ariadnes_string | SPN 5.11: "Don't the Sun Look Angry at Me?" (episode reaction)

No spoilers for anything past 5.11.

So, I watched the episode late last night, and I woke up this morning with a low-grade fever. I’m not saying it had anything to do with Jensen Ackles in a short-sleeved white t-shirt. I’m just offering it as my excuse for not having anything particularly coherent to say about the episode (which I enjoyed, though I probably missed some of the finer points, what with the white t-shirts and all).

So, just a couple of things:

***

I still surprised that while I don’t exactly look forward to episodes by these writers (Dabb and Loflin), I feel strangely reassured now when I see that they’ve written something. They are, after all, responsible for my least favorite episode of SPN—“Yellow Fever”—and for one—“After School Special”—that I didn’t like very much. But “Jump the Shark” was pretty good (especially given the challenges of the topic), and in the swamp of dismality that was 5.05-5.09, “I Believe the Children are our Future” was at least straightforward, kinda fun, kinda interesting. And I thought they did pretty well with this. It was relatively tightly and plausibly plotted (at least given SPN’s standards), and got in some nice character work for Sam, Dean and the OMC Martin. I particularly liked the way they tried to give Martin his own special, unusual diction (“bet a chicken dinner,” etc.). They are definitely winning the award for most improved this season, anyway.

***

I’m kind of intrigued by how many sympathetic brunettes live in Dean’s subconscious. I mean, it makes sense that he would have inner voices (demons) telling him he isn’t good enough, that he’s failed, etc.—as the imaginary doctor eventually does. But, as others have noted, the imaginary doctor, and her concerns, resembled Carmen from WIAWSNB (and his dream of Lisa in DaLDoM). So, Dean also has inner (female) voices telling him that he shouldn’t have to shoulder the world’s problems, deserves a more peaceful life.

The “real” figure these sympathetic brunettes most resemble is not, I think, Mary, which would be one’s first guess, but rather the reaper, Tessa, and her (eroticized) offer of peace, of saying goodbye to the world. Which just goes to show how incredibly tantalizing death has been for Dean since the beginning of S2.

I also think it’s touching that (up to a point) Dean has someone being nice to him inside his own head, even if it so rarely happens outside it.

***

I’ve read a bunch of people complaining, justifiably, that the episode didn’t really break new ground in terms of the boys’ “issues”—especially re: Dean. But, here’s the thing—Dean’s hyper-responsibility, his determination to save everyone, his guilt over not being able to, gets me every fucking, overdone time it show up. I’m a sucker for it--what can I do?

***

That said, I did think the end of the episode was a little weird. Sam has anger issues. Yup. Dean’s advice is bad advice. Also Yup. Though I thought JA played it as if Dean half-knew that it was bad advice, a desperate gleam in his eyes, just wanting Sam to shut up and get in the fucking car already.

I was pretty upset that they didn’t do anything for Martin, though, and we have no idea what happened to him. He was a good character, I thought, and the little scene where he and Dean have to urge each other past their fears and insecurities to do the right thing was very nice. He, like Dean, was heroic in the old-fashioned way, moving past his own weakness to help others, and I wanted to see that rewarded with a little screen time…

***

Oh, and the white t-shirts were nice.

Still waking up in the mornings with shaking hands
And I’m trying to find a girl who understands me
But except in dreams you’re never really free.

Don’t the sun look angry at me.

Warren Zevon, “Desperadoes Under the Eaves.”

Flat | Top-Level Comments Only

I still surprised that while I don’t exactly look forward to episodes by these writers (Dabb and Loflin), I feel strangely reassured now when I see that they’ve written something.

They have their faults (overly broad comedy for one, which just wrecked Yellow Fever) but I don't find their work to be bad writing. My biggest problems with this episode, for example, don't spring from the writing. When I look at what they were trying to say here, it's a story that hangs together has a point and might even be more meaningful as the season comes together. The writing is sloppy (as a lot of episodes are) but they have some good scenes. Especially in the two episodes you cite, I thought they had emotional power.

but rather the reaper, Tessa, and her (eroticized) offer of peace, of saying goodbye to the world. Which just goes to show how incredibly tantalizing death has been for Dean since the beginning of S2.

Oh, I like that insight. And I agree about Martin. I guess we're supposed to assume he fulfilled his purpose, storywise. My guess is that Wendy still being alive was meant to happen so that Martin would not be left behind accused of murder.

My guess is that Wendy still being alive was meant to happen so that Martin would not be left behind accused of murder.
Oh yeah, that's a good point! Oh well, maybe Martin will live on in (much better) fic.

I was going to say, re: your post, that now that I've dabbled in some other fandoms (which also have good writers), the depth of good writing in SPN fic is even more remarkable--also, it's variety is pretty impressive (given how few characters there are)

it's variety is pretty impressive (given how few characters there are)

That's a great point. In Buffy there were so many characters to work with, and the pairing possibilities were endless, so there were lots of possibilities for gen, het and slash writers. The het is very thin on the ground in SPN but it has amazing gen writers. And considering the absence of central pairings, yeah, it's surprising the fic fandom hadn't burned itself out before S4.

I'm continually impressed by--I'm not sure how to put this--but by the tonal variety--how many styles of writing the fanfic seems to be able to accommodate--and the fandom to embrace. In fact, it seems to draw stylists--or at least people interested in narrative/stylistic experimentation--more than the other fandoms I've dabbled in--don't know about Buffy--

There's that too, but I think it's largely a result of how large the fandom is. Buffy was a huge fandom but by the time I wandered into SPN, the writing output had died down considerably. It was shocking to me to see the quantity of stories and amount of feedback they got in SPN.

An even better example is vids. Vids take time to make and there are fewer vidmakers in any fandom. Yet there are several listed daily in the newsletter and I've seen some vid posts get 5 pages or so of comments which is almost unheard of in other fandoms. And then you look at big bang with, what, 100 writers taking part in a novella length challenge? When you've got thousands of writers at work it's a lot more common to see experimentation, because people want to be able to produce something different.

That's interesting--I hadn't thought of it that way before, but it totally makes sense--that the numbers would make for experimentation. (now--why there would be such numbers for a basically little-watched show--that's a question for the ages!).

I would say that the introduction of a major new slash pairing in S4 certainly helped keep things fresh, but I've feel like I just read a slew of good new gen fic this week....

*ponders*

Oh yes, when you consider the volumes of fic being written on Sam and Dean after 4 years, it's no surprise to me that people fell on Dean/Castiel like ravenous wolves. Not that the fandom needed still more slash, but at this point I think it's become rather hopeless for het writers and they really have to be doing it for love of the characters and the genre. On the other hand, gen writers have had a great ride in SPN.

now--why there would be such numbers for a basically little-watched show--that's a question for the ages!

THIS! I find SPN creative fandom to be a rather amazing story in many ways. If you consider that in most fandoms gen gets fewer readers than het or slash, and that in this fandom most options fall into either incest or RPS stories, you'd expect that there would be less fic written in SPN than in other fandoms. Instead it overflows with production (though I think it's slowing down now). It would be a very interesting thing to explore (especially in light of current discussions about m/m appropriation and female characters).

First: The necklaces came yesterday, and they are beautiful! I can't wait to wear them!

Second--I don't know the discussions about m/m appropriation and female characters, but I agree that the creative production in SPN is kind of staggering (if anything, I think Wincest might be slowing down, rather than gen, but that's purely an impression). Sam and Dean are a perfect fic set up, though--they are kind of reactive characters to begin with, so you can plop them down anywhere and do what you like (ie, Camelot), BUT, they come with an amazing, equally portable, set of psychological issues, that can lend narrative/character structure to just about anything.

Haven't seen 5.12 yet--may try to stream it in a bit--

Yay! Wow, USPS did a great job. All three packages arrived in just two days.

It was my impression that the Sam/Dean was slowing down as well, whereas I think the RPS AU has just been increasing. My guess is that it's not just the Dean/Castiel coming into the mix but also that these last two seasons have not lent themselves well to the stories people want to tell. Of course, if you're writing gen there's no such problem. Similarly on the RPS front with Jensen moving out, the engagements, the relative lack of interesting new joint sightings, etc. I think there's less feeding the set fic as well. No problem for AU writers though.

I totally agree about Sam and Dean being a highly transposable pair of characters. I love SPN/Firefly crossovers, for example. They lend themselves to it very well. I've read a few others that also worked. I suspect it's because their issues are, as you said, very portable psychological ones that aren't actually tied to any particular time period or setting. They're very archetypal, which I think the writers are particularly playing up in order to fit them into this larger heaven and hell arc.

SPN 5.11: "Don't the Sun Look Angry at Me?" (episode reaction)

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