Deleted my last entry-fora while

[sistermagpie]

Because I realized there was no way it was going to come across the way it was in my head instead of as something else.

ETA: I didn't realize people had actually read it and wanted to comment. It seemed a little unfair to yank it in that case. I was able to find it by going back to a previous page, so here's the text of it again. Basically, I was worried that I'd accidentally made it sound like a big attack on Sam as a person/character that would leave me defending things I didn't really believe when really it was just that I thought it was a sloppy reset. But anyway, here's the basic idea of what I had said the first time around.



I've seen a couple of reactions that found the ep really emotional and providing for explanations of Sam's behavior, but to me it sort of felt like it was attempting to be emotional without dealing with the emotions it laid out for itself. So it was more like characters telling Dean where things stood now and since they had to get to a certain kind of resolution by the end of the ep they didn't have time for all the things that would have to be processed there. So I wound up feeling the way I often do with scripts that I feel weren't really well done, like I'm watching some alternate universe that only looks like the one I know but is probably some Ray Bradbury-esque illusion with a horrible reality underneath.

I'll willingly admit that maybe there's explanations coming that will make this make sense, and maybe be fine going forward, but the way it played to me last night was pure meta: the show ended on a pretty final note and they had to re-establish a new status quo that's almost like a pilot. So Sam had to be all over the place: justifying a deception by claiming he wanted to get Dean the life he wanted for himself but wouldn't take for himself and Bobby agreed with him, but showing very little investment in said life, to the point where by the end of the hour he seems to consider it a given that Dean should walk away from it.

There were times where I almost felt like I watching a character bashing fic, only without being sure which character was being bashed. The closest analogy I could think of in the scenes where Sam brings his new family to Dean's place and they proceed to mock it was that Dean had spent the summer at band camp and his bff Sam had made new friends on the swim team. Now he'd brought them to Dean's house so Dean could feel left out. Depending on the pov, the author's showing Sam getting a better family and shoving it in Dean's face LIKE DEAN DESERVES or the author's showing Sam being mean to poor Dean LIKE SAM ALWAYS IS.

Obviously I don't think it was either of those things intentionally, really, but that's the reason it came across as mostly awkward. Sam seemed as confused as anyone as to his behavior, and while that could be about some big traumatic revelation I don't know if JP is up to that if it is. (Sam's been numb for so long it's beginning to be just his personality.) I guess at this point I just don't trust that I'm being intentionally knocked off balance for a satisfying payoff instead of being asked to go along with the patch job and embrace Dean's conflict as organic instead of something he was tricked into (meaning not that Dean doesn't actually love Ben and Lisa but that it's now tied to people intentionally witholding information from him), and maybe be interested in there being even more male relatives running around.

Including one that was dead. As I said to someone earlier, apparently in the SPN universe if you're going to be pulled out of heaven or hell you must be gripped by the penis because nobody without one of those suckers is getting a second chance. When Samuel was telling Dean that he (Dean) reminded him of his (Dean's) mother I couldn't help but wish it was Mary that had been brought back. But then, I doubt a mom would go along with that kind of deception.

One thing I did love about the new Campbell members was oselle saying that wow, Sera Gamble really loves that "we've been fighting demons since the Mayflower!" thing and maybe we should look forward to a special Thanksgiving episode complete with period costumes!

I don't know. I saw some people saying their heart really broke for Dean, but I was only able to feel mildly annoyed on his behalf at being lied and condescended to throughout the ep. Even his choice not to go with Sam seemed less about protecting his family and more about nobody in their right mind agreeing to become the beta wolf in Sam's new pack. It was sort of another version of every fantasy of Sam's we've ever seen. ETA: "Beta wolf" being the word that came to mind not because Sam doesn't show any respect for Dean's ideas in the ep, but because whatever the reasons behind it, Dean's the newbie who isn't respected by anyone else in that team because he lived in a house with InStyle Magazine.

Thinking on it more, I thought of something that's going to sound very sexist but given the show that shouldn't be surprising. It seemed almost like Dean had to stay with Lisa and Sam because it was the only place where he was treated like a man. Like I said, sounds very sexist. But what I mean is that the whole plot against Dean was reminiscent of the way women were traditionally treated. He was lied to so that he couldn't make an informed decision about his life because people decided that was best to make him happy. When called on it they were defensive, feeling that Dean should be grateful. Basically they claimed Dean as a symbol to them. He was supposed to live the happy life that none of them wanted, but which made them feel good to have won for him. But at the same time you can't really respect somebody you're duping for their own good and out of your own good will. Lisa came out with far more dignity because when Dean tried to do the "I'm sorry I put you in this situation" she could truthfully say she had chosen it for herself. There really just isn't any good reason for letting your brother think you're being tormented eternally.

Comments

[strangemuses.livejournal.com]

I was quite let down by this episode, mainly for the reasons that you listed. I didn't care for the unevenness that Sam displayed. On the one hand he says he's been back pretty much the whole time but didn't tell Dean because he wanted Dean to have a normal life. On the other hand he snaps his fingers and expects Dean to just walk away from that normal life and resume hunting with the splendidly awful Campbell family. The contempt that the Campbells displayed towards Dean was completely unwarrented. As oselle said above, it made me wonder if Mary's desire to leave the hunting life had more to do with getting away from her creepy family than anything else.

Any parallels the writers had intended to put in to the pilot didn't work for me. This didn't feel like a clever role reversal. That was just the framework that allowed them to have Sam be cold and calculating. I presume that I'm supposed to think that Sam's time in the worst part of hell has caused him to become the cold, lying guy we saw here, but that wasn't shown in the episode. It felt more like Sam has chosen to be this way now because it was always in him to be this way.

The heavy-handed way in which they tried to make the Campbells, especially granddaddy Campbell seem mysterious and ominous didn't work for me because it was too heavy-handed.

I was very disappointed with the revelation that Bobby had gone along with Sam's deception. I know that the writers had to do something with Bobby, but this? Bobby was a drunken loser by the end of the first 5 seasons. I would have expected this knowledge to put him right over the edge.

I read an interview with Jensen Ackles in which he flat out stated that he was unhappy with the way Dean was being portrayed in S6, and now I can understand why.

[sistermagpie.livejournal.com]

The pilot parallels were really difficult for me too. As Oselle and I were saying uptrhead, it's like they think it's a clever reversal but it's actually apples and oranges, with Sam having to play both sides. Bobby going along with it still amazes me. From what we've been told it seems like Sam has been back for pretty much the whole time. They keep talking about it in terms of Dean having a happy life when the real lie was about letting somebody grieve. The logic seems to be that they had to make Dean think Sam was dead because then Sam could use the deathbed promise to force Dean to do what Sam wanted.

The Campbells really do seem awful. Part of that might even be just that it's so strange they exist. They were said to all be dead and one of them has been dead for over 30 years. It's too much a cheat even for this show, imo. And unnecessary, since they could have made him some Campbell who was played by the same actor. That would even make more sense because it would make those other Campbells an actual family.

[strangemuses.livejournal.com]

One of the many things that doesn't ring true to me about the Campbells is wondering where they've been all this time. Sam and Dean were apparently legendary (or perhaps infamous is a better word) among the other hunters. Why didn't the Campbell cousins approach them before? Why didn't Bobby mention them before? The whole hook with Bobby was that he was their pseudo-father/family because they had no one else left. Now we learn that Mom's side of the family has still been out hunting all along?

Sorry, but that absolutely doesn't work for me, especially not after all the talk about special bloodlines in the last couple seasons.

I also just don't believe that either Sam or Dean would just blindly accept that grandpa came back from the dead when Sam left Hell. That makes zero sense. Less than zero, actually. Likely it'll end up being part of some sinister plot with grandpa being evil, etc., etc., but .... yawn. How boring.

It would make me very happy if they wrapped at the end of S6 and allowed Dean to go back to Lisa and Ben and just live a normal life. He deserves it. Lisa and Ben deserve it. Let Sam have a 'get out of jail free' card and go off and try to make his own normal life. Kill Bobby after they get his soul back from Crowley. Let Castiel stay in heaven and just be done.

[oselle.livejournal.com]

I read an interview with Jensen Ackles in which he flat out stated that he was unhappy with the way Dean was being portrayed in S6, and now I can understand why.

This is interesting. I've heard Jensen complain about being stuck up in Vancouver or being overworked, but I've never heard him criticize the show's creative direction...if he's suddenly saying that he's unhappy with where his character's going, things must be pretty bad. Then again, I just saw Jensen quoted as saying he'd be totally on board for a seventh season, so he can't be that unhappy. Do you have a link to this interview by any chance?

Interview is somewhat spoilery so take care

[strangemuses.livejournal.com]

The comment I mentioned is included in this interview. As the heading states, don't read this if you don't want to read spoilers.

http://www.spoilertv.com/2010/09/supernatural-latest-from-zap2it.html

Re: Interview is somewhat spoilery so take care

[oselle.livejournal.com]

Thanks for the link. That was pretty...startling. Like I said, I've never heard Jensen criticize the show itself. As circumspect as he is, if this is what he was willing to actually come out and say, then he must have been really pissed off...and I'd wager that he probably persuaded the writers to rework some of what they'd written for this season. That's the fortunate thing about Jensen -- he clearly takes his job seriously enough to question what the writers are doing, or at least to find a way to take what they give him and work with it so that it makes sense. I'm not being a gushing fangirl when I say that I think he's rescued scene after scene that would have been completely ludicrous if another actor had to try and pull them off. He's the bedrock of this show. And he's so pretty (that's the gushing fangirl talking!).