I gotta say I didn’t see much in 14×01. It seemed like it was all building up to something, but it turned out the “something” was just a really long fight scene? And the “cliffhanger” reveal that Michael is going to be working with.. vampires? Just made me go “…oh. Ok? That’s his big plan? Vampires? :/” And the reveal that (somehow) Nick (!?) Lucifer’s vessel is still alive? That nearly made me throw shit at the screen. Unbelievable. Made zero sense. Last seasons premiere was WAY better, imo.

intelligentshipper:

tenoko1:

intelligentshipper:

tinkdw:

tenoko1:

Here’s the thing, Anon. I think you are looking at this from the wrong angle.

We’re used to the show’s habit of writing stories with the focus being on this big bad apocalyptic whatever, but showrunners have said that’s not what they are doing this season, instead they are flipping the script and focusing on the characters through whatever is going on, that it will be character driven and focused.

Which is exactly what happened in the episode. It focused on all the different ways the characters have changed and developed and will continue to change and develop.

Rather than just characters reacting, we’re going to get to see as they grow, change, and work together to attack whatever comes at them, rather than just reflexively reacting to it. They’re changing from the passive subject to a moving force.

The episode was eaten up with meta and narrative storytelling. Which is what they’re doing. And if you watch it expecting the same pattern, well, there’s gonna be whiplash, because that’s no longer what they’re serving.

Yup. Watch this episode caring about character exposition and development and toss plot aside and it’s a gold mine.

I mean 13×01 was great cos we got both but eh, id always rather have good character meta than plot.

I dare say it was so expositional it was almost *too* expositional and left it hyper-condensed. Barring the potential plot failings with Cas’ lack of… any abilities (which I still hold potential for being addressed later and do agree should have at least been vaguely textualized amidst all the other exposition if it is their angle that he’s depleting), this was mostly a character expositional episode to the point that I kind of wish they had broken a few pieces of it into adjacent episodes, because we didn’t really get to deeply explore some parts of it.

Sam-Cas, Sam-Jack, Cas-Jack, had great interactions but I feel like scaling down the BobbyMary About To Do Straight People Things Nobody Will Argue With could have left better room. Yes, we got the Sunshine comment, but that scene could have gone almost anywhere in almost any episode. 

But the base note is they very clearly built this as a character exposition. What has everyone been doing the last three weeks, what changes are there, what roles are being taken on by who, what are they doing to fix it, how are they feeling, and where do we see them heading. My gripes over the Too Mobby are trivial at best but yes, it was very much a character episode. Even Michael’s segment was us finding out Michael’s drives and ambitions and motivations, and ironically, his motivation is finding everybody else’s motivation.

So…

I believe the narrative is all pointing to Cas becoming human and it baffles me this has been no one else’s take when he’s basically been walking this road for a while, losing abilities as he went. Cas being an angel has been what keeps him separate most of the time, and clashes with Sam’s dream of family pizza nights and Dean’s wish to retire on a beach– which is not really something an angel can appreciate and take part in. If he’s human, though…

I mean, I agree with that, Tenoko. I’ve even held discourse over that. But it’s in such a foggy area that while Mary could shove out words like “Cas is in detroit,” or “here’s all of the things you’ve been doing that I am going to conveniently list off for the audience,” we didn’t get a “and he isn’t doing so well on the magic” or SOMETHING? Something, anything to not launch our premiere with a giant “What the fuck?” and everybody being upset.