Bitch, bitch, bitch

[oselle]

If the little summaries on TWoP are correct, it also appears that two of the final eight episodes this season are going to be humor. Or whatever passes for humor in that writers' room.

You know, when SPN squandered one of the last four episodes of its truncated season on the vaguely insulting silliness of "Ghostfacers" I was annoyed but I can cut them a little tiny bit of slack because everything last year was so fucked up by the strike. But they're doing the exact same shit this year and they don't have the strike to blame it on. These are clearly the sorts of stories they want to tell.

Okay, so...two episodes out of eight devoted to the writing staff's inside jokes, and this with the apocalypse literally looming. Jesus Christ. Can the creative team from Battlestar Galactica* come over to give them a workshop or something?




*I mention BSG here not because I think it's the masterpiece that a lot of critics say it is, but because it's one of the best examples of how genre television -- scifi, fantasy, horror -- can take itself seriously and is usually better when it does. Personally, I find BSG a little TOO serious but the show's commitment to intensely dramatic storylines that do not mock the genre or the audience is breathtakingly refreshing. I saw a similar level of intensity in the first episodes of SPN Season 4 but the team seemed either afraid or unwilling to keep it up for long and I just don't know why.

Comments

wow

[klingoncat.livejournal.com]

finally - someone else who wasn't a fan of Ghostfacers - one of my least favorite episodes - and I agree - I'm fond of a bit of humor - but as a counterpoint to the drama and darkness of the rest of the show - not as an overwhelming slapstick fest. (one or two episodes a season at the MOST please - along with the little bits sprinkled into every episode, thank you) the only way I might go for it is if the REST of the season is so incredibly dark that it became absolutely necessary (we can hope...)

[ghyste.livejournal.com]

I enjoyed both of the Ghostfacer episodes as episodes, but I think that last year's took up time that would have been better spent on the truncated season arc and the dropped storylines (as would the Bela episodes) and it bothers me that the same thing seems to be happening this year. I honestly don't see how I'm supposed to invest in the Lilith/Seals/Apocalypse story if I never get to see any of it.

Re: wow

[oselle.livejournal.com]

I think we're kind of in the minority on "Ghostfacers" and the humor episodes in general. My very unscientific observations have led me to believe that a lot of fans like them. I don't really know why. It's not like the show is all that dark to begin with and even if it were I think comic relief is best served up in extreme moderation. I agree with you that there should be one or two humorous episodes at most, and as far as I'm concerned, S4 has already used up its quota with "Monster Movie" and "Yellow Fever." Unfortunately, if the spoilers are correct, there are going to be two more episodes of dubious hilarity and yep, those wacky Ghostfacers themselves may be making yet another appearance (Why? Really...are these clowns so popular that they merit a cameo appearance every season now?) I just want to recapture the mood of this season's first few episodes and I don't think they can do it if they're not willing to set aside the freaking slapstick.

[oselle.livejournal.com]

If I recall correctly, the first Ghostfacers episode ("Hell House," right?) was a solid and pretty inventive MoTW in which the Ghostfacers just happened to be along for the ride. To me they were a one-shot novelty and I wasn't exactly on the edge of my seat waiting for them to turn up again...and especially not in a "high concept" episode that was essentially about them and that sucked up 40 minutes that surely could have been put to better use. Don't even get me started on how that episode was peppered with questionable jokes about "gay love" that seemed more like nasty jabs at certain portions of the fanbase than anything else.

The show kind of has a tradition of lightening things up with a humorous episode before getting all serious in the last two or three eps of the season. Fine. But with every season it seems like there's more comedy even as the stakes for the Winchesters (and supposedly the entire world) have been getting ever higher. It just seems ridiculous to have the Winchesters mugging their way through an episode literally entitled "Jumping the Shark" when the fate of heaven, hell and earth hangs in the balance. They had "Monster Movie" and it was cute and they had "Yellow Fever" which was essentially only redeemed (IMO) by Jensen's tacked-on video and really...enough already. I sure don't want to hear the writers whining about all the stories they didn't get to tell when this year they have a full 22 episodes and they're choosing to write shtick instead of unraveling their own storyarc.