#the case of the devlin house

[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"

[zmorak]

We live in a terrible time loop

Idea: @knifesimmons, my execution

[mountainsoftreatos]

So something kinda funny (and peak married behavior) that I noticed on rewatch is that during the Devlin house ep Edwin scolds Charles for not knowing what the Stone Tape Theory is -

Those texts in our office are not just for display.

And then a few scenes later Crystal asks him -

Is there anything in that crazy infinite backpack you could use?

And he replies -

It took Charles years of research and practice to learn how to use it. If I stick my hand in there it is liable to be torn off!

Like, Edwin, babes, Charles could have been reading the books but you also could have been learning to use the backpack. But they don't, because they rely on each other for that knowledge or that skill.

[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.

[pippin-katz]

Not so friendly suggestion, but maybe it took so long for Edwin to hear the misery wraith in the Devlin House is because he heard them so frequently in Hell that his mind learned to automatically tune them out so he could listen for the Spider...

[aletterinthenameofsanity]

Dead Boy Detectives: The Case of the Devlin House || Kyle Tran Myhre, Voting As a Fire Extinguisher

[galacticlamps]

the way Edwin's immediate reaction upon seeing the misery wraith in the Devlin house is to grab Crystal and cover her mouth, even while he's explaining (apparently calmly) that it hunts by sensing negativity and pain - presumably instead of using sight or sound

and the way that he does the exact same thing to Charles when they're reunited in Hell, but here he urges him specifically to be quiet (in what must be the most barely audible line of dialogue in the whole show) because he's found that's the only way he can get a short reprieve between bouts of torture from the spider thing (to the point that when he ran into Simon earlier he - rather nonsensically - believed the sound of tearing paper behind a closed door was also a big risk)

All I'm saying is, it doesn't look like it was actually all that important he stop Crystal from making noise in the Devlin house, and as much as that scene originally read as Edwin kinda having his shit together while Charles & Crystal were both more affected & then literally incapacitated, his head couldn't have been half as clear as it first seemed if his immediate reaction was reverting to Surviving Hell Tactics even when they weren't really helpful or applicable here

[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.

[alexwilltellyouthings]

I think Charles doesn't realize the extent of the abuse he went through.

He's aware it was wrong, he hates his father for it, but it's easy to forget all the ways in which abuse happens when there's a physical aspect to it.

He can tell he didn't deserve to be hit, but when he mentions his dad broke his tape on episode 3 and Crystal reacts, he seemed to not have even considered it to be a big deal. Because compared to the physical violence, it doesn't look like it is.

Devlin's case forced him to confront it a little more, with the girl's diary; I believe it was one of the only moments in which he mentions the controlling bit, the feeling of never being enough, which is related to but not entirely about the physical aspect of the abuse.

My point is: he probably doesn't know how deep his own trauma goes. How not just his father's fists affected him, but also his father's words, the way he had control over Charles' things, and all the "small" ways in which that kind of person holds onto power.

Also, I think it's very interesting how Charles says he "wasn't enough, no matter how good he was at sports". It wasn't how good his grades were, or how quiet he was to no disturb his dad, or anything else. They chose to go with sports specifically. And now, Charles is ok with not being the brains, he's ok with not being quiet, but he's definitely not ok with failing to be the brawn. That's the one thing he has to be.

(this sports bit also makes me believe his father was actively homophobic but that's a whole other post)

In conclusion, Charles needs therapy. Surprise!

[shaylogic]

[weirdly-specific-but-ok]

Idk why I keep going back to The Case of the Devlin House what kind of fucking masochist am I.

But it's just. It's just done so well. The wholesome and lighthearted moments, with the dandelion sprites or with Charles and Crystal or Monty meeting Edwin, and the glaring contrast with the absolute HORRORS that happen in the episode.

And how the horrifying parts aren't even the supernatural elements. It's not the misery-ghoul-whats-its-name that's terrifying. It's the human man who is a fucking asshole, creep and brutal murderer, and what he did, and who he was. And the echoes of that toxicity that Charles sees his own father in. The monsters are the humans. The same thing happens with the date between Jenny and the librarian.

It's the human part and the knowledge of how real those situations are and how they occur every day around the world, in some degree. How humans are entirely capable of those things. That's what's the horror. Not the ghosts, but how they lived and died, how Charles and Edwin and the Devlin family and so many other people were killed.

GOD this episode brought back dark memories for me but I cannot help going to it because it's so well done.

[mountainsoftreatos]

I like how Edwin and Charles phase through the door of the Devlin house and then Charles unlocks and opens the door for Crystal, but I think it'd be funny if at some point the boys are in a hurry or distracted and they just forget that she can't go through doors and she's left outside for a while like "boys! I think you forgot me!"

[fan-a-tink]

The Cinematography of Dead Boy Detectives

Episode Three: The Case of the Devlin House

[pippin-katz]

Random Satisfying & Clever Moments Of Audio From Dead Boy Detectives - Part 1

There's a few moments in DBD that utilize audio really well, or use sounds that always stick out to me while watching, and these are some of those moments!

I was going to make this a list post, but then I remembered that tumblr only lets you put one video in each post, and I want to include clips of the sounds I'm talking about. So multi-part series it is!

Ep. 3 - The Case of the Devlin House: Charles' pleading in the background of the first two run-throughs of the Devlin murders.

It's very easy to miss the first few times through, especially if you're watching it through a TV or a device without headphones, but underneath the screaming of the girls, there's an echoing audio of Charles begging his dad to stop hitting him from the flashback we see in the next episode.

It's a super clever touch that probably went unnoticed by the average viewer, but they included it regardless. I love when thought, care, and effort is put into every part of a piece of media simply for the sake of making it, and making it well. This doesn't feel added in for the audience, but because the sound designers just felt it worked.

And if people pick up on it? That's an added bonus!

part 1 | part 2 | part 3 | part 4

(ko-fi)

[aletterinthenameofsanity]

Marcus Zusak, The Book Thief | The Case of the Devlin House, Dead Boy Detectives (2024)

[marril96]

Dead Boy Detectives 1.03 | The Case of the Devlin House