SUPERNATURAL SEASON 4, or, How To Lose A Fan In One Easy Episode
Uh...
What?
Okay. The episode didn't suck. Actually, it was probably one of the better filmed episodes they've done -- Dean's hands blindly grasping for the air when he burst through the grave was actually quite beautiful. The flashes of hell, the effects when Psychic Chick saw Castille... er, Crenellations... Cumberbund...? whatever his name was, they were both well done.
Also, Wedge Antilles? Oh, you make my little Star Wars heart burst. I love the Rogue Squadron books so bad.
And it provided plenty of heartstring tugging... the amulet, the really quite epic hug, Sam trying to sell his soul seven ways and failing, filling the void with empty sex with a person who is much uglier than old-Ruby. I like how they got the dynamics right: Sam and Dean being omg in love but still slightly awkward around each other, as things changed pretty damn quick in four months. Great, superb, fantastic.
But.
Excuse me.
What?
A mission from God? The apocalypse? Sammy become a Sith Lord? See, I always liked how this show kind of treaded a bizarre irreligious line. They had elements of religion, sure, but I think the heart and soul of the show was about amoral gunslingers in a demon-infested West trying to get revenge on the bastard who killed their ma and pa. (Er, actually, that's Once Upon a Time in the West, isn't it? Hmm.) Sure there's the Good and the Bad, but I loved how Sam and Dean were just involved in the Ugly. Sides weren't really taken; Lucifer was just a dark rumour rather than an entity, and God was a concept (or ideal) rather than an dude who gives missions to the good. (Fuck, I still can't believe that... Really? Seriously?)
Oh, and Sammy using his powers... was just plain retarded. So he's ubermensch now? I get what Kripke was trying to say, about throwing his soul to the wind since Dean had died, but we've stayed pretty far from the chummy brothers taking on hell concept, which is kind of what I loved about this whole story. I always thought it would play out like two dudes caught in an epic struggle... and just being normal dudes and sorting it out like normal dudes and not with demon-killing mind powers. Also. what Sammy has is the Force. Extending a hand to choke people? Yeah, the Force.
The episode was going so well until that turd dropped. I don't know, I can't fully flesh out what I hated so much. It's just so... clunky as a concept, so heavy-handed and unappealing. I'm not drawn to this divine mission, not nearly as much as I was to the arc of season three, or two. That was about two brothers fighting for each other against huge odds, scraping it together while tearing themselves apart. This just feels... distant, and cold, and (ha ha) unebelivable. We're lacking the grounding of their relationship, and with all these super powers and missions from God, it just feels like the thematic viewfinder has gone from a close-up to a wide-angled shot, and I just can't connect.
Hmm. That's not quite how I feel, but I'm not sure how to put it. I think ultimately, it feels like a B-movie. Supernatural, before now, always hinted towards B-movie-dom. I talked about that a lot, actually, but it always managed to reign it back in with genuinely painful and interesting scenes between the brothers, characters arcs that were fascinating and dependency issues that were heartbreakiung. This... just, no, it doesn't have that grounding. It just feels like a B-movie.
I just know this season is going to kind of suck. I can feel it coming. I'll give it a shot, obviously, but my hopes have dropped significantly. The only way I can see this winning me back is if this angel mission shit is a ploy to get Sam and Dean to kill each other or more epic angst... or something.
I guess we'll see?