god there really is just something about the cliff scene that sits in my bones; an authority figure forces you to relive life and death in its worst aspects, you lash out because you are a traumatised teenager; your friends, vulnerable and traumatised in turn, stare. they stare. at you. and this is even worse than the pain she forced down your throat because isn't this what you always feared the most?
suddenly they are no longer edwin, crystal, and niko. instead they are a young boy tormented by other boys (loud, vicious, violent) to the point of his cruel death and hellish punishment, a young girl abused and stalked by someone who will wear your face in her dreams, and another young girl who likely has experienced harassment at the hands of people just. like. you. young, stupid boys lashing out out of hurt.
you wear the shape of everyone's monsters, your own included. it eats at you like acid, like some parasite eager to expose what you are at your core: never good enough, forever a source of hurt.
Felt wrong, to stomp all over their plans, but Charles just- couldn’t see a world that this ended well.
A commission for @regretsofaghost! It's a scene (I got to choose!) from their fic in the quiet space between holidays, let us care for you like you have cared for us about Crystal and Niko wanting to celebrate Edwin's birthday. I'm sure nothing could go wrong.
i might have missed a few instances of each word because i was running through at 1.5x speed and skipping scenes charles wasn't in, but this should be a good enough sample size
mint
mint is the easiest one. it seems to only be applied to objects - crystal's face and the snake-slaying sword. likely he would not use "mint" to describe a situation the way he would brills or aces, more to express approval with the look or quality of something/someone. "mint" as in "mint condition."
brills
this is the catch-all phrase that seems, more or less, to mean "really cool" or to describe a good turn of events. it doesn't seem to be used much to describe the quality of a thing (eg, people aren't usually described as "brills")
examples of "really cool" usage:
"That ferry ride was really brills."
"The view is pretty brills."
This word summarized his feelings on kissing Crystal
"I think we look brills!"
He used this word to express amazement at Edwin walking through a wall when they first met
examples of describing a good turn of events:
"Sounds like a demon. That's brills. We've dealt with demonic possession before."
He replied with this word when Edwin said they were on track to find out how to deal with Niko's sprites
Upon hearing that Jenny could inform them about the Devlin house, he said, "That's brills. I'll come with."
In response to the Night Nurse becoming their minder, he declared, "Edwin, this is brills!"
aces
unlike brills, "aces" IS often applied to people. it's used to emphasize something positive about them. sometimes used to tell someone they've done a deft job. there is only one exception, which can probably be chalked up to having multiple writers. "aces" as in "A+" - the best of
examples of describing someone's great quality:
"Saved my neck, didn't you? Totally aces."
"Any pal of Edwin's is aces in my book."
"Well, I'm aces with other people."
He also uses this word to dismiss concerns about his wellbeing. He's not only ok or fine, he's "aces."
When Crystal confirmed with her powers that Esther's house is where Becky lost her shoes, he says, "Aces. Let's take a quick sneak peek."
he also uses it once to express how clever he and edwin are:
When Crystal first asked about their agency name, Dead Boy Detectives, he said, "It's aces, right? We're ghosts and we solve mysteries."
There is one odd instance of Charles using "aces" irregularly:
When he called Tragic Mick's shop "totally aces." Going off of the pattern, he likely would have said "brills" here instead.
additional superlatives
charles isn't limited to these three phrases to describe things he approves of. throughout the show, he also uses good, great, cool, nice, and amazing.
disclaimer: this was done for fun and by no means a hard and fast rule book for writing charles dialogue
Putting my two cents into the dbda analysis to talk about the boys' relationship with action/movement throughout the show
Within the first episode Charles easily defines himself as the "brawn" and Edwin as the "brain". This presents Charles as what I like to call a physical response character and Edwin as a verbal response character, which reinstates what has already been shown to us as the boys dealt with the WW2 ghost: Edwin recites the Latin enchantment as Charles grapples with the ghost. By doing this, job is jobbed, case is closed etc etc.
I feel I have to mention that this almost unconscious dance between them is something that Edwin couldn't have in Hell. Movement and speaking meant being caught and torn apart. But it's also the fact that he probably wouldn't have even had anyone to talk to in Hell, and now he gets to be a part of a duo where his main role is to speak and explain knowledge.
Anyhow, this pattern continues in most things that the boys do; while at the Dandelion shrine, Edwin is the one to read the writing on the shrine and verbalises (to both characters and audience) what the intent of the Dandelion sprites is. And then Charles is the one to pick up the vase (and break it).
The Devlin House is of note because this is the first time that we see this dance fail. Edwin has explained what the Stone Tape Theory is, and now it is time to look for what might have caused the loop. This is where their roles flip, if just for a moment. Charles talks to Crystal about how he connects to Hope Devlin while reading through her diary. He understands her situation, her fear, how it feels to be struggling under your parent's command. And he actually talks about it. In that scene, Charles is the verbal response character.
You could say that it's because it isn't Edwin that he's talking to that he can change his role in the dance. Crystal isn't a part of their dance as the 'brain' and 'brawn', so he doesn't have to fit into the role of the physical response character with her.
(You could go as far as to say that this unfamiliar flip of roles is what leads them astray. Edwin has completed both the verbal and physical aspects of this scenario, the dance is off. You can go even further to say that Edwin didn't even complete the physical aspect correctly, he got the wrong trigger, he's not used to being the character of action)
It is then after all this, still in the Devlin house, that Charles steps back into being the physical response character when he attempts to attack Mr Devlin. This is the first time that the boys completing their roles has completely backfired. (You could argue with Esther, being hit back was just the response of a typical fight. You go to hit and you miss and get hit back.) Charles attempting his role as the 'brawn' takes him out of commission entirely, because there isn't that balance. He hasn't actually spoken about much and instead internalised it for 30+ years, and now uses that emotion to act. And it doesn't work.
Charles never really seems to make actions about himself, and the times he does? It never really works out for him. The Devlin house takes him out of commission, and the Lighthouse Leapers have his friends reject him for his actions (I might talk about this another time). Even his kiss with Crystal that he instigated doesn't go anywhere.
An interesting note is that the times when Charles is much more passive in his actions is with his relationship with Crystal. He initiates the kiss first, but even before that he's almost tiptoeing around what Crystal might want or not want (I've seen a few people talk about this better than I could so I won't get too into it).
It's only really until after he and Crystal break it off that he starts really being a man of action for himself and not just others. He argues to not take Monty's case, he calls Crystal out on her lies about her powers, he stands on his decision to not let Crystal go to Hell. He's not being passive about what he might want and how it might clash with what others want.
Charles' arc and connection to his relationship with action kind of ends at the end of ep5 (Dead Dragons) when Edwin says "Let's get [Charles] sorted first" and they never really go back to Charles' arc lol
-
Edwin's relationship with his role as the verbal response character is interesting because part of his arc is about how he cannot verbalise what he is wanting. The Case of the Lighthouse Leapers makes that abundantly clear. To Niko he denies by "Absolutely not" wanting to kiss the Cat King, and he doesn't know what he wants with Monty. The Cat King has to literally spell him to get Edwin to admit what he wants from the agency ("[He] can make [his] case for leniency").
Edwin can explain anything for a case, anything for knowledge, but he does not like verbalising his wants. We see him struggle with this towards Monty at the swing set, he "-thinks it best if [they] stop seeing one another", but he also isn't sure if that's what he actually wants. It then!! Continues!! As Edwin begins to say what he wants, that there are "-feelings. That [he] thought were never to be spoken of.", Monty swoops (ha) in as the physical character in that moment, sealing it with a kiss.
But Edwin didn't finish! He as the spoken character has not finished his role before the action response occurs! And it doesn't work. The dance isn't working, they're stepping on each other's feet.
We then reach the Case of the Creeping Forest, wherein Edwin's feelings for Charles are, at this point in the narrative, one of the main things he cannot verbalise. So instead, Monty verbalises it! He is the one to finally state that "Those feelings that [Edwin has]? Are for Charles. He is the one [Edwin loves].".
(As I'm writing this I'm realising that Monty actually creates his own role as both a physical and verbal response character within like two weeks of being human compared to 2 oldass ghosts good for him)
Edwin's feelings for Charles have been established by the way he typically acts (with words), but not by himself, because he cannot do that. He has spent so long denying himself and avoiding verbalising anything akin to his own wants that he still cannot say it.
But then it is Charles' turn to establish how he feels for Edwin with his typical: actions. And how does this occur? With Charles' putting his hand over Edwin's as they are dragged by Teethface. It doesn't matter if the feelings being presented are or aren't exactly the same, it's still love. It's part of their dance. Edwin's perspective has been spoken, and then it's time for Charles' perspective to be acted on, and both times it means that they love each other.
Edwin's relationship with expressing want is also tied into his changing of clothes in ep6. One of the first things we are told about Edwin is that he "-[doesn't] like to try new things", but we see him in ep6 trying something new for Charles. This is Edwin, unable to express how he feels quite yet, but acting on something new.
Hell is really where the boys' relationship with action and movement turns almost entirely on it's head, because Edwin is Back In Hell so he can't really be the words or actions character, which leaves it for Charles to be both; which we've seen mess up in the past, but it works in Hell.
Charles gets to Hell fine, (he acts on ringing that bell impulsively because why not), he finds Edwin, he tells him they will get out, and then he is able to leave again! In the entirety of Hell Charles is able to go back and forth between a physical and verbal response character like he hasn't previously.
This then ties into our favourite myth of Orpheus and Eurydice.. and media illiteracy. The audience and Edwin know how the myth ends "-That story ends tragically.". That's the point of the myth, it's a tragedy. But Edwin (brains, words, verbal) finished the story and cannot choose their own ending. He's stuck with the understanding that the story never ends well, but he still acts on it.
In this story, Eurydice physically forces Orpheus to look, with the understanding that it could still end tragically.
Edwin forces Charles' to turn back to him and he finally finally acts on what he has been feeling to say "Charles, I'm in love with you", knowing it's a tragedy.
But Charles (brawn, actions, physical) did not finish the ending and therefore has the agency to change it. But he changes it with words. He turns around and he says "You're the most important person in the world to me" and he says "We have literally forever to figure it out".
Edwin and Charles, despite living in their unconscious dance roles of 'brain' and 'brawn', respectively, for 3 decades, swap their roles for the first time successfully in the show when Edwin takes a leap to act on his feelings and Charles responds with nothing but kind words and the reminder that their story doesn't have to be a tragedy, and they do this all on the steps of literal Hell because what wouldn't they do for each other.
I know there's Hella other things to discuss but we aren't talking enough about how Crowley lost the Bentley because he was protecting a bookshop he wasn't even sleeping in
good omens 3 spoilers under the cut and in the tags
the reference to the five loaves and two fish story was clever
at least i think they were referencing that
then everyone got thanos-snapped
ive got mixed feelings towards the dynamic between Aziraphale and Crowley. Pretty sure it's because the cut duration doesn't allow their relationship to breathe. So a lot of it felt choppy and almost forceful.
because netflix didn't give the sunshine duo ANY screentime because of the lack of season 2, I'LL give them the screentime they deserve. I long for their older-bro younger-sis dynamic forever.
I really want to draw+write more about them, along with the mean-girl duo - Edwin and Crystal. IT WOULD'VE BEEN SO FUCKING FUN IN SEASON 2 ☹️
there was a commercial on the TV, like those old “all new episode” spots that would air after a rerun on cable. and it was an ad for a new dbda episode, but the show was distinctly of the 90s era. dramatic voiceover. crystal had a like, black one-piece superhero costume with a cape and a mask. niko’s got a 70s scooby-doo, phoebe from friends thing going. charles pretty much unchanged but now has a skateboard. they’re fighting because crystal totally has a test in school tomorrow but all the boys care about is ghost crime. will this finally break up the gang? and will edwin finally get a boyfriend? there’s a love note in his locker (“oooh” audience sound effect) (why is he still going to school) and i was watching this and my friend was like “what’s on” and i was like “just ANOTHER dbda episode 🙄” like there have been a million of them.
Charles snaps out of his thoughts when he realizes that he isn't just staring at his own shoes anymore. Edwin's are there now, too. He finally registers the worried call of his name, likely not for the first time, and lifts his head to look at Edwin.
"Everything alright, mate?"
"Evidently not. I called your name four times. Where did you go just now?" And he asks it with such achingly gentle concern, what is Charles supposed to do with that?
He's fine. He should be, anyway.
He smiles, but it doesn't reach his eyes, as he says, "I'm right here, aren't I? Don't worry about it, mate, guess I was just a little lost in thought."
Edwin closes the small gap between them even more as he says, "Charles, I have been paying attention to you for the past 34 years that we have been together, and while I may have missed some things—"
There's a brief look of sadness—guilt?—in Edwin's eyes as they meet his again that makes Charles want to apologize or reassure him. It really wasn't Edwin's fault, but he doesn't say anything.
"—there are things that I do know about you for certain. And one of those things is that unless something thoroughly has your attention, you cannot be still for long. And staring at our floorboards is hardly entertaining."
Charles just looks at him for a moment, his eyes wide. What is he supposed to say when he knows Edwin is right?
All he manages to come up with is, "Maybe I missed these floorboards."
And it's so stupid that he even surprises himself with it. Edwin raises an eyebrow. And Charles can't hold back the fit of laughter that erupts out of him.
Edwin keeps staring, more or less as if he fears that Charles has gone mad. He finally smiles a little bit before clearing his throat.
"Charles, do be serious. You have not been yourself for days now. Would you please talk to me?"
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