Quick Take: Supernatural, "The Girl with the Dungeons and Dragons Tattoo"
Review: Supernatural, "The Girl with the Dungeons and Dragons Tattoo"
(S0720) I was prepared to hate this episode because titles are important and this one made me cringe. I’m also not an unrepentant lover of all things Felicia Day (though she IS awesome) and the sting of “Season Seven, Time for a Wedding!” still burns fresh whenever the power of the fangirl is invoked.
But with all of my prior issues aside, “The Girl With the Dungeons and Dragons Tattoo” was delightful and yes, I ordered the Princess Leia t-shirt that Charlie was wearing. Of course I did. Why would I not? Unless I was broke...but I’m not broke this week so uh, epic win, yes?
Anyway, Charlene “Charlie” Bradbury worked for American Psycho Dick Roman as a friendly neighborhood IT girl, hacking into SuperPACs to redistribute their wealth (not his idea, but he thought it was cute) and allowing the other cubicle geeks to live vicariously through her exploits until the day Dick asked her to hack into Dearly Departed Frank’s hard drive. Her efforts shot a warning e-mail off to Sam and Dean, who promptly tracked her down to put an end to her information retrieval efforts before the deep dark secrets of the hard drive abyss could be passed on to Patrick Bateman, I mean, Dick Roman.
It was really nice to see Sam and Dean be the smart, capable, and inventive hunters that deep down inside, we know them to be. This season has been fraught with quite a bit of drinking and moping in place of acting and asskicking, though in Sam’s defense he spent most of the season slowly losing his marbles, so, I guess he’s excused. Mostly, I was just giddy at the sight of the Borax bomb. I can’t help it. I love when they get creative. I long for the days of the walkman EMF meter and the Spongebob Squarepants séance.
Also tagging along on this heist was Bobby the Grumpy Ghost. I’m not completely behind the ghost Bobby storyline, mostly because the character’s sendoff in “Deaths Door” was so very very good, and because I DO unapologetically adore Jim Beaver, but I’ll humor the powers that be. For now.
Realistically, it’s only a matter of time before Sam and/or Dean (probably Dean, because no season is complete without piling the eldest Winchester with yet more justification to pickle his liver) is forced to torch the flask keeping Bobby in the fleshy human world. The most common complaint about the Bobby character has always been his role as a sort of deus ex machina, quick to provide the right answer just in the nick of time when the monster of the week has the Winchesters stumped. Being a ghost hasn’t solved that problem at all, and in this case, has annoyingly dragged the issue to the center ring when Bobby helpfully told Sam and Dean EVERYTHING that they have been struggling to figure out since he kicked it back in December.
In “The Girl with the Dungeons and Dragons Tattoo”, we got a taste of Bobby’s vengeful spirit side when he ran into Dick Roman and just couldn’t keep his temper in check, shattering windows, throwing Dick around the lobby of his corporate palace, and unfortunately, breaking Charlie’s arm when she was caught in the crossfire. Sam took the practical response and urged Dean to torch the flask, but Dean suddenly turned reluctant because we still have three episodes left for him to angst.
Charlie joined the resistance against the Leviathans (for this week, at least), Sam revealed his Harry Potter fanboy side, and Dean had to flirt with a balding security guard, but victory belonged to the geeks in what was a refreshing change of pace from the last few episodes. To quite my new homegirl Charlie (not her real name, btw), “Peace out, bitches!”
