Jenny Green, Niko Sasaki, Crystal Palace, Charles Rowland & Edwin Payne | Dead Boy Detectives 1.08

Jenny Green, Niko Sasaki, Crystal Palace, Charles Rowland & Edwin Payne | Dead Boy Detectives 1.08

I always found the scene where Edwin notices that Esther's cupboard is too far forward really convenient.

Because sure, some people that work in certain jobs will learn to identify if something feels off. But like, how often is Edwin installing kitchens? Why would he have that skill? But I always just brushed it off as needing to progress the scene.

Except today I realised that of course he does! Of course he knows when something isn’t proportionate to plans. Of course he has the experience and skill to know that.

He developed it while mapping out Hell.

I just realized that Edwin might be the only human (or human-adjacent entity) who actually knows how Charles died.

Throughout the show, Charles never actually says what happened. We as the audience only know because of the Night Nurse’s flashbacks. He never even alludes to the fact that he was murdered.

Even the bullies responsible wouldn’t really know how Charles died. They weren’t there for his last few hours. I mean, I’m sure that they put it together that they killed him, but they had no real way of knowing the details. Edwin says that the school covered everything up, so I’m assuming there was never an investigation or an autopsy. And Charles’ parents must not have opened an investigation either because we know his death was never solved. I’m not a lawyer or anything, but I feel like it would be a fairly easy investigation if anyone was actually trying.

Even Charles himself might not know exactly how he died. He didn’t even know he was dying until it happened. Hypothermia is pretty easy to figure out, but did he know about the internal bleeding? He kept insisting he was fine every time Edwin asked. I think that means he didn’t put it together.

Edwin, on the other hand, would have known. He knew Charles was dying and he’s clever enough to know that it’s very hard to kill a healthy teenager through hypothermia alone.

And Edwin was the only one who saw everything. He saw the bullies and he was there when Charles actually died. He was there to witness everything.

I don’t know, I just think there’s something romantic about it. Charles hates being vulnerable, but Edwin saw him at his worst. There’s also something to be said for witnesses. Nobody else will ever truly know what it was like. Nobody else can understand. But Edwin can. He knows Charles in a way nobody else can and he loves him.

sitting in their lap and cuddling

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