Abni
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Posted: Oct 24th, 2008 at 08:43 am
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Hi everyone  I thought I'd start a thread about Supernatural Season 4 episodes - feel free to jump in with thoughts, views, insights, comments - everything you'd like to contribute with Only please don't post spoilers in the comments
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Abni
Oct 24th, 2008 at 08:46 am »
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Abni
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Posts: 2
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Posted: Oct 24th, 2008 at 12:08 pm
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Ok, I'll start off this thread with a few comments about last night's episode 'Yellow Fever'. At the risk of disagreeing with most people (at least judging from what I've read elsewhere) I'll admit I didn't like the episode. There was just too much that felt 'off' to me in it.
What disturbed me most about this episode was the topic matter and the way it was handled. Having 48 hours to live, being literally scared to death - that's no laughing matter in my book. The way Dean's fear was portrayed as comic (often, to me, in a forced-comical way) and the way Sam seemed more annoyed than sympathetic with him - that's not like the insightful, gripping show I grew to love in Season 1. This episode reminded me of last season's Mystery Spot, in which Sam watching Dean die over and over was also turned into comedy. Dean's fear of going back to hell, of reliving what happened (even of remembering), of being chased by Hellhounds - it just feels wrong to me to treat this in this way, because to me it indicates a lack of respect for the severity of that fear, of his situation.
Another thing that disturbed me (and, well, has disturbed me this whole season) is Sam's behaviour towards Dean. There's no sign of the deep brotherly affection of the I'll-do-anything-for-you-even-die-for-you kind that we saw in earlier seasons. I don't care how much Sam's supposed to change, there's no way he wouldn't freak if he was about to lose Dean again. But what does he do? He acts annoyed. He lets Dean take off alone after his rant about their lives, he leaves him in their hotel room with no comment at all (that we see), he even laughs at him.
Doesn't at all ring true to me, that's not the Sam we know.
Which brings me to another point about Sam. Obviously Sam's been through a lot these four months that Dean's been gone. Obviously he's changed. The problem is, the show doesn't explain to us what's happened, why he's acting the way he does. I've learned through many years' analysing and writing about films and literature that spectators/readers/critics will accept most things you can do - if only you either 1) explain why you do them or 2) show that you're aware that you're doing them. This hasn't happened yet in this season, we've been given no insight into Sam and his behaviour (apart from very few moments in Metamorphosis). If we didn't have the earlier seasons to build on, we'd hold very little sympathy for him as a character - because we've been given very little information to build that sympathy on. I hope this will soon be amended, but after 6 episodes without it I'm starting to fear for it.
(Oh, and I'm not even going to mention things like cheesy dialogue or that smile when the ghost kicked his a**).
Ok, ranting over. What did you think about the episode? Agree? Disagree? Loved it?
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Posted: Oct 24th, 2008 at 01:03 pm
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I can sum it up Yellow Fever in one word: Gak.
One of the only redeeming moments for me was that stupid dog, and not for any logical supernatural reason, just that I have always insisted that those little dogs are the Dark Force on earth, so at least I was proved right.
They should have let the dog devour the script.
“What happened to the script Sam?”
“I don’t know, this woman pulled it out of my hands and then chanted Latin at me.”
“What did she say?”
“Canis meus it comedit.”
I was actually stunned into silence disbelief by how bad it was. I would put it down and the worst or the worst.. Even Bugs—that discussion outside the college when Sam finds out John visited Stanford. But this one. Yech
First of all—the characterization of Sam was so far off, I find it hard to believe that was Sam at all. Find out your brother has 48 hours to live, tell him he’s a dick then leave him all alone, knowing full well this thing kills through fright? Yeah, sounds like Sam. Not. I’m not even sure what the scriptwriters were going for with Sam in this one, unless they just want to prove what a jerk he’s become, or how much his brother DOESN’T matter to him any longer. Then, tell Dean to calm down and get a grip, knowing full well he can’t within the bounds of the illness? And it feels like Sam is more annoyed and irritated by Dean than worried. His brother is dying. DYING and he’s making fun of him and annoyed with him? What? I understand Sam changed a little in the four months, but this is a BIG change from the man who would willingly give his life for his brother. (You’re my brother and I would die for you)
Which leads us to the second most awful thing about this episode. The humor. Okay, some of it was okay. The dog (for reasons stated above) and the cat scaring Dean (although not Dean’s reaction, I thought it was a little homage to the “cat scares people” moment in horror films like Alien) but overall, Dean is dying from fright, literally dying from fright and is that really something to laugh about? To make fun of him about? Have we really sunk so low that we can make something that terrible into an excuse for a comedy? (Oh, hey you have AIDS, that’s hysterically funny). That just felt so wrong, and so far from episodes like Faith where we are dealing with a similar subject in a much different way. How “funny” would it have been in Croatoan “Sammy you got the demon virus from that little nurse, Ha ha ha” It felt false and left me with a very bad taste in my mouth.
The supporting characters were gruesomely bad, although I half liked the murdered boy’s brother. I was all ready for Sam and Dean to have a discussion about what he said and poof, nothing. The sheriff was just a shadow, there was no sympathy for him at all. The dog was good. I liked the dog and as far as acting, the dog was at the top of the performances of the guest stars.
Dean and the Bible. I thought Dean Winchester clutching the Bible was a little “Gee want to hit me over the head with that obviousness there Mr. Director” It felt a little out of character in context, I’m not sure why I found it so jarring, except that feeling that they (writer/director) felt we were so stupid about it all that they needed to bash that into our brain.
The Sam is evil storyline is beginning to bother me, and we were left wondering if that was actually a hallucination or if it were really Sam for a moment. Why would Dean see yellow eyes? All the demons since season two are black-eyed, except Lilith. So this leaves me wondering, is Sam a YED now? What does that mean? And if it was just a hallucination, why then YELLOW eyes?
And for me, one very disturbing thing was the villain. I am not sure why I found it so disturbing, but his demise in life left me shaking and in tears. I think perhaps because he was an innocent and the choice of death was so graphic and really unneeded. It was horrible and then to force his ghost to do the same seemed almost over the top cruel and close to down right evil. (Are they then becoming what they hunt?) And why make Dean cough up a wood chip? That felt like a cry for help, so then couldn’t they have approached the ghost, as they did in Roadkill? It was such a black and white solution, and the man in life wasn’t violent, so why this? It left me very uneasy
Of course, why infect Dean at all? (and we will leave out the rant about supernatural illness in general and ghostsickness in particular) Sam’s answer that Dean was a “dick” doesn’t work, because really the jerk lately is Sam. And if anyone should have been infected it was Sam. But why use this as an explanation? Why now “Because you held the heart” or “Maybe there is something odd about your supernatural immune system” which could have led to a joke, but still stayed true to the idea of the show.
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Posted: Oct 25th, 2008 at 12:47 pm
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Honestly that is the most outrageous episode I have ever seen. It was terrible. Yes to me it was!!! I'll come with a detailed rant later.
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Season 4 Episodes - (Read 115 Times)
