SPN 401 - Lazarus Rising
I AM PLEASED. Vastly, vastly pleased.
I will give time for the new actress playing Ruby to grow on me, but all in all, I'm thrilled that SPN is delivering an incredibly compelling narrative. Ruby's back, Bobby's sticking around, Sam's powers are back. Our story's circled up tight and gone full throttle.
Speculation on the Groundwork Laid:
I know some people will disagree but I've always felt like Supernatural required a higher force of good; without it, the show is fundamentally a story of holding back the natural chaos of the world. Interesting in its own way, but ultimately repetitive and predetermined. We've had three seasons of Sam and Dean spearheading guerilla strikes against an enemy stronger and better than them, while suffering heavy losses. Both boys have died, John's dead, the Roadhouse is gone. They're getting whittled down.
But with the addition of Castiel, an angel of the Lord, the whole plot's changed. The demons are scared. IMO, this is the biggest upheaval of the status quo we've had so far. The guerillas have just gotten the backing of a power equal to, or maybe greater than that of the demons. What was a slow march towards victory has turned into a full out declaration of war, and now there's uncertainty, now there's something to get invested in. Hell's been breached, motherfuckers. There's no going back. I love, love, love that Dean's mind has been blown, and with it, so have the conventions of this show.
Something that's always been interesting to me about the Christian supernatural worldview is that it started with unity, a oneness that was rent into two. God's glorious angel host is torn into those cast down and those remaining above, and we get this sense of loss, this yearning manifested through despair. It could be argued that good is best characterized by unswerving loyalty; evil, by the despair that rose from frustrated ambition.
Sam's been traveling a slippery slope for a while now. He knows he's saving people, and he's willing to lie to his brother to continue that, willing to go against his better instincts that are telling him not to trust Ruby for what he believes to be the greater goal. I mean, before Dean had returned, Sam had lost everything. His every attempt to bring Dean back utterly futile. What else does he have but to make those responsible pay, with any and every weapon at his disposal? He has utter faith in the ultimate rightness of his actions, that the salvation of mankind, the light at the end of the tunnel, is worth stumbling down a dark path. That his power is a good, effective thing.
Dean has no faith. Dean has no self-regard. Dean can't hear the voice of God (in related news, if Sam's visions return, I will be EVEN MORE AMAZED by these writers). Dean's traded his soul, been to hell, and when he's pulled out, the first thing he does is go after the son of a bitch that did it. He's not grateful for his own skin, or worried that he'll be tossed back, he's suspicious of the magnitude of that kind of power.
They're one coin, with two sides.
Up until now, the show has kept the boys muddling through and firmly planted in a gray zone. The awesome-sauce of the premiere is that it's started the clock ticking down to the point where they'll have to choose. I have almost no doubt in my mind which side Dean's gonna end up on. It's Sam I'm wondering about. I can't decide if Sam is a contingency plan put in place by the demons in case it ever came to this; if it was evil foreseeing Dean's role in the battle to come. Or if Dean is a check brought into place by the angels, responding to the threat of Sam; plucking Sam's greatest hope from the bowels of hell to serve as a guide back to a surer path. Either way, we're seeing forces at work that are deadset on pitting brother against brother, tearing apart something that's one and setting them against each other. Fun! Let's see if it works.
I think they're off to a good start. Sam and Dean are lying to each other. By the end of the first episode, both boys are deliberately keeping each other in the dark to powwow with their respective camps.
Quick Notes:
1. Castiel and Ruby seem tailor made for their respective targets, don't they? Ruby's abrasive, smart-mouthed, brash and protective ("I don't want to get between you two"), with swagger to spare. In both incarnations, she's conspicuously gorgeous. Castiel (so far at least) is well-spoken, empathetic ("You don't think you deserve to be saved") and rumpled around the edges. He almost slouches. Such great parallels, drawn almost completely through their physicality.
2. Bobby was great, I love how incorporated he's been into the show. They've had a hard time drawing characters around Sam and Dean in any permanent sense, but Bobby's a great presence.
3. And I'm so glad they kept Ruby around, even though I'm really saddened by the loss of Katie Cassidy. I guess it doesn't make sense that Ruby would return to that particular, badly damaged body, but still. Man, the possession thing's a real boon for their budget. As soon as an actor gets too expensive, they can recast without any real concern.
4. I wonder if they're gonna keep the new psychic around. She felt too "introduced" to be a one-off, but who knows. I'm 50/50 on her. There are aspects of her character that read feisty in a way that's more male-imagined than reality. Dean's "You are not invited" made me howl, though.
5. I was a little underwhelmed by Sam's reaction to a restored Dean. I don't know. Supernatural doesn't have the best track record of realistically treating what should be overwhelmingly traumatic emotional circumstances, especially in regard to Sam. He snapped back after John, after what happened in Heart, after living Dean's death over and over with the Trickster, and I'm bummed that he seems to be the same Sam he's always been. I'm not seeing a darkness in him that I feel should be there. Although, maybe that's a choice made by the writers? I love the thought of Sam's earnestness tugging him down the path of evil, but I'm not sure if that's pure fanwanking of a poorly managed bit of emotional terrain.
6. I know there's been wank, and that it's a topic that's been picked over to death, but man. Girls on this show get worked. Feel free to skip if you're sick of hearing about this but: I got a little uncomfortable in the opening scenes of the recap montage because: that was a lot of chicks getting smacked around. And Dean's casual slaps of the waitress demon. Ugh. I don't know.
If I could set aside real world discussions of authorial intent/awareness for now, and discuss within the world of the show: After that diner facedown, I got really, really sad for Sam and Dean, because man, their view of women is under serious attack. Neither of them have had a strong and long-term female influence in their lives. The good ones have been killed off, or sent running (Jo, Ellen, Jess, Mom) and in their place, there's this steady stream of demons wearing female faces.
I have little to no belief that this is a story choice by the writers, but it does, conveniently and remarkably, fit into this conflict they're building up, of a forced binary viewpoint, where it's us against them, where everything that isn't of me, is wrong. Ugh. Again, within the show text, it's almost as if demons are deliberately fostering misogyny within the boys, creating a hunting community that is so lopsided towards masculinity, that femininity becomes seen as something wholly 'other', either something to be protected or destroyed. Really disquieting.
7. In conclusion, everyone on this show is stupid hot. Whoooowee.
I will give time for the new actress playing Ruby to grow on me, but all in all, I'm thrilled that SPN is delivering an incredibly compelling narrative. Ruby's back, Bobby's sticking around, Sam's powers are back. Our story's circled up tight and gone full throttle.
Speculation on the Groundwork Laid:
I know some people will disagree but I've always felt like Supernatural required a higher force of good; without it, the show is fundamentally a story of holding back the natural chaos of the world. Interesting in its own way, but ultimately repetitive and predetermined. We've had three seasons of Sam and Dean spearheading guerilla strikes against an enemy stronger and better than them, while suffering heavy losses. Both boys have died, John's dead, the Roadhouse is gone. They're getting whittled down.
But with the addition of Castiel, an angel of the Lord, the whole plot's changed. The demons are scared. IMO, this is the biggest upheaval of the status quo we've had so far. The guerillas have just gotten the backing of a power equal to, or maybe greater than that of the demons. What was a slow march towards victory has turned into a full out declaration of war, and now there's uncertainty, now there's something to get invested in. Hell's been breached, motherfuckers. There's no going back. I love, love, love that Dean's mind has been blown, and with it, so have the conventions of this show.
Something that's always been interesting to me about the Christian supernatural worldview is that it started with unity, a oneness that was rent into two. God's glorious angel host is torn into those cast down and those remaining above, and we get this sense of loss, this yearning manifested through despair. It could be argued that good is best characterized by unswerving loyalty; evil, by the despair that rose from frustrated ambition.
Sam's been traveling a slippery slope for a while now. He knows he's saving people, and he's willing to lie to his brother to continue that, willing to go against his better instincts that are telling him not to trust Ruby for what he believes to be the greater goal. I mean, before Dean had returned, Sam had lost everything. His every attempt to bring Dean back utterly futile. What else does he have but to make those responsible pay, with any and every weapon at his disposal? He has utter faith in the ultimate rightness of his actions, that the salvation of mankind, the light at the end of the tunnel, is worth stumbling down a dark path. That his power is a good, effective thing.
Dean has no faith. Dean has no self-regard. Dean can't hear the voice of God (in related news, if Sam's visions return, I will be EVEN MORE AMAZED by these writers). Dean's traded his soul, been to hell, and when he's pulled out, the first thing he does is go after the son of a bitch that did it. He's not grateful for his own skin, or worried that he'll be tossed back, he's suspicious of the magnitude of that kind of power.
They're one coin, with two sides.
Up until now, the show has kept the boys muddling through and firmly planted in a gray zone. The awesome-sauce of the premiere is that it's started the clock ticking down to the point where they'll have to choose. I have almost no doubt in my mind which side Dean's gonna end up on. It's Sam I'm wondering about. I can't decide if Sam is a contingency plan put in place by the demons in case it ever came to this; if it was evil foreseeing Dean's role in the battle to come. Or if Dean is a check brought into place by the angels, responding to the threat of Sam; plucking Sam's greatest hope from the bowels of hell to serve as a guide back to a surer path. Either way, we're seeing forces at work that are deadset on pitting brother against brother, tearing apart something that's one and setting them against each other. Fun! Let's see if it works.
I think they're off to a good start. Sam and Dean are lying to each other. By the end of the first episode, both boys are deliberately keeping each other in the dark to powwow with their respective camps.
Quick Notes:
1. Castiel and Ruby seem tailor made for their respective targets, don't they? Ruby's abrasive, smart-mouthed, brash and protective ("I don't want to get between you two"), with swagger to spare. In both incarnations, she's conspicuously gorgeous. Castiel (so far at least) is well-spoken, empathetic ("You don't think you deserve to be saved") and rumpled around the edges. He almost slouches. Such great parallels, drawn almost completely through their physicality.
2. Bobby was great, I love how incorporated he's been into the show. They've had a hard time drawing characters around Sam and Dean in any permanent sense, but Bobby's a great presence.
3. And I'm so glad they kept Ruby around, even though I'm really saddened by the loss of Katie Cassidy. I guess it doesn't make sense that Ruby would return to that particular, badly damaged body, but still. Man, the possession thing's a real boon for their budget. As soon as an actor gets too expensive, they can recast without any real concern.
4. I wonder if they're gonna keep the new psychic around. She felt too "introduced" to be a one-off, but who knows. I'm 50/50 on her. There are aspects of her character that read feisty in a way that's more male-imagined than reality. Dean's "You are not invited" made me howl, though.
5. I was a little underwhelmed by Sam's reaction to a restored Dean. I don't know. Supernatural doesn't have the best track record of realistically treating what should be overwhelmingly traumatic emotional circumstances, especially in regard to Sam. He snapped back after John, after what happened in Heart, after living Dean's death over and over with the Trickster, and I'm bummed that he seems to be the same Sam he's always been. I'm not seeing a darkness in him that I feel should be there. Although, maybe that's a choice made by the writers? I love the thought of Sam's earnestness tugging him down the path of evil, but I'm not sure if that's pure fanwanking of a poorly managed bit of emotional terrain.
6. I know there's been wank, and that it's a topic that's been picked over to death, but man. Girls on this show get worked. Feel free to skip if you're sick of hearing about this but: I got a little uncomfortable in the opening scenes of the recap montage because: that was a lot of chicks getting smacked around. And Dean's casual slaps of the waitress demon. Ugh. I don't know.
If I could set aside real world discussions of authorial intent/awareness for now, and discuss within the world of the show: After that diner facedown, I got really, really sad for Sam and Dean, because man, their view of women is under serious attack. Neither of them have had a strong and long-term female influence in their lives. The good ones have been killed off, or sent running (Jo, Ellen, Jess, Mom) and in their place, there's this steady stream of demons wearing female faces.
I have little to no belief that this is a story choice by the writers, but it does, conveniently and remarkably, fit into this conflict they're building up, of a forced binary viewpoint, where it's us against them, where everything that isn't of me, is wrong. Ugh. Again, within the show text, it's almost as if demons are deliberately fostering misogyny within the boys, creating a hunting community that is so lopsided towards masculinity, that femininity becomes seen as something wholly 'other', either something to be protected or destroyed. Really disquieting.
7. In conclusion, everyone on this show is stupid hot. Whoooowee.