Lawdy, Lawdy ...

[dodger_winslow]

After a season filled with one great episode, two half-way decent episodes (if I'm being generous), and 9 craptastic mockeries of what once was, we now have ... two great episodes. THANK you, Supernatural. For reminding me why I'm still willing to hang on by my fingernails long after I should have just turned off the lights and gone home.

Because

Comments

[jellicle]

To be perfectly honest, I've been feeling a bit skinned alive for about the last year and a half, but I am willing to at least try to build a wall of Sammy-Dean-Bobby between me and those memories of hell, both to try and find the love we once shared and to see if Houses of the Holy was doing more than talking out its ass when it said "Hope is the whole point."

I didn't feel like that for as long as you did, but I share the feeling and the hope.

[dodger_winslow]

If you back-track my commenting on and/or reviewing of episodes from the beginning of S5 on, you can get a much more accurate sense of my escalating dissatisfaction with the show than is implied by what I've actually said about it.

At first, I bitched mightily about it because there were episodes between the real crappers that I enjoyed enough to still get my panties in a twist over how much the rest were not living up to even minimum standards of SPNness. But as time wore on, there were fewer and fewer episodes that were anything but just a waste of time ... an opinion that is reflected by my unwillingness to comment on episodes at all. Not because I didn't have an opinion. But rather because my opinion was becoming so overwhelmingly and consistently negative as to more accurately be called a rant against everything the show was doing wrong ... that everything including everything, from individual episode logic to continuity to canon character representation to mythos integrity

[nerthus]

I'm glad it was a good episode for you; I found it rather underwhelming actually, sigh; terrible special effects, confused about why they needed more than one virgin there at the end to toss into Purgatory...and why oh why does Cas keep insisting Sam's ravaged soul woulda been better off suffering in the Cage for eternity? If they're trying to foreshadow something for later about the war in Heaven and Sam's soul...if so, the writers will probably just muck it up like they do with every other major plot line, sigh. So yeah, aside from the return to more of the old Sam and Dean as real brothers again vibe, I wasn't that thrilled with any of the rest of it.

[dodger_winslow]

I viewed this episode as an excellent example of the John Shiban school of scriptwriting. John doesn't worry his pretty little head about non-catastrophic logic holes or iffy science ... and he can get away with it because he tells such an entertaining story that you want to love it, so you do

[dodger_winslow]

Just as I also didn't feel too much need to pick at the idea that, if dragons grab virgins to use as sacrifices to THEIR master rather than, as the lore says, demanding the virgins for themselves as munchies, then what, all those dragons across the ages have been trying to resurrect the mother of them all? Because they were all snatching virgins, too, right? But clearly, dragons don't snatch (or demand) virgins to eat as this episode clarifies, so all those dragons all those years were snatching virgins for

[nerthus]

Yeah, I was able to enjoy this episode for two reasons--the return of my beloved Sam/Dean dynamic and okay, hokey as hell and way OTT but I DID laugh at Dean's attempts to remove the sword from the stone. The majestic rise of the 'hero' music followed by its squelching when he failed cracked me up, as well as "Son of a bitch, that's really on there!" Ha. I think a lot of people are speculating that the new Big Bad could be either Echidna or Tiamat (who IS the mother of dragons, I think); but why can't SPN ever have a truly OTHER-looking Big Bad (half woman, half-snake, for ex)? Always gotta have a human 'vessel,' sigh, and I'm not sure I was that impressed with the one chosen this time. Of course, her appearance was brief, so I guess we'll see how she does. The adult Lilith never did much for me either; guess I'm too picky about how I personally envisage the vessels, ha. But I'm sure the pesky budget police wouldn't pop for adequate effects to keep cgi'ing a recurring character or whatever. Some fans LIKE the crappy effects, saying it

[irismay42]

So glad you enjoyed! It kinda felt like old times for a while there, huh?

[dodger_winslow]

Yes it did. And sounded like it, too. I could not possibly have loved the tension between Sam and Bobby more. Nor loved how truly SAM Sam was, both in noticing it and in digging his way down to the truth of it. And how BOBBY Bobby was in not being willing to forgive Sam or trust him even as he knows, logically, that it wasn't Sam doing the things Sam's meatsuit did. And lastly, how DEAN Dean was, particularly in his responses to Bobby concerning Sam. THAT is the big brother Dean I love ... I am 100% your partner and I love you like a dad, Bobby. But Sam is MY brother and you can't reason with me about anything to do with him any more than you could ever reason with my dad about anything to do with me.

[phantomas]

Haven't watched it yet (later tonight) but looking forward to it. And yes,I agree completely, when it's good, it's still GOOD. It keeps me going too :D

(and oh but I could so go to barcelona...risk it anyway...any news on that?)

[dodger_winslow]

Have fun watching it. It's a good un. And no, no specific news.

[roseficke]

Hey Dodger

[dodger_winslow]

I was right there with you in the boat, enjoying myself like I haven't in a long time!

Exactly. There is a spirit to shows that own you, and even when all the surface details seem the same to others, if the underlying spirit of the show dies, those who love it for its spirit can't abide the sight of it any longer. Or at least I can't.

The same thing happened for me with NYPD Blue, Buffy, Angel and West WingWithout ever being told of the change, I could tell the MOMENT the driving force behind the show left. The one who gave it it's spirit. With Buffy and Angel, they also experienced a dramatic dive in quality of writing, and that played into it for me. But with NYPD and WW? The sad thing was that the dialog and plotting and characterization, in their surface details, all remained a very high quality

[roseficke]

It does make sense. Absolutely. Thanks for your great insight!
Now, I'm looking forward to more SPN reviews from you in the future. Always appreciate your take on it.
And oh yeah, thanks for continuing with Skin! :)