Monsters of Television

“I’ll not sit meekly by and wait for the snows.”

That tree never did anything to you, Robb.

This was pretty standard for a season finale. Admittedly, the season reached a climax at the end of last week so it’s only to be expected that the finale essentially ties up its one big loose end (Daenerys) and then spends the rest of the episode putting the pieces where they need to be when the next season starts. It’s essentially season 2, episode 00.

And there’s nothing wrong with that at all. Indeed, this first season really feels more like prologue to whatever is to come after, and probably should be treated as such. But it’s not very good, even as a prologue. The first half failed  to make connections between sexposition sequences and the larger narrative world, leaving me feeling talked at and without a sense of what was at stake here. The second half tried to pay off some of that, and while I enjoyed the last five hours more then the first five, I didn’t know why I needed to care who was on the Iron Throne.

And I still don’t. Read more »

“Love is the death of duty.“

This was just like my first night of college. No, really. It was.

Last week, Noel Murray at the TV Club wrote an essay entitled “When spoilers help: The Game of Thrones defense.” (There are no spoilers in the essay, so you can click in safety.) Murray took an opposite approach from me when he settled in for Game of Thrones: he looked up stuff, consulted viewers’ guides, and felt it better equipped him to enjoy the series.

And when I say that he took the opposite approach from me, I mean it. I avoided any and all information about the series. I knew about the casting, sure, but I didn’t know anything about Westeros or what a Dothraki was, or how to spell Targareny Tagareynen Targaryen. I went in completely and utterly cold to a series, which is something of an abnormality for me. I like to do research because I do like to know if a series is worth 4 to 6 hours of my time (the minimum range I give hour-long dramas to grab me), even more so if I’m going to write about the damn thing.

(For what it’s worth, I part of me wish I had done what Murray had done, but I don’t think it would’ve helped many of my problems with the series.)

I’m not a complete spoilerphobe, though I’ve certainly come a long way from where I used to be. I used to purposefully spoil myself about Lost, but stopped after I thought I had figured out the twist in the season 3 finale, and then used spoilers to confirm (I was correct, by the way). After that experience, I stopped visiting SpoilerFix or frequenting sites that prided themselves on such scoops.

In the process of learning how to spell Targaryen, I spoiled myself in minor ways. For instance, I knew about the coup in advance while I looked up bits about Syrio, and was able to draw theories about what would instigate it (I was correct about the death, though not about the boar). Otherwise, I went to incredible lengths to avoid plot points about Game of Thrones.

Thanks to Twitter, I was able to avoid looking at information about ABC’s upfronts, as they provided a big old spoiler for a currently running cable program. Given that the only cable program running at the time where spoilers would matter was this one, I stayed away from stuff about the upfronts.

But then I stupidly read something on ABC’s Web site for its fall shows (I didn’t know which show had the spoiler in the press release/description/cast), and was spoiled for this episode. Read more »

“We got work to do.“

Certainly appears to be better security than the Hell Mouth in Sunnydale.

I really enjoyed season 2 of Supernatural, in case you couldn’t tell from the previous posts (for thoughts on earlier episodes, you can click here). It’s been a season that actually concludes (in a rewarding fashion) its on-going story arc without dragging it out too much. Its finale sets up new and interesting plot threads for future seasons in a subtle and elegant way while still telling strong episode-by-episode stories. It balances serialization without allowing the serialization to consume the series. Episodes remain both self-contained and able to provide forward momentum on seasonal plot arcs without feeling tacked on.

In short, season 2 of Supernatural is a remarkable well-rounded and well-executed season of television. Sure, they are some clunkers in the mix, but they don’t weigh down the season very much, or stand out as examples of what Supernatural shouldn’t do. I think that’s what impresses me the most about this season is that is very consistent in its quality, which is a claim that even the best of shows can’t necessarily make sometimes.

As promised, I have thoughts from both Charlotte Howell and Cory Barker after the jump. My thoughts are first since they come from a newbie’s perspective on the series (and without much knowledge of what’s to come; but damn do they hype up season four!). Charlotte’s thoughts will be after mine, and then Cory will bring us home.

Read more »

“All those stories you’ve heard about him: they’re not stories, they’re true.“

As you may have already guessed, I wasn’t crazy about the episode. There’s stuff I like it, but that’s the stuff I’m assuming, hoping, they’re going to expand on in part two (I do love the episode title for part two). The rest of it remained kind of all over the place, and the big reveal really wasn’t all that big.

Which leaves me kind of unexcited about having to wait until September to see how it all finishes. I mean, I’ll be tuning in, of course, but the thrill of it is gone. The (nearly) all-consuming concerns about this child I think has become something of an weight the on show for me, but this could simply be because I don’t really care now.

And it also didn’t have nearly enough of the Cybermen. So it was already in the hole for me after that.

Read more »

“It’s not fair, and…you know, it hurts like hell, but…it’s worth it.”

I really believed that this was the best sandwich Dean's ever eaten.

I didn’t cry while watching this episode on the bus. Really. I didn’t. It was allergies.

Okay.

I totally cried. When Dean sees Mary. When he talks to John’s grave. When Sam’s all “Dude, we’ve never been friends. We see each other at holidays. What are you doing right now?”

No. I’m not crying just thinking about it. I have allergies. Pollen’s been really bad this year. No rain and all. You know how it is.

Sniffle.

All kidding aside, I enjoyed the episode (although I’m not kidding about the crying. I totally did). It’s a nice button on Dean’s arc this season, and I couldn’t ask for a better episode going into the finale.

Read more »

“I know he must be punished, but all I ask is mercy.”

"The madness of mercy."

Have I mentioned how exhausting I find this show? Not recently? Well, it’s exhausting.

This week my exhaustion stems from the fact that this episode throws the show’s normal narrative pacing to the wind and packs in what was about a month, month and a half worth of in-story events into a single episode. Never have ravens flown faster or people covered more ground than in this episode. And since the episode doesn’t make clear how much time is passing, the episode feels like all of this is happening in a matter of days instead of weeks.

Certainly there’s value to this compression of the narrative as it ratchets up the tension and suspense in a show where both have been largely absent (a sense of gloom and doom (“Winter is coming.”) does not equal tension or suspense) as we move into the final hours of the season, but in a show that relishes expository talk, would it have killed someone to say “It took us a month to get here!” or “Ned’s been in a cell for weeks!”?

Such dialog does not even require the use of women having sex with another! …Or is that why it wasn’t included? Read more »

“Does this look like swimming-pool weather to you, Dean? It’s practically Canadian!“

"There's a demon here. Named Jess. Also, it's going to be easier for us to kill it if you call me Dean."

I’m afraid I don’t have a unifying theory about this disc. I know, I know!

But there’s a lot going on in this disc, with all sorts of nice stories of varying stripes, from the poignant “Roadkill” to the gut-wrenching “Heart” to the meta-awareness seed planting of “Hollywood Babylon” to the slightly too quickly resolved FBI hunt in “Folsom City Blues.”

All the episodes are good (though “Heart” felt like it went on a for a while, despite liking it a lot), but I do feel a little anxious in that I have no idea where we’re going as the show enters its last three hours. Azazel’s been lying low, and there hasn’t been much on the psychic front. Getting worried we’re heading for a fall.

Read more »

“Looks like Mr. Okey-dokey is… okey-dokey.”

It's always the quiet ones.

Call this disc “Supernatural‘s Greatest Hits – REMIXED.”

One of the challenges of Supernatural faces is keeping itself from getting stale. While there are lots of myths and legends and folklore to explore from all sorts of cultures, it’s a challenge to make these things unique episode to episode, to differentiate between whatever the episode’s big bad is from the previous episode and the next episode.

At the same time, the show has demonstrated extreme creativity, so I found it a little odd when it revisited shapeshifters. And then issues of faith. And then possessions. And then Dean and Sam pulling pranks on each other.

Then I got over it because the episodes on this disc, despite initially seeming like retreads, provide not only nice variations on previous episode, but they also further larger concerns of this season, which is what makes the episodes rewarding (I mean aside from the fact they’re all good episodes).

Read more »

“We stand behind you, Lord Stark.“

He of the squinty eyes, very fine beard, and the stupidly noble and honorable heart.

Before I start in on the episode (and I did like it, so breathe easy), we need to talk about that little scene with Ros, the other whore, and Carcetti. For the run of this series so far, and now perhaps reaching the pinnacle of it, Game of Thrones has made sex boring.

Now, and forever, I will only associate sex with Aidan Gillen talking about the lost, unrequited love of Catelyn Stark (those Stark women, be they by blood or by marriage, linger don’t they?). Or Harry Lloyd talking about dragons.

So thank you, Game of Thrones. You’ve been the best form of birth control anyone could ask for. Well done, and kudos to you.

And now to the episode. Read more »

Well don’t you guys few folks who read this like making me look foolish? I spill some digital ink on how unbalanced I feel the show has become and then disc three is a mini Sam trilogy (well, “Playthings” is more of a epilogue to a duology, but you get my point). You could’ve warned me, left a comment, told me that things shape up a little bit, or that I had some stuff to look froward to! But nooooo. Silence. I see how it is.

As you can imagine, I was pretty happy with the disc on a Sam-level, and I was very happy with each on an episode-by-episode basis as well. Each episode hit on certain types of stories that appeal to me, or on nice big questions that have been surrounding the season so far. On the whole, enjoyed this disc far more than disc 2, and leaves me eager for disc 3 (though I was sad that there wasn’t a little preview attached to this one; the one on disc 2 has me spoiled now). Read more »