oselle | Heart go Pitty-Pat

People love "Changing Channels" because they enjoy watching the boys cut up, and I'll admit the parodies of assorted genres were well done, but I usually find this sort of broad comedy briefly entertaining and then instantly forgettable. I know that comedy episodes like this are a longtime and popular staple of this show, so we can expect at least one in every season, but as cute as they are, I'd rather they spent the time on something that makes a contribution to the storyarc. Then again, the storyarcs are usually so vague that I guess it's better for them to blow an episode on something that's at least funny instead of being a complete waste of time.

And let's not even talk about 5x09.

Yes, let's not. Ever.

some crap about Sam and Dean being descendants of Abel and Cain.

They so love to drop in these big, weighty concepts and then never mention them again. Why do they even bother? Do they think it makes them sound deep? If they're going to go Biblical then they should at least commit to it instead of letting it just be a meaningless, throwaway factoid.

Then there was "Dark Side of the Moon."

That was a goddamn brutal episode, and not in a good way. It started with that lovely bit where Dean and Sam were shooting off fireworks and then before you know it we're discovering that heaven sucks and that Sam really never gave a shit about Dean. People were fanwanking that shit like crazy, trying to find something to make Sam not look like a douchebag but come on. I have no idea what the writers think they accomplish with horrible episodes like that, especially since the troubling concepts they raise are just forgotten immediately and never mean anything at all.

speeches about how everyone's always been hard on Sam.

Bobby's speech about how everyone's hard on Sam and how if anyone can take Lucifer out it's good ol' Sammy was truly one of the most ridiculous and inexplicable things I've ever seen on this show.

I still don't see how some think season six was all perfectly planned out.

I deeply enjoy watching a slavering fangirl like Missyjack twist herself into a pedantic, patronizing, pseudo-intellectual pretzel trying to prove that this show is nothing short of brilliant. I actually wrote a long, flocked post about this very same "analysis" of how effectively SPN pulled off the noir theme. I can add you to my list if you would you like to read it.

People love "Changing Channels" because they enjoy watching the boys cut up

Yeah, I know. I don't. Remember way back when when they did humor episodes like "Hell House"? "Changing Channels" can't hold a candle to that episode. I really, really dislike how they incorporate these humor episodes (started -- surprise, surprise -- with season three); I think it's really damaging to a dramatic storyarc to mix in this comedy. Which is not to say that there can never be any humor, but I sure prefer "The voice says I'm almost out of minutes!" or "Uriel is the funniest angel in the garrison, ask anyone" kind of humor. You know? I don't like the tonal whiplash SPN tends to give me.

Do they think it makes them sound deep?

And do they even try to make sense? I mean. Abel and Cain. Yeah, that would make the Winchesters special. Like everyone else on the planet. Also, Cain didn't have kids, did he? Did Abel, or was it Seth who continued on that bloodline? My Biblical knowledge is vague at best but even know to research before dropping a line like that.

Maybe they do think they sound deep. But IIRC back when "In My Time of Dying" aired and John summoned Azazel a fan looked up the symbol he was using and he was actually summoning Azazel, and this over a season before we actually learned his name! When did they lose that kind of thoughtfulness?

That was a goddamn brutal episode, and not in a good way

Oh god, I know. I love the opening montage with Dean and wee!Sam but the suckage of heaven, not to mention the lingering on Sam rejecting Dean over and over again. And, again, I ask: why do they choose to do that? They could have gone the route of Sam being excluded from the circle of Dean and Mary's love, and show how sad his happiest memories really are -- Thanksgiving with some random family and a dog (the ultimate unconditional love). But they didn't.

Yeah, don't even remind me. Ridiculous and inexplicable sounds about right. I just. I don't even. How did Sera go from writing "Are You There, God?" to "Twelve Minutes to Midnight"?

I can add you to my list if you would you like to read it

I would like to read it! Only could you add

amoralnostalgia instead? I use this one for lurking only, basically (also I made it before I turned 18 because, well, I'm sure you can figure out why), and that one...well I don't keep it very updated but if someone wants to add me I direct them to it.

As for that post and "slavering fangirls" like her, I wish I could enjoy it, but I get so fucking annoyed I usually can't even bring myself to start a debate.

But IIRC back when "In My Time of Dying" aired and John summoned Azazel a fan looked up the symbol he was using and he was actually summoning Azazel

I hate to burst your bubble but I'm pretty sure the whole Azazel thing was copped from a terrific 1995 episode of The X-Files named "Die Hand Die Verletzt," which was directed by the same Kim Manners who went on to a big contributor to SPN. Been a while since I saw that ep, but I think they incorporated a symbol into that one as well, and I wouldn't be surprised if they got it right since The X-Files was exquisitely nitpicky about its research.

They could have gone the route of Sam being excluded from the circle of Dean and Mary's love, and show how sad his happiest memories really are

Maybe that's what they were going for, but it's not how it played. I often get the feeling that the show is trying for one thing and winding up with something else.

I usually can't even bring myself to start a debate.

Oh, I'd never even attempt to start a debate with her. Any critique of the show is dismissed as "hate" in her world so why bother? It's just fun to watch from the sidelines. You should be able to see my post now.

I hate to burst your bubble but I'm pretty sure the whole Azazel thing was copped from a terrific 1995 episode of The X-Files

Oh. Well. Copped or not, at least they tried. Now they don't even bother making an effort. With anything, it feels like.

Maybe that's what they were going for, but it's not how it played

I actually don't think they were going for that. Like, the whole time with the Dean-and-Mary scene the focus was on Dean, and with the Stanford thing they could've, I don't know, shown Sam as being 18 and angry and making his bid for freedom and Dean not understanding that, but instead we got "I don't think of family the same way you do" which, just, what? What??

What I find funny is that Sam can make a statement like that (because his mommy wasn't around to cut the crusts of his PB&J sandwiches) and it goes more or less unchallenged, but a season later, Dean is getting a lesson on what "family" means from a twelve-year-old. Poor Dean. Always getting lectured.

because his mommy wasn't around to cut the crusts of his PB&J sandwiches

Exactly. I'm amazed Dean didn't say something like, "No, but I was."

Always getting lectured

He really does! I'm not sure which the earliest example is -- "It's a Terrible Life" maybe? He always has to learn lessons he already knows, too. Like in 6x11 with Tessa, and all I could think was, he knew that back in "Death Takes a Holiday"!

This show, this show. And yet I keep coming back.

I'm amazed Dean didn't say something like, "No, but I was."

That's okay. There were plenty of us out here saying it for him. Pity the writers seem to have forgotten that Dean raised this ungrateful punk.

Pity the writers seem to have forgotten that Dean raised this ungrateful punk

Oh god, I know. I had the same reaction in 6x02 when Sam asked something about how Dean knew how to change a diaper/was so good with kids/whatever and then made some reference to Ben and Dean made a sound and said, "Yeah, Ben" and I thought that he must be thinking, "Who do you think changed your diapers, Sam?"

That was a total fandomwide reaction. I don't know why the show insisted on making up that stupid story about Lisa having infant nieces or nephews when the obvious answer was right in their face. But I guess they didn't want to risk making Dean look good, or reminding the audience of things they'd rather we forget.

Heart go Pitty-Pat

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