Episode 10.09 left me feeling...
Dec. 10th, 2014 11:27 pm![[personal profile]](https://www.dreamwidth.org/img/silk/identity/user.png){kind=small}
reggie11Ambivalent.
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.
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.
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.
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no subject
Date: 2014-12-10 02:59 pm (UTC)And why don't the writers remember that this show is about Sam and Dean, so the big eps should be theirs! Grrrr
no subject
Date: 2014-12-10 05:05 pm (UTC)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.
no subject
Date: 2014-12-11 08:29 am (UTC)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
no subject
Date: 2014-12-11 10:39 pm (UTC)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*