The completely unapologetic, utterly fannish post…

[telaryn]

So I haven’t seen Thursday’s Supernatural yet. It’s safely on the DVR, and I’m hoping to see it before I leave for Chicago on Thursday evening (missing, for those keeping track, the season finale). I’m still a little leery about watching it based on the previews, because – maggots, hello! – but I’ve got to admit I’m interested based on the post-ep metas I’ve seen so far. Reaction appears to be decidedly mixed on all fronts, with angst over Dean taking center stage (unsurprising).

In light of all the gender politicking I’ve been reading/discussing, however – I suspect the “resolution” to Bela’s arc has the potential to bother me a lot. And perversely has me once again curious about SPN’s viewer demographics. All I ever seem to see is the female fans of all ages – but given my principal fandom exposure happens on line, and women do tend to be more fannishly active I suppose that’s not entirely unexpected.

I’m also wondering why –of the two women introduced this season – why Ruby works and Bela doesn’t? I have thoughts, but they’re not fully formed yet…and I guess I need to see the resolution of Ruby’s season arc before I draw any real conclusions.

On to something I *did* watch – wow, BSG, nice of you to show up! Plus – story focus on Athena *and* Starbuck…definite bonus. I like that Starbuck has finally made a resurgence in Kara, leveling her off somewhat and getting her a little less “me” focused. Issues are fine and wonderful in my favorite characters, but if issues are all there are, you’re stuck with Season 6 Buffy.

Or Season 1 of Carnivale.

At this point, the only resolution for *Kara* is to walk away from her past and set down her belief that she will always hurt and destroy. She can’t confront Socrata and declare her a liar. She can’t undo what happened with Zak.

And she definitely can’t take back all the game playing with Sam and Lee. All she can realistically do at this point is put it down and be determined to do everything in her power not to be that anymore. I think she’s very close to that point – that’s the change Leoben is sensing in her.

If I ever formalize my Kara-ramblings, I long ago decided that the title would be “Fear of Failure: Deconstructing Kara Thrace”. After watching Friday’s ep, I think it fits her better than ever. The catalyst for her change – for her wanting *more* - was simply that she succeeded in a way she couldn’t explain away. She scored the big prize, the salvation of the Fleet, and Socrata is no longer around to undermine that.

It’s not about *her* for once. It’s about all of them, and that shift in perception changes you in ways that never truly go back. This is why I think when everyone that mattered tried to take her triumph away, she finally fought for herself and her achievement.

Self actualization is an incredible thing.

I also loved that she’s pretty much set the emotional drama aside, because damn it was getting tiresome. And frankly Sam is getting more than a little creepy. Dude needs to seriously dial it back about fifty or sixty notches. There’s supporting the love of your life, and then there’s shooting your freaking crewmate! *headsmack*

I do like that he’s a pilot – gives him nominally something to do besides moon over Kara – but I wonder how everyone’s going to feel about him and what he did once the debris settles.

(Reminder: the above is said as a confirmed Kara/Anders shipper. *points to icon*)

Athena’s interaction with the other Eights was nicely bizarre. I really wish they’d been able to give it more realistic attention. Why didn’t the Eight that addressed her discuss Boomer turning on them and siding with Cavil? If the discussion is about violating programming, what in the Eight model convinced Athena to side with the humans and Boomer to side with the more hard core Cylons?

I honestly Athena’s story gets more play next week – the previews actually got my pulse racing for the first time this season. Hera’s Coloring Book o’ Doom! (tm wisteria_) was seriously cree-pee. Would kind of serve Caprica right if Athena shot her, though.

Guess we’re definitely getting D’Anna back. Still not caring.

Honestly, with the exception of Anders, I’m ready to declare the “Colonial Four” the biggest misstep of the season. It was too much too fast – there was a reason these four were second tier characters (and honestly, I’d place Tory lower than that). All of a sudden we’re supposed to be cool with them eating up large chunks of screentime – time that could be used more effectively by the characters we’ve spent years getting to know and take into our fannish hearts?

They could still pull it out, but right now it looks like the season four version of D’Anna eating the show. Especially with Tory. I’m grateful to her for taking Cally out of the picture, but outside of that they’d better have a really compelling reason to keep her around.

Otherwise she’s just a corporeal, ethnicized Chip Six.

In non-specific fannish news, I signed up for oldschoolfic. Go, check it out – sign up yourself! I seem to be writing more fic lately as an antidote to all the life stuff I’m balancing, but it’s still a rare enough occurrence that I felt I should promote. *cringe*