Review | 8x10 | Torn and Frayed
Torn and Frayed, Jenny Klein’s first solo scrip for the show, not only brings the brothers’ ongoing conflict to a (temporary and uneasy) conclusion, but also seems to mark the end of Sam’s storyline with Amelia, at least for the time being. Additionally, the episode advances the mytharc by looking into Crowley and Naomi’s activities, and as was to
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Comments 14
It's weird, reading a review for an episode I haven't seen. I don't regret the decision to give it up, though. I think stopping now is the best chance I have of regaining my love for the earlier seasons at some point. This season has just been too groundhog day, too badly written, and as a result the characters stopped feeling real to me, which meant I stopped caring about their problems and just got frustrated. So it was time to stop. :(
Remember that season 1 cliffhanger and how we were all on tenterhooks waiting for the renewal notice, waiting for season 2 to find out who would live or die...
Yeah. What happened to our show?
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A new showrunner is what happened to our show, I am afraid. A showrunner whose 'vision' for the show I simply do not understand. :(
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The problem is, it could have worked, you know. It's not like Sam and Dean's post-purgatory reactions have been out of the realm of possibilities, all they needed to make this newly formed conflict believable was a little bit of character work. Even with this lacklustre set-up, there have been plenty of opportunities to make it into something real and interesting. It really worries me that the writers seem to think that they don't need to explain anything and can just do whatever they want with the characters. :(
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Oh man, I so agree with you. As I said, at this point I would be more than happy to just throw continuity and consistency and logic to the wind and enjoy some good old-fashioned monster hunts with an intelligent Sam and a snarky Dean and some lovely one-off characters. That would get me back on board quickly. I don't want to leave the show, but I don't want to end up resenting my beloved Sam and Dean either.
Yes, I am actually looking forward to this night's episode. Robbie Thompson hasn't let me down yet and the guest character should be great fun. :)
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All in all, Sam and Dean both act like petty, petulant children in this scene, and I find that completely out of character at this point.
Yeah. I am deeply perturbed by how willing they are to use both Benny and Amelia as pawns in their personal feud. It's ugly because it fails to treat them as real people. It's also ugly because it's dangerousFrom Sam's side - I can go through my DVDs and pick out lots of episodes where the basic plot could be described as 'idiot hunter insists on pursuing harmless monster, causing needless bloodshed'. Sometimes the hunter pushes the monster to kill when he otherwise wouldn't have. Deciding whether a monster should live or die is complicated, but in making it all about his own resentment and distrust Sam is betraying everything he's ever believed in ( ... )
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Yeah, the predictability of Benny's storyline really impacts my enjoyment of it. But, hey, maybe the writers will surprise us and move it into a different direction entirely. I mean, I think Benny is fairly popular in fandom, and we all know that the writers/producers are influenced by public opinion, so maybe the writers will decide to keep him, like they did with Castiel.
I find it hard to understand why they're so invested in closing off hell
Well, demons did kill pretty much everyone Sam and Dean ever loved, so I can see why they would have an investement in closing the damn place down. Not to mention that Dean has been a VIP guest in the place himself for quite some time, so making sure nobody else can book a stay in the location should be high on his list. I get that, I do. The writers just really need to sell it better by tying Sam and Dean's history explicitly to the mytharc this season - and not only in one throwaway line at the beginning of a ( ... )
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Oh my, I didn't even think about it from this angle! Don could have suffered serious harm at the hands of a pissed off Sam. We all know that Sam is not exactly reasonable when someone he loves is in danger. Okay, so that makes Dean's little ploy even less tolerable.
I find it sad and peculiar that at the end of this little romance, Amelia knows nothing about Sam at all.
I find it rather sad as well. It also undermines the writers efforts to sell us Sam and Amelia's relationship as 'true love'. How can Amelia love someone she doesn't even know? I think both are more in love with the idea of what they could have been, rather than with each other. The basis is just not there. And yes, Sam and Amelia were only together a couple of weeks, I think the timeline is pretty clear about that. It's another reason why the storyline fell somewhat flat, emotionally.
It was one of the few scenes that felt natural.Yeah, it's one of my major problems ( ... )
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So much yes to this, esp. the first two paragraphs.
There is really no compelling internal reason why Sam and Dean cannot have friends and family outside of those who are directly linked to their missionThis is one of my biggest gripes about SPN practically every season (and it grows as the seasons pass). We've seen hunters who have homes and families (Steve Wendell, Samuel and Deanna Campbell) and even hunters who seem relatively functional and happy (Garth). Beyond repeatedly funneling Sam and Dean into a vacuum of "only Sam and Dean" in order to create drama, raise the stakes, and maintain their identities of tragic loner heroes, there's really no reason to do this. The tragic loner hero persona can still be maintained while interacting regularly with other characters (I'm thinking similar to the Roadhouse crew or some functional, average-joe hunters who aren't neurotic). In fact, that duality can act to further highlight their tragic loner hero identities and has been used to great effect in ( ... )
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I could not agree more with your little rant about the writers' stubborn refusal to expand Sam and Dean's world with a steady set of recurring characters. I mean, I understand that in the first five seasons the brothers' social isolation has been a narrative necessity, because it facilitated their co-dependency, which in turn allowed heaven and hell to manipulate them into breaking the first and the last seal to Lucifer's cage. So at the time it made sense. But in these past two and a half seaons it was no longer necessary to isolate Sam and Dean and I cannot understand why the writers didn't take the opportunity to expand the roles of the wonderful characters we already had, like Rufus and Frank and Bobby and Jody etc. The death of a recurring character doesn't even have a real emotional impact anymore; it has just become so tiresome to see them all die. /sigh
Yeah, I am cautiously optimistic that the season might have turned a corner. *crosses fingers, too*
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