(no subject)

[thatotherperv]

so many cool places that could've gone. and yet they managed to hit none of them. I don't even know wtf the point of that was. and what was with all the Ruby-should-have-told-us-this-earlier plot-holey shoulda-thought-of-that-earlier shit. that just seemed sloppy to me.

I'm not at all pissed that Dean died because...inevitable. and maybe the alternative of saving the day seemed too good to be true anyway, given how much they built it up as unbreakable. and even that could open cool doors except now Dean is stuck in weird electricity-staticky tied-down-like-Mulder Hell, and there's no mindfuck to that at all.

I want my mindfuck. my mind? it is not fucked. I want my money back, Kripke.

it's not that I thought the episode sucked. it was just. anticlimactic and lukewarm. I dunno, I was expecting. something more than what I got.

I'll be tuning in again but meh. they had a lot to live up to from other season finales, and they fumbled the ball, imo.

Comments

[laisserais]

the Ruby-should-have-told-us-this-earlier plot-holey shoulda-thought-of-that-earlier shit. that just seemed sloppy to me. dude, totally. that was annoying. ruby's character should have been more of a conflict for them from the start. the 'manipulative comes in the job description' didn't totally cut it.

the only thing about the end that makes me think it's more complicated is the fact that the camera zoomed in on his eye. like, maybe dean's in a hell inside his own head?

and they didn't come out and say it, but i'm assuming dean was worried that sam turning his power 'on' or whatever would change him permanently into something like a demon?

but the thing is, even if dean did just die, sam would still have been left to deal with lilith alone, so it seemed kind of like a bad plan. and where was bobby the whole time?

anyway, i think they left one interesting detail, insofar as what sam's powers are (i mean, we know dean won't stay in hell), and then there's the willow problem: if sam is powerful enough to kill demons in the blink of an eye and get his brother out of hell, then where will the tension be, you know?

if he's the ace in the hole, then no average demon or other nasty will pose much of a fight for season 4.

[darkershadeof.livejournal.com]

I know! If they had stopped when Sam was crying over Dean's body, even that would have been better than this. You don't always have to show everything, and all that.

[yourlibrarian]

Yes, it almost amazes me sometimes how many opportunities this show manages to miss. And then every once in a while they come up with a gem. Tis frustrating.

[thatotherperv.livejournal.com]

indeed.

I'm curious to find out where in the past you think they missed a window for something interesting. if there's anything specific you had in mind.

[yourlibrarian]

That could be a long essay question! I'll try to be more bite-sized about it.

I think the missed opportunities happen at both the larger plot level and the smaller scene levels and the easiest way to sum it up is that they go for the simple answer and story. For example I mention a few scenes in my review of the finale that I thought could have been better if done another way. But there are also larger plot issues. In general I find that the audience (at least the one I'm exposed to) is cleverer and more thoughtful about the characters and plot than the writers. More often than not explanations are simple and some plot details just get forgotten or waved away. For example I found Sin City a rare case of world exposition. Some people may have found it overdone, and I can see why too, because they don't tend to parcel out bits of discovery from episode to episode. Sam's doing research all through the season, why aren't we getting dribs and drabs of things he's finding out? Things like his phone call to Bobby in TKAA could have been done in various other episodes, sharing what he's found (and as we saw Bobby doesn't even have to appear). For one thing it makes Sam's search to save Dean more consistent and secondly it helps the audience build clues over time. They could also use the interwoven A and B plotlines more often. For example even when they do it is often repeating things we've already seen or been told before. So in Malleus the A plotline of the withes and how black magic is not something to be entered into lightly could have been contrasted with Sam trying to reactivate his powers with Ruby's help, or at least being tempted by her to do so. (In fact in this episode Ruby and Sam have very little interaction, it's primarily Dean and Ruby). Instead we have Sam trying to be more like Dean, and Dean is completely against the idea of Sam using his powers or getting involved with magic. It would have made more sense for Sam to be considering the idea, and not seeing any connection between himself and the witches because he's concerned about large, serious issues and their use of magic was trivial and in no way merited the price they paid for it (shades of Bela there). Everyone always thinks their case is going to be different and we can see this in Sam and Dean's final discussions "I can control it." It leads to more suspense about where Sam may be headed and what will happen.

I also saw a lot of people paralleling Bela and Dean in the last episode and I can see that. But it seems to me the show would have been better off paralleling Sam and Bela, because both of them have the same motivation this season (even if we didn't recognize Bela's until the end). On the other hand from what little we know of Ruby, she seems to have more in common with Dean, and this season both are placing their faith in Sam.

[girlpire.livejournal.com]

yeah, i was kind of meh about it.

and it bothered me that he was calling out for sam at the end, after having basically told sam there was no way to save him. like, he's still expecting sam to come after him. which is wrong. (although we know it will happen.)