I'll go with the man who looks like my father
So I think I'm just about over Supernatural as a show, and tonight's episode really demonstrated why. It's not just about the misogyny; I've sadly had to accept that Kripke really does hate most of his audience, even if he won't admit it to himself, and so the dialogue will always consist of "bitch" and "slut" and "skank" strung together by various prepositions and one-liners (as it did tonight). Rather, I'm losing my love for Supernatural because Sam and Dean don't seem to respect each other anymore. As I've said in the past, Supernatural is at its best when it is deeply rooted in the brotherly relationship, and the show really lost that focus for a while. Now the focus has come back, but the relationship between the characters has changed in a way that is no longer enjoyable. In early seasons, Sam and Dean certainly disagreed to the point of coming to blows over things, but even when things weren't patched over by the end of an episode, the viewer understood that these were two people with radically different upbringings who really did care for each other even when they didn't/couldn't see eye to eye. Now their disagreement is back in full force, but I've lost the sense that their clashes come out of a place of (platonic) love for each other. They seem like two people who are stuck in a bad relationship and desperately want to end it but don't know how, rather than brothers who care for each other and want the best for each other despite their differences. It's uncomfortable and unpleasant to watch, and makes it hard for me to like either character as much as I would want.
Also I'm 80-90% sure that they are setting up a plot for next season whereby it will be Dean as leader of angel army vs. Sam as leader of demon army, and I'm not feeling that. Carnivale spoiled me forever on "battle between good and evil" plots, I'm afraid. (For those who haven't seen it, Carnivale flat-out tells you "this is a story about the battle between a Hero and a Villain" in the first scene of the first episode, introduces the characters who are obviously said Hero and Villain in the next two scenes, and then sets things up so that you have absolutely no idea which of the two characters is on what side until the end of the first season, and even then it's in some ways debatable.)
I'll keep watching because there's theoretically only one more season after this one, and s4 has been a big improvement over s3 in a number of ways. It just sucks to like a show so much and realize that it's never going to be what it was when you fell in love with it.
(At least this episode had Sam without a shirt. Mmm, tall and muscle-y and weird hair.)
Also I'm 80-90% sure that they are setting up a plot for next season whereby it will be Dean as leader of angel army vs. Sam as leader of demon army, and I'm not feeling that. Carnivale spoiled me forever on "battle between good and evil" plots, I'm afraid. (For those who haven't seen it, Carnivale flat-out tells you "this is a story about the battle between a Hero and a Villain" in the first scene of the first episode, introduces the characters who are obviously said Hero and Villain in the next two scenes, and then sets things up so that you have absolutely no idea which of the two characters is on what side until the end of the first season, and even then it's in some ways debatable.)
I'll keep watching because there's theoretically only one more season after this one, and s4 has been a big improvement over s3 in a number of ways. It just sucks to like a show so much and realize that it's never going to be what it was when you fell in love with it.
(At least this episode had Sam without a shirt. Mmm, tall and muscle-y and weird hair.)