7.20 The Girl with the Dungeons and Dragons Tattoo

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Title The Girl with the Dungeons and Dragons Tattoo
Episode # Season 7, Episode 20
First aired April 27, 2012
Directed by John MacCarthy
Written by Robbie Thompson
On IMDB The Girl with the Dungeons and Dragons Tattoo
Outline Sam and Dean outsmart Dick Roman and the Leviathans with the help of hacker and IT girl, Charlie Bradbury. Bobby shows signs that he is becoming vengeful.
Monster Leviathans
Timeline April 2012
Location(s) Whitefish, Montana
Chicago, Illinois
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Synopsis

Dean and Sam are at Rufus' cabin trying to figure out what the Leviathans are up to. Bobby, having trouble mustering the energy to appear, shows up and tells them about Dick's plan: making state-of-the-art slaughterhouses to feed on the entire human population. Dick's company has bought a lot of restaurants and is selling food with their additive that dumbs down people. He also wants to cure humans of diseases, such as cancer, to make them the perfect food source. They receive an e-mail message from Frank Devereaux’s hard drive informing them that he's dead and someone is trying to hack into it and access information on the brothers' new aliases, etc. Thanks to the tracking device installed in the hard drive, they can see that it's inside none other than Richard Roman Enterprises.

Five hours earlier, an employee of RRE, Charlie Bradbury, arrives at work. She hacks into a Republican Super PAC, transferring funds to an environmental organization. Her boss, Pete, calls her into his office where Dick Roman is waiting for her. He's impressed by her hacking skills and gives her a job to do: hack Frank’s hard drive within the next three days, otherwise she will be fired. She gets to work, hacking into the drive, which sends the e-mail to the Winchesters.

Sam and Dean want to break into RRE headquarters, but Bobby points out the Leviathans can easily ID them. He suggests mailing in his flask, but they don't want him to succumb to his rage and turn into a vengeful spirit. They leave for Chicago. The next day, Charlie has cracked the hard drive's protection and reads all of Frank's files on the leviathans. She also finds out that Dick is their leader. She goes to the parking garage to see Pete, who's taking a smoke break. She's just in time to see Dick order one of his minions to kill Pete and assume his identity. Charlie goes home and starts to pack, when Sam and Dean show up. She picks up a fake sword to use against them, but it breaks easily. The brothers use borax to confirm that they’re all not Leviathans, then fill her in on what's going on. They were able to find her due to Frank's system hacking her webcam. Sam and Dean convince her to help them hack into Dick's emails, but they can only be accessed from within his office. Nevertheless, she agrees to help.

At RRE, later that night, Sam and Dean wait outside in a van, disabling the security cameras to buy Charlie some time — 15 minutes. On one of the cameras, they notice something in her bag — Bobby's flask! Dean calls her, telling her not to lose it. After a little pep talk from Sam, Charlie goes in, using a fake security key to get past the guard at the desk. However, there's another guard keeping an eye on Dick's office. She explains to Dean that she's a lesbian, and he helps her to flirt her way past the guard and into the office. Once there, she hacks into Dick's computer and begins to download all his files onto a flash drive. The guard heads toward the office, but Bobby closes a door to distract him, giving Charlie enough time to pretend to be coming from the bathroom when the guard enters the office. She grabs the flash drive and leaves.

At her desk, Charlie sends the files to the brothers, learning that Dick has an important package from Iran coming into a private airfield in about 42 minutes. She leaves an e-mail for Dick, saying the plane is running late, buying Dean and Sam time to go and switch it with a suitcase containing a borax bomb. Charlie then erases any info on the Winchesters, just as Dick shows up, asking if she's found anything on the hard drive. Meanwhile, the Winchesters open the package and discover that it contains a hunk of red clay. They call Charlie, but she doesn't answer.

Back at the office, Bobby is trying to keep his rage under control. Victor, a Leviathan sent to pick up the package, arrives with a suitcase (the one left by the brothers) and takes it to Dick in his office. When they open it, they both get sprayed in the face with borax, prompting Dick to order a lock down of the building, trapping Charlie inside. Bobby uses his powers to crack the front door’s glass, just as Dick and Pete arrive. Bobby tosses Pete, sending him crashing into Charlie and breaking her arm. He then pushes Dick back with a lot of force, but Dick just laughs. Sam and Dean burst in and take Charlie and Bobby out of there. Dick goes back to his office and eats Victor for losing the special package to the Winchesters.

After Charlie’s arm is taken care of at the hospital, the brothers take her to a bus depot, telling her to start a new life. Before leaving, she reveals that this won't be the first time she's done this and that she does not want the brothers to ask for her help again. Dean and Sam then wonder what to do with the flask, since Bobby is showing signs of becoming a vengeful spirit.

Characters

Definitions

Music

  • "Walking on Sunshine" by Katrina and the Waves
(plays while Charlie is walking into the building and in the elevator)
  • "Vistas" by Network Music Ensemble
(plays over the SucroCorp commercial)

Quotes

Charlie: If you can't score at a reproductive rights function, then you simply cannot score.
Bobby: This is about knocking us off the top of the food chain. This is about them Levis living here forever, one percenter-style, while we march our dopey, fat asses down to the shiny new death camps at every corner.
Dick: You're kind of completing me right now, Charlie. You have that thing, that spark that makes humans so special. Not everyone has it, you know. Most people can be replaced, but people like you are impossible to copy.
Charlie: I'm going to die. [sigh] I should've taken that job at Google.
Charlie: These things are going to eat everyone I know. What kind of douchebag stands by for that?
Dean: Do you have any tattoos? Give him a little sneak peek there. All tattoos are sexy.
Charlie: Mine is Princess Leia in a slave bikini straddling a 20-sided die. I was drunk, it was Comic-Con.
Charlie: Why didn't you kill him?

Sam: Because we can't — yet.

Charlie: The really evil ones always need a special sword.
Dean: She's kind of like the little sister I never wanted.

Trivia & References

The episode title "The Girl with the Dungeons and Dragons Tattoo" is a play on the title of the popular book which was also made into a film in both Sweden and the U.S. called The Girl With The Dragon Tattoo by Stig Larsson, that also features a female hacker. Dungeons and Dragons is a tabletop roleplaying game (RPG), which has come to be used as the generic name for similar fantasy RPGs.
Dean: So, how does this work, huh? I leave the cap off and you just genie your way out?
A reference to the story of Aladdin who found a magical oil lamp that, when rubbed, would produce a genie to grant him wishes. The best-known version of the tale is that of the 1992 animated Disney film.
Bobby: I got a glimpse at Dick's big plan, right before he Lincoln'd me.
This is a reference to the assassination of Abraham Lincoln, who was shot in the head, as was Bobby.
Bobby: Dick is about to get into the Soylent Green business.
In the 1973 dystopian sci-fi movie Soylent Green, Charlton Heston uncovers the fact that the food the population is subsisting on is not made of plankton, but is actually processed from human corpses.
Bobby: This is about those Levis living here one-percenter style.
The concept of the one percenter is used to refer to inequity of wealth distribution in the U.S. where 1% of the population control the majority of the power structures and wealth. It became a concept widely used during the Occupy movement which started in 2011.
Charlie enters work listening to Katrina and the Waves' "Walking on Sunshine" through headphones. This recreates an early scene in the movie American Psycho where amoral psychopathic business man Patrick Bateman, played by Christian Bale, does the same thing. Dick Roman bears a close resemblance in his demeanor, style and evil insanity to Patrick Bateman. This could also be a reference to a scene from the 1987 film The Secret of My Success where Michael J. Fox's character is walking through his workplace building with the same song playing in the background.
According to writer, Robbie Thompson, Charlie's aliases are made up of the name of a Stephen King character and the surname of a famous science fiction writer.source - a now-deleted tweet

Charlene "Charlie" Bradbury = Charlene McGee is the pyrokinetic girl in Firestarter. The surname, Bradbury, is a reference to acclaimed science fiction writer Ray Bradbury.

Carrie Heinlein = Carrie is the eponymous protagonist of the Stephen King novel Carrie and Heinlein refers to writer Robert A. Heinlein.
Charlie's desk at Richard Roman Enterprises is decorated with bobblehead Darth Vader, C-3P0 and stormtrooper dolls, a Yoda Pez dispenser, and at least one Star Wars comic, a Wonder Woman figure, a set of Lord of the Rings Pez dispensers, two Harry Potter and a Dumbledore figurine. In pride of place is her Hermione figure, which Charlie refers to as "H." She also has a Wonder Woman mug. Star Wars, Harry Potter, The Lord of the Rings, Veronica Mars and Wonder Woman are all owned by Warner Bros. which also produces/distributes Supernatural.
Charlie is seen hacking into a website called theusconservatives.org (which doesn't exist in real life). She transfers funds of $10,000 from there to a group called "Animal Lovers & Lovers of the Planet." This may be another reference to the 1992 movie Sneakers, in which a hacker transfers money to organizations including Greenpeace.
Dick Roman: Is that about hacking those Super PACs?
Super PACs are U.S. political action committees that must do any political spending independently of campaigns. They can raise funds from corporations, unions and individuals without legal limits.
Dick: You're kind of completing me right now, Charlie.
This could be a reference to a similar line in the 1996 Tom Cruise movie Jerry Maguire.
Charlie: Is this real life?
A quote from the 2009 viral YouTube hit David After Dentist which now has over 140 million hits.
Computer: How about a nice game of chess?

Charlie: Seriously? Wargames?

Wargames is a 1983 movie starring Matthew Broderick and Ally Sheedy, about a young hacker called David who accidentally starts playing games with a defense computer and nearly causes a nuclear war. As with Charlie's computer as she tries to hack Frank's hard drive, David finds a list of games, starting with games like chess, checkers, backgammon, and poker and then progressing finally to Global Thermonuclear War. In the movies the creator is Stephen Falken who names the computer after his dead son Joshua.
Charlie tries "Joshua" as the password on Frank's hard drive, and it responds with "Greetings Professor Falken." Just as she thinks she has broken the password, Frank's voice taunts her with "Nice try Zero Charisma." Zero Charisma is a Dungeons and Dragons reference. When all charisma points are lost it means that the character is withdrawn into a catatonic, helpless state. The term "Zero Charm" was also used in the tech-caper movie 1992 movie Sneakers.
Bobby: What? I'm supposed to just ride the pine?
To ride the pine means to not be involved in the action. It comes from the sporting world where a player may be made to sit out a game on the (pine) bench.
Charlie: What the frak's a leviathan?
Charlie uses the work "Frak" (or frack) which was coined as a substitute for "fuck" on Battlestar Galactica. Generally on Supernatural, characters use the term "freakin'."
The episode abounds in Star Wars references:
  • Dean: Perfect, it's in the middle of the Death Star.
  • Charlie is wearing a Princess Leia t-shirt with the slogan "Rebel" on it, and claims to have a Leia tattoo.
  • On her desk, Charlie has bobblehead Darth Vader, C-3P0 and stormtrooper dolls, a Yoda Pez dispenser, and at least one Star Wars comic.
  • Charlie's co-worker Harry says "I love you" and she responds "I know." This exchange is a quote from The Empire Strikes Back, between Han and Leia just before Han is frozen in carbonite. Watch the scene here.
  • Bobby: Okay. Let's Yoda this.
The episode also packs in references to Harry Potter:
  • On her desk Charlie has two Harry Potter and a Dumbledore figurine, as well as Hermione.
  • When she thinks she has first cracked Frank's password Charlie says "That was hardly the Chamber of Secrets"
  • When Charlie loses her nerve before breaking into Dick's office, Sam gives her a pep talk:
Sam: Who's your favorite Harry Potter character?
Charlie: Hermione.
Sam: Hermione. Well did Hermione run when Sirius Black was in trouble? Or when Voldemort attacked Hogwarts?
Dean: Seriously?
Sam: Shut up.
Charlie: No of course not.
Sam: What did she do?
Charlie: She kicks ass! She practically saves Harry in every book. And then she ends up with the wrong...
Sam: Stay on track. She kicked ass, right? So what are you going to do?
Charlie: Kick it in the ass!
Sam: Good girl.
Dean: (to Sam) Oh, you go, dumble-dork.
The episode also has Lord of the Rings references:
Charlie: Dick Roman gave me an assignment.
Harry: Is that good?
Charlie: It means the Eye of Sauron is on me.
Harry: Well, if you need anything I'll be back in the Shire.
  • Charlie's laptop desktop is a picture of Arwen, which she also has a framed print in her apartment.
  • Charlie slashes at Sam with a replica of Sting, Frodo's sword.
Dick: Bruce Springsteen, Eli Manning and our own little Charlie? You know what they are? Irreplaceable. You're more of a Tim Tebow, Joe Biden type. You got no spark. In fact there's nothing in you. Except Tarrell's dinner.
Bruce Springsteen is a rock musician and Eli Manning is a quarterback for the New York Giants football team. Tim Tebow is a quarterback for the New York Jets and Joe Biden was the Vice President of the U.S. when the episode aired.
Charlie's Apartment is #237. In The Shining, Room 237 is the mystery-shrouded room, where Jack encounters the ghost of a young woman that turns into an old woman.
In her apartment, Charlie has a similar collection of figurines to those on her desk at work. There is a blackboard which is covered in notes including "Comic-Con San Fran Book Hotel," "Order book on the language of Star Wars," "La Roux tix" and "New collection Craigslist."
La Roux is an English electro band fronted by the androgynous Elly Jackson. Charlie obviously likes some electropop as she also mentions downloading the latest Robyn album. The board also has a grocery list of: veggies, granola, cereal, arugula, yoghurt and pop tarts. Charlie also has a poster for the movie Coven. A poster for this movie was also seen at the Ghostfacers' base in 3.13 Ghostfacers
During the episode, a fake ad aired for the corporation "SucroCorp." A subsidiary of Richard Roman Enterprises, the name and images of corn in the ad are a reference to high-fructose corn syrup, a commonly used sweetener in the U.S. which is suspected of being an increased source of weight gain and also to contain source of mercury, a neurotoxin. Both obesity and altered brain functions which are similar to the effects of the food additive being trialed in the Turducken sandwiches at Biggerson's in 7.09 How to Win Friends and Influence Monsters.
Charlie: No, totally... but now I volunteer.
This could be a shout-out to the line "I volunteer as tribute," which Katniss Everdeen says in The Hunger Games, the movie of which had just opened a month before this episode aired.
Charlie reveals she has a tattoo of Princess Leia in her slave girl bikini astride a 20-sided dice (which are used in RPGs). In a scenario familiar to many fans, she claims she got it while drunk at Comic-Con. During the airing of the episode, the phrase #DandDtattoo trended on Twitter.
Dick Roman's password "W1nn1ng" is a reference to Charlie Sheen's catchphrase from his infamous 2011 meltdown. Watch the video here.
Dean: We just stay in the van.
In the spy TV series Chuck, Chuck was often instructed to "Just stay in the van."
Dean: Doesn't mean I got to be happy about sending in freakin' Veronica Mars.
Veronica Mars was the lead character, played by Kristen Bell, in the TV series of the same name, about a teenager who moonlights as a private detective. Kristen Bell was also the original choice for Ruby in season 3
Charlie: Peace out, bitches.
This is a quote from the 2010 movie The Other Guys with Will Ferrell and Mark Wahlberg. At the same time Charlie makes the Vulcan "live long and prosper" sign with her fingers as popularized by Spock in Star Trek.
The episode's 'caper style' references the 1992 movie Sneakers, with Robert Redford, Dan Ackroyd, Sidney Poitier, Mary McDonnell and River Phoenix, very heavily. The surveillance trailer and talking to Charlie via earpiece stand out.

Minutiae

This episode was directed by John MacCarthy. Johnny Mac is the first assistant director on Supernatural. He works on the odd-numbered episodes of Supernatural, while Kevin Parks works on the even-numbered ones. He also worked with Jensen on Dark Angel. He is the second crew member, along with production designer Jerry Wanek, to make his directorial debut on Supernatural this season.
Felicia Day, who plays Charlie, is herself an avid gamer. She is the creator of and starred in the comedy web series The Guild about a group of online gamers. Felicia is also known for her roles in Joss Whedon's Buffy the Vampire Slayer, Dollhouse, and Dr. Horrible's Sing Along Blog.
Sam's e-mail includes two from lexyloo@gtmail.srv titled "Why haven't you called me?" and "Call me please," two from maisy-w@bestfriend.srv titled "I'm hungry and I need more sleep" and "I can't remember when I last slept so late", and two from fussyfangs@socialjustice.srv titled "Why?!" and "Something you might want to ...... think about?" His email address is sam_56@anonymousmail.
Frank's email address is fr665@anonymousmail.
On the front page of the "U.S. Conservatives" website, the Republican presidential and vice-presidential candidates are given as Johnny MacCarthy and Gabe Correa respectively. Johnny MacCarthy is actually the first assistant director on Supernatural (and also directed the episode) and Gabe Correa is the third A.D. on Supernatural. Neither bear any resemblance to the photos on the website.
Frank's hard drive has the following folders: The Feeb, Richard Roman Enterprises, Clones, Known Facts, Monsters, Unsolved Mysteries, March of Dimes, X-Files and two folders titled Misc. research.
Dean: Charlie, are you singing?

Charlie: I sing when I'm nervous; don't judge me!
Dean: Judgement free zone!

In 1.04 Phantom Traveler, Dean hums Metallica on the plane because he says it calms him down.
After Sam gives Charlie the "What would Hermione Do?" pep speech, Charlie uses the phrase "Kick it in the ass!," which was Kim Manners catchphrase. The line was originally kick ass, but Felicia changed it on suggestion of director Johnny MacCarthy.
Dick's email address is dick@richardromanenterprises.com.
Dick's package arrived in America via New York where the Leviathan Agent Valente expedited it through customs. It then flew to Downey airport Chicago on one of Donald Trump's private jets. This information is obtained when Charlie Bradbury hacks Dick's e-mails.
The car Dean and Sam use when they go get the suitcase is a 1974 AMC Matador Coupe Oleg Cassini.

Sides, Scripts & Transcripts

Promotion

Episode info:

Interviews:

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Podcasts

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