ramblin_rosie (![[personal profile]](https://www.dreamwidth.org/img/silk/identity/user.png)
ramblin_rosie) wrote2014-06-20 01:17 pm
ramblin_rosie) wrote2014-06-20 01:17 pm
There is no joy in Mudville
Like I said, this is as much to get this opinion off my chest as anything.
So here's the state of things as of the end of 9.23:
The only people who can stay good, stay human, and survive are Charlie Bradbury and Jody Mills. (And really, only Jody can stay in the boys' lives.) No one else, not even Cas, not even Dean, can avoid turning dark.
Dean, our chief hero, must live through every single one of his greatest fears and worst nightmares--even when he chooses to reject the darkness and repent.
Sam, our other hero, can save the world as often as he likes, but he can never save Dean.
Neither of them can have anything wholly good for more than a few months. (The Batcave is still standing, sure, but it will always be tainted for the boys by the memory of Kevin's murder.)
God apparently is too invested in staying out of things to intervene even when human souls are trapped outside of Heaven.
Angels don't understand virtue, and too few of them are good enough to be even remotely distinguishable from demons.
There is no other force unequivocally for good (that has thus far been revealed).
Too few villains actually receive their comeuppance. In particular, Crowley gets a pass because he has occasionally verged into an area that might charitably be called gunmetal grey.
There is no peace.
There is no hope.
Now, I do understand that this is a horror series, that there has to be conflict, and that there's value in undermining tropes and subverting expectations. The trouble is, there comes a point at which subversion and undermining makes a story structurally unsound. From where I sit, SPN has not only passed that point but also that of being rickety and is in serious danger of collapse.
To be fair to Carver, this started under Kripke, and Gamble did her share of damage as well. But this last season, Carver has seemed to be too hung up on making sure the light at the end of the tunnel is never anything other than a train to remember that hope and family are supposed to be the entire point of this story. I mean, even Hamlet took out the person chiefly responsible for the corruption of the Danish court and served as a strong warning to the rest, even if it cost him his life. If the heroes can't win no matter what they do and will never receive a lasting reward for even trying, what is the point?
So here's the state of things as of the end of 9.23:
The only people who can stay good, stay human, and survive are Charlie Bradbury and Jody Mills. (And really, only Jody can stay in the boys' lives.) No one else, not even Cas, not even Dean, can avoid turning dark.
Dean, our chief hero, must live through every single one of his greatest fears and worst nightmares--even when he chooses to reject the darkness and repent.
Sam, our other hero, can save the world as often as he likes, but he can never save Dean.
Neither of them can have anything wholly good for more than a few months. (The Batcave is still standing, sure, but it will always be tainted for the boys by the memory of Kevin's murder.)
God apparently is too invested in staying out of things to intervene even when human souls are trapped outside of Heaven.
Angels don't understand virtue, and too few of them are good enough to be even remotely distinguishable from demons.
There is no other force unequivocally for good (that has thus far been revealed).
Too few villains actually receive their comeuppance. In particular, Crowley gets a pass because he has occasionally verged into an area that might charitably be called gunmetal grey.
There is no peace.
There is no hope.
Now, I do understand that this is a horror series, that there has to be conflict, and that there's value in undermining tropes and subverting expectations. The trouble is, there comes a point at which subversion and undermining makes a story structurally unsound. From where I sit, SPN has not only passed that point but also that of being rickety and is in serious danger of collapse.
To be fair to Carver, this started under Kripke, and Gamble did her share of damage as well. But this last season, Carver has seemed to be too hung up on making sure the light at the end of the tunnel is never anything other than a train to remember that hope and family are supposed to be the entire point of this story. I mean, even Hamlet took out the person chiefly responsible for the corruption of the Danish court and served as a strong warning to the rest, even if it cost him his life. If the heroes can't win no matter what they do and will never receive a lasting reward for even trying, what is the point?