(no subject)
SPN 4x01
Okay, so, I'm not even sure where I want to begin. There are, like, a million things to talk about from that episode alone. There were WINCHESTERS and they were reunited and BOBBY and omg EYES BURNED OUT OF SOCKETS and KIM MANNERS IS LOVE and HOMG.
Now that I've had a night of sleep to decompress, I think I'll talk about the mythology. Not that I'm extremely versed in judeo-christian angel/demon lore, but, to finally participate in that SPN quoting meme, "I know a little about a lot of stuff, enough to make me dangerous."
It's funny cause when baylorsr were banging the Sister over the head with our Vast Knowledge last night I brought up four years of early-morning seminary as a reason for my own store of Vast Knowledge. Except, Mormons don't go in for the traditional judeo-christian mythology where angel lore is concerned. We have a vastly different conception of that part of the theological cosmos. That being said, I've done quite a bit of reading on my own and you can't travel in most fantasy circles without coming face to face with the traditional mythology. So I'm not exactly unacquainted with these things.
Just so you know. Don't you guys love how I have to disclaim everything? I'd blame law school but I think being a history major also had a lot to do with it. So I will forever after be all 'THESE ARE MY SOURSCES LET ME SHOW YOU THEM.' Or something.
Anyway. Show is definitely setting up an interesting dialectic between angels and demons. And may I just say how happy I am that they went there with the angels? Because I really am. I think that if you're going to use the mythology you have to use it in its entirety, you can't just show one side without showing its converse. Good for you show, thank you for not letting me down.
I'll save my Joss Whedon-related rant for another day. I'm sure you've all heard it before.
So we have Sam very obviously following Ruby's example/advice/mentorship and now we have an angel, Castiel, who says that he pulled Dean out of Hell because it was God's command. This can go a couple different ways, either it can be the obvious good vs. evil archetypical battle OR it can be more complex and emphasize the danger of extremism on both sides. While I was watching I had quite a few Dark is Rising flashbacks. The most important of those was that scene in The Grey King between Will and John Rowlands. It was a discussion about the Light vs. the Dark and, well, I'll let the book say it for me:
"But you misjudge us, because you are a man yourself. For us, there is only the destiny. Like a job to be done. We are simply here to save the world from the Dark. Make no mistake, John, the Dark is rising, and will take the world to itself very soon if nothing stands in its way. And if that should happen, then there would be no question ever, for anyone, either of warm charity or of cold absoloute good, because nothing would exist in the world or in the hearts of men except that bottomless black pit. The charity and the mercy and the humanitarianism are for you, they are the only things by which men are able to exist together in peace. But in this hard case that we the Light are in, confronting the Dark, we can make no use of them. We are fighting a war. We are fighting for life or death--not for our life, remember, we cannot die. For yours.... Sometimes, in this sort of a war, it is not possible to pause, to smooth the way for one human being, because even that one small thing could mean an end of the world for all the rest."
"It is a cold world you live in. I do not think so far ahead, myself. I would take the one human being over all the principle, all the time."
"Oh, so would I. So would I, if I could. It would feel a lot better inside me. But it wouldn't work."
So even if Show does go the full on 'good vs. evil' route it certainly won't be all warm and fuzzy. Heck, we saw that last night. Pamela wasn't evil but the angel still inadvertantly burned out her eyes. And who knows what's going to happen to that poor meatsuit that Castiel is wearing. Do you think he'll heal that man when he leaves the body? And, he's still possessing him, subsuming the body's rightful inhabitant with his personage.
BUT, and here's the big difference, that man chose to be a host and demons take without a care for what the host's choice would be. Angels are dangerous and scary, but there is that key difference.*
Another key difference between Ruby and Castiel is the way in which they're going about their missions. We still don't know what Ruby's ultimate goal is. I think everyone has theories but no one knows for sure. [Tangentially, I think that unawareness is really hurting the actresses who try to portray Ruby. I was distinctly not fond of Katie Cassidy as an actress but Genevieve Cortese, while perfectly fine during the motel room scene, obviously had no clue how to play her scenes as the demon. Which only tells me that if the writers know Ruby's motivation they're playing it extremely close to the chest. The bastards.] But we do know that Ruby's been all about subtlety, she's been playing Sam from the moment she appeared. Conversely, from what we've seen it appears that Castiel is going to be totally upfront about what he wants from Dean.
Does any of this even make any sense? I have all of these thoughts and they're all kind of spilling out willy-nilly. I love it when my shows do this to me, but I pity all of the good people who try to make heads or tails of my rambling.
In sum: I am absolutely fascinated to see where this is all going and how it's going to come out in the wash. Show isn't the subtlest, smartest, or most refined piece of television on the air but what it does well it does really freaking well. I can't wait to see where it's going from here.
*Another tangent: I'm sure a lot of you have noticed how worked up about choice I get. This may make more sense after I tell you that in Mormon cosmology choice is everything. EVERYTHING Lucifer became Satan because his idea was all about taking choice away. The key to our entire existence is having the opportunity to make decisions and choose what kind of people we want to be. Every choice has its consequences but the freedom to make the choice and accept what will come is all ours. And you can't make good choices without the necessary knowledge.
A present for you all: AC/DC - You Shook Me All Night Long
Okay, so, I'm not even sure where I want to begin. There are, like, a million things to talk about from that episode alone. There were WINCHESTERS and they were reunited and BOBBY and omg EYES BURNED OUT OF SOCKETS and KIM MANNERS IS LOVE and HOMG.
Now that I've had a night of sleep to decompress, I think I'll talk about the mythology. Not that I'm extremely versed in judeo-christian angel/demon lore, but, to finally participate in that SPN quoting meme, "I know a little about a lot of stuff, enough to make me dangerous."
It's funny cause when baylorsr were banging the Sister over the head with our Vast Knowledge last night I brought up four years of early-morning seminary as a reason for my own store of Vast Knowledge. Except, Mormons don't go in for the traditional judeo-christian mythology where angel lore is concerned. We have a vastly different conception of that part of the theological cosmos. That being said, I've done quite a bit of reading on my own and you can't travel in most fantasy circles without coming face to face with the traditional mythology. So I'm not exactly unacquainted with these things.
Just so you know. Don't you guys love how I have to disclaim everything? I'd blame law school but I think being a history major also had a lot to do with it. So I will forever after be all 'THESE ARE MY SOURSCES LET ME SHOW YOU THEM.' Or something.
Anyway. Show is definitely setting up an interesting dialectic between angels and demons. And may I just say how happy I am that they went there with the angels? Because I really am. I think that if you're going to use the mythology you have to use it in its entirety, you can't just show one side without showing its converse. Good for you show, thank you for not letting me down.
I'll save my Joss Whedon-related rant for another day. I'm sure you've all heard it before.
So we have Sam very obviously following Ruby's example/advice/mentorship and now we have an angel, Castiel, who says that he pulled Dean out of Hell because it was God's command. This can go a couple different ways, either it can be the obvious good vs. evil archetypical battle OR it can be more complex and emphasize the danger of extremism on both sides. While I was watching I had quite a few Dark is Rising flashbacks. The most important of those was that scene in The Grey King between Will and John Rowlands. It was a discussion about the Light vs. the Dark and, well, I'll let the book say it for me:
"But you misjudge us, because you are a man yourself. For us, there is only the destiny. Like a job to be done. We are simply here to save the world from the Dark. Make no mistake, John, the Dark is rising, and will take the world to itself very soon if nothing stands in its way. And if that should happen, then there would be no question ever, for anyone, either of warm charity or of cold absoloute good, because nothing would exist in the world or in the hearts of men except that bottomless black pit. The charity and the mercy and the humanitarianism are for you, they are the only things by which men are able to exist together in peace. But in this hard case that we the Light are in, confronting the Dark, we can make no use of them. We are fighting a war. We are fighting for life or death--not for our life, remember, we cannot die. For yours.... Sometimes, in this sort of a war, it is not possible to pause, to smooth the way for one human being, because even that one small thing could mean an end of the world for all the rest."
"It is a cold world you live in. I do not think so far ahead, myself. I would take the one human being over all the principle, all the time."
"Oh, so would I. So would I, if I could. It would feel a lot better inside me. But it wouldn't work."
So even if Show does go the full on 'good vs. evil' route it certainly won't be all warm and fuzzy. Heck, we saw that last night. Pamela wasn't evil but the angel still inadvertantly burned out her eyes. And who knows what's going to happen to that poor meatsuit that Castiel is wearing. Do you think he'll heal that man when he leaves the body? And, he's still possessing him, subsuming the body's rightful inhabitant with his personage.
BUT, and here's the big difference, that man chose to be a host and demons take without a care for what the host's choice would be. Angels are dangerous and scary, but there is that key difference.*
Another key difference between Ruby and Castiel is the way in which they're going about their missions. We still don't know what Ruby's ultimate goal is. I think everyone has theories but no one knows for sure. [Tangentially, I think that unawareness is really hurting the actresses who try to portray Ruby. I was distinctly not fond of Katie Cassidy as an actress but Genevieve Cortese, while perfectly fine during the motel room scene, obviously had no clue how to play her scenes as the demon. Which only tells me that if the writers know Ruby's motivation they're playing it extremely close to the chest. The bastards.] But we do know that Ruby's been all about subtlety, she's been playing Sam from the moment she appeared. Conversely, from what we've seen it appears that Castiel is going to be totally upfront about what he wants from Dean.
Does any of this even make any sense? I have all of these thoughts and they're all kind of spilling out willy-nilly. I love it when my shows do this to me, but I pity all of the good people who try to make heads or tails of my rambling.
In sum: I am absolutely fascinated to see where this is all going and how it's going to come out in the wash. Show isn't the subtlest, smartest, or most refined piece of television on the air but what it does well it does really freaking well. I can't wait to see where it's going from here.
*Another tangent: I'm sure a lot of you have noticed how worked up about choice I get. This may make more sense after I tell you that in Mormon cosmology choice is everything. EVERYTHING Lucifer became Satan because his idea was all about taking choice away. The key to our entire existence is having the opportunity to make decisions and choose what kind of people we want to be. Every choice has its consequences but the freedom to make the choice and accept what will come is all ours. And you can't make good choices without the necessary knowledge.
A present for you all: AC/DC - You Shook Me All Night Long