SPN: I Know What You Did Last Summer
Nov. 13th, 2008 09:59 pm![[personal profile]](https://www.dreamwidth.org/img/silk/identity/user.png){kind=small}
superbadgirlThere are mild spoilers for next week in this.
Surprisingly, I'm not upset about the scene you know I'm talking about without going into any specifics for the reasons you might imagine. I'm irritated that it played out so that it's easy to interpret Ruby manipulating the situation and getting the blame. Because really? I can't find it in me to blame Sam - he was drunk, fucked in the head and obviously vulnerable. She threw herself on him, literally. And that's what makes me mad, even though I can't articulate it. It's the feminist in me hating the whole freaking set-up for the sex scene. I think I'm upset about not being upset with Sam. Not because he's the victim, as I see it, but because that means I have to blame a female character, and female characters have so much crap heaped on them already.
Oh, and reverse the genders in that scenario. It's icky from all angles. If a guy were being that aggressive with me and I kept saying no ... well, I'd probably still get the blame for "letting" it happen. *flashes back to getting mauled on a dance floor and having all these witnesses looking at me in disgust, not the much-bigger-than-me guy who was pawing me against my will and trying to jam his tongue down my throat*
Please, Sera Gamble and all SPN staffers, say no to sex scenes. I know you like the guys shirtless, and so do I, but EW.
The teaser for next week made it all the worse. "Gave into temptation"? Uh, sorry, but is this SexPN now? Apparently. I didn't see Sam giving into temptation so much as having it forced on him. And, okay, there's this girl they have to either kill or keep from being nabbed by demons, right, so naturally Dean's going to bed her. Because there's spare time for that. Toss in the "THE Dean" she gave him in this episode, and I'm already squicked for next week. She's a Dean groupie. I really hope that my irritation will prove to be 90% for The CW and the way they packaged up the teaser.
I will never break free of my hate/hate relationship with the CW.
I feel dirty.
Okay, you understand I had to get that off my chest, right? Sorry, it really went on longer than I intended it to.
I liked a good bit of this, actually. Poor Sam. It was nice (well, not nice, nice) to see what he went through after Dean died. He looked awful through much of it. I do think they could have spared us the necrophilia in lieu of showing Sam trying everything to get Dean out, because as it aired? It didn't actually show us Sam doing that other than the crossroads demon (that scene was really well done by JP, I thought). It showed us how messed up he was, poor thing, but why didn't they show us some of the searching for ways to save Dean, too?
Ruby accomplished the ultimate manipulation - making Sam trust her the way he trusts Dean. I don't care if she did save his life. It doesn't make her actions any less exploitative. I think it bothered me as much as it did Dean when they made him do the thank-you scene.
I wouldn't have minded a tad more about the Anna storyline. Hopefully we'll get that next week. Uh, you know, beyond the sex. (Notice how I'm mentioning the sex so much. Ugh.)
Oh, Dean. That's not fair, making Sam spill his guts when you won't spill yours. It'll come, though, I suspect.
Oh, boys, beaten to hell and gone by ... was it Alastair Dean called the demon? He had the special white eyes, too. Hmmm, but if Sam could exorcise Samhain, why couldn't he handle this guy. Not. Good. And now they don't have the knife anymore.
What is it with angels willing to kill first and ask questions later, and then yell at others for doing the same? Hmmm. I guess that shows what dire straits they're in. It does make me wonder why the dark side seems to have so much more tangible power. Not a happy thing to think about.
I think I'm going to have to let this one cool off in my brain for a while longer.
Surprisingly, I'm not upset about the scene you know I'm talking about without going into any specifics for the reasons you might imagine. I'm irritated that it played out so that it's easy to interpret Ruby manipulating the situation and getting the blame. Because really? I can't find it in me to blame Sam - he was drunk, fucked in the head and obviously vulnerable. She threw herself on him, literally. And that's what makes me mad, even though I can't articulate it. It's the feminist in me hating the whole freaking set-up for the sex scene. I think I'm upset about not being upset with Sam. Not because he's the victim, as I see it, but because that means I have to blame a female character, and female characters have so much crap heaped on them already.
Oh, and reverse the genders in that scenario. It's icky from all angles. If a guy were being that aggressive with me and I kept saying no ... well, I'd probably still get the blame for "letting" it happen. *flashes back to getting mauled on a dance floor and having all these witnesses looking at me in disgust, not the much-bigger-than-me guy who was pawing me against my will and trying to jam his tongue down my throat*
Please, Sera Gamble and all SPN staffers, say no to sex scenes. I know you like the guys shirtless, and so do I, but EW.
The teaser for next week made it all the worse. "Gave into temptation"? Uh, sorry, but is this SexPN now? Apparently. I didn't see Sam giving into temptation so much as having it forced on him. And, okay, there's this girl they have to either kill or keep from being nabbed by demons, right, so naturally Dean's going to bed her. Because there's spare time for that. Toss in the "THE Dean" she gave him in this episode, and I'm already squicked for next week. She's a Dean groupie. I really hope that my irritation will prove to be 90% for The CW and the way they packaged up the teaser.
I will never break free of my hate/hate relationship with the CW.
I feel dirty.
Okay, you understand I had to get that off my chest, right? Sorry, it really went on longer than I intended it to.
I liked a good bit of this, actually. Poor Sam. It was nice (well, not nice, nice) to see what he went through after Dean died. He looked awful through much of it. I do think they could have spared us the necrophilia in lieu of showing Sam trying everything to get Dean out, because as it aired? It didn't actually show us Sam doing that other than the crossroads demon (that scene was really well done by JP, I thought). It showed us how messed up he was, poor thing, but why didn't they show us some of the searching for ways to save Dean, too?
Ruby accomplished the ultimate manipulation - making Sam trust her the way he trusts Dean. I don't care if she did save his life. It doesn't make her actions any less exploitative. I think it bothered me as much as it did Dean when they made him do the thank-you scene.
I wouldn't have minded a tad more about the Anna storyline. Hopefully we'll get that next week. Uh, you know, beyond the sex. (Notice how I'm mentioning the sex so much. Ugh.)
Oh, Dean. That's not fair, making Sam spill his guts when you won't spill yours. It'll come, though, I suspect.
Oh, boys, beaten to hell and gone by ... was it Alastair Dean called the demon? He had the special white eyes, too. Hmmm, but if Sam could exorcise Samhain, why couldn't he handle this guy. Not. Good. And now they don't have the knife anymore.
What is it with angels willing to kill first and ask questions later, and then yell at others for doing the same? Hmmm. I guess that shows what dire straits they're in. It does make me wonder why the dark side seems to have so much more tangible power. Not a happy thing to think about.
I think I'm going to have to let this one cool off in my brain for a while longer.
no subject
Date: 2008-11-16 04:40 am (UTC)No, I actually agree with that too. It's icky from both directions, but I was focusing on the "Sam's raping a possessed girl's body" aspect because that was what had fans originally so concerned. TPTB dealt with it after a fashion, but it wasn't much of an improvement.
Rape really isn't the right word, but I can't think of one either. Ruby jumping Sam when she knew he was at a vulnerable moment makes it seem even more likely she's been doing all this to manipulate Sam. Unless TPTB are going to make this all into a red herring and she's either totally been telling the truth or else she'd been manipulating at first and then fell in luuuuuuurve.
Never mind the ooky context for a second, I want to know why the hell the boys are suddenly fucking onscreen. Do not want.
Because TPTB figure it will boost ratings is my guess.
It's lazy storytelling if they're just adding sex scenes in as padding and not making it part of the actual plot. Which is why I keep wondering whether or not they were so determined to get Sam/Ruby onscreen because it will eventually make a difference in the plot.
As for hearing angels only after Castiel began trying to talk to Dean, it's possible there weren't any angels chatting it up until then. (Which seems very weak and a continuity issue - if this war's been going on, the angels would have been talking, right?)
The war has been going on for a while, or at least one would think, but perhaps things are now coming to a head and the urgency of it made it easier for Anna to hear them? Or maybe she just tuned in to the right "frequency" once a stong enough signal made her aware of it?
Older than Samhain? Then why haven't we heard of him. I still want to know how all these demons have been getting out. Alastair was obviously downstairs to interact with Dean, but now he's upstairs. How?
We haven't really heard much about the history of individual demons, and we'd never heard about angels as a real entity until this season, so I can go along with not having heard about Alastair before.
IIRC from what Ruby has said (which one can take with a grain of salt), some were previously human but after a time they forget their humanity.
The implication was others were not human and if they're going the whole Judeo-Christian route, then the head demon is a fallen angel. So perhaps the "inner circle" are fallen angels too.
It's not like the angels and demons operate very differently, as both have to hitch a ride in a human body to walk around on earth. The only difference is their motivations, which we don't really know in full, and it's not so clear that the "side of good" really has humanity's best interests in mind either.
It's never been clear to me how the demons get out of Hell, other than being released by accident or design topside. Ruby said this time she convinced Lilith to let her go for one last chance, so that would imply Lilith and other stronger demons can somehow send their people back and forth.
The only problem with that is I just can't picture Lilith being stupid enough to believe Ruby is being truthful, if she really is. Makes me think (even more than I already did) that someone from down below is still in charge of Ruby and she's made up an elaborate story to worm her way into Sam's life to bring about his downfall.
no subject
Date: 2008-11-16 06:34 am (UTC)It's never been clear to me how the demons get out of Hell, other than being released by accident or design topside. Ruby said this time she convinced Lilith to let her go for one last chance, so that would imply Lilith and other stronger demons can somehow send their people back and forth
Totally. I don't understand how Ruby was able to convince Lilith at all. Does Lilith have a revolving door to Hell or something, because the last we saw her she wasn't in Hell. Why on Earth are devil's gates necessary if there are demons who can come and go as they please, and apparently let others out as well? That seems a bit of a red herring. I'm sure there are power levels (Azazel could apparently get out himself, but couldn't get others out, which is why he needed the devil's gate opened?)
Oh, I'm so confused. Long story short: I think Kripke & Co. might have bitten off more than they could chew, and they are damned lucky they've got JA and JP (and many of the recurring actors) to pull off some of the shit. I think many of us get distracted enough by how awesome they are that the WTFery in storylines can go unnoticed.
Heh. It's only when I'm really perturbed by something that I nitpick.
Makes me think (even more than I already did) that someone from down below is still in charge of Ruby and she's made up an elaborate story to worm her way into Sam's life to bring about his downfall.
Yeah, now that they've pretty well established Castiel's not really an agent for Lucifer, I'm really hoping Ruby is. It'll make how she is much easier to stomach if I know it's all an insidious plot and not twu demon wuv.