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musings on SPN 2.02
Apologies for the spam-posting today. La la.
To be honest, I have been completely disinclined to read any of the reviews people have posted for this episode. And yeah, it's because of all the Jo-and-Ellen stuff going around. One of the things I love about the show is the fact (in my perception of it) that it generally does away with characters hung like shirts on gendered clothes-hangers (... i don't know, don't ask me where that came from), and has the characters as, well, PEOPLE.
In season 1, I liked the male characters. I liked the female characters. Or rather, I liked the way the show dealt with the gender of both male and female characters, felt it was even handed within the diegesis of the show. They were all just people, and I like that about the show. I liked the way the show explored concepts of masculinity in the mainstream through the main characters, but also liked the fact that that wasn't the sum of all their parts. I liked that the female characters were pretty much just characters who happened to be female (Kat, Deputy Kathleen, Emily...), bar maybe Sarah and Meg, who I felt a pretty instant discomfort with.
So anyway, 2.02. There are new characters! Oh, and they're female. I like what I've seen of them so far. I've avoided reviews etc, because it seems from what I've got wind of that everyone is suddenly setting up camp for 'pro' or 'anti' jo-and-ellen, violently for or against, pretty much dependent on, yup, the fact that they're female. Yes, I am aware of the camp of people who love seeing strong female characters and who are overjoyed to see some women with guns etc, but that's now the way I interpret the show. Or rather, not how I receive the show. I just like characters, and from what I've seen of Jo and Ellen in this one episode, the show has come through as creating them as just that - characters. Not Women.
So anyway. I like this episode a lot.
I love hunters. I love the whole hunting culture/sub-society that we saw so little of in Season 1. And I *love* that we saw so little of it in Season 1. I love that they haven't just sprung it on us now, like, "oh shit, better think of something interesting to keep it kicking!" I love that it's being constructed that John Winchester was an alienating ass who isolated his family from this hunting community. JohnIs Was Not Like Other Hunters. I'm not sure that most other hunters started hunting the same way John did - had the same motivation. From what we've seen, all the other hunters had homes, were not nomadic. "This is not how you track a demon." John was crazy-pants, made enemies easily.
Which means the boys are left pretty isolated (especially Dean, jesus, who had accepted this as his life - more like all the other hunters - only he didn't even KNOW about most of them). Dad was pretty much their world. It seems natural that now they're looking for replacement guidance - Sam's 'eagerness' to call Ellen in case she has ideas, as opposed to being all bitchy and "NO I CAN DO IT MYSELF" that no doubt alienated John from the support network.
So, yeah. I don't think they'll necessarily go to hunter summer school or anything any time soon, it's still totally SamandDean til the end of the world, but they are not like John - they will take advantage of the new world of hunting they're beginning to uncover.
And of course, something that I've always seen as a kind of gender-equaliser on the show: the fact that all secondary characters essentially just mirror the dynamics of the Winchesters. Ellen-John and Dean-Jo makes me rather pleased. It's so very obvious, but so very great. I am fond.
So anyway. Obviously, the angst and emo in this KILLED me. I LOVE MY SHOW. it's really got the subtlety working now, whilst maintaining its sweeping, allegorical themes. Oh, SHOW.
And, I don't know. It's refined itself in terms of the monster-of-the-week, I think. I saw a bunch of people complain that it wasn't prominent enough for a show based around that structure, that the conclusion to it wasn't all that satisfying, whatever, but... To be honest? It reminded me of fic!! And not in a bad way. I tend to feel that in fandom, people are keen to do the research, make it believable, make it REAL. these are a couple of guys who hunt monsters. We don't have to - we can't - dumb it down for the general TV audience. When we take on the characters, we make it real for them. Which means, at time, making the hunting not something huge and full of string music and too many fake-outs, but sometimes banal, sometimes over-really-soon, sometimes red herrings, sometimes NO red herrings. The way the guys hunted this one struck me as more 'real' than a LOT of the hunts in season 1 - it was the kind of hunting I've come to recognise as believable of the 'verse, after many, many stories read and written, where what happens in hunts is determined by the characters, not the suspense of a TV show.
So anyway, I liked it.
I also liked the costuming. The final scene in particular, oh fuck oh FUCK, SAMMY. All the fights/interaction between the two around that issue this week just killed me, it killed me so hard. Especially Sammy's speech at the end. And, god, it was made like, 500% MORE EFFECTIVE by the fact that they were so dressed down. I was SO happy to see them shooting somewhere that was apparently NOT SNOWING or ABSOLUTELY FREEZING. they were wearing ONE LAYER. ONE.
It was amazing how effective it was - like, I'd generally thought of the layered costuming in terms of the fact that they were shooting in Vancouver, but really, seeing them in just teeshirts and jeans? it was like, whoa. All those shirts/jackets/hoodies on the job, that's like armour. armour and wardrobe all at once, carrying their belongings on their backs, so to see them here, staying at Bobby's, wearing so little - they're in the safehouse, taking leave, having down time. They are stable, for the moment (at least in terms of being nomads), don't need to be wearing so much armour (of course, there's the emotional metaphor there, too - that they are so debilitated by John's death, they are stripped back and vulnerable).
And, that vulnerability is what came through SO HARD in that final scene. Sammy in his v-neck teeshirt, so much skin exposed, SO damn open and vulnerable. Just... so damn perfect, that scene. GOD.
Okay, that's enough rambling for now.
Also, I have an icon from 2.02, if you don't want to be spoiled, don't look at my userpics.
To be honest, I have been completely disinclined to read any of the reviews people have posted for this episode. And yeah, it's because of all the Jo-and-Ellen stuff going around. One of the things I love about the show is the fact (in my perception of it) that it generally does away with characters hung like shirts on gendered clothes-hangers (... i don't know, don't ask me where that came from), and has the characters as, well, PEOPLE.
In season 1, I liked the male characters. I liked the female characters. Or rather, I liked the way the show dealt with the gender of both male and female characters, felt it was even handed within the diegesis of the show. They were all just people, and I like that about the show. I liked the way the show explored concepts of masculinity in the mainstream through the main characters, but also liked the fact that that wasn't the sum of all their parts. I liked that the female characters were pretty much just characters who happened to be female (Kat, Deputy Kathleen, Emily...), bar maybe Sarah and Meg, who I felt a pretty instant discomfort with.
So anyway, 2.02. There are new characters! Oh, and they're female. I like what I've seen of them so far. I've avoided reviews etc, because it seems from what I've got wind of that everyone is suddenly setting up camp for 'pro' or 'anti' jo-and-ellen, violently for or against, pretty much dependent on, yup, the fact that they're female. Yes, I am aware of the camp of people who love seeing strong female characters and who are overjoyed to see some women with guns etc, but that's now the way I interpret the show. Or rather, not how I receive the show. I just like characters, and from what I've seen of Jo and Ellen in this one episode, the show has come through as creating them as just that - characters. Not Women.
So anyway. I like this episode a lot.
I love hunters. I love the whole hunting culture/sub-society that we saw so little of in Season 1. And I *love* that we saw so little of it in Season 1. I love that they haven't just sprung it on us now, like, "oh shit, better think of something interesting to keep it kicking!" I love that it's being constructed that John Winchester was an alienating ass who isolated his family from this hunting community. John
Which means the boys are left pretty isolated (especially Dean, jesus, who had accepted this as his life - more like all the other hunters - only he didn't even KNOW about most of them). Dad was pretty much their world. It seems natural that now they're looking for replacement guidance - Sam's 'eagerness' to call Ellen in case she has ideas, as opposed to being all bitchy and "NO I CAN DO IT MYSELF" that no doubt alienated John from the support network.
So, yeah. I don't think they'll necessarily go to hunter summer school or anything any time soon, it's still totally SamandDean til the end of the world, but they are not like John - they will take advantage of the new world of hunting they're beginning to uncover.
And of course, something that I've always seen as a kind of gender-equaliser on the show: the fact that all secondary characters essentially just mirror the dynamics of the Winchesters. Ellen-John and Dean-Jo makes me rather pleased. It's so very obvious, but so very great. I am fond.
So anyway. Obviously, the angst and emo in this KILLED me. I LOVE MY SHOW. it's really got the subtlety working now, whilst maintaining its sweeping, allegorical themes. Oh, SHOW.
And, I don't know. It's refined itself in terms of the monster-of-the-week, I think. I saw a bunch of people complain that it wasn't prominent enough for a show based around that structure, that the conclusion to it wasn't all that satisfying, whatever, but... To be honest? It reminded me of fic!! And not in a bad way. I tend to feel that in fandom, people are keen to do the research, make it believable, make it REAL. these are a couple of guys who hunt monsters. We don't have to - we can't - dumb it down for the general TV audience. When we take on the characters, we make it real for them. Which means, at time, making the hunting not something huge and full of string music and too many fake-outs, but sometimes banal, sometimes over-really-soon, sometimes red herrings, sometimes NO red herrings. The way the guys hunted this one struck me as more 'real' than a LOT of the hunts in season 1 - it was the kind of hunting I've come to recognise as believable of the 'verse, after many, many stories read and written, where what happens in hunts is determined by the characters, not the suspense of a TV show.
So anyway, I liked it.
I also liked the costuming. The final scene in particular, oh fuck oh FUCK, SAMMY. All the fights/interaction between the two around that issue this week just killed me, it killed me so hard. Especially Sammy's speech at the end. And, god, it was made like, 500% MORE EFFECTIVE by the fact that they were so dressed down. I was SO happy to see them shooting somewhere that was apparently NOT SNOWING or ABSOLUTELY FREEZING. they were wearing ONE LAYER. ONE.
It was amazing how effective it was - like, I'd generally thought of the layered costuming in terms of the fact that they were shooting in Vancouver, but really, seeing them in just teeshirts and jeans? it was like, whoa. All those shirts/jackets/hoodies on the job, that's like armour. armour and wardrobe all at once, carrying their belongings on their backs, so to see them here, staying at Bobby's, wearing so little - they're in the safehouse, taking leave, having down time. They are stable, for the moment (at least in terms of being nomads), don't need to be wearing so much armour (of course, there's the emotional metaphor there, too - that they are so debilitated by John's death, they are stripped back and vulnerable).
And, that vulnerability is what came through SO HARD in that final scene. Sammy in his v-neck teeshirt, so much skin exposed, SO damn open and vulnerable. Just... so damn perfect, that scene. GOD.
Okay, that's enough rambling for now.
Also, I have an icon from 2.02, if you don't want to be spoiled, don't look at my userpics.