more on the penultimate season 4 ep.
Gonna say a little bit in advance of what I suspect will be some fallout, fandom-wise -- a reflection of the firm lines drawn in the show's sand tonight.
Haven't read much of anyone else's responses, just -- letting it percolate for a bit. My first reaction is to feel that taking sides is shortsighted. I saw two men make several mistakes tonight, with each other, within themselves. Doubt it's irreparable, but it won't be easily fixed, DUH.
I felt both frustrated and horribly touched by Sam's dilemmas tonight. Frustrated, because there is still a tremendous amount of -- how to put it, only hearing what he wants to hear, FEARS to hear, wants to believe. In some ways this is the closest I've ever felt to Sam this season, and in some other distinct ways I don't believe I've ever even met the guy we saw at times tonight. Not wholly.
I felt deeply for Dean's dilemma. He's devoted a great deal of his life -- one could say pretty damn close to all of it and not be exaggerating by much -- to being For Sam. But a few decades of Hell, and then divine intervention, have sharpened Dean's blade to a nearly merciless edge. Trusting the angels is going to be a mistake, I think, and yet I refuse to completely buy into the idea that Sam's entirely right. But I don't think he's entirely wrong, either.
It's fabulously convoluted. I am utterly unspoiled for the finale, well, for most of the second half of the season, started out, and I've seen ups and downs -- seen some real clunkers, in fact -- but I think it's going to play out as "Lazarus Rising" promised so powerfully. I think it will not be Sam who, finally, is completely transformed. Or at least not Sam alone. This season I've seen Sam edge his way to a promise made when he was six months old. It's been Dean who has been shaped and reformatted over and over again.
Well. I don't like where either guy has gone this season, in multiple ways, but I can see how they got there. Now it just remains to be seen, how this final confrontation affects events soon to come.
I just want to stay relatively balanced. This was another huge, potentially polarizing ep, and I feel like I am sitting far enough back right now that I can (fairly) clearly see the rights and wrongs on both sides. I think righteousness can be a strength, and a weakness. I think ability is a tool, and can be used for either good or ill. The tools are only that -- it is the intent within the wielder that matters in the end. Both our guys are doing these with, they believe, the best of intentions.
I have no idea how it'll play out. But I vote for keeping my feet on the ground and not freaking out. It's tv, for one thing, and the guys will, eventually, and not without great struggle, work it all out. In the meantime, I cannot wait to see what Sam and Dean will each do -- and probably become -- next week.
Haven't read much of anyone else's responses, just -- letting it percolate for a bit. My first reaction is to feel that taking sides is shortsighted. I saw two men make several mistakes tonight, with each other, within themselves. Doubt it's irreparable, but it won't be easily fixed, DUH.
I felt both frustrated and horribly touched by Sam's dilemmas tonight. Frustrated, because there is still a tremendous amount of -- how to put it, only hearing what he wants to hear, FEARS to hear, wants to believe. In some ways this is the closest I've ever felt to Sam this season, and in some other distinct ways I don't believe I've ever even met the guy we saw at times tonight. Not wholly.
I felt deeply for Dean's dilemma. He's devoted a great deal of his life -- one could say pretty damn close to all of it and not be exaggerating by much -- to being For Sam. But a few decades of Hell, and then divine intervention, have sharpened Dean's blade to a nearly merciless edge. Trusting the angels is going to be a mistake, I think, and yet I refuse to completely buy into the idea that Sam's entirely right. But I don't think he's entirely wrong, either.
It's fabulously convoluted. I am utterly unspoiled for the finale, well, for most of the second half of the season, started out, and I've seen ups and downs -- seen some real clunkers, in fact -- but I think it's going to play out as "Lazarus Rising" promised so powerfully. I think it will not be Sam who, finally, is completely transformed. Or at least not Sam alone. This season I've seen Sam edge his way to a promise made when he was six months old. It's been Dean who has been shaped and reformatted over and over again.
Well. I don't like where either guy has gone this season, in multiple ways, but I can see how they got there. Now it just remains to be seen, how this final confrontation affects events soon to come.
I just want to stay relatively balanced. This was another huge, potentially polarizing ep, and I feel like I am sitting far enough back right now that I can (fairly) clearly see the rights and wrongs on both sides. I think righteousness can be a strength, and a weakness. I think ability is a tool, and can be used for either good or ill. The tools are only that -- it is the intent within the wielder that matters in the end. Both our guys are doing these with, they believe, the best of intentions.
I have no idea how it'll play out. But I vote for keeping my feet on the ground and not freaking out. It's tv, for one thing, and the guys will, eventually, and not without great struggle, work it all out. In the meantime, I cannot wait to see what Sam and Dean will each do -- and probably become -- next week.