going through almost losing Cas, and Cas being OK, right after what happened with Sam, and again right away with Charlie, empties it all of real fear, desperation, real hunger. Ugh.One of my BIGGEST pet peeves is when they kill off a character, only to bring them back right away (and sometimes, kill them again... and again). Not counting Sam and Dean of course, what with them being the main characters. And it's not only that it empties Dean's reactions, like you said. But as a viewer, it also robs the moment of any shock or emotion. I mean at this point, it would probably shock me even MORE if a character actually stayed dead.
Bu it doesn't have to be passion. A different angle on writing from a situation like this can be looking at exhaustion itself. Seems like Jensen is pretty burnt out, and the show is tired too. There can be fascinating, beautiful stories told about exhaustion. And can I just say YESSSSSSSSSSSS to your whole post starting from this point on. I've said many times that, to me, it felt like the writers were lost after S5. Not so much because they lost Kripke's vision, but because they had no idea how to "top" the Apocalypse. A lot of TV seems to think that bigger = better, which is most definitely not the case! Because these characters have been through SO MUCH, and there's so much that can be explored just by dealing with what's going on in their heads. It might not be flashy, but it would be 1000x more compelling to me. And let's face it, it's not like the show has a huge budget for flashy stuff anyways. IIRC there were interviews for S5 where people mentioned not being able to show the war between heaven and hell because they didn't have the budget for VFX on that scale. But I think that added to one of my favourite parts of S5: that, despite the epic scale plot going on, the story was still focused on Sam&Dean.
That's why I had such high hopes during S7 when early interviews said that the show would go back to focusing on the brothers... and again for S8, but I was disappointed each time. While S7 did bring it back to the brothers, in the sense that Sam and Dean lost so many people and the Impala, we didn't get to see as much character development as I was hoping for. And same with S8.
he never even really looked at his relation with John, beyond scratching the surface here and there. So many things. and Perhaps that's why he went through the trials so readily, and was so easily willing to die over them, repeatedly. Perhaps he feels so damaged that what he's good for is dying for something, at that point I think that both points I quoted above were touched on in S8, but again with the pacing problems! I think Time After Time could've made for a great two-parter. I would've loved to learned more about Henry and John, and how that affected Sam and Dean's view of John. And as for Sam feeling damaged, it took SO long for the show to get there, and by that point S8 was basically over. I think that's why S8 was so frustrating for me. After the dismal first third or so that I wish had never happened, the season took a turn for the better, and I was EXCITED about the show again! But it kept touching on things but never going all the way in exploring them.
ETA: I also want to add, re: your comment about Jensen becoming tired. I think it's really been showing since S8, because sometimes I honestly feel like I'm watching Jensen on screen instead of Dean. And I've seen him switch from Jensen to Dean like that at cons, so I know he can do it easy! So it's really sad if it's gotten to the point where he's phoning it in that much. There have been points during S8 where I felt like I was watching Jared instead of Sam as well, but that was mostly during Sam and Amelia scenes, and based on what Jared's said in interviews, I think that's more a case of Jared not having a clue how to play Sam rather than not trying.
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Ugh.One of my BIGGEST pet peeves is when they kill off a character, only to bring them back right away (and sometimes, kill them again... and again). Not counting Sam and Dean of course, what with them being the main characters. And it's not only that it empties Dean's reactions, like you said. But as a viewer, it also robs the moment of any shock or emotion. I mean at this point, it would probably shock me even MORE if a character actually stayed dead.
Bu it doesn't have to be passion. A different angle on writing from a situation like this can be looking at exhaustion itself. Seems like Jensen is pretty burnt out, and the show is tired too. There can be fascinating, beautiful stories told about exhaustion.
And can I just say YESSSSSSSSSSSS to your whole post starting from this point on. I've said many times that, to me, it felt like the writers were lost after S5. Not so much because they lost Kripke's vision, but because they had no idea how to "top" the Apocalypse. A lot of TV seems to think that bigger = better, which is most definitely not the case! Because these characters have been through SO MUCH, and there's so much that can be explored just by dealing with what's going on in their heads. It might not be flashy, but it would be 1000x more compelling to me. And let's face it, it's not like the show has a huge budget for flashy stuff anyways. IIRC there were interviews for S5 where people mentioned not being able to show the war between heaven and hell because they didn't have the budget for VFX on that scale. But I think that added to one of my favourite parts of S5: that, despite the epic scale plot going on, the story was still focused on Sam&Dean.
That's why I had such high hopes during S7 when early interviews said that the show would go back to focusing on the brothers... and again for S8, but I was disappointed each time. While S7 did bring it back to the brothers, in the sense that Sam and Dean lost so many people and the Impala, we didn't get to see as much character development as I was hoping for. And same with S8.
he never even really looked at his relation with John, beyond scratching the surface here and there. So many things. and Perhaps that's why he went through the trials so readily, and was so easily willing to die over them, repeatedly. Perhaps he feels so damaged that what he's good for is dying for something, at that point
I think that both points I quoted above were touched on in S8, but again with the pacing problems! I think Time After Time could've made for a great two-parter. I would've loved to learned more about Henry and John, and how that affected Sam and Dean's view of John. And as for Sam feeling damaged, it took SO long for the show to get there, and by that point S8 was basically over. I think that's why S8 was so frustrating for me. After the dismal first third or so that I wish had never happened, the season took a turn for the better, and I was EXCITED about the show again! But it kept touching on things but never going all the way in exploring them.
ETA: I also want to add, re: your comment about Jensen becoming tired. I think it's really been showing since S8, because sometimes I honestly feel like I'm watching Jensen on screen instead of Dean. And I've seen him switch from Jensen to Dean like that at cons, so I know he can do it easy! So it's really sad if it's gotten to the point where he's phoning it in that much. There have been points during S8 where I felt like I was watching Jared instead of Sam as well, but that was mostly during Sam and Amelia scenes, and based on what Jared's said in interviews, I think that's more a case of Jared not having a clue how to play Sam rather than not trying.