into this world we're thrown
Happy birthday, amberlynne and fleurdeleo! Two lovely ladies who make my life a brighter, funner place. ♥ ♥ ♥
There will be fic, um, later? ish? Soon, anyway.
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thefourthvine has an awesome poll up here, based on that sekrit questions meme - hers has actual INTERESTING and FUN questions instead of the mostly blah mash note kind of questions the original had. (pirates! ninjas! pirate ninjas! arr! what? it is talk like a pirate day, after all.)
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More thoughts on last night's SPN.
foreshadowing: mark of quality literature
i. Okay so, "We've got work for you" = Roy LeGrange in "Faith":
DEAN: Why? Why me? Out of all the sick people, why save me?
ROY: Well, like I said before, the Lord guides me. I looked into your heart, and you just stood out from all the rest.
DEAN: What did you see in my heart?
ROY: A young man with an important purpose. A job to do. And it isn’t finished. (DEAN looks slightly surprised.)
2. Also, Mary's "angels are watching over you" - Mary had faith, Mary apparently knew the demon, Mary is the key to the mystery? Also, "angels are watching over you" is the shibboleth in WIaWSNB, the secret thing Dean asks Mary to prove it's really her (granted, it's all in his head, so of course she would know, but still).
c. Also, also, Dean = Michael in "Houses of the Holy":
SAM: And the killers said that an angel made them do that?
FR. REYNOLDS: Yes. Misguided souls, to think that God's messenger would appear and incite people to murder. It's tragic.
DEAN: So you don't believe in those angel yarns?
FR. REYNOLDS: Oh, no, I absolutely believe. Kind of goes with the job description.
SAM: (nodding to a painting on the wall) Father, that's Michael, right?
FR. REYNOLDS: That's right. The archangel Michael, with the flaming sword. The fighter of demons, holy force against evil.
SAM: So they're not really the Hallmark card version that everybody thinks? They're fierce, right? Vigilant?
FR. REYNOLDS: Well, I like to think of them as more loving than wrathful; but yes, a lot of Scripture paints angels as God's warriors. "An angel of the Lord appeared to them, the glory of the Lord shone down upon them, and they were terrified." (SAM nods, DEAN looks confused) Luke. Two nine.
It's a pretty standard trope to not be able to look on the face/power of God (Raiders!) (or to speak his true name, etc.), so while I don't like what happened to Pam (bring her back! blind psychics are also a pretty standard trope - Teirasias!), it bothers me a lot less than the random and gratuitous waitress-smacking.
iv. Interesting posts from tripoli8 and seperis. I really like jenn's take on Dean - no special powers or destiny Dean, fights evil because that's what he's trained to do and because he's good at it and it needs doing, and who gets the job done when the job needs doing - Dean is representative of how awesome humanity is. He's special because he's not special. (Dean = Xander = Ron. Oh man, do I have a type.)
I mean, obviously, I've always thought Dean was much more likely to be recruited for the side of "good" such as it is - he has a moral code and with the exception of Sam, he's pretty rigid about it. He's fighting the good fight, and he's gonna go down swinging. Never say die, Dean! He's a loyal soldier who doesn't question the will of the father (it's ineffable), and rejects all other authority. Okay, so in Dean's cosmology, John Winchester is god, but you know, it maps.
Sam, with his questioning, with his pride, with his wrath, Sam (Samuel. Samael.) is the prodigal, the fallen son who would rather reign in hell go to college than serve in heaven hunt. Obviously, Sam, like the prodigal son (and unlike Lucifer in most narratives I'm aware of), comes back to the fold, but his motivations have always been muddier than Dean's - vengeance, paying respect to his father's legacy, saving himself when he was afraid he'd turn evil, saving Dean from hell. (Which is not to say Sam doesn't want to save people from evil, but in and of itself, it's rarely been his primary motivation.)
I do like the spec that possibly the work Dean's been brought back for is to stop Sam, who is walking down the primrose path of his powers with his eyes wide open. I don't think Sam is going evil, and I don't think the powers he has are in and of themselves evil - they're tools and how he uses them is what's important. (I also think he had them - possibly from Mary? - and that's why the demon chose him, not that the demon imparted them, despite what Ruby said in TKAA.)
I think the dilemma of season 2 still stands - Dean will have to save Sam, or failing that, kill him.
I have more thoughts, but they involve other spoilers, so I'll sit on them for now. I am excited about this season, man. I really am.
Oh! And a couple of non-fannish, non-LJ reviews of the ep: EW's Popwatch and The A.V. Club. (as with all things on the internet, sometimes it's best not to read the comments.)
***
There will be fic, um, later? ish? Soon, anyway.
***
thefourthvine has an awesome poll up here, based on that sekrit questions meme - hers has actual INTERESTING and FUN questions instead of the mostly blah mash note kind of questions the original had. (pirates! ninjas! pirate ninjas! arr! what? it is talk like a pirate day, after all.)
***
More thoughts on last night's SPN.
foreshadowing: mark of quality literature
i. Okay so, "We've got work for you" = Roy LeGrange in "Faith":
DEAN: Why? Why me? Out of all the sick people, why save me?
ROY: Well, like I said before, the Lord guides me. I looked into your heart, and you just stood out from all the rest.
DEAN: What did you see in my heart?
ROY: A young man with an important purpose. A job to do. And it isn’t finished. (DEAN looks slightly surprised.)
2. Also, Mary's "angels are watching over you" - Mary had faith, Mary apparently knew the demon, Mary is the key to the mystery? Also, "angels are watching over you" is the shibboleth in WIaWSNB, the secret thing Dean asks Mary to prove it's really her (granted, it's all in his head, so of course she would know, but still).
c. Also, also, Dean = Michael in "Houses of the Holy":
SAM: And the killers said that an angel made them do that?
FR. REYNOLDS: Yes. Misguided souls, to think that God's messenger would appear and incite people to murder. It's tragic.
DEAN: So you don't believe in those angel yarns?
FR. REYNOLDS: Oh, no, I absolutely believe. Kind of goes with the job description.
SAM: (nodding to a painting on the wall) Father, that's Michael, right?
FR. REYNOLDS: That's right. The archangel Michael, with the flaming sword. The fighter of demons, holy force against evil.
SAM: So they're not really the Hallmark card version that everybody thinks? They're fierce, right? Vigilant?
FR. REYNOLDS: Well, I like to think of them as more loving than wrathful; but yes, a lot of Scripture paints angels as God's warriors. "An angel of the Lord appeared to them, the glory of the Lord shone down upon them, and they were terrified." (SAM nods, DEAN looks confused) Luke. Two nine.
It's a pretty standard trope to not be able to look on the face/power of God (Raiders!) (or to speak his true name, etc.), so while I don't like what happened to Pam (bring her back! blind psychics are also a pretty standard trope - Teirasias!), it bothers me a lot less than the random and gratuitous waitress-smacking.
iv. Interesting posts from tripoli8 and seperis. I really like jenn's take on Dean - no special powers or destiny Dean, fights evil because that's what he's trained to do and because he's good at it and it needs doing, and who gets the job done when the job needs doing - Dean is representative of how awesome humanity is. He's special because he's not special. (Dean = Xander = Ron. Oh man, do I have a type.)
I mean, obviously, I've always thought Dean was much more likely to be recruited for the side of "good" such as it is - he has a moral code and with the exception of Sam, he's pretty rigid about it. He's fighting the good fight, and he's gonna go down swinging. Never say die, Dean! He's a loyal soldier who doesn't question the will of the father (it's ineffable), and rejects all other authority. Okay, so in Dean's cosmology, John Winchester is god, but you know, it maps.
Sam, with his questioning, with his pride, with his wrath, Sam (Samuel. Samael.) is the prodigal, the fallen son who would rather reign in hell go to college than serve in heaven hunt. Obviously, Sam, like the prodigal son (and unlike Lucifer in most narratives I'm aware of), comes back to the fold, but his motivations have always been muddier than Dean's - vengeance, paying respect to his father's legacy, saving himself when he was afraid he'd turn evil, saving Dean from hell. (Which is not to say Sam doesn't want to save people from evil, but in and of itself, it's rarely been his primary motivation.)
I do like the spec that possibly the work Dean's been brought back for is to stop Sam, who is walking down the primrose path of his powers with his eyes wide open. I don't think Sam is going evil, and I don't think the powers he has are in and of themselves evil - they're tools and how he uses them is what's important. (I also think he had them - possibly from Mary? - and that's why the demon chose him, not that the demon imparted them, despite what Ruby said in TKAA.)
I think the dilemma of season 2 still stands - Dean will have to save Sam, or failing that, kill him.
I have more thoughts, but they involve other spoilers, so I'll sit on them for now. I am excited about this season, man. I really am.
Oh! And a couple of non-fannish, non-LJ reviews of the ep: EW's Popwatch and The A.V. Club. (as with all things on the internet, sometimes it's best not to read the comments.)
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