ink is always sexy (spn 7x20 thoughts)
So I'm admitting defeat on turning this into a real post, but. HAVE SOME JOY. And willful and intentional abuse of parentheticals! But mostly joy!
Clearly Charlie is my new favorite character! SORRY, SAMMY. But really though! I loved so much that she was fierce and brave and NOT in a way that made me think she was aggressive. Like, the wallop she gave Sam when he let himself into her house! She gets back in their faces, because they are SCARY MOTHERFUCKERS. But it's not because she wants to fight them; she's completely cooperative even though she'd have every right to be hostile. Mostly, though, the physical attack wasn't the thing she'd normally go to. Sam brushes it off easily. Here we have someone whose strength is not about violence. She had serious skill and serious courage, and I loved that we got to see her work herself up to it (with the cutest pep talk/shared fansquee moment with Sam) (GUYS THAT WAS SO ADORABLE you just know how hard he overidentified with Harry and Neville). I don't know if it was going a little too far to have Sam pick her up and just stand there holding her like a toddler for two or three minutes? But I understand what it was emphasizing, that the guys manliness isn't the most important thing on this particular mission and they get that.
This is an image of a fangirl that I can totally recognize. I liked that she's a pan-geek (do you even go here). I liked how she is shown as someone who draws strength from her fandom hobbies, and that she's also an earnest feminism-nerd as well as into fiction. I felt like Becky was mockery at a strawfan, but when Charlie talked I heard everyone I've engaged with in my various fandoms. Bit funny that the character whose defining trait is her irreplaceability is possibly the most relateable one the show has ever put forward.
"If you can't score at a reproductive rights event, you simply can't score." So, I laughed, even if, HOLY UNFORTUNATELY-TIMED JOKE, BATGIRL. But I'm not sure I should have? Like, I don't know if that was a joke for us or on us? Because from my very scientific study of "impressions I have from people I have known from ~places and ~things," folks who are likely to participate in reproductive rights fundraisers do seem to be more likely than the general population to be less angsty and more straightforward about it if they (lol, who am I kidding, we) are down with casual sex? It's like college nostalgia, plus immortal sea monsters! But OTOH...this was probably written and shot before the Sandra Fluke thing, I know, but it still made me wince hard. On the other other hand (betcha didn't know I could juggle!) (ed. note: I cannot juggle) we can totally know what fundraiser she was at and I APPROVE. (Also unfortunately-timed was the smack at Joe Biden, author and tireless champion of the Violence Against Women Act. But the delivery was cute, so. I AIN'T MAD I'M JUST SAYIN.)
In any event, I actually heard the phrase "reproductive rights" uttered on television and for that alone I am kind of pathetically grateful. WHAT EVEN. Especially for SPN, she's really refreshing. This girl is a feminist! Yaaaaay! But this episode stuck it on a number of really small things, which cheers me up considerably. "Lady stuff! Gotta go! Cramps!" was too funny; the totally non-sexual friendship she has with her office buddy was great; the way she's skeeved by Dick's weirdly sexualized pep talks; Dean's shout-out to Veronica Mars (I'd have died if he'd known to name-drop Kate Moenning instead of Scarlett Johannsen, but that would've been too much) (I've often thought that if he were able to ease up on the misogyny, Dean and Shane would be VERY BEST FRIENDS); I can't think of the b-bomb being dropped in this episode except by her, in an affectionate way? When she's insulting Frank, she calls him a son of a gun, which of course she didn't know she was talking to the Winchesters, but it's cute wordplay I don't think the show's ever used before. Compared with the masculine sleaze of all her superiors; the condescending "good girl" crap from the guys in the van; Bobby's focus-fail. I feel like her gender-presentation (I don't even want to say "femininity" since it's really just "something other than wangxiety") isn't pedesteled or sneered at the way it usually is.
Also, congratulations Charlie on being the first LBQ lady character to survive a full episode of Supernatural! (HA HA, SHE DOESN'T LIKE DICK, GEDDIT?!)
This was also the first episode that looked at the actual structure of corporate America. It's quite a marked difference from Terrible Life, which was all about what it individually feeeeeels like to be a part of a corporation. The leviathans have a huge, systemic influence on American life, for the Winchesters as much as anyone. Bobby's Occupy shout-out is pretty blunt, but, as with Charlie's reference to her feminist activism, it's the one unsubtle expression of something woven throughout the episode. On a pure id-based fiction-enjoyment level, I love RRE because it is evocative enough of Rossum to pull my SPN experience ever closer to my undying love of Dollhouse. Must not compare SPN to the FSE. Must not. HOW DID MAG MANAGE TO AVOID THE PULSE, HMMMM??? NOW WE KNOW!
Worth pointing out, though I don't know if this is relevant, but for all their former Special Destiny status, Sam and Dean could be replicated to some extent. As much as I'm never wild about "some people are Just Better" plot points, it's interesting that in this case the protagonists are the non-specials. Mythologically, it makes sense, too - why would the leviathans care about angel-vessels? (Do we think it's on purpose that the Big Bads keep getting older and older? First it was demons, who were made by one of the angels, who came after the leviathans.) I actually think that's in keeping with the theme of the season. S5: Stop the apocalypse. S6: deal with the fallout of the end of the war. S7: deal with the shit that was there before the war and they were just too preoccupied and off the radar to understand it.
Part of that coming back down - or up, as it were - to Earth is that they have to deal with grieving Bobby. Sam sees Bobby's lack of control and drive for vengeance and slide away from his humanity and - oh, Sam. The last couple of episodes my picture of Sam has been less dark than since...ever? Even in the very early episodes I was more along the lines of "aren't you just the most adorable compulsive liar ever." Now I'm not sure if he's manipulating Charlie, when he's all "yeah, you're definitely going to die, but YOU TOTALLY HAVE A CHOICE HERE." I don't know? I think he might mean it? I'm not sure how far down the rabbit hole I want to go on the whole epic construction-of-self Sam-Lucifer thing right now (because oh my God, when I start I will not stop) but I think it makes some sense for this point in the story, where he's just been pulled back from the brink of the most dangerous, damaging parts of himself. He acts similarly to the way he has even at his worst, but I think he means it more than he has in a long, long time.
Wow, not having to be constantly distancing myself from misogyny makes me realize just how much happiness I can get from this show. CLEARLY WE CAN HAVE NICE THINGS.
Clearly Charlie is my new favorite character! SORRY, SAMMY. But really though! I loved so much that she was fierce and brave and NOT in a way that made me think she was aggressive. Like, the wallop she gave Sam when he let himself into her house! She gets back in their faces, because they are SCARY MOTHERFUCKERS. But it's not because she wants to fight them; she's completely cooperative even though she'd have every right to be hostile. Mostly, though, the physical attack wasn't the thing she'd normally go to. Sam brushes it off easily. Here we have someone whose strength is not about violence. She had serious skill and serious courage, and I loved that we got to see her work herself up to it (with the cutest pep talk/shared fansquee moment with Sam) (GUYS THAT WAS SO ADORABLE you just know how hard he overidentified with Harry and Neville). I don't know if it was going a little too far to have Sam pick her up and just stand there holding her like a toddler for two or three minutes? But I understand what it was emphasizing, that the guys manliness isn't the most important thing on this particular mission and they get that.
This is an image of a fangirl that I can totally recognize. I liked that she's a pan-geek (do you even go here). I liked how she is shown as someone who draws strength from her fandom hobbies, and that she's also an earnest feminism-nerd as well as into fiction. I felt like Becky was mockery at a strawfan, but when Charlie talked I heard everyone I've engaged with in my various fandoms. Bit funny that the character whose defining trait is her irreplaceability is possibly the most relateable one the show has ever put forward.
"If you can't score at a reproductive rights event, you simply can't score." So, I laughed, even if, HOLY UNFORTUNATELY-TIMED JOKE, BATGIRL. But I'm not sure I should have? Like, I don't know if that was a joke for us or on us? Because from my very scientific study of "impressions I have from people I have known from ~places and ~things," folks who are likely to participate in reproductive rights fundraisers do seem to be more likely than the general population to be less angsty and more straightforward about it if they (lol, who am I kidding, we) are down with casual sex? It's like college nostalgia, plus immortal sea monsters! But OTOH...this was probably written and shot before the Sandra Fluke thing, I know, but it still made me wince hard. On the other other hand (betcha didn't know I could juggle!) (ed. note: I cannot juggle) we can totally know what fundraiser she was at and I APPROVE. (Also unfortunately-timed was the smack at Joe Biden, author and tireless champion of the Violence Against Women Act. But the delivery was cute, so. I AIN'T MAD I'M JUST SAYIN.)
In any event, I actually heard the phrase "reproductive rights" uttered on television and for that alone I am kind of pathetically grateful. WHAT EVEN. Especially for SPN, she's really refreshing. This girl is a feminist! Yaaaaay! But this episode stuck it on a number of really small things, which cheers me up considerably. "Lady stuff! Gotta go! Cramps!" was too funny; the totally non-sexual friendship she has with her office buddy was great; the way she's skeeved by Dick's weirdly sexualized pep talks; Dean's shout-out to Veronica Mars (I'd have died if he'd known to name-drop Kate Moenning instead of Scarlett Johannsen, but that would've been too much) (I've often thought that if he were able to ease up on the misogyny, Dean and Shane would be VERY BEST FRIENDS); I can't think of the b-bomb being dropped in this episode except by her, in an affectionate way? When she's insulting Frank, she calls him a son of a gun, which of course she didn't know she was talking to the Winchesters, but it's cute wordplay I don't think the show's ever used before. Compared with the masculine sleaze of all her superiors; the condescending "good girl" crap from the guys in the van; Bobby's focus-fail. I feel like her gender-presentation (I don't even want to say "femininity" since it's really just "something other than wangxiety") isn't pedesteled or sneered at the way it usually is.
Also, congratulations Charlie on being the first LBQ lady character to survive a full episode of Supernatural! (HA HA, SHE DOESN'T LIKE DICK, GEDDIT?!)
This was also the first episode that looked at the actual structure of corporate America. It's quite a marked difference from Terrible Life, which was all about what it individually feeeeeels like to be a part of a corporation. The leviathans have a huge, systemic influence on American life, for the Winchesters as much as anyone. Bobby's Occupy shout-out is pretty blunt, but, as with Charlie's reference to her feminist activism, it's the one unsubtle expression of something woven throughout the episode. On a pure id-based fiction-enjoyment level, I love RRE because it is evocative enough of Rossum to pull my SPN experience ever closer to my undying love of Dollhouse. Must not compare SPN to the FSE. Must not. HOW DID MAG MANAGE TO AVOID THE PULSE, HMMMM??? NOW WE KNOW!
Worth pointing out, though I don't know if this is relevant, but for all their former Special Destiny status, Sam and Dean could be replicated to some extent. As much as I'm never wild about "some people are Just Better" plot points, it's interesting that in this case the protagonists are the non-specials. Mythologically, it makes sense, too - why would the leviathans care about angel-vessels? (Do we think it's on purpose that the Big Bads keep getting older and older? First it was demons, who were made by one of the angels, who came after the leviathans.) I actually think that's in keeping with the theme of the season. S5: Stop the apocalypse. S6: deal with the fallout of the end of the war. S7: deal with the shit that was there before the war and they were just too preoccupied and off the radar to understand it.
Part of that coming back down - or up, as it were - to Earth is that they have to deal with grieving Bobby. Sam sees Bobby's lack of control and drive for vengeance and slide away from his humanity and - oh, Sam. The last couple of episodes my picture of Sam has been less dark than since...ever? Even in the very early episodes I was more along the lines of "aren't you just the most adorable compulsive liar ever." Now I'm not sure if he's manipulating Charlie, when he's all "yeah, you're definitely going to die, but YOU TOTALLY HAVE A CHOICE HERE." I don't know? I think he might mean it? I'm not sure how far down the rabbit hole I want to go on the whole epic construction-of-self Sam-Lucifer thing right now (because oh my God, when I start I will not stop) but I think it makes some sense for this point in the story, where he's just been pulled back from the brink of the most dangerous, damaging parts of himself. He acts similarly to the way he has even at his worst, but I think he means it more than he has in a long, long time.
Wow, not having to be constantly distancing myself from misogyny makes me realize just how much happiness I can get from this show. CLEARLY WE CAN HAVE NICE THINGS.