Episode 10.09 left me feeling...

[reggie11]

Ambivalent.

Don't get me wrong I didn't dislike the episode. I do, however, feel that it was not even remotely close to being mid-season finale material. This is how I felt about the season opener; a good episode if it wasn't one of the major episodes of the season.

I just wrote this as a response elsewhere and everything that niggled me about it fell into place.

It felt like three different writers sat in three separate rooms and each of them wrote something for upcoming episodes. The first writer actually wrote the Supernatural storyline of Sam and Dean Winchester and the effects of the Mark of Cain on Dean, and on their relationship, culminating in Dean going nuclear (as I had been predicting) and verily, it was good. Action and drama.

The second writer wrote a story of the King of Hell and his mother filled with quips, one-liners, and Machiavellian tactics. Comedy and intrigue.

The third wrote a soap opera worthy of daytime soaps and PSAs everywhere, and it was really moving. Soap opera and melodrama.

When the three writers were done, a fourth, who I assume had been hiding a flask in his or her bottom drawer, decided that what was needed was a 'John and his boys' anecdote and wrote it whilst drunk.

Then Carver (or whoever) came along and said, we don't have enough episodes for all of thes plots so let's smush them into one! Even though it was like three separate jigsaw puzzles, some of the pieces fit and hey, if they don't we can force them into place. The edges won't match up but it will still make a colorful picture.

What came out of this was 10.09, a Frankenstein episode with all of the bolts and stitches showing.

That John anecdote actually had me screwing up my nose. I kept waiting for it to get to the point but it never did. As anecdotes go, it was like something that's told in the middle of a dinner party by someone who drank the entire bottle of red. It wasn't funny, it wasn't moving, there was no golden moral lesson. It was utter rambling pointlessness. Surely they could have come up with something interesting for a nice bonding moment for the boys to toast their dad. *shakes head, completely baffled*

Each story on its own was great. I really did enjoy learning more about Crowley anad his mommy issues. I was moved at the horror that was Claire's life and the pain Castiel had wreaked on her family. I loved Sam making grilled cheese for his brother, Dean wanting to protect Sammy from what was happening to him, and the moment in the house after the slaughter was breathtaking. The parts were all good, but the Sesame Street song 'One of these things is not like the other' kept running through my head and it was offputting. The whole didn't work for me. Had this aired last week when it wasn't a mid-season finale, I would have probably loved it.

Images courtesy of laura-sproge.tumblr.com

On a completely different note. I'm heading off in the morning to spend four much needed days with my mum so I won't be online until Sunday night/Monday morning. My only internet access will be on my phone.

Comments

[cassiopeia7.livejournal.com]

What came out of this was 10.09, a Frankenstein episode with all of the bolts and stitches showing.

This may be the best description of 10.9 EVER.

. . . all my best to you and your Mum. ♥

[reggie11.livejournal.com]

I want to like it more than I actually did. I loved each story on its own, just not together and not in such an important episode. And I will probably upset Castiel fans with this, but the first, mid=season, and finale episodes should be primarily Winchester based.

I love that we're getting to see the vessel issue and how Cas will handle it bit it should have been on a different week. I'm really liking seeing this side of Cas. But, I'm a little bitter that they're addressing the utter violation of human beings and the devastation angel possession wreaks on them through Hannah, Cas, and Claire, when they never fully addressed it with Sam, one of the two leads of the show.

Thanks for your well wishes, lovely xx

[quickreaver.livejournal.com]

Oh, yes, THIS. This response to Deb kinda nails it. Yup.

[reggie11.livejournal.com]

I don't begrudge the Cas/vessel storyline, it's actually interesting, but Christ on a bicycle, they just pushed the whole shit aside when it was Sam and never went back to it again and now I'm furious about it all over again.

And why don't the writers remember that this show is about Sam and Dean, so the big eps should be theirs! Grrrr

[quickreaver.livejournal.com]

Well, I think lately TPTB have been developing other characters' separate plot lines in order to give J2 some well-deserved time off. So that's a legit reason, BUT...I don't dig it either. I will never ever find any other character even as close to interesting as I do Sam and Dean.

And yes, Sam particularly has some serious holes in his character arc. The vessel situation, the missing tattoo, not looking for Dean during the Purgatory days, the cryptic "then we can't be brothers" speech, how did Sam really hurt his arm a few weeks ago, and now, leaving Dean alone in a house full of thugs...

And it's all during Carver's reign. It's clear there's been little care taken with Sam's character. And that makes being a Sam!girl really unfun.

[reggie11.livejournal.com]

Even though I much prefer the show to be about Sam and Dean I don't begrudge them altering the show to accommodate the fact that they have families they want to spend time with. Even though the more they are showing Cas (with the exception of the last episode) the more boring I'm finding his character, I don't mind them having Cas-centric episodes. I just wish they'd stop trying to shove everything in all at once and diluting every single story thread by doing so. It's sloppy writing. Plus the major episodes should feature the major characters.

I totally agree that the Sam character arc is horribly flawed. Either the writers don't see it, or they have completely lost their way with the character and have no idea where to take it.

Someone called out Guy Norman Bee last night on the ridiculousness of Sam leaving Dean in a house full of armed villains. His response showed how little TPTB put stock in being true to their characters. He basically said that the show is a suspension of belief and it was their intention that Sam thought Dean was right behind him and didn't realise he wasn't until he was in the car. WTF? Sam, hunter extraordinaire didn't notice that his brother wasn't there? It's not like we're talking about him losing a freaking button! I may log back into twitter and respond to his response. I had to log out before I smashed my computer in anger for all of the tweets congratulating them on 'the best episode of season 10 by far', and 'could we have a lot more scenes of Cas and Dean and their profound bond without Sam being present as that was the best part'. Fucking Destiel twats. Excuse my language. I don't care who anyone ships but when they start ranting at TPTB to remove one of the major leads I get angry. There was also 'Sam has had the spotlight for 9 seasons and its time he took a backseat so that Dean and Castiel have a chance to be the focus for a change'. If Sam was any further in the backseat, he'd be out of the car completely.

You'll need to go through the notes to be able to find the various threads of comments because Tumblr is seriously the absolute worst platform for any kind of conversation, but this is the last part of the convo I was part of re the chat about dumbing down the characters here

There was also a scathing post about why last night's episode didn't work here

[quickreaver.livejournal.com]

Sorry, took me a bit to get around to responding!

I agree that the major episodes should primarily feature the major characters. However, I suspect what TPTB were doing was actually pretty cagey: they KNEW they had the Winchester fans roped into watching by teasing the MoC, so they drew in the Misha/Castiel fans by adding in the Novak family friction. Got everyone involved. Problem was, the episode did not serve as a good mid-season hiatus cliffhanger AT ALL.

I saw the Guy Bee twitter exchange, and while I didn't think he was exactly "called out," I am WAY glad he was asked about that scene and clarified his intentions. It clearly didn't play out the way he intended it to.

Re. the Destilers, you know what? I've seen blessedly little crank from them! (But then, there are very few in my circles, so...) In fact, one notorious D/C shipper went so far as to admit Sam was woefully underutilized in this episode, and it would've been better with more of him in it. I was like "WHOA, OKAY!"

Who did the ranting about removing Sam from the show, anyway? I suspect they're actually few and far between; they're just usually LOUD and dogmatic. Which is never a good combination.

I'll check that tumblr posts, but yeah, it's the shittiest platform when it comes to a decent conversation. Nothing really beats LJ for that.

Anywho, now that everything has calmed down, I may just watch the episode again and kinda breeze through the Cas&Claire parts. I didn't mind that story line, really! But I don't need to revisit it, that's for sure.

Hang tight, babe! *smish*

[cassiopeia7.livejournal.com]

the first, mid=season, and finale episodes should be primarily Winchester based.

Well, of COURSE they should. Sometimes I think that people have forgotten that Supernatural is about Sam and Dean Winchester. :(

*hugs*

[hunenka.livejournal.com]

I think you just perfectly summed up my reaction... And I'm still kinda confused about the episode, so I'm not gonna say more about it now.

Enjoy your time with your mum!

[reggie11.livejournal.com]

It confused me too. I loved most of it but it seemed so piecemeal that as a whole it didn't work for me at all.

Thanks, I'm looking forward to mum hugs :)

[amberdreams.livejournal.com]

yessity yes to all of this.

[reggie11.livejournal.com]

I'm finding it frustrating. Why did they have to make both the season opener and the mid-season finale so...ordinary? They're supposed to be the episodes that grab you and shake you and so far those are the two episodes I've been disappointed with. I hope this doesn't mean the season finale will be anti-climactic. *sigh*

[fufaraw]

Best possible thoughts to your mum, and you.

I guess I'm ridiculously easy--I really liked the ep--until I read some of the critique this morning. Now I find myself nodding along with yours, particularly. Still, disappointing as it was, it didn't fill me with either rage or ennui, which has become perilously close to 'usual.' Enough of an improvement I mistook it for "Yay!"

[reggie11.livejournal.com]

Oh no, I took your episode happy away! I honestly didn't hate it, probably because I couldn't muster enough feeling for it. The Claire and Cas scenes were suitably tragic and sad, the Sam and Dean parts were all great (except for the ridiculousness of Sam leaving Dean alone in a house filled with armed men which is such bad writing it defies description), and Crowley and Rowena had me intrigued. Together though, there was once again too much going on in one episode which didn't allow for me to feel enough for any of it.

I'm really enjoying this season but for some reason they are feeling the need to take a scattergun approach to episodes. They should pick the focus of the episode and stick to it because I'm getting kind of fed up with feeling like I'm watching two different shows at once. I felt like this last season when the angel story arc had so very little to do with everything else. It was like flipping channels every few minutes and watching two unrelated shows. It gives me a headache.

Thanks for the well wishes, hon x

[jessm78.livejournal.com]

I do, however, feel that it was not even remotely close to being mid-season finale material.

Yeah. I mean, I didn't hate the episode, but it didn't seem to work as a mid-season finale. And I agree, it did seem like there were three separate stories written by different writers.

[reggie11.livejournal.com]

I'm glad it's not just me who feels this way. There was such an outpouring of 'Oh, this episode was just so gosh-darned perfect' on Twitter I was beginning to wonder if I watched a different episode to everyone else. It was a good, interesting episode but it was far from perfect.

[sailorhathor.livejournal.com]

I do agree that I was expecting something completely different when it comes to Dean and the Mark (since it was the mid-season finale) - I mean, I expected to be surprised and instead, I really saw it coming. I also agree that the ep felt pieced together, and the John story served no other purpose than to really, REALLY make Cas feel guilty. I'm also very disappointed that Jimmy isn't in there anymore; just how depressing can this show get? But I still enjoyed much about the ep, despite its flaws.

[reggie11.livejournal.com]

I was really disappointed about Dean and the Mark. It was anti-climactic. If he had have gone postal and murdered a bunch of innocents then it would have been shocking. Instead, he fought for his life against thugs and would-be rapists while outgunned and outnumbered. It felt like self defense to me. Maybe I'm expecting too much.

[sailorhathor.livejournal.com]

Yes, I agree that it didn't seem that bad that Dean had to kill those guys. He killed Randy too, which wasn't really necessary, but since Randy gave up Claire and almost got her raped, I don't find myself caring very much. It's just like what happened with Sam and the Crossroads Demon, how he brought Lester there to make a deal and Lester wound up really making a deal - I didn't care or blame Sam at all. Sam did what he had to. If Lester was dumb enough to sell his soul, that's Lester's fault. Same thing with Dean - if those guys wanted to take on Dean Winchester, they got what they asked for. So yeah, it felt anti-climactic.

I guess it was just enough to make Sam worry, but not enough to assassinate Dean's character, which they can be way too careful about sometimes. It stomps out the conflict at times.

I still enjoyed the episode overall, though. Just a little disappointed.

[reggie11.livejournal.com]

Yeah, I think it's weird how they'll often tiptoe around things to endure Dean doesn't come off looking too bad which can really take away the impact of a storyline. I don't know why they do it because it's not like fans of the show will suddenly stop watching. A big part of the reason we watch the show are the moral dilemmas and the times our heroes make bad decisions. They never seem to have a problem with making Sam look bad but they dance around it with Dean. It's odd.

[sailorhathor.livejournal.com]

Exactly, Sam has done some bad things, some because he thought he was doing the right thing and others to save/find his brother. Others were purely questionable. But Dean always seems to have a reason so good or understandable that he comes off smelling sweet. Even though I'm a Dean!girl, I still find it annoying. I prefer that my heroes have some grey areas. That's one reason I enjoyed Demon!Dean so much, because it gave him an edge.

[milly-gal.livejournal.com]

I actually saw this description of the show on one of the girls review posts you replied too and I think it fits the ep so well. Stitched together by three separate hands.

[reggie11.livejournal.com]

I'm enjoying the threads of the story, I just wish they'd write it a little more coherently.

[milly-gal.livejournal.com]

Exactly :)