Sympathy for the Devil
Sep. 10th, 2009 11:02 pm![[personal profile]](https://www.dreamwidth.org/img/silk/identity/user.png){kind=small}
zhadraniGreat. Just typed a whole long entry and my computer freaked out and deleted it. (sigh) Starting over again...Warning: skip this if you want pure squee. I mean, there is certainly squee contained herein, but it is definitely not all squee.
The gist: there were things I loved, but also quite a few things I didn't like about this episode. I enjoyed it, but it was not one of my favorites. I felt that a lot of things were abrupt, rushed, the pacing was off, and I just plain expected more, I guess.
I loved Lucifer. I loved him as a white beam almost blasting Sam and Dean's plane out of the air (I guess we're supposed to assume that that happenstance and Castiel's revival were God's doing?...hmf.), I loved him fucking with Nick's head, I loved Nick, I loved the actor, I loved Lucifer convincing Nick to be his vessel, I loved all of those scenes like burning. Oh my God, the little baby crying and the blood just pouring out of the crib and Nick sobbing TT_TT Lucifer you manipulative asshole. But - no, he's not a liar, and I really love the earnest, sympathetic, has-a-point, super-dangerous devil route they're taking. (I jumped around and squeed three years ago when I originally read the beginning of Paradise Lost, no lie. I wanted to see this Lucifer in fic over hiatus, but inevitably the seemingly charming Devil would just REVEAL as the evil lying snake that he's usually portrayed as.) I cannot wait to actually see him in Nick's body OMG OMG OMG I cannot wait.
I'd seen the clip in Chuck's house too many times for any real surprise or emotion, (which is too bad, I think I would have loved being surprised) although I did love that "Cas, you stupid bastard," and pained face from Dean. <3333 I love how he could so passionately change Castiel's mind and still be torn up with guilt about the consequences later, even if he knew it was necessary/worth it. Also, Sam replying to that remark felt kind of...odd. I mean, it seemed sort of out of character, because I think Sam is sensitive enough to realize that Dean was insulting Castiel out of guilt for getting him killed, not because Dean actually thought he was stupid for helping...?
I'm trying to forget about the obsessed-fangirl scenes. I loved the fangirl and the all of jokes in "Monster at the End of this Book," but this time was pretty over the top, especially with her avidly writing Wincest on-screen. I was cringing pretty hard.
I LOVED Meg and I adored the actress who played her, and I'm really sad that she'll probably be in a different meatsuit next time, I really liked this one. That said, her and her goons showing up seemed really abrupt and pointless outside of letting Dean know he's got a target painted on him (which he already knew) and getting Bobby injured.
I'm not crazy about Dean being Michael's vessel, unless they find another way for its relevance to come into play. Obviously we have seen this kind of thing kicked around in speculation and fic before, Dean being chosen because of a connection with the angels, it has a lot of potential, but with him just as a plain o VESSEL it's...not that interesting. He wouldn't do anything in the fight, it's basically just saying, "Dean needs to agree take himself out of the picture in order for Lucifer to be defeated." How...boring.
Also, what the hell. I would have liked to see Michael himself trying to convince Dean, (not that I didn't like Zachariah creatively torturing the boys, but obviously we need to see Michael and what he thinks of all this, he's kind of important), but hello, Dean can't see or hear angels, and has never been able to. How the hell is he a vessel? It's supposed to be in the blood, but I guess being the one who broke the first seal automatically made him Michael's vessel? Since the one who begins it is the only one who can end it? Blegh. I don't like that, either. All of that angst and pressure on Dean about him having to be the one to fight, and no, really, he doesn't have to do anything for his "grand role." Obviously they're not actually going to have Dean possessed the whole season, that really would be stupid, but the idea of it having been The Plan is pretty lame, I think.
Especially, if the angels knew this from the beginning, they are really, absolutely brainless, beyond what we've seen so far, and I have no respect for them being written as supposedly-higher beings. Why the hell did they wait so long to solicit Dean's permission to be possessed? There've been plenty of times when he's been so broken down, so desperate, so overwhelmed by the pressure of his (apparently fake) responsibilities that I think that, handled correctly, he would willingly have agreed to be Michael's vessel in exchange for a promise like the one Castiel made Jimmy: the possessing angel fights the good fight and promises that the family gets through it alive (and un-evil *coughSamcough*).
Instead the angels spent all this time buttering Dean up, telling him he's special and essential, and then when the time comes to actually get his consent they just kick him and Sam around and say "whoa just kidding for the third time, you're not really going to kill Lucifer after all, we just need your mouth to say yes so Michael can ride you around, you yourself would actually have no agency in this fight at all, lame-o." I mean, what? Why the hell did they give him that test-run as the order-giving captain in It's the Great Pumpkin, Sam Winchester, then?
Next, I love you, Castiel, I really, really do, but your entrance was really abrupt, the pacing of the entire scene seemed off, you were an extreme deus ex machina, and I've spent so long seeing you get your ass handed to you by the likes of Alistair and Uriel that I was raising a skeptical eyebrow when you dispatched those two angels with ease. While Zachariah just watched like a lump, wtf. I thought Cas was supposed to lose some powers after he gets brought back? (That whole resurrection issue was way too skipped over. I guess the second time someone is brought back from the dead it ceases to be such a big deal?)
And finally, Sam. I like Sam, really. He is not my weeaboo woobie-bear like he seems to be for a lot of people, but I really like him as a person and a character. But for someone who just really, actually started the Apocalypse and has just realized that he's been duped this whole time and has been making terrible decisions, even if he's been lead to them by demons, I really don't think we got a proportionate amount of remorse from Sam. I mean, obviously he regrets that he did it, but he was so calm and rational. The fics over hiatus that I felt captured Sam really well all had him taking this whole thing much, much harder, and it honestly made me lose sympathy for him that he didn't spend this episode seriously, seriously messed up. Which I hate, because I want to feel sympathy for Sam, I think I easily could have, and I think it's weird that the writers made his Apocalypse-starting guilt-trip seem so light, and made his "dealing" so focused on just smoothing things over with Dean. And Bobby, too; Sam just seemed way focused on forgiveness from the people he cares about.
And I agree with Dean, in the scene at the end. I think it's an accurate and reasonable summation of how they stand, right now. Dean has made his own fair share of screw-ups, but Sam's were more willful (again, even as I understand that he was misled), and the consequences were more dire. (No, I don't see Dean breaking under unimaginable torture in Hell to open the first Seal as equivalent to Sam's choices that lead him to open the last one.) Dean is over abandoning Sam, is obviously willing to stand by him, but that doesn't remotely mean that everything is okay.
Obviously I don't think that Dean will never trust Sam again, obviously they're going to spend the season shakily patching things up, and I really look forward to that, the brothers working out their issues, (their own issues and their issues with each other; I would have hated it if everything had been just fine!), but I agree that they will never be the same. And I don't want them to be; I want them to be better. Going back to the same way they used to be would be ignoring all of the things that have happened in the past 2-3 years, instead of working through it and coming out stronger in the end. I want them to grow as individuals, to be more their own people, but also for them to grow into a better overall relationship with each other than they've ever had.
TL; DR - I don't know, I think one of the main problems was that they tried to do too much in this episode, and a lot of things seemed rushed and ill-thought-out.
The gist: there were things I loved, but also quite a few things I didn't like about this episode. I enjoyed it, but it was not one of my favorites. I felt that a lot of things were abrupt, rushed, the pacing was off, and I just plain expected more, I guess.
I loved Lucifer. I loved him as a white beam almost blasting Sam and Dean's plane out of the air (I guess we're supposed to assume that that happenstance and Castiel's revival were God's doing?...hmf.), I loved him fucking with Nick's head, I loved Nick, I loved the actor, I loved Lucifer convincing Nick to be his vessel, I loved all of those scenes like burning. Oh my God, the little baby crying and the blood just pouring out of the crib and Nick sobbing TT_TT Lucifer you manipulative asshole. But - no, he's not a liar, and I really love the earnest, sympathetic, has-a-point, super-dangerous devil route they're taking. (I jumped around and squeed three years ago when I originally read the beginning of Paradise Lost, no lie. I wanted to see this Lucifer in fic over hiatus, but inevitably the seemingly charming Devil would just REVEAL as the evil lying snake that he's usually portrayed as.) I cannot wait to actually see him in Nick's body OMG OMG OMG I cannot wait.
I'd seen the clip in Chuck's house too many times for any real surprise or emotion, (which is too bad, I think I would have loved being surprised) although I did love that "Cas, you stupid bastard," and pained face from Dean. <3333 I love how he could so passionately change Castiel's mind and still be torn up with guilt about the consequences later, even if he knew it was necessary/worth it. Also, Sam replying to that remark felt kind of...odd. I mean, it seemed sort of out of character, because I think Sam is sensitive enough to realize that Dean was insulting Castiel out of guilt for getting him killed, not because Dean actually thought he was stupid for helping...?
I'm trying to forget about the obsessed-fangirl scenes. I loved the fangirl and the all of jokes in "Monster at the End of this Book," but this time was pretty over the top, especially with her avidly writing Wincest on-screen. I was cringing pretty hard.
I LOVED Meg and I adored the actress who played her, and I'm really sad that she'll probably be in a different meatsuit next time, I really liked this one. That said, her and her goons showing up seemed really abrupt and pointless outside of letting Dean know he's got a target painted on him (which he already knew) and getting Bobby injured.
I'm not crazy about Dean being Michael's vessel, unless they find another way for its relevance to come into play. Obviously we have seen this kind of thing kicked around in speculation and fic before, Dean being chosen because of a connection with the angels, it has a lot of potential, but with him just as a plain o VESSEL it's...not that interesting. He wouldn't do anything in the fight, it's basically just saying, "Dean needs to agree take himself out of the picture in order for Lucifer to be defeated." How...boring.
Also, what the hell. I would have liked to see Michael himself trying to convince Dean, (not that I didn't like Zachariah creatively torturing the boys, but obviously we need to see Michael and what he thinks of all this, he's kind of important), but hello, Dean can't see or hear angels, and has never been able to. How the hell is he a vessel? It's supposed to be in the blood, but I guess being the one who broke the first seal automatically made him Michael's vessel? Since the one who begins it is the only one who can end it? Blegh. I don't like that, either. All of that angst and pressure on Dean about him having to be the one to fight, and no, really, he doesn't have to do anything for his "grand role." Obviously they're not actually going to have Dean possessed the whole season, that really would be stupid, but the idea of it having been The Plan is pretty lame, I think.
Especially, if the angels knew this from the beginning, they are really, absolutely brainless, beyond what we've seen so far, and I have no respect for them being written as supposedly-higher beings. Why the hell did they wait so long to solicit Dean's permission to be possessed? There've been plenty of times when he's been so broken down, so desperate, so overwhelmed by the pressure of his (apparently fake) responsibilities that I think that, handled correctly, he would willingly have agreed to be Michael's vessel in exchange for a promise like the one Castiel made Jimmy: the possessing angel fights the good fight and promises that the family gets through it alive (and un-evil *coughSamcough*).
Instead the angels spent all this time buttering Dean up, telling him he's special and essential, and then when the time comes to actually get his consent they just kick him and Sam around and say "whoa just kidding for the third time, you're not really going to kill Lucifer after all, we just need your mouth to say yes so Michael can ride you around, you yourself would actually have no agency in this fight at all, lame-o." I mean, what? Why the hell did they give him that test-run as the order-giving captain in It's the Great Pumpkin, Sam Winchester, then?
Next, I love you, Castiel, I really, really do, but your entrance was really abrupt, the pacing of the entire scene seemed off, you were an extreme deus ex machina, and I've spent so long seeing you get your ass handed to you by the likes of Alistair and Uriel that I was raising a skeptical eyebrow when you dispatched those two angels with ease. While Zachariah just watched like a lump, wtf. I thought Cas was supposed to lose some powers after he gets brought back? (That whole resurrection issue was way too skipped over. I guess the second time someone is brought back from the dead it ceases to be such a big deal?)
And finally, Sam. I like Sam, really. He is not my weeaboo woobie-bear like he seems to be for a lot of people, but I really like him as a person and a character. But for someone who just really, actually started the Apocalypse and has just realized that he's been duped this whole time and has been making terrible decisions, even if he's been lead to them by demons, I really don't think we got a proportionate amount of remorse from Sam. I mean, obviously he regrets that he did it, but he was so calm and rational. The fics over hiatus that I felt captured Sam really well all had him taking this whole thing much, much harder, and it honestly made me lose sympathy for him that he didn't spend this episode seriously, seriously messed up. Which I hate, because I want to feel sympathy for Sam, I think I easily could have, and I think it's weird that the writers made his Apocalypse-starting guilt-trip seem so light, and made his "dealing" so focused on just smoothing things over with Dean. And Bobby, too; Sam just seemed way focused on forgiveness from the people he cares about.
And I agree with Dean, in the scene at the end. I think it's an accurate and reasonable summation of how they stand, right now. Dean has made his own fair share of screw-ups, but Sam's were more willful (again, even as I understand that he was misled), and the consequences were more dire. (No, I don't see Dean breaking under unimaginable torture in Hell to open the first Seal as equivalent to Sam's choices that lead him to open the last one.) Dean is over abandoning Sam, is obviously willing to stand by him, but that doesn't remotely mean that everything is okay.
Obviously I don't think that Dean will never trust Sam again, obviously they're going to spend the season shakily patching things up, and I really look forward to that, the brothers working out their issues, (their own issues and their issues with each other; I would have hated it if everything had been just fine!), but I agree that they will never be the same. And I don't want them to be; I want them to be better. Going back to the same way they used to be would be ignoring all of the things that have happened in the past 2-3 years, instead of working through it and coming out stronger in the end. I want them to grow as individuals, to be more their own people, but also for them to grow into a better overall relationship with each other than they've ever had.
TL; DR - I don't know, I think one of the main problems was that they tried to do too much in this episode, and a lot of things seemed rushed and ill-thought-out.
