#this shouldve been an episode

[kirksbignaturals]

Do you ever wonder if scotty just straight up wouldnt beam somebody back up?

[s0fter-sin]

one of my favourite aspects of supernatural that you very rarely see in paranormal shows is that sam and dean are already versed in the world they live in. there’s no sudden discovery of ghosts and demons and now they have to learn about them along with the audience; they are born into it and already know all about it. it allows the audience to follow their personal story instead of also trying to figure out this new world and its rules

the first season is full of knowledge we never see them learn; “w*ndigoes are in the minnesota woods or- or northern michigan. i’ve never even heard of one this far west.�� […] “great. well then this [his gun] is useless.” (1x02), ��you don’t break a curse. you get the hell out of its way.” (1x08), d: “it’s a god. a pagan god, anyway.” […] “the annual cycle of its killings? and the fact that the victims are always a man and a woman. like some kind of fertility right.” […] s: “the last meal. given to sacrificial victims. d: “yeah, i’m thinking a ritual sacrifice to appease some pagan god.” (1x11)

almost every episode in the first season is a monster they’ve faced before that they then explain to the audience in a way that should feel patronising; like it’s the same speech given over and over again but instead, the audience almost feels included in the knowledge. it’s stated with such an innate confidence and comfort in said knowledge that it feels like we already knew it too; “spirits and demons don't have to unlock doors. if they want inside, they just go through the walls.” […] “the claws, the speed that it moves; could be a skinwalker, maybe a black dog.” (1x02), “it's biblical numerology. you know noah's ark, it rained for forty days. the number means death.” (1x04), “no no no, not the reaper, a reaper. there's reaper lore in pretty much every culture on earth, it goes by 100 different names.” […] “you said it yourself that the clock stopped, right? reapers stop time. and you can only see 'em when they're coming at you which is why i could see it and you couldn't.” (1x12)

they already know and, at least in the first season, already have what they need to kill whatever they’re hunting; already know to salt and burn bones for spirits, fire for a w*ndigo, exorcisms for demons, a silver bullet to the heart for shapeshifters. there’s only three times in the entire first season that they run into something new to them; 1x14 when sam gets his first vision that leads him to another psychic, 1x16 when dean calls caleb for help on the sigil he put together and he tells him about daevas, and 1x20 when they find out vampires are real- and they only don’t know that bc john thought they were hunted to extinction and not worth mentioning

(there’s also technically two half instances if you count one of them knowing something the other doesn’t - sam figuring out the tulpa in 1x17 and dean already knowing about the shtriga in 1x18 - but those still rely on sam and dean having prior knowledge)

even when they’re uncertain about facing something, it’s not bc they don’t know what it is; it’s precisely bc they know what it is and acknowledge that it’ll be a difficult hunt (“i don't know, man. this isn't our normal gig. i mean, demons, they don't want anything, just death and destruction for its own sake. this is big. and i wish dad was here.” 1x04)

so much of the tension in paranormal shows typically comes from the main character(s) not knowing what is happening to them/the people around them and having to find out how to resolve it. supernatural is unique in that it operates more like a police procedural. the tension comes from solving the clues and identifying patterns to figure out who (what) the killer is and intercepting before they can take another victim

it’s such a different tone to go for when compared to other shows that came both before, during, and after its run. it sets sam and dean on even footing with each other since they both have the same knowledge going in, and it puts them in a place of authority usually reserved for an outside character

the shows i compare spn to most is charmed, buffy and teen wolf; every main character in those shows are brought into the paranormal world knowing nothing, putting them on the same level as the audience, and they have their mc interact with others already knowledgeable about that world in order to overcome their problem/monster of the week. the audience organically learns about this new world as the characters learn about it. it’s a sound writing strategy that prevents “as we already know”-style exposition but something that complicates it is if your world building isn’t unique or intriguing enough, this slow introduction can become boring

we’ve seen shows like these before; sitting through the same tropes of characters learning to use their powers, struggling with no longer feeling normal/relating to the regular world around them, and not knowing how much they can trust the people already involved in this new world gets repetitive. all three shows eventually reach the same level of comfort with their new world that spn starts with but if the characters aren’t enough to draw you in, you can end up dropping it before they reach that point (and often, before the overarching plot can really kick in and evolve the show beyond the villain of the week format)

it’s the superhero origin movie in tv format; dragged out and overplayed. dropping the audience into an established world of course comes with its own problems but you also have the benefit of pre-existing established character dynamics that let the audience slot in like they’ve always been there instead of just getting to know all the characters while the characters also get to know each other

sam and dean already knowing about the supernatural lets the audience immediately get to the core of the story; the conflict between sam and dean, the search for their father, and the mystery of what killed their mother

[dykesevika]

ok arcane hahah very funny now where is the sevika backstory 🥰

[luxurystark-jackson]

sam is like his father. was innocent to the reality of what was going on until something bad happened and he was forced to become a monster he shouldn’t have been, all for the greater good.

dean is like his mother. cursed with the knowledge of their reality, forced to grow up in it and ready to do anything to save their counterpart from anything that tries to kill them, even at the expense of the greater good.

[lavatory-sealed-hanako-kun]

Genderbent designs! Teru has two because Teru is special.

And a bonus comic cause yeah Mitsuba really didn't change much. He has the androgynous rizz regardless of what gender he is.

[daily-anime-chilchuck]

[youledmehere]

why would they cut a scene of okafor and rick at the hospital after rick cut his hand off? was rick delirious and talking about his family??? did okafor just watch him go in and out of consciousness? was it supposed to parallel him waking up from the coma in s1ep1??? they need to drop ALL the deleted scenes immediately for all the episodes

[kittyphoenix12-xx]

the way the beenado was marketed vs the execution was a bright red warning sign huh

[glazeliights]

ok finished reading through the leaked scripts. they kinda sucked

[nagitosstolenhand]

okay does anyone else find it very icky that immediately after finding out kurogiri is a nomu and a victim of nonconsensual medical experimentation and malpractice. the pros n hpsc ppl immediately transfer him to a hospital for their docters to do nonconsensual medical experimentation on him to try and both see if they can turn them back into oboro and also just to see how the nomus tick. like maybe its cause i am a firm Kurogiri Should Be Allowed To Be Their Own Person And Should Actually Be Allowed Agency In Their Story believer but genuinely even if you think kurogiri is just amnesiac oboro this still feels shady on SO many levels.

also the fact we get NO comment from Mic or Aizawa. ik grief and anguish over the fact your dead highschool friend is an undead villainess butler now but they are the only vector we ever get updates on kurogiri so them never bringing it up just makes it feel like they dont care. let our dead best friends reanimated corpse be poked and prodded by a team of random government doctors. who cares what the actual person made from him says as long as theres some small vain hope they might get their long dead friend back.

this could all be very interesting and explore the hypocrisy of the heros/hpsc and give Mic n Aizawas relationship with kurogiri some genuine depth, but we don't get that because the kurogiri-oboro plot was inserted in for extra angst and an excuse to make aizawa extra pissed at and resentful of shigaraki and was just left there when it was time to chase another big shonen boss fight. i hope they actually manage to address any of this when the kurogiri-mic-aizawa plot actually shows up again but with how things are going. i severely doubt it. and after spinner and dabi i severely doubt they are actually going to find a genuinely satisfying conclusion to this arc. which is honestly just so fucking disappointing.

[lieutgore]

carnivale couldve been a lot more fun if everyone was on a billion hallucinogens instead. stanley included. thats just my two cents

[haught-ish]

WYNONNA EARP VENGEANCE I HATE YOU BECAUSE I WANTED YOU TO BE A WHOLE ASS SEASON OK

[blaithnne]

my timephoon hot take is that the episode was literally fine, it's the episodes that came AFTER it that fucked things up

[midnights-wish]

absolutely don't buy the reason sharona left :/

i mean i know the actress had her own reasons to leave, but i still think they could have written her out of the show a bit better; i don't believe one bit that she just went & remarried her crappy ex-husband. i woud have believed more if they had just said that she finally got sick & tired of him being so lazy with paying her -- since those were things she already complained about multiple times. she also threatened before a few times that she would quit. so i feel that would have been a much more fitting excuse for her sudden disappearence in monk's life :/

[daily-anime-chilchuck]

[principalinstigator]

Supercorp is just:

I will alter the course of history for my best friend. Yes, my whole life, my entire being has been dedicated to saving the world but I will only use this opportunity to save her, every single time, always.

I will change the world because she broke my heart and no one will stop me because I will not let another human being feel the pain that I did and I will not be able to see past the anger and hurt in spite being the most brilliant mind the world because she saw me. Finally, someone saw me, and now that I see her and I cannot stop looking at her.

10/10. It will make you insane. Do not recommend.