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Recap: Supernatural S 08 E 11 LARP And The Real Girl
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Season 8, Episode 11LARP And The Real Girl “Smell you later, bitches.” - Charlie to Sam and Dean "Now you're here, and if you guys are here, monsters are here. Why do I have such bad luck? What am I, some kind of monster magnet? Is there such a thing as a monster magnet?" Garth sends the brothers to Farmington Hills, Michigan, to investigate the death of Ed Nelson who was ripped limb from limb in his locked bedroom. They discover that Ed was a LARPer in a game called Moondoor. Ed's friend and fellow LARPer, Lance Jacobson, dies in police interrogation after a tree shaped mark appears on his arm. Dean and Sam research the Moondoor website, and find that the Queen of Moondoor is none other than Charlie Bradburry. Dean and Sam find Charlie, and she agrees to canvas among the other LARPers with Dean once he changes into a more appropriate costume. Sam goes to the tech team to research other accidents that happened to Moondoor LARPers, including one player being hobbled and another beaten up by his own mace. Tropes
- Acceptable Professional Targets: The LARPers are accountants, an insurance claims adjustor, and a lawyer.
Dean: Sam, I think we can take care of a bunch of accountants with foam swords. - Actor Allusion: Some of the guys in the technical tent are playing Dragon Age II - specifically, Mark of the Assassin.◊ We can see Felicia Day, who plays Charlie Bradburry, as an Ink Suit Actor portraying Tallis.
- All Gays are Promiscuous: Charlie makes eyes at quite a few maidens.
Dean: I'm noticing a lot of these maidens checking you out. Charlie: What? I can't shut this down. - All Work vs. All Play:
Dean: Maybe we should take the night off. Go see a flick. Hit a bar or two. Have some fun. You remember fun, don't you Sammy? Sam: Working a case. As long as we are waiting on Kevin, that will be our fun. - Anachronism Stew: The medieval clothing and weapons in the modern world.
- The sign on the tech tent reads, “Beware: this is a gateway to the future.”
- When Gerry sees Dean using a cell phone, he says, "Has this oaf attempted to harm you with his blasphemous metalworks?"
- Artistic License - Medicine: Poisoning by belladonna causes dilated pupils, blurred vision, flushing, dry mouth, confusion, hallucination, and convulsions. Lance did not exhibit any of this and went from being fine if a bit emotive to having blood squirt from his mouth and eyes and then collapsing.
- Badass Gay: Charlie.
- The Bechdel Test: Passed.
- Becoming the Mask
- The Big Board / Model Planning: Charlie's map with the red, blue, green, and black figurines representing the different armies participating in the tournament.
- Black Cloak / Malevolent Mask: The initial appearance of the fairy.
- Black Mage: Grayfox the Mystic, aka Lance Jacobson.
Sheriff reading text: I am a mage. I will destroy you. - Blood from the Mouth / Tears of Blood: Lance.
- Breather Episode: No one is murdering angels or forsaking someone they love forever.
- The Bus Came Back: Charlie Bradburry played by Felicia Day, who first appeared in "The Girl With The Dungeons And Dragons Tattoo" returns.
- Calling Your Bathroom Breaks: Gerry told Monty to stomp thrice if he needs to use the chamber pot.
- Closed Circle: When Charlie tries to leave the tent through the door, she finds herself right back in the tent.
- Cover Identity Anomaly: Gerry realizes Sam and Dean have fake IDs. He just assumes they're FBI Larpers trying to do a genre crossover.
Sam: These aren't fake badges. Gerry: Uh, yeah, they are, and they're very good, but, um, well, the I.D. number shifted to 10 digits with, uh, two letters mixed in at the end of the year, and, uh, the seal's from last month. Really good work. - Cruel and Unusual Death: Drawn and quartered.
- Deggans Rule: Failed.
- Dude, She's A Lesbian: "You're Not My Type"
- Duels Decide Everything:
Lance: I though he broke protocol, so I called Ed after game hours and accused him of cheating. And the I challenged him to a duel. Sam: A duel? Lance: Wands and swords at dawn. - The Dung Ages: Averted Trope, as we see a sign pointing to Privies, which are in the opposite direction of the dungeon.
- Enhance Button: Sam is able to zoom in on the surveillance video so that they can see the tattoo on Lance's forearm clearly.
- The Fair Folk: The fairy injures and kills people, even if she does so against her will. The Disneyfication of fairies is lampshaded.
Maria: Wait. Fairy magic can be bad? - Fairy Sexy
- False Teeth Tomfoolery: Monty with his slurred speech, who loses his fangs while in the stocks.
- Fantasy Character Classes: Ed/Thargrim the Difficult was of the Fighter Class and Lance/Grayfox the Mystic is of the Magician Classes.
- Faux Symbolism: Lampshaded by Charlie.
Charlie: Wait, I've seen this before. It's a Celtic magic symbol. At least it was in my favorite video game. - Fictional Geneva Conventions: Moondoor involves playing by the rules, just ask Gerry, but Dean does not fully appreciate this.
Dean: Well, there's no laptops in Moondoor. There's no Geneva Convention, either. - Fictional Media: The Moondoor universe.
- Geeky Turn-On
- Getting Crap Past the Radar: Charlie calls the Shadow Orcs "total d-bags".
- Girl on Girl Is Hot
- Gory Discretion Shot: The blood splatter on the bedroom wall when Ed is pulled apart in the teaser.
- Green Rocks: Silentium in the Moondoor universe, which is represented with a red bean bag.
- The High Queen: The queen of Moondoor.
- Hollywood Nerd: Ed Nelson (Thargrim the Difficult).
- I Just Want to Be Special
- Insistent Terminology: Gerry who prefers "interactive literaturist" to LARPer.
- I Uh You Too: This is a Call Back to Charlie's conversation with her co-worker in "The Girl With The Dungeons And Dragons Tattoo" and a Shout Out to the dialogue between Princess Leia and Han Solo in The Empire Strikes Back and Return of the Jedi.
LARPer: I love you. Charlie: I know. - I Will Tear Your Arms Off: Lance's "YOU WILL PAY FOR THIS" text may have been unrelated, but Ed still has his limbs ripped off.
- Knight in Shining Armor: Charlie Bradbury.
- Lady and Knight: Defied Trope, with Charlie calling Dean her "handmaiden" and proving she is a knight as well as the queen.
- Land of Faerie
- LARP: Moondoor.
- Let's Split Up, Gang: First Sam goes to do research, and then Dean and Charlie split up.
- Love Is A Weakness: Dean tells Charlie about Sam losing Amelia and reveals he is still upset about not being there for Benny.
Dean: Yeah, well, now he's more committed than ever, so there's that. But, trust me, this life – you can't afford attachments. You just got to... let go. - Magic Wand:
Dean: Now when you say wands, do you mean magic wands? Lance: No, unmagic wands, agent. Because what I really want in a duel is an unmagic wand. Yes, fake wands! It’s a game. - Major Injury Underreaction: Justified Trope, as they are only imaginary injuries delivered during a mock duel.
Charlie to the defeated LARPer: Take your leave to my medical tent and attend to your... severed limbs. - Man Child: Dean takes boyish glee in making mock battle plans, dressing up, and giving a rousing battle speech.
- Marked To Die: The tree of pain, a dark symbol of a leafless tree with roots that appears on the forearm.
- Medieval European Fantasy: The setting for Moondoor.
- Mission Control: Garth assigns hunts based on GPS locations.
- Mix And Match: Gerry assumes Dean and Sam are dressed as FBI agents as part of a genre mash-up (High Fantasy + Cop Show).
- Moment Killer: "Dudes! If the tent is rockin', don't come a knockin'!"
- Nerd Glasses: Ed Nelson.
- Nerds Are Sexy: Charlie, Maria, and by the end the Winchester brothers.
- Nerds Are Virgins: The Sheriff has this viewpoint.
Sheriff: He lived alone, which is a real shocker considering this place is full of toys. - The New Rock & Roll: Texting.
Sheriff: These kids today with their texting and murder. - Oh My Gods!:
Lance: Oh, ye gods, Thargrim the difficult has fallen! (Sobs.) - Otaku Surrogate: Charlie Bradbury.
- Our Fairies Are Different: This one is the wing-less human-sized humanoid, but Supernatural has given us a variety of different types of fairies.
- Pop Culture Pun Episode Title: A play on Lars and the Real Girl.
- Proud to Be a Geek
- Refusal of the Call: Charlie at first plans to take off when she sees the Winchsters, but stays to help them when she realizes fellow LARPers are being hurt and killed.
- Royal "We":
Charlie: The Queen needs some royal we time. - Rustproof Blood: The blood covering Ed's bed and walls.
- Samus Is a Girl: The armor covered knight is victorious in a sword battle, and the helmet is removed to reveal Charlie Shaking Her Hair Loose.
- Serious Business: Subverted with most of the LAR Pers, who are willing to break role or acknowledge it's a game. Played straight with Gerry, whose seriousness borders on psychopathology.
- Shout Out:
Sam: But the medical examiner said his body showed clear signs of belladonna poisoning. Charlie and Dean: The porn star? Sam: The poison. - Charlie wants the Shadow Orc to tell her "what the frak" the symbol is.
- Charlie's "I'm just an IT girl standing in front of a monster" speech is s parody of a famous quote from Notting Hill.
- We know that Charlie is a fan of the Harry Potter, and stabbing the spell book is very reminiscent of the scene where Harry stabs Tom Riddle's diary in Harry Potter and the Chamber of Secrets.
- The speech Dean gives at the end is from Braveheart. (It's the only one he knows).
- Strange Minds Think Alike:
Sam: He was killed by Belladonna. Dean and Charlie: (simultaneously) The porn star? Sam: (long pause) The poison. - Taking Up The Mantle: Dean seems to have changed his attitude about Garth stepping into Bobby's role.
- Themed Aliases: Stephen King Character + Science Fiction Writer. Charlie Bradbury has become Carrie Heinlein.
- This Is for Emphasis, Bitch!:
Charlie: I'm dropping my sword and walking off the stage, bitches. - Tracking Device: The Winchesters are "Garthed" when he hacks into their cell phones' GPS to determine their location.
- Unlucky Every Dude:
- Ed Nelson, a 31 year old insurance claims adjustor who lives alone.
- Lance Jacobson, an accountant in his 30s, who also lives alone.
- Unusual Euphemism: The Sheriff tells Sam that the "twig and berries" on Ed Nelson's body is still intact.
- The Wiki Rule: Charlie says she needs the full Wiki on where the guys have been.
- Ye Olde Butcherede Englishe
- You Are Better Than You Think You Are: Dean does this for Charlie.
Charlie: It's not just that, though. It's an escape. I mean, here, I'm queen, a hero. Out there in the real world, I'm just hacking out code and chugging coffee all day long. Dean: Now, wait a second. If it wasn't for you, we would have never been able to take down Dick Roman. Out there in the real world, you are a hero. - You Look Familiar: Andrea Brooks who plays Maria/Gholandria, also plays Katie Burns in "No Exit".
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