11.10 reaction (warning for squee harshing content)

[ash48]

I haven't posted anything about 11.10 yet because a) I'm away from my computer (on holidays) and typing on my iPad which isn't ideal and b) I really don't know how to say what I want to say about it (though I've tried).

(warning - negativity under the cut. Please do not let me harsh your squee. Move on by (like I know I really should).



I did a lot of soul searching last night after watching the episode. I had a moment of clarity that made me see how Carver is essentially just taking the piss. The sheer laziness in the storytelling made me want to weep (and in fact I did). I was seriously contemplating taking my bat and ball and going home. And I was ready to do it but an addiction like this is not so easy to kick it seems (the next day I was back checking all my fandom places and wanting to talk about it /O\) It's purely personal - it's about the way I watch and enjoy this show. I know many loved it and I think that's awesome. :)

I can't write it all out here but I will just say this; Season 4 and 5 were built around Sam and Dean evolving to a point where they had to say yes/no to lucifer/Michael. It explored motive, weakness, loyalty, trust and strength. And then in one episode. ONE EPISODE. Cas said yes to lucifer. No build up, no exploration, no in-depth motive' it was just "ooh, I know what we can do with Cas now! Let's make him Lucifer!" He has one tiny scene that makes me feel less heroic than Sam and Dean and *wham* he's lucifer. They had a whole first half of the season to put Cas in a place were this made sense - instead they had him watching Netflix.

Then there was the confirmation that Sam didn't look for Dean in S8 because they had apparently made a promise not to. If you are going to do that to a character give us that scene. In S5 there was a scene where Sam told Dean to go and live his life after his death. Even then, we found out in S6 that Dean still tried all he could to find Sam. So in s8 we have Sam not even trying to figure out where dean went and abandoning Kevin because of an off-screen "promise". I'm sorry, but that's carver's canon and I just cannot accept it (and he keeps pushing that message home - like if he says it enough it will make it true).

Ok, there were some nice bits in that ep, but even the funny voice message and bro touching couldn't shake me out of the "what the fuck was that?!" after it all sunk in.

(And don't get me started on the fandom war it's created about who played the better Lucifer. The cynic in me thinks it a deliberate ploy to stir up fandom on-line chatter. The realist in me says they simply have no idea what they are doing and it's just a "fun" place to take the storyline).

I'm glad Rowena got a chance to tell us why she's the way she is before they killed her. It was one of her best scenes.

There's more but I am feeling just so weary. I long for the simple MOTW eps where they stop trying to do something with an absurd myth arc that is not thought through.

(And why didn't Lucifer just kill Sam and Dean? How does the devil have a fist fight? What happened to a click of the fingers and a body explodes. Agh...I have to stop before I explode).

I used too many brackets. Oh well.

Comments

[el1ie.livejournal.com]

I mourn for the show that had a soul, all that's left is a strange shell filled with idiots who couldn't menace a mouse. It still has it's brighter moments, I won't deny that, but mostly it's a sad shadow of it's former self where humour wasn't slapstick, performances were nuanced, there was a chill in the air and empathy filled my heart.

[ash48.livejournal.com]

Oh it did have a soul didn't it? And I think it still does at times - but chucking away significant moments in order to…i dunno - set up the second half? move things along? give Cas something to do? - is heartbreaking.

But. I am sure there will be some better eps ahead! *thinks positively*

[el1ie.livejournal.com]

give Cas something to do?

There's their main problem in a nutshell, they no longer write a good evolving storyline, they write to make sections of fandom happy or pissed, which, ok, probably has made the show the success it is, nothing better than fan wars discussion so I probably should just shut up and let them haul the show down to the lowest possible denominator.

That impersonation of Lucifer could just be my final nail, I can't watch that crap, there's a subtle way of using voice intonations and speech breaks that nails a personality every time. He keeps that up and I'm gone, I'll miss the fandom, but at this point I've pulled back so far everything is just a blip on the horizon anyway. Yes, I'm bothered Lucifer is out of the cage and roaming the earth, do I think they'll make the most of it? Nope. Do I think Sam and Dean will have to sacrifice something to save Cas? Yep, Do I give a shit? Frankly my dear...

[ash48.livejournal.com]

Firstly... Yep, Do I give a shit? Frankly my dear...

I love ya!! (just had to say that :D).

More yeses than I can probably write to all of this.

I just watched the episode again. I was hoping to see what I missed (many loved it and I want to see/feel that) and for some of it (the build up) it was looking like it might have been fine. But. BUT!! Cas saying yes and that horrid impersonation (I feel I can say that now having given him the benefit of the doubt earlier) totally brought that episode crashing down. I hate to say it (and actually I do) but Misha is not a great actor and they are trying to push him into areas he really isn't able to handle. He should have gone simple and create a Lucifer he can do - not one that Mark has already perfected.

The boys are still my draw card. I look forward to some MoTW and a Beren's written episode (he at least knows how to structure a script).

[el1ie.livejournal.com]

I just watched the episode again.

Hee. I feel I should, but what if it's worse this time around?

I liked the Sam and Lucifer parts to a point, but the flashbacks and what Lucifer was using as ammunition against Sam was more about using ammunition against fan dissenters and that pisses me off no end. Make a point, don't lecture.

[ash48.livejournal.com]

I feel I should, but what if it's worse this time around?

Well, there is that! I found the beginning better, but the end just as bad (maybe even worse?)

The Sam and Lucifer scenes worked better for me with the thought that Dabb was commenting on Carver's decisions. The "this is the worse thing you've ever done" seemed more like a comment on the decision about that romance rather than Carver commenting on his idea. I was nodding the whole way! Also, I think it's Lucifers attempt at manipulating Sam and it's just not working - maybe that's just because we are getting Sam's POV and Lucifer looks weak with those arguments. We see through it because Sam does (?maybe?).

I definitely got a stronger sense of those scenes the second time around - but not the last ones.

Then again, it could just be me desperately wanting to...

[el1ie.livejournal.com]

The Sam and Lucifer scenes worked better for me with the thought that Dabb was commenting on Carver's decisions.

Ah, I'll keep that in mind if I watch again. I think I became obsessed with all the missed opportunities, I didn't understand the scene with Colin Ford!Sam as a contrast of how Sam used to be strong?

I guess I also thought the Amelia scene would have played out better, even if Sam and Dean HAD that blasted agreement, it was still not the worse thing, it is what Sam wanted, he had every right. Even without the agreement he could have still been looking for Dean even in a relationship with her, but I think that was my whole problem with how it played out, like there was a huge mystery and we were missing something...and then we weren't.

So yes, I was distracted and in my mind Lucifer was whispering to Sam about how they had always been connected, how Crowley found them as they weren't hiding, but couldn't set his Hell Hounds on Amelia because Lucifer himself protected them, how Lucifer enjoyed his time with her, how he could still smell her on his hands, taste her...and how Sam would never really be free of him, his one true vessel, made so perfectly just for him...

Yep. I get totally distracted by how it could have been really creepy, but then I never really got why Sam thought God was whispering to him about the cage? Seriously? *sigh*

[batgurl10.livejournal.com]

Wow you just took a scene that honestly I was very much WTF like the rest of you about and reconstructed it in a creepy f****** way kudos to you! Ps screw you Carver

[el1ie.livejournal.com]

**blushes** Thank you, what can I say except my brain is a really scary place - Carver's Lucifer himself would probably cry little a little puppy stuck with me for half an hour!

Hee!