#a more guest star example but meg: 'you didn't even look for me?' hope and bitterness

[kerryweaverlesbian]

The thing about Supernatural is it's like Buffy if Wilow was missing from 60% of the episodes and Xander was missing from a different 60%. It's like if on Deep Space Nine someone went to Quarks and he just wasn't there for no discernable reason. It's like if Norm regularly wasn't at the bar in Cheers for 6 episode spans but everyone still acts as if he's always there.

They keep building really good dynamic ensembles but they don't have the budget(?) to have them in most episodes and (most) seasons are a few episodes longer than they need to be so they have to say Mary is off with the BMoL and Kevin is busy doing tablet work and Cas is watching The Wire. The only people the in-and-out nature of their alliance really works for are Bobby, Crowley and Rowena because they legitimately DO have their own stuff going on that doesn't really need to be explored onscreen.

It's just crazy. Supernatural clearly WANTED to be an ensemble show, but it couldn't be. The practical outside force of "we can't have Castiel on the show that often and stay in budget" (validity of this idea is up for debate) influences the interior facts of the show, "Castiel frequently just isn't there and when he is there's very high emotional stakes because we don't have him long and need to make the most of it", which influences the interior character motivations and feelings, "Castiel isn't there because he's easily manipulated, headstrong, and wants to solve things by himself. The emotions are high when he is back because Dean LOVES him and feels deeply hurt when he's gone but he can never stop him leaving as long as the show is airing." And then those interior character feelings inform the plot of the show.