This. All of this. The emotional story of these brothers is a bottomless pot of possibilities. This show benefits from having such a long on-screen history (and a long unseen history with the MoL story as well as the Winchester and Campbell family histories) that digging back into it's own past and using the fallout of those events to re-examine current story lines wouldn't be difficult, esp. considering a lot of what we're seeing now is a rehash of past conflicts/insecurities/hurts. Being that Sam and Dean have been spiraling around in the toilet of deception, devotion, self-sacrifice for YEARS, their current predicament pretty much begs for some sort of personal revelation that breaks this cycle once and for all (because if it doesn't then, wow, that's depressing, and the writers are painting Sam and Dean as unbelievable bone heads *scoff*). However, I'm unsure if this is actually going to happen to any degree; I don't feel the writing team's agenda anymore is really to write stories fueled by this sort of emotional depth. They are writing stories driven by characters needs and wants (mostly Dean's right now), but I feel like it's only to the extent of simply providing a justification for the surface plot.
I also realize that what I want from this show comes from a very invested fan place, which doesn't reflect the general viewing audience at large. And the writers are in the business of writing at TV show on a network TV schedule and budget with network executive oversight, which is driven by numbers and needs to appeal to a general audience. Part of me can see why delving too deeply into complex, thorny back story would alienate new, casual viewers or not really "fit" with the perceived action/horror stamp SPN seems to be branded with. As much as I love blabbing (in my head) about the writers and what they need/should be doing, I think what's largely forgotten about are the actual trappings of their jobs, how they don't have absolute free reign over every aspect of the story, and how that affects what we see or don't see onscreen. I bet there are a lot of interesting aspects of Sam and Dean's relationship they'd love to delve into, but just can't make it work with the constraints they're given and the desires of TPTB. And that's where fandom steps in....
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I also realize that what I want from this show comes from a very invested fan place, which doesn't reflect the general viewing audience at large. And the writers are in the business of writing at TV show on a network TV schedule and budget with network executive oversight, which is driven by numbers and needs to appeal to a general audience. Part of me can see why delving too deeply into complex, thorny back story would alienate new, casual viewers or not really "fit" with the perceived action/horror stamp SPN seems to be branded with. As much as I love blabbing (in my head) about the writers and what they need/should be doing, I think what's largely forgotten about are the actual trappings of their jobs, how they don't have absolute free reign over every aspect of the story, and how that affects what we see or don't see onscreen. I bet there are a lot of interesting aspects of Sam and Dean's relationship they'd love to delve into, but just can't make it work with the constraints they're given and the desires of TPTB. And that's where fandom steps in....