SPN 4.18

[feliciakw]

Before watching the clear and complete download, . . .

This one didn't really work for me. Oh, I had several "well, shut my mouth" moments, with all the shout-outs and self-references to fandom and fic and all that. It was fun. And funny.

And gimmicky.

And wore thin for me after about five minutes of it.

It felt like the story arc stuff (which bothered me for reason I will get into later) was forced in there to accommodate the jokes.

I guess what it comes down to is this: It felt like fic. It played like fic. Crack fic. Self-referential crack fic. Which is fine for fic. But not for Show. I like my fic to read like Show, not the other way around.

As much as I was looking forward to this ep, I'm really disappointed in it right now.

But I'll give it another chance, with a clear and complete pic. And there were some things that I liked, like Dean praying and Cas helping Dean out as best he could. Actually, that's the kind of sly help that always amuses me. "I can't actually do anything but I'll give you facts that you can put to use."

And don't get me started on the previews for next week. (Is it on next week? Seems I saw a schedule that said no.) PAL, buddy. Previews Always Lie.

Comments

[whitemartyr.livejournal.com]

Agreed. It felt like fanfic.

BUT I really enjoyed Dean praying, and Castiel's help and somewhat sly look. I also enjoyed seeing Zach again AND the fact that arc-angels totally out-do regular angels, but it makes me wonder... why then aren't the arc-angels helping to prevent the apolocalypse?

Loved the "You should've seen Luke" line re: prophet Chuck, but "Gospel of Winchester"... seriously? That seems a bit much. I think they pushed that too far.

It did feel very writer indulgent. Did you see that it was an adapted teleplay from a story? Who wrote the story? Was it fans do you know? Or just a collaboration between other regular writers? I'm not that up to speed on every single person who writes for this show. I like that Lilith is scared. Don't like that Sam seems to be closer than ever to being Demon-spawn/dark-sidey.

They didn't air the preview for the next episode on the channel I watched it on. What's it in the preview??

[feliciakw.livejournal.com]

I'm pretty much in agreement here with all you say. Like the praying and the Cas help with sly look. Wasn't too keen on Gospel of Winchester. And I must be in the minority with "You should have seen Luke." Seriously? Luke was Greek and a doctor, (i.e., well educated) and a researcher. Says right at the beginning of the book that he carefully investigated and wrote an orderly account of what happened. *shrug* Must just be me, because what I'm reading elsewhere, everyone loved that line. And I suppose it's vague enough that it could be taken any number of ways. Simply that Luke wasn't someone Dean would consider a writer of a Gospel if you met him . . .

It felt very writer indulgent. I don't know who wrote it. I didn't recognize the names. At first I thought it was an Edlund ep, but then I saw two women's names. However, the author's pen name, "Carver Edlund" is obviously after to of the regular writers, Jeremy Carver and Ben Edlund.

Re: Sam going darkside . . . I totally expect it to happen. I expect it to be part of the season finale. But being as unspoiled as I can be, that's just supposition on my part.

Re: Next week . . . we continue apace with the fic as a third Winchester sibling (supposedly) shows up. On the up-side, it's not a little sister; it's a younger brother.

Have I mentioned that I find it highly amusing that in your icon, the "ce" in "pieces" is covered, so that it reads, regarding Dean, that he's "Just a little pie of sexy." This takes my muse to het fic places that she really shouldn't go.

[feliciakw.livejournal.com]

It's interesting. On first viewing, one of my issues with this ep was the gimmick. After about 5-7 minutes of it, it got old. Then Chuck started rambling on about being a god, and my brain started to hurt.

And I started thinking about Monster Movie, and was it a gimmick? It could easily be seen as a gimmick. But I loved Monster Movie. There seems to be, for me, a fine line between homage/shout out and gimmick. And this one--on first viewing--crossed that line.

Upon rewatching (with improved picture quality), I'm better with it. And don't get me wrong--there was much to laugh at in this one. I particularly loved Dean's glee at there being Sam girls and Dean girls. And their disgust for slash. And that Sam wasn't completely sure of his own LSAT score. And Cas conspiring with Dean.

I wasn't going to get all meta in my write-up, but there actually are some interesting points regarding destiny/fate vis-a-vis free will going on here. (Long story short: we cannot always control the circumstances we find ourselves in--fate--but do have free control over how we respond to those circumstances--free will and choice.)

Also, I know Zach is popular with some, but he said something in this ep that bothered me. But I'll get to that later.

(Edited for spelling)

[feliciakw.livejournal.com]

Also, re: next week being a trickster . . . I at one point thought last week was going to be a trickster thing. But they've already used that plot device twice. So, no. I don't expect next week to be a trickster. I am wondering . . . well, we'll just have to wait and see.

Then Chris and Bernard from Northern Exposure popped into my mind. (One of the best on-going storylines on that show, to my way of thinking.) You are familiar with NX? Because after thinking of Chris and Bernard, I started wondering what would happen if they'd actually made this third Winchester a different ethnicity. Or would that have opened up too many issues for which there would be no time to resolve?

Also, also: I totally get why the next ep is called "Jump the Shark." Isn't that what Kripke said once? That shows jump the shark when they start adding in long lost siblings? How much to I actually trust Kripke?

[izhilzha.livejournal.com]

I felt like this episode SHOULD have worn thin...but it didn't. SHOULD have really, really not worked, should have felt like a wrench thrown into the season...but it didn't. At least for me. Making it "plausible" within their mythology--that alone deserves some serious kudos. I gotta check who wrote this, because that can't have been easy.

More later.

[feliciakw.livejournal.com]

Making it "plausible" within their mythology

Agreed. And once they lightened up and got past the obvious fandom shout-outs and satire and all, it played more smoothly for me.

Maybe I'll stop watching on Thursday night and just watch the download when it comes. Heh. Yeah. Right.

Or just not post anything at all until I can see the download.