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Reviews
Game of Thrones: Beyond the Wall (2017)
Great episode albeit some criticism
In many ways, this episode is what Game of Thrones, i.e. A Song of Ice and Fire has been building towards. What more can you ask for than a battle between dragons and an army of the dead. Well, an undead dragon, of course. Finally we are seeing the payoff of so many years of pain, tears, main character deaths, etc. In that way, this episode delivers everything I could have ever hoped for.
Now, I've seen many reviews on here criticizing this season's change in pace from a slow burn to a fiery explosion. While I don't totally agree that it's all a bad thing, I do see how it has negatively impacted the show. In my opinion, Game of Thrones had to pick up the pace in order to stay interesting. You can only have so much buildup before people just stop caring. Season 3 got away with being relatively slow (until the Rains of Castamere) because it was essentially a different type of show- a medieval period piece that focused on political intrigue and character development. A lot of people want the show to go back to that. I say that the Lord of the Rings fantasy route is working well for me.
But here's the downside. By increasing the pace and throwing in more action, the show inevitably loses a bit of its edge. The realism of early seasons is what made the show so gripping because you felt like it could actually happen. You felt that if we lived in a world with dragons and witches and ice demons, that this is how things would actually play out. Now it does feel more like a story written for entertainment.
However, it's still damned entertaining. The way I see it, if I want to see subtle, intense political discussions and Charles Dance stealing every scene he's in, I will go back and watch the first four seasons. While I would say that the overall quality and uniqueness of the show has dropped a bit (not a ridiculous amount like a lot of people are saying), the entertainment value if anything has gone up. You can't do the same thing year after year and expect people to keep coming back. Game of Thrones is still great and I am thrilled to be part of this journey as it unfolded.
Despite no longer following the plan of one of the great story craftsmen of our time, we can take some comfort in knowing that D&D are still masterful storytellers and I expect they'll bring the story home to a satisfying conclusion.
Supernatural: Our Little World (2015)
Good episode, amazing season
***Spoilers***
This was a very good episode in what has been an absolutely stellar season so far. In any other season, this would have stood out as one of the best for several reasons: the plot moved along at a brisk pace, all of the main and side characters got a lot of quality screen time and interacted in compelling ways, and the episode beautifully hinted at impending doom with the revelation of the true nature of The Darkness along with Sam's flashbacks to the cage.
While I found this episode thoroughly enjoyable, I want to talk more about the season as a whole. This is the most excited I've been about a season of Supernatural since the 4th or 5th when the main story arc was still in full swing. Season 6 wasn't bad, but definitely felt like set up. Season 7 was definitely the weakest. Seasons 8 and 9 were pretty good, but got kind of muddled with the endless angel war. Season 10 started out promising with a few great episodes but then just sat on its hands and didn't really pick up the "Deanmon" story until the very end.
This season is different. Not only is it pushing the story forward at a relentless pace, it is also more clever, twisted, funny and dramatic than the past five seasons. These are all the ingredients that I love and that keep the fans coming back to Supernatural. Keep up the good work!
Supernatural: We Need to Talk About Kevin (2012)
Supernatural is Losing its Identity
Before anyone goes crazy over my negative review, trust me when I say I've given this a lot of thought. Supernatural is a unique show in its ability to blend several elements of storytelling, these being horror, fantasy, comedy and drama. The thing that really tied everything together and brought it home, however were two things: subtlety and character development. The thing about all of the seasons up until 7 was that even if the stories were boring or mundane, they were still told with a certain class and flare. You were always watching an episode of Supernatural even if it wasn't the best episode of Supernatural. Now I feel as though the show has virtually lost its identity and is just going through the motions of telling a story, rather than taking the time to let the characters live and breath the story as it unfolds. You're probably wondering exactly what was in this episode that I found so disappointing. To be honest, there was no one event that completely killed it for me, but just the accumulation of bad storytelling decisions. First of all, Kevin's girlfriend was probably the weakest aspect of this hour. After she talks to Sam and Dean, she turns to her roommate who is talking about a nice looking Jewish boy and says "Shut up, bitch," before cutting her throat. Maybe I'm just a bigger fan of the more serious episodes, but I just found that silly. Then when she is talking to Kevin later, the dialogue is pretty bad. Now moving on to Sam. I can kinda see how this romance with Amelia could work, but the whole situation of them meeting is pretty contrived. He hits a dog, she does something spunky to get him to keep it, showcasing her "strong" character and things go from there. I'll be honest, I didn't feel like a lot of thought was put into that. I know these are all little things, but I feel like they've been steadily adding up and becoming more and more noticeable over the last season. If you're still reading, you probably at least somewhat agree with me, but if not, I will say that I didn't think this episode was entirely bad. The story behind the monster hitchhiking a ride in Dean, being set loose and now causing havoc was easily the strongest element of this episode, and one which I believe has much future potential. It worked so well because it just happened. It wasn't a story element that the writers had to get out of the way, it just happened. Basically my problem with Supernatural is that it's no longer doing what it does best and is instead trying to be something bigger. I know what you do well isn't easy- compelling story lines with believable characters to ground everything, but if you lose that entirely, you've essentially lost Supernatural.