9.23 reaction

[ash48]

I had a huge reaction post written out but decided it was far too negative and started to make me cry so I decided not to post it.

I will say that I didn't mind watching the episode (made all the better because I had zebra363 with me) but in all honesty it left me feeling pretty much nothing. Empty. Blank. Perhaps a bit annoyed, frustrated and sad.

I love these characters too much to see them wasted like this. To have them at odds all season just so we can have "near" apology scenes and confessions of "I lied". :(

For a whole season to mean absolutely nothing. To have gone absolutely no where. *sobs* (and not the good *sobs* - only S8 and S9 have reduced me to tears over loss of the show I fell in love with).

I need more time to process. I'm sure I will shake these blues away and find something salvageable here.

Though I'm thinking until Carver leaves I'll never see the Sam and Dean I grew to love.

I'd say they've already created their spin off. We watched it this season.

(PS: please, if you loved it and want to squee please feel free. I need to know it's worth hanging on to. I need to know that this is just all part of a plan to build this show back to something we recognise. I need to know that they didn't make Sam say important stuff only to have it completely and utterly ignored for a reason. I need to know that this hasn't just become the worst, predictable, most boring, fan servicing pile of... )

Comments

[soserendipity.livejournal.com]

I wished they'd cut back on the angel politics and the demon spa and all that stuff on the periphery (I'm ok with having it in there, but not as a storyline that's as important as Sam and Dean). Also, when Metatron started monologuing with Dean, I rolled my eyes, but when he monologued again with Castiel I was a bit angry. They could have cut a lot from the first one to show us more of that devastating death scene.

That's my main negative critique, I think. That here, especially here, Sam's POV was cut short. His brother just died in his arms. He lost everything. Forget that Cas might still die and that Gadreel is dead and that Metatron fled and all that. His brother just died. Bloody and painful and right in his arms. If that doesn't warrant a minute or two of how devastated Sam is, of finally giving me more of Sam's f-ing POV, I don't know what will. Nothing, probably.

Don't get me wrong, that shot in the library was beautiful and his barely held back tears were too, but it was like: now cry, now look at your dead brother, now drink, and cut. Way too short. And with angel stuff in between. *sigh*

But. Apart from the ranting bit above, I do have hopes for the next season. As soon as they brought Cain into show's mythology, I thought they might go for the ultimate sacrifice - one of them killing the other. And Dean's dying wish (literally) was to not become what the Mark was turning him into. So I hope that that means that Sam has his work cut out for him now, that he'll have to find a way to get the Mark off of Dean.

Since Cas still has the dwindling grace to deal with and all their other friends are gone (dead or otherwise), I hope that this time it'll finally be Sam who saves Dean. No angel, no other deus ex machina solution, just back to gritty footwork while Sam is still trying to come to terms with the fact that Dean is dead. (Human!Dean still is dead, right?)

I'm a bit scared of what show's endgame is, if as soon as the Mark is gone, Dean will be dead. For real this time. (And what a horrible thing would that be for Sam! Knowing that by saving him, he'll lose him all over again. But I don't think he'd hesitate because I do believe that he didn't just stupidly lash out at Dean, I think that given the chance, he would respect Dean's wishes. And Dean's second to last words were that he'd rather die than be consumed by the Mark so yeah, I think Sam would not leave Dean like this even if that means he'll lose him for good.)

Also, there are a few scenarios how rescuing Dean might play out, but as far as I can see, they all end with Sam dead, too. So if they give us a big arc that spans the next seasons and have that as their endgame, I think it would actually be a good way for them to go. Both at the same time, like they always wanted. (And like the Js always wanted, too.) And for something that's more than worth it, too.

However, I don't know whether it's possible to draw this out like that. I actually fear it's not. What would they do, have demon!Dean for several seasons (god, I hope not!) and no Sam&Dean at all? So. Huh. All the above are just stupid fannish hopes, I guess. But still! I refuse to give up hope. I'll be there until the end, wishing that it'll all make sense. (Other than this stream-of-consciousness comment. Sorry for that.)

[amberdreams.livejournal.com]

Agreed on the good way to go out - but this would probably only happen if Season 10 is to be the last - otherwise I fear much fudging.

[soserendipity.livejournal.com]

Same here. I think this would make a great ending but since there are rumors that they have signed for season 11 already, I don't think it'll happen. But a girl can dream. And write fanfic ;).

[stormcloude]

You know, I was good until I got to your comment, and it's the one that made me lose it. I mourn for what the show used to be and all the wasted potential of the past two years.

[soserendipity.livejournal.com]

Oh no. I didn't mean to! I actually thought I was kinda hopeful there at the end. Apologies if I didn't manage to get that across.

I did like the episode, I just was a bit sad that I didn't get more Sam&Dean out of it, especially towards the end. I'm sorry my little rant made you feel bad. Hug?

[stormcloude]

Ah, no worries. It's more like what you said in the first part made it really hit home what the writers have done to Sam, who is my favorite character.

*hugs*

[ash48.livejournal.com]

Hi. Some great thoughts here.

I think the death scene was cut short because it wasn't the climax of the show. I mean, it should have been given the same weight as a climax, but as they were basically heading for demon eyed Dean they weren't too interested in lingering on how Sam was feeling about Dean's death. I mean...why would they? None of the season has been about what Sam feels about anything so giving him any extra time to mourn his lost brother wouldn't be on the cards. I think Jared did the best he could with that short time though. And there was that gorgeous shot in the bunk with him drinking at least. It's weird though because Sam has grieved before - he had a whole year of it when Dean disappeared. And then when Dean went to hell. He's had to grieve his dead brother A LOT (and all those Mystery Spot deaths...). I would have loved some reference to that actually.

I love the idea that we are leading up to a proper Sam save - but I'm not holding on to much hope on anything next season. I hung on too long this season.

I am completely puzzled about how they are going create a long story line around demon!dean, unless he tries to let it go unnoticed. It seems like it will have to be resolved pretty quickly if they want to remain a MoTW type show. If they really are changing the landscape of the show then we might see the whole storyline take off in a new direction and no longer have the brothers hunting side by side. If that happens...well, I have no idea how I'll react to that.

The first few eps of next season will be the key to knowing how this will play out. I do hope that when they finally finish that they go out together. There has to finally be "peace" when they are done.
xx