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Sometimes I really love Ben Edlund. Issue #3 of The Tick ("Night of a Million Zillion Ninjas") is easily the funniest thing I've ever read. He's also done a number of Supernatural episodes that I thought were funny. Then there are episodes like this one.
I'm not even sure I can put my finger on what bothered me. For one thing, this was one of those episodes where the humor was both so dark and left of center that it actually killed my suspension of disbelief. It was a little too stagy in its quirkiness. I can't tell if the direction helped or hurt with that, but I've never been more aware of the guys ACK-ting before. Fortunately, everybody seemed to get it out of their system in the first half and the second half turned into a cool mythology episode.
After last week's episode, I was not pleased to hear that John and Mary's love for each other was basically ordered by heaven and manipulated by cherubs for the purpose of furthering the bloodline. Seriously, John went out of his mind with grief when the woman he loved was murdered by a demon and went on a 20+ year crusade that destroyed his children and himself, and that love wasn't even real? I call bullshit. And I think this may be the first time I've ever typed a swear word in my LJ.
I'm so proud of Sam right now. He fought his addiction so hard. He was honest about acknowledging he was feeling it and asked for help when he needed it. He had a weak moment when those two demons cut him loose, but even with his addiction ramped up to supernatural levels by Famine, Sam was able to rein it in and say no to the next set of demons Famine tried to feed him, using the power he'd gained to defeat Famine instead. And now he has to detox again the hard way, without magical assistance this time. I hope that doesn't mean it's going to be harder for him to stay clean from now on.
I'm also kind of proud of Dean for acknowledging he's hit rock bottom and needs help, but on the other hand I feel like I've said that half a dozen times before. The writers don't seem to let Dean's forward progress stick. I really hope it does this time, not just for his sake, but for ours. If the show doesn't get renewed, then I don't want Dean to go out in the same "I'm done" mode he's been in since as far back as "Croatoan" and which has only gotten exponentially worse as the seasons have gone on. He deserves more character development than to just constantly be given more of the same. Does that make sense?
And, pssst, Dean-- if you're serious about needing help, you have this brother...and this angel friend...and this gruff guy who's been like a father to you...just sayin'.
I'm not even sure I can put my finger on what bothered me. For one thing, this was one of those episodes where the humor was both so dark and left of center that it actually killed my suspension of disbelief. It was a little too stagy in its quirkiness. I can't tell if the direction helped or hurt with that, but I've never been more aware of the guys ACK-ting before. Fortunately, everybody seemed to get it out of their system in the first half and the second half turned into a cool mythology episode.
After last week's episode, I was not pleased to hear that John and Mary's love for each other was basically ordered by heaven and manipulated by cherubs for the purpose of furthering the bloodline. Seriously, John went out of his mind with grief when the woman he loved was murdered by a demon and went on a 20+ year crusade that destroyed his children and himself, and that love wasn't even real? I call bullshit. And I think this may be the first time I've ever typed a swear word in my LJ.
I'm so proud of Sam right now. He fought his addiction so hard. He was honest about acknowledging he was feeling it and asked for help when he needed it. He had a weak moment when those two demons cut him loose, but even with his addiction ramped up to supernatural levels by Famine, Sam was able to rein it in and say no to the next set of demons Famine tried to feed him, using the power he'd gained to defeat Famine instead. And now he has to detox again the hard way, without magical assistance this time. I hope that doesn't mean it's going to be harder for him to stay clean from now on.
I'm also kind of proud of Dean for acknowledging he's hit rock bottom and needs help, but on the other hand I feel like I've said that half a dozen times before. The writers don't seem to let Dean's forward progress stick. I really hope it does this time, not just for his sake, but for ours. If the show doesn't get renewed, then I don't want Dean to go out in the same "I'm done" mode he's been in since as far back as "Croatoan" and which has only gotten exponentially worse as the seasons have gone on. He deserves more character development than to just constantly be given more of the same. Does that make sense?
And, pssst, Dean-- if you're serious about needing help, you have this brother...and this angel friend...and this gruff guy who's been like a father to you...just sayin'.
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Date: 2010-02-12 05:49 am (UTC)From:Though I enjoyed the funnier moments with Cas and the initial stages of his burger obsession.
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Date: 2010-02-13 12:02 am (UTC)From:My "crap, we're back to this again?" moment was Dean hitting rock bottom for the umpty gazillionth time. I think the writers are too fond of Dean's manpain to allow him any forward progress in his character development.
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Date: 2010-02-13 06:06 am (UTC)From:no subject
Date: 2010-02-12 06:09 am (UTC)From:no subject
Date: 2010-02-12 03:57 pm (UTC)From:And seriously how many times does Dean have to hit rock bottom?
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Date: 2010-02-13 12:05 am (UTC)From:Yeah, the writers do seem to be stuck in a rut when it comes to his character. I'm hoping against hope that it actually means something this time because we're a lot closer to the end of the series than we are to the beginning.
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Date: 2010-02-12 06:09 pm (UTC)From:I'm proud of the boys too! I'm hoping what's different about Dean this time is that I don't think he's ever asked for help before. He's admitted that he's tired/hopeless/out of ideas/"done" before, but he's never really seemed interested in changing that.
I also had a hard time with the first half of the episode. The opener freaked me out and the whole thing took a while to get going. But once it was rolling, man... It was awesome. =)
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Date: 2010-02-13 12:10 am (UTC)From:I'm hoping what's different about Dean this time is that I don't think he's ever asked for help before.
That's a really good point. Unfortunately (to me, anyway), he asked God for help, which is consistent with his increasing faith over the last season and a half, but what I really want to see (and what I think will do him the most good) is for Dean to learn that he doesn't have to wear his game face for Sammy anymore. Before the series ends, I'd really like for Dean to let Sam be there for him the way he's always been there for Sam.
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Date: 2010-02-13 12:19 am (UTC)From:I think whatever ends the Apocalypse storyline this season is going to have to be gigantic, and I hope that whatever Sam's part of it will be, it'll involve Dean putting some serious faith in him.