SPN WTF

[vulgarweed]

Was that a truly epically dense conglomeration of cultural-appropriation FAIL or what?

I can just see how that might have gone down at the scriptwriter's meeting: "It'll be edgy! It's kind of like American Gods--only really stupid!"




ETA: Comments are spoileriffic now.

Comments

[quantum-witch.livejournal.com]

It figures, the first full episode I watch is Castiel's appearance. The second is... this one.

Yes, I got the American Gods feeling, too. Not sure what to think about it all.

[vulgarweed.livejournal.com]

IMNSHO, this is one of the worst episodes ever, and I've caught up on all the past seasons on DVD.

Not so much on dramatic-tension grounds. All the scenes focusing on Gabriel were pretty riveting, IMO, and although I don't think his death was necessary, it certainly was dramatically effective.

I just...I mean, this show has ALWAYS had problems with treating people who weren't white males as subjects* instead of objects.

* And by subjects, I mean actual PEOPLE who live inside their own heads and see through their own eyes and think of themselves as "I" and are the main characters of their own stories, rather than background occasions for fight scenes or man-pain. By making fucking KALI a "damsel in distress" who needs to be rescued by the white male human heroes at the end....wow. It's hard to find a more oblivious white-American-male-privilege characterization than that anywhere. At least the portrayals in other books and movies that painted her as a dangerous, evil demon didn't diminish her into just another "girl," y'know?

Don't even get me started on Baron Samedi and Ganesh and the SPN PTB's all-too-apparent enjoyment of killing black guys (never mind that there was no reason for Ganesh to be black - hello, ethnic casting? Wha?)

[quantum-witch.livejournal.com]

I just realised what else this reminded me of - the ending season of Xena, when all the old gods were being wiped out in favour of the "true" god (Yahweh). I only watched the show randomly, but I got so fucking furious at that point. Killing the god of the dead? How does that even happen?

I think they could have found another episode to effectively execute Gabriel at Lucifer's hands. Any other episode, ANY OTHER. It totally did not rely on anything else that happened in this ep.

I am seriously rethinking my desire to watch the show from the beginning now. Give me a reason to consider going through the trouble.

[vulgarweed.livejournal.com]

I, uh, cannot persuade you in good conscience to watch the rest of the series, particularly if this is an indication of the direction it's going.

I caught up late and own all the first four seasons on DVD now and can tell you this: The frustrating thing about SPN is that it has ALWAYS been a show full of great characters and great premises, desperately in search of plots that are worthy of them--and only about half the time finding them.

[quantum-witch.livejournal.com]

All right, then point me toward good fics. I know enough of the characters to be intrigued, and you're right that the premise is good. I'll be happy to just read fics that stay IC, regardless of the storyline.

[vulgarweed.livejournal.com]

Well, there's various amounts of fail, but this is a particularly dramatic stinkbomb.

I'll scare up some good recs lists for you. I gotta warn you, though, the fandom is really, really incesty and I know you don't care for that. The most popular pairing are the two main characters, who are brothers. (Consenting-adult sibling incest doesn't really bother me - I blame V.C. Andrews - but I know mileage varies a LOT.)

[quantum-witch.livejournal.com]

Yeah, I know about the cest tendencies and, yeah, don't have a great fondness for it (though I agree with the consenting adults is okay thing in general). If there are proper warnings, I just shrug and move on. I'm not necessarily concerned with pairing fics, just good fics, written well.

I do think it's awfully sad to search out fanon simply because of the tragically bad writing of canon. :(

[vulgarweed.livejournal.com]

I'd say start here: http://community.livejournal.com/crack_van/tag/supernatural


And also: Episode 5.18, the one right before this latest trainwreck? SO GOOD!

[quantum-witch.livejournal.com]

Thanks, I'll check them out. :) Pity the one before was good, I'll have to see if I can track it down.

I wonder... do people without siblings have a better tolerance for incest fics more than those with siblings? You don't have any, I do - it certainly colours MY feelings on the subject.

[fyrdrakken]

Given the show's structure, fans who are shipperishly inclined have been forced to decide whether incest or RPS is the lesser of evils. But since the addition of Castiel, there's been the Dean/Castiel option gaining strength. Unfortunately I don't have any recs to offer, but they're out there.

[quantum-witch.livejournal.com]

I'm not wholly against the idea, if it's well-written I could be induced to read virtually anything.

I don't know what "RPS" stands for. I feel ignorant. :(

[fyrdrakken]

Real Person Slash. (Similarly, RPF = Real Person Fic.) Sometimes it's a blatant AU and the actors you recognize are basically serving as a mental casting guide, but some fans find it incredibly squicky and intrusive. (And sometimes you're in bandom, where the stage personas are arguably semi-fictional characters in and of themselves anyway.)