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Supernatural Retrospective 1/3
Dec. 9th, 2020 10:32 amI am officially 1/3 of the way through Supernatural, having finished Season Five.
I'm told that this was the original ending point and that Kripke resigned after this. Shame what happened. All the business dialogue'd in about endings and the final chapter and whatnot. I have to say, this ending wouldn't have satisfied me, but it definitely could've been worse. I'd probably have pegged Castiel as a big ol' Mary Sue if I didn't know it goes on further.
The individual seasons, hmm...
Season One was capable. It was a decent start and got me paying attention, though nothing phenomenal.
Season Two...rather more bumpy. It introduced Gordon and Henriksen, two absolutely insufferable characters who are both black antagonists. On the other hand, it introduced characters like the Harvelles and Bobby, plus had some really cool episodes, like the crossroads demons and the hellhounds, and the movie-making episode...The season finale was rather frustrating--Azazel finally bites it, but on the other hand, the "special children" plot was very poorly resolved--the answer to why Mary and Jess died is "for the evulz", with no deeper purpose beyond them being in the way despite a seeming pattern. The intended aim of the "special children" plot itself also ends up not mattering much, since only one character needed to carry through, and that was Sam. The finale also got very much on my nerves by villain-izing and then killing Ava, who I had been rather fond of, killing Andy, who I was extra fond of, introducing a lesbian only to ice her immediately for being a lesbian, and rounding us out with a third black man antagonizing the heroes who summarily gets killed off.
But Season Three is where it went bad. The season is only sixteen episodes and thank god, because most of them pissed me off. By now, demons had subsumed the monster-of-the-week concept and were now dominating the plot, and it became abundantly clear that every woman, black man, or gay character was there to be a villain, die, or both. Gordon finally bit it (hehe), though Henriksen took all season to do the same. Some sore spots for me include "Mystery Spot" which made the Trickster such a bastard that I wanted the skin peeled from his face and his brains skullfucked out, and "Ghostfacers" which stood out for its extraordinarily cruel treatment of the only gay character, making him the only casualty and using him to bounce off "funny" jokes post-mortem.
Funnily enough, I've heard that the character of Bela Talbot was extremely disliked, but I found her death rather early and difficult to cheer for. Yes, she was smug, but never tended to last in her smugness without getting knocked down a peg. I found her destruction at the whims of the hellhounds to be very unearned, too, especially considering that in the same episode we learn her to be marked, we also learn her to have made such a deal at an age far too young to possibly understand the consequences. This is in complete contrast to Ruby, who I hate with a fervor that impresses me a little. Katie Cassidy's Ruby was a whole new definition of smug, and the mind games she played were frustratingly transparent and something Sam and Dean should've outgrown falling for. "Jus In Bello" was the limit for me, when she walked in expecting me to believe she had become self-sacrificing and willing to lay out all the details of a given plan when this was in sharp contrast to any previous behavior and thus made it obvious she was trying and failing to play the heroes...and then lectured them for failing to prevent something they had no way to prevent. I wanted her head on a pike for that. I will say that, while she was still an insufferable bitch and I still wanted her to die in Season Four, either the script changed significantly or Genevieve Cortese's acting talents were undersold, because the "smug" dial was toned down to almost nothing and that made a very positive difference.
Speaking of Season Four....bleh. If Season Three thought it could smother me with demons, Season Four decided to hit the ground running with angels. You would think, for having not shown up at all for three straight seasons and having been barely mentioned, then having their existences outright debated, that angels would appear sparingly and with some mysticism. Cue Castiel walking in. And cue a dozen other very screentime-hungry angels along with all their Judeo-Christian lore (although calling it Judeo-Christian is a tad generous. It's basically just Christian). Anna in particular felt very rushed, dry, and thin, as did Uriel. The angels are so souped up that it becomes difficult to believe they really could've struggled at holding off the demons despite what they say, and this isn't helped by the standard demons' rampant terror of angelkind.
Season Five, I think, ended it about as well as it possibly could have, considering prior missteps. The struggle with Michael vs Lucifer feels more rushed and less nuanced than it could've been (what if Dean says 'yes' early and DeanMichael walks over there and smites the under-powered NicLucifer early? What then?). The horsemen are fascinating and terrifying (and War in particular is serious sugar daddy material), and we get Crowley! Crowley!!! I'm not much for Brits, but I'll be damned if I don't very much appreciate a) his lack of smugness and b) his aggressive homosexuality. You're gonna make a deal with a demon? Fuck outta here with this "I don't kiss guys" nonsense, you forfeited that with your soul, now pucker up, loser. On the other hand, the Harvelles come back only to die for nothing (Wrong. Bad. Awful. Unacceptable.) and Meg returns only to not do much of anything. The finale hit particularly hard, especially with the use of Deus ex Machina, but hey, we got what we got.
Tier list? Season Two > Season One > Season Five > Season Four > Season Three.
I'm told that this was the original ending point and that Kripke resigned after this. Shame what happened. All the business dialogue'd in about endings and the final chapter and whatnot. I have to say, this ending wouldn't have satisfied me, but it definitely could've been worse. I'd probably have pegged Castiel as a big ol' Mary Sue if I didn't know it goes on further.
The individual seasons, hmm...
Season One was capable. It was a decent start and got me paying attention, though nothing phenomenal.
Season Two...rather more bumpy. It introduced Gordon and Henriksen, two absolutely insufferable characters who are both black antagonists. On the other hand, it introduced characters like the Harvelles and Bobby, plus had some really cool episodes, like the crossroads demons and the hellhounds, and the movie-making episode...The season finale was rather frustrating--Azazel finally bites it, but on the other hand, the "special children" plot was very poorly resolved--the answer to why Mary and Jess died is "for the evulz", with no deeper purpose beyond them being in the way despite a seeming pattern. The intended aim of the "special children" plot itself also ends up not mattering much, since only one character needed to carry through, and that was Sam. The finale also got very much on my nerves by villain-izing and then killing Ava, who I had been rather fond of, killing Andy, who I was extra fond of, introducing a lesbian only to ice her immediately for being a lesbian, and rounding us out with a third black man antagonizing the heroes who summarily gets killed off.
But Season Three is where it went bad. The season is only sixteen episodes and thank god, because most of them pissed me off. By now, demons had subsumed the monster-of-the-week concept and were now dominating the plot, and it became abundantly clear that every woman, black man, or gay character was there to be a villain, die, or both. Gordon finally bit it (hehe), though Henriksen took all season to do the same. Some sore spots for me include "Mystery Spot" which made the Trickster such a bastard that I wanted the skin peeled from his face and his brains skullfucked out, and "Ghostfacers" which stood out for its extraordinarily cruel treatment of the only gay character, making him the only casualty and using him to bounce off "funny" jokes post-mortem.
Funnily enough, I've heard that the character of Bela Talbot was extremely disliked, but I found her death rather early and difficult to cheer for. Yes, she was smug, but never tended to last in her smugness without getting knocked down a peg. I found her destruction at the whims of the hellhounds to be very unearned, too, especially considering that in the same episode we learn her to be marked, we also learn her to have made such a deal at an age far too young to possibly understand the consequences. This is in complete contrast to Ruby, who I hate with a fervor that impresses me a little. Katie Cassidy's Ruby was a whole new definition of smug, and the mind games she played were frustratingly transparent and something Sam and Dean should've outgrown falling for. "Jus In Bello" was the limit for me, when she walked in expecting me to believe she had become self-sacrificing and willing to lay out all the details of a given plan when this was in sharp contrast to any previous behavior and thus made it obvious she was trying and failing to play the heroes...and then lectured them for failing to prevent something they had no way to prevent. I wanted her head on a pike for that. I will say that, while she was still an insufferable bitch and I still wanted her to die in Season Four, either the script changed significantly or Genevieve Cortese's acting talents were undersold, because the "smug" dial was toned down to almost nothing and that made a very positive difference.
Speaking of Season Four....bleh. If Season Three thought it could smother me with demons, Season Four decided to hit the ground running with angels. You would think, for having not shown up at all for three straight seasons and having been barely mentioned, then having their existences outright debated, that angels would appear sparingly and with some mysticism. Cue Castiel walking in. And cue a dozen other very screentime-hungry angels along with all their Judeo-Christian lore (although calling it Judeo-Christian is a tad generous. It's basically just Christian). Anna in particular felt very rushed, dry, and thin, as did Uriel. The angels are so souped up that it becomes difficult to believe they really could've struggled at holding off the demons despite what they say, and this isn't helped by the standard demons' rampant terror of angelkind.
Season Five, I think, ended it about as well as it possibly could have, considering prior missteps. The struggle with Michael vs Lucifer feels more rushed and less nuanced than it could've been (what if Dean says 'yes' early and DeanMichael walks over there and smites the under-powered NicLucifer early? What then?). The horsemen are fascinating and terrifying (and War in particular is serious sugar daddy material), and we get Crowley! Crowley!!! I'm not much for Brits, but I'll be damned if I don't very much appreciate a) his lack of smugness and b) his aggressive homosexuality. You're gonna make a deal with a demon? Fuck outta here with this "I don't kiss guys" nonsense, you forfeited that with your soul, now pucker up, loser. On the other hand, the Harvelles come back only to die for nothing (Wrong. Bad. Awful. Unacceptable.) and Meg returns only to not do much of anything. The finale hit particularly hard, especially with the use of Deus ex Machina, but hey, we got what we got.
Tier list? Season Two > Season One > Season Five > Season Four > Season Three.
