SPN Season 12 Overall impression
On tumblr someone
mentioned the final of season 12 “Is a super emotional and
underrated episode and people need to talk about it more.” And I
thought, geez the SPN final was the worst and zilch brother emotional
final I ever witnessed.
Ya see, good ol' perception. The OP loved it,
I disliked it. Now as wished I'm gonna “talk” why the final IMO
was the least emotional and surly not underrated episode SPN had
produced in the last 12 years. So yes critic is allowed, because we
KNOW SPN can do better and has done better. Oh and BTW to critic a
film or book has absolutely nothing to do with “hate”. In
general, story telling mediums have rules to follow, dynamics and
canon that have to be uphold, because without a decent dynamic and
canon a story will eventually turn into a boring, confusing tale and
therefor will lead to an inevitably disappointing event.
I assume this post can be
listed under 'very, very unpopular opinion', simply because I didn't like
the last two episodes of season 12, actually I didn't even like the
ending of season 11. But season 12 and it's ending were utterly
preposterous. I don't even know what happened with the show that once
was labeled “Two brothers on a road trip and their supernatural
adventures”.
At first, what was this
season all about?? Seriously, this is a legit question. People on
tumbler and other social media, with a normal functioning mind were
repeatedly asking this simple question. And interesting enough until
the final aired and after, no one could satisfyingly answer it. And
please don't come with “It's about family” that argument is utter
BS. Already lacking a plot is a major issue. Lets face it, a story
without a major plot maybe in a sense poetic, but on a long going TV
horror/supernatural show, this sans-plot issue will cause confusion,
which will lead inevitably to disinterest.
The sans-plot issue
This
may sound contradicting but many different plots do not make one
whole plot. Remember season 12 started with the resurrection of Mary,
the appearance of the British Men of Letters and Lucifer set free.
Lots of plots, but in the end we got nothing, the conclusion of all
three plots were missing, well except for Dean's mommy issues and at
the end we got lots of diapers.
The Mary sub-plot turned
out to be a pure Dean plot. From the beginning to the of the end of
series, it was Dean who was mainly interacting with Mary. His
conflict, him realizing how reality collides with illusion, produced
the needed drama for the plot. Which was great, but prolonged over 23
episodes can be boring. Especially when the other major protagonist
is kept out of the drama. The season started and ended with Dean
having a heartwarming dialog with his mom Mary. There was a concrete
narrative arc with a beginning, a middle, and an end. A line of
inquiry was opened and pursued, and ultimately a conclusion of some
sort was reached. So, here no complaints, except for the obvious fact
that Sam was obviously kept out of the story. Sam was only partly
interacting in Dean's plot. And this circumstance was utterly
disturbing and annoying. Simply because Dean and Mary were mainly
talking about Sam and his in the past endured experiences, but
WITHOUT him. WTF? It was as if Sam wasn't present, or his conflict
concerning his mom, whom he never met, were not important enough. Now
this could be a “plot” device for the coming season, or just, as
some say bad writing.
The British Men of
Letters sub-plot. This sub-plot was beyond sub. I have no idea what
SPN wanted to achieve with this 'much ado about nothing' plot. The
BMoL started out really cool and thrilling. At the beginning they
were the villains SPN didn't have since the time of the Leviathans.
Than already after the second episode the BMoL plot started to morph
into a soap opera. Saying the assumed believed plot disintegrated
into nothing. Drama without a cause, content and common sense, hence
soap opera. Sorry, but Mary believing the BMoL sales pitch, AFTER,
seeing with her own eyes what they did to her youngest son, is the
most unbelievable and absurd story I ever saw on TV. And the used
argument for her joining the BMoL, namely trying to achieve the world
peace for her sons, is just idiotic. And than Sam joining these
clowns, because also believing the world peace garbage, AFTER they
shot, kidnapped, physically and psychologically tortured and mentally
raped him, is just awe, unbelievable. Geez I can't smoke that much
weed to make sense in this stupidity. And viewers are buying this
shitty plot. But the end of the BMoL is worth a double face palm.
Seriously, I'm suppose to believe that a handful mediocre hunters,
even though Sam (after changing his mind...sigh) was leading them,
could over run and eliminate highly trained and highly equipped
mercenaries and their HQ? Really?? Give me a brake. But like I
mentioned before, the oddity could be a relevant plot devise for the
coming season 13, or bad writing, but who knows?
The Lucifer
sub-plot. What plot? It, the angel cruising to one body (rock star)
to another (president), because of wasting human vessels, having an
earthly spawn, than being captured by the King of Hell, which than
can miraculously free itself, with his old familiar vessel. To end in
an SPN AU. This is not a plot, simply because it was confusing, hence
turned canon upside down and didn't in anyways emotionally interweave
with the brothers, esp. Sam. The whole premiss of the show SPN was
once, that Sam like Dean were designed by the heavenly realm, to
contain the archangels Lucifer and Michael, to fight the apocalypse.
And now it doesn't matter anymore? Since the Lucifer plot was
deliberately separated from the main protagonists of the show, hence
the brothers, and therefor lacking the emotional link (drama), e.g
season 5, the sub-plot turned out to be irrelevant and therefor
boring.
Conclusion
My thoughts are just
a compressed overall view of the whole season, seen as one piece. Of
course there were some nice episodes, but this can't change the fact
that season 12 as a whole was during and at the end confusing and
incoherent, further deliberately neglected canon and utterly lacked
the famous brotherly chemistry. And sorry the brother hug at episode
22 didn't rock me, it felt artificial. So, no points for that lousy
spiel.
The obvious lack
of Sam being interwoven in any of the plots is peculiar and
conspicuous. Now this circumstance can be a hint that something
bigger is going on, a foreplay for season 13 OR the character Sam,
played by Jared Padalecki is being backout to give the character
Dean, played by Jensen Ackles the possibility to be to the fore. In
the end I don't know, all I know, the changes are obvious and IMO
should be evaluated.
Since it's hiatus, a
lot time can be spend with figuring out if season 12 was truly an
awfully bad written season or if there is more to the story than
meets the eye. It's just using ad hominem as an argument can't be
the solution... and therefor I can't get rid of the feeling that what appears this season to be so obvious and disturbing, is the key to the
true ongoing story of the Winchester odyssey. Lets not forget we are
talking about the 'Supernatural'.
“The eye sees only
what the mind is prepared to comprehend.” Robert Davies
(William Robertson
Davies, He was one of Canada's
best-known and most popular authors, and one of its most
distinguished "men of letters") :D
