Some initial thoughts on S5...

[ginzai]

So, the season five. I don't normally do episode reaction posts, preferring to get my squee on in meta-post comments, but these two episodes have quite pleased me and I want to jot out a few thoughts. I thought both of them were generally tightly plotted, brilliantly acted, and that the cinematography (particularly in 5x01) was just delightful

Comments

[nerthus]

The only thing that makes sense as far as Bobby's injury preventing him from walking is when Zachariah was torturing the boys to try to get Dean to cave and agree to be Michael's 'vessel' or whatever; he told Dean that if Dean didn't agree to do it, Bobby would never walk again or words to that effect. So maybe it's Zachariah's fault Bobby is crippled and not a direct result of his injury? Cas made Zach put the boys back together, but he didn't say 'fix Bobby, too!', so maybe Zachariah in a snit left him that way? Just grasping at straws here, ha. And poor Bobby; I admit I did like him better when his appearances were more limited and he was just this vaguely comforting, supportive presence in the background that the boys knew they could fall back on; now that he's more up front and center, he does tend to grate just a bit. But I still have a lot of affection for him, mainly stemming from how much I LOVED that scene in the junkyard during AHBL 2 and how openly he revealed how much the Winchester boys have come to mean to him. As for Ellen, I adore her and her snarky attitude, ha, and was delighted to see her again and to see more of that unique bond she and Dean share.

[ginzai]

Thanks for your thoughts! And you're right, that is a good point - I wouldn't put it past Zachariah to pull a stunt like that! It still doesn't explain why Bobby wasn't on some morphine right after being released from surgery though. having had surgery myself, you are on an IV at least for a while afterward and for a wound as significant as Bobby's absolutely would have had one as well as a drip for antibiotics.

I liked Bobby quite a good deal until S4. That's when it felt like he really started to cross the line for me. It started with Dean's "the closest thing I have to a father" comment. That really rubbed me the wrong way because at that point, we hadn't seen any indication of Bobby as a paternal figure. He was very avuncular and friendly and I loved his "family don't end with blood" but none of that is particularly fatherly, you know? And from there on, it just got worse. He was portrayed so cold and uncaring in Yellow Fever (bad writing there in general, I felt), he was deus ex machina in S&V, his characterization floundered all over the place in 4x21 and 4x22... His whole "family is supposed to make you miserable" speech just felt so incredibly condescending and hypocritical considering he'd given up on Sam when Dean was dead and was willing to let Sam kill/damn himself in 4x21.

But up until S4, I did really like him. I loved that scene in AHBL2 as well - I thought it was touching and well done and about damn time that someone had told Dean that. But S4!Bobby really caused me to lose my taste for the man...

And so much Ellen love, seriously. :)