SPN: Adventures in Babysitting
Jan. 6th, 2012 08:43 pm![[personal profile]](https://www.dreamwidth.org/img/silk/identity/user.png){kind=small}
superbadgirlCompletely and totally unrelated to Supernatural, but it's my least favorite time of the year: Special K Ad Inundation Time with a side of Annoying Truvia Commercials.
Oh, and also because they killed Bobby Fucking Singer last time I saw this show. That might have something to do with it also.
It seems strange to me that they've stripped Sam and Dean of all the extras - the people, the things that they had come to rely on - in an apparent attempt to return to Supernatural's roots as a story about these two guys, and then have these two guys working separately. I find my attention wandering when they split-case it for most of an episode. It makes it harder to connect to emotionally.
This was a pretty good ep anyway, though they really stretched the vetala mythology to suit their needs, didn't they? I don't mind that so much, really, because zombie vampires are just too much for prime time television. I found it a tad hard to believe that seasoned hunters like whathisface (and isn't Ian Tracey looking aged? Yow.) and Sam wouldn't even consider it was a trap. I mean, Sam, come on. Also, the blonde vetala was played by a very tall woman. Very tall.
But, I'm getting ahead of myself. That "time passes" bit at the beginning. Week one about broke my heart, the guys just sitting there staring into space. Oh, boys. *hugs them* I knew it would be Sam who was ready to move on, get back to work because that's how he copes. Dean, not so much, especially given the way they've been showing him slip into a crevasse this year. The time lapse with the beer was startling, and became anvilly obvious when Dean hightailed it to find Frank (who had better not show up much, he annoys me), who revealed deep seated truths about Dean via his own story. Oh, Supernatural, your old tricks, etc. Frank is a hot mess with trauma induced mental illness. Dean is a hot mess with trauma induced mental illness. Frank fakes it till he makes it and since Dean cannot leave the life and abandon Sam, so must he. :(
The girl, Chrissy, was a good point. She was perhaps slightly overwritten, but I liked her spunkiness - like Dean was at that age, and what a kick in the pants to have Dean openly try to dissuade someone from joining the life. I'm glad it'll work out for her, if she truly stays out. I think she might have been Dean's final good deed, as far as he was concerned.
The carversation at the end was close to those of old, but I'm still getting a distinct lack of feeling in the writing. I used to be right there with Sam and Dean, and now I'm very aware I'm just watching Jensen Ackles and Jared Padalecki acting. They're doing it well, so I'm not saying it's them. It's indefinable. I can't put my finger on what I even mean. Except not even Dean trying to fake smile made me feel as punched-in-the-gut as, say, the scene at the end of Children Shouldn't Play With Dead Things back in S2, which left me sleepless and broken as Dean. And it should have.
Wah, wah, cry moar, right? I just find myself waxing nostalgic these days, and I can't seem to stop looking back in order to enjoy the now for what it is, because I knew what it used to be.
It is pale and tragic that what Sam needs to hold onto his sanity is to keep working, and what Dean needs to hold onto his is to not keep working. And Sam cannot conceive of losing his sanity for Dean's, partially because Dean is hiding his issues. I wonder, though, if he knew, if he would make the same choice Dean is and do what is best for his brother, not him. Hard to say. Sam's insanity has Satan and hellfire behind it. Dean's just facing "normal" crazy.
Long story short (too late!): a decent ep with an actual strong female character who survived (and two bad female characters who got stabbed to death, so is that a wash?).
Oh, and also because they killed Bobby Fucking Singer last time I saw this show. That might have something to do with it also.
It seems strange to me that they've stripped Sam and Dean of all the extras - the people, the things that they had come to rely on - in an apparent attempt to return to Supernatural's roots as a story about these two guys, and then have these two guys working separately. I find my attention wandering when they split-case it for most of an episode. It makes it harder to connect to emotionally.
This was a pretty good ep anyway, though they really stretched the vetala mythology to suit their needs, didn't they? I don't mind that so much, really, because zombie vampires are just too much for prime time television. I found it a tad hard to believe that seasoned hunters like whathisface (and isn't Ian Tracey looking aged? Yow.) and Sam wouldn't even consider it was a trap. I mean, Sam, come on. Also, the blonde vetala was played by a very tall woman. Very tall.
But, I'm getting ahead of myself. That "time passes" bit at the beginning. Week one about broke my heart, the guys just sitting there staring into space. Oh, boys. *hugs them* I knew it would be Sam who was ready to move on, get back to work because that's how he copes. Dean, not so much, especially given the way they've been showing him slip into a crevasse this year. The time lapse with the beer was startling, and became anvilly obvious when Dean hightailed it to find Frank (who had better not show up much, he annoys me), who revealed deep seated truths about Dean via his own story. Oh, Supernatural, your old tricks, etc. Frank is a hot mess with trauma induced mental illness. Dean is a hot mess with trauma induced mental illness. Frank fakes it till he makes it and since Dean cannot leave the life and abandon Sam, so must he. :(
The girl, Chrissy, was a good point. She was perhaps slightly overwritten, but I liked her spunkiness - like Dean was at that age, and what a kick in the pants to have Dean openly try to dissuade someone from joining the life. I'm glad it'll work out for her, if she truly stays out. I think she might have been Dean's final good deed, as far as he was concerned.
The carversation at the end was close to those of old, but I'm still getting a distinct lack of feeling in the writing. I used to be right there with Sam and Dean, and now I'm very aware I'm just watching Jensen Ackles and Jared Padalecki acting. They're doing it well, so I'm not saying it's them. It's indefinable. I can't put my finger on what I even mean. Except not even Dean trying to fake smile made me feel as punched-in-the-gut as, say, the scene at the end of Children Shouldn't Play With Dead Things back in S2, which left me sleepless and broken as Dean. And it should have.
Wah, wah, cry moar, right? I just find myself waxing nostalgic these days, and I can't seem to stop looking back in order to enjoy the now for what it is, because I knew what it used to be.
It is pale and tragic that what Sam needs to hold onto his sanity is to keep working, and what Dean needs to hold onto his is to not keep working. And Sam cannot conceive of losing his sanity for Dean's, partially because Dean is hiding his issues. I wonder, though, if he knew, if he would make the same choice Dean is and do what is best for his brother, not him. Hard to say. Sam's insanity has Satan and hellfire behind it. Dean's just facing "normal" crazy.
Long story short (too late!): a decent ep with an actual strong female character who survived (and two bad female characters who got stabbed to death, so is that a wash?).
