Supernatural almost-season-finale fanwank
May. 21st, 2011 11:55 pm![[personal profile]](https://www.dreamwidth.org/img/silk/identity/user.png){kind=small}
lunasarielAfter a comparatively long period of intelligent and rational discourse on a variety of semi-relevant real-world topics, I'm back with more unhinged fan-babbling!
The sixth season of Supernatural reached its conclusion yesterday, and damn. Every year, I think that the showrunners can't screw things up than they already have, but then they somehow find a way to take things to a whole new level of "oh, shit." In the interest of full disclosure, I've only seen up to "The Man Who Would Be King," the third to last episode, so I'll probably drop a whole new rant on you guys once I actually do finish it.
I've said before, and I'm sure I'll say again, that pretty much the only reason I watch this damned show anymore is Misha Collins' Castiel. While Dean and Sam are busy bellyaching at each other and the universe in general, Bobby and Cas are busy being efficient and quietly sinking into their various depressions, but Cas has the edge of being insanely hot over Bobby, who is more...cuddly. Of course, the Brothers Winchester are too self-absorbed to notice this until something really obvious happens, like Bobby quadruples his alcohol intake or Cas snaps and tries to take over the world, at which point, they're all "holy shit! Where did *that* come from?!"
I've found that Supernatural, as a fandom, tends to bring out both the best and worst in its fans. I didn't know that things like twincest, wing!porn, or a whole slew of kinks that I'd rather not describe here, existed until I entered the Pit of Voles. SPN fangirls, on the whole, have a tendency to squee, glomp, ship, slash, fanwank, and just generally freak out to a degree that I've never seen before.
But there were some who resisted. A Last Alliance of Men and Elves...I mean, despite all the psycho fans out there, there are some truly fantastic fans keepin' it classy. Supernatural mentions, but doesn't have the intelligence to fully address, some interesting theological and factual questions. A few age-old quanadries that the show has kind of glossed over are "How can free will coexist with divine preordination?" "Can nonhumans be said to have emotions comparable to human ones?" "Which, if any, religion is factually and/or spiritually correct?" and "To what extent is it acceptable to sacrifice freedom for safety, and vice-versa?", and I've seen some fanfic writers address these questions worlds better than the show's actual writers. A very, very special mention here is due to![[livejournal.com profile]](https://www.dreamwidth.org/img/external/lj-userinfo.gif)
thevinegarworks , who is pretty much the only reason I'm still involved with Supernatural at all. Her (or his) fics are everything I want this show to be, everything it *could* be, if it pulled its head out of its own ass for a minute.
As far as I can tell, the arc of season six, as it pertains to Cas, goes like this:
Dean: Hey Cas! A little help down here?
Cas: Anything I can do to help.
*Cas saves imperiled Winchester/Singer ass*
~
Dean: Cas! Front and center! We're in trouble again!
Cas: Dean, you know that I'm always happy to help, but you remember that war you guys kinda started last season? I'm having some trouble controlling-
Dean: SHUT UP SAMMY IS IN DANGER!!!!!!!1!
*Cas rescues imperiled victim of the day*
~
Dean: Up and at 'em, Cas! Time to do your part!
Cas: I'm actually pretty busy trying to stop an evil Archangel and his army of superpowered nihilists from restarting the Apocalypse and killing pretty much everybody, so if you guys could-
Sam: If you ever fail to show up exactly when and where we need you, or to immediately follow our orders to the letter, I will hunt you down and kill you. Slowly.
Cas: *sigh* *saves the day. Again.*
~
Dean: *snaps fingers* Yo Feathers! Get your butt down here!
Cas: I. Am. Busy. This might be kind of a difficult thing for you to process, but I've got this whole "war for Heaven" thingamajig going on, so no matter how much I wish I could, and believe me, I do, I can't spend all my time just sitting around waiting for you guys to-
Dean: MY PROBLEMS ARE THE MOST IMPORTANT THING IN THE WORLD!!!!!1!! HOW DARE YOU THINK OTHERWISE, YOU EVIL ANGEL!!!!!!1!!!!one!!!
Cas: ...Um, ok, I'll just abandon this war, upon which hinges the fate of the universe, to babysit you and your dumbass brother because I love you.
*more ass-saving ensues*
~
Dean and Co: OMG CAS MADE A DEAL WITH A DEMON! HE'S EVIL AND WE HAVE TO KILL HIM!!!!
Fans: So when Cas makes a deal with a demon to save all of humanity, he's a despicable traitor and must be eradicated. But when you guys make MULTIPLE deals with demons, and then ask Cas to save you from the repercussions of said deals, you guys are just doing what you had to do?
Cas: Okay, now you guys are just being dicks. So far I have: A) betrayed Heaven and my family because you said so, B) got kicked out of Heaven and had a kill-order placed on my head as a direct result of said betrayal, C) lost all my powers due to same, D) died twice to save your sorry ungrateful asses, E) sent you back in time twice, although it very nearly killed me both times, F) gave up a sure shot at winning the war in heaven specifically because it would have meant your eventual deaths, G) saved your asses an estimated fifteen bajillion times, H) shown up to help you every time you stubbed your toe, even though you don't care about my life beyond how it affects my ability to cater to your every whim, and I) just generally bent over backwards to help you execute your various boneheaded schemes, and then been there to pull you out every time these schemes backfired. You know what? Screw you guys. I'm flying solo from here on out.
Dean: *mutters* Psycho.
Soooo...yeah. I am obviously not a happy camper. I mean, SPN is known for its...creative use of logic and morality, especially when deciding things like blame, fault, and culpability, but this takes the cake. The big problem for the entire first half of the season was that the boys were working for Crowley, helping him round up Alphas, because he claimed that he could restore Sam's soul. Nobody judged them for this. I mean, Dean whinged a bit (but then again, when is he ever *not* whinging about something?), but pretty much everybody involved saw this as an unpleasant thing that had to be done for the greater good. But apparently when Cas does the same thing, for excellent reasons, and is obviously not okay with palling around with demons, he's a deceitful monster?
To be fair though, My Sweet Baboo (to use Television Without Pity nomenclature) isn't entirely blameless. I admit, lying to and spying on the guys was kind of a dick move, and working with a demon, for whatever reason, is no bueno. And he does seem to kind of have jumped off the sanity cliff at the end, there. (Prediction for next season: Crowley or somebody knew that allowing Castiel access to so many souls would cause him to overload and go mad with power, and used this to set him up. Once the source of his corruption, the souls, is removed, Cas sees The Error Of His Ways, a lá Sam post-demon blood.) It's just that the MASSIVE overreaction to his deal, especially in "The Man Who Would Be King", seemed just a liiiiitle bit excessive. "OMG! Our trusted friend and ally is doing exactly what we were doing a few months ago! Let's trap him in a circle of burning holy oil, yell at him, and threaten him! Sounds like a great plan!"
I truly intended to watch the season finale today, but I ended up watching episode 5 of Game of Thrones. Again. I went in intending to only watch That Scene (you know the one I mean), but ended up just basking in the glory that is a well-done adaption of a beloved fantasy novel to the silver screen. I dislike Gethin Anthony's Renly more every time I see him, and I'm not totally pleased with Finn Jones' Loras, either, but something about that scene, whether it's Loras' devotion, or the old-married-couple bickering between the two, or something else *ahem* entirely, I love it more every time I see it, casting decisions aside. Bravo, Messrs. Benioff, Weiss, and Martin!
OK, I guess I'm done ranting for now. I probably won't post again until the end of this week, because of finals and whatnot, but the combined forces of the Supernatural finale, the new Doctor Who (which I can hardly expect to match the fantasticness of last week, but can hardly be bad *crosses fingers*), and the new Game of Thrones (ditto) just might be enough to overpower what passes for my willpower to study the German future imperfect tense instead of watch geeky TV shows.
The sixth season of Supernatural reached its conclusion yesterday, and damn. Every year, I think that the showrunners can't screw things up than they already have, but then they somehow find a way to take things to a whole new level of "oh, shit." In the interest of full disclosure, I've only seen up to "The Man Who Would Be King," the third to last episode, so I'll probably drop a whole new rant on you guys once I actually do finish it.
I've said before, and I'm sure I'll say again, that pretty much the only reason I watch this damned show anymore is Misha Collins' Castiel. While Dean and Sam are busy bellyaching at each other and the universe in general, Bobby and Cas are busy being efficient and quietly sinking into their various depressions, but Cas has the edge of being insanely hot over Bobby, who is more...cuddly. Of course, the Brothers Winchester are too self-absorbed to notice this until something really obvious happens, like Bobby quadruples his alcohol intake or Cas snaps and tries to take over the world, at which point, they're all "holy shit! Where did *that* come from?!"
I've found that Supernatural, as a fandom, tends to bring out both the best and worst in its fans. I didn't know that things like twincest, wing!porn, or a whole slew of kinks that I'd rather not describe here, existed until I entered the Pit of Voles. SPN fangirls, on the whole, have a tendency to squee, glomp, ship, slash, fanwank, and just generally freak out to a degree that I've never seen before.
But there were some who resisted. A Last Alliance of Men and Elves...I mean, despite all the psycho fans out there, there are some truly fantastic fans keepin' it classy. Supernatural mentions, but doesn't have the intelligence to fully address, some interesting theological and factual questions. A few age-old quanadries that the show has kind of glossed over are "How can free will coexist with divine preordination?" "Can nonhumans be said to have emotions comparable to human ones?" "Which, if any, religion is factually and/or spiritually correct?" and "To what extent is it acceptable to sacrifice freedom for safety, and vice-versa?", and I've seen some fanfic writers address these questions worlds better than the show's actual writers. A very, very special mention here is due to
thevinegarworks , who is pretty much the only reason I'm still involved with Supernatural at all. Her (or his) fics are everything I want this show to be, everything it *could* be, if it pulled its head out of its own ass for a minute.As far as I can tell, the arc of season six, as it pertains to Cas, goes like this:
Dean: Hey Cas! A little help down here?
Cas: Anything I can do to help.
*Cas saves imperiled Winchester/Singer ass*
~
Dean: Cas! Front and center! We're in trouble again!
Cas: Dean, you know that I'm always happy to help, but you remember that war you guys kinda started last season? I'm having some trouble controlling-
Dean: SHUT UP SAMMY IS IN DANGER!!!!!!!1!
*Cas rescues imperiled victim of the day*
~
Dean: Up and at 'em, Cas! Time to do your part!
Cas: I'm actually pretty busy trying to stop an evil Archangel and his army of superpowered nihilists from restarting the Apocalypse and killing pretty much everybody, so if you guys could-
Sam: If you ever fail to show up exactly when and where we need you, or to immediately follow our orders to the letter, I will hunt you down and kill you. Slowly.
Cas: *sigh* *saves the day. Again.*
~
Dean: *snaps fingers* Yo Feathers! Get your butt down here!
Cas: I. Am. Busy. This might be kind of a difficult thing for you to process, but I've got this whole "war for Heaven" thingamajig going on, so no matter how much I wish I could, and believe me, I do, I can't spend all my time just sitting around waiting for you guys to-
Dean: MY PROBLEMS ARE THE MOST IMPORTANT THING IN THE WORLD!!!!!1!! HOW DARE YOU THINK OTHERWISE, YOU EVIL ANGEL!!!!!!1!!!!one!!!
Cas: ...Um, ok, I'll just abandon this war, upon which hinges the fate of the universe, to babysit you and your dumbass brother because I love you.
*more ass-saving ensues*
~
Dean and Co: OMG CAS MADE A DEAL WITH A DEMON! HE'S EVIL AND WE HAVE TO KILL HIM!!!!
Fans: So when Cas makes a deal with a demon to save all of humanity, he's a despicable traitor and must be eradicated. But when you guys make MULTIPLE deals with demons, and then ask Cas to save you from the repercussions of said deals, you guys are just doing what you had to do?
Cas: Okay, now you guys are just being dicks. So far I have: A) betrayed Heaven and my family because you said so, B) got kicked out of Heaven and had a kill-order placed on my head as a direct result of said betrayal, C) lost all my powers due to same, D) died twice to save your sorry ungrateful asses, E) sent you back in time twice, although it very nearly killed me both times, F) gave up a sure shot at winning the war in heaven specifically because it would have meant your eventual deaths, G) saved your asses an estimated fifteen bajillion times, H) shown up to help you every time you stubbed your toe, even though you don't care about my life beyond how it affects my ability to cater to your every whim, and I) just generally bent over backwards to help you execute your various boneheaded schemes, and then been there to pull you out every time these schemes backfired. You know what? Screw you guys. I'm flying solo from here on out.
Dean: *mutters* Psycho.
Soooo...yeah. I am obviously not a happy camper. I mean, SPN is known for its...creative use of logic and morality, especially when deciding things like blame, fault, and culpability, but this takes the cake. The big problem for the entire first half of the season was that the boys were working for Crowley, helping him round up Alphas, because he claimed that he could restore Sam's soul. Nobody judged them for this. I mean, Dean whinged a bit (but then again, when is he ever *not* whinging about something?), but pretty much everybody involved saw this as an unpleasant thing that had to be done for the greater good. But apparently when Cas does the same thing, for excellent reasons, and is obviously not okay with palling around with demons, he's a deceitful monster?
To be fair though, My Sweet Baboo (to use Television Without Pity nomenclature) isn't entirely blameless. I admit, lying to and spying on the guys was kind of a dick move, and working with a demon, for whatever reason, is no bueno. And he does seem to kind of have jumped off the sanity cliff at the end, there. (Prediction for next season: Crowley or somebody knew that allowing Castiel access to so many souls would cause him to overload and go mad with power, and used this to set him up. Once the source of his corruption, the souls, is removed, Cas sees The Error Of His Ways, a lá Sam post-demon blood.) It's just that the MASSIVE overreaction to his deal, especially in "The Man Who Would Be King", seemed just a liiiiitle bit excessive. "OMG! Our trusted friend and ally is doing exactly what we were doing a few months ago! Let's trap him in a circle of burning holy oil, yell at him, and threaten him! Sounds like a great plan!"
I truly intended to watch the season finale today, but I ended up watching episode 5 of Game of Thrones. Again. I went in intending to only watch That Scene (you know the one I mean), but ended up just basking in the glory that is a well-done adaption of a beloved fantasy novel to the silver screen. I dislike Gethin Anthony's Renly more every time I see him, and I'm not totally pleased with Finn Jones' Loras, either, but something about that scene, whether it's Loras' devotion, or the old-married-couple bickering between the two, or something else *ahem* entirely, I love it more every time I see it, casting decisions aside. Bravo, Messrs. Benioff, Weiss, and Martin!
OK, I guess I'm done ranting for now. I probably won't post again until the end of this week, because of finals and whatnot, but the combined forces of the Supernatural finale, the new Doctor Who (which I can hardly expect to match the fantasticness of last week, but can hardly be bad *crosses fingers*), and the new Game of Thrones (ditto) just might be enough to overpower what passes for my willpower to study the German future imperfect tense instead of watch geeky TV shows.
![[identity profile]](https://www.dreamwidth.org/img/silk/identity/openid.png){kind=small}
no subject
Date: 2011-05-22 08:34 am (UTC)I looked up this Misha Collins person, and yes, he IS insanely hot.
no subject
Date: 2011-05-22 05:18 pm (UTC)Yes, Misha is definitely a piece of all right, a big component of his appeal is his voice. If/when you have a spare minute, try to find some clips of him as Castiel on YouTube, and you'll see what I mean. His Cas!voice is about an octave lower than his regular!voice, and kind of growly. Just listening to him is the very definition of audio erotica. *wipes fangirl drool off of keyboard*