This has been my quickest run through a fandom experience ever

[rusty_halo]

You know that feeling you get when you eat too much candy too fast and suddenly you feel sick? I’m not sure if season four is going downhill or if it’s just me. Even really good candy will make you ill if you watch 70 episodes of it in 7 days.

I don't really care about the apocalypse, though. Or demons and angels and God and Lucifer. More personal stories on a smaller scale are easier to relate to, and I've already been through the ~apocalypse~ thing like seventy billion times with Buffy and Doctor Who. We all know it's not really going to happen.

Also, I don't think their funny episodes are very funny (although the funny moments amidst serious episodes continue to make me lol). It's like they're trying really hard to be Darin Morgan and they're just... not. (Although maybe I'm just getting old. Maybe I'd think "Jose Chung" was forced and embarrassing if I saw it now. But... it's probably just that Supernatural isn't as good as The X-Files.)

The Dean angst is starting to feel very paint-by-numbers, like every episode gets its Obligatory Moment of Dean Angsting Prettily and then everything goes back to normal. I just don't buy the hell trauma thing--40 years in hell would make you insane. And it's not a very interesting trauma, because it's too over-the-top to take seriously, whereas "My father died to save me" and "I'm scared of going to hell" were much more affecting. I worry that Dean is slipping into caricature--so far this season he hasn't done a single thing that's surprised me. (Well, "rehymenated" was good.)

It's also that they've upped the angst ante so far that there's nowhere else they can go. The two worst things that could possibly happen to the Dean Winchester we met in season one have already happened: his father died for him, and his brother died despite him. How can ~hell~ and ~the apocalypse~ compare? They're too big and abstract; they don't hit at the core of who Dean is a character. I guess the next worse thing is Sam going dark, but that still isn't as interesting as what we've already seen.

(I still love Dean, though, don't get me wrong. It occurred to me the other day that he is basically Gene Hunt's exterior with Sam Tyler's interior--a collection of big manly defense mechanisms with an adorable gooey emo center. I just wish the writing on the show was better.)

Sam is getting more interesting--I loved Sam jumping into bed with Ruby! I'm impressed with Sam's development--I'm glad they got past the "I just want to be normal" thing. His whole struggle with his dark side is a lot more convincing and well-developed than I expected. I really like that the boys' relationship is shifting as the characters change--Sam certainly isn't the voice of morality anymore. I still don't think the actor is great, but he's better; he can do humor really well, although his version of "angst" mostly just translates as "constipated" to me. (Whereas when Dean angsts, you can see every ounce of trauma on his beautiful tortured soul.)

I don't know enough about Castiel to have an opinion on him yet, but I could probably see myself shipping him with Dean. We'll see. Don't spoil me.

I actually am going to be taking at least a three-day break now, because 1) I really do have to get a normal amount of sleep tonight or I'm going to collapse, 2) I'm seeing Iron Man in IMAX tomorrow at midnight! Woohoo!, and 3) I'm actually planning to leave my house and do something social after work on Friday. So hopefully by Saturday I'll be over the boredom and will want to watch more Supernatural.

Does season four get better? Is season five good? Can you tell me something non-spoilery that will make me want to keep watching? I really want to keep enjoying this show. It's been so absorbing and fun--I was really disappointed that the magic stopped yesterday.

Originally published at rusty-halo.com. You can comment here or there.

Comments

[greenwitch]

I don't think it's just you -- mid-S4 is about where I lost interest (and stopped, haven't caught up since.) I just didn't see where they were going with it, even with the Apocalypse plotline.

(Also, the pronunciation/misrepresentation of "Samhain" in the Halloween ep irked me like nothing else.)

[rusty_halo]

the pronunciation/misrepresentation of "Samhain" in the Halloween ep irked me like nothing else

OH MY GOD, ME TOO.

The only thing that made me feel a little bit better was that they probably make mistakes like that all the time, I just usually don't know enough to catch them. This one was so blatantly egregious, though. I know TV writing is hard and there's not a lot of time for research but COME ON.