Stuff

[sailorhathor]

Movie made millions of dollars and no one's seen Cloverfield. I'll just have to talk to myself about it then! SPOILERS. I love how the movie looks like it was filmed with a home handheld camera but you still see all the interesting, neat things the filmmakers want you to see. Like, scenes where people are running and screaming but they still manage to capture Marlena blowing up on camera and the monster stepping on a tank. The camerawork is just awesome.

People running and screaming + stuff blowing up + rampaging monster destroying the city + funny commentary = Happy Laurel!

Speaking of funny commentary, I love Hud! Hud rocks! The actor isn't particularly attractive IMO, but the character is just so dopey and cute and funny. "I'm just saying, wouldn't it be really scary if a flaming homeless person came out right now?" XD T. J. Miller did a wonderful job of being in awe of the monster, the most amazing thing being that while they were filming, there was no monster there, just a green screen. How does someone react with such intensity, awe, and fear to a green screen?!?! It amazes me. I've got a pretty good imagination, but I'm not sure I could react to something that wasn't there like that. That's why I write, not act. ;)

Anyway, I hope this doesn't sound conceited or something, but I know that another reason why I like Hud so much is because he reminds me of how I would react to something like that. Of course, I'm speculating since I've never encountered a rampaging monster before. ;) But it's an educated guess. I'd probably get myself killed with my curiosity; I'd be so anxious to document what was happening and see what the monster looked like, what he was doing, what those things were that were falling off of him, etc. I'd be heavily distracted with the news coverage and just standing and watching the monster lumber around and destroy stuff. It was amusing how Hud would be running with the others and he'd almost stop to watch what the monster was doing, and as a result, get a little behind. For the most part, the others could have cared less about watching the monster, they just wanted to get away from it. But not Hud. He watched everything, even up to the army bombing the fuck out of Clover (which appears to be the monster's name, probably given to him by the army in the context of the movie). That would be me. I'd want to see everything.

I mentioned before that the sounds the parasites made were hilarious to me. I think I've figured out where I've heard that sound effect before. This might be wrong because I haven't seen the little guy for years, but I think Bebo from "Mork and Mindy" made the same noises. XD Bebo was Mork's pet who looked like a tribble and moved like a furball ontop of a remote control car. He was always chasing Mindy around the apartment. That's not exactly the association you want for creatures that are supposed to be scary - parasite, Bebo. Bebo, parasite. XD I laugh my way through that scene every time. The parasites will forever be known as Bebos to me. XD Look out for the Bebos!

The only other thing that I found unfortunate about the movie is how short it was. Only about an hour and fifteen minutes before the credits. That seriously could have gone on another half hour and I would have been perfectly happy with it.

Alright, now that I'm done babbling about that, I can do some babbling about "Supernatural." Definitely not my favorite season. It had a few good episodes, but overall I'm disappointed with how the "Dean's deal" storyline played out, especially the gaping, yawning holes. I did enjoy several things about the last two episodes, though. SPOILERS for the last two episodes. I was hoping that Bela would be given a more original backstory. The Crossroads Demon making deals with people became way too overused, and I got bored with it. The entire season became a repeat of people saying that Dean couldn't be saved - OKAY, I get it. Overkill. Quit drilling it into our heads. By the time they got to Bela's backstory, and it was just a repeat of the same old, same old, I was bored.

I guess that Bela's father abused her? That scene wasn't very explicit one way or the other; we see Bela as a teen sitting on her bed, her father walks in and closes the door, and that's all - what do we infer from that? It doesn't make a great deal of sense to me that a 14-year-old would want to kill her parents just for the money. Seems like they must've done something to her. She didn't seem like an evil kid from the flashbacks. I sat there and said after "Red Sky at Morning" when I was talking to just_kaye on the phone that the reason Bela killed a family member was probably because they raped her, and how I hoped they'd do something a little more original than that, and they did exactly what I thought they would. Not that the ol' revenge for violation plot is always uninteresting; I just hoped they'd come up with something new.

Now, you can tell that this backstory for Bela was finalized recently, because when they originally questioned Bela about which family member she killed, she said she didn't expect Sam and Dean to understand, "No one did." That implies that people knew Bela was the one who killed said family member. Then, instead, she makes a deal with a demon to kill her parents for her, which means no one would know she was responsible unless they knew about deals with demons. That's a continuity error as far as I'm concerned, because what are the odds of someone else knowing what she did and believing it? I think the writers originally had different plans for Bela, but when it was decided that Bela should be offed since the fans hated her, the writers wrote a different backstory for her.

Here comes stupid, sloppy writing moment #1. If I missed something here, please point it out to me, because I'd rather not think that the writers let something so ridiculous slip through. Bela said she stole the Colt, hoping that it would placate Lilith into not killing her. So, she gave the Colt to Lilith, right? Why didn't she just shoot her with it when she had the chance? Bela said she spoke to Lilith at some point, and it seemed to be face to face, so it wasn't all done through minions. I mean, I'm sure people could come up with all sorts of "what if"s to explain it away, but with them not answering that question on the show, it makes the writing look really sloppy. It's too important and obvious a question to me to be glossed over.

The blow-up dolls were pretty funny. I laughed out loud because it was just so Dean, not only to play a good trick on Bela, but to do it with sex dolls. XD I also giggled at the fact that because of how the covers were lying on "Sam" and "Dean," it looked like Bela shot them each in the butt. O_o heh

Now for the season finale. It was actually quite predictable, but there were some really nice moments in it, and it's going to lead to some good fanfic over the summer break. Beyond that, these two eps had big, sloppy writer mistake #2 that I really wish they'd come up with an explanation for, but they completely ignored it, and I'm disappointed in that.

It seems to me that the decision to make Lilith the one who held Dean's contract was made late in the season. Otherwise, the people writing this storyarc made a really embarrassing mistake. This couldn't have been a well-thought out decision. I mean, think about it. Lilith (through her minion) agrees to bring Sam back to life in exchange for Dean's soul. Yet, Sam is some sort of supernatural badass and Lilith wants him dead. But she brought him back to life. Sam was already dead, like Lilith wanted him. But she brought him back to life. And now she wants him dead.

Um... okay.

If Dean tries to get out of the deal, Sam will drop dead. His life should already be in Lilith's hands. And Lilith wants him dead. Dean and Sam try to kill her. Now, I don't know about you, but if I was Lilith, I'd see that as trying to get out of the deal. Call me crazy. I'd make Sam drop dead for that. LIKE I WANTED HIM.

Sam remains alive. Dean is dead.

SPN writers? Please to be the sense making.

Again, fans may be able to make sense of all this with "what if" scenarios. But without showing it on screen, it makes the writers, and Lilith, look sloppy and stupid. I'm sure they went, "Ooh, wouldn't it be cool if the big bad that wants Sam dead is the same big bad that holds Dean's contract?" and I understand why they thought that, but they really should have thought it through. Cool is not cool when it doesn't make sense.

That being said, I enjoyed the fight between Ruby and Dean, but I do wish Sam had used his powers. That would have been cool. The scenes with the little girl possessed by Lilith were entertaining. It seemed like Lilith was influenced by the little girl's feelings, hence the perpetual birthday and the candy for dinner every night; that was fun. That kid was aggressively cute. She was adowable. Was that the same girl they used in "Jus in Belo"?

I liked Bobby insisting that family doesn't end at blood (so true) and turning the sprinkler water into holy water. I didn't like that he seemed to just disappear at some point.

I knew that Lilith had left the little girl's body as soon as they put Sam in a position to kill her. I thought maybe she had jumped into the mother when she started telling Sam, "Do it, do it!" But when they revealed that Lilith wasn't in the mom, I knew she'd jump into Ruby at some point. Now, I've always been a little confused about Ruby. I know it doesn't make much sense, but I've always felt like Ruby was not possessing some random girl, but was in her original body. Like, she went to hell not as a soul, but as flesh. I really don't know what made me think that. I guess it's because it's hard for me to imagine Ruby looking different, which she would have in her original body. But it doesn't seem to be very likely when Lilith can just push her out of the body and take it over.

Speaking of that, what was with Lilith acting like such an airheaded bimbo when she jumped into Ruby? Before that, she seemed quite calculating and intelligent, even when she was in the child's body. I really wonder who made the decision to have her act all spacy and slutty. Any second I expected her to go, "Teehee." Not that I didn't appreciate her kissing Sam and going, "Your lips are soft," being a Sam/Ruby enthusiast. But it was all quite WTF?!

I'm not an expert on the Lilith myth, but from what I've read, she doesn't strike me as the airheaded bimbo type, and not really the "making deals at the crossroads" type either. I think they dropped the ball on this one, making her the holder of Dean's contract.

I know a lot of people will be happy that Dean died because now they can write out all their sickie little "Dean gets tortured in hell" fanfics, wee. :D I must admit, a little sexual torture for Dean would make me a happy fic reader. Orgasm denial, anyone? Rrreow. And it's not like he's staying dead. It's hard to feel very worried when either Sam or Dean die anymore, or even when their lives are in danger, because you know they'll just come back to life. I really wish they'd add a few new characters (not like Jo or Bela, but better versions of them would be okay, heh) so some different lives could be in peril for a change; the show's getting repetitive.

Oh! "Hey, Bon Jovi rocks... on occassion." AHAHAHAHAHA!! One of my favorite lines of the season, next to Lilith's line from "Jus in Belo" about how she was looking for two brothers, "One of them's really cute and the other's really tall." XD I thought Dean didn't like Bon Jovi after what he said in "Born Under a Bad Sign." Continuity? Oh well. I love Bon Jovi to pieces, but that was a great line. XD

I forgot to say earlier about Sam being so desperate to save Dean that he would actually make him immortal, to the point that Dean would have to change out his organs every time one ran down - that was a nice moment, but Sam wasn't thinking it through. That's how desperate he was. But just because Dean is immortal doesn't mean the hellhounds wouldn't come after him. He'd just be ripped to shreds and still alive. D'oh.

I enjoyed that Sam's eyes were taped open when that doctor was going to scoop out his eye, aieeee! How Clockwork Orange. :D

Speaking of the immortal doctor ep, that runner was mega hot. :D Oh, and I loved Dean shooting at Bela when she tried to move. "I told you not to move." Hehehe. *eg*

The fact that the season is over and they still haven't answered several questions is very disappointing. Why did Mary recognize Azazel? Why were Mary's friends being murdered? Is Sam ever going to tell Dean about Azazel feeding him blood when he was a baby? What exactly is Sam and why do people keep referring to him as the anti-christ, but yet a mere human, boy king, all that shit? Yeah, I know, the season was shortened, but they could have cut out that entire Ghostfacers episode and concentrated on answering these questions instead. ;)

Overall, I like Ruby. I would like to see her come back and develop as a character. At times, she became a one trick pony, only able to spout sarcasm and yell and be angry. It got boring. I'd like to see her become more human while still having a hard edge.

Bela, I would have liked if she hadn't been so deplorable in her actions all the time. There was nothing to like about her. She got the better of Dean and Sam too many times. After a while, it became more and more unbelievable to me that someone could become a millionaire through the supernatural world. You could probably make a living off it, but not become a millionaire, not the way Bela was doing it. I like the basic idea of Bela, but what they chose to do with her made her a very unpleasant character to have on the show.

As much as I'm criticizing these two episodes, I really did enjoy them overall. They both had some really good scenes. I just wish they had handled the third season storyarc better.