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nikadd · 3 years

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i’ve said this in the tags of the previous spn post i reblogged but i just wanna highlight how the writers kept aborting sam’s storylines before they really got to the part where it became a Storyline. with dean, those things were more noticeable, e.g. demon!dean, bc it’s the A plot. with sam, unless you were really paying attention to every single subplot (as i like to do bc i like seeing things begin and grow into something else, which is probably stupid of me to do so on this specific show but still) you wouldn’t be able to really tell what his story was supposed to be. it’s not about him losing his THEE main character status, but losing his A main character status, bc at some point his story mostly hung on his screen time, rather than anything else.

this is going to be off the top of my head and i’ve only seen the show once, but here are some thoughts on his storylines and what i think killed them. if i don’t remember something, honestly i think it says more about the validity of my argument, because i have a pretty good memory on plot-related things, and if it’s insignificant enough for me to forget... yeah. this is not going to be whether i liked certain storylines, but whether i think they were strong enough to really be called a storyline. also, i’ll be mostly talking abt sam vs dean, as 1) a good portion of cas’s story is an extension of dean’s story and 2) this is just the lens i’m using for this. i’ll try not to blame specific writers/actors for this, just the story as a whole:

seasons 6-7: even though these seasons are considered to be comparably the worst out of them, i think they balanced sam’s story considerably well in regards to his subplots. soulless!sam, working with the campbells, lying to dean, being suspicious of cas, dealing with the fall out of getting his soul back, loss of memories, gaining back his memories, ptsd, lucifer hallucinations... there was a lot going on with sam, and these things did make sense in the cause and effect fashion.

season 8: the whole amelia thing... confused me, but i once read this really good meta that said that amelia never actually existed and it was all a part of his hallucinations which i think i’ve kinda accepted. a good chunk of this season is dealing with kevin, which is technically for both dean and sam, but bc i think in the future kevin was going to be more of a sam’s responsibility i’m going to start counting kevin as sam’s plot. then there’s also mistrusting of benny (same as mistrusting cas in s6? sam mistrusting dean’s significant others? hmm), which is really an extension of dean’s plot, but i’ll take it, as sam made active choices on his part about the whole thing. then as the season comes to an end, besides what’s happening with cas, it really does have a major arc for sam, seemingly capitalizing on the last two seasons, though i wish there was a stronger thread of them throughout the season.

season 9: this was the first season i watched live AND i had not seen the end of s7 and entirety of s8 by that point, so i didn’t know how sam ended up in the hospital, but i was willing to go along with it. the whole gadreel plot was pretty interesting (and i do hate kevin’s death), but i can see how gadreel was more of a dean plot than a sam plot, as sam was largely unaware of what was going on until later. at the same time, i think this made sam dean’s plotline in this cas via gadreel, so you can really go either way with that. by the end of s9, the whole thing is switched, and dean is sam’s plotline bc of the mark of cain. around the end of s9 is when i think is the start of losing sam as a character, because such a large portion of this season was about dean.

season 10: i swear to gd idk what sam’s plot is in this season besides curing dean in the first few episodes. i just read through the ep summaries on wikipedia and i cannot tell you what he’s doing there really besides research. this season introduces rowena who is going to be a part of sam’s arc in the future seasons, but she’s mostly all about crowley in this season, and honestly? i like that they gave her some time to develop as a character before making her a part of either sam or dean’s story.

season 11: just my imagination was a pretty good episode that gave us a glimpse into sam as a character!! i liked that whole thing!! but immediately after we are getting sam seeing lucifer again. (also ik that jared actually expressed his dislike of having sam work with lucifer due to, well, their history, and i fully agree that it should have been dealt with very differently. but oh well. the only character whose faults they like to ignore more than lucifer’s is john winchester, and ain’t that saying something.) then lucifer becomes more of a castiel issue, which automatically makes it a dean issue. i wish they kept lucifer more of a sam issue and i wanted sam to kill lucifer :) bc he deserved it :)

season 12: here we have a significant sam storyline where he is working with the BMOL, by extension from mary. the significance of it directly corresponds to him having to lie to dean about what is going on, because as soon as dean is involved, it just automatically transfers the plot line to him. the relationship with mary ends up also being more of a dean thing, even though they clearly have very different relationships with their mother. also eileen is killed this season for no reason (aight i said im not gonna blame specific writers but we all know who did that silly number), as if they literally want to kill sam’s plots. edit: forgot about this, but the ep with the culty family who had a psychic daughter??? whom sam tried to save?? and i bet he doesn’t actually know that ketch killed her later??? okay yeah they kind of pulled a good one with that, even if heartbreaking. AND THEN they had sam work for bmol...... okay yeah you see how that was a sabotage of sam’s story.

season 13: i wanna say that jack was definitely a large part of sam’s story this season and i’m glad for it. besides benny and cas, sam was always the one to say that a supernatural creature is not a monster, and i liked that they brought this part of sam toward the light (re: magda in s12.... wait. see: edit in s12). dean’s plot with jack extended to his relationship with cas, and you really don’t have to be a heller to see that. also, this is when we really get into sam/rowena and witch!sam. also, we get some sam/gabriel interaction, as gabriel has always been more of a sam thing than a dean thing, i’ve appreciated it. then the whole lucifer thing... anyways. they should have had sam kill him. honestly? they should have somehow made sam michael’s vessel to really go galaxy brain on that.

season 14: sam being the leader of the new hunter network is a SEXY idea and what should have remained for the rest of the show but fuck if this show hates having nice things. also, i liked both the sam & charlie and sam & cas collabs, bc even tho they were both always more of a dean thing, i enjoy those characters having one-on-one plots with sam as well. also this season continues sam caring for jack with both sergei and lily sunder connections, furthering the witch!sam plot, but still not enough to really put it forward.

season 15: the season starts with sam’s connection to chuck, and i genuinely enjoyed that storyline, and i wish they made the whole thing last for longer, maybe even into the finale. (i think there are so many plots on this show that they like to Have but then Not Do much with them.) then obv they have sam/rowena arc continue, with him making her the queen of hell (pls look at this post i’ve made abt it before bc i think the whole thing is actually Hilarious) and then furthering witch!sam storyline with resurrecting eileen. (in some way samwena and saileen are actually extensions of each other and maybe could have been samwenaleen but yk. a girl could dream. maybe throw gabe into that as well).... after that... there’s nothing really. i mean, sam goes out to meet with the surviving hunters, but it’s just that. and i don’t even count 15x19 and 15x20 really because 19 was more of a joint story with dean and 20 was well. that. i think i would have accepted the ending if they actually built to it.

in the end of the day, i think sam had a few stories that were either aborted by poor writing or by transferring much of the burden to dean. i think having so much lucifer in the middle of it all without Really addressing sam’s feelings about it was probably the biggest clue that the writers didn’t Really care about his story as much. leading the hunters, rowena, eileen, witchcraft, jack (i will argue that jack had a significant relationship with all of his dads) were all good parts of it, but severely underutilized, and it makes me sad. i just edited the s12 part about magda, and i think that part was especially upsetting, as they gave us a glance into sam’s savior nature and then took it out. anyways i hope this made sense, and if anyone wants to add anything in reblogs/tags, feel free, i’ll read everything.

#spn #mine #moose love #it's valeriia talking #i have the ' i love sam's potential ' disease and it's incurable

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awed-frog · 7 years

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Ladies Drink Free/Playing House

The biggest reaction I had about this episode was about Claire, but since it’s slightly wanky, I’ll save it for the end so you don’t have to read it if you don’t want to. My other thoughts generally went into a Mick direction - who the hell is he, and what are they doing with him?

Because this guy - he’s supposed to be this bookworm who’s never seen any action, but at the same time he kept a remarkably cool head around the Alpha Vampire and, more importantly, he killed a kid without falling apart at all. No hesitation, no second thoughts, nothing. He’d spoken to her mom and all, and that made no difference. So now I’m kind of wondering - of course, narratively they decided it had to happen this way to establish a Claire precedent and give them something to fight about, but Mick wasn’t disturbed, or apologetic in the slightest. I mean - he’s not a psychopath, so there was this barely there sadness clinging to him, but it’s also clear that to him, these are animals, and, sure - it’s a shame to put down the family pet when it’s got rabies, but what can you do? It’s certainly not something that’ll make you sleep any less soundly. Plus, he was perfectly capable to hold his own during the investigation, and even saved Dean’s life at the end. I think Sam and Dean are underestimating this guy - assuming he’s just a squint and it’s Mr Ketch they got to worry about - and judging from next week’s promo, that’s something that will land them into a lot of trouble.

It’s also remarkable that they agreed to continue with this alliance at all, and it’s not clear, to me, what is forgivable and what isn’t in their world. Asa’s friend and that Alpha Vampire’s sidekick were exiled, or worse, but when Mary’s duplicity resulted in another hunter’s death, nothing much happened. Here we’ve got Mick killing a young girl and potentially damaging the investigation (they’re supposed to work as a team, right? and that girl had vital information into who the werewolf was), and yet he gets a second chance because, what, he knew about a method of curing lycanthropy which should never have worked? I’m not saying there’s anything wrong with it, per se, just that I don’t know where the line is anymore. Maybe that’s the point?

The other thing is, if Mick was played as a Cas parallel - in a very vague, ‘dorky and slightly unshaven guy with tan coat riding in the back of the Impala’ way, then I’m going to be superhappy that he cosplayed as one of Dean’s established crushes. I mean, Mick was wearing grey both at the beginning and at the end of the episode - he only changed into a deep blue shirt in time to be mistaken for Dr Sexy, so surely I’m not the only one who’s slightly suspicious about their motives or noticed the look Dean gave him?

I’m also happy about Dean ‘repression&deflection’ Winchester calling out Mick for not being open about his feelings (dude, seriously?).

And it was nice, as always, to see the storyline focusing on toxic masculinity and toxic heterosexual relationships and Dean being pissed at men who treat women like dirt. Someone who grew up like he did and lives a life of motels and random violence could very easily have been one of those ‘women are bitches’ fuckboys, and the fact he’s not never fails to warm my heart.

That said, time to use my mom voice and talk about Claire.

I really didn’t want to, but I’m finally calling it: I’m too old to be okay with teen heroes. It’s a sad moment, and surely some kind of turning point in life, or whatever, but what can you do? We all grow up at some point. In case you’re wondering if this is happening to you too, symptoms include a) scoffing at Claire, b) wanting to strangle Claire, c) yelling Just do as you’re told, Claire and d) Go back to school, Claire at various intervals during this Ladies Drink Free episode.

I mean - I do like her, and she’s ballsy af, and I want to hope that being an angel vessel will afford her some kind of protection going forward (who knows, maybe that’s exactly why she survived that untested cure), but for fuck’s sake.

The first rule is, like, you don’t hunt alone - not if you have a choice. And Claire’s got plenty of choices - not only she lives with Jody (and, come on, how likely is it that Jody can do ‘all the work’ during a hunt? what Claire meant by that is probably that Jody talks to people, which, considering Claire’s underage and looks about twelve, seems reasonable enough; but when it comes to driving around and ‘hitting the lore’ and fighting and shooting - even if Jody wanted to keep Claire’s involvement down to a minimum, we know how hunts go - they’re simply too unpredictable for that), but she’s got access to Cas, Sam, and Dean, and, through Jody, to a whole network of other hunters we know nothing about.

(Jody had a thing with Asa, remember? So all these people are not as unconnected as they appear to be.)

So to up and leave like that, telling no one where you are, hunting things local police will know nothing about - that’s basically a death wish. Remember how surprised even Sam was when Dean showed up at Stanford and told him he was hunting on his own? And we’re talking about someone who was trained to do that since he was six years old.

One point for Claire, though, is that she sort of understands you should maybe give a call to your loved ones when you’re dying?

(Not Cas, though, because apparently this never happens - Sam never thought about calling Cas was Dean was on the brink of death, and nobody thinks about calling him this time around, either. Not that I’m bitter, or anything.)

Unfortunately for Jody, though, by the time Claire realizes that she’s already turning, so it’s a good thing she survived or Sam and Dean would have had some serious explaining to do.

And, look, I understand most TV show out there have this dumb do or die 40 minutes format, but I’m really uncomfortable when someone makes life-altering (or life-destroying) decisions without even trying something else first. Because Claire, who insists, both during and at the end of the episode that she’s a big girl and she can do everything alone, including hunting supernatural monsters -

(look, I love her, but this is someone whose only accomplishment in this episode was to have a successful gossip with a bunch of high schoolers, remember? because everything else - she pissed off the victim’s mother, didn’t manage to make her way into the morgue, antagonized her main witness by throwing beer into his face - which, okay, he was being an ass but you’re working, Claire, so do what’s useful to the case, not what’s morally right - had a fight with someone she was supposed to be working with, stomped out into the woods with her headphones on to calm down even though she knew there was a werewolf around, got herself bitten and kidnapped and tied up - not exactly the resumé of someone who’s ready to go at it alone, especially considering this is a very dangerous line of work and no one should go at it alone)

- when push comes to shove has to admit that she’s a mess and she’s not strong enough to try and live with lycanthropy. Which, okay, fair enough, but these things can be learned? Many people (almost everyone) are sort of a mess when they’re 20 - it doesn’t mean that’s going to be your default personality forever and ever. And this line of reasoning, and its consequences (an untested medical procedure which had a very high chance to result in agony and death) are particularly disturbing if we consider lycanthropy is often used in fiction as a metaphor of some kind of disease. Like, ugh?

You know, when Claire was babbling about that, I had a flashback to this conversation I had last month with a friend who’s living with severe manic depression. This person, after a disastrous period in a mental hospital where she was medicated up to her eyebrows, is now trying a different approach (under medical supervision): she’s adhering to a very strict routine, she doesn’t drink, she doesn’t eat certain foods, she works out four times a week. For someone like her, who used to be a party animal, changing her habits in such a dramatic fashion was a shock. It’s not been easy, like, at all, and thank God she’s got a supportive family and friends who live closer to her than I do. But the thing is, it’s working.

Being diagnosed with any incurable illness - like lycanthropy, for instance - is certainly difficult and will require a lot of adjustement, but it’s not the end of your life, and maybe it’s time fiction stopped to portray it as such. The fact Claire asked her friends to kill her without seriously considering any other possibility, and the fact Sam and Dean went along with that despite knowing for a fact that lycanthropy can be managed, kind of set my teeth on edge. Again, I understand it was a big and dramatic scene and whatever, but really - ew.

#spn 12x16 #ladies drink free #spn meta #claire novak #mick davies #destiel #if you squint #some negativity #so i'll say it again #i love claire #i think she's a fantastic character #and a good kid #but when you're lucky enough #to have reasonable adults in you life #who love you to bits #maybe listen to their advice #not even teenagers know everything

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hoopslab · 7 years

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Game of Thrones S7 Ep3 The Queen’s Justice: Ice meets Fire

SPOILERS FOR GAME OF THRONES ON HBO, UP THROUGH EPISODE 3 OF SEASON 7

"I’ve brought Ice and Fire together.”

This line, delivered by priestess Melisandre, summarized a meeting 20 years in the making. From the time that the original book A Game of Thrones came out as the first installment in George R.R. Martin’s A Song of Ice and Fire, there was rampant speculation that Jon Snow represented the “Ice” and Daenerys Targeryen the “Fire”. There was also, and has continued to be, much speculation about what would happen when the two title characters finally met. We started to get that answer in the third episode of the season, but there was a lot else going on as well.

Varys threatens, gets shut down by another priestess

Varys and Melisandre had a memorable scene of sniping at each other as Varys tried to figure out why she would hide from Jon Snow upon his arrival. Melisandre was, of course, hiding because Jon had imposed a death sentence on her if she ever returned North. They were in the South, but she understandably didn’t want to test the semantics of his vow. Seemingly on the defensive, she gives the “Ice and Fire” quote mentioned above, and otherwise seems diffident in the face of Varys’ questions. At least, until Varys over-plays his hand and threatens her with death if she returns to Westeros after her stated goal of going to Volantis. Then, much like when Vars encountered a different Red Priestess last season, Melisandre responded with a cryptic but seemingly magically insightful observation about Varys...this time, that Varys would die in Westeros like her (and likely on camera, since it’s being discussed). And, much like before, Varys was visibly disturbed and had his threats curbed/quieted by the said peaceful threat.

Cersei dominating the lesser war

Cersei obviously had to have some on-camera victories this season to build a narrative belief that she could compete with Dany and her seemingly insurmountable army, but through the first shows of the season Cersei’s crew has been doing even better than expected. She has had victory after victory, and seemingly has been out-thinking and out-strategying the Dragon crew at each turn. I’ve seen pushback on Twitter that this is unrealistic, given the caliber of the people that she’s outwitting, but I find it believable.

Remember, back to Season One, Cersei has always shown that she can play political chess when the more honorable characters were playing checkers. She check-mated Ned. Her father check-mated Robb. And last season she check-mated the fire out of the High Sparrow. While Dany has all the advantages on paper, as well as big-named advisers like Tyrion and Varys, she is also essentially (thus far) an honorable character that has (thus far) gone about things in an honorable way. She didn’t attack the Red Keep directly, despite there being repeated mentions in the narrative that she could have done so and likely won, because she didn’t want to preside over a kingdom of ashes. Cersei has no such compunctions, and thus far her cold ruthlessness has let her earn a much more favorable spot on the board than she initially occupied.

One Queen’s justice and another’s revenge

Speaking of Cersei, the title of the episode strongly hinted that she would get her much expected vengeance on her “gift” from Euron Greyjoy...Ellaria Sand and her daughter. Ellaria, of course, used poison to creatively murder Cersei’s daughter...she put the poison on her lips, then kissed Myrcella good night. Well, Cersei’s justice was to mirror the act, kissing Ellaria’s daughter with the same poison, and leaving mother and daughter chained in the dungeon to watch the inevitable death and decay. Ouch.

But, maybe not as ouch as the parting shot that the Queen of Thorns got in against Cersei and Jaime. After Jaime stormed Highgarden and let Lady Olenna know, to her face, that she was done...Olenna stole the scene by talking holes into his confidence in his sister, and ultimately turned the Lannister victory to ashes. After Jaime gave her the “humane” option to poison herself for a painless death...the Queen of Thorns taunted him about the ugly, gruesome death of his son Joffrey...then revealed that she was responsible for poisoning him, and that she wanted Cersei to know it. Jaime’s face, as he finally realized what she was telling him, was absolutely priceless before he stormed off. While Cersei may have gotten “justice” for her daughter’s death, Olenna was the queen that landed the best “revenge” shot in this episode.

Bran comes home and creeps out his sister

In Episode 2, I (and many others) wondered how on earth Jon Snow managed to get message ravens from everywhere else in the Seven Kingdoms, but somehow didn’t get one from the much closer Castle Black telling him that his “baby brother” was still alive. This week we got our answer...instead of sending a raven, the Night’s Watch just sent Bran and Meera directly to Winterfell. This led to the second season in a row in which Sansa got reunited with a long-lost brother, and ran to him and gave him a huge hug.

Only, this time the reception was different. Whereas last time, Jon Snow ran just as hard towards her and swung her around in an exuberant embrace, this time Bran just sat there and stared into space blankly as his sister hugged him. In the next scene, Bran was acting as though he had never interacted with a human before, unable to answer even simple questions like how he became the Three Eyed Raven when there had already been one (simple answer: old one died). Bran also didn’t do the obvious and go into a tree dream while Sansa was watching, as a means to demonstrate his new abilities. Instead, he thought it’d be best to talk to Sansa about the horrors of her wedding night to Ramsey after the beauty of the wedding itself. Let’s just say that Sansa was less than comforted by her time with her little brother.

On the other hand, I did notice that, just after LittleFinger told Sansa that she needed to learn to strategize by considering every possible event before-hand, she runs into Bran, who tells her that he can see every possible event in the past or present. Seemed like there could be some narrative hint in there about how Bran’s power my manifest itself as useful in the overall war.

The pirate, the mad scientist and the banker

Cersei had three potentially useful, potentially dangerous men that she has put into play in the war. Euron Greyjoy returned with his gift to the queen, triumphant, marching the Ellaria, her daughter, and Yara through the streets. He loved the attention, made his play for Cersei’s hand as a reward...and got curved, having to make due with an official sanction as the head of her navy. He had a great trash-talking session to Jaime afterwards, but for now is playing (at least to some extent) for Team Cersei. Though the banker has already foreshadowed that Euron’s allegiance could be temporary.

The mad scientist, Qyburn, was still in play as he continues to do Cersei’s crazy bidding. With his Frankenstein monster The Mountain in attendance, Qyburn was given the credit for identifying the poison that Ellaria used on Myrcella, then procuring it for Cersei’s use. Considering the dragonslayer crossbow that he debuted last week, and the heavy foreshadowing that it will be successful, Qyburn has been earning his money and making Cersei smile into her wine of late. But he’s still scary enough that I wouldn’t turn my back on him, were I Cersei.

The Iron Banker began the scene as a notable threat to Cersei, but she seemed to be well on her way to winning him to her point of view. Especially if she’s able to pay him with the dowery from High Garden, there’s a good chance the Iron Bank will (at least) temporarily invest in her side over Dany’s. But same theme...their support could turn around on the Queen in a hurry if things don’t go her way.

Three downtrodden on way to becoming heroes

Theon Greyjoy has been one of the most pitiful characters in the series. He started a spineless, annoying, backstabbing youth that was easy to hate. Then, he got Reeked by Ramsey Bolton, and he was so pitiful it was annoying. Yara was starting to help him get his spine back, and he just lost that when faced off with Euron. But, I have to feel like his Ironborn brethren fished him out of the water for a reason. And I kind of feel like he’s going to make a heroic turn and come up big in the clutch, maybe even taking out Euron.

Jorah Mormont is as good as new, after Sam flayed him and applied ointment last week. Sam put his money where his mouth is (and went way further than I would have), by shaking Jorah’s hand after the maester declared his infection in remission. Mormont, of course, will go straight as an arrow to his Khaleesi. He’s already had some heroic moments for her, even if she friend zoned him and banished him for life before commanding him to find a cure for an incurable disease. All told, though, much like Theon it doesn’t make sense for Jorah to still be alive unless he’s got an important part to play moing forward.

Speaking of Sam, he’s quietly been on the hero side for awhile. He had his moments with the White Walkers, stole the Valeryan sword from pops, saved his girl and the baby, and managed to get into the Citadel. Then, in the last few weeks, he has discovered the Obsidian cache and informed Jon Snow, which brought him to Dany, and now he’s cured the incurable stone disease. Now, the old maester has him copying some ancient/decaying scrolls, theoretically as a punishment. But I kind of feel like, as he’s copying, he just might read some key bit that will be pivotal in the war to come.

Twincest no longer registers

Just an aside, but Jaime and Cersei just had their first on-screen love scene in a LONG time...and it didn’t even blip the “ick” meter. Twincest was a huge deal in season one. These days, if I don’t think about it, I almost forget that they’re related. They just seem like any other couple, at this point. Which, if you think about it, is kind of bananas.

Ice, Fire and the Matchmaker

Finally, the main event. Daenerys Stormborn Targeryen and Jon Snow (Targeryen) finally came face-to-face. Their introduction has already become a hilarious meme, as Missendei read off all (seemingly) 100 of Dany’s titles for minutes of bloviation...only to have The Onion Knight respond, “This is Jon Snow. He’s King of the North.” Literally laughed out loud on that one.

I was surprised they started off the show with their meeting, as I thought they might build to it and have that be the walk-off. Instead, I was pleasantly surprised that they led with their introduction, which allowed for several iterations of re-meetings between the various characters and some advancement of their plotline all in the first week.

Dany and Jon have both been through a lot, and earned a lot of cred in this series. Dany wear’s her props in her extended title, but when the Onion Knight got on a roll he did a fair job rattling off Jon’s successes as well...though Jon gave him the cue to cut when Davos started to talk about how he took a knife to the heart. I’m actually not sure why Jon doesn’t want Dany to know this now...I have to assume it’ll be an important reveal down the line. And with her holding him as a...valued guest, and now allowing him to mine the dragon glass, presumably they will be in each other’s company for some time.

Tyrion has been key for this match-up so far, to the point that he almost seems like the kindly father figure match-maker. With two young, stubborn hotheads talking past each other, Tyrion is the one offering a supportive ear and sage advice to help them grow closer together. That dynamic should be strongly tested next episode, though, as Dany is running out of allies and Cersei has been running circles around her baby brother strategy-wise. It’ll be interesting to see if Jon can be brought into play to help Dany, or if he will remain so focused on the White Walker invasion that they part ways soon.

Also...between Bran’s knowledge and return to Winterfell, and the fact that giant dragons are flying all around that seemingly have a bond with Targeryens...I’m actively counting down to see when the main crew (FINALLY) discovers his heritage. And what the ramifications will be. Plus, can we get another Stark reunion next week with Arya getting to Winterfell, or will she end up off course? Episode 4 can’t get here soon enough...