Oh show. I'm all mixed up over this ep. There's been so many negative reactions - it's been hard to keep my spirits up about it.
Yeah. It's sort of a ... mixed one. Not great, not awful. I've been hearing things about cut scenes. And while that would explain a lot about the intensity that seemed to be missing from a it, it seems baffling to me that that would be the stuff they'd cut. Seven years, and they don't know what their audience wants? If we need to lose something, always go for scenes in which Sam and Dean aren't having important conversations. :)
I do think this, though. I liked quite a bit of The Man Who Knew Too Much. I was particularly invested in watching Sam fight his way back to consciousness. That was really good stuff - character driven, important. But that was resolved before the episode was over (with potential for the future, sure, but they had pretty well reassured us that Sam wasn't going to drop dead from the trauma), and after that I was basically drifting. The final cliffhanger wasn't all that suspenseful. Either they'd talk Castiel out of the whole 'god' thing, or they'd have to kill him. Either way, works for me. So I got a stress-free four months, but not a lot of emotional connection with the story.
This? Had the opposite effect. I mean - I liked a lot of Survival of the Fittest too, but not in that deeply engaged way I've liked other finales. But the ending, with them stripped right back to nothing, no supporting cast and the clear knowledge that they've been taken from each other and are being pursued by things with very sharp teeth - that was gripping, and pure Sam-and-Dean angst-ridden joy. My adult brain is busily thinking through how long this separation needs to go on to give it its proper weight without damaging the dynamic of the show, and considering the potential of exploring purgatory. My inner five year old is already screaming 'Fix it now! Fix it now!'
So I think that Survival of the Fittest succeeded in doing what a season finale is supposed to do - making me desperate to know what happens next - in a way that The Man Who Knew Too Much didn't, even if I liked the latter more in other ways. When it really counted, it had style.
I'm sure people who are more invested in Castiel's fate would disagree with me on this, but that's what I'm taking away from it. :)
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Oh show. I'm all mixed up over this ep. There's been so many negative reactions - it's been hard to keep my spirits up about it.
Yeah. It's sort of a ... mixed one. Not great, not awful. I've been hearing things about cut scenes. And while that would explain a lot about the intensity that seemed to be missing from a it, it seems baffling to me that that would be the stuff they'd cut. Seven years, and they don't know what their audience wants? If we need to lose something, always go for scenes in which Sam and Dean aren't having important conversations. :)
I do think this, though. I liked quite a bit of The Man Who Knew Too Much. I was particularly invested in watching Sam fight his way back to consciousness. That was really good stuff - character driven, important. But that was resolved before the episode was over (with potential for the future, sure, but they had pretty well reassured us that Sam wasn't going to drop dead from the trauma), and after that I was basically drifting. The final cliffhanger wasn't all that suspenseful. Either they'd talk Castiel out of the whole 'god' thing, or they'd have to kill him. Either way, works for me. So I got a stress-free four months, but not a lot of emotional connection with the story.
This? Had the opposite effect. I mean - I liked a lot of Survival of the Fittest too, but not in that deeply engaged way I've liked other finales. But the ending, with them stripped right back to nothing, no supporting cast and the clear knowledge that they've been taken from each other and are being pursued by things with very sharp teeth - that was gripping, and pure Sam-and-Dean angst-ridden joy. My adult brain is busily thinking through how long this separation needs to go on to give it its proper weight without damaging the dynamic of the show, and considering the potential of exploring purgatory. My inner five year old is already screaming 'Fix it now! Fix it now!'
So I think that Survival of the Fittest succeeded in doing what a season finale is supposed to do - making me desperate to know what happens next - in a way that The Man Who Knew Too Much didn't, even if I liked the latter more in other ways. When it really counted, it had style.
I'm sure people who are more invested in Castiel's fate would disagree with me on this, but that's what I'm taking away from it. :)