#the devlin loop

[technically-human]

The Case of the Devlin House (Reverse Verse!) as commissioned by @i-am-as-normal-as-you-are everyone thank Haunted!

The father of the Devlin family murdered his wife and children one night, and no one knows why. While investigating the case, Edwin finds a letter from the eldest daughter, in which she expressed her desire to go to college to get away from her father... and closer to the girl she loved. The family has been stuck in a loop since that awful night, and now Edwin is too.

Bonus:

[niko-sasaki-dbd]

Honestly, the ghosts can feel other ghosts theory is very well supported, and I would like to share some proof shown during the season.

In episode 1, Charles clearly felt the other ghost (the WWI soldier, Wilfred) strangling him, he also got his face covered in that black liquid after he took the cursed mask off his face.

If ghosts could be able to play the same rules with other ghosts as they do with the living, Charles could have chosen to simply pass through Wilfred and seize the knife. However, he was unable to do so.

Also, during Episode 3, when that ghost's head exploded, Charles and Edwin were covered with the pieces of his ghostly brain, so I guess, fluids are other things that have their own rules when we talk about ghost-to-ghost interaction.

Sure these are not the prettiest of examples, but they support my point just fine. And I guess, it's good information for when you're writing... All sorts of fanfiction.

[deathsbecome]

ok as i ponder some verse updates. poll.

*it would be significant enough where pre existing dynamics would probably need to be

[sonofhelios2005]

People joke that Charles fails as the Brawn, but he actually does incredibly well. He's not supposed to be some super strong anime character who can destroy any enemy with a single punch. His job as the brawn is to be the protector and defender, which we see him do many times. He holds off the WW2 ghost whilst Edwin does his magic. He very successfully dealt with the Night Nurse. He banishes David in the forest. He goes to hell for Edwin and sets the Doll Spider Demon on fire twice. He kills the giant snake with a sword. Does he get knocked around? Yes, but that unfortunately comes with being the brawn.

Special mention to him becoming trapped in the Devlin House, this wasn't because he failed at being the brawn instead it's because he had such severe trauma related to the house he was vulnerable to being trapped in the loop and wasn't thinking clearly when he got hit by the dad.

[shaylogic]

Okay, so we know that Charles' polo goes red>burgundy>black and back by the end of the season.

Because there's so much going on, I always missed the exact transitions. This time I specifically tracked them down. (Apologies if this has already been done.)

Charles shirt is bright red through the majority of the Devlin House, even in Hope's Diary scene, when he opens up to Crystal.

Even when he first swings at Mr. Devlin and gets knocked back, his shirt is red.

The very subtle shift to burgundy is after he disappears and first reappears in the loop.

It remains burgundy throughout the entire lighthouse leapers episode and beginning of the two dead dragons.

I finally realized the very last moment we see of Charles in the burgundy is with Crystal. She tells him after the confusing makeout night, "But I think we should be friends," and kind-hearted Charles, of course, respects that and puts on a friendly smile.

It's difficult to see in the next scene with him because of his jacket, the angle he sits at on the ladder, and the lighting, but it's immediately after that when we first see him in the black polo.

My brother in death, you are NOT doing well.

here's another song from Jayden Revri's official Charles playlist, that I think is about this conflict with Crystal:

His shirt is still black during the "I don't wanna be a bad guy" scene.

After Edwin's affirmation of Charles' inherent goodness, it is directly after this scene that the shirt goes back to burgundy!!!

He's still wearing the burgundy during the confession:

BUT IT GOES BACK TO BRIGHT RED LITERALLY RIGHT AFTER EDWIN'S CONFESSION AND THEY ESCAPE HELL TOGETHER!

Yo I equally love Cryland and Payneland but the show canonly said "Crystal hit him in the loneliness and Edwin hit him in the loved"

[asidian]

I want to talk a little bit about the sisters who were freed from the Devlin house. Specifically, about what they tell the Night Nurse when she interviews them after they're rescued.

They say, "those amazing ghost boys freed us."

But wait. Hang on.

Charles wasn't up and about when they finally come out of the loop. He certainly wasn't doing anything heroic. He was still on the floor, where he'd been knocked earlier by Mr. Devlin.

But that means that, for all they couldn't respond, the Devlins must have been aware of what was going on around them.

For all they couldn't say a word for themselves, they must have seen Edwin, Charles, and Crystal trying to help.

More than that, though.

They must have seen Charles stand up to their father. Draw a weapon in their defense, and step in to protect them, in a way that literally no one, for the past thirty years, has tried to do.

Charles spends the next two episodes at an absolute emotional low. He thinks the worst of himself. He is painfully, acutely aware of his own helplessness to support the people he cares about.

In a very big way that kicks off here, in the Devlin house, where despite his very best efforts, he was able to help no one at all.

It's touching to think that, whether he knew it or not, Charles made an impact, after all.

He thought he'd done nothing, that he'd helped no one – but he did, in the end.

To those girls, he was brave. To them, the fact that he stood up to their father must have meant the world.

[alexwilltellyouthings]

Something something about how the Devlin case was the catalyst for Charles' trauma response, with the loop and people being brutally murdered over and over again

And later in Hell, Charles seeing exactly how Edwin was brutally murdered over and over again

When Crystal felt sick saying "those women have been living the worst moment of their lives over and over for 30 years?" and how Edwin was in fact the only one who knew how it felt

I don't know where I'm going with this I'm just feeling things.

[pippin-katz]

In Defense Of Edwin

Something that has bothered me is that there's a significant amount of people who talk about Edwin being unaware of Charles' pain as if he's oblivious, or like he did something wrong; that is simply unfair to Edwin.

Charles is happy, friendly, and wonderful. That is his personality. That is not all forced.

People are quick to jump on the line that Charles has been hiding his pain from Edwin, but a line people are ignoring from that argument is: "He's probably been hiding it from himself!"

His behavior indicates that he doesn't talk or think about trauma or negativity unless it's relevant to the situation. I doubt Charles even realized how bad his trauma was until the Devlin Murders. His pain was so repressed that he wasn't "feeling" it anymore.

Charles’ Triggers

While I'm not going to say that Charles did not hide his pain from Edwin at all, I am going to point out that this may have been the first time, in a very long time or ever, that they encountered something this close to home for him.

The only real reason Charles discusses his trauma now is because the Devlin House triggers him, genuinely in a psychological way. It's not just the "crazy dad" that gets to him. There are so many details that fit Charles personally. That whole situation is too fucking much for him.

The song Owner Of A Lonely Heart playing in the background; a song that he says he liked enough to get the cassette tape but that it was smashed by his father.

The controlling and restrictive behaviors of the father on his daughters. The eldest daughter writing about walking on eggshells and looking forward to graduation.

The way that the father kills them; he doesn't shoot them, or poison them, or whatever, he butchers them. His attacks are physically direct. He swings an axe, so his movement is the root of the violence. If it had been a gun, it would've been his finger on the trigger, but the bullets hitting them. Charles was abused by his father through the means of a belt, which is physically direct.

The loop, having to watch it over, and over, and over again with no break, no relief, and not being able to do anything, no matter how many times he sees it happen. Charles' abuse seemed to be regular and constant, no matter what he did. It always ended the same way.

All of that is then exacerbated by the Night Nurse forcing him to reexperience his trauma the very next day. That's a lot of specific details and events that lead to his complete breakdown.

Charles hasn't been consciously choosing to hide all of that pain from Edwin. It had been buried to the point where even he couldn't see it anymore, but the Devlin House uprooted it from his subconscious.

Charles’ Parents

Now, he does hide his habit of checking on his parents from Edwin, but that's not fully about his abuse. Charles misses his family, his life, being alive.

It's worth noting that he only shows Crystal his parents because he's trying to connect with her about not being able to go home. He didn't bring that up on a whim. It was relevant to help Crystal feel understood. She's not special; if someone completely different from her did the exact same thing, Charles would've shown them too.

Now, let's talk about him not telling Edwin. Charles may not have a full comprehension of Edwin's experiences, but he knows he's different from "normal" people. Hiding his parents from him is likely just as much about not wanting to hurt Edwin as it is protecting himself.

Edwin does not show any type of longing for his life. Everything he knew about the world from his time is gone or been changed beyond recognition. He doesn't have a family to miss, not that he was close to them in the first place; even if he did have an emotional connection to them, they've been long dead.

And Edwin seems unbothered, but there’s no way for Charles to know that for certain. Watching his parents weekly would remind Edwin constantly that he does not have anyone. He’s worried about being insensitive; he feels like he would be unintentionally taunting Edwin and rubbing salt into the wound.

Edwin has been dead for over 100 years and spent 70 of those years being torn apart by a demon in Hell; how could he even remember physical sensations other than pain and exhaustion? How could he remember the taste of food while running through Gluttony, watching its inhabitants vomit profusely? He never saw the appeal of romance or sex prior to his death, and then he witnesses the bloody masses of people in Lust; how could he be anything other than repulsed?

Charles tells him that pain is not a contest, but he almost without a doubt compares his own experiences to Edwin's. It's something people with low self-esteem do more than others. He feels guilty, like he’s selfish for being upset; Edwin has it so much worse.

How does being abused by his dad compare to being dragged to Hell? He got hit with a belt; Edwin was ripped apart. Who is he to whine about his life to a boy who has died more times than days Charles has existed?

He may not have had the specific details before, but the knowledge of it being Hell was enough. When you don't put your own needs on your priority list, that's one of the first "justifications" your brain comes up with. They already have enough on their plate, and you don't need to talk about it. You're totally fine! So yes, hiding his parents from Edwin makes sense from his perspective.

But his abuse? Charles doesn't even realize how much pain he's in; how could Edwin have realized?

My point is that Charles wasn't actively choosing to hide all of his pain from Edwin for thirty years, so to blame Edwin for not noticing is like blaming a blind person for picking up a red ball instead of a blue one. He couldn't have noticed; there was nothing for him to notice. Charles wasn't wearing a full mask.

The second Charles shows any indication that something is wrong, Edwin does notice!

Edwin may have trouble with people, but he's not oblivious, and he knows Charles. If he's ever been upset like this before, he would've noticed. He notices Charles' change in behavior after Crystal joined in only a day, and he doesn't deny it when Edwin calls him out.

Edwin also follows up on asking if he needs to talk about his father. Charles brushes him off, but Crystal and Niko show up before Edwin has a chance to press a little more, which I think he would've. I don't think Charles would've opened up, but it would've shown that Edwin is aware that all is not well. He is aware, but on top of being in the dark about it, he's got his own shit he's working out and cases to solve. His attention is divided.

I think it's important to remember this fact that has been driving me mental for months now:

Charles and Edwin’s dynamic during the show is a completely different dynamic than the one they've had for the past thirty years.

The introduction of Crystal, going to Port Townsend, meeting Niko, Monty, fighting Esther, the Cat King, etc. etc. etc. Everything about their relationship gets shaken up from the start of the show. They're both acting differently in all sorts of ways, and some they even acknowledge to each other.

What we saw of them in Port Townsend is not what Charles and Edwin were during those thirty years. It's unfair to pass judgement on something we don't actually know about.

I guess what I'm saying is that I'm getting really tired of fics/posts making a commentary about Edwin not noticing being something he has failed at. Does Edwin feel guilty for not realizing it sooner? Absolutely, but please, at least acknowledge that it wasn't his fault if you're sticking to canon. If you want to twist some shit into it to make it more complicated, make it more angsty, go right ahead! I'm absolutely not stopping you!

But canonically, at least I feel after studying these characters under a microscope, Edwin could not have known sooner.

(ko-fi)

[alltimefail]

Random thought that could could absolutely be nothing, an over-analyzation of sorts even, but I have always found it interesting that in the Devlin house episode Charles gets sucked into the loop starting from the point he snaps at Edwin about him "Not being the all-knowing expert on all things." It's especially interesting to me because after he does so, Edwin tells Charles that he's "...Not acting like himself at all."

In theory, Charles could have just reappeared when Mr. Devlin turns the corner or when he approaches Mr. Devlin here:

because if the point of repetition here is to show us that the abuse Charles suffered at the hands of his own father is what causes him to get trapped in the loop, either of those moments would have been sufficient in supporting that idea. The dialogue shared beforehand between him and Edwin has little to do with the point at hand...unless...

Charles feeling pain about his own father isn't the whole sum of why he gets trapped in the loop; his fear that he's just LIKE his father, that he's not a good person, that he's "Cruel for the shits," and capable of hurting the people he loves (and thus undeserving of their love) is also what traps him in the loop, and that's why his "loop" starts with him snapping at Edwin.

Even though we as viewers can empathize with and understand why Charles snaps at Edwin given the circumstances, it's very unlikely that Charles extends that same grace to himself. I would argue that we see the multi-faceted layers of his trauma explored in various ways from this moment on. Charles himself even later admits that all he feels is anger despite the fact that he wants to be "a good guy." Charles has yet to understand that it's possible to be good and feel anger, that anger in and of itself is not bad, and that feeling strong negative emotions like grief or anger does not make a person dangerous or abusive like his father was...nor does it guarantee that he would use his anger to harm others. So, with that in mind, of course Charles' loop would start with him lashing out at Edwin, as opposed to it just starting with him lashing out at Brandon Devlin; it's not just about feeling powerless to stop the abuse, it's about feeling like you play a role in it. It's about the deep-rooted fear that maybe you actually deserved the abuse you suffered because you are not good, and just by being related to an abuser you are damned to be just like them, or worse. Charles worries about who he truly is, deep down, and that maybe Edwin is wrong when he says that Charles isn't acting like himself: maybe the darkest parts that he works so hard to bury are actually who he truly is, and his ability to throw careless, harmful, biting words at someone he loves deeper than anyone else may be a reflection of this. After all, his father loved his mother, he loved Charles, and look what he did to them... how he hurt them beyond repair. What if he is the same?

OR: the trauma Charles deals with isn't only the violence his father enacted on him (shown through what Brandon Devlin does to his family), but it's also the violence he feels capable of enacting himself (shown through his ability to throw harsh words toward Edwin who Charles openly claims is the "most important person in the world" to him).

What furthered this idea even more for me (and added a bit of salt to the wound frankly) was Crystal and Edwin's reactions to Charles being pulled into the loop. Out of shock, confusion, and frustration Crystal immediately turns to Edwin for answers but for a moment he is just frantic and uncharacteristically frazzled, only able to say, "Charles was right, I don't know everything..." and OUCH, right? But it emphasizes that 1) what Charles said to Edwin was quite hurtful, 2) that it did have an (unintentional) impact on Edwin, and 3) that Charles himself very well might have realized it was hurtful as soon as it left his mouth thus, again, why it would make sense that his loop began there.

It takes a strong emotional reaction to be pulled into a loop; the possibly that this moment was written to work on two levels of Charles' inner turmoil is quite clever (and extremely heartbreaking).

Again, it could absolutely be nothing... but it's worth pondering!!

[that-ineffable-devil]

I've praised George Rextrew a lot for the emotion he put behind various actions, and I stand by that.

But I also want to take a moment to appreciate Jayden Revri's ability to handle Charles' more explosive emotions.

In the Devlin house, you watch his anguish and anger build in equal measure. Unlike the characters, we get to see the build-up to the outburst that leads to him getting stuck in the loop. The first time he sees that man murder his family he wants to look away, he tries to look away. You can see how much it hurts him, but he turns back and watches anyway--and the horror turns to rage.

When the Night Nurse comes, he fights her off--very aggressively yes, but they didn't see what he did when she took him into his memories--and everyone looks at him like...like he's a bomb that may go off again? Like they've never seen him before?

The boy's just been through some of his most traumatic memories and committed an act of violence that probably only made that experience worse, and he sees his friends looking at him the way he'd always feared they would--like he's a bad guy. And Jayden portrays that grief and pain so beautifully.

And when he gives that little "no" while he's crying and jerks away from Edwin's outstretched hand?

My heart feels like it's been squashed and wrung out.

[fan-a-tink]

Everyone asking for a scene in season 2 where Charles is missing and Edwin is the one who either goes feral or has to rescue Charles, have you forgotten about the case of the devlin house? Don’t get me wrong, I would love to see more of this as well, but we already had the scenario where Charles is lost and Edwin does the rescuing. And not only did Edwin give us one of his most devastating lines - I could… we could lose Charles - but he was also absolutely determined to save Charles and did so all on his own when Crystal got harassed by David. He was kind of like beyond panic and just tunnel-vision focussed on getting Charles out of that trauma-loop.

Edwin Payne would go to hell and back for Charles Rowland just as much as the other way around.

[edwin-paynes-bowtie]

Guys, walk with me for a second.

In 1x3, the time loop episode, Edwin is the one to correctly identify what is happening in the Devlin House as a loop. The question then comes: "he's been killing his family over and over again since 1994?"

And Edwin just averts his eyes.

In episode 7, we then learn that Hell, to Edwin, was essentially a loop. The doll-head-spider chased him, caught him, gnawed at him, and consumed him, at which point he immediately regenerated to go through it all again.

What do yall bet that he was seeing himself a little bit in the Devlin family? The family that was trapped in their own little Hell without even having been assigned it?

[untangling-my-headphones]

So when they're solving the Devlin murders and Charles says 'don't yell at her cause you're not the all knowing expert on everything' and then when Charles gets stuck in the loop and Edwin immediately admits 'he's right, I don't know everything' and then in the next scene Edwin says it took Charles years to learn how to use his backpack so he has no chance being able to use it, I think it proves Edwin doesn't actually think he knows everything. Sure he's stubborn and a control freak and he likes things done in a particular way but I don't think he really acts like a know-it-all.

And when you factor in that scene with Despair where he says he doesn't have his books as an answer for not knowing where he is/ who Despair is, it seems like knowing things, reading, writing things (everything) down is something he does to cope. He doesn't like lacking control or knowledge so he learn and he collects and he knows. He's the brains not the brawn, he can't defend himself or Charles physically but he can with his knowledge - we even see it with the museum ghost in episode one, when Charles is pinned to the ground by the ghost, Edwin doesn't rush to push him off or fight, he finds the spell book, casts the spell and saves Charles that way. And in the Devlin episode when he's explaining the loop and the stone tape theory, he berates Charles on not reading the books around the office but he doesn't show off that he himself has. I think it's more that to Edwin having knowledge is a shield, it's his protection and seeing Charles not have that same shield feels the same as how Charles feels trying to teach Edwin to throw a punch in the first episode. They're both just trying to protect the other in their own ways.

So I think Charles saying that, was maybe more of a reflection on how he seems himself, that Edwin is the clever one and he's just the one who acts impulsively and does 'stupid things' like he says when he possesses Esther. I think this is implied when he refers to 'your way' and 'my way', Edwin's way being the thought out way with theories and backed up by research and logic, and Charles' way being get straight to the source with no plan and use aggression. And obviously he's so much more than that, and Edwin believes this too but Charles was in such a vulnerable state it makes sense he'd let other insecurities of his slip too.

[gh0st-ratt]

Charles, Edwin and action

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.

[asidian]

I've talked about how amazing the women of Dead Boy Detectives are and how much I love Crystal, and one of the things that truly makes her shine is her carefully written emotional character arc.

She has two, actually, and they play off of each other and intertwine in ways that are honestly fantastic to watch.

The first and foremost is her journey to become a better person.

When the series starts, she's a selfish character.

Selfish in the very literal sense of the definition: she is focused on her self. Her problems are the most important thing to her, and every time she has a conversation, she makes it about what she's going through.

Every time she talks to someone, she steers the conversation toward her problems. The narrative goes so far as to call her out on it through Jenny, in the scene where Crystal says, "Everybody is always thinking about themselves, all the time."

Jenny's reply? That's what Crystal is doing, too.

Jenny's right.

In the first episode, Crystal, while justifiably upset over the awful situation she's in, nevertheless spends a fair portion of the episode angry that the boys aren't helping her enough, when they've done nothing but try to help.

When she talks to Niko through the bathroom door in episode 2, she turns the situation to her own family.

In the Devlin house, when Charles gets caught in the loop, she frames the misfortune in a very telling way.

Edwin says that he's lost Charles. Crystal says that she's lost the only person on her side.

When Charles is poised to confess to the struggles he's had with his repressed anger at the end of episode 4, he doesn't get the chance.

Crystal brings up her own problems again, and whatever else Charles had meant to say falls by the wayside.

So what turns her around? What gets her to the point where she ends the series, confident and willing to put everything on the line for the people she cares about?

Her other character arc.

For the entire series, Crystal is preoccupied with the idea that she's nothing special without her powers. Nobody wants her, she has nowhere to belong, and the only thing that makes her worth having around is her powers.

David tells her that again and again.

It's a recurring theme in her mindscape scenes: he hammers home how much he only wants her for her abilities and that she's worthless and helpless without them.

She's been through an absolute nightmare, and it's left an impact on her.

She's come to believe him, and she's afraid that the boys think of her the same way.

Edwin has framed his opinion of her exclusively in terms of usefulness so far. Even Charles, who's been nothing but supportive at every turn, initially pitches the reason she should be allowed to stay at the agency in terms of what help she'll be able to provide.

Crystal hints at her insecurities to Niko at the start of episode 6, when she loses her powers.

That's why she's so insistent that she keep her power loss from the boys rather than ask them for help.

When Edwin wants her to assist on a case while her psychic abilities are missing, she only gets more upset, because it's her powers he wants, and she doesn't have them anymore.

Everything changes after the boys find out she's lost her powers.

They make no move to oust her from the agency. The very first thing Charles asks her, above all else, is: are you okay? That's the priority.

But more than that, Charles stands up to David for her. He says he'll do it any time she needs him to, and that she's special with or without her powers.

The change is immediate.

From this point onward, Crystal starts looking out for the boys in a big way.

She saves the day at the end of episode 6, keeping the boys from almost certain erasure at the hands of Teethface.

In episode 7, she's ready to go to literal hell in order to save Edwin from whatever torment he faces there.

And in episode 8, of course, she saves the entire day, storming the proverbial castle to rescue the boys, who are busy damseling it up.

Not only does she come to their rescue, but we see her set aside her personal concerns, willingly and without hesitation, to do so. She's come a long way from the version of herself in the first episode, the selfish girl who made everything about her own problems.

She was ready to cut these boys out of her life to spare them the person she had been.

Instead, she comes to them when they need her the most and shows them who she is now.

[crafteeauthor]

There being no "trigger" to the loop and the loop instead being held in a VHS tape to symbolize how Mr Devlin's violating and controlling behavior was the cause of the murders is so fucking poetic and beautiful and awful. Nothing "set him off", there was nothing that "could've been done differently", this murder was his doing and his alone