it's much too late to save myself from falling

[musesfool]

I have been having a lot of thinky thoughts about this season of Supernatural, some in response to some of the grumbling I've seen, and some just spurred by other people's thoughts on last night's episode

Comments

[shoiryu]

I think Sam and Dean are supposed to feel off right now, because they are at odds and time is running out for them. It affects them everywhere but on the actual job, which they are using, in true Winchester fashion, to deflect everything else.

This is something I'm feeling too, actually. The delibrate feeling of "why aren't we talking the way we usually do/acting the way we usually do" and so on. Between them they sort of are, uh, dealing what is for all intent and purposes a terminal illness on Dean's part, and that is never, ever, ever an easy or predictable thing to deal with at all. I think it seems like some viewers feel like everybody in situations like these are going to spend all their time crying and holding each other and discussing how awful it is, which, even with people who AREN'T as avoidant as Dean (and Sam to some degree) are, is not at all the case.

Etc etc. (Boy, I always seem to show up here blathering my opinion at you, huh? ;))

[musesfool]

Between them they sort of are, uh, dealing what is for all intent and purposes a terminal illness on Dean's part, and that is never, ever, ever an easy or predictable thing to deal with at all.

*nod nod*

And there is just so much wrapped up in it, so many ways it's just a coiled knot that unravelling it might only make it worse, at least from Dean's perspective.

I always seem to show up here blathering my opinion at you, huh?

S'what I'm here for! I wouldn't post if I didn't want that.

[shoiryu]

And there is just so much wrapped up in it, so many ways it's just a coiled knot that unravelling it might only make it worse, at least from Dean's perspective.

This is why I am so so eagerly looking forward to that inevitable breaking point that's going to come. Jensen really never fails to let me down with Dean, and I'm very interested to see the character and his dealing or lack of dealing and the consequences thereof.

S'what I'm here for! I wouldn't post if I didn't want that.

I'm glad you do! You're always well thought out and tend to be on the same page as me. *L*

[musesfool]

*nod nod*

When they finally do have that big scene where ALL IS REVEALED OMG, it's gonna be a humdinger.

I'm glad you do! You're always well thought out and tend to be on the same page as me.

Hee!

[fanaddict]

Yay! I enjoyed reading this because it makes explicit a lot of things I've been feeling but unable to express about this year. Thanks!

[musesfool]

I'm glad it makes sense to you.

[thebratqueen]

I've possibly bored you with this theory already, but I love Ruby in concept, not so much with execution, and I've come to the conclusion that item #2 would not be a problem if she were actually played by Kirsten Bell, instead of the poor man's version of KB that they hired.

And... people think the DOTW are random? And not thematic? REALLY? God I'm glad I'm not reading those posts. I don't want to catch the stupid.

[musesfool]

Heh. I've heard that theory before, but yeah, I think you're right about it.

And... people think the DOTW are random? And not thematic? REALLY? God I'm glad I'm not reading those posts. I don't want to catch the stupid.

I honestly haven't seen much of that, actually. Something someone said in sanj's comments made it all click into list form for me, though.

[trinity_clare]

(I haven't actually seen 3x06 yet, but I knew those spoilers already.)

I've been trying to articulate this in my journal, but most of the stuff you mentioned doesn't bother me because it's always been a problem in this show and I've learned to deal with it. What DOES bother me is that on multiple occasions the entire emotional impact of the episode has been hijacked to give Sam five minutes of Plot With A Capital P at the very end. It happened in The Kids Are Alright and Bedtime Stories most notably. And the thing that bothers me about Ruby is that on this show, a character who interacts with only one Winchester feels like half a character. Does that make sense?

[musesfool]

What DOES bother me is that on multiple occasions the entire emotional impact of the episode has been hijacked to give Sam five minutes of Plot With A Capital P at the very end.

Hmm... I'm not sure this does bother me, though I've noticed it. Possibly I like it better than having it all packed into one place? I think it's supposed to feel like a slow build of the arc, though I'm not sure it's working.

And the thing that bothers me about Ruby is that on this show, a character who interacts with only one Winchester feels like half a character. Does that make sense?

Heh. It does make sense, but I am hoping there will be some payoff when she and Dean finally do meet. If we get to see it, what with the strike and all.

[trinity_clare]

Possibly what I liked best about the mytharc in the first two seasons was that they ran into it as part of the job. "Shadow", for example, and all the Sam-has-a-vision episodes. They showed up in a town to do a job, and it turned out the job knew them a little better than they'd expected. They never tried to do both within the same episode. And when it happened that an element of the mytharc showed up in an otherwise MOTW episode - "Crossroad Blues" comes to mind - it was part of the main plot, not tacked on somewhere else. The only time I can think of where the MOTW plot wasn't connected to the mytharc plot was "Scarecrow".

I'm trying not to pay attention to the strike, since I can't do much about it from here and if I start worrying about it I'll go crazy, but yes.

[musesfool]

I think the difference now is that the mytharc and the job are merged, kind of? because of the opening of the devil's gate, there are a lot more opportunities for the demons to be the A plot, and that's going to necessarily include the Sam stuff, and also, because I think the Sam-going-darkside thing is so tied to the Sam-saving-Dean thing, that they feel they *have* to include it in every episode? Otherwise you KNOW half of fandom would be all, "Why isn't Sam working harder to save Dean!?!" But because Sam has to do a lot of that stuff separately from Dean, it can't really be part of the MOTW plots?

[blackclaude]

So it's not like they don't still love each other MORE THAN ANYTHING EVER OMG (except maybe the car), it's that they kind of can't stand to be around each other when they're fighting all the damn time and there's no real solution to that, because Sam's not gonna stop trying to save Dean and Dean's not (yet) going to admit he wants to be saved.

That's a really good point. I think that's contributing a lot to the feeling of "offness" this season. The boys spent so much time coming together over the first two seasons and we loved every second of the lovefest, so now that this wedge is driving them apart, it's easy to panic that "things aren't the same." But it's a necessary trial for them to go through and I anticipate HUGE emotional payoffs in the end.

[musesfool]

Yeah, at this point, I believe the off-ness is part of the plot, and they are hurtling towards either a big come to jesus moment when they realize they're stronger together, or a horrible rift where they end up pointing guns at each other. Possibly the latter and then the former. *g*