in which I am grumpy about SPN
Jan. 18th, 2013 12:32 pm![[personal profile]](https://www.dreamwidth.org/img/silk/identity/user.png){kind=small}
snick_backupI've been saying it since the season began, and I'll say it again: this season seems to lack a certain basic competence at the writing level. I notice this in dialogue especially, the obviousness of how conflicts between characters are set up and themes signposted, the pacing.
Episodes I've cringed particularly at:
* 8.03 Heartache: was just bad and boring and obvious in all the ways
* 8.05 Blood Brother: the best dialogue we've had all season, thank you Ben Edlund, but dully paced and centered around a character the audience has no particular reason to be invested in. (YMMV on this one; I know Benny has some fans.)
* 8.06 Southern Comfort: the one where every argument feels stilted and awful.
* 8.07 A Little Slice of Kevin: I actually liked this one a lot, but this is one where even this cast, talented though they are and love them though I do, couldn't always sell me on their lines. "Cas, you're not strong enough"? "You can't save everyone, Dean. You try"? :P
* 8.09 Citizen Fang: so much running around! to so little purpose! so scattered.
* 8.10 Torn and Frayed: the actions in this make sense, but man the lines were bad. Like, what happened with Sam and Amelia made emotional sense to me, but both the before scene and the after scene were so awkward because I couldn't tell where either of them was coming from. I can fanwank what was going on, but I can't discern their feelings from the episode.
And all that's not even going into how badly the season has worked in the Sam/Amelia flashbacks. Their relationship has been one of my favorite things all season, but there is not excuse for the rosy filters on all the scenes and the really awful flashback transitions.
Maybe it's all in my head? IDK. I've frequently had problems with the way this show handles, say, long-term character arcs, but I've never had this problem with getting hung up on the quality of individual episodes before.
Original entry posted at Dreamwidth. Feel free to reply here or there. (
DW replies)
Episodes I've cringed particularly at:
* 8.03 Heartache: was just bad and boring and obvious in all the ways
* 8.05 Blood Brother: the best dialogue we've had all season, thank you Ben Edlund, but dully paced and centered around a character the audience has no particular reason to be invested in. (YMMV on this one; I know Benny has some fans.)
* 8.06 Southern Comfort: the one where every argument feels stilted and awful.
* 8.07 A Little Slice of Kevin: I actually liked this one a lot, but this is one where even this cast, talented though they are and love them though I do, couldn't always sell me on their lines. "Cas, you're not strong enough"? "You can't save everyone, Dean. You try"? :P
* 8.09 Citizen Fang: so much running around! to so little purpose! so scattered.
* 8.10 Torn and Frayed: the actions in this make sense, but man the lines were bad. Like, what happened with Sam and Amelia made emotional sense to me, but both the before scene and the after scene were so awkward because I couldn't tell where either of them was coming from. I can fanwank what was going on, but I can't discern their feelings from the episode.
And all that's not even going into how badly the season has worked in the Sam/Amelia flashbacks. Their relationship has been one of my favorite things all season, but there is not excuse for the rosy filters on all the scenes and the really awful flashback transitions.
Maybe it's all in my head? IDK. I've frequently had problems with the way this show handles, say, long-term character arcs, but I've never had this problem with getting hung up on the quality of individual episodes before.
Original entry posted at Dreamwidth. Feel free to reply here or there. (
