Yet Another Installment Of What Astro's Watching
So, I'm currently four episodes, I believe, from the end of season 5 of Supernatural. (I've been watching it on DVD, so I'm always at least one season behind the rest of the world. No spoilers past the point I'm currently at, please!)
Watching this show is a bit of a weird experience for me, because it's one of those strange shows about which different parts of my brain have entirely different opinions. I will say that I am enjoying it a lot. Heck, I'm pretty much compulsively watching episode after episode at the moment; it seems to be exactly the kind of brain candy I need right now. And, it does have some fairly clever storylines, especially once you get into the later seasons, some pretty solid character concepts, some nice bits of worldbuilding, and a fun sense of humor. On the other hand... Well, OK, this is a show that hits a sort of semi-fannish sweet spot for me, where I'm engaged enough in it to be really interested in what's happening and where things are going, while not being remotely obsessed enough to get all analytical about it, or even to remember much in the way of plot details from previous seasons. And yet, I still frequently find myself thinking things like, "Wait, that doesn't make sense, does it?" and "Well, then, whey didn't they just...?" and "Wow, they expect us to swallow that retcon?" Except that after thinking these things, I tend to just shrug my shoulders, go, "Oh, well, whatever," and let myself get distracted by whatever interesting things might currently be happening. Which is something I almost feel guilty about, but what the heck. I'll take my entertainment value where I can get it.
But then there's also the show's incredible, often bordering-on-over-the-top anviliciousness. It's like, "Hey, viewer? Have you noticed OUR ANGST? Seriously, look, here it is! Our ANGST! Right here! We'll point it out again, just in case you missed it. See our emotionally repressed emo manpain? LOOK AT THE MANPAIN!!! There are reasons for it! And we will reiterate them in EVERY SINGLE EPISODE!" Also, the writers will do things like come up with very clever little thematic parallels between the characters' backstory and the current plot arc, which they will damned well make sure you notice because they're writing this stuff into the plot as explicitly as they possibly can, in as many ways they can, whether it makes any actual sense or not. "HEY, VIEWER? DID YOU NOTICE US DOING THIS? DO YOU GET THE PARALLELS? DON'T WORRY, WE CAN REPEAT IT A FEW HUNDRED MORE TIMES FOR YOU IF YOU NEED US TO!" Honestly, I'm sometimes not sure whether my biggest impulse is to roll my eyes, or to pat the writers on the head and try to reassure them that, honestly, it's OK and they don't need to try so hard. Well, they do at least get away with all this rather more than you'd expect, largely, I think, by virtue of the fact that Jensen Ackeles can in fact do highly convincing emotionally repressed emo manpain in a surprisingly consistent fashion.
Oh, and while it doesn't often push my own personal "aargh!" buttons too much -- with the occasional annoying exception -- yeah, I can see why it gets a lot of criticism for its treatment of women.
And yet, despite it all, I am still happily munching it like candy. Well, heck, even if it were as sucky as it sometimes seems like it ought to be, it would still be worth watching at the moment just for Castiel, who is an awesome character of awesomeness. No doubt that's due in part to the fact that he's actually allowed to have some subtlety and mystery to his character. He may be full of emotionally repressed emo angelpain, but thankfully the show doesn't feel the need to hit us over the head with it every five minutes. (Which, in the perverse way of such things, makes me feel it a lot more. Poor guy. I really want to give him a hug, except I'm not sure he'd know what to do with a hug if he had one.) Also, he does some of the best deadpan comic relief ever.
Speaking of which, since the flist did such a good job with the Sherlock recs, when I've actually finished S5 I may want to ask y'all where the good, no-S6-spoilers Castiel fic is. Because there's got to be some. That guy was made for fic.
In the meantime, the icon represents my prediction for the S5 finale.
Watching this show is a bit of a weird experience for me, because it's one of those strange shows about which different parts of my brain have entirely different opinions. I will say that I am enjoying it a lot. Heck, I'm pretty much compulsively watching episode after episode at the moment; it seems to be exactly the kind of brain candy I need right now. And, it does have some fairly clever storylines, especially once you get into the later seasons, some pretty solid character concepts, some nice bits of worldbuilding, and a fun sense of humor. On the other hand... Well, OK, this is a show that hits a sort of semi-fannish sweet spot for me, where I'm engaged enough in it to be really interested in what's happening and where things are going, while not being remotely obsessed enough to get all analytical about it, or even to remember much in the way of plot details from previous seasons. And yet, I still frequently find myself thinking things like, "Wait, that doesn't make sense, does it?" and "Well, then, whey didn't they just...?" and "Wow, they expect us to swallow that retcon?" Except that after thinking these things, I tend to just shrug my shoulders, go, "Oh, well, whatever," and let myself get distracted by whatever interesting things might currently be happening. Which is something I almost feel guilty about, but what the heck. I'll take my entertainment value where I can get it.
But then there's also the show's incredible, often bordering-on-over-the-top anviliciousness. It's like, "Hey, viewer? Have you noticed OUR ANGST? Seriously, look, here it is! Our ANGST! Right here! We'll point it out again, just in case you missed it. See our emotionally repressed emo manpain? LOOK AT THE MANPAIN!!! There are reasons for it! And we will reiterate them in EVERY SINGLE EPISODE!" Also, the writers will do things like come up with very clever little thematic parallels between the characters' backstory and the current plot arc, which they will damned well make sure you notice because they're writing this stuff into the plot as explicitly as they possibly can, in as many ways they can, whether it makes any actual sense or not. "HEY, VIEWER? DID YOU NOTICE US DOING THIS? DO YOU GET THE PARALLELS? DON'T WORRY, WE CAN REPEAT IT A FEW HUNDRED MORE TIMES FOR YOU IF YOU NEED US TO!" Honestly, I'm sometimes not sure whether my biggest impulse is to roll my eyes, or to pat the writers on the head and try to reassure them that, honestly, it's OK and they don't need to try so hard. Well, they do at least get away with all this rather more than you'd expect, largely, I think, by virtue of the fact that Jensen Ackeles can in fact do highly convincing emotionally repressed emo manpain in a surprisingly consistent fashion.
Oh, and while it doesn't often push my own personal "aargh!" buttons too much -- with the occasional annoying exception -- yeah, I can see why it gets a lot of criticism for its treatment of women.
And yet, despite it all, I am still happily munching it like candy. Well, heck, even if it were as sucky as it sometimes seems like it ought to be, it would still be worth watching at the moment just for Castiel, who is an awesome character of awesomeness. No doubt that's due in part to the fact that he's actually allowed to have some subtlety and mystery to his character. He may be full of emotionally repressed emo angelpain, but thankfully the show doesn't feel the need to hit us over the head with it every five minutes. (Which, in the perverse way of such things, makes me feel it a lot more. Poor guy. I really want to give him a hug, except I'm not sure he'd know what to do with a hug if he had one.) Also, he does some of the best deadpan comic relief ever.
Speaking of which, since the flist did such a good job with the Sherlock recs, when I've actually finished S5 I may want to ask y'all where the good, no-S6-spoilers Castiel fic is. Because there's got to be some. That guy was made for fic.
In the meantime, the icon represents my prediction for the S5 finale.