Hibbing 911, a cop show title, in which the ball is passed to Sheriff Jody Mills in the long line of characters exhibiting their own stories in the anthology style tenth season of Supernatural.
Welcome to another gripe review, in which I had to look up character names on the show's IMDB page to know who I was supposed to write about. I wished I could write about Sam, Dean, Castiel, or even Crowley. Maybe Supernatural got cancelled when I wasn’t looking and Jensen and Jared got guest roles on a different show.
The blessing this week was that the spotlight was on Sheriff Mills, a character I've liked since she came on the show. At times I wished she had more of a presence in the series as opposed to characters like Metatron or Garth.
So what do you, as a showrunner, when your gripe reviewer doesn't dislike the character you're supposedly centering your episode on?
You saddle her with this ray of sunshine:
Gripe #1 - Sam and Dean having cameo roles in Sheriff Jody Mills' guest staring hour within Sheriff Donna Hanscum's story
Pretty much what it says. A lot of folks might be fooled into thinking this is Sheriff Mill's story and therefore not be so hard on it. A keener eye would however see how it is in fact someone else’s story. Sheriff Mills - like Sam, Dean and Castiel in most S10 episodes so far - is an observer. The real emotional journey belongs to the annoying giggle-bot Donna Hanscum, whom I couldn't stand for the few seconds she had in episode 9.13, let alone an entire hour.
For those who disagree, here is an overview of how the episode went down: Sheriff Mills (our eye in the story) arrives at the site and is judgmental of what she signed on to. She reluctantly steps in and the first thing she sees is Donna (the emotional center and main character of the story,) who all but reaffirms her abhorrence. Throughout the episode however Jody gets to know Donna and slowly draws parallels between her struggles and her own. In the end they come to an understanding of each other's differences and a bond if forged between them.
I want to remind you that this is still Supernatural, yet I made it through that description without mentioning its main characters even once. Sure I could have said, "and Sam and Dean are along for the ride," but that doesn’t mean they have anything more than cameo roles. The internal journey belongs to Donna, and the one who observes and learns from it is Jody. Sam and Dean are only there to remind us we’re still watching Supernatural and haven't accidentally changed the channel.
Gripe #2 - The insufferable Donna Hanscum
You may ask why it is such a big deal for me if a long running show dedicates a standalone episode to a bit character. Isn't that what standalone episodes are typically about? Yes, but in the earlier seasons, even if the standalone episode was about an unknown shmoe whom I was supposed to care about (and usually didn't,) Sam and Dean still played observers whose story paralleled the mini-arc. They didn't relinquish that role to a secondary character too. This is the first time I'm seeing it happen on Supernatural.
That being said, there have been TV shows who dedicate entire episodes to an unknown who would take the reins and pull us through the entire hour with minimal involvement of the main cast. It's rare but it has been done, primarily on long running shows when the steam cools off in the lead character department and writers have to take a break before they start them off on a new journey.
The key difference however is that those single-ep characters are usually highly unique and very entertaining. The reason the writers/creators trust them to shoulder the task is because they know they can hold an audience's attention for that amount of time without the viewers wanting to gouge their eyes out. Donna sadly, isn't that type of character. She's the exact opposite.
I can't talk enough about how much I couldn't stand her (it feels like I say this a lot about side characters this season.) Her dialogue is forced and looney toony, and her acting is one note. The actress' answer to every situation is a nervous grin and a rush of words that, in real life, won't come out of a normal person’s mouth. I guess she's supposed to be funny even though I didn't laugh once. To me, everything she said was to convince me what a lovable goof she is and how much I should care about her, or feel sorry for her. Or perhaps it was the opposite. Perhaps I was supposed to dislike her before I got to know her better at the end, and cheer for her inevitable, inexplicable, saving of the day.
But that didn't happen, because on top of the bad writing and acting, Donna herself is insufferable as a character. Unlike Jody who is wise and confident, Donna acts like an idiot who is stuck on a guy without a single redeeming quality. He isn’t funny, charming, or even sexually appealing for us to understand why she's so infatuated with him. The lack of any attribute other than utter meanness in Doug damages Donna as a character. She comes off as an ignorant woman who dismisses domestic abuse in favor of pleasing a man who seemingly only gives her more of the same. Those kinds of characters, while present and practical in some stories, aren't usually sympathetic leads, unless the story is willing to spend the necessary time and attention to show us their inner growth and transformation. For all we know, after this episode, Donna might run back to Doug again. I recall no psychology books saying that chopping the head off a vampire would cause you to get over your jerk-faced ex.
Gripe #3 - A whole lot of insufferable characters
Donna's ex is only one example of how shallow and intolerable the supporting cast of this episode is. From Doug, who's only angle is to be obnoxious, to Deputy Brice who plays the know-it-all, to Len who gets a full blown side story after showing up on screen for T-5 nervous minutes, everyone has their over-the-top, one-dimensional acting switch on. Like Jody, we are stuck in the company of a group of people we wouldn't want to spend more than thirty seconds with, yet have to tolerate for an entire hour.
It's not that rude characters like Doug or Brice are bad. I'm not saying the show should fill its secondary cast with saints. But even bad guys and throwaway characters should be believable, have some shades, and show a bit of personality. Alistair (both actors,) from season 4 is a nice example to look at. In his first appearance he was there only for a few minutes, yet I still remember his dialogue and facial expressions and the chill he gave me with his lisp. With these guys, the only thing I remember is their one personality trait hammered into my head.
Gripe #4 - Let's tack on another directionless surprise plot to the end of the episode
Of course no season 10 episode would be complete without a full out exposition extravaganza. After we're put through 35 minutes of Donna's story she too takes the back seat and we find ourselves in a read-through performance of Len's story. Len, who? That's right, the guy who... really didn't do much other than give a speech and vamp out over a corpse. Now we have to hear his sad story in reminiscence.
What's more eye-roll worthy about this part is that apparently, we're supposed to care about Len. He and everyone else drones on about the sorry things that happened to him while Sam and Dean saw through their bonds. The tale finishes exactly when the boys are done cutting themselves free. Len dies in faux angst; Donna saves Jody, and I applaud everyone whose names I still can’t remember.
Kudos - This Sam and Dean scene
Dean: Maybe I'll go crack the deputy.
Sam: Right, but this time try to be a little less defensive of your "pretend job."
Dean: This badge means something.
Sam: I made it at Kinko's.
Dean: Yes, you did. Be proud of that.
This dialogue was the only part of the episode I enjoyed, a moment of pure SPN in something that looked like a mediocre, headed-for-cancellation network show. Throughout the hour, Sam and Dean's function was either to plant reminders for us about the Mark of Cain, so at least a semi-decent stage was set for next week, or to facilitate the Donna/Jody story. This scene alone was a throwback to classic Supernatural, when the show took time to highlight its heroes as characters by showing us moments of lightness and fun. This was Sam and Dean as I knew and loved, before they became plot vehicles, story observers, and cameos on their own show.
Please make good use of the comment section. It’s only one more episode before we all go into our winter hibernation.
PS. I watched next week's promo and I am in pleasant shock. Are they really going to give us a Dean-centric story with Castiel as the one whom he confides in, and Sam as the one who cares so much Dean has to warn Castiel not to let him interfere? Are we really going to see Team Free Will emotional interaction? Of course I shouldn't keep my hopes up based on just one clip, but if they really mean it with the images of bloody Dean surrounded by corpses and Cas finally back with the brothers maybe next week is an unexpected Christmas gift just in time.
PS2. Congratulation on Destiel winning the top spot as 2014's most shipped couple.
Tessa
tessa-marlene.tumblr.com/
twitter.com/tessa_marlene
(This was Sam and Dean as I knew and loved, before they became plot vehicles, story observers, and cameos on their own show.) I been seeing more in more of that over the years. I don't know if it has to do with the Js limited time contract stuff or the TPTB is trying to make a ensemble cast here in there. Or it could be both. But I will say SPN problem now is they don't have connective stories for the main stars. I do see it as a problem when side characters just come in and pick up some decent plots. The show has had good idea post season 5, but their execution has been bad. I just don't think they have the creative team to really put a whole legit season together. In that's why we see maybe a half of season decent or a few episodes being ok. I still love the show been on this ride since 2005, but we're coming to the end eventually so they need to bring it home stronger then they are doing.
ReplyDeleteI understand that as part of signing new contracts J2 may have requested more time off, but if that's true I wish we just had shorter 12 episode seasons than have 22 episodes of them taking a back seat in every other episode. Im also worried that we are going into next weeks mid season finale with barely any build up whatsoever. I think that I can count on one hand the amount of times that the mark has been mentioned, and I think that we've had just one scene where we saw the mark have any effect. Also im tired of watching a bunch of mini shows each week, none of which have any kind of coherent storyline or connection to each other. (Sorry for the rant. I love the show I do, and I will watch it till the end but I just needed a little vent. I do love Jodu too! I just wish they had this episode earlier on, not the week before the mid season finale. There's just no build up or excitement for it at all).
ReplyDeleteThank you so much! I couldn't agree more w/you about there being absolutely NO buildup to next week's episode at all! Nothing! If Dean is going into a MOC rage next week, it will feel sudden . . . . at least to me it will. The few times the MOC has been mentioned hasn't been enough to explain the Mark causing Dean to go crazy next week.
ReplyDeleteOh well. So far, for me, this season has been pretty boring. I haven't loved any of the episodes yet. The DD arc was too short, and as you said, the mini, standalone episodes each week have been pretty "meh." I feel like nothing has really happened this season.
I have to run so I'll give a quick answer to this. I agree whole-heartedly with the no build up for next week gripe. However since I focus my reviews on the episode of the week I didn't mention it here except in short snippets here and there. Once next week's episode rolls out I'll definitely make note of the fact that the activation of the MOC literally came out of nowhere. I'm still holding out hope though that they manage to come up with a reasonable explanation so I'm holding off judgement.
ReplyDeleteI think SPN writers bow to fans too much. Endless whining about misogyny and not enough strong female characters resulted in Donna, who is female all right but far away from strong character. Her pathetic relationship with ex, her taking moral abuse as granted ruined her character for me. I actually like her in S9 episode, she could be nice comedy relieve character and good companion for Jody. Instead Jody was bitchy and playing hard-to-get, and Donna was just plain annoying. Plus - she is a sheriff for Gods sake! She had to take her duchy ex outside and punch him in a face.
ReplyDeleteOtherwise I didn't feel we had not enough Winchesters. May be it was slightly more Winchester-light episode as usual but nothing like Bloodlines or even Kate-werewolf based. At least in this one Jody was beloved character I didn't mind to see on my TV screen. Her story wasn't as boring to me as some latest angels-centric episodes. I am thankful Dean was the one who got away and made the first kill, not Donna-the-terminator.
My take on first half of season 10 (other then DD three eps) - we've been tried with 3 undercover spin-offs: Kate-the-werewolf (failed), Cole- newbie hunter who will go on journey of finding truth about his monster-father (may be) and comedy about 2 female sheriffs with special knowledge (Grimm in skirt). Another one with Charlie and the Oz is coming. CW desperately needs spin off because show is aging and spinoff has to run side-by-side with mothership for at least a year to have some support in possible cross-overs. SPN has 1, may be two years left in the tank at most. So this year is the last to figure out the story and make it go. Otherwise precious 2mil of SPN fans will be lost or diluted. That's a problem with this season, and that's why Winchesters were used as plot devices for random characters stories. IMHO.
I am pretty positive that Dean is not going into Moc rage, its his nightmare. He was shown sleeping less (usually Sam is the one who gets up early and go for a run or breakfast). But pretty much in every episode we see Dean is awake early working on Impala or sitting behind computer. So may be he has trouble sleeping because of nightmares, where he see himself becoming what was shown in that preview.
ReplyDeleteWell, Tessa, you summed it up well. I can’t even begin to go into everything I hated about this episode. The only point of yours that I can comment about is that since the writers have turned Jody
ReplyDeleteinto a mother wannabe to…well…everybody… and another insta-hunter, I would just as soon never see her again either. Let me add another gripe I have, though.
Insta-hunters: Under Carver, hunting has been neutered, along with the Winchesters. When this
series began, the hunting profession was presented as covert, dangerous, vicious, bloody, and life sucking. Not anymore.
Charlie didn’t find it “magical” enough. Jody cuts off one vampire head (quite easily, I might add) and now she is a hunter mentor to Donna. Donna, encountering monsters for the very first time, isn’t traumatized and disbelieving, she easily takes a vamp head off, and turned with her blood splattered face, smiling…actually smiling…and happily accepts Jody’s offer to be taught more.
It was just so much fun, I guess. (I think Dean might have even winked at her, but I can’t remember for sure.)
And Cole? He went to a local, very small town library and learned everything he ever needed to know about demons from LIBRARY BOOKS, mind you.
For the first time ever, while I was watching this episode, I thought several times about reaching for the remote and turning the show off. I did leave the room three or four times to do other things.
Carver has completely lost sight of the essence of the show (if he ever had it). When there is no
story written for the Winchesters to be involved in, nothing to add to their characterization, when support characters, one-offs, and motel clerks are being developed and turned into insta-hunters, and the J2s are nothing more than regulars (whether it is their choice or Carvers), it is time to think about wrapping the show up…and I never thought I would ever say that about SPN.
I don’t know if the J2s wanted more time off to spent time with their young families or not, but their cameo appearances in every damned episode is affecting my respect for the both of them. They ARE the show, and I have hung with it for nine plus years because of them. I think, as a long-term supporter of the show, that I deserve a little more respect than what I am getting this season. If they want to work part-time, then fine…rent a house and move their families to Vancouver (their kids aren't in school yet and neither wife is working), cut to 12 or 13 episodes, or hang it up, but please don’t string me along with promises of a story with them in it sometime before the season ends.
As far as the episode coming up, don’t get your hopes up. The absolute most you will see of
the Winchesters is 14 minutes, probably most of that time spent alongside one of the other leads. I don’t think the MoC will amount to much more than a nightmare or a flashback as a way to string
the viewers along until the last quarter of the season (Cain shows up in either 10.14 or 10.15). I suspect it's going to be all Cas/Claire, Crowley/Ramona, Baby.
I'm just a little afraid that for a second Donnasomething is going to be someone that we sholud care about and she will be back and then, she will be a guest at convention as "part of a family" (please no God, please no), which would really piss me off big time
ReplyDeleteSee, I don't care for really subtle signs like that. I recall in the 200th Sam mentioning Dean being up in that episode, but I didn't think much of it, and I certainly didn't connect it to the MOC. I'm not saying everything has to be super obvious, but if Dean being up early is supposed to mean something, they should have had Sam remark on it. (It's possible he did, and I just forgot but I don't recall him being concerned about Dean possibly not sleeping).
ReplyDeleteAnyway, if Dean has been having nightmares of the Mark or his time as a demon or whatever, can't we explicitly see that? They shouldn't save that for the mid-break! I felt the same way in S7 w/the poor way Sam's hallucinations were handled.
That said, I actually would prefer to see Dean go into a MOC rage than for him to be having a nightmare about. Going into a MOC rage should be entertaining since the DD arc didn't go anywhere. And Dean doing that might give this season some purpose. It all feels very aimless and pointless right now.
I agree with your post. But I would give Jody a past on the hunter thing cause she has been around since season 5 to develop.
ReplyDeleteI feel the writers most time be writing there looney toons episodes so much threw the season they forgot to write plot. Robbie with his charlie fanboy love, will throw anything out the way to make her look super cool cause he see himself in her.
Jody has been recurring since S5, but she wasn't shown as honing her hunter skills. Sam enlisted her to help to save townspeople and she shot some zombies with him. She extradited Rufus and lied for Bobby, she fell in love with Bobby, helped Sam carry some books in to try to find Dean, had a date with Crowley, made some phone calls here and there, then she cut off a vamp's head and became a foster mother. Now, she attempts to mother Dean, bonds with a silly cartoon character, whom she becomes a mentoring hunter to so that we can see them in another episode next season.
ReplyDeleteThis type of ensemble casting doesn't work. First, the overwhelming majority of characters are unlikable, so why should we care about them? Second, instead of spending time on guest stars, have the guest stars focus on one of the four core characters, depending on story. In addition, there should be about another four fully developed characters who rotate in as needed.
ReplyDeleteLook at the way the show Frasier was handled.
PRIMARY CAST
Frasier
Niles
Martin
Daphne
SECONDARY CAST
(Your opinion may differ so please don't nitpick the details.)
Roz
Bulldog
Lilith
Eddie the Dog
Gil
Kenny
Noel
TERTIARY CAST
Daphne's Horrible Family
Romantic Interests
Cheers' Guest Stars
Miscellaneous Characters
All the characters got the amount of background needed to make them work while keeping the show focused on Frasier. There were episodes dedicated to others without it being awkward and the number of personalities kept it fresh.
Supernatural could and *should* work as an ensemble show. The myopic focus on two brothers is what has condemned us to nine years of "What's Wrong With Sam?" and nine years of hand-wringing Dean. I had hoped that Demon Dean would break this dynamic, but my hopes for that arc were frustrated.
Even with that Jody is just more realistic then Donna that's why I just gave it a pass. In to me this is small potatoes compare to the show problem as a whole. I'm hoping the second half is better.
ReplyDeleteSurprise! I agree completely. With the whole review. No disagreements at all. In fact, if anything, I think you went a little easy on it.
ReplyDeleteHere are the few other gripes that I had:
Gripe #1 - Hunt? What hunt?
Did we really need to see so much of the Sheriff's convention? I recall seeing 15 minutes left on the clock and the heroes being no closer to solving the case than "bodies eaten, items missing". The whole case came down to Donna accidentally spotting the vamped out sheriff. Without that, we'd have had another day of everybody running around doing nothing.
Gripe #2 - So much wasted time
Related to the gripe before, instead of any actual detective work on the case, we got scenes from the sheriff-con. Why would the writers think that anyone would want to watch that. Donna's first interaction with her ex was enough to establish her as a stepford-smiling doormat - did we really need two more of those? All that time would've been better spent on researching or even looking for clues.
Gripe #3 - Any new monsters
This is a big one - Supernatural writers used to have some imagination. This was one of the things that drew me to the show from season 1 - they took creatures and spirits from real world mythologies. After watching mutliple shows on made-up monsters or the standard vampire/werewolf fare, Supernatural was, for along time, quite refreshing in that department.
So, when I saw that the MotW was picking bodies clean and the first thing Dean said was "Its not vampires" - I actually got a little excited. Maybe they are introducing something new after all. Surprise, surprise! It was the vampires. The writers may want to go to MotW formula, but even by standalone standards, the quality is really bad.
Yes! I miss the monster variety! We've had far too many Vampires and Werewolves in the past few years.
ReplyDeleteI've just looked, in the first five seasons vampires appeared 3 times. In the last five seasons we have had 19 vampire episodes!
ReplyDeleteI just don't think they have the creative team to really put a whole legit season together.I see this as the main problem too. There have been interesting ideas here and there (Purgatory, Benny, Naomi, Men of Letters, Marc of Cain) but after introducing them and getting the fandom excited, they don't seem to know what to do with them. Most of the time they put them on the back burner and churn out standalone after standalone until they reach the mid/end of the season when they do a quick hack job on them, or forget them altogether.
ReplyDeleteI think SPN writers bow to fans too much.If they do, they have a funny way of doing it. So fans complained about lack of females and they bring back half baked characters like Kate and Donna, or Mary Sue's like Charlie. Meanwhile we had interesting women like Tessa, Sarah Blake, Ellen, Pamela, Casey, and Bella who are either killed off or never heard of. The only woman who had a notable presence on the show that would justify her having multiple appearances is Jody and in the one episode she got this round they made her ride shotgun to Mrs. What'sherface.
ReplyDeleteDonna, who is female all right but far away from strong character.Donna is the opposite of a strong female character if I've ever seen one. Not only does she not stand up to the jerk in her life that fat-shames and verbally abuses her, she gives Jody a hard time for doing it for her, and her excuse is "He's my asshole!" Good grief, woman. Get a hold of yourself. That is embarrassing even for those of us who are watching and ever in our lives loved a man.
Plus - she is a sheriff for Gods sake! She had to take her duchy ex outside and punch him in a face.That's what I thought would happen at the end, for her moral story to have any purpose or flavor. Instead she chops the head off a vampire and we're supposed to assume she's a tough gal now.
we've been tried with 3 undercover spin-offsI keep hearing this and if it's true, it pisses me off. Just give me my show and stop treating me like a consumer guinea pig. If you're desperate to launch another successful show on your network why don't you study Sam and Dean and Castiel and find out what people liked so much about them. Then make a show similar to Supernatural outside of it and promote it on its own, instead of force feeding us all your failed experiments and making us puke?
I see this as the main problem too. There have been interesting ideas here and there (Purgatory, Benny, Naomi, Men of Letters, Marc of Cain) but after introducing them and getting the fandom excited, they don't seem to know what to do with them. Most of the time they put them on the back burner and churn out standalone after standalone until they reach the mid/end of the season when they do a quick hack job on them, or forget them altogether.
ReplyDeleteTessa tell me about it. The times that they write such a superb story that could really run, then either ditch it or cut it short screams at me. I get SO frustrated when I think about how Purgatory was seen in Flashbacks which I hate, for just what maybe a month of Dean's existence when he spent a whole year down there felt lame, and a real let down. Demon Dean could have been amazing, but already they appear to have run out of steam. Then is a race to the finish line trying to tie up loose ends. The MOTW's lately aren't as strong as they used to be.
As for this weeks episode don't get me started on Donna. I don't get the vibe, and have found her annoying. I don't care much for the character and didn't the first moment we meet her eating doughnuts. The ex-husband scene irritated me, and found him utterly boring and nearly feel asleep, it was all rather pointless and silly. The Sheriffs retreat was so dull I wanted to move past it quick!! Then came the kidnap moment yet again that the boys get knocked out by the Vamps and tied up. How many times now has this happened. Quick thinking though Dean to use your glass lens to un-tie the rope with. How many times are the writers going to have these boys knocked about, and beaten. They are heroes and hunters, strong butch men, who should see these guys out no problem at all. What is Carver doing to our boys!!
The only point of yours that I can comment about is that since the writers have turned Jody into a mother wannabe to…well…everybody… and another insta-hunter, I would just as soon never see her again either.I wanted to write about another annoying what'sherface character who had an invisible presence in this episode but whose name I couldn't even remember, and that's Jody's adoptive vampire daughter. Is she now part of the SPN mythos too? Please shoot me if that's true because I can't stand the implication that now we are guaranteed at least one episode each season about how she and Jody are getting over their domestic problems. Who's next, the cat slave from Dog Dean Afternoon?
ReplyDeleteAnd Cole? He went to a local, very small town library and learned everything he ever needed to know about demons from LIBRARY BOOKS, mind you.Which makes me wonder, if it was THAT easy, why make such a fuss about Men of Letters keeping the hunters' secret records.
Yeah, hunting is pretty much an easy hobby now. Sam and Dean seem to benefit and learn more from random people who take up the job than teaching them anything.
For the first time ever, while I was watching this episode, I thought several times about reaching for the remote and turning the show off. I did leave the room three or four times to do other things.I usually fast forward through parts that irritate me. Unfortunately with Supernatural I can't due to these reviews. But I end up yelling at my screen a lot (at Donna and her ex particularly this episode.)
it is time to think about wrapping the show upI just don't know if I want that or not. I always imagined the show going off with a bang. With a final season as dazzling as season 5 and a finale as memorable as Swan Song. Now that dream seems very far away.
I don’t know if the J2s wanted more time off to spend time with their young families or not, but their cameo appearances in every damned episode is affecting my respect for the both of them. I don't even know how that works. It's like if I walked into my boss' office one day and said, "Hey, you know what? I'm tired of doing this job everyday. Why not let intern Billy do it half the time while I take a break to spend time with my family, but still get paid in full." I don't even want to picture the look she would give me if I ever said that. The Js must have a lot of clout with TPTB.
Someone on another forum had an interesting idea. Now that they made Misha and Mark regulars, and gave them their own completely separate stories, why not use them as decoy's for J's free time skips. Why not do more with Cas and Crowley instead of bringing in random characters and focus episodes on them. The benefit of that would be that the three stories (Winchesters, Cas, and Crowley's) could eventually converge and become one myth. That way the show could resemble Game of Thrones or The Walking Dead, which start their seasons with apparently disjointed stories and in the end pull most of them together with one or two dangling threads.
she will be a guest at convention That's likelier than you may think considering I saw tweets of people asking the Fanfiction girls to appear in conventions and them saying they'd love to.
ReplyDeleteYour list of Fraser characters is particularly interesting because it primarily speaks of my #3 gripe. Look at the secondary and tertiary casts of that show. Daphe's family was a hoot. Even though I didn't understand half their language I had never laughed so hard in an episode, or been interested to see more of a cracked out group. Heck, even Eddie the Dog had more personality than any of the characters appearing in this episode. That's why Fraser was suck a great show.Supernatural could and *should* work as an ensemble show. The myopic focus on two brothers is what has condemned us to nine years of "What's Wrong With Sam?" and nine years of hand-wringing Dean. I had hoped that Demon Dean would break this dynamic, but my hopes for that arc have been frustrated.I talked about this problem at length in some of my earlier reviews, particularly in my mid-season "So Far" review last year. It's the problem with the formula Kripke did well and left behind. The new show runners don't seem able to add to it anything new, so they either tell the same story over and over or resort to irrelevant tales of random characters.
ReplyDeleteI recall seeing 15 minutes left on the clock and the heroes being no closer to solving the case than "bodies eaten, items missing". The only thing about this case that caught my interest was the way the bodies were eaten to the bone. I wondered if they were introducing a new monster. Then it turned out being good old vampires. Did they ever explain why blood sucking vamps turned into flesh eaters? Or was that lost in the exposition fanfare of the last encounter?
ReplyDeleteinstead of any actual detective work on the case, we got scenes from the sheriff-con. Why would the writers think that anyone would want to watch that.I'm going to venture a guess and say because they think it is comedy gold? I'm exceedingly reaching the conclusion that these writers don't know what funny truly looks like. For them is a bunch of characters acting like Looney Toons.
Often, I feel like I want to be in the writers room - just to know what the hell are they thinking that makes their episodes feel like bad fanfiction.I'm suspicious there might be a lot of booze involved... and twitter chatter.
Then came the kidnap moment yet again that the boys get knocked out by the Vamps and tied up. How many times now has this happened.Enough that I didn't even bother to gripe about it. How many times am I supposed to write, "and then the boys get knocked to the ground like a couple of amateurs so the small fry could serve them a big heaping of exposition and explain the plot and its resolution, before they eventually summon their real selves and get out of their bonds,"?
ReplyDeleteThis was /such/ a bad, horrible, no good episode, that I was really looking forward to this week's gripe review. And you didn't diappoint! I agree with every point made here and then some.
ReplyDeleteSomeone mentioned the Js asking for more time off this season, and that's fine. No problem. It's not their lack of presence that bothers me so much as the UTTERLY TERRIBLE and OVER THE TOP acting that we've been submitted to lately. Evern Sam's lines have sucked more often then not lately and I by no means mean Jared's acting. I mean what he's had to say has just been terrible. Ugh. When he's got good dialog and seems like himself, it's fantastic and interesting, but when it's overly melodramatic and sappy, that's not Sam! The guy is a hell of a lot stronger then that.
But the really bad acting I'm talking about is just about every secondary or guest character on the show lately. Loud and obnoxious should NOT be this season's 'style'. Stupid, blind, laughably bad characters that take you out of the story and throw you into something not even SyFy would touch with a 10 foot pole.
Remember when Spn had well fleshed out, interesting secondary characters in just about every episode? Those that you could sympathize with, and that made you understand why the boys sacrifice everything to make the would a better place for them.
I'm begging you.. Either give us back the real Spn we love, or put it out to pasture as fast as possible. It kills me to say that, cause I love our boys, but dang this has gotten bad.
Remember Bugs and Route 666? Those were so much better then most of this season....
you know the writers do not write for Sam anymore so how can Jared act good anymore if the writers can not write anything good for him too do anymore. I did wish he leave the show try something better but you know him he stays with it for the fans but I wish he could too something else he is better then this.
ReplyDeletewe are guaranteed at least one episode each season about how she and Jody are getting over their domestic problems.
ReplyDeleteI would venture to say, count on it and that Jody has become part of a hunting duo with Donna.
why make such a fuss about Men of Letters
With all the potential the MoL and legacy offered for storytellling, I could envision the show going on for years with intriguing stories and lots of action, especially if things like Edlund’s secret Thule Society played a role for a while. Instead, we got a stationary set to cut down on production costs.
Oh, and did you notice that we were told the MoL catalogued everything, so why was Dean reading a 600-page document about transgendered werewolves?
I just don't know if I want that or not.
I never thought I would, but at this point, I am thinking it would be merciful. I don’t know if the J2s have lost faith in the show or not, but I am getting a real “off” feel from JA performance these last couple of episodes. He is much too talented to leave that impression, so I am confused if my “off” feeling is him being disheartened now
that DDean is over or if it is his attempt to show that the MoC is having some effect on Dean when the writing is not supporting that theory at all.
The only thing I can say about rotating episodes is that I have to assume the other two leads have the same sweet deal as the J2s; they want part-time work for full-time pay and pick up extra pay going to cons. I think the show would crash and burn rather quickly, though, because the J2s are the show and always have been. If it weren’t for the two actors, the show would not be the success for the network that it has been, and I think TPTB know that and that's why we are getting cameos every episode.
I feel like I'm a bit of an impasse here. On one hand I've been mostly enjoying the individual filler episodes that we continue to mostly get. I actually liked the chemistry between Jodie and Donna and felt like the episode was at least solid and enjoyable enough.
ReplyDeleteOn the other hand, I absolutely miss the huge dark twisty Kripke quality story arcs we use to get. Like that was the show for me. The earlier seasons had a nice blend between story arcs and filler and none of it was low quality in my opinion.
I just feel like what we are seeing now is about all we can expect from this show moving forward. It doesn't look like Jeremy Carver even wants to bother trying to create an actual season long plot. Maybe because he's busy working on Frequency for NBC now or maybe he just has no ideas at all which I find strange since I can easily create 100 awesome season-long ideas for the show myself.
That being said, the main mythology and story arcs have NOT been good in the last few seasons either. Seasons 6-9 were all pretty terrible when it came to story arcs though I actually did like the Sara Gamble years much more then the Carver years at least.
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The one thing I am super confused by is why they can not create characters that I care about anymore. Earlier seasons had dozens of fantastic characters that all meant something to the story and the fans watching. Now I barely care about the main cast let alone the side characters. What happened? All of the recent characters they have brought in have been, quite frankly, boring. Sure I can laugh at Donna or whatever from this previous episode but I mean do I really care about her? Probably not!
Anyways the show is likely not going to improve or make you start caring about the characters anymore. It will also likely never go back to well written story arcs. I do hope we get something worthwhile this season or at least next season but I won't hold my breathe. I'll keep watching the show for what we do get which is brainless tv with a few laughs.
Yep, in that annoys me with these stand alones. Get your story together before you drown me in useless episodes. Or atleast sprinkle some plot in them to move the story.
ReplyDeleteYeah, compare Luther or Dixon (Fresh Blood and who was a sympathetic vampire) to Len (was that his name?) or Lenore to...well...any of the ones we have seen lately. I like vampires as a rule, but I want decently written vampires if they are going to be used.
ReplyDeleteHow about a good ghost story at the Winchester mansion? That would be a fun one-off, but it would require the J2s working a full week.
ReplyDeleteEh, so what. They've had ghosts over 40 times. There really wasn't that much variety, it was either ghosts or demons, and then there would be the odd shapshifter/vampire/werewolf/god/witch episode then sometimes there would something done like a djinn/dragons/crocotta/etc.... But the majority of episodes were all pretty much demons/ghosts.
ReplyDeleteWell, I guess that is out of the question then!
ReplyDeleteThe only thing about this case that caught my interest was the way
ReplyDeletethe bodies were eaten to the bone. I wondered if they were introducing a
new monster. Then it turned out being good old vampires. Did they ever
explain why blood sucking vamps turned into flesh eaters? Or was that
lost in the exposition fanfare of the last encounter?
There was some half-assed explanation about how those vampires were taught to "honor" their kill by using every part. Like the Hobbs killer from Hannibal, they said they practiced a "waste not" policy. Which is utterly ridiculous, in my opinion - they did leave atleast a fourth of the guy uneaten and took just the accessories like wallets and belts.
I'm going to venture a guess and say because they think it is comedy
gold? I'm exceedingly reaching the conclusion that these writers don't
know what funny truly looks like. For them it's a bunch of characters
acting like Looney Toons and pissing the main cast off.
Nonsense. I've seen Looney Toons. That is actually funny.
I'm suspicious there might be a lot of booze involved... and twitter chatter.
See, this is what I don't get. Fanfiction writers aren't master novelists - most of the fanfics I come across have bad grammar, stilted dialogue and characters being OOC. But even they can come up with a decent MotW story. Even if the writers are getting drunk and taking cues from twitter, they should still be doing better than this because I've seen better ideas there. I honestly think that if the writers start going to fanfic sites and taking ideas from there, we'd still get a better episode than this one.
Except, ghosts being recurring makes sense. A lot of people die violently and a lot of them would choose to stay behind. The same goes for demons - hell has an endless supply of them and until recently, they didn't have a way to kill them.
ReplyDeleteVampires, on the other hand, were presumed to be extinct. So much so that in the 22 years of being involved with Supernatural, Dean never crossed path with them. And now, all of a sudden, they are everywhere.
But even ignoring that deviation from canon, using vampires is just tacky. They've become the go-to monster for practically every fantasy show we have - Buffy, Angel, Vampire Diaries, Originals, Moonlight, Being Human, True Blood and so on and on and on. SPN writers doing the same thing shows how little they've come to care and how little effort they're willing to put into it.
Tee hee :)
ReplyDeleteI see this as the main problem too. There have been interesting ideas
ReplyDeletehere and there (Purgatory, Benny, Naomi, Men of Letters, Marc of Cain)
but after introducing them and getting the fandom excited, they don't
seem to know what to do with them. Most of the time they put them on the
back burner and churn out standalone after standalone until they reach
the mid/end of the season when they do a quick hack job on them, or
forget them altogether.
The times that they write such a superb story that could really run,
then either ditch it or cut it short screams at me. I get SO frustrated
when I think about how Purgatory was seen in Flashbacks which I hate,
for just what maybe a month of Dean's existence when he spent a whole
year down there felt lame, and a real let down. Demon Dean could have
been amazing, but already they appear to have run out of steam. Then is a
race to the finish line trying to tie up loose ends. The MOTW's lately
aren't as strong as they used to be.
The reason for this is as simple as it is stupid. The writers think they already have a winning formula - something they know that fans like - so they are reluctant to change it. The meat of the show, according to the writers, is about two brothers, going around the country, fighting monsters. And the brothers are normal humans with plenty of angst between them. Any other changes taking place *have* to be temporary and things have to return to this status quo.
Cas has been around for 6 seasons now, they had plenty of chances to make him a permanent 3rd member of the team. But every time the opportunity comes up, they have some excuse to make him go away.
Men of Letters could be a very interesting idea - not only does the place have a ton of research material, it is big and spacious with lots of facilities and could easily serve as a "hostel for hunters". Logically, it should be a place where they invite their friends (the hunters' network we hear so much about), where new hunters could learn and be trained and a place that could serve as nexus - something Bobby used to do. But since that would go against the "brothers against the world" premise, Sam and Dean treat it as their private pad.
Angels falling en masse and an angel war brewing on earth had a lot of potential. Not the least of which was people learning the truth about the supernatural. But since that would mess with their MotW formula, the whole thing simply fizzled out.
Closing the gates of hell would've been another way to shake up the premise - with demons, who've been the primary antagonists, finally out of the way. But once again that was too ballsy for the writers.
And now we have demon Dean - they could've kept him a demon with Sam using some sort of demon-binding spell to keep him in check - but that would've meant changing their dynamic and giving up the angsty, tormented Dean Winchester - so, ofcourse, we can't have that.
" Endless whining about misogyny and not enough strong female characters resulted in Donna....." -
ReplyDeleteYou know, I've been thinking the same thing. In less than 1/2 the season, we've gotten Hannah & Adina as the 2 major angel guest stars; an episode set in an all female high school; an episode about Kate and Tasha; that shapeshifter Olivia (actually all the baddies in the standalones have been female), Rowena introduced as a major character; Elle and Catlin; an episode about Jody and Donna; Claire in a recurring role. In comparison, Cole's been the only significant male guest star so far.
Not that having more women on the show is a bad thing by any means. But I do wonder about the timing of this sudden inundation, given the really harsh misogyny accusations last season. And I do think that, whether deliberately or not, the writers are kind of missing the point. It's not about the sheer quantity. I'd happily take a few well written, impactful female characters over making every episode revolve around light weights that just happen to be women.
Since Charlie is my gold standard for annoying characters I never want to see again, I didn't mind Donna that much. But even so, I agree it was ridiculous to waste an entire episode on her (or any other guest star) at this point in the season when there's been so little movement on the main characters' arcs. Shoving all 3 major storylines into just the mytharc episodes seems like really awful planning.
It's not a deviation because season 6, Eve was ordering the Alphas to make more monsters, thus there was an explosion in the vampire population.
ReplyDeleteBesides that 19 episode thing is not exactly accurate. they've only been featured monsters 8 times from season 6 to now. Then again I'm not counting scenes where they popped up Crowley's monster prison or Purgatory or a single scene where they die.
I didn't watch this episode because I knew it wouldn't be mythology-heavy or even a proper MOTW. I wanted to wait and see what other people thought of it first, and I'm glad I did. I want to be excited about this season's story arc, but it keeps losing momentum. I'll skip this one (for now) because I want to watch the previous episode (Girls,Girls,Girls) and this week's cliffhanger back to back.
ReplyDeleteThere's a lot of way smaller guest who appeared at Cons, like the magician who died in the first 2 minutes of Chris Angel is a Douchebag did at least a Con,No need to panic about that. Especially since if she goes, its gonna be the actress who will, not weak/annoying Donna
ReplyDeleteThat binding spell idea would have been great, we could have had Sam as the main POV and the character who had the majoity of the screen time and emotional arc with Dean as the one with something wrong with him. Sam could have controlled Dean for the season untill they found a way to get rid of the MOC. I still dont know how they would have worked in the rest of the storylines any different to how they are mind you. Unless you have Sam used DD as a snarling attack dog to go after Crowley and Rowena (basically Sam the Brains and Dean the brawn). They could have also spent more time on Sam and Cas disagreeing on keeping Dean alive as a demon which was never really shown.
ReplyDeleteThanks. I can just bah-leet this one offa my DVR.
ReplyDeleteFor once people bitching about Donna has NOTHING to do with me! Whoo hoo! *victory arms*
ReplyDelete