Okaaaaaay ...
May. 1st, 2014 01:11 pm![[personal profile]](https://www.dreamwidth.org/img/silk/identity/user.png){kind=small}
dizzojayWell I settled down last night to watch the long-awaited 'backdoor pilot' and, well ...
The simple fact is that by the end of the Supernatural pilot, I would have sold my first-born son (assuming, of course, that I actually had one) to protect Sam and Dean.
Midway through ‘Bloodlines’ my thoughts were wandering so much that I became fixated about whether I’d left the empties out for the milkman to collect this morning – to the extent that I had to get up and go and check!
I’m a little bit at a loss to understand what demographic the producers were aiming for when they created this; surely they can’t think that this would appeal to the greater fandom?
I felt like I was watching some glitzy soap, with the shallow plastic characters you expect of such a format; Barbie and Ken meets Hammer House of Horror, and that is totally not what Supernatural is about.
Supernatural is gritty, it’s dark, it’s angsty, it’s dirty, it’s filled with sacrifice and despair and a love so profound it’s physically painful to experience and that’s what we adore. I accept that a spin-off, naturally, has to be different to the original, but this was different at such a fundamental level, I may as well have been watching Extreme Couponing for all the connection I felt it had with our show.
Supernatural has also been gifted with a succession of fabulously well-written characters. Characters with great backstory, with depth and substance, played by gifted actors who brought that substance very much to life, any one of which could have raised the bar immensely on such a bland showing.
But ultimately, I think any spin-off of Supernatural is facing an uphill struggle for one simple reason:
Jared and Jensen.
Jared and Jensen ARE Supernatural. Like apples to an apple pie; take out the apples and what you have left is a crust.
I was so determined to keep an open mind, but I have to concede that what I watched last night was a crust.
I wonder if the milkman’s taken the empties yet?
The simple fact is that by the end of the Supernatural pilot, I would have sold my first-born son (assuming, of course, that I actually had one) to protect Sam and Dean.
Midway through ‘Bloodlines’ my thoughts were wandering so much that I became fixated about whether I’d left the empties out for the milkman to collect this morning – to the extent that I had to get up and go and check!
I’m a little bit at a loss to understand what demographic the producers were aiming for when they created this; surely they can’t think that this would appeal to the greater fandom?
I felt like I was watching some glitzy soap, with the shallow plastic characters you expect of such a format; Barbie and Ken meets Hammer House of Horror, and that is totally not what Supernatural is about.
Supernatural is gritty, it’s dark, it’s angsty, it’s dirty, it’s filled with sacrifice and despair and a love so profound it’s physically painful to experience and that’s what we adore. I accept that a spin-off, naturally, has to be different to the original, but this was different at such a fundamental level, I may as well have been watching Extreme Couponing for all the connection I felt it had with our show.
Supernatural has also been gifted with a succession of fabulously well-written characters. Characters with great backstory, with depth and substance, played by gifted actors who brought that substance very much to life, any one of which could have raised the bar immensely on such a bland showing.
But ultimately, I think any spin-off of Supernatural is facing an uphill struggle for one simple reason:
Jared and Jensen.
Jared and Jensen ARE Supernatural. Like apples to an apple pie; take out the apples and what you have left is a crust.
I was so determined to keep an open mind, but I have to concede that what I watched last night was a crust.
I wonder if the milkman’s taken the empties yet?
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no subject
Date: 2014-05-01 06:43 pm (UTC)no subject
Date: 2014-05-01 09:35 pm (UTC)I liked the way you described Ennis, "being forced upon us" and trying to get us to feel sympathetic towards him. Sadly, I really didn't feel much sympathy for him. I'm not sure if it was the actor, or the way he was written, or maybe it's just a little bit of both.
After reading your comment it dawned on me, do you think they were trying to have these two main characters mirror personalities of Dean and Sam? Meaning, David would be more "Sam-like" and Ennis more "Dean-like?" I especially thought that when they had Dean and Ennis say Awesome at the same time. That whole scene felt stilted to me, and the fact that they said awesome at the same time didn't feel natural to me, like it does when Dean and Sam say the same things at the same time. Then Ennis is all of a sudden all badass, etc. I think they tried to get him to be and react too much like Dean and this actor just couldn't handle it. He is too young and immature as an actor to pull off the gravitas that Jensen can pull off. And yes, totally agree that that actor couldn't bring that "extra spark."