Comments on: Television: Supernatural Ruminations – Dean and Sam Winchester and the Effects of What a Girl Says http://eclipsemagazine.com/television/8545/ Entertainment News for The Rest of Us Fri, 11 May 2012 13:57:00 +0000 hourly 1 http://wordpress.org/?v=3.3.2 By: zuki http://eclipsemagazine.com/television/8545/comment-page-1/#comment-3711 zuki Fri, 27 Mar 2009 04:47:57 +0000 http://eclipsemagazine.com/television/8545/#comment-3711 Excellent observations. I think sometimes we fans get too caught up in the boys to see the other characters' actions and motivations and I agree about the peformance of Genevieve Cortese in this episode. She did an excellent job of making my stomach drop with worry for Sam's future. I never disliked her like some of the other SPN fans, but I think that her character is more subdued this season because we are meant to be lulled into thinking that she is really on Sam's side. As far as "heralding the female characters' arrivals", I get the feeling that the network execs are behind that. It sounds like they think they know better than the creative minds behind the show. The creation of the Roadhouse in season 2 (despite the concept that the show is supposed to be like "Route 66"), the fact that the atmospheric shadowy shots are largely gone from the show (because the show was supposedly too dark and needed to be brighter) and the absence of any really kick-ass classic rock songs this season (because of the expense) are all the fault of the network bigwigs, as are the addition of a "female presence". Considering all that, I think Erik Kripke and everyone at SPN has done an amazing job at producing a quality show with complex characters and themes. CW should leave the team alone so they can tell their story without having to bow to studio demands. Frankly, I would tune in to watch Jensen Ackles reading the phonebook, so the execs can stop worrying about ratings. The storylines are awesome, so why do they meddle? The Ruby character was meant to add a "hot-chick" so the male audience would have something to look at, but look at how far they have gone with the character! We don't know if she is evil and possibly working for Lillith or just wants Sam so bad she is willing to make herself into his addiction. Can't wait to find out! Great insight into the female presence on the show. And we all thought it was just about the boys....! Excellent observations. I think sometimes we fans get too caught up in the boys to see the other characters’ actions and motivations and I agree about the peformance of Genevieve Cortese in this episode. She did an excellent job of making my stomach drop with worry for Sam’s future. I never disliked her like some of the other SPN fans, but I think that her character is more subdued this season because we are meant to be lulled into thinking that she is really on Sam’s side.

As far as “heralding the female characters’ arrivals”, I get the feeling that the network execs are behind that. It sounds like they think they know better than the creative minds behind the show.

The creation of the Roadhouse in season 2 (despite the concept that the show is supposed to be like “Route 66″), the fact that the atmospheric shadowy shots are largely gone from the show (because the show was supposedly too dark and needed to be brighter) and the absence of any really kick-ass classic rock songs this season (because of the expense) are all the fault of the network bigwigs, as are the addition of a “female presence”. Considering all that, I think Erik Kripke and everyone at SPN has done an amazing job at producing a quality show with complex characters and themes. CW should leave the team alone so they can tell their story without having to bow to studio demands. Frankly, I would tune in to watch Jensen Ackles reading the phonebook, so the execs can stop worrying about ratings. The storylines are awesome, so why do they meddle?

The Ruby character was meant to add a “hot-chick” so the male audience would have something to look at, but look at how far they have gone with the character! We don’t know if she is evil and possibly working for Lillith or just wants Sam so bad she is willing to make herself into his addiction. Can’t wait to find out!

Great insight into the female presence on the show. And we all thought it was just about the boys….!

]]> By: Anna Beck http://eclipsemagazine.com/television/8545/comment-page-1/#comment-3710 Anna Beck Thu, 26 Mar 2009 16:49:05 +0000 http://eclipsemagazine.com/television/8545/#comment-3710 This is interesting insight in regards to the female element on Supernatural. Since the audience was first introduced to this show with just the brothers Winchester traversing the country to fight evil in all forms, introducing additional recurring characters has been a challenge, especially females. The show is a victim of its own success since the audience did not sign on for an ensemble, nor do "hot kick-ass chicks", who are more eye-candy than substance, really fit in to the story as originally presented. It takes the right combination of well-written character portrayed by an engaging actress to bring it all together. And the challenge has been to not make the female character simply a female version of the Winchesters, or worse, a dreaded Mary Sue. While I agree with much of your assessment, I must disagree with your comment of Ms. Cortese "hitting it out of the park" though. What we recently saw was a long way from the bland and wooden presentation of Ruby all season long, but a couple of minutes of engaging performance do not make up for an entire season... I'll need to see a little more in the upcoming episodes to be fully convinced that there was a logical reason for Ruby's lack of definition. Unfortunatey the writers made a huge misstep in killing off Pamela. They finally had a unique character, played by a talented and beautiful actress, who came off as mature rather than a whiny, petulant teen and they killed her off. They could've easily had her very injured to show the effects of this war, but once again they failed to capitalize on the strong character (just like they did with Meg played by the intriguing Nicki Aycox) while leaving behind the ones most like a Mary Sue or deus ex machina. And yes, any character who conveniently shows up and does things without a reasonable explanation within the framework of the story is a deus ex machina. I wish Pamela was still around since I'm not thrilled with Ruby or Anna, but it appears they are finally going in the right direction. Honestly though, I can't wait to see the remaining episodes because Jensen, Jared and Misha are the ones truly hitting it out of the park! This is interesting insight in regards to the female element on Supernatural. Since the audience was first introduced to this show with just the brothers Winchester traversing the country to fight evil in all forms, introducing additional recurring characters has been a challenge, especially females. The show is a victim of its own success since the audience did not sign on for an ensemble, nor do “hot kick-ass chicks”, who are more eye-candy than substance, really fit in to the story as originally presented. It takes the right combination of well-written character portrayed by an engaging actress to bring it all together. And the challenge has been to not make the female character simply a female version of the Winchesters, or worse, a dreaded Mary Sue.

While I agree with much of your assessment, I must disagree with your comment of Ms. Cortese “hitting it out of the park” though. What we recently saw was a long way from the bland and wooden presentation of Ruby all season long, but a couple of minutes of engaging performance do not make up for an entire season… I’ll need to see a little more in the upcoming episodes to be fully convinced that there was a logical reason for Ruby’s lack of definition.

Unfortunatey the writers made a huge misstep in killing off Pamela. They finally had a unique character, played by a talented and beautiful actress, who came off as mature rather than a whiny, petulant teen and they killed her off. They could’ve easily had her very injured to show the effects of this war, but once again they failed to capitalize on the strong character (just like they did with Meg played by the intriguing Nicki Aycox) while leaving behind the ones most like a Mary Sue or deus ex machina. And yes, any character who conveniently shows up and does things without a reasonable explanation within the framework of the story is a deus ex machina.

I wish Pamela was still around since I’m not thrilled with Ruby or Anna, but it appears they are finally going in the right direction. Honestly though, I can’t wait to see the remaining episodes because Jensen, Jared and Misha are the ones truly hitting it out of the park!

]]> By: Visions of Winchesters: The Supernatural Variety, March 25 Edition « Pop Culture Curmudgeon http://eclipsemagazine.com/television/8545/comment-page-1/#comment-3709 Visions of Winchesters: The Supernatural Variety, March 25 Edition « Pop Culture Curmudgeon Thu, 26 Mar 2009 16:04:33 +0000 http://eclipsemagazine.com/television/8545/#comment-3709 [...] Reed ruminates on the past two episodes at Eclipse [...] [...] Reed ruminates on the past two episodes at Eclipse [...]

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