Bingo. And yeah, I was losing Sam in season three, too. Actually, I was losing the show in season three. I really, really hate that season. I mean, season five is the worst and always will be the worst, but season three almost beats it out, for me. At least in season five we have "Good God, Y'all" and "The End", as well as "Abandon All Hope" and some moments in "Dark Side of the Moon". In season three, we have..."Mystery Spot" and "Jus In Bello". That's about it, for me. (Also "Dream a Little Dream", I guess, but there's way too much Bobby in it for me. Semi-avuncular figure!Bobby of season two? Awesome. Daddy!Bobby of season three-present? Can go die in a fire.)
I'm not sure I agree that season four was a mess for Sam. It wasn't perfect, but really, my main issues are that (1) there was no redemption following it, and (2) we didn't see nearly enough of it from Sam's perspective. We still have no idea why Sam chose to drink demon blood. As Chuck put it in "The Monster in the End of This Book", about how he didn't even write it into the books because it would come off as unsympathetic, I always took that as the writers saying, yeah, we're making Sam unsympathetic but we lack the courage to let you take the journey with him.
As for Jared in season four, I think he was fairly consistent, with the indifference Sam displayed at having Dean back in the beginning of the season the eventually assuming the leader position (I'm thinking especially "Sex and Violence" and "Death Takes a Holiday" here), all the while having that underlying resentment of Dean that's played up at the end of the season. Like I said, it's not sympathetically played, but I actually really like that. But then we got the addiction cop-out. For fuck's sake, Kripke -- it was a cop-out back with Willow, it's a cop-out now.
Okay, that was a lot of rambling to say that I agree with you WRT what different actors Jensen and Jared are, and that I don't think season four was that much of a mess. If only it had been followed up properly.
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branchandroot
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Date: 2011-06-23 02:04 pm (UTC)I'm not sure I agree that season four was a mess for Sam. It wasn't perfect, but really, my main issues are that (1) there was no redemption following it, and (2) we didn't see nearly enough of it from Sam's perspective. We still have no idea why Sam chose to drink demon blood. As Chuck put it in "The Monster in the End of This Book", about how he didn't even write it into the books because it would come off as unsympathetic, I always took that as the writers saying, yeah, we're making Sam unsympathetic but we lack the courage to let you take the journey with him.
As for Jared in season four, I think he was fairly consistent, with the indifference Sam displayed at having Dean back in the beginning of the season the eventually assuming the leader position (I'm thinking especially "Sex and Violence" and "Death Takes a Holiday" here), all the while having that underlying resentment of Dean that's played up at the end of the season. Like I said, it's not sympathetically played, but I actually really like that. But then we got the addiction cop-out. For fuck's sake, Kripke -- it was a cop-out back with Willow, it's a cop-out now.
Okay, that was a lot of rambling to say that I agree with you WRT what different actors Jensen and Jared are, and that I don't think season four was that much of a mess. If only it had been followed up properly.