but now I have to wait for the next disk!

More Supernatural thoughts.

Apparently this show thinks it's about Sam? Jared Padalecki comes first in the credits, and the show's clearly from his POV, for the most part. Dean's doing what he's been doing for years, and Sam's the one through whose eyes we watch Dean's antics. Also, Sam's the one with an arc.

All of which strikes me as peculiar, because of the two, clearly Dean's the one with all the entertainment value.

I do appreciate, though, that there's no inducting-the-newcomer in this show. Sam knows the score; he and Dean already have a ton of history fighting the things they fight. There's an occasional as-you-know-Bob moment, but by and large this show skips the introduction to its premise and jumps right in to the action.

Also, I'm not sure I'd realized how much this show plays as straight horror. Whereas BtVS parodies the hoary old horror tropes and pokes fun at them, this show is more interested in horror for its own sake. On the one hand, I miss that built-in humor of BtVS; on the other, this show has more worldbuilding mythos in one episode than Buffy managed in half a season. I know it's possible to have both humor and mythos; Terry Pratchett does it, after all. But I do not expect everyone to do what Pratchett can do.

So another thing about Dean I like is how tuned in he is to what Sam's feeling. There's not a lot of emotional distance there, however much Dean mocks the Hallmark moments. Sam, now, Sam's got the manly stoicism going on - much less interesting, to my mind.

And another thing about Dean: he always comes across as just a little bit off, a little bit... manic, maybe? Or just a sort of earnest insincerity, like he's acting the part everyone's expecting him to play. I can't decide, though, whether that's clever characterization or just wonky acting.

( Dead in the Water and Phantom Traveler )

but now I have to wait for the next disk!

More Supernatural thoughts.

Apparently this show thinks it's about Sam? Jared Padalecki comes first in the credits, and the show's clearly from his POV, for the most part. Dean's doing what he's been doing for years, and Sam's the one through whose eyes we watch Dean's antics. Also, Sam's the one with an arc.

All of which strikes me as peculiar, because of the two, clearly Dean's the one with all the entertainment value.

I do appreciate, though, that there's no inducting-the-newcomer in this show. Sam knows the score; he and Dean already have a ton of history fighting the things they fight. There's an occasional as-you-know-Bob moment, but by and large this show skips the introduction to its premise and jumps right in to the action.

Also, I'm not sure I'd realized how much this show plays as straight horror. Whereas BtVS parodies the hoary old horror tropes and pokes fun at them, this show is more interested in horror for its own sake. On the one hand, I miss that built-in humor of BtVS; on the other, this show has more worldbuilding mythos in one episode than Buffy managed in half a season. I know it's possible to have both humor and mythos; Terry Pratchett does it, after all. But I do not expect everyone to do what Pratchett can do.

So another thing about Dean I like is how tuned in he is to what Sam's feeling. There's not a lot of emotional distance there, however much Dean mocks the Hallmark moments. Sam, now, Sam's got the manly stoicism going on - much less interesting, to my mind.

And another thing about Dean: he always comes across as just a little bit off, a little bit... manic, maybe? Or just a sort of earnest insincerity, like he's acting the part everyone's expecting him to play. I can't decide, though, whether that's clever characterization or just wonky acting.

( Dead in the Water and Phantom Traveler )