![[personal profile]](https://www.dreamwidth.org/img/silk/identity/user.png){kind=small}
telarynOkay, let me get the complaining out of the way right up front:
Fuck you and your cheap, misogynistic issues Eric Kripke. Maybe it’s not fair to lay this at your feet, but you’re the creator – the buck ultimately stops with you as far as I’m concerned. You’re talented, you’ve got an extremely talented team supporting you – why do you consistently resort to the lazy decision to have the boys be “tough” and “edgy” by smacking around females? And I’m referring to verbal as well as physical smacking, thankyouverylittle.
I largely defended the characterizations last year – give me something fannish to love, and I’m a freakin’ contortionist when it comes to the fanwanking I can do to keep the love alive. I understand that Dean Winchester is not a saint. I understand that if he didn’t posture and attack a demon threatening him – regardless of gender – he’d be stupid.
What I don’t understand is why, in a diner full of demons in a healthy mix of gender, *you* (aka the writers) chose to have the *female* demon be the one that confronted the boys and wound up on the wrong end of Dean’s fist. You’re not ignorant of fan reaction or the internet – you *have* to know how last season bothered people.
The scene was gratuitous and wrong, and in an episode full of brilliance and busting expectations - *completely* beneath you.
Okay, on to the squee…
This episode, I swear, was a testimony to the benefits of not getting *too* spoiled about one’s entertainment. I’d read the early leaks, and I’d watched probably half of the initial five minutes that was shown at Comicon. Even though we were assured over and over again that Dean wasn’t going to be a demon or a shapeshifter/revenant/zombie/what have you, *I* figured that the distortions and the glass busting was coming from *him*, not some external force.
I think I first started to twig to what was going on during the séance, but it was such a great build-up, that it was almost an unconscious realization. There’s so much lore out there about the true face of the Divine being too much for mortals to look upon directly, but modern Western society has fluffified the concept of angels to the point where “great and terrible” is no longer the first connection I make in my head.
It was all there, though – eyes burned from their sockets, Dean’s brand, the angelic language. I love the moral ambiguity of it too – what Castiel did to Pamela is, in its own way, as awful as anything any demon or beastie the show has tackled in three seasons has done. He warned her something bad was going to happen yes, so “technically” it was her choice (free will) to proceed – however, in a situation like this is it the intent or the results that matter?
And even though Castiel warned her, his warning was pretty vague. Can true freedom of choice occur if all the facts aren’t in evidence at the time the decision is made?
On the flip side of things we have Sam – arguably up until this point the more morally secure of the Winchester brothers. He’s working hand-in-hand with a demon, using powers that even though the show hasn’t committed to it we all pretty much know by this point are demonic in origin. He’s using them to save people, however – and I suspect we’re going to see that ultimately his powers are going to do less damage than anything Castiel brings to the fight.
He’s allying himself with an agent of Hell, however, while Dean has been “Chosen by God”. Which means that at some point it is going to be truly brother against brother – with the kind of patented SPN angst and moral conflict that makes me this show’s bitch probably forever.
On a less deep and introspective note – I loved the reunion scenes *so* much. Bobby and Sam reacting exactly in character…no reason why they should believe that Dean actually walked out of hell as himself. Bobby’s emotions, Sam’s guilt – and Gods above I loved that Sam refused to have Dean’s body salted and burned, even though it went against everything that was ever drilled into their heads growing up. I’d dance around claiming that I called that one, but really – if you’ve ever watched more than a random episode of this show, you knew that was going to happen.
I’m still reserving judgment on New, Improved, and Brunette Ruby. The change is almost too jarring, but I suspect my initial dislike is coming from the fact that Katie Cassidy seriously won me over last season, and I don’t let go of such things easily. Also, I have read that Ruby’s going to be doing a lot of body-hopping this season, so I may just need to treat the whole thing like Florida weather: don’t like one actress, wait a couple of weeks and see if things improve.
Are she and Sam sleeping together? *shrug* In the face of everything else this show threw at us in the episode, I not only don’t care, I was kind of startled to read that it even registered with people. And as far as the consent issue goes – if the worst thing a woman possessed by a demon ends up doing is having sex with Sam Winchester, I can’t really get all that horrified.
Next week’s ep – while I’m always happy to see old enemies return, I smell clip show. This would also explain why there wasn’t even a hint of anything about it on imdb when I cruised the summary page a few weeks back.
In conclusion: EEEEEEEEEEE!!!!!!!!!!!!!! SHOW!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!! *giggle* Yeah, I can dissect and meta this puppy for days, but ultimately this is what it’s most likely always going to boil down to.
Fuck you and your cheap, misogynistic issues Eric Kripke. Maybe it’s not fair to lay this at your feet, but you’re the creator – the buck ultimately stops with you as far as I’m concerned. You’re talented, you’ve got an extremely talented team supporting you – why do you consistently resort to the lazy decision to have the boys be “tough” and “edgy” by smacking around females? And I’m referring to verbal as well as physical smacking, thankyouverylittle.
I largely defended the characterizations last year – give me something fannish to love, and I’m a freakin’ contortionist when it comes to the fanwanking I can do to keep the love alive. I understand that Dean Winchester is not a saint. I understand that if he didn’t posture and attack a demon threatening him – regardless of gender – he’d be stupid.
What I don’t understand is why, in a diner full of demons in a healthy mix of gender, *you* (aka the writers) chose to have the *female* demon be the one that confronted the boys and wound up on the wrong end of Dean’s fist. You’re not ignorant of fan reaction or the internet – you *have* to know how last season bothered people.
The scene was gratuitous and wrong, and in an episode full of brilliance and busting expectations - *completely* beneath you.
Okay, on to the squee…
This episode, I swear, was a testimony to the benefits of not getting *too* spoiled about one’s entertainment. I’d read the early leaks, and I’d watched probably half of the initial five minutes that was shown at Comicon. Even though we were assured over and over again that Dean wasn’t going to be a demon or a shapeshifter/revenant/zombie/what have you, *I* figured that the distortions and the glass busting was coming from *him*, not some external force.
I think I first started to twig to what was going on during the séance, but it was such a great build-up, that it was almost an unconscious realization. There’s so much lore out there about the true face of the Divine being too much for mortals to look upon directly, but modern Western society has fluffified the concept of angels to the point where “great and terrible” is no longer the first connection I make in my head.
It was all there, though – eyes burned from their sockets, Dean’s brand, the angelic language. I love the moral ambiguity of it too – what Castiel did to Pamela is, in its own way, as awful as anything any demon or beastie the show has tackled in three seasons has done. He warned her something bad was going to happen yes, so “technically” it was her choice (free will) to proceed – however, in a situation like this is it the intent or the results that matter?
And even though Castiel warned her, his warning was pretty vague. Can true freedom of choice occur if all the facts aren’t in evidence at the time the decision is made?
On the flip side of things we have Sam – arguably up until this point the more morally secure of the Winchester brothers. He’s working hand-in-hand with a demon, using powers that even though the show hasn’t committed to it we all pretty much know by this point are demonic in origin. He’s using them to save people, however – and I suspect we’re going to see that ultimately his powers are going to do less damage than anything Castiel brings to the fight.
He’s allying himself with an agent of Hell, however, while Dean has been “Chosen by God”. Which means that at some point it is going to be truly brother against brother – with the kind of patented SPN angst and moral conflict that makes me this show’s bitch probably forever.
On a less deep and introspective note – I loved the reunion scenes *so* much. Bobby and Sam reacting exactly in character…no reason why they should believe that Dean actually walked out of hell as himself. Bobby’s emotions, Sam’s guilt – and Gods above I loved that Sam refused to have Dean’s body salted and burned, even though it went against everything that was ever drilled into their heads growing up. I’d dance around claiming that I called that one, but really – if you’ve ever watched more than a random episode of this show, you knew that was going to happen.
I’m still reserving judgment on New, Improved, and Brunette Ruby. The change is almost too jarring, but I suspect my initial dislike is coming from the fact that Katie Cassidy seriously won me over last season, and I don’t let go of such things easily. Also, I have read that Ruby’s going to be doing a lot of body-hopping this season, so I may just need to treat the whole thing like Florida weather: don’t like one actress, wait a couple of weeks and see if things improve.
Are she and Sam sleeping together? *shrug* In the face of everything else this show threw at us in the episode, I not only don’t care, I was kind of startled to read that it even registered with people. And as far as the consent issue goes – if the worst thing a woman possessed by a demon ends up doing is having sex with Sam Winchester, I can’t really get all that horrified.
Next week’s ep – while I’m always happy to see old enemies return, I smell clip show. This would also explain why there wasn’t even a hint of anything about it on imdb when I cruised the summary page a few weeks back.
In conclusion: EEEEEEEEEEE!!!!!!!!!!!!!! SHOW!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!! *giggle* Yeah, I can dissect and meta this puppy for days, but ultimately this is what it’s most likely always going to boil down to.
Tags: