If this episode had come earlier in the season, maybe ... time to start solving some issues, not bundle a bunch of new ones on top.
Exactly. PACING. I wrote about this exact thing in my first reply to you but I deleted that part because it got long and I felt it sounded ranty. But, yes ... *high fives you*! Dean's Hell revelations should've happened sooner. Maybe Kripke and Co. needed Dean to repress a little so they could get the mytharc plot underway and introduced angels and new!Ruby and such, but that doesn't mean they needed to leave Dean's reveals until mid-season. Maybe a re-tooled version of "YF" (4x06) might've been the time to pull back Dean's Hell curtain so we could be further down the trail by now. What's going on with Lilith? How many seals have been broken? Have more angels died? Where's slashed up Ruby now? What happened to Sam and Dean's whole argument about Sam not using his powers because God didn't want him to--was there a resolution to that? What's up with Sam's powers not affecting a WED ... aren't the boys at least a little concerned about this fact being that Lilith is a WED and (I think) they're trying to stop her? So many questions.
logically it was the right choice to make
It was the safe choice. Neither choice is more logical than the other, they're on the same scale (Dean kills a child) just a couple degrees different in their effect (Dean kills a faceless, male child who appears older that the audience has no connection to vs. Dean kills an introduced character who is a girl child that the audience can to some degree humanize).
they always have others they can focus on from time to time and have lighter moments.
And that was Baltar's role in the earlier seasons with his delusions. :D Although, based on 4x11 where everyone was pretty dark (and for good reason) it's clear that BSG isn't afraid to push their entire ensemble cast into the shadows.
Just because you take your characters to a dark place doesn't mean there can't be humor. For example, in SPN "Mystery Spot" was a terrific episode that was funny but also very dark. I think it was the contrast provided by the surprise twist with Sam going so dark that made it so effective and well received. Also, the Show managed to surprise most of the audience by really taking Sam to an unexpected place. Gutsy. That's what I would like to see a little more of.
Exactly. PACING. I wrote about this exact thing in my first reply to you but I deleted that part because it got long and I felt it sounded ranty.
I'm always blathering on about things in your journal, no reason why you can't do the same ;)
Just because you take your characters to a dark place doesn't mean there can't be humor. For example, in SPN "Mystery Spot" was a terrific episode that was funny but also very dark.
Yep, but Mystery Spot was almost completely lacking in follow up, which taints it for me. When characters get their heads messed with to such an extent as Sam having to watch his brother die over and over again, followed by nine months of being hellbent on getting him back, even stabbing Bobby, I expected it to make some change in the character, but it really was minimal. That's also my major complaint with Dean. You don't walk around that composed, plus deal with violent monsters without your ugly old hell-self emerging from time to time. 30 years of torture, and another ten conditioning him to do the same to others=severely unbalanced individual, at the very least.
Well, SPN has always been a show with a lot of waisted potential, and fortunately fandom is there to pick up the slack.
I'm always blathering on about things in your journal, no reason why you can't do the same ;)
*snortlaugh* Imagine that, me writing stuff in my own journal. Seriously, though, there's writing and then there's spewing.
Mystery Spot was almost completely lacking in follow up, which taints it for me.
Yes, it would've been nice to see the ramifications of Sam's months alone and what if any revelations he had as a result. I think it's easier for me to be forgiving for the short comings of S3 because of the writer's strike. "MS" was originally after "JiB" and therefore the last episode filmed before the strike, making follow up hard when the came back with only a handful of episodes left to cover a whole lot of plot. Whereas this season there haven't been the same kind of external pressures to interrupt the writing/planning of the story, so I'm expect something more thoughtful and balanced.
That's also my major complaint with Dean.
I can understand that. On one had I completely agree, one the other I can also see why repression might've helped to down play some of his PTSD. But most of all, I'm ambivalent about this point. And I think that mostly stems of a desire to see some other emotionality that's not centered on Dean's time in Hell.
fortunately fandom is there to pick up the slack.
THANK GOD. *tackles fandom*
sorry about the run-on sentences
*looks around* Are the grammar police around? *runs*
Exactly. PACING. I wrote about this exact thing in my first reply to you but I deleted that part because it got long and I felt it sounded ranty. But, yes ... *high fives you*! Dean's Hell revelations should've happened sooner. Maybe Kripke and Co. needed Dean to repress a little so they could get the mytharc plot underway and introduced angels and new!Ruby and such, but that doesn't mean they needed to leave Dean's reveals until mid-season. Maybe a re-tooled version of "YF" (4x06) might've been the time to pull back Dean's Hell curtain so we could be further down the trail by now. What's going on with Lilith? How many seals have been broken? Have more angels died? Where's slashed up Ruby now? What happened to Sam and Dean's whole argument about Sam not using his powers because God didn't want him to--was there a resolution to that? What's up with Sam's powers not affecting a WED ... aren't the boys at least a little concerned about this fact being that Lilith is a WED and (I think) they're trying to stop her? So many questions.
logically it was the right choice to make
It was the safe choice. Neither choice is more logical than the other, they're on the same scale (Dean kills a child) just a couple degrees different in their effect (Dean kills a faceless, male child who appears older that the audience has no connection to vs. Dean kills an introduced character who is a girl child that the audience can to some degree humanize).
they always have others they can focus on from time to time and have lighter moments.
And that was Baltar's role in the earlier seasons with his delusions. :D Although, based on 4x11 where everyone was pretty dark (and for good reason) it's clear that BSG isn't afraid to push their entire ensemble cast into the shadows.
Just because you take your characters to a dark place doesn't mean there can't be humor. For example, in SPN "Mystery Spot" was a terrific episode that was funny but also very dark. I think it was the contrast provided by the surprise twist with Sam going so dark that made it so effective and well received. Also, the Show managed to surprise most of the audience by really taking Sam to an unexpected place. Gutsy. That's what I would like to see a little more of.
Reply
I'm always blathering on about things in your journal, no reason why you can't do the same ;)
Just because you take your characters to a dark place doesn't mean there can't be humor. For example, in SPN "Mystery Spot" was a terrific episode that was funny but also very dark.
Yep, but Mystery Spot was almost completely lacking in follow up, which taints it for me. When characters get their heads messed with to such an extent as Sam having to watch his brother die over and over again, followed by nine months of being hellbent on getting him back, even stabbing Bobby, I expected it to make some change in the character, but it really was minimal. That's also my major complaint with Dean. You don't walk around that composed, plus deal with violent monsters without your ugly old hell-self emerging from time to time. 30 years of torture, and another ten conditioning him to do the same to others=severely unbalanced individual, at the very least.
Well, SPN has always been a show with a lot of waisted potential, and fortunately fandom is there to pick up the slack.
(sorry about the run-on sentences)
Reply
*snortlaugh* Imagine that, me writing stuff in my own journal. Seriously, though, there's writing and then there's spewing.
Mystery Spot was almost completely lacking in follow up, which taints it for me.
Yes, it would've been nice to see the ramifications of Sam's months alone and what if any revelations he had as a result. I think it's easier for me to be forgiving for the short comings of S3 because of the writer's strike. "MS" was originally after "JiB" and therefore the last episode filmed before the strike, making follow up hard when the came back with only a handful of episodes left to cover a whole lot of plot. Whereas this season there haven't been the same kind of external pressures to interrupt the writing/planning of the story, so I'm expect something more thoughtful and balanced.
That's also my major complaint with Dean.
I can understand that. On one had I completely agree, one the other I can also see why repression might've helped to down play some of his PTSD. But most of all, I'm ambivalent about this point. And I think that mostly stems of a desire to see some other emotionality that's not centered on Dean's time in Hell.
fortunately fandom is there to pick up the slack.
THANK GOD. *tackles fandom*
sorry about the run-on sentences
*looks around* Are the grammar police around? *runs*
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