some thoughts on the changes in SPN S2
With a certain wariness, I'm going to offer my opinion on the matter of the certain changes introduced in this season of SPN. For the record, I have not yet read anything anyone else has written about this because I wanted to think it through on my own first. I'll be sashaying on through what my friends have to say now that I've taken the time to mull a bit, though.
So, over the summer, I became aware that there was a general vibe of folks kind of starting to get their Chicken Little on about the introduction of Ellen and, in particular, Jo. Some of it was concern that the series had jumped the shark. Some of it was fear that Jo would be a canonical Mary Sue. Some of it was simply fretting that Sam and Dean's relationship would no longer be central to the show.
All these concerns? Fair enough in the abstract. I didn't read any of the sides. I wasn't familiar with (nor did I look for info on) the actress cast as Jo. Having my hands full with stuff like, well, for example, my dad slowly dying from malignant brain cancer, I really couldn't muster all that much energy to get too worked up one way or another about a fictional character. I figured I'd just wait and see, and waiting and seeing I did.
My immediate reaction upon seeing Jo was that I thought the actress looked like jailbait next to Dean because (oh HELL yeah) JA absolutely looks like a man who's almost thirty. My next thought was that if the actress cast as Ellen had been cast as Jo, I could totally get behind a Sam/Dean/Jo OT3 because even I am not above acknowledging the potential for really really ridiculously good-looking porn even if it does make me feel bad about myself and throw up.
Still, I liked the chemistry that Dean had in his vague, just-can't-do-this-right-now sort of way with Jo. I also totally dug the fact that Jo reversed her stance on writing Dean off as just another hunter who sees her as a piece of ass without realizing that she's maybe the first cute young thing he hadn't treated that way. But still -- particularly in that final scene between them when Jo stared Sam into Getting The Hint and how the subsequent conversation was framed in such a way to be fuckin' filled with Dean's massive and gorgeously weary shoulders -- I kept thinking how incredibly young Jo looked next to Dean.
And then it hit me that, duh, that's the whole point of her character.
Think about it. She's deliberately been established to be such a fine fit for Dean in so many ways: the death of her father, the hunter; her feisty forthrightness; her ability to throw a mean hook; her refusal to be treated like a piece of tail (and the implied self-esteem.) Oh, the list could go on, but more than that, she physically embodies everything we saw in the girls Dean eyed wolfishly and, on at least one occasion, had himself a sweaty sexxin' fling with. She's young, feminine, pretty, and delicately built. In other words? She truly is everything Dean would have been all over prior to John's death.
I think she's all this not to be a Mary Sue but simply to show us how Dean has changed. She's supposed to be ideal for the dudeful horndog he used to be, just as she's supposed to be part of what makes Dean aware he's not that guy anymore and maybe never will be again.
In turn, I think that's going to show us even more of a contrast between how Sam and Dean are both changing this season. Sam's hurt over losing Jess finally eased up enough for him to be okay with the chemistry he and Sarah have. Sam needed that. Hell, he deserved it. While that's going on for Sam (because I do hope we'll see Sarah again), I'm guessing we'll now watch Dean mature just a little bit into a guy who doesn't always look for cold beer and hot pussy for a way to pass the night. (Like it or no, that is part of his canonical characterization, even if you want to argue that this was just his perception of himself and/or only the image he wanted to portray.)
As such, I'm totally good with Jo at present. If Jo had been played by the Ellen actress, I would have hurt even more (if that's even possible omg) for Dean because I would have felt he was, through no fault of his own, taking a pass on someone who had the potential to truly be a meaningful SO. Instead, I'm fine with Jo looking like a sweet little piece of jailbait next to Dean because, in the long run, Dean's not going to be missing out on a relationship that might have led to a lifelong love.
I'm pretty sure Dean's going to regard her with a certain bittersweet fondness and nostalgic affection, and I'm going to quietly feel that right along with him. As was repeated again and again, it's now the wrong time and the wrong place in his life. He's only a few weeks removed from having Sam go suicidal, from realizing he's capable of killing innocent people to save Sam and John, from all those things that the demon said to him while in John's body, from nearly dying, from whatever John said to him before John died...god. At this point? The least Dean deserves is a tiny bit of a Bambi-eyed girl flirting with him, even if he's now too tired and too full of grief and anger to act on whatever offers she may tender.
What's nice about what we've seen of Jo so far is that she'll get it, too. Or at least she'll get enough of it (I'm suspecting) to not turn into a weird-o clingy chick because dealing with an emo R-Tard is the last thing Dean needs. (I mean, hi, he's already got himself and Sam taking care of all possible emo R-Tardedness.) Instead, I think she'll return the favor of being seen as a person and see him as a person rather than a disposable personal pogo stick. Just as he deserves a little bit of sweetness right now, he deserves that, too.
YMMV obviously, but that's where I stand on things at present. Cheers!
So, over the summer, I became aware that there was a general vibe of folks kind of starting to get their Chicken Little on about the introduction of Ellen and, in particular, Jo. Some of it was concern that the series had jumped the shark. Some of it was fear that Jo would be a canonical Mary Sue. Some of it was simply fretting that Sam and Dean's relationship would no longer be central to the show.
All these concerns? Fair enough in the abstract. I didn't read any of the sides. I wasn't familiar with (nor did I look for info on) the actress cast as Jo. Having my hands full with stuff like, well, for example, my dad slowly dying from malignant brain cancer, I really couldn't muster all that much energy to get too worked up one way or another about a fictional character. I figured I'd just wait and see, and waiting and seeing I did.
My immediate reaction upon seeing Jo was that I thought the actress looked like jailbait next to Dean because (oh HELL yeah) JA absolutely looks like a man who's almost thirty. My next thought was that if the actress cast as Ellen had been cast as Jo, I could totally get behind a Sam/Dean/Jo OT3 because even I am not above acknowledging the potential for really really ridiculously good-looking porn even if it does make me feel bad about myself and throw up.
Still, I liked the chemistry that Dean had in his vague, just-can't-do-this-right-now sort of way with Jo. I also totally dug the fact that Jo reversed her stance on writing Dean off as just another hunter who sees her as a piece of ass without realizing that she's maybe the first cute young thing he hadn't treated that way. But still -- particularly in that final scene between them when Jo stared Sam into Getting The Hint and how the subsequent conversation was framed in such a way to be fuckin' filled with Dean's massive and gorgeously weary shoulders -- I kept thinking how incredibly young Jo looked next to Dean.
And then it hit me that, duh, that's the whole point of her character.
Think about it. She's deliberately been established to be such a fine fit for Dean in so many ways: the death of her father, the hunter; her feisty forthrightness; her ability to throw a mean hook; her refusal to be treated like a piece of tail (and the implied self-esteem.) Oh, the list could go on, but more than that, she physically embodies everything we saw in the girls Dean eyed wolfishly and, on at least one occasion, had himself a sweaty sexxin' fling with. She's young, feminine, pretty, and delicately built. In other words? She truly is everything Dean would have been all over prior to John's death.
I think she's all this not to be a Mary Sue but simply to show us how Dean has changed. She's supposed to be ideal for the dudeful horndog he used to be, just as she's supposed to be part of what makes Dean aware he's not that guy anymore and maybe never will be again.
In turn, I think that's going to show us even more of a contrast between how Sam and Dean are both changing this season. Sam's hurt over losing Jess finally eased up enough for him to be okay with the chemistry he and Sarah have. Sam needed that. Hell, he deserved it. While that's going on for Sam (because I do hope we'll see Sarah again), I'm guessing we'll now watch Dean mature just a little bit into a guy who doesn't always look for cold beer and hot pussy for a way to pass the night. (Like it or no, that is part of his canonical characterization, even if you want to argue that this was just his perception of himself and/or only the image he wanted to portray.)
As such, I'm totally good with Jo at present. If Jo had been played by the Ellen actress, I would have hurt even more (if that's even possible omg) for Dean because I would have felt he was, through no fault of his own, taking a pass on someone who had the potential to truly be a meaningful SO. Instead, I'm fine with Jo looking like a sweet little piece of jailbait next to Dean because, in the long run, Dean's not going to be missing out on a relationship that might have led to a lifelong love.
I'm pretty sure Dean's going to regard her with a certain bittersweet fondness and nostalgic affection, and I'm going to quietly feel that right along with him. As was repeated again and again, it's now the wrong time and the wrong place in his life. He's only a few weeks removed from having Sam go suicidal, from realizing he's capable of killing innocent people to save Sam and John, from all those things that the demon said to him while in John's body, from nearly dying, from whatever John said to him before John died...god. At this point? The least Dean deserves is a tiny bit of a Bambi-eyed girl flirting with him, even if he's now too tired and too full of grief and anger to act on whatever offers she may tender.
What's nice about what we've seen of Jo so far is that she'll get it, too. Or at least she'll get enough of it (I'm suspecting) to not turn into a weird-o clingy chick because dealing with an emo R-Tard is the last thing Dean needs. (I mean, hi, he's already got himself and Sam taking care of all possible emo R-Tardedness.) Instead, I think she'll return the favor of being seen as a person and see him as a person rather than a disposable personal pogo stick. Just as he deserves a little bit of sweetness right now, he deserves that, too.
YMMV obviously, but that's where I stand on things at present. Cheers!