Review | 9x08 | Rock and A Hard Place

[galathea_snb]

Rock and A Hard Place by Jenny Klein is one of those episodes, where I find one half of the story immensely enjoyable, while the other half is a constant source of frustration for me. In this particular case, the frustration part mostly pertains to Dean’s characterisation, which I feel is rather poor and does the character a huge disservice; the

Comments

[spnmonster]

Yeah, whatever it was they were trying to do with Dean in this it didn't work. I thought of a parallel with Cara Roberts too, but the way it was played didn't come off that way. Like, maybe Dean is disconnected from Sam, so he was seeking connection. I don't know. He's so long out of practice with women and that wasn't a hook up situation, so it all came off as crass. I wonder too if it wasn't a poke at fan culture. With Suzie being a Casa Erotica star and Dean's obvious awkward creepy fanboy behavior, I kind of thought it was to get fans to see the ugliness of that aspect of the fandom. Jensen, in particular, likes to mimic fans who behave poorly and there's sometimes an edge of ridicule in it, so I think maybe that's where it might have been coming from. One the other hand, it worked for Dean, so

[galathea_snb]

I wonder too if it wasn't a poke at fan culture.
I wished I could see Dean's behaviour towards Suzie in a more favourable (meta) light, but unfortunately it just reads like poor characterisation to me. It also falls into a certain pattern of Dean characterisation that has become more and more pronounced ever since Carver took over the reigns, namely a characterisation that depicts Dean as increasingly mean, manipulative and/or controlling. The current team of writers just doesn't seem to grasp the nuances in Dean's characters that always made him such a compelling and sympathetic figure. :(

She's kind of almost the mom/big sister that he never had.
Exactly. I like that Sam tends to connect with motherly types like Jody or Ellen or Missouri, while Dean usually gravitates towards older men of authority like Bobby or Frank or Eliot Ness. It is a natural expression of their different needs due to their childhood memories/experiences, and I am happy that, in this at least, the writers are fairly consistent with their characterisation.

I'

[spnmonster]

The current team of writers just doesn't seem to grasp the nuances in Dean's characters that always made him such a compelling and sympathetic figure.

I agree completely. Don't get me wrong, I do think that Dean can be manipulative and controlling to some extent, but he was never mean, and the current writing team doesn't balance his weaknesses with his strengths.

I've always liked both boys and was a big fan of the brother bond, but it's becoming harder all the time.

[galathea_snb]

I've always liked both boys and was a big fan of the brother bond, but it's becoming harder all the time.
Yeah, I've always been somewhat of a Sam!girl, but I love Dean dearly and usually both characters together are more interesting to me than either one of them alone or with others. But Dean's characterisation in S8/9 has been awful, and I am at the point where I want Sam to take off with Jody and get a restraining order against Dean - so the writers are obviously doing something very, very wrong. I just feel they have no real understanding of what makes the characters tick and what the fans like about their relationship.