More Supernatural
First, it's three (!) lovely peoples' birthday today. nebulein, I loved you a lot on LJ and I love you even more now that I know you in person. You're a total sweetheart and I wish you all the best! :X url_girl - oh Ree, what to say to you? We don't seem to talk much lately, probably due to my lack of enthusiasm about Vanished, but I'll never stop loving you. /sap Hope you have an awesome birthday! :X And wastedfairy, you of pretty graphics, sending lots of good wishes your way!
*collective big hug*
Secondly, I feel the need to elaborate more on the Supernatural episodes I've seen during the last days. Prepare for a lot of rambling and squeeing.
I remember when we first started watching it a couple of months ago and I went "Yeah, nice show, but nothing to get obsessive about." How wrong I was! And I think I've figured out why that was: The show per se is... well, it's honestly not the best one I've ever seen. The monster-of-the-week plots are old and often predictable and I've stopped counting the number of logical errors. It would still be somewhat enjoyable to watch, just to turn off your brain for a moment and have a bit of a scare, but it wouldn't warrant an obsession.
However, what makes the show are the characters and their relationships. I have fallen in love with Dean, Sam and also John SO MUCH, and some of the secondary characters in the episodes are great as well. They're such well-rounded characters (surprising in a show like this) and I adore their relationships, the way their issues play out and are repressed and surface again, and how they love each other so much, but there's also so much repressed hate and anger, BECAUSE they love each other, and... well, in short: I have a thing for angsty characters with deathwishes. In case you haven't noticed by now. Plus, Jensen is an amazing actor, Jeffrey is great, too, and Jared starts out sucky, but gets so much better as the season progresses. And they all have this insane amount of chemistry that reflects in their characters.
Also, if I may be shallow for a moment: The show is so damn pretty. It has hot guys in various shades of bloody/dirty/bruised (What? It's hot. :-p ), it has quite a few pretty girls, it has an over-the-top (deliberately, I think) set design that makes me go "Guh!" because it looks so cool, some rather cool CGI ghosts (not all, but I loved the ones in "Asylum" and "Provenance", in particular) and the washed-out, high-contrast colouring is lovely.
And - the show doesn't seem to take itself so very seriously. I don't know why I feel that way, but... it just feels that way. Again, the only comparison I can think of is "Lost" - intriguing characters with a dumb plot and a lack of logic, but unlike SPN it saw itself as more than it was, failed to ever give answers and never used the potential their characters had. I very much hope that Supernatural doesn't go that way next season, but so far I'm optimistic.
Gah. Ok, this is getting so very long already. So, just some one (or two) liner comments on the episodes:
Home - Being forced to deal with issues, yay! I also liked that psychic woman. What I didn't quite get was how the ghost of Mama stayed there for such a long time and just randomly beat... that other ghost thing... when her boys came along. It just confused me and didn't seem to make much sense.
Asylum - As said before, pretty pretty sets! And damn, that scene with the gun, and all those repressed emotions? Taunts by the ghost? I love scenes like that, reminded me of the one in "Skin", just with the roles reversed (I assume that's what they were going for, too.) Lovely.
Scarecrow - Breakup! :(( So sad. But then so awesome, to see how one just can't do without the other. They love each other so much (incesty or brotherly, don't care), it hurts me sometimes; the chemistry between both the actors and the characters is amazing. Oh, one thing though: A dusty old codex, all with illuminated text and everything - written in perfectly modern English? *raises eyebrow*
Faith - Woobieness! Fainting! Guilt complex! ♥ In retrospect, the episode probably wouldn't even be one of my favourites (and please, the "Don't Fear the Reaper" was just tacky), but near-death!swooning!Dean and Sam being all "I'll find a way to heal you, and if it's the last thing I do!" were just so lovely.
Route 666 - Dean having sex. *drools a bit* Uhm, that's pretty much all I remember.
Nightmare - That was definitely one of my favourite episodes. Tortured headachy Sam, him seeing himself reflected in Max (however obvious his story was), visions of dead Dean and subsequent cupboard-moving superpowers, so good! Max was nicely angsty-psychotic and the knife-to-the-eye scene was awesome, visually.
The Benders - Not having anything supernatural happening was a good move and quite a surprise. I felt like a perv, because my first reaction to seeing caged Sam was "Mhmm, kinky! :D" And then I felt like a sap, when Dean was all "Do what you want, but we HAVE to find my brother first!" I also liked the design of those hillbillies' house a lot.
Shadow - Family reunion! ♥ And deep talks and tied-up boys and surprisingly pretty wounds to the face (that are completely gone by the next episode, but whatever). In other words: ANGST and LOVE. Eh, and Meg and some sort of plot. Yeah, I noticed that. *nod*
Hell House - Killed me dead. The pranks! So. Much. Love. And laughing Sam/Jared - so cute! The geeky ghosthunters were cool, too, don't care how much of a blueprint of every other stereotypical geekboys they are. "WWBD?" and "Sweet Lord of the Rings" win. I also really liked the idea that the ghost was created by the imagination of the people that read about it. Very cool episode.
Something Wicked - Didn't care much for the story in this one (and the monster looked stupid), but the flashbacks. Oh god, the flashbacks. Little Dean and Sammy break my heart. :(((( I want to squish them. Also, I want more of that next season. Also, when Sam was talking about that old paper and said something like "That's Heidegger on the photo", it took me minutes to get that he was talking about the doctor, not the philosopher. *facepalm*
Provenance - It's a bit too much of a filler episode, I think, but I LOVED Sammy getting some loving. He's so shy and dorky, and I seriously squeed at the kiss in the end - the smooshy noses, and Jared's pretty hands, and Dean being all "Good boy!" *sniffles* Yes, there is a romantic girl hidden somewhere inside of me. :-p And I really liked that woman... Sarah? Was that the name? She was a teensy bit Mary-Sue-ish, but I liked her. And Dean trying to get Sam laid was so cute. And the ghost looked cool.
Dead Man's Blood - The vampires were pretty and hot... Uhm, that's really all I remember right now. I liked the episode, but I can't think of anything to say about it.
Salvation - I'll never be able to listen to "Carry on my Wayward Son" the same way again after that summary. :( They're all making such dumb decisions in that episode, but the angst and the worry and the love and the drama make up for it. ♥ It's still too fresh in my mind to say much about it, though, if that makes sense.
Devil's Trap - Ok, that episode? Rocked so, so much. I liked the plot - such as there was -, I LOVED Dean's guilt about killing Meg, I loved possessed!Daddy and everything that came with it, loved the drama and issues being brought to the surface and Sam being torn between killing or not killing and the Demon getting away and Sam speaking Latin and adjkfhafjgh the ending, NOOOOO! :(( I mean, I obviously know that Sam and Dean survive, but I wouldn't put it past them to kill off John. Which would be sort of cool, since it might lead to much angsting about how Sam should have just killed him when he was possessed, considering that he's now dead, anyway. But would also suck, because I like John. Also, the Impala! :(((
I'm so very tempted to read spoilers now, but I am going to stay strong. Reborn spoiler-virgin representin'! *restrains self*
Ok, uhm, that was long. No idea if anyone made it through the whole thing, but I guess it's more for myself anyway, so that I can come back to it once I've rewatched everything a dozen times. :))
Must go find icons now, even though I want to make my own. Does anyone know of a way to make screencaps in DivX, or a program that plays .avi files and allows screencapping?
*collective big hug*
Secondly, I feel the need to elaborate more on the Supernatural episodes I've seen during the last days. Prepare for a lot of rambling and squeeing.
I remember when we first started watching it a couple of months ago and I went "Yeah, nice show, but nothing to get obsessive about." How wrong I was! And I think I've figured out why that was: The show per se is... well, it's honestly not the best one I've ever seen. The monster-of-the-week plots are old and often predictable and I've stopped counting the number of logical errors. It would still be somewhat enjoyable to watch, just to turn off your brain for a moment and have a bit of a scare, but it wouldn't warrant an obsession.
However, what makes the show are the characters and their relationships. I have fallen in love with Dean, Sam and also John SO MUCH, and some of the secondary characters in the episodes are great as well. They're such well-rounded characters (surprising in a show like this) and I adore their relationships, the way their issues play out and are repressed and surface again, and how they love each other so much, but there's also so much repressed hate and anger, BECAUSE they love each other, and... well, in short: I have a thing for angsty characters with deathwishes. In case you haven't noticed by now. Plus, Jensen is an amazing actor, Jeffrey is great, too, and Jared starts out sucky, but gets so much better as the season progresses. And they all have this insane amount of chemistry that reflects in their characters.
Also, if I may be shallow for a moment: The show is so damn pretty. It has hot guys in various shades of bloody/dirty/bruised (What? It's hot. :-p ), it has quite a few pretty girls, it has an over-the-top (deliberately, I think) set design that makes me go "Guh!" because it looks so cool, some rather cool CGI ghosts (not all, but I loved the ones in "Asylum" and "Provenance", in particular) and the washed-out, high-contrast colouring is lovely.
And - the show doesn't seem to take itself so very seriously. I don't know why I feel that way, but... it just feels that way. Again, the only comparison I can think of is "Lost" - intriguing characters with a dumb plot and a lack of logic, but unlike SPN it saw itself as more than it was, failed to ever give answers and never used the potential their characters had. I very much hope that Supernatural doesn't go that way next season, but so far I'm optimistic.
Gah. Ok, this is getting so very long already. So, just some one (or two) liner comments on the episodes:
Home - Being forced to deal with issues, yay! I also liked that psychic woman. What I didn't quite get was how the ghost of Mama stayed there for such a long time and just randomly beat... that other ghost thing... when her boys came along. It just confused me and didn't seem to make much sense.
Asylum - As said before, pretty pretty sets! And damn, that scene with the gun, and all those repressed emotions? Taunts by the ghost? I love scenes like that, reminded me of the one in "Skin", just with the roles reversed (I assume that's what they were going for, too.) Lovely.
Scarecrow - Breakup! :(( So sad. But then so awesome, to see how one just can't do without the other. They love each other so much (incesty or brotherly, don't care), it hurts me sometimes; the chemistry between both the actors and the characters is amazing. Oh, one thing though: A dusty old codex, all with illuminated text and everything - written in perfectly modern English? *raises eyebrow*
Faith - Woobieness! Fainting! Guilt complex! ♥ In retrospect, the episode probably wouldn't even be one of my favourites (and please, the "Don't Fear the Reaper" was just tacky), but near-death!swooning!Dean and Sam being all "I'll find a way to heal you, and if it's the last thing I do!" were just so lovely.
Route 666 - Dean having sex. *drools a bit* Uhm, that's pretty much all I remember.
Nightmare - That was definitely one of my favourite episodes. Tortured headachy Sam, him seeing himself reflected in Max (however obvious his story was), visions of dead Dean and subsequent cupboard-moving superpowers, so good! Max was nicely angsty-psychotic and the knife-to-the-eye scene was awesome, visually.
The Benders - Not having anything supernatural happening was a good move and quite a surprise. I felt like a perv, because my first reaction to seeing caged Sam was "Mhmm, kinky! :D" And then I felt like a sap, when Dean was all "Do what you want, but we HAVE to find my brother first!" I also liked the design of those hillbillies' house a lot.
Shadow - Family reunion! ♥ And deep talks and tied-up boys and surprisingly pretty wounds to the face (that are completely gone by the next episode, but whatever). In other words: ANGST and LOVE. Eh, and Meg and some sort of plot. Yeah, I noticed that. *nod*
Hell House - Killed me dead. The pranks! So. Much. Love. And laughing Sam/Jared - so cute! The geeky ghosthunters were cool, too, don't care how much of a blueprint of every other stereotypical geekboys they are. "WWBD?" and "Sweet Lord of the Rings" win. I also really liked the idea that the ghost was created by the imagination of the people that read about it. Very cool episode.
Something Wicked - Didn't care much for the story in this one (and the monster looked stupid), but the flashbacks. Oh god, the flashbacks. Little Dean and Sammy break my heart. :(((( I want to squish them. Also, I want more of that next season. Also, when Sam was talking about that old paper and said something like "That's Heidegger on the photo", it took me minutes to get that he was talking about the doctor, not the philosopher. *facepalm*
Provenance - It's a bit too much of a filler episode, I think, but I LOVED Sammy getting some loving. He's so shy and dorky, and I seriously squeed at the kiss in the end - the smooshy noses, and Jared's pretty hands, and Dean being all "Good boy!" *sniffles* Yes, there is a romantic girl hidden somewhere inside of me. :-p And I really liked that woman... Sarah? Was that the name? She was a teensy bit Mary-Sue-ish, but I liked her. And Dean trying to get Sam laid was so cute. And the ghost looked cool.
Dead Man's Blood - The vampires were pretty and hot... Uhm, that's really all I remember right now. I liked the episode, but I can't think of anything to say about it.
Salvation - I'll never be able to listen to "Carry on my Wayward Son" the same way again after that summary. :( They're all making such dumb decisions in that episode, but the angst and the worry and the love and the drama make up for it. ♥ It's still too fresh in my mind to say much about it, though, if that makes sense.
Devil's Trap - Ok, that episode? Rocked so, so much. I liked the plot - such as there was -, I LOVED Dean's guilt about killing Meg, I loved possessed!Daddy and everything that came with it, loved the drama and issues being brought to the surface and Sam being torn between killing or not killing and the Demon getting away and Sam speaking Latin and adjkfhafjgh the ending, NOOOOO! :(( I mean, I obviously know that Sam and Dean survive, but I wouldn't put it past them to kill off John. Which would be sort of cool, since it might lead to much angsting about how Sam should have just killed him when he was possessed, considering that he's now dead, anyway. But would also suck, because I like John. Also, the Impala! :(((
I'm so very tempted to read spoilers now, but I am going to stay strong. Reborn spoiler-virgin representin'! *restrains self*
Ok, uhm, that was long. No idea if anyone made it through the whole thing, but I guess it's more for myself anyway, so that I can come back to it once I've rewatched everything a dozen times. :))
Must go find icons now, even though I want to make my own. Does anyone know of a way to make screencaps in DivX, or a program that plays .avi files and allows screencapping?