabins in the area – for hunters to use to lay low in. The cabin itself is the magnificent result of Jerry Wanek’s incredible set designing talents. A quick shout out for the beautiful library later in the episode because that too is entirely a set! We may be missing our funky motels, but Wanek is hard at work making up for them with these beautifully detailed sets. I was particularly taken with the fireplace at the cabin which Pesce uses for some gorgeous shots.

We get the first of two terrific classic songs as the boys drive to meet up with Charlie. It’s also one of the first brotherly moments. Dean has the tunes cranked as “The Boys Are Back In Town” by Thin Lizzy plays. I have to say, I think that they had to have replaced whatever Ackles was actually singing along to at the time of taping because what he’s doing with his mouth has no relation to the actual song. Dean is clearly optimistic that they’re going to be able to remove the Mark. He’s euphoria is a good indication of how worried he’s been about the Mark and its effect on him. Of course, we haven’t actually seen any manifestation of this except for one nightmare and the occasional flash of black eyes – both of which could just be the stress of worrying about the effects of the Mark.

Dean suddenly wants to take a vacation. Of course, this follows along with his previous musings this season about wondering about a life outside hunting. He wants to go to the beach – something neither of them have ever done: “Sand between our toes, Sammy. Sand between our toes.” Sam still looks worried and unconvinced that this will work. In case we’ve forgotten, Sam reminds us later in the episode of how he felt in season one. The season continues the role reversal of the brothers, with Dean thinking about life outside of or beyond hunting and Sam happy simply within the life. Dean’s first thought though is that it’s the both of them on that beach.

When they get to the cabin, Charlie tells them that 700 years ago, a nun locked herself away after having visions of darkness. A couple decades later she reemerged with the book in which the pages were made from her skin and the ink is her blood. YUK! As she speaks, Dean is holding the book and completely zones out. He tells them that he doesn’t think it’s a good idea for him to touch the book and takes off to bring the rest of the things in. Sam tells Charlie that Dean is getting worse. Again – evidence?

While Sam and Charlie try to decode the book, Dean looks through the Men of Letters files on occult families and discovers that the tattoo belongs to the Styne family. They have a very shady background – a “multi-generational centuries-old wrong.” They’ve been involved with creating disease, de-stabilizing markets, and helping the Nazis before they came to power. Anybody else hoping this might lead to a return of Aaron Bass (Adam Rose) with a link to the Thule Society and a need of the Judah Initiative?

Dean tells them that they can’t use the book. When you use it, “there’s a negative reaction. I’m talking Biblical negative. Dark magic always comes with a price, we know that, we've been down that road before.” He goes on to tell them:  You guys don't understand, the book's been calling out to me ever since I laid eyes on it, okay. Calling out to the Mark. I can hear it like it's alive, it wants me to use it, but not for good. Look I wanted it to be the answer too, okay. I really did. But we have to get rid of it; burn it, bury it -- I don't give a damn, we'll just have to find another way to fix the Mark.” Charlie’s concerned that Dean is just giving up, but he assures them that he doesn’t have a death wish. But Dean is always going to be Dean – he’s not willing to sacrifice others just to save himself.

Padalecki and Ackles are both terrific in this scene. Dean insists he’ll fight the Mark as long as he can. Sam presses him for what happens after Dean can’t fight it any longer. He tells Dean that he can’t stand Dean becoming a demon again – or having to “cure” him again which goes unspoken. Dean suggest that Sam just keep him a prisoner in the Bunker. Even Charlie doesn’t see that as an option. Sam begs Dean to just let them translate the book because he can’t face losing his brother. They can deal with the consequences later. Dean asks him if he’s changed his mind since last time – and they leave it hanging – prime food for Charlie’s curiosity. Dean insists the book has to be destroyed before it falls into the wrong hands, including his own. He tells Sam that he’ll get his vacation, but not this way, before leaving to get snacks. Charlie suggests that Dean might be right.

The scene between Charlie and Sam discussing the hunting life is outstanding. Both Day and Padalecki are terrific, but Padalecki even more so. Charlie presses Sam for what Dean meant. Sam tells her about the end of season eight – hence the inclusion of the angels falling in the THEN montage. It’s also significant that Cas’s grace problem also finally comes to a close here. Sam tells her they had a chance to close the gates of Hell, but that he would have had to die to do it. He was – and is – ok with that but Dean wasn’t. I loved that she completely sums up season nine in about two sentences: “He saved you. And let me guess, in doing so he did something you didn’t want and that pissed you off and you said something that hurt him.”

This leads into a discussion of “the life” which ends in tears or death – how many times have we heard Dean say that over the years! Sam tells Charlie that the way he got sucked in was by always thinking it would be just one more case. He goes right back to the Pilot and Dean coming for him and then the search to find Jess’s killer. He tells her he always thought he’d go back to law and his life. She says, “You’re the Dread Pirate Roberts of hunting.” Of course, she would draw a parallel to The Princess Bride! Loved it! And then Sam replies, “I guess I really understand now that this is my life. I love it. But I can't do it without my brother. I don't want to do it without my brother. And if he's gone, then I don't...” I think these were all words that fans of the show have been waiting a very, very long time to hear. I want to particularly praise Padalecki in this scene. He’s said many times how much he enjoys playing different Sams – demon-blood-Sam, soulless-Sam, etc – but we haven’t gotten a lot of just Sam in what feels like a long time, and he proves here why we’ve been missing that Sam. And while Dean isn’t even in this scene, it’s another wonderful brother moment.

Meanwhile, Dean runs into trouble getting Charlie’s snacks when he finds Styne behind the cash register. The confrontation between Dean and Jacob is terrific, and I’m disappointed Branson is unlikely to come back. I loved that Branson’s drawl seemed to rub off on Ackles in this scene – or was Dean just mocking him – as Charlie did by calling him Gambit? I also like how stone-faced Dean is in his denials – let’s not forget what a good liar Dean is. Some of what Styne says seems to muddy the waters a bit, however. He says to Dean that him walking in was more providence than coincidence. He seems to link it to divine intervention. He also tells Dean that the book can remove the Mark but if he messes around with it, he’ll do more harm than good. It sounds like he’s not only trying to get the book back but to dissuade Dean from using it. Are they actually trying to keep the book safely away from people? Do they view those with the book as a danger to be eliminated for the greater good? Of course, killing the innocent cashier kind of flies in the face of that theory, but still, something to think about.

Dean returns to the cabin, knowing he’s being followed and insists that they have to burn the book in a holy oil fire. He insists the price is too high and that the book is calling to him, wanting him to take it away and do very bad things. Dean and Charlie fight while Sam seems to take forever to get the book in the fire. Styne arrives and even though Dean shoots him multiple times, he still manages to get to Sam and try throttling him even as Sam stabs him. We never do get an explanation for why it takes so much to kill them. Of course, Sam took so long because he was switching the book out and didn’t burn it.

Sam lies to Cas this time as well as Dean. The final scene shows Sam with Rowena, asking for her help. He tells her, “I don’t trust him, and I never will, but I need help and this is right in your wheel house.” Presumably the “he” Sam doesn’t trust is Crowley. Given Crowley’s history with Dean, that makes sense. And it’s Dean’s information about Rowena saying it was a curse and could be removed and her being on the outs with Crowley that leads Sam to her.

Meanwhile, we have Metatron (Curtis Armstrong) and Castiel’s roadtrip running parallel. Somehow Armstrong wasn’t quite as annoying as an annoying human. I’m sure that I wasn’t alone in really enjoying Cas punching him in the face, torturing him, and calling Sam to ask to kill him. It’s impossible to ever trust Metatron given what we’ve seen him do in the past, so I didn’t fall for his “human” act. I did like that he asks Cas if he doesn’t miss the feelings of being human – the taste of food for instance. Cas denies that he misses it at all, but we know that he did because he told Sam that he missed the taste of peanut butter and jelly sandwiches.

Metatron wants to be “besties” but Cas points out that Metatron killed his friend (Dean) which takes that off the table. Cas presses him for stalling, and Metatron, fairly reasonably, points out that once he tells Cas where his grace is will kill him. He’s not wrong. Metatron saves Cas when they are attacked by an angry Cupid. Yes. That’s ironic too.

Metatron finally takes Cas to the library where his grace is really hidden. Metatron sent an angel to hide it and to leave clues to find it. I thought this was actually a really interesting scene. And I will give credit where credit is due. Armstrong does a very good job in this episode of showing a clear distinction between human-Metatron and megalomaniac-Metatron, and we see him shift from one to the other just through his speech delivery in this scene. The scene also addresses a number of fan concerns about the entire angel storyline. It’s one of the things that feels a lot like this storyline is being wrapped up.

Metatron begins by once again trying to win Cas to his side: “We make a good team.” He says they’re like a buddy comedy without the comedy. Cas adds “without the buddies.” Cas is appalled that they had to kill the Cupid and vow that they not kill any more of their brothers and sisters. Metatron says they aren’t a family. Angels are just “a bunch of glowing lights filled with self-doubt or delusions of grandeur.” Common complaint about how the angels are portrayed on the show. Cas is the first and Metatron the second. It’s at this point that Metatron clearly sounds like Metatron again.

Like fans, Metatron wants answers before he dies. In particular, he wants to know what Cas is now. Fans would also like to know what Cas’s purpose is going forward. He’s not an angel of the Lord – Castiel’s description of himself from his first appearance – because there is no Lord. What happens when he finishes with his mission walking the earth? Surely he’s running out of rogue angels to round up. I wonder how many people watching got the Kung Fu reference – surely the demographic isn’t skewing that old! Hannah has cleaned up Heaven, so there’s nothing for Cas to do there either.  Like fans, Metatron wants to know what Cas’s mission is now.

Cas, unfortunately, doesn’t get the opportunity to answer as Metatron casts the spell he’d been writing on the books in his own blood and Cas is incapacitated. There’s a nice tidy little bit of writing as Metatron quotes the Alanis Morrisette song he’d been gushing over at the beginning of the episode: “Isn’t it ironic? Don’t you think?” And did everyone catch the voice of executive producer Bob Singer as the radio announcer? Metatron gets away with the demon tablet which was also hidden there and not destroyed. This would appear to put closing the gates of Hell back on the table while also offering a potentials source of information for a cure for Dean.

Meanwhile, Cas has been busy considering the riddle and realizes that it lead to Don Quixote. How perfect to hide Cas’s grace there! Just like Quixote, Cas seems to have been tilting fruitlessly at windmills. Given that we had a brief appearance for God earlier in the season, is it time for Cas to take up his real quest again? Finding God, and finding his real purpose? In the short term, however, Cas is able to restore what’s left of his grace – which looks like quite a lot, but perhaps it’s not possible to only fill half the container with the swirling light? However, when we see Cas’s wings, they are clearly sick – much like when we saw Gadreel’s last season. Can Cas heal back to full strength or will he remain limited going forward?

The episode ends with everyone regrouping at the Bunker, and Cas and Sam reassure each other that they did the right things. Cas thinks he should have sacrificed his grace and just killed Metatron, and it appears that Sam is now also lying to Cas. Cas and Charlie finally meet, and it’s adorable when she says she thought he’d be shorter after simply spontaneously hugging him hello. She asks if he can’t just heal Dean, but of course, this is beyond even his restored powers. He is able to cure Charlie’s carpal tunnel syndrome and her gunshot wound, however, causing Charlie to declare them best friends.

Dean arrives and is happy to see Cas now fully restored, but wants to know how it happened. Cas continues to keep Dean in the dark and says it was Hannah who got the information out of Metatron. I’m betting Dean is going to be pretty pissed when Metatron shows up with the demon tablet. We then get the second great classic rock song: “Behind Blue Eyes” by none other than The Who. It would seem logical that the blue eyes belong to Cas, but the camera never focuses on him. Just an FYI, Connell has green eyes.

      We see the four enjoying a pizza party as the song plays, but it’s clear that neither Sam nor Dean are as happy as they are pretending to be. Sam, in particular, does a poor job of pretending. As the song plays, the camera lingers on Dean over the lyrics “bad man” and over Sam for “sad man.” The camera cuts between them over “telling only lies.” Dean looks at Sam like he may suspect something is going on – Dean’s not that stupid, remember. The lyrics go on with “my dreams aren’t as empty as my conscience seems to be.” Pretty fitting given what we’ve seen these brothers do to save each other.

This episode throws a lot of balls in the air. Metatron on the loose with the demon tablet, Sam throwing in with Rowena, Castiel with his grace back – though how this helps anyone remains to be seen. I thought Day was terrific in the episode. She provided a good sounding block for Sam. She was a help to the brothers and didn’t upstage them. Day does both the comedy and drama well – and I know there is a very vocal faction of fans who will vociferously disagree with me, but there it is.

If you were wondering about the dedication to Jaap Boeker at the end of the episode, Boeker worked as a stand-in on the show for its first seven seasons and recently passed away. What did you think of the episode? Did you enjoy the brotherly moments? Do you think Sam is making bad choices in going to Rowen and keeping Dean in the dark? Do you think Dean suspects? Let me know your thoughts in the comments below!

About the Author - Lisa Macklem
I do interviews and write articles for the site in addition to reviewing a number of shows, including Supernatural, Arrow, Agents of Shield, The Walking Dead, Game of Thrones, Forever, Defiance, Bitten, Glee, and a few others! Highlights of this past year include covering San Diego Comic Con as press and a set visit to Bitten. When I'm not writing about television shows, I'm often writing about entertainment and media law in my capacity as a legal scholar. I also work in theatre when the opportunity arises. I'm an avid runner and rider, currently training in dressage.

88 comments:

  1. I liked Charlie when she was first introduced. Her last episode was shaky, but I loved her in this episode too! Glad to see that I'm not alone. Out of curiosity though, why do you think this episode set up for next season as a series finale?

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  2. It feels like they are wrapping up Castiel's storyline - I think that's pretty obvious. But it also feels like Sam and Dean are both at peace overall with the hunting life. Dean seems to be willing to let in a little normal - like a vacation, outside relationships, and Sam is clearly at peace with the life. Now that the demon tablet is back in play, that also sets up for them both to go out in a blaze of glory shutting the gates of hell forever - which comes with it's own set of logic problems, but lets ignore those for now...

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  3. I'm also relieved not to be alone in liking Charlie here!

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  4. yeah i LOVE Charlie so much!

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  5. with love and squalorApril 17, 2015 at 12:30 AM

    Singer seems to be either really smitten with or really annoyed by Alanis Morissette's IRONIC. In season 4 (episode 8 ???) of LOIS & CLARK (of which he and Eugenie Ross-Leming were executive producers) there is an entire conversation about the song and how none of the things mentioned in it are really ironic. Pretty much what Metatron here says in one sentence.

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  6. I still don't like Rowena one bit but otherwise found the episode to be pretty great. Much better then the previous three in my opinion.

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  7. The Mary-Sueness was down to a minimum, as opposed to the last one where we learn dark Charlie single handedly won a war. Still I'd really like to see someone else on the writing team take a crack at writing Charlie next season.

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  8. You know, if you wanna get technical, Metatron has never lied to Castiel. In season 8 he told him, "Angels get uppity, slam the pearly gates." And that's exactly what happened, though he lest out what side of the gates the angels would be on. And in this case, he did bring Cas to the location of his grace like he said he would.


    Also as an aside, this was Armstrong's 12th episode, only 7 other actors have hit double digit appearances in 10 seasons.

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  9. Armstrong's presence has been an irritant since his 2nd appearance. He's terrible. This episode was marginally better, but I very, very much wish that Cas had killed him.

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  10. Agreed! And I can take her having one line.

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  11. Honestly, good for them. The lyrics are utterly non-sensical. Find anyone with an English degree and they will rail against that song...

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  12. I'd disagree with her "single-handedly" winning the war. Charlie is in the last episode of the season and I doubt Thompson is writing that.

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  13. That could be really interesting! That's all I want for a series finale honestly, one HUGE battle with demons, monsters, rogue angels...I want to see them "go down, swinging"

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  14. Pretty sure Carver's writing that one...usually the showrunner writes the premiere and the finale

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  15. Well, that's what Charlie told Sam and Dean in the episode.


    Last ep is Carver. So it'll be interesting to see Charlie used by someone else.

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  16. Yes, I know, but has that been confirmed? I'm waiting to hear if he'll actually be back as showrunner. Back in November he was exec producing a pilot based on the Dennis Quaid movie Frequency.

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  17. I would anticipate Carver, but has it been confirmed? Also, don't underestimate how much input Thompson could have, especially where Charlie is concerned. It's not unusual for writers who created a character to get tagged for shadowing dialogue for eps they don't write.

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  18. I always wanted them to keep on hunting or retire. But I'm more and more leaning towards the blaze of glory....

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  19. It's the standard, you can bet 99% that it's a Carver episode. The only time a showrunner hasn't written the finale was season 6 when Kripke wrote it.


    Except for some minor shuffling this season, you can predict which writer will write which episode from past seasons.

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  20. The show has to end with their deaths, the show is fairly pessimistic and nihilistic, and for there to be a happy ending kinda betrays the tone. Hell, even Jared and Jensen believe that the show should end with them going out in a blaze of glory. Though I did like Jensen's idea of Sam having died, and trading the Impala for a motorcycle, because riding in it would be too painful without Sam, and just rides off into the sunset on the bike.

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  21. The tone has been ruined/diluted over the last few seasons. Besides which, given what we know about heaven, that would be a happy retirement for them - likely with all their family/friends. Going out in a blaze of glory is still a happy ending for them.

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  22. with love and squalorApril 17, 2015 at 9:55 AM

    Oh, I totally agree. I was just thinking: Hey, this is a Singer thing! Especially with him being the radio voice. And a nice shout out to LOIS & CLARK. In FRENCH MISTAKE the Robert Singer character (the producer, not Bobby) already mentioned Dean Cain which I thought was hilarious.

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  23. That's what I was generally thinking. Like they always do that commercial break before the last 5 or so minutes of the show, I figured before the break it would show them dying and then those last five minutes would be Heaven and this huge reunion of past characters...

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  24. Like Hellboy said to you earlier, I don't think they can just retire because they've shown in both S6 with Dean and S8 with Sam that they'll always get pulled back. If they keep hunting, there's more story to tell. I DON'T like what JA said about the Impala and the bike (even though JA said it was a dream); I figured if anything if Sam died, Dean would go down with him even if it was Thelma and Louise style.

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  25. Also Heaven changed from Season 5 it seemed, so considering they seem not to know what to do with Cas, I'm hoping he fixes it to how it seemed to be then, like going through your memories, Sam and Dean sharing a Heaven kind of deal. Would be really cool to bring back "Harvelle's" and just see everyone there.

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  26. I don't know if he'll be back as Showrunner, but Kripke and Gamble both wrote the finale episodes before they handed over the mantle. And I think the writers for the remaining 5 episodes are (Berens, Thompson, Bucker/Ross-Leming, Dabb, Carver)

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  27. Heaven seemed the same. You ever think one of Bobby's few good memories was getting drunk on an afternoon and reading a Tori Spelling autobiography?

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  28. Sorry no, can't do it. Was in two minds about even watching this episode and thought I'll see if people say if it is good or not, but after this review I get to the part of hooded figure with weapon strapped on back right at the beginning and see it is Charlie - no.


    Too much, way way too much.

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  29. Maybe, but Bobby didn't seem too happy imho.

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  30. I'm sorry if this offends anyone, I just really need to understand this...if someone is dedicated to a show for so long and there are so many dedicated viewers, how can one not want to watch an episode because there's a character they despise in said episode? If that's the case, I wouldn't have watched any of the episodes with Lisa and would have missed out on the fun Twilight parodying episode (I don't like Twilight). Or for another example, every episode with Zachariah (because of every character I despise him the most) meaning I would have missed every integral episode of S4 and S5. And other characters like Amelia, Rowena, even Crowley recently (sorry Crowley fans)...you suffer through the "bad" characters to get to the heart of the episode and the heart of the "good" ones. This episode was probably my favorite of the season. So even if people don't like Charlie because of her "Mary-Sue-ness" or her "forced comedy" or "acting like she's superior to Sam and Dean" (which I personally have not seen), and then skip those episodes, we miss the introduction of the Tablets, Sam and Dean on the mends in S8, Dean losing control of the Mark by hurting a friend, and bringing in this Spell Book that could possibly lead to what might happen next season, plus everything else that happened last night...I just don't understand skipping a single episode because even if it's a one-off, there are elements laid that will later play into the series...

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  31. Its easy to do.


    I don't like the anvil, creator pet that Charlie has become. Any info would just be lose in my cringing, because she is too much. Way too much.


    I suffer anvil fatigue from when she is on screen anyway and don't think I can really bear that she is sweet and innocent considering she actually helped keep colonialism going in Oz because think about it - who was Charlie single handedly putting in power in that war? Who was the ruler at the end and her chief advisor - Dorothy the outsider and the dark Wizard. Because it was them and not those from Oz ruling the emerald city at the end of it.


    But now she is a ninja - after seeing on screen her beat up a lawyer and having her ass handed to her by Dean. She is really Scrappy do of this show.

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  32. I mean were Sam and Dean particularly happy when they were in Heaven. Bobby's was a bit of a grump in life, so it makes sense he would be one in the afterlife.

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  33. Well, Kripke actually wrote the season 6 finale. But then he was still fairly involved in crafting the story for season 6.

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  34. Dean, Sam and Castiel are spectacular characters and Jensen, Jared and Mischa fantastic actors !!!

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  35. Why does Carver think turning Sam into an idiot makes him cool? Why not bring the book to Cas instead of Rowena who tried to kill Dean? Why does Sam think he can trust Rowena to cure Dean instead of killing him? Or killing him after curing the MOC?

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  36. I don't find it hard to skip FAN FAVORITE Charlie at all. It's not like anybody will miss anything but her sparkly, nerdy, "equal footing" to the Winchesters. Anything else that comes up can be easily picked up on operating with just one brain cell.


    Moving Charlie from a one-off nerd, to Queen Bee Charlie whom everyone worships, to little Little Sister Winchester, to instal-hunter learned from reading the Winchester Gospels, to a hunter on the level of the Winchesters moaning about how hard the hunters life is completely trivializes the entire backstory of the Winchesters and hunters in general -- the years of training it took, the knowledge learned along the way, the sacrifices they have made, and the loss of friends and families along the way. It now means absolutely nothing, except perhaps the Winchesters are a couple of losers or really stupid because it took them that many years of training to be hunters. Heck, John looks the dumbest of them all. He spent 22 years trying to find one danged demon. Charlie could have found that demon in a matter of weeks; that is just how special she is.


    I just read the synopsis for Dark Dynasty. It sounded really fun and cutesy (*sarcasm8) -- Cas refereeing Rowena and Charlie. Why do I need to see that? -- especially this close to the finale and we still have barely seen the interesting MoC story, which has turned out to not be a story at all -- just an audience hook strung out over 18 months of the show while we watched a parade of support characters episode after episode.

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  37. I had not heard Charlie will be in the finale. The last I heard, it was 10.18 and 10.21, and 10.21 which was filmed out of order to accommodate Day's schedule (per Jensen). She's just that special.

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  38. Jim Michaels confirmed Carver would be writing the finale.

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  39. NBC didn't pick up that Pilot.

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  40. Agree, for years anyone getting into the hunting game was warned off because of the dangers including ex marine Cole and Jo, who was raised in it.


    Charlie comes skipping in with only video game experience and now is Queen hunter. Why have the Winchesters and hunters at all? Just have Charlie.


    Is it sad that after reading the synopsis of Duck Dynasty, I really want Rowena to gut her. Just so we are shown Charlie come up across a threat that is actually threatening even if it is Rowena? It sounds cruel and many may say misogynistic but really if Rowena gets bested by Charlie after so many episodes of her being manipulative and shown she can survive almost anything thrown at her or she becomes Charlie's BFF then the show should just end. Really just end it.

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  41. True, but I meant that Kripke wrote season 5 finale and Gamble wrote season 7 before she passed it to Carver.

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  42. Maybe, I thought there a photo they posted for the finale that showed Day, but I could be wrong.

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  43. I think in Sam's mind...it's a spell book...who better to decipher it then a witch?

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  44. He couldn't take it to someone who hadn't recently tried to murder Dean?

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  45. Old magic requires an old witch. And the Winchesters frankly don't know any witches, especially ones that would dabble in dark magic.

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  46. Nice, thorough review. I have to say, though, that this show is getting tired. I don't think there was a single major "development" this episode I didn't call out before it happened. Metatron getting one over on Cas? Check. Sam not burning the book? Check. Sam going to Rowena (for fuck's sake!)? Check--because now the Winchesters seem generally to have to do whatever is the stupidest possible thing they could do, in any given circumstance.

    And Charlie got chased halfway around the world before she could find a phone? And the book couldn't call out to the . . . Steins? is that who they are? . . . from the ruins it was in, it had to be dug up first? Really?

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  47. Maybe it was in an iron box in the ruins?....

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  48. Metatron - the angel who could decipher the tablets, said it was a curse older than that, so I'm betting an angel couldn't decipher it. As a curse, it needs a witch - and Rowena is the oldest witch (possibly the only?) witch they know.

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  49. I hope you read the whole review... the episode is about more than Charlie.

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  50. Shame. Just to get rid of Carver - though I suppose it could be worse if they promoted from the room...

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  51. Yes, I know this (I actually have a handy chart with who wrote every episode etc). It's sad when I look at that list of writers and none inspire me with confidence that it will be a good episode...

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  52. They can end the story any way they want. LOTS of show have characters ride off into the sunset of retirement etc.

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  53. Spare me from ever having to see Harvelle's again.

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  54. And Sam and Dean weren't impressed by Heaven when they were there in "Dark Side of the Moon."

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  55. The part where you compare Charlie to Michonne because of the Katana and the bit with Arrow. Sorry no.


    Arrow, only when they are prepared to use them or are on patrol is anyone in arrow conspicuously carrying weapons. You don't see Oliver, Ra's or Malcolm walking down the street with their weapons out.


    Michonne, living in an apocalyptic world - needs weapon to stay alive.


    From the review hooded figure running down an alley with a sword strapped to her back and Iguess she has been running for a while. This is today, not a post apocalypic world so why not walk down a street with a gun - would be less likely to be a target than walking down the street with a katana on your back. At least you'd be less likely to be stopped by the police if they don't see the obvious weapon you are carrying.


    So the only purpose of that blade is to tell us the character is cool and if the writers are trying that hard to tell us that a character is that cool then there is something wrong from the start and turns me off. What happened to the days that the boys were smart enough not to walk into a bank armed because it would set off alarm bells or Jo walking into Crowley's unarmed because it would set off alarm bells. But Charlie is supposed to freely move around the planet interacting with normal folk from time to time with a four foot blade strapped to her with no come back other than the those chasing her?


    Hell even in Highlander they never walked around broadcasting 'I have a sword, I have a bloody big sword with me that I can use' and that was twenty years ago.

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  56. You're over-thinking it and letting your hate for the character get in the way of passing pop-culture references. It's no different than her saying "minty-fresh" is a throw away to Shrek or last week when Bobby called Metatron a Fraggle. None of those are meant to be thought of literally. And seriously, you are going to apply the "real world" to Dean and Sam's world? Hate to break it to you but vampires, werewolves, rugarus, etc don't actually exist either.

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  57. But here's the point about Charlie's character, Lisa. Charlie's weapon of choice is a katana. Seriously? Not a gun, which is lighter and far easier to carry. Did she learn to use the katana and everything about weight and balance and all that is involved in using a sword as a weapon, while role playing with foam swords? Katana's are made for close-combat and ninja fast response times and Charlie just magically acquires those awesome skills. Her character trivializes everything there is about the show and the Winchesters.

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  58. That's what I always wanted, but with the quality of the show in such a dismal state now, just give me an "Angel" ending with the two brothers standing shoulder to shoulder and call it good.

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  59. I realize you all think she's on the show far too much. However, she's now been leading the life for three years - I realize not a lifetime - but that is a LOT of time in which we don't see what she is learning to do or why. We also have no idea what she did before that. We do know that she is a brilliant hacker and did a lot of larping - where I'm betting they had a lot of REAL sword play - she became Queen through her skills. She, like Sam, likes to learn everything about what she's doing and is good at the research. Are we forgetting that she's already broken her arm twice? How often do the guys get tossed into and through things and just walk away? Does a lifetime of training make you impervious to physical harm? To even having a bruise for a reasonable amount of time? How do we know the katana is her weapon of choice? Maybe that was simply a weapon of opportunity? We haven't seen her with it before - I maintain it was a one off for the gag factor. How do we know she didn't have a gun in her bag that she simply didn't have time to get to? I get that you hate her. Some of us don't. I can pick holes in every single character on this show now. If we apply total logic to this show it utterly falls apart now.

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  60. Charlie as a character has her issues, but her becoming a hunter isn't one of them. People like to throw around that her becoming a hunter trivializes Sam and Dean, because they were raised in the life. But those people seem to forget that Sam and Dean appear to be rarities in the hunter world, and that most hunters end up hunting much like Charlie did, through experiencing something supernatural. I mean take Bobby, how do they think he became a hunter? He wasn't raised in it, he fell assbackwards in it, learned through experience and researching -- much like Charlie.

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  61. Well, what good would it do her to have tried to call Sam and Dean for help when she's running around Europe/Russia.

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  62. Yep. Excellent points!

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  63. And just to add another thing to Bobby, he ran a salvage yard and was probably in his 40s when he became a hunter. If people can't believe Charlie can become a hunter, then how can they for Bobby?

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  64. No carrying a katana isn't a pop culture reference, it is a bloody big sword and if Charlie's weapon of choice - well what hunter has had a weapon of choice?


    Even in Arrow, Thea and Laurel got training montages to show how they became proficient. It is why Felicity doesn't go out on patrol - physical stuff like that isn't her thing and she isn't good enough to do it. Charlie on the other hand - oh she goes to Italy and comes back wielding a big japanese sword as her go to thing. Not something you can walk down the street with.


    And yes werewolves, rugarus etc aren't real but the rules change for Charlie because she is sooo cool. and carrying a sword when any other hunter out in the open would get done for wielding a weapon. If this is now so Sam should have let Dean shoot that pigeon last season as the pigeon clearly deserved it even though it was in public.

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  65. Bobby didn't fall into becoming a hunter, he became one after his wife died and he flailled around until Rufus took him under his wing. John had mentors, Jo had her mother and her reasoning was to follow in her fathers footsteps. Garth had the toothfairy incident and was very sorry about it and fell under Bobby's wing, Tracey the girl in hotpants last season was hunting vampires after terrible incident.


    Charlie, no mentor, proficient in weapons because of video games and after two incidences of monsters and a load of books decides she is going to take this on and she does and when the boys find out instead of warning her off like the ex-marine Cole with obvious weapons and tactical training, Jo the girl raised in hunting and Richie the hunter Dean says has no business hunting they become her cheer squad.


    Hell Bobby would be spinning in his grave if he saw them encouraging a girl who doesn't need to be hunting doing the job seeing how he was really sad to see Dean back in the game in season six and said that he wanted people to get out if they could.


    Charlie isn't working through a trauma of losing anyone supernaturally, she isn't called by God, she got into hunting because she thought it would be cool after the bits she saw and the books.

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  66. Easy, he was rough and tumble, had obviously suffered knocks and didn't suddenly come into abilities without logical reason.


    Charlie, not so much. They fling too much at the screen to tell us how super awesome she is not to mention an exposition monkey so turning me off from the start.

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  67. Definition of pop culture: contemporary lifestyle and items that are well known and generally accepted, cultural patterns that are widespread within a population.


    Are you telling me that you don't associate a katana - with the exact same handle - with Michonne? If you do, the katana has become a pop culture reference.


    We will simply have to agree to disagree about Charlie and her proficiency or not as a hunter. Hellboy has some excellent comparisons to Bobby.

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  68. Read Hellboys comparisons to Bobby, think they are tosh really other than he didn't start in hunting and my reasons why.


    Yes Michonne's weapon of choice is a Katana, accept that, but if used it stops being a reference to another show and becomes part of Charlie's MO and in terms of this show it is a blinking stupid thing to carry in the manner she is carrying it other than showing Charlie is so cool to use a sword.


    And yes we disagree about Charlie and have to stay as such.

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  69. You are completely entitled to your opinion about the show and it's characters, but you really are off base on what a pop culture reference is.

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  70. The walking dead is a popular show but katana's aren't really making their way into popular culture, well not where I am. Zombie's are. though


    And most people dressing up Michonne are still doing the whole zombie on chains behind her.


    You started your review referencing Arrow as the link anyway not the walking dead for a bit afterwards and it doesn't change the fact it got used and is stupid in terms of this show.

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  71. Yeah, it is a shame. I would be happy for Carver to go away. We might have gotten Dabb (the senior writer), but it could have been Glass. Carver or Glass? I would take Carver over that.

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  72. More like Charlie has been in the life for two years. In S8 Larp, Charlie wasn't even contemplating hunting. She decided to 'quit running' from...whatever. In Pac Man Fever, she was an apprentice hunter under Dean and, through narrative, had never done a break and enter. It wasn't until S9 Slumber Party that she says she researched all things supernatural and read the Winchester Gospels and been hunting, but it wasn't "magical" enough for her. Then she's off to Oz and now back a full-fledged hunter.

    I am not trying to argue about Charlie. I know about half the fans like her and half hate her, and that Charlie is now a permanent unannounced recurring. That's the way it is. But besides all the author self-insert Mary Sueness, including being an insta-super hunter, the damsel-in-distress and the hero, there is another aspect to Charlie that I don't like. That is how her character exemplifies the change in tone the show has taken under Carver.

    Remember when EK was adamant that the show not rely on fantasy elements like spells and wands; that it remain established in both the gritty working class middle America atmosphere while welcoming out-of-the-box episodes that pushed boundaries? Remember when the show took itself seriously and everyone worked their butts off to get the details right, when the actors worked their butts off trying to get it right, and the directors attempted to show how dark the dark is and how nail-biting hunting something faster, stronger and able to end it all with a single bite is?

    Charlie goes against all of that. Thompson has a tendency to introduce high-ended fantasy into the show, and Charlie is his vehicle that does that. She is also symbolic of a lot of what is wrong with the show these days. -- an undeveloped character that just can do all things, knows all things, and everyone loves her because….undeveloped reasons.

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  73. I whole-heartedly and completely and utterly agree with this:

    "Remember when EK was adamant that the show not rely on fantasy elements like spells and wands; that it remain established in both the gritty working class middle America atmosphere while welcoming out-of-the-box episodes that pushed boundaries? Remember when the show took itself seriously and everyone worked their butts off to get the details right, when the actors worked their butts off trying to get it right, and the directors attempted to show how dark the dark is and how nail-biting hunting something faster, stronger and able to end it all with a single bite is?"



    But I think you give too much credit to Charlie as a full-fledged hunter - yes, I know, she says she's done a few ghosts (and vamps? I confess, I don't care enough to pay that close attention--- any more). But I see her far more as a glorified gopher. Even in Oz she went as apprentice to Dorothy. But being a huge fan of the Wizard of Oz, I can't really forgive them for that episode...


    I agree with what you say about the fantasy elements - but then Edlund had been doing that for years - just SO much better....

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  74. What harm would it do? And have Sam and Dean never travelled before?

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  75. And MIchonne learned how to use one after finding it after the zombie apocalypse. Seriously, you expect realism about these things?

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  76. Katanas aren't making their way into pop culture? Seriously? Maybe where you are--if where you are is, I don't know, the Himalayas or somewhere, but I can think of several instances of katanas featuring in various pop culture media. But Michonne is TWD has basically made the katana a pop culture icon. I was at a pop culture con a couple of years ago and overheard a guy telling his friends how he had a katana in the trunk of his car, so he was ready for the zombie apocalypse. Anecdote? Sure. But also evidence of serious pop culture penetration for the sword.

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  77. And even then, what are the odds of finding a legit kitanna (especially in a zombie infested world) and not a replica? You can poke holes into anything when you really think about it. Sometimes, it's best to just say 'why not?'

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  78. I think people have a tendency to deify Kripke, he disregarded and changed his mind about his own rules all the time. And I whole heartedly disagree about the notion that no one "works their butts off" on the show anymore, so off-base.

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  79. And yet Jo still became a hunter. And Cole wasn't dissuaded into becoming a hunter, he was talked out of taking his revenge on Dean, he's not applicable. I'm pretty sure, as a grown woman who took it upon herself to research and learn about the supernatural and go on small hunts herself, is going to suddenly stop because Sam and Dean tell her too, it's not like she was nearly eaten by Leviathans or anything and has no idea of the danger that hunting entailed when she started.


    You keep talking about "experience" but again how do you think most people get into the hunting game? Charlie is a more or less standard hunters story, and her being a hunter doesn't trivialize Sam and Dean in the least.

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  80. Yeah, but if she needs to keep on the move, because she is being chased what good is it going to do for them to travel halfway around the world to a country she would no longer be in?

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  81. I think Michonne knew how to use her katana BEFORE the ZA.

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  82. Yet Dean's response to both Jo and Cole when they were hunting or at least dabbling in hunting (seeing how Cole started in on demons to get Dean and didn't back down when his friend was in trouble) was it isn't for amateurs and it will get you hurt and it puts you in a dark place. Even though both were able to handle themselves in a fight and could do research and were familiar with real weaponry and can make their own decisions about what they can do.


    Charlie, who we have seen real fighting - not so much experience and can shoot a gun due to video games, announces she wants to try after a broken arm and a smooch on a bed with a fairy, Dean goes 'Oh lets go clothes shopping'


    Dean's change in response is trivialising hunting, purely to get Charlie into the hunting game.

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  83. Where I am from pop culture is embracing swords from GoT and Outlander. Katana sure there are a few who are into anime but a lot of people who are into Katana's 'oh I have a japanese sword ain't I cool'


    It isn't really pop culture where I am from more like dickhead culture. To me those are two completely different things.

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  84. I guess you'd know....

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  85. So because my experience is different than yours I'm a dickhead. Nice talking to you too.

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  86. Well, first off, you're the one designating culture groups YOU don't like as dickhead groups, so, you know, pot, meet kettle.
    More seriously, your assumption seems to be that since you are unaware of the katana having pop culture currently, it doesn't, as if your knowledge of something is essential for it to be true. Well, that is simply not true. If you were willing to spend even five minutes looking around online, you'd find that there is a lot of pop culture currency for the katana. One of the most popular Marvel characters uses one. DC has a character NAMED katana. A friggin' Teenage Mutant Ninja turtle uses one, for pete's sake.

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