Supernatural: Dark Dynasty (10x21)

Not. Okay. I've never dropped an f-bomb in one of these reviews before, because I want them to be relatively PG-rated, but uh... suffice it to say... f**k. I can't. All higher brain functions are gone. Let's start with a plot summary. And then. I'll... try to be coherent. Or something. Like it matters.

The Styne family has returned, and they are looking for the Book of the Damned. The Styne patriarch sends one of his sons, Eldon, to track down the Winchesters. Dean manages to easily capture Eldon, and he and Sam tie him up in the bunker. He reveals that the Styne family has been around for centuries, and that they had to change their name in the 19th century due to Mary Shelley writing a book about their family. That's right - the Stynes are actually the Frankensteins. When Sam and Dean are out of the room, Eldon rips his own arm off and escapes.

Meanwhile, Sam learns from Rowena that the codex that's supposed to help read the Book of the Damned is actually also in code. Sam calls in Charlie to help Rowena crack the code, and he also asks Cas to come and babysit Rowena and Charlie and stop things from getting out of hand.

Dean is getting more and more suspicious of Sam's behavior, as he continually disappears to go meet up with Cas, or takes weird phone calls and won't explain himself. Before Eldon escapes, he tells Dean that the Styne family is after the Book - Dean informs him that the Book has been burned, but Eldon says it's protected by magic, and cannot be destroyed. Thus, Dean finally realizes that Sam lied to him.

Rowena and Charlie are not getting along, and Charlie says she can't focus enough to break the code. Cas separates the two of them to give Charlie some peace and quiet, but apparently Charlie needs to get away entirely. She takes her notes with her to a hotel to continue her work. Eldon shows up at the hotel, thinking that Charlie has the book. Charlie calls Sam, who tells her to hand over whatever she has to Eldon. Charlie has just finished breaking the code of the Codex.

As Sam and Dean frantically drive to the hotel where Charlie is, Charlie manages to upload her notes on her iPad and email them to Sam and Dean. She smashes the device to stop Eldon from getting his hands on it. Eldon breaks in to Charlie's hotel room. Sam and Dean show up, but they're too late - they find Charlie dead in the bathtub.

So. I'm going to go ahead and start things off by explaining how utterly stupid it was for them to kill Charlie off. This isn't even just about missing her or being sad that she's dead. Like, I was thinking about it, and I would be less upset if they had killed Cas at this point. I mean... I'd probably ultimately be more devastated about losing Cas, but I would like it better from a story telling standpoint. Let's talk about all the reasons why this death doesn't make any sense:

First of all, Charlie's not stupid. She knows that bad people are after her, and she runs off, doesn't tell anybody where she's going, and lets herself be caught, totally defenseless? That's crap. And then, when Sam and Dean find out where she is, why wouldn't they have called Cas? Couldn't he have just used his newly restored angel mojo to fly on over there and save her? Or, even if we're supposed to believe that Cas is still weak, or that his wings are tattered enough that he couldn't do that, he was still closer to the hotel than Sam and Dean were, right? They could have told him to hustle on over there and he probably would have gotten there in time. And then there's the fact that the Styne family obviously already knows how to operate the Book of the Damned. They didn't need a translated codex for that. So while Charlie was being noble, or whatever, in smashing her notes so that Eldon couldn't get his hands on them, there was really no point. Now, I'm not saying that Eldon wouldn't have just killed her anyway, but she could have at least tried saying that she doesn't have the Book, and then handing over her research to prove it.

All of those things just make it very clear to me that Charlie's death is only a device to push Dean further down his path of darkness. It was an awkward and unnecessary death. It doesn't even serve a good function for the overall story - as much as I hated losing Kevin, at least that served as a way to deprive the Winchesters of an important resource, which impeded them moving forward. With Charlie, it's literally just man-pain fuel. (Kevin's death was also a lot of man-pain fuel, to be honest). And let me just list some of the things they could have done instead of killing Charlie, that would have served the same freakin' purpose.

1. The Stynes could have killed a random one-off character who Dean had promised to protect. Maybe not as big of a punch, but Dean has been getting more and more violent and angry all season, and I feel like that would be enough to set him off.

2. The Stynes could have kidnapped Charlie, Cas, Sam, or freakin' anybody else that Dean cares about, and ransomed that person in exchange for the Book. Dean would then have to grapple with the effects of the Book's influence on the Mark while trying to save whoever was kidnapped. The Mark, coupled with his desperation, would push him closer and closer to the edge.

3. Sam and Dean could have shown up at the hotel room and found blood everywhere, but no Charlie. They could assume that Charlie was dead, but still have a glimmer of hope that she made it out somehow. Dean could still go on a murderous rampage in revenge for her death, but she could pop back up in the story at a later date and explain her miraculous escape.

But no. They had to kill her. That's so. Freakin'. STUPID. I can't even process it. I am totally shocked that they would do this, because I kept thinking that the writers had learned their lesson by now. It cheapens the story to kill off some characters and just burn their bodies and say - whelp, that's it! No hope for you! - but then still expect us to believe that there are about 50 ways to get out of being dead in this universe. In the promo, we see them burning Charlie's body. Why? Think about the potential they're missing out on. They could ask Cas to resurrect her. Even if that didn't work for some reason, they could ask Rowena or Crowley or both to resurrect her. That would come with all sorts of delicious consequences that could impact the story at a later date. They've killed off so many people (and when it's one of the rare surviving women in this story, it's particularly egregious) just so that Sam and Dean can angst about it. Trust me, they've lost enough already. You don't need to keep digging the knife in to explain why they're desperate, or upset, or whatever. It's unnecessary, and the writers of this show have now deprived us of future episodes with Felicia Day. She's a fan favorite, and she can come in to the story in so many fun, versatile ways. Now, they've cut that off.

I mean, maybe Charlie will come back. Maybe this rant is totally unsubstantiated, and they'll bring her back in the next season. But as it stands, it kind of seems like they won't. At this point, that's pretty unforgivable.

Yeesh. Sorry. That was an extensive rant. But I can't help it! I'm furious! It's so frustrating, because if they hadn't killed Charlie off, I would be saying that this was one of the best episodes of the season. Let's take a look at the first 95% of the episode, which I thoroughly enjoyed.

Styne family = Frankensteins. I'm going to ignore how silly that is. I mean, Dr. Frankenstein created a monster. It makes no sense for his family to have some sort of legacy wherein they harvest body parts and rebuild themselves. But I don't care if it's stupid. It's awesome. I never would have seen that coming, and it turns the Stynes from a generally evil family to properly sinister villains.

Rowena and Charlie. These two together were so funny. They bickered about every little thing. Rowena goes on and on about being a witch, and she complains about Charlie's technology. I think honestly Rowena was feeling a bit threatened by this young human woman who seemed to have the resources to figure out something that she couldn't. There was lots of snappy dialogue and funny moments in their scenes.

I love Cas, too. He was great at trying to mediate the two code breakers (until he wasn't, and he let Charlie escape, and DIE, but we're not talking about that.) The best Cas moment was when he called Sam's phone, but Dean answered, and he was so flustered that he didn't know what to say. He ends up telling Dean: "this call is pointless." His deadpan delivery made me smile.

Sam is a crappy liar. And I love it. I think ultimately this says something about the way Sam and Dean live their lives. They don't really have separate lives, actually, no matter what Sam might say. Anything they do separate from each other is bound to stick out. Dean's suspicions grow and grow, and it's all the more heartbreaking because he's continuing to be totally honest. He lets Sam know how he's feeling, and doesn't try to hide anything. If only Sam could have been as honest with Dean... then maybe Charlie wouldn't be... NOPE. I said we weren't talking about that anymore.

The most powerful moment of the episode for me was when Dean tells Sam he knows the truth - the Book of the Damned can't be destroyed. Sam lied to him. The phone rings, and Dean says, over Sam's shoulder "Sam, you answer that, I swear to God..." Dean sounded pretty intimidating! This whole thread of Sam keeping secrets from Dean has been really hard to watch, especially since he brought Cas and Charlie into it without telling Dean. He's pissed, but Sam points out - "Charlie loves you. We all love you." I actually think that might be the first time either brother has directly said "I love you" to the other. But it happens in this moment so fraught with tension that we can't even appreciate it. Sam is willing to do anything to save his brother - the fact that Dean wouldn't make the same choice doesn't seem to matter to him. Sound familiar? Yikes.

I think I'll stop there. My rant about Charlie took up a lot of space, so this review is longer than usual. Still, as we look forward to the last two episodes of the season, I'm just praying that they find a way to make Charlie's death something better than the utter stupidity that it is right now. We'll have to wait and see! I'm marking this episode down big time for one reason. The rest of the episode was pretty great.

6.5/10