Ah, Supernatural. It was touch and go there for a while, but you redeemed yourself in the final episode. And now I love you again, Winchesters.

I like background noise when I'm painting and, having exhausted everything else, I started tearing through Supernatural. I finished two seasons in something like a week. Around the middle of season 2 I felt my interest slipping away. It was annoying. I WANTED to enjoy the show. It was much more addictive than I expected (the secret to getting me hooked is to have utterly lovable characters. Especially ones that look good when slippery and wet from the shower).

Then it had to go and get sick with Joss Whedon disease.

Disclaimer: I adore Joss Whedon. He is a genius (an EVIL genius, but a genius nonetheless) and he makes great shows. But I lost my taste for Buffy somewhere around season 6, and the first time I saw Serenity it left a bad taste in my mouth, because the man's idea of upping his game is to inject more and more Doom, Death, and Despair into his shows. Angel just plain crashed and burned at season 4 because I think it was trying to keep up with Buffy, and got way too heavy too soon. And so it looked like Supernatural was going in that same direction although, as I said, it redeemed itself with a really good season finale.

It's mainly the supernatural fantasy type shows, although I see it here and there in other genres too. New shows feel like they have to one-up everything that has gone before and so before you've even finished the first season, the bloody world is ending and our heroes are crying over each other's graves. And I'm sitting there thinking, "Waiter, this is NOT the fun, ass-kicking escapism that I ordered." I want to laugh, gloat and be happy while demons get their butts whipped. I want to unwind and feel cheered and uplifted. I don't want to feel so depressed it's like my soul has just been sucked out through my ribcage.

(And yes, enduring the fictional apolcalypse and watching much loved characters fall to pieces IS stressful and draining. Yes. It is. Shut up).

And you know, watching the end of Supernatural has helped me put my finger on where everything seems to be going wrong. See, once upon a time, when a Bigger Bad Than Before came to town, our heroes became bigger and badder too. They learned new skills. They found new weapons. They dredged up new information and twisted the bad guy's plan right around on him (and that, right there, is my favourite part of any battle for the world - the LOOK on the bad guy's face just as the heroes rise from near death and turn the tables on him). Every time something worse came along, our guys just got that little bit cooler.

Now the trend seems to be that in order to beat the bad guy, our heroes have to sacrifice something bigger. Their morality, their family, their friends, their souls, their lives, somebody else's life...By the time they're done sacrificing stuff in order to screw over the baddies, everybody is so depressed it almost wasn't worth it (this is usually where we get all the angst over the cost of being a hero. Anybody remember when being a hero was FUN?). You kind of wish the bad guys had won. I mean, at least THEY usually have a sense of humour.

Hell, much as I love the latest James Bond movie, even that wasn't immune.

So I'm going to cross my fingers for Supernatural, and pray to high heaven that the damn writers don't burn the poor Winchester boys out. There is PLENTY of angst to go around already. They don't need any more death and despair. Just bigger guns.

I'm serious. If they apocalypse this show to death before I get to see more of half-naked Dean, I am going to be pissed.

Current Mood: sleepy
Current Music: Kansas - Carry On My Wayward Son