#dbdacharacterappreciationweek

I want to point out a little character body language tell that Charles has that I think has flown largely under the radar. Every time he's gearing himself up for something he thinks is going to be difficult, he does the cutest tiny double-bounce.

He does it in Esther's house, while Edwin's getting ready to go into the cabinet.

Depending on how you interpret the scene, he's either gearing himself up for a potentially dangerous situation or (let's be real) psyching himself up for the temptation of watching Edwin strip his jacket off. (We see you, Charles.)

He does it near the end of episode two, talking to Crystal by the window.

He's just gotten a look into her heartbreaking issues regarding not being wanted and having nowhere to belong, and he's heading into what he expects is a fraught conversation, trying to talk her up into knowing that he, at least, appreciates her.

He does it when he steps forward to address the washer woman.

He knows the stakes here are high; people might be killed in the hundreds, and this is their chance to get the information they need to stop it.

He does it just before he lobs the Molotov cocktail at the doll-spider.

This is the one of the highest stakes we see all season; this is Charles gearing up for what he likely considers to be the most important moment of his afterlife. If he doesn't get this right, he's condemning Edwin to an eternity of torture.

And he does it again when the doll-spider reappears on the stairway, just before the final dash for the doorway at the top.

Again, the stakes couldn't be higher; he knows very well they've got to make this happen, or the consequences are unthinkable.

There are likely more instances throughout the season; these are just the times I recall off the top of my head.

But more importantly than any of these, it's really telling that Charles still does this while he's in disguise.

It shows up in the very first episode, when they go to speak to Becky's parents about her disappearance.

Here, too, he's gearing himself up to handle something he knows will be difficult. It's going to be an emotional conversation, and it's desperately important that they have it so that Crystal can get the information they need.

But this is a different actor. That means that this is such a significant character tell that they prompted the actor who plays disguise!Charles to use it, in much the same way that disguise!Edwin keeps his hand mannerisms. It's not the actor's body language. It doesn't seem to be something Jayden Revri does in interviews. It's something he's decided on for the character, a deliberate acting choice.

It's very much intentional, and it appears again and again, throughout the series.

The moment she became my favourite

One of my favourite little character-revealing exchanges in the first episode is Edwin and Charles' argument in the games cupboard about whether to take the Becky Aspen case - specifically, the way that after Charles lays out all his arguments about taking a break from the office to avoid getting caught by death, he smiles, relaxed and confident, and pulls out what is obviously his trump card:

"You really gonna let a little American girl die?"

And Edwin gives him a longsuffering look, and Charles grins like a madman, and in the next shot they're in Port Townsend. Because no, Edwin was never going to do that, and they both knew it.

We see more of why he's like that over the rest of the episode, the flashback to his own murder, and then finally in his argument with Crystal, where that composed facade cracks and we see the thing that drives him, the reason why he's spent the last 34 years risking getting caught and sent back to hell, the motivation that normally hides behind the sterile excuse that a good detective does what he must to close the case.

"Ok! Now do a silly one!!!"

crystal palace (surname-von hoverkraft), the character you are 💜💜💜💜

flipped version under the cut