Jump to content

Supernatural: Discussion Thread


Toups

Recommended Posts

  • Members

I guess torture porn is still a big hit? I know 24 was all about the torture porn. I watched this tonight - or parts, anyway - and it was about 50% torture porn.

If it works, then good for them, I guess, but I can't say I want to see it.

Sam and Dean are dead zones in their scenes together. Actually Sam is like that with everyone. Nothing going on.

Link to comment
Share on other sites

  • Replies 79
  • Created
  • Last Reply

Top Posters In This Topic

Top Posters In This Topic

Posted Images

  • Members

I feel that the cohesiveness of the show stayed until season 4. But during the middle seasons and beyond it dried up and died. After that the show became a character study about Buffy and her friends, which I was fine with as I think Buffy is probably one of the best heroines in television history.

I just feel in general Buffy/Angel was much more effective at saying what they wanted to say in terms of theme and also wring more out of one in terms of emotional impact, even if they drifted away from their premises they were still emotionally resonant, while Supernatural just remains an empty husk. Supernatural is about family, love and tragedy and now all there is, is despair. Sam and Dean don't have anything together anymore, which is basically the reason for the show and the entire existence for it. The show isn't about Castiel, Benny or other people. It's about two brothers, hunting things, avenging their fallen family members and trying to heal -- but you don't get that any more, from either brother.

I agree on Jimmy Novak, but Castiel is a dead end character and always has been, that was the problem with the angel arc in general. They weren't meant to exist on this show continuously in this way and it undercuts pretty much the genesis of the story that they do. There is no reason for Sam and Dean to hunt if they just have a super powered angel to bail them out every time. What is the purpose of them, then? Castiel always had an expiration date and the show has basically destroyed itself in trying to escape this fact and compensate him because of fan demand. There is a similar problem with Benny too, who is basically just a different version of Lenore a previously liked character from season 2/3. As to Castiel's relationship with Sam and Meg those seem pretty non-existent for the most part aside from a few brief scenes here and there. They never really had any kind of relationship. Castiel used Sam to hurt Dean, because Sam is just Dean's appendage and Castiel's brief scenes with Meg were mostly devolved into jokes and sexual tension that kind of led nowhere.

Castiel is centric around Dean and exists solely to be his buddy. He doesn't feel like a real character and he never has. He's not human. He's an angel who isn't supposed to have human feelings or a real human identity. He shouldn't even still be on earth actually.

The PTSD is the same story the brothers have had for years now though, it's nothing new. No new material to be found in either case as the show doesn't wish to get too emotional with their leads outside of one off speeches. Dean has had this storyline in particular before. He had PTSD in season four for being in hell for 40 years, Sam had PTSD for being in a cage with Lucifer for 180 years in season 6. It's all recycled ideas. It's the same formula, "something is wrong with Sam, but it all happens off screen", "watch while the good son Dean suffers silently on the inside and cries man tears for the 12,000 time!"

As to the show moving away from key characterizations of Dean there are still far too many jokes about Dean objectifying women's bodies, watching animated porn and in general make sexist jokes for there to be real character progression. Ultimately the problem with Dean is that his overall persona is unlikable, even if the actions and choices that he makes are supposed to be seen as both noble and self sacrificing.

Link to comment
Share on other sites

  • Members

I think Dean and how he actually is with women and the persona he creates tend to be very different - you could see that with Charlie in the last episode. He never objectified her, or her lesbianism. The episode was actually one of the most mature portrayals of lesbianism I've seen on a show in a while, at least in this genre. I like that side of Dean, and the goofy side. I don't have as much interest (I have none actually!) in seeing him angst over Sam.

Anyway, their grandfather, on their father's side, will be on tonight. You might be interested. It's supposed to be a new myth element outside of the angels/demons.

Link to comment
Share on other sites

  • Members

So there was another, presumably unintentional (? I have no idea) implication of Dean being bisexual in last night's episode.

The sad thing is, I assume this stuff is unintentional, and I assume it will never be addressed onscreen, and yet...it's still better and more affirming than most stories I've seen for bisexual men on TV.

I don't know what that says.

Edited by CarlD2
Link to comment
Share on other sites

  • 4 weeks later...
  • 2 weeks later...
  • 1 month later...
  • 5 months later...
  • 2 weeks later...
  • Members

I just had to drop it --- too many episodes were piling up and really I had lost interest or even traction of major story arcs a long time back (probably when the first showrunner left.) I still enjoy a lot of the characters' chemistry, and there still have been strong individual episodes, but it is just a show that's past its sell by date for me (if I were less busy with grad studies and work this year I might try to find the time, but...)

Link to comment
Share on other sites

  • Members

Kripke? I think he was a hack, mostly. The only two seasons I think he did well were the first two, and then the fourth. I'm also thrown by his homophobia, which I'd forgotten about. He had his moments, and I'd like to believe he didn't realize how homophobic some of the content was, and he had a good eye for casting. Unfortunately his same problems seem to have followed him to Revolution, only with a very weak cast, outside of Giancarlo Esposito.

I mostly got back into the show last season because of some of the actors and the occasional good episode, and the show has so many possibilities (which are rarely exploited). There have been a few good episodes this season but since you're busy I can see why you wouldn't want to watch.

If you do ever watch you should try Everybody Hates Hitler.

Edited by DRW50
Link to comment
Share on other sites

Join the conversation

You can post now and register later. If you have an account, sign in now to post with your account.

Guest
Unfortunately, your content contains terms that we do not allow. Please edit your content to remove the highlighted words below.
Reply to this topic...

×   Pasted as rich text.   Paste as plain text instead

  Only 75 emoji are allowed.

×   Your link has been automatically embedded.   Display as a link instead

×   Your previous content has been restored.   Clear editor

×   You cannot paste images directly. Upload or insert images from URL.

  • Recently Browsing   0 members

    • No registered users viewing this page.



  • Recent Posts

    • Please register in order to view this content

       
    • Please register in order to view this content

       
    • Please register in order to view this content

       
    • I'm screaming at those clips and gifs.  THIS IS PURE GOLD.

      Please register in order to view this content

    • That's always been my thought. I can't imagine that the show would play up the unseen AD so far in advance without them casting a *star*. After today's episode, I wonder if he'll somehow be connected with Diane. It was strange that Diane mentioned her very distant family today. I can't recall Diane ever talking about her backstory. Maybe he's her much younger brother?  It's also possible he's connected to Diane during her time in LA. Sally's already said she crossed paths with him. OC, I think Dumas is Mariah's mistake.... As a side note, it was good to see some mixing it up - Adam with Clare/Kyle and Sharon with Tessa.
    • Here's the place to share some memorable criticism. You don't have to agree with it, of course (that's often where the fun starts). Like I mentioned to @DRW50, Sally Field was a favorite punching bag in the late '80s and early '90s.   Punchline (the 1988 movie where she and Tom Hanks are stand ups): "It's impossible to tell the difference between Miss Field's routines that are supposed to be awful, and the awful ones that are supposed to be funny." -- Vincent Canby, New York Times. "It's not merely that Field is miscast; she's miscast in a role that leaves no other resource available to her except her lovability. And (David) Seltzer's script forces her to peddle it shamelessly." -- Hal Hinson, Washington Post. "As a woman who can't tell a joke, Sally Field is certainly convincing. ... Field has become an unendurable performer ... She seems to be begging the audience not to punch her. Which, of course, is the worst kind of bullying from an actor. ... She's certainly nothing like the great housewife-comedian Roseanne Barr, who is a tough, uninhibited performer. Sally Field's pandering kind of 'heart' couldn't be further from the spirit of comedy." -- David Denby, New York   Steel Magnolias: The leading ladies: Dolly Parton: "She is one of the sunniest and most natural of actresses," Roger Ebert wrote. Imagining that she probably saw Truvy as an against-type role, Hinson concluded it's still well within her wheelhouse. "She's just wearing fewer rhinestones." Sally Field: "Field, as always, is a lead ball in the middle of the movie," according to Denby . M'Lynn giving her kidney to Shelby brought out David's bitchy side. "I can think of a lot more Sally Field organs that could be sacrificed." Shirley MacLaine: "(She) attacks her part with the ferociousness of a pit bull," Hinson wrote. "The performance is so manic that you think she must be taking off-camera slugs of Jolt." (I agree. If there was anyone playing to the cheap seats in this movie, it's Shirley.) Olympia Dukakis: "Excruciating, sitting on her southern accent as if each obvious sarcasm was dazzlingly witty," Denby wrote. Daryl Hannah: "Miss Hannah's performance is difficult to judge," according to Canby, which seems to suggest he took a genuine "if you can't say something nice ..." approach. Julia Roberts: "(She acts) with the kind of mega-intensity the camera cannot always absorb," Canby wrote. That comment is so fascinating in light of the nearly 40 years Julia has spent as a Movie Star. She is big. It's the audience who had to play catch up. And on that drag-ish note ... The movie itself: "You feel as if you have been airlifted onto some horrible planet of female impersonators," Hinson wrote. Canby: "Is one supposed to laugh at these women, or with them? It's difficult to tell." Every review I read acknowledged the less than naturalistic dialogue in ways both complimentary (Ebert loved the way the women talked) and cutting (Harling wrote too much exposition, repeating himself like a teenager telling a story, Denby wrote). Harling wrote with sincerity and passion, Canby acknowledged, but it's still a work of "bitchiness and greeting card truisms." The ending was less likely to inspire feeling good as it was feeling relieved, according to Denby. "(It's) as if a group of overbearing, self-absorbed, but impeccable mediocre people at last exit from the house."
    • I tend to have two minds about Tawny (Kathy Najimy) fainting during Soapdish's big reveal. You're the costume designer, if anything, you should have known the whole time. I guess it's an application of what TV Tropes calls the "Rule of Funny." Every time I watch Delirious, I always want the genuine romance in John and Mariel's reunion at the deli counter to last longer. Film critics had their knives out for Sally in this period. I'll start a separate thread on the movies page.
    • I don't think so, but I wouldn't be surprised if he was Dumas this whole time.
    • Tamara Tunie was serving up grand dame diva fierceness.
    • Nick told Victoria that he and Sharon had married in England.  Victoria was shocked.  Then she realized he was kidding.  He confirmed it was a joke and they're platonic. I don't even know what to say about that.
×
×
  • Create New...

Important Information

By using this site, you agree to our Terms of Use and Privacy Policy