SPN 6.21 & 6.22 - and pondering Season 6

[hsapiens]

Late opinion is late. I've been letting this sit, trying to weed out insta-fan reaction from deeper, story-telling opinions. I haven't had a lot to say here about Season 6 because as I watched it seemed extremely disjointed and as if too many stories were being told. I figured I wouldn't really know how all the balls in the air would fall until

Comments

[hsapiens]

I would happily agree if it weren't for the fact that I thought Season 5 had similar pacing problems ("You need to defeat 4 Horsemen but oops! we've left the last two until almost too late so we're going to shove 2 into 1 episode!" "Both brothers have to continue saying no to keep the Apocalypse from happening" morphs into "Sam saying yes to the devil is the only option.")

But I'm hopeful that they've realized that they really do need to plan out a season before they're half way through it. I'd love to see a well-plotted season.

I was okay with a soft reboot because otherwise it was the most meaningless almost-Apocalypse ever. I thought the monster switch up was fascinating and a good way to mark it as a "new era."

Hopefully this next season will be more coherent. When there's a gun on the table in Act 1, it will be important in Act 3.

[goldenusagi]

Word to your thoughts on Lisa and Ben. This, particularly:

the problem was that Dean cared about them. He still does. They're still targets but now they don't know why or whom to call for help. I'm assuming Dean's directive to "never again mention them" means the show is done with Lisa & Ben and will conveniently ignore this obvious loophole.

I don't see how them forgetting him helps them not be in danger. But this is clearly the way the show has chosen to close the door on this chapter. It just makes no sense.

Also word to the Sam wall thing. Unless we see huge fallout in S7 (and we might), Sam getting his memories doesn't seem to be the doom and gloom that DEATH made it out to be.

Crowley is full of win, as always.

Rumors are flying fast and furious, however, that the show plans to kill Castiel in the season 7 opener. If true, then I HATE this twist.

Yeah. I'm not a fan of the God Cas storyline, really, but if they did it, and then don't DO anything with it besides kill him one ep into S7, DNW.

When did it become a

[hsapiens]

Yeah. I'm not a fan of the God Cas storyline, really, but if they did it, and then don't DO anything with it besides kill him one ep into S7, DNW.

I was hoping that Castiel was going to fall and become human. New wardrobe! No more "too powerful" issues! Exploration of what it means to be human! A new challenge for Misha to play. Becoming God was not my first choice but now that they've gone there, killing him off would make me cranky.

But I feel like it was kept so that it could be 'revealed' as a betrayal.THIS. So much of what got shoehorned in needed to be set up earlier. When we saw Sam under the streetlight? I want to have seen him start to walk off, pause to look through a translucent Castiel, and then continue on. Since we had so much Domestic!Dean in the beginning, seeing those scenes, where Castiel & Crowley are invisibly watching Dean needed to be there. Not that we would hear what was said but even a soft-focus of something happening in the background while we listened to some music that Dean was listening to on his MP3

[zanyrainey]

May I hold you

[hsapiens]

Seriously? Everybody was okay with that?!? This echoes my complaints from the start of the season when Bobby & Sam claimed they'd left Dean in the dark about Sam's return because he'd "found happiness." This is the guy who goes out for beers with his neighbor/coworker after work, drinks hard liquor with dinner, drinks liquor while at the computer, drinks liquor while locking up the house to head to bed...yeah, that's happiness.

Anyhow, Sam is excused as he had no soul but BOBBY went along with this plan. Castiel didn't talk to Dean so as to preserve this "happiness" and that's presented as a problem. How is it okay to mess with this woman's memories? I HATE this. How is this love?

(Also, if you're Dean and you've just thrown in with civilians, wouldn't you recommend getting an anti-possession tattoo? If you were a civilian who'd just thrown in with a demon-magnet, wouldn't you WANT an anti-possession tattoo?)

I've taken the "wall coma" as Cas put Sam in that state to handle his memories in a safe way. I don't know.Huh. That hadn't

[zanyrainey]

Sure hope they prove me unnecessarily pessimistic about their plans.

DITTO! *chews nails until September*

[hsapiens]

You'll have short nails and I'll have an ulcer. We're a pair!

[cassiopeia7]

I LOVE THIS POST! &hearts

S6 had so many balls in the air, so many intriguing balls -- and then proceeded to fumble them all. The Alphas, the heavenly weapons, the "profound bond," the Campbells . . . it's like the writers shot a bunch of story ideas into the air, then just let them fall I know not where.

And I so totally agree with what you said about erasing Lisa and Ben's memories. Did any of the writers think this brilliant idea through past the point where Dean walked away? If anything, they're in even MORE danger now. Stupid writers are stupid.

Crowley: I'm a fan of clever, hard to defeat villains. I thought the YED was an excellent adversary. Ruby was brilliant. Gordon and Henricksen were brilliant (usually) human adversaries. I rank Crowley with them and so I'm thrilled at his survival to menace another day. Yay! I see no downside to this development. Long live Mark Sheppard!So much this. I was chewing my nails until the moment Crowley got the hell outta Dodge. I'm SO glad he survived 6.22 -- this dude is so bad he's

[hsapiens]

it's like the writers shot a bunch of story ideas into the air, then just let them fall I know not where

I'm truly confused by this approach to storytelling. Did they not know where the season was was going? Did they decide some time around writing 5x17 where it was going to end? I don't think that's possible but that's how it feels as a viewer.

Sera was new to showrunning but she's been in the writer's room all along. While I had some similar issues with Season 5's pacing, this had pacing AND story element issues. I seriously hope that they've worked out the kinks for next season.

*misses Henriksen like whoa*

YES! I loved him. He was an excellent character and he was well acted. I adore Jus in Bello and it was an awesome send off for a great character but I still miss him something fierce.

I'm trying to be positive about Season 7 even as I brace myself for what I suspect is coming for Castiel.

[janie_tangerine]

Oh you're SO right about the heavenly weapons. I mean, you spend two episodes on them and then you don't mention them? Wtf? That was the worst thing-that-they-let-drop if you ask me

[hsapiens]

I'm lost as to why we had the whole weapons storyline since they played no role in the final Heavenly standoff.

I'm nowhere near hating on it

It sounds like I am but the truth is that I agree with you. This season had some great elements and I loved them. It's the season as a whole that doesn't hang together.

dealing with the Campbells but I'll just be not exactly coherent and say that since I hated pretty much all of them except the girl

I think this was the goal? They were never treated sympathetically and spent their brief onscreen time sneering at Dean. I'm fine with having unsympathetic, red shirt characters but why name them Campbell? They rewrote Season 3 canon where Sam discovered that Mary's family and friends had been killed off but ultimately it was for no reason? I don't get it.

at least they aren't dead and Dean doesn't spend S7 feeling guilty about it

Agreed, I didn't want that. OTOH, the ending they already had provided that, too, without proving yet again that this show has woman issues.

it still doesn't make