Change Your Image
migdallt-37008
Reviews
Supernatural: Wayward Sisters (2018)
The new prototype for a well-made pilot
I'm going to keep this review spoiler-free, and I'm also going to spare the potential political discussion of how this episode and series premise is 'timely' and 'necessary' .It is. Period. If you don't like it, welcome to the sad world of reality denial. Moving on. :)
The problem with most pilots is that they feel awkward. Even entire first seasons of some shows can, and often do, feel awkward. The characters are new, the actors are not used to playing off of each other, and the writers are still trying to figure out how to express the full range of the characters on the screen. Not in this case. These are established characters, lovingly advanced and handled, in a word, smart writing, and a smart idea. And the writers, actors and producers are social-media savvy enough to give a thumbs-up to the fans that willed this great idea into existence as well.
They were also smart enough to tap into the 'teen-team' genre with this set-up. When you consider the New Mutants, Marvel's Runaways, and to some degree, the X-Men themselves, this series concept fits right in like a cozy Ruby-Quartz Visor, and can take off, leaving worlds of potential for inter-team interaction - that's what makes this genre special.
The episode was humorous, had a tightly written script, and managed to leave more than a few breadcrumbs of mystery lying there for a taste of things to come.
Can you ask for more than this in a pilot? Go watch some other pilots sometime. And then you'll see what this one did better. Much, much better.
Pick it up CW!
Supernatural: There's Something About Mary (2017)
And that's it ,folks....
"Death is the poor man's doctor, and the bad writer's plot twist."
As I write this review, I wonder why I even bother. Even bad press is good press for a show like Supernatural, because it keeps it in the public discussion, where it clearly shouldn't be.
Let me re-phrase that.
Bucklemming.
They should not be in the public discussion.
They are beyond poor writers. And if that sounds like a lame and uninspired insult,it's because honestly, taking the effort to come up with something worthy of Bucklemming takes more effort than they deserve, like, say:
"That's not writing, that's typing."(Capote)
-or-
"Written so lazily and with so little care, that if this story was their child, DFACS would have taken it away from them years ago - and moved them to a safer, more stimulating place - like a burned down crack house." (me)
OK, I guess I had the energy after all.
Energy born of fury and rage and utter frustration at the mountain of flaming llama-turds that is a Bucklemming script. Frustation, sure, but not useless.
*Spoilers follow*
Yet another fan-favorite character (Eileen) was killed. One that Bucklemming carelessly and lazily and disrespectfully threw away (again). I'm telling you, that burned down crack house doesn't look like such a bad option in comparison now, does it?
I won't get into their (in)decision to make a call on whether to keep Crowley (who is now obviously a rat - So. Well. Hidden. That 'plot-twist'.....*slow clap*) or Lucifer as the ruler of Hell. I guess "the story" won't take them there. Or "the story" just locked them both in their room and screamed at them "We'll talk about this later!!" before stumbling off in a drug and alcohol induced stupor.
I won't get into the absolute lameness of the British Men of Letters, who were tasked with killing Sam and Dean, but instead wire-tap them (??), then are found out, and predictably exploited.....seriously....is a lobotomy a requirement to join the BMOL as well as the killing on command? How does anything they are doing make any sense? To anyone? Even Bucklemming? Oh...no...wait...it was "the story's" fault, right? The one that has now collapsed in the corner of the living room in a whimpering, shaking pile of pee and vomit.....that story?
OK. Oops. I actually did get into it there.
But as these are my parting shots for this show, I am not throwing them away. ;)
Unlike certain world events that I can do nothing about, this, I can do something about.
I won't watch anymore. Period. I won't retweet anything Supernatural related anymore, positive or negative. I will not click on episode reviews. No good press/bad press. Nada. Dead.
I can only recommend this course of action to anyone reading this that shares my opinion.
Or you can keep waiting for "the story" to wake up and come to it's senses.
Good luck with that.
Supernatural: Hell's Angel (2016)
Awesome...WTH?
Um....I have absolutely attempted to CRUCIFY Buck-Leming here before (and not without good reason - see 'Dark Dynasty' *shudder*), but this....this....
It was an absolute gem of a story.
The jokes were on target. The plot made sense. The establishing shots and scenes were often breathtaking.The lore fit....
The cynical part of me, taking in the sampling of past Buck-Leming disasters, wants to ask if they really, really wrote this.
The rational thinking part says this: if you guys keep writing like this, there are going to be some harsh critics being forced to re-think their opinions.
Absolutely on-target, awesome episode.
Supernatural: Dark Dynasty (2015)
I will censor the cursing .
I think, honestly, that the writers Buckner/Leming should be embarrassed to get paid for that as professional writers.
Seriously, shame on you. How dare you call yourselves professional writers?
This is not random hatred. There is reason behind this rant.
Let's start with basic stupidity and plot holes.
1) They have no idea how to introduce us to character/villain motivation or ability and make logical sense. Example: the Styne at the beginning, who supposedly values secrecy and "not leaving bodies behind" RUNS FROM A FRIKKIN JANITOR. A. Janitor. WHY??!! He not only screws up his secrecy so badly that the Hunters are on his trail, he REVEALS HIS EXTRA ABILITIES FOR NO APPARENT REASON. ON VIDEO. Lazy writing. They had no idea how to introduce the character and his powers without this senseless and illogical display. Amateur hour writing. To further compound the idiocy, the guy goes back and randomly kills another witness. Yeah. That makes sense.
2) The "Hollywood Rant". The guy later, after being captured
.oh, about that
also stupid and lazy. This Styne family is aware that Dean has the Mark of Cain, and how dangerous that makes him. Yet, they send ONLY TWO GUYS to capture him. And, predictably, one is killed and the other is caught. Yeah. Really competent there, bad-guys. And for the aforementioned so-called 'professional writers'-some advice-when you are trying to illustrate how 'knowledgable' and 'smart' your villains are, try not to do stupid ignorant things like ignoring lore at the same time. Just a thought. Free advice. Ahem. Back to the "Hollywood Rant". For the initiated, that means a character on screen has to go into a long speech or rant to explain the plot to an audience that the writers are assuming are dumb. It's just that way. The entire process can be done well, or poorly. This one was the latter. He reveals EVERYTHING about his family, plans, the Book, for no reason whatsoever, except to advance the plot. Clunky.
3) Castiel. All-powerful angel. Can instantly transport (or fly, depending on the head-canon) anywhere and hear cries for help. He does
well
he's ignored. He brings snack in this episode. Lazy. Careless. Poorly written. I mean, I'm not just pointing fingers at what's wrong, here's some tips
.GIVE CASTIEL SOMETHING TO DO THAT MIGHT HAVE PREVENTED HIM FROM HELPING
ummm
ANYONE IN THIS EPISODE! Demons? They were hunting for Rowena
.maybe one of the minions stumbled onto her and he had to fight off a few of them? Just a suggestion. It's called LEVELS OF STORYTELLING.
4) Failing to recognize your audience, and abusing their trust. Charlie was a popular character. There was a TON of subtext built up around her, and you not only ignored all of it, but you KILELD HER OFF SCREEN AND DUMPED HER IN THE TOILET. OK, it was the bathtub, but the reference is not lost on us. An author writes first for themselves, and then the audience, sure. But if you are ONLY writing for yourself, and ignoring your audience, you are lazy and incompetent as a 'professional writer'. That's what happened. They ignored the audience to such a degree it was a direct slap in the face. She doesn't get a heroic fight. She doesn't get final words. She is dumped unceremoniously in a bathroom. You are writing a horror/drama, not daedalist prose (you just googled that, didn't you?) The sub-text here (that's the unwritten message that you are sending to your audience, 'professional writers', JIK) is that Charlie was unimportant, and only her shocking death was important to advance the plot. Uh.uh. Never ever. You ignored people and slapped them in the face.
And you are probably wondering now why there is so much hatred and backlash.
Simple. People don't like getting abused.
Please. Go find another 'profession'. And stop writing giant piles of Brontosaurus $§%!T.
Damn. *censor*