*sadface*

[ratherastory]

I sometimes wonder what show people are watching.

Clearly, it's not the same one I am.

If you need me, I will be over here in my happy bubble that is free of ship wars, character-bashing, and show-bashing in general.

Comments

[claudiapriscus.livejournal.com]

It feels different to me than what was going on with Season 4. I guess...Season 4 was about really bad choices on Sam's part, choices with no actual excuses, only justifications. And even though they gave that storyline a certain amount of short shrift, leaving the audience to mostly fill-in-the-blanks, I appreciated it- letting the hero fall through his own flaws, followed by a redemption story line. I love redemption story lines. I mean, Okay, I think I've said before that how they played it out in season 5 didn't work for me for technical reasons, but I still appreciated the intent.

This year it's something different, at least I think so. This isn't Sam going quasi-evil through bad choices- it's something ACTUALLY wrong with him. Presumably something fixable. And so all this drama with Dean...IDK. It doesn't seem like a relationship development (like in season 4) any more than all the crap Meg pulled when Sam was possessed reflected on the brothers' relationship. If that makes sense. I know I'm not saying it very well.

[ratherastory.livejournal.com]

Oh, absolutely. It's just that the parallels are still sort of there, and in this case I think Dean might have a much harder time reconciling himself to the notion that it really wasn't Sam's fault this time. Dean himself is so broken and unable to trust, that I'm having a hard time seeing how the writers are going to fix this.

I still have faith that it will be fixed. I'm just anxious about how it's going to be done.

(I *love* redemption story lines. Edmund's plot line was my favourite part of the Chronicles of Narnia. I love that Show went there, even if their execution was shaky.)

[claudiapriscus.livejournal.com]

It often strikes me as funny that I often love Show more for what it tries to do than what it succeeds in doing. It's definitely not up there with the heavyweights of excellent television in the technical stuff- its execution can be shaky, its writing can be uneven, it...it's known its share of failure. But man, it has these flashes of brilliance- it takes these crazy ideas and runs with them and manages to surprise me. (Which is a rare and treasured thing) And sometimes it works, and sometimes it doesn't, but the attempt is noble all the same.

[ratherastory.livejournal.com]

Exactly! Show is like the little engine that could! I can see what they're aiming for, and sometimes they hit it out of the park: like in "The End," for instance. HOT DAMN.

I love Show for having such a huge scope, you know? They aim high, and that's more than can be said for most TV these days.

[claudiapriscus.livejournal.com]

Yeah, a lot of television is happy to just stay within its limits. "We're good at X, so we'll do X and nothing but X until the cows come home!"

I love that Supernatural doesn't really recognize its own limitations. If it stuck with its strengths, I'm sure it would be a very decent little show, one that would cause far fewer critics and fans to tear their hair out over it...there'd be fewer flops. It'd be more consistent. And yet we wouldn't get the absolutely mind-blowing "where did THAT come from?" episodes. And I wouldn't be nearly as addicted or fannish.

I mean, two of my favorite shows right now are arguably far stronger shows than Supernatural (heh, and one of them has an absolutely marvelous redemption theme. Perhaps even both, depending on how you're looking at it.), but I don't feel the inclination to write about them (fic or meta) or read what other people have to say. I don't feel the need to engage.

[ratherastory.livejournal.com]

Same here. I watch a lot of TV for someone who doesn't get any channels, and there are arguably better-written shows out there, but none of them make me scream and yell and tear out my hair and laugh and cry the way this show does. None of them make me want to write reams of fanfiction or discuss the way the plot is going or meet other fans and the actors and the writers.

It's the Little Show That Could, I tell you. :)