Supernatural: No Exit

[superbadgirl]

Ugh.

Thank goodness I'm brunette.

I don't even know where to begin. I spent half the episode wondering if anything was ever going to happen, and the other half wishing it would just be over already and looking for that non-existent exit.

This is probably hard to believe, but I'm not opposed to the idea of having recurring characters. If the right ones had been involved here, I might not have thought this episode was as dreadful as it was. Alas, the wrong new characters are pretty much all TPTB have given us this year.

Really, having someone in the kind of peril Jo was in should have evoked some kind of reaction, shouldn't it have? It didn't in me, though whoever wrote this made sure to hammer home that Dean was frantic to find the chick. I didn't pick up any shippy vibes (though I've no doubt that's what Jo and Dean were supposed to be giving off). If anything, it was more annoyance on Dean's part...and then his frantic search seemed more like he felt responsible for the green hunter who'd suckered him into letting her tag along. Ugh.

All Jo All Episode wasn't as terrible as it could have been, but NOTHING about this show was an acceptable reason to backseat Sam. And the same would be true if Sam had had a more active role and Dean was sent out for coffee or to "check the south side of the building." Watching one brother with some other person (especially one with whom he shares no chemistry) while the other pops in now and again is not why I watch this show. I get that they have a tough shooting schedule and they get tired. I really do. I can even feel bad for them, but damn - I work two jobs and really don't enjoy either; they're tolerable and they pay the bills, but I don't wake up excited to go do them. At least JA and JP love their exhausting job. (<--lol, different rant. I'll shut up.)

Please, boys, use that laptop I saw you puttering around on with the information Ash pulled together for you. You did it before. You can do it again. Did I say please? PLEASE. Stop using Ash as your go-to guy. Amazing how I could be annoyed by that guy when he didn't even make an actual appearance.

There were a couple of nice Dean moments. I would just prefer he have those moments with his brother and not Ms. Chippy.

I'd say the final ghostie showdown was anticlimactic, but that would imply there was suspense before the lame ending.

Ellen. WTF? So, Ms. Chuckles-Good-To-See-John-Winchester's-Boys-Come-On-In-I-Loves-You suddenly has issues with them and John. Okay, we knew she had issues with John, but it really makes no sense to me that she's all kind and helpful...except, really, she doesn't trust them farther than she can throw them. And if she wanted her daughter to avoid them, she should have told Ms. Chippy the truth. It's not their fault that she didn't, and it's not their fault her beloved husband got killed on a hunt with John. How does she know he screwed up and that's how hubby got dead? Maybe hubby screwed up all on his own. AND...if the only reason she maintains the bar is because her husband was a hunter, but she doesn't want her daughter in the life, why, why, why hasn't she ever, y'know, shut the fucking place down and got a different job? I mean, really. The. Roadhouse. Makes. No. Sense.

LOL, listen to me rant. These issues have been cumulating, so it's not just this episode that's making me fly off the handle.

It wasn't all bad, though. I found an emory board and had ample time to make my nails look great during the parts I found uninteresting. Which was most of the hour.

Comments

[iloveatlantis.livejournal.com]

Honestly, I don't feel bad at all for complaining at the lack of screentime for JP. Sure, he had a good reason for not having been there so much, but it seemed as if they went out of their way to distance him from Dean even when he was on the screen with JA. Good lord, the literal "back seat" he took in the car, sitting with Jailbait Jo while Queen Ellen sat in the front, irked me to no end. Sure, that allowed her to shut of Dean's music--but it burned me up to see Dean bowing to her. That's not Dean, especially not where his car is concerned. It wasn't *his* fault that Jailbait Jo decided to act like the spoiled brat she is and follow them on the hunt. And she is supposedly over 18 (even if she acts and looks much younger); his not having told Mommy Dearest where her little precious was, with the little brat in his face at the time begging him not to, could be understood. They didn't invite her on the hunt. Dean did everything he could to keep the little monster out of trouble. They saved her, inspite of her own incompetence. She brought every bit of it on herself--and yet Dean took the blame.

Even something like their having had Hunter Barbie on the phone with Sam and telling Dean where Sam was and what he was doing (while Dean was stuck with the brat on the search) was a *bad call.* How much would it have taken for us just to hear Dean's side of the conversation while *he* talked to his brother. But, no, Hunter Barbie had to get between the guys.

Honestly, Dean being frantic to dig the brat out just reminded me of how he was with the kid in that first season show where people were drowning--she had gotten in trouble due to acting like a child, and he was reacting to a kid in trouble. There is certainly no romantic vibe between them.

[superbadgirl]

Honestly, I don't feel bad at all for complaining at the lack of screentime for JP. Sure, he had a good reason for not having been there so much, but it seemed as if they went out of their way to distance him from Dean even when he was on the screen with JA.

Good point. Limited availability means they should use that availability in the most effective way possible, and having Sam run out for coffee is not effective.

Good lord, the literal "back seat" he took in the car, sitting with Jailbait Jo while Queen Ellen sat in the front, irked me to no end.

I thought, "Yeah, stick the guy with the mile-long legs in the back seat. That makes sense."

It's their freaking car. I don't care that Ellen is older - so far she hasn't commanded the courtesy of the front seat.

It wasn't *his* fault that Jailbait Jo decided to act like the spoiled brat she is and follow them on the hunt. And she is supposedly over 18 (even if she acts and looks much younger); his not having told Mommy Dearest where her little precious was, with the little brat in his face at the time begging him not to, could be understood. They didn't invite her on the hunt. Dean did everything he could to keep the little monster out of trouble. They saved her, inspite of her own incompetence. She brought every bit of it on herself--and yet Dean took the blame.

And he shouldn't have. Jo's actions weren't his fault. Granted, it was really stupid that he caved so easily to her - very unDeanlike. If that's how he's going to be from now on, I'll be pissed.

Honestly, Dean being frantic to dig the brat out just reminded me of how he was with the kid in that first season show where people were drowning--she had gotten in trouble due to acting like a child, and he was reacting to a kid in trouble. There is certainly no romantic vibe between them.

I really hope that red herring storyline is dead. Or that they kill Jo just to make it official. ;)

[iloveatlantis.livejournal.com]

Yeah, they wasted Jared's time, what little there was of it.

Ellen being given the front seat while Sam was stuck in the back with the brat irked me to no ends--it was like screaming "brother relationship takes a backseat to the new chicks who dominate the show." Then Dean bowing to her shutting off his music--that just wasn't Dean. It wasn't his fault that *either* of them were there. He didn't invite the brat, or her mother. Why the devil were they even driving them back home in the first place?

Yeah, I hope the red herring "love interest" is dead. Honestly, like you, I'd like to see Jo dead just to guarantee it would never resurface.

[superbadgirl]

Why the devil were they even driving them back home in the first place?

There wasn't room on Ellen's broom for both her and Jo? *bats eyelashes*

Yeah, I hope the red herring "love interest" is dead. Honestly, like you, I'd like to see Jo dead just to guarantee it would never resurface.

That actually has potential. Ellen loses her precious muffin and goes bonzo. She becomes an enemy that only the Big Bad Demon beats in dangerousness. And then the BBD possesses her and Sam and Dean kill her in their attempt to kill the BBD. Ding dong.

[nialla]

There wasn't room on Ellen's broom for both her and Jo? *bats eyelashes*

Bwah!

[staceey.livejournal.com]

There wasn't room on Ellen's broom for both her and Jo? *bats eyelashes*

^Lost most of my soda on that comment. LMAO

[iloveatlantis.livejournal.com]

There wasn't room on Ellen's broom for both her and Jo? *bats eyelashes*

Oh, I love how you think. :)

I would love to see them carry through with making Ellen go nuts over Jo getting killed, then the demon takes her over, the boys kill her--and, as you said, ding dong, the witch is dead.

[superbadgirl]

I would love to see them carry through with making Ellen go nuts over Jo getting killed, then the demon takes her over, the boys kill her--and, as you said, ding dong, the witch is dead.

Seriously. I'm still having issues with this mother who wants, apparently, to protect her daughter from "the life," and yet has never simply removed herself and her precious daughter from the life. Sorry, sister, but you kind of lose your right to whinge about it when the most you do to protect your kid is make her your indentured servant.

Under the right circumstances, a few changes could have been decent for the show...but this crap just doesn't make any sense. And I certainly don't want to know MORE about these nonsensical storylines.

I want Sam and Dean, damnit, not Jo and Ellen. I don't care about Jo and Ellen and their dearly departed father/husband. If there's any dearly departed father I care about, it's John.

Blarg.

[iloveatlantis.livejournal.com]

Seriously. I'm still having issues with this mother who wants, apparently, to protect her daughter from "the life," and yet has never simply removed herself and her precious daughter from the life. Sorry, sister, but you kind of lose your right to whinge about it when the most you do to protect your kid is make her your indentured servant.

Absolutely. She placed the girl right in the exact place she'd need to be to most romanticize "the life" for her. After all, what *else* is this reasonably attractive girl, who is fascinated with hunting, going to hear about from all the hunters who come through and who are trying to make time with her--romanticized talk about "the life," which of course she would eat up. Ellen has allowed the girl to con and hustle her bar patrons, play poker with them, basically hang out with them as if she's "one of the guys"--she's gotten exactly the daughter she's raised.

You're right, under the right circumstances, a few changes would have been fine for the show, but, as it was, Supernatural worked perfectly fine as it was. It was as if they were trying to re-think the entire series. Now, with John gone, I resent like hell that they're trying to dump *more* issues on John, and on Dean and Sam, by making John supposedly responsible for Jo's father's death--I just hope that crap at the end of the last episode was their way of writing out the Roadhouse, Jo and Ellen, in one swoop, although I doubt we'll be that lucky.

[nialla]

It was as if they were trying to re-think the entire series.

WRITERS: Oh noes! We forgot to write in a love interest! There can be no UST or sexin' without a love interest. We can't have that! [writes furiosly]

WINCEST SLASHERS: We already had it covered, thanks bunches. [writes furiosly]

[superbadgirl]

Sorry, but you just said the thing that makes me throw up a little in my mouth.

[nialla]

Wincest? Not into it myself, but nobody's forcing me to read it, so... [shrug]

But I can definitely see the writers wanting (or maybe being told by the network) to inject some "much needed romance" into a show that had an all-male cast.

If the edict came down from the network, it was probably a combination of "we need a romance, so the girls will watch" with "she needs to be hot, so the boys will watch." Maybe a chaser of "make her a kick-ass chick" to shut up the feminists because she'd be a "strong" female character.

[superbadgirl]

Wincest is a squick on the level of mpreg and kidfic for me, so I tend to be a baby about it.

It's funny how TPTB never thought about how the two hot guys would be a draw for the girls and the horror-movie-of-the-week would be a draw for the guys. (With a little bit of bleed over for both groups.)

[nialla]

If done well (and recommended to me), I can read mpreg and kidfic. Though mpregs have to have some sci fi plausibility to them for me to even consider them -- you can't have an mpreg in, for example, House, NCIS or CSI.

I think TPTB don't really care all that much about girls of any age watching TV. It's the menfolk who make all the money decisions for the household.

[pause for hysterical laughter from women everywhere, while men chuckle and act like they got the joke]

I think they see female characters as being there as objects for men to lust over (or view as a mother figure), while male characters are there for them to project themselves into.

[iloveatlantis.livejournal.com]

This being only the second year of Supernatural, the entire notion of trying to rethink the entire series makes no sense at all. The female portion of the audience was quite happy with the two hot guys without any "love interest" nonsense. Leave that to the fanfic writers.

[superbadgirl]

You're right, under the right circumstances, a few changes would have been fine for the show, but, as it was, Supernatural worked perfectly fine as it was. It was as if they were trying to re-think the entire series. Now, with John gone, I resent like hell that they're trying to dump *more* issues on John, and on Dean and Sam, by making John supposedly responsible for Jo's father's death--I just hope that crap at the end of the last episode was their way of writing out the Roadhouse, Jo and Ellen, in one swoop, although I doubt we'll be that lucky.

*nods*

It just feels like change for change's sake - not because there was any actual need to "fix" something. It wasn't broken. And even if it did need tweaking, there's a great deal of difference between a 45 degree change and a 180.