habitatfordeanwinchester:

So let’s talk about this moment here for a second, shall we? Now, I admit that it’s entirely possible that I am simply in deep impenetrable denial, but I would be remiss if I didn’t explain what I see as the Chekov’s gun in 10x21, and why I think this means Charlie Bradbury is still alive.

So I think most of us are probably familiar with the concept of Chekov’s gun, but if not, this is the quote the phrase comes from:

“If you say in the first chapter that there is a rifle hanging on the wall, in the second or third chapter it absolutely must go off. If it’s not going to be fired, it shouldn’t be hanging there.”

So basically, if it isn’t relevant to the plot in some way, it shouldn’t be there. I would argue that this is even more true of television than it is of the short stories Chekov was originally referring to, since dialogue and interiority is so limited in a visual medium. In this case, the suggestion that Charlie become involved with witchcraft is the gun. Beyond the simple physical similarities, the episode takes great pains to make the parallels between Charlie and Rowena quite obvious. Rowena herself initially mistakes her for a witch, and later enumerates on their similarities:

“Let me tell you about you – a difficult and lonely childhood. Tragedy, absent parents. Always outside the mainstream. Sexually progressive. Living in your own head for solace and direction.”

Why would you allow this in the narrative if the gun isn’t going to go off? If Charlie isn’t going to eventually turn to witchcraft? Why would you bother building a parallel between characters if you’re just going to kill one of them in 20 minutes? 

You wouldn’t. 

I’m not sure how it happened. Maybe Charlie learned something from Rowena that she used to defeat the Stein family member who was hunting her. Maybe Rowena somehow managed to cast a spell on her in the dungeon. Maybe she’s going to be brought back through witchcraft, or Cas’s grace, and then fall into magic. I see a lot of options here. But what I don’t see is the potential for this to be Charlie’s final death. This was not the death of our elevator dancer, our Moondoor queen, our girl with the Dungeons and Dragons tattoo. This was not the death of the girl who hid in a dumpster and stabbed a sword through a man’s throat, or the girl even the Leviathan’s couldn’t match. This was just a step in a larger story they are building for her.