In the twelfth episode of the eighth season of\u00c2\u00a0Supernatural<\/i>, Dean and Sam play host to a visitor from the past who tells them that they are not who they are supposed to be. Intrigued? Then it\u00e2\u20ac\u2122s time for Mark to watch\u00c2\u00a0Supernatural<\/i>.<\/p>\n
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Well, this was a weird one. I\u00e2\u20ac\u2122m still struggling to understand exactly what the Men of Letters are. Are they a more arrogant version of the Watcher\u00e2\u20ac\u2122s Council in\u00c2\u00a0Buffy<\/i>? Were they an organization solely designed to do research of supernatural phenomenon? I got the sense that this was what \u00e2\u20ac\u0153As Time Goes By\u00e2\u20ac\u009d aimed for, but I\u00e2\u20ac\u2122m remain confused about the point of this.<\/p>\n
However, I want to start off by saying that while I was confused, I think this episode is merely here to set up a mythology. Sam still has the Key to\u00e2\u20ac\u00a6 the Lock? That room? The headquarters? I don\u00e2\u20ac\u2122t know what it is, but it\u00e2\u20ac\u2122s apparently the home of ALL KNOWLEDGE EVER or something. It\u00e2\u20ac\u2122s important, and I don\u00e2\u20ac\u2122t think the show is going to abandon that. Plus, this episode advances the mythology of the Winchester bloodline, so that must mean something, right? So it\u00e2\u20ac\u2122s entirely possible that this is the start of something that\u00e2\u20ac\u2122s necessary for the second half of this season, so I\u00e2\u20ac\u2122m fine not being as harsh about it. It\u00e2\u20ac\u2122s not a terrible episode by any means, but my issue with it is that it\u00e2\u20ac\u2122s just so\u00c2\u00a0typical<\/i>.<\/p>\n
\u00e2\u20ac\u0153As Time Goes By\u00e2\u20ac\u009d is a mish-mash of a number of tropes, none of which are subverted at all, and none of which is given all that much attention. This is a script that is spread thinly across forty-odd minutes, and so nothing ever feels like it was developed as it was intended. For example! We\u00e2\u20ac\u2122ve got the time-traveling hero who dies in the future, thus creating the tragic past for his descendants. At no point did I ever think that Henry Winchester would get to go back and be with his son. That would so wholly undo the timeline established by this show, and I don\u00e2\u20ac\u2122t think this is the kind of show that\u00e2\u20ac\u2122s willing to re-invent itself in the midst of its eighth season. So Henry, while an interesting character on the surface, could never really be a challenging part of the narrative. He\u00e2\u20ac\u2122s here to give exposition and develop the Winchesters, and then he dies after helping to save them. There\u00e2\u20ac\u2122s no surprise there.<\/p>\n
We\u00e2\u20ac\u2122ve got a mystical, ambiguous secret society that\u00e2\u20ac\u2122s introduced within a supernatural world, one that has far too many similarities to the Watchers, and\u00c2\u00a0it<\/i> is also not developed beyond a surface glimpse. What exactly did they do? What did the initiation entail? How did Abaddon come to find out what they possessed? Why didn\u00e2\u20ac\u2122t anyone seek out John Winchester to initiate him? Why would you have such a tiny organization if it was constantly under threat of demons and monsters? Like, if one demon could enter and murder everyone in a couple seconds, wouldn\u00e2\u20ac\u2122t you want some sort of safeguards in place to protect this legacy, particularly if it\u00e2\u20ac\u2122s as important as this episode says it is? Are you telling me that an organization that is\u00c2\u00a0that<\/i> vital to the safety of the world doesn\u00e2\u20ac\u2122t have other locations? Other members? A headquarters that\u00e2\u20ac\u2122s NOT in some tiny city in Kansas?<\/p>\n
Look, I\u00e2\u20ac\u2122m not nitpicking for the sake of it. You could nitpick this show to death! It\u00e2\u20ac\u2122s very easy for me to suspend my sense of disbelief when watching this show, and I almost think you\u00c2\u00a0have<\/i> to in order to enjoy a lot of it. That\u00e2\u20ac\u2122s fine! But for me, there\u00e2\u20ac\u2122s so little worldbuilding done in this episode that I feel like the show dangled a carrot and then, but the end of \u00e2\u20ac\u0153As Time Goes By,\u00e2\u20ac\u009d I can\u00e2\u20ac\u2122t even see it anymore.<\/p>\n
Again, I know it\u00e2\u20ac\u2122s entirely possible that my feelings on this will change, but I can\u00e2\u20ac\u2122t say I\u00e2\u20ac\u2122m all that interested in the Winchesters\u00e2\u20ac\u2122 update to their Chosen One narrative. What does this add to their characterization? Before, the show toyed with notions of free will and predetermination, and it did so in ways that were philosophically fascinating. Here, though, we find out the Winchesters are special because\u00e2\u20ac\u00a6 they were in a secret club? A secret club that was so poorly organized that it was taken out by one demon in a matter of thirty seconds? It doesn\u00e2\u20ac\u2122t\u00c2\u00a0feel<\/i> epic, y\u00e2\u20ac\u2122all. I did appreciate that this episode caused Sam and Dean to re-think their father, particularly how John\u00e2\u20ac\u2122s upbringing may have affected how he raised his sons. What\u00c2\u00a0if<\/i> Henry Winchester had been in John\u00e2\u20ac\u2122s life? Would John have failed as a father as often as he did? Or would he have remained exactly the same? It\u00e2\u20ac\u2122s a nature versus nurture question, sure. But it\u00e2\u20ac\u2122s also a matter of perspective. I feel like Sam and Dean are far enough from John\u00e2\u20ac\u2122s death that they\u00e2\u20ac\u2122re able to look upon him with a lot more fondness than, say, season two Dean and Sam. So what value is there in them asking this hypothetical question? By the end of \u00e2\u20ac\u0153As Time Goes By,\u00e2\u20ac\u009d both of them are well aware that there\u00e2\u20ac\u2122s really no point in doing so. Their lives happened as they did, and they\u00e2\u20ac\u2122d much rather deal in the complications of the present than to rehash the past over and over again.<\/p>\n
I kinda wish Abaddon would come back. A Knight of Hell! What a cool concept, y\u00e2\u20ac\u2122all. Well, she\u00e2\u20ac\u2122s not entirely dead, so that\u00e2\u20ac\u2122s still a possibility. There\u00e2\u20ac\u2122s actually a lot of possibility within this episode. I just hope that\u00c2\u00a0Supernatural\u00c2\u00a0<\/i>uses it.<\/p>\n
The video for \u00e2\u20ac\u0153As Time Goes By\u00e2\u20ac\u009d can be downloaded here for $0.99<\/a>.<\/p>\n Mark Links Stuff<\/b><\/p>\n – Mark Does Stuff is now on Facebook<\/a>! Feel free to Like the page, which I’m running myself, for updates and SILLINESS. In the twelfth episode of the eighth season of\u00c2\u00a0Supernatural, Dean and Sam play host to a visitor from the past who tells them that they are not who they are supposed to be. Intrigued? Then it\u00e2\u20ac\u2122s time for Mark to … Continue reading
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