Subrosian told a large number of lies about me in his posts about me and in case anyone here is convinced that what he is saying is true, Allow me to say that it isn’t. And unlike him, I don’t make unsubstantiated claims. He alleged that the argument did not arise over Halo 3. That was a lie. Was it entirely focused on Halo 3? No, of course not. But that’s the reason why it began. Plain and simple. Here are a few excerpts from the argument he and I had. Out of respect to third parties, I’ve changed their names.
The Winchesters were back for another season after an impressive five year run with Eric Kripke at the helm. With Kripke stepping down from his day to day duties Sera Gamble was given the difficult task of having to appease a diehard fanbase with a follow up season that involved a battle with The Devil himself. It was expected season six would be a drop off from the previous season, but it wasn’t expected to have such a sloppy outing. As stated in my previous article on the show I wasn’t too particularly fond of how they were handling all the different plot lines. With Crowley, a search for Purgatory, Sam’s soulless return, the war in heaven, and Eve all being done in one season it made the season feel like it lacked focus.
Season six started off with Dean living his normal life with Ben and Lisa. Until of course his old life comes right back to put him and his new family in danger. With that we also got to see that Sam was in fact okay and not in hell(though that wasn’t really news). This sets off an early stretch where Dean is now back on the road with his brother, but also gave us a glimpse that something was wrong with Sam. While I applaud the writers for taking such a gamble I don’t necessarily think it worked very well. For one thing the soulless Sam sort of lacked the chemistry we are so used to between the Winchester brothers. It also didn’t help that the new Campbell family that was brought in(along with the return of their Granddad Samuel) was incredibly distasteful. The writers made it extremely difficult to really care for even understand their motives. Where as characters such as Lucifer or Azazel were written in a way that made them interesting or even worth understanding(especially Lucifer’s version of his story) the campbells came off as a bunch of glorified scumbags.
Early on we were also given how Crowely is the new King of Hell, and Castiel is fighting a civil war in heaven against the arch angel Rapheal. These two plots actually end up being the thing that connects the entire season together, but the early portion of the season rarely even acknowledged these parts of the storyline. That said when they finally are center stage the season felt like it came together. The five episode stretch before the finale felt like a nice turn around for the season. It really made it feel like all the time the audience gave to the show for the first half was finally being rewarded. Castiel’s pride being his descent to the dark side was expertly handled. You were actually given a reason to understand Castiel’s motives for why he did what he did. You also get some noteworthy scenes between Dean and Castiel about their reactions to what Castiel has done. If the season was paced a little big better this revelation late into the season could have easily become one of the more memorable archs in the entire series. Unfortunately the odd pacing, the soulless first half(pun intended), and a rush job stops this season from being up to the Supernatural standard of the past 2 years.
The Mother of all Eve was handled poorly, and taken out far too quickly. The younger actress(Julia Maxwell) turned in a solid performance, but she lacked the gravitas to really pull off Eve character. Her later form as Mary Winchester(Samantha Smith) suited the character far more. It provided another incentive for the Winchesters to ice her, as well as giving the character the instant draw that she needed. Sadly all the character was given was one memorable scene against the Winchesters in a dinner.
The Sam’s soul storyline also was rushed, and really felt like it contradicted a lot of the things they were saying. The entire second half made it seem like Sam would crumble and die if he found out what happened to his soul in Hell, but it ends up being nothing more than a throwdown between three different Sam’s in his head? Just felt like an odd way to end it, and even more so just a boring and lazy way of saving Sam(because you can’t kill Sam again with the 7th season already being set).
Now the most controversial part of this season also happens to be the most shocking event this season. Castiel takes in all the souls of Purgatory, and is basically the new God in the supernatural universe. The ending was a bit cheesy with the multiple close ups on the shocked faces of the Winchesters and Bobby, but as usual Supernatural leaves us hanging with another cliff hanger ready for the next season. Personally I have a lot of doubts if Supernatural can handle this type of cosmic battle with the grace and tight writing needed. If done poorly it’s going to come off entirely cringe worthy. Either way cheers to another season of Supernatural.
On the more positive note we had plenty of strong stand alone episodes. As the meta episode “The French Mistake” was hands down one of the funniest episodes in the entire series. With the scene of Dean and Sam playing their real life selves trying to play Dean and Sam was nothing short of hilarious. As well as “My Heart Will Go On” and “Clap Your Hands if You Believe” being memorable for giving us an X-File spoof, the introduction of fairies, Fate herself, and my personal favorite an Angel that really hated The Titanic and Celine Dion. Season six had no chance in hell of living up to the grand arch of the previous two seasons, and it didn’t help itself with such shoddy pacing. It was still mostly an enjoyable season thanks to some good performances by the main characters, and another solid season of good ol monsters hunting. Here’s hoping season 7 brings the show back up to standard.
Sloppy Pacing out of 10
SPOILER WARNING: I’ll most likely be spoiling some things about the Supernatural storyline. If you have any intent on showing you have good taste, and thus watching the greatness that is Supernatural. Do not read the rest of it. For those that don’t give a shit: carry on.
So Game has been badgering me for months to actually do one of my blogs on the GUFU blog (I wouldn’t call it badgering, exactly… Ed.). Now that I’m banned from gamespot I figured what the hell. I need a place to vent some thoughts, and Game stops bitching at me about not doing anything for the GUFU blog. So my first addition to the site will be my thoughts on Season 6 of Supernatural. Cheers.
On a network filled with mediocrity Supernatural has been the gem in the weekly CW lineup. It’s been an excellent marriage of horror, comedy, action, and just the right amount of heart when needed. From the initial pilot with the “Woman in White” to the Apocalypse ending Swan Song the show gave us a hell of a road for five seasons. The sixth season however has shown that the road is going on too long now.
There are a bunch of reasons why the current season isn’t holding up to the previous seasons. There is the lack of focus of the central plot this season, the fact that it follows up the most powerful story arch the show has done, but maybe above all else it’s because the swagger is gone.
THE WINCHESTERS
The show’s success has been based entirely on the relationship between Sam (Jared Padalecki) and Dean Winchester (Jensen Ackles) as brothers. Over the course of five seasons Padalecki and Ackles have defined the characters nicely, and really come into their roles. They’ve given emotion to some of the strongest scenes in the series, and consistently delivered on their comedic timing when needed.
Now the boys are still the best part about the current season. It’s just the material they have been given this season just lacks the same moxie. In the past few seasons we’ve seen the characters become more layered. We saw how Sam went from wanting to just be an average college student to full on downing some demon blood. We saw Dean Winchester who’s been the poster child for the term bravado completely breakdown from the weight on his shoulders.
This season however what they’ve been given has just lacked a much needed punch. It was a gutsy call to bring Sam back this season without a soul. Jared Padalecki presented us a Sam with no feeling. A hollow shell of the Sam we’ve grown accustomed to. In some cases it provided some great contrast to the usual Sam. From the ruthlessness he’s shown to some of the comedic opportunities presented.
Unfortunately(and I apologize for the terrible pun in advance) it left the early half of the show lifeless. The show works best on the interaction between the Winchesters, and having only half the duo there just didn’t flow as well. It also didn’t help that it was treading old ground. The writers used the hollow Sam as a way to cause a slight rift in the usual relationship. The problem is we got a better version of that in season 4, and the early parts of season 5. Partially because there was more of a build up to the rift, and more importantly because it was jarring compared to the seasons before. This was been there done that. Only with none of the grand execution.
TOUGH ACT TO FOLLOW
It also didn’t help that treading new ground was going to be a drop off no matter the execution. Let us all be honest here the show was going to have a significant drop off this season. The previous seasons paced the show beautifully. Building up from the weekly monster of the week routine to bringing in the concept of heaven vs hell, and finally culminating in the apocalypse storyline of the fourth and fifth seasons.
So here we are this season and we’re back to the monster of the week routine. We’re back to Shape Shifters, Vampires, Ghosts, etc. Following up Lucifer with a bunch of low tier obstacles just wasn’t going to cut the mustard.
UH…WHERE ARE WE GOING?
Two of the big reasons Supernatural has had a good five year run is based on build up and focus. The previous five seasons had a central plot that was shaping up nicely. It was paced nicely with just enough information given over time. With future seasons making smaller events in the past seem a lot stronger than they initially were. So what’s wrong in season 6? Well frankly there is just too much going on with little pay off.
In 16 episodes we’ve had a bunch of storylines that just haven’t come together at all. We’ve had soulless Sam which for 11 episodes was as detrimental to the show as it was interesting. We’ve had the return of Samuel Campbell the grandfather of the Winchesters, and the other Campbell cousins. Who have more or less come off as glorified douchebags. With Samuel being a character with no redeeming quality after we see him basically sell out his grand kids to Crowley.
Oh than there is Crowley and his search for purgatory. The alpha monsters which were suppose to provide an origin story for the many monsters in the Supernatural mythology. With it all coming to what we have now which is The Mother of All Monsters in Eve. While the Eve storyline still has a chance to save the season with the final stretch of the season dedicated to that storyline(the final six episodes of the season);the road that got us here was just far too bumpy.
The Campbells didn’t open up any new ground for the Winchester background. If anything it gave us one of the rare misses the show has had in terms of characters. The soulless Sam Routine gave us a stretch where the Winchester boys weren’t on the same page. Robbing the show of its strongest asset: The chemistry between the brothers. The whole arch with Crowley looking for purgatory was dealt with far too quickly with no real victory for the Winchesters. Oh and there is a giant civil war going on between the Angels in Heaven, and that’s been treated as a side story?
Everything about the first 16 episodes of this season has just been sloppy. We’ve been given a bunch of small story lines that really needed to marinate more than they actually did. There was almost no real build up to some of the conclusions we got. None of these multiple story archs are coming together cohesively at this point.
On the flip side look at the older seasons. The first season maybe a lot of monster of the week stuff, but a good chunk of it was dedicated towards not only establishing the Winchesters/Supernatural Mythology but also searching for John Winchester. With it all culminating in a standoff with Azazel. The second season dealt with Dean having to protect Sam from whatever Azazel had planned. Season 3 was of course about “The Deal”. Season 4 was about the seals, and the introduction of Angels to the mythology. With Season 5 wrapping all of the seasons up with the Apocalypse storyline with Lucifer himself.
Were there side stories during those seasons as well? Sure there were. However, none of it came at the expense of the central plot of those respective seasons. It all flowed nicely with the right amount of build up for the strong moments of those seasons. With season six we got a jumbled mess.
TL;DR SUMMARY
Basically it all comes down to this. The reason why the first five seasons have a spark, and the sixth season doesn’t is all about planning. The show was always intended to be a five year program by the creator Eric Kripke. It’s why the show progressively got bigger and bigger. It’s why they were able to take small aspects of the previous season and work them into the later seasons with great results. There was actual character development, and planned development through out the series.
With season six we clearly have something that was brought up well after the ideas of the first five seasons were brought up. Season six still has a some great standalone episodes such as “Clap Your Hands If You Believe, Caged Heat, and The French Mistake”, but the general flow of the season has been far too sloppy.
I still believe the show has good television left in it. While it’s never going to be as sharp as it was during the first five seasons it still has the pieces to be good TV. That said maybe CW shouldn’t have extended it for another season, and let it go out on the note Kripke initially was going for with his five year plan. Here’s hoping the final stretch of this season can make up for a lot of the mistakes done for the first 2/3rds of the season.
Welcome Back to the GUFU Late Night Show. Your host Lafigueroa is joined once again by The_Game21x, Skittles_Mcgee, Sonicmj1, and jg4xchamp. On this month’s podcast we talk about the high speed action of Vanquish, the orgasmic controls of Super Meat Boy, how much of a devil Skittles can be in Fallout New Vegas, and how DLC should stop being so lame. Enjoy the show, and remember, Hall Monitors are lame.
And we’re back! September has been a busy month, so we’ve rounded up a five-man crew. Skittles_McGee, Lafigueroa, Jg4xchamp, The_Game21x, and yours truly, sonicmj1 come together to discuss ripping off customers in indie JRPG Recettear, slaughtering the zombie hordes in Dead Rising 2, cursing your way through Mafia 2 (spoilers within), fighting the greatest boss ever in Metroid: Other M, and remembering good times in Pokemon. Grab some Doritos and dig in to the GUFU Late Nite Show!
We also have a special, Halo: Reach Edition of the podcast available as well so check it out!
Never fear, the GUFU Late Nite Show is here! Listen in as Lafigueroa, Skittles McGee, LegendofNerd, and TheGame21x talk about Starcraft 2, Starcraft 2, the news from Gamescom, Castlevania Harmony of Despair and Starcraft 2. A spoiler-free version is available for those who haven’t finished the campaign.
The title says it all folks. Check out the latest official trailer for the single player campaign of Halo: Reach, courtesy of Bungie.
The GUFU Podcast Crew is back with the July Edition of the GUFU Late Nite Show. Join Lafigueroa, Skittles McGee, LegendofNerd, TheGame21x and a newcomer, FireEmblemMan as we discuss the release of Starcraft II, the recent Steam Sale, more Starcraft II, Comic-Con, A little more Starcraft II, the Batman villains no one talks about, Alien Swarm and (you guessed it) more Starcraft II.
Bright Falls is a north pacific town that provides beautiful scenery and a nice small town mystique. One would assume it would provide the best option for a little R & R for best selling horror author Alan Wake. That is until you begin to understand just how dangerous the night life around Bright Falls is. The town has an overbearing darkness that is taking control of some of the towns folk, and turning them into ghoulish creatures of the night who are determined to cause trouble for Alan Wake. More importantly the ominous presence surrounding the town has Alan Wake’s wife.
