Comments | sargraf: 6x01, now with thinky thoughts

sargraf

6x01, now with thinky thoughts

Sep 27, 2010 06:19

It feels so odd and so wonderful to be watching this show live again with my flist. *tearful hugs*

( But enough with the emo. On with the thinky. )

spn, i ♥ these boys, i am an atheist i don't believe in chuck, thinky thoughts

Comments 15

dotfic September 27 2010, 22:51:39 UTC

This is an amazing meta and there are so many passages where I was thinking YES THIS THIS, I can't quote it all back at you.

But especially your paragraph on Sam and Dean and where they are now with each other and your comparison of changed Sam to 2014 Dean.

sargraf September 30 2010, 08:55:27 UTC

Thank you, honey! ♥

p.s. We mostly agree on S6 so far! \o/

ash48 September 27 2010, 23:40:48 UTC

Wonderful!! (and yay! welcome back... I just mentioned to dotfic how I used to devour your meta a couple of years ago (I think it must have been 2 years..). And after reading this I know why.

So much here. I particularly like "let Sam be Sam". I was totally not wanting that to be Sam immediately after watching because that was not a Sam I was familiar with. It hurt to see him so closed down. But I have pretty much come full circle in wanting that to actually really be Sam - for all the reasons you state. I think now that it would be a big cop out if it turns out not to be Sam. I am accepting that we have characters that have evolved. They are not the ones we are entirely used to... but I'm thinking that a good thing. Now. *g*

Because they choose to be each other's friend.

It was one of my big hopes for S6 and I'm seeing now that this could be the beginning of that journey. For them to look at each other as equals, partners, friends and brothers would be the payoff that would be great to see. I think be started to see evidence ( ... )

sargraf September 30 2010, 09:03:15 UTC

Thank you!! :) Man, it's been so long since I was writing meta regularly. Croatoan/Hunted is as far as I got before. I've really missed discussing the show with everyone.

I completely agree with your paragraph about Sam. It would be an awful cop out if he's evil!Sam or devil!Sam or some such plot device. They may be darker or more bleak in characterization, but I really want to feel invested in their relatinoship again and to feel like things build up naturally out of experiences and character traits.

For them to look at each other as equals, partners, friends and brothers would be the payoff that would be great to see.

Yes, exactly! *crosses fingers*

You're welcome! :) I wasn't very positive about S5, but 6x01 has really done a lot in restoring my faith. We'll see how it goes!

writingpathways September 28 2010, 00:50:11 UTC

ITA Sam should be Sam. I also would like them to show us Sam's POV, they really haven't since season 1 and bits of 2, which at times I agreed with and at times didn't. But yeah it's time to show us more of what is going on that head of his.

sargraf September 30 2010, 09:07:17 UTC

They really have been too shy about telling the show from Sam's POV for a long time now. :/ Whatever the reasons for it (perhaps mostly to do with some mistaken impression that the audience prefers Sam's story as a mystery plot rather than a character story, which: no, Kripke), it is time to get back inside his heart and head and walk a mile in his shoes.

tskterata September 28 2010, 03:38:27 UTC

This is a wonderful review, and I agree with much of it. I had come to the same conclusion as you about why Bobby allowed Sam to keep Dean in the dark, and JB's delivery of the line about Dean's chest torn open sold it for me.

For some reason, though, I don't accept this reasoning with Sam - I have such a hard time with Sam's character as written and acted. Apart from portions of Season 2 and 3, I just have not been able to connect with his character. We have followed Dean's journey, but have been denied access to most of Sam's. It happens off screen or all jammed into one episode. I really hope that changes with this season - I'd prefer to watch a show where I am invested in both main characters, not just one.

Anyway, I really enjoyed reading your take on this and have friended you in hopes of reading more.

sargraf September 30 2010, 09:26:21 UTC

JB delivered that line so well. He really brought it home for me.

I understand where you're coming from for Sam. I think part of the problem (for me, as well) is due to what you say: being kept out of his head for much of the major developments in his life. If we had been in Sam's head for all of S1 and S2, then Dean's deal might not have been that sympathetic, either. But the show built it up for Dean, so I had sympathy for him. They unfortunately failed to build up a similar feeling for Sam's big changes and choices. I just hope this time they let it be character development and not another supernatural mystery for Sam. I want to be invested in their character growth, not to see them going through the same plot over and over.

Thank you! I'm glad you enjoyed it. :) (Just to give you fair warning: my rambles can be a little bumpy at times, if I'm in a ranting mood. ;))

blackcat333_99 September 28 2010, 04:57:41 UTC

I just said YES to so much of your review -- don't worry, you are not alone with the positive love for the ep. (I went on at length about the WIAWSNB mirroring in my own LJ review, lol.)

As far as the Dean/Lisa thing goes:

That conversation between Lisa and Dean on the staircase really sold me on their relationship, and I mentioned this in an email, but for a moment there it struck me as something not out of suburbia but out of the kind of atmosphere they had in The End, the kind of atmosphere I'm guessing the show's budget didn't allow them to sustain through S5. It's very much like something out of a scifi film, or out of the films about Europe or Asia during WWII. The aftermath of cities not on the front lines but near enough to war zones that shell-shocked veterans show up in their towns, and the ones who fought try their hardest to keep the shit they went through shut up inside and the ones who were protected from the great evil try their hardest to understand and protect in smaller ways in return. It just felt real and ( ... )

sargraf September 30 2010, 09:31:51 UTC

I have noticed a handful of positive reviews out there, but they seem to be few and far between.

It's not a flash-N-burn romance, it's a *relationship*. ... They are a true, settled-feeling couple, regardless of the baggage that comes with the package.

YES. And yeah, I know that it won't be long before Dean and Sam are on the road together, given the show's format, but I just hope they do the parting well and not fridge her.

it plays to me that the mystery isn't about whether it's really Sam, but about that mysterious rescue.

I dearly hope so. If there are two things I'm worried about more than anything else this season, they are: Lisa being fridged and Sam being some secret!evil. I just hope that mystery plays out more like it did for Dean in S4, not all about something wrong with Sam but about things in play above and beyond his pay grade.

That's okay! I don't think you're stalkery. lol :)