Live Free or Twi-Hard
Thoughts about the latest Supernatural episode... surprisingly there's even some positive stuff.
Ok the first bit over and done with.
I have absolutely no love for Sam left. I cannot see how they can redeem his character after all this shit. Sam for me was always a whining selfish brat, but hey I still liked him. Even in season 4 when he turned into an arrogant blood-junkie. See, then his behaviour made sense, I still wanted to slap him and say, damn boy take a look at yourself, but it didn’t make me want to bury him in a big hole. Then in season 5 we got to see Sam start to grow up a little, we saw Sam in Point of No Return we got a Sam that knew he needed Dean, that could trust in his brother when no one else could. By the end we had a Sam that knew it wasn’t all about his revenge, a Sam that sacrificed himself not because he was so important, so more than everyone else because of what Azael did. He took his swan dive because it was the way to stop the apocalypse, it was a hero move.
What we have now isn’t Sam. I have heard so many theories... usually in ways to excuse Sam, that he’s not really Sam. They range from him really being Michael. Michael was a dick, but this behaviour isn’t dick-Angel behaviour. The only one that would sort of make sense is if the body can back but not Sam’s soul. But I just can’t see me getting over all this, no matter what the writers do. It’s like Chuck said in “Monster” when Sam asked him about the blood-drinking. Chuck said he wouldn’t even put it in the books because it would make Sam unsympathetic to the readers. Seems Chuck understood what the Supernatural writers don’t. To paraphrase another review I read, when suspicious guy is suspicious, you know you’re fucked.
Ok the good stuff.
First, vampireDean is hot. Badarse, dark, Dean was good to see. Maybe if I’m being cynical because he’s been so watered down for the rest of the season. Which is true, but I also think he’d still have been hot if he had remained all hard and edgy during the season.
The alpha story line. I’m actually finding myself interested in it. First time I’ve been interested during this season. I like the idea of the source of the monsters, what the alphas are like. I like that they have gone back to the earlier seasons when it was more than just demons, yellow-eyes, demons and angels. I like different monsters, yes I did enjoy the angels, and demons, but I am glad they moved on to include other dangers. And they aren’t just doing it as a means for the Dean and Sam soap-opera, they actually have a purpose, a mystery to them.
When I saw they were going to do a vampire episode, I thought, ok once again, ignore canon. In the past there has been this underlying thing that vampires were an endangered species, hunted almost to extinct, and suddenly they were all powerful again. But I liked how they handled that. How they used the tween girl obsession with vampires as a way to draw them in, to take the crap teenage angst vampires, and use them to seduce and lure them away. I thought it was really well done and actually made realistic sense. I’ve been told the first scene was almost a direct quote from the Twilight books, but I’ve never read them or seen the movies so no clue if that’s true, but the jokes about that vampire obsession were amusing. So I ended up really loving the vampire story in this episode.
Granddad Samuel. I didn’t like him at first, but now I’m thinking that was mainly a reaction to the younger generation, the dickhead cousins, especially the guy (can’t remember his name, he played Jonas on SG1). The cousins are arrogant dicksizing pricks, but Samuel, I see him a little differently. Yes I believe he’s up to no good, he wouldn’t be hiding shit if he thought it was all for the good. And he’s a cantankerous bastard, but then so was John and I loved him. I’m not saying I like him as a person, but as a character he’s really interesting. He’s a bit like Ruby, or Zachariah. I didn’t like them, I knew Ruby was a conniving bitch, and well Zach was a dickwad that deserved to have his wings ripped off and shoved down his throat, but they were fun to watch, made the show fun. Samuel’s like that, he’s up to bad shit, but he’s fun.
I miss Cas, but I am also glad he’s not around. He was re-angelified. That makes him too powerful. It’s the reason I don’t generally like superheroes, they are too powerful, there’s no jepodary, no connection to the character. If they can beat anything without breaking a sweat where’s the investment. Cas would be like that now. It was different before, even in season 4 when he still had his angel-mojo, the things they were fighting, the other angels and the high level demons, were a match for him, but now he’d just ride over them all. So yes, as much as I love Cas, I’m glad the writers understood he was too much to be involved and put him up in heaven most of the time fighting his own civil war.
Ok the first bit over and done with.
I have absolutely no love for Sam left. I cannot see how they can redeem his character after all this shit. Sam for me was always a whining selfish brat, but hey I still liked him. Even in season 4 when he turned into an arrogant blood-junkie. See, then his behaviour made sense, I still wanted to slap him and say, damn boy take a look at yourself, but it didn’t make me want to bury him in a big hole. Then in season 5 we got to see Sam start to grow up a little, we saw Sam in Point of No Return we got a Sam that knew he needed Dean, that could trust in his brother when no one else could. By the end we had a Sam that knew it wasn’t all about his revenge, a Sam that sacrificed himself not because he was so important, so more than everyone else because of what Azael did. He took his swan dive because it was the way to stop the apocalypse, it was a hero move.
What we have now isn’t Sam. I have heard so many theories... usually in ways to excuse Sam, that he’s not really Sam. They range from him really being Michael. Michael was a dick, but this behaviour isn’t dick-Angel behaviour. The only one that would sort of make sense is if the body can back but not Sam’s soul. But I just can’t see me getting over all this, no matter what the writers do. It’s like Chuck said in “Monster” when Sam asked him about the blood-drinking. Chuck said he wouldn’t even put it in the books because it would make Sam unsympathetic to the readers. Seems Chuck understood what the Supernatural writers don’t. To paraphrase another review I read, when suspicious guy is suspicious, you know you’re fucked.
Ok the good stuff.
First, vampireDean is hot. Badarse, dark, Dean was good to see. Maybe if I’m being cynical because he’s been so watered down for the rest of the season. Which is true, but I also think he’d still have been hot if he had remained all hard and edgy during the season.
The alpha story line. I’m actually finding myself interested in it. First time I’ve been interested during this season. I like the idea of the source of the monsters, what the alphas are like. I like that they have gone back to the earlier seasons when it was more than just demons, yellow-eyes, demons and angels. I like different monsters, yes I did enjoy the angels, and demons, but I am glad they moved on to include other dangers. And they aren’t just doing it as a means for the Dean and Sam soap-opera, they actually have a purpose, a mystery to them.
When I saw they were going to do a vampire episode, I thought, ok once again, ignore canon. In the past there has been this underlying thing that vampires were an endangered species, hunted almost to extinct, and suddenly they were all powerful again. But I liked how they handled that. How they used the tween girl obsession with vampires as a way to draw them in, to take the crap teenage angst vampires, and use them to seduce and lure them away. I thought it was really well done and actually made realistic sense. I’ve been told the first scene was almost a direct quote from the Twilight books, but I’ve never read them or seen the movies so no clue if that’s true, but the jokes about that vampire obsession were amusing. So I ended up really loving the vampire story in this episode.
Granddad Samuel. I didn’t like him at first, but now I’m thinking that was mainly a reaction to the younger generation, the dickhead cousins, especially the guy (can’t remember his name, he played Jonas on SG1). The cousins are arrogant dicksizing pricks, but Samuel, I see him a little differently. Yes I believe he’s up to no good, he wouldn’t be hiding shit if he thought it was all for the good. And he’s a cantankerous bastard, but then so was John and I loved him. I’m not saying I like him as a person, but as a character he’s really interesting. He’s a bit like Ruby, or Zachariah. I didn’t like them, I knew Ruby was a conniving bitch, and well Zach was a dickwad that deserved to have his wings ripped off and shoved down his throat, but they were fun to watch, made the show fun. Samuel’s like that, he’s up to bad shit, but he’s fun.
I miss Cas, but I am also glad he’s not around. He was re-angelified. That makes him too powerful. It’s the reason I don’t generally like superheroes, they are too powerful, there’s no jepodary, no connection to the character. If they can beat anything without breaking a sweat where’s the investment. Cas would be like that now. It was different before, even in season 4 when he still had his angel-mojo, the things they were fighting, the other angels and the high level demons, were a match for him, but now he’d just ride over them all. So yes, as much as I love Cas, I’m glad the writers understood he was too much to be involved and put him up in heaven most of the time fighting his own civil war.