Okay, I’m just gonna let it all out. You all are mad and I am too, so I’m just gonna get it out. This season is a wandering train wreck.
I had actual hopes that some of the interesting things they’d planted we’re going to really be played with (the whole “who knows what about who” thing and the misinformation and misdirection) because, hey, that’s not too much to ask for is it?
I’d hoped we’d see genuine character development from Mary and at least one member of the BMoL that lead to an ally-ship. (Mick, for instance, if he didn’t die, and no, even if Toni is the one who turns around I don’t think that counts because she’s really had fuck all time and/or relationship with anyone to make that meaningful.) I wanted to see Mary make mistakes and learn all about the shit her sons had gone through and I wanted an attempt at healing. The BMoL arc was enough to fill an entire season with intense interpersonal drama.
BUT that stupid Lucifer plot showed up. Look, I really dislike this whole thing and I really dislike that it’s put Lucifer as a driving force. He’s lost so much of what made him interesting and intimidating. They could have the nephil plot without him (if Crowley hadn’t done a huge dumb). But whatever.
The issue is that they’re playing with huge themes (truth v dogma, what truth even is, morality, understanding, trauam) with the BMoL arc and big themes with the nephil (nature v nurture, bodily autonomy, what’s really “good” when there is potential for so much bad) and just one of those is needed for a season. Only one of those needed to be the big climax, but apparently we’re getting two and both are half-assed.
And as far as the bloodbath element, honestly, it’s crap. It would be different if they didn’t feel the need to purge all kinds of good recurring characters all the damn time but they do. And these awesome characters are rarely given the weight their deaths would deserve. It’s like watching somone get kicked in the teeth over and over and over again. Angst is fun, constantly seeing interesting characters die is not fun.
See, this is the problem I see with both killing off good characters and half-assing action-y plots. Supernatural’s strength is that they create a wonderful world full of potential. There are thousands of monsters, hundreds of hunters and each of them has a story. We get to see these stories, we get to love these characters, and we get to find our view of the world challenged over and over because some monsters are good and some humans are terrible. The lines between friend and foe get blurry and we get to see the height of human triumph and the lows of beastial depravity. That’s what makes the world of Supernatural so much fun. It’s not about two brothers, it’s about two brothers, the world they live in, the politics of heaven and hell and the friends they make along the way. It’s a rich world and apparently that’s just too much for the powers that be to handle because they keep trying to shrink that world down by making it as action-y and focused on two people as they can. I realize that the show’s world revolves around Sam and Dean, but that world is massive and complex and doesn’t need to be stuffed in a box until the need arises to dangle interesting characters and plots in our face just to torpedo them.
It’s really tired.
One of spn’s strengths for the very beginning was to tell the story of ther people through the lenses of Sam and Dean. It’s strength was to mirror internal and external drama. No amount of grenade launchers or shoot-em-up scenes or manpain is going to replace that. You wanna get attention and pull things out of your viewer’s show? Show us how the complex world is reflected in complex characters, don’t just half-ass plots and deaths because you think anger and tears are the same thing as understanding and heartache.