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kitewithfishETA: Corrected the mistaken episode number and added a note on just what I'm spoiling
Spoilers: Thru episode 521, but mostly just random thoughts about the portrayal of the Horsemen.
Pestilence as a creepy doctor who views viruses and bacteria as more interesting and "pure" than humans? It's been done. Matt Frewer is an excellent choice for the role, deeply creepy and still able to con you into thinking his character could be just a human being, but I'm a little disappointed that they took this interpretation of Pestilence. He's just kind of... smaller than he could be. His tormenting of the elderly female patient is creepy and offputting (and totally in Supernatural's spirit of nonhuman beings viewing humans as bugs or playthings), but his creepiness is entirely human. There's not shaking in the presence of something terrible and beyond human comprehension, which there really should be.
I can't help but wonder if part of the reason Pestilence was played down so much was a force of nature is the western view of health care. Modern America does not seem to have the concept of plague on the scale that humanity has faced in the past and continues to face in the developing world. Swine Flu is scary and terrible, but it's not hit on the scale that Spanish flu outbreak of 1918 struck. 50 million people died, on the low estimate. And that was only by a single virus- what about the long term effects of contaminated water? infected beef?
The idea of a poisoned vaccine plays on the imagination, but it depends entirely too much on the poetic irony of turning people into infected zombie analogs by means of the health care system. In order to fit Pestilence into that irony, they had to scale him back to a mad scientist, rather than a force of nature. They got a few good scenes of hunting zombies, but the writers here deprived themselves of a truly awe-inspiring natural disaster.
But you know what they got absolutely right?
Death.
The opening scene of Death stepping out of his car to that music? Beautiful and menacing. Wonderful stuff. The slow motion and the lack of a full view of his face made him seem unhuman, beyond human, and deeply chilling. Julian Richings played his role exactly right- unemotional and unimpressed, as powerful and impassive as the thunderstorm outside. "Join me, Dean. The pizza's delicious." (and he took tiny, precise bites!) He didn't even take Lucifer seriously. He let Chicago stay because he liked the pizza. That is how you show a force of nature.
And the whole phrase about how Dean is like a bacterium to Death stands as a perfect counterpoint to my criticism of Pestilence. Pestilence was focused on something even smaller than humans, and that just takes him down in scale a great deal.
Is it just me, or did Cas just become significantly more baddass? He's lost the angel powers, true, but he seems like he's still got some major balls going on- He single-handedly took out Pestilence. Quite cool.
Sam's plan- is now apparently going to be the plan. Great. And Adam is Michael now? I thought we ruled that out? That makes me wonder if the writers are going to try and pull a bait and switch and have Dean step up for his brother. The recent rise in respect for Sam would make his survival a stronger motivation than if Dean were still viewing his brother as a relapse risk and a danger to everyone around him. Of course, letting Sam be the big hero would redeem him even further, even if he died trying. And who knows? Maybe God will step in at the last minute like he has about twenty times before for these boys and save them both (promises to the contrary notwithstanding, God has shown an incredible focus on Dean and somewhat on Sam- I could see him being pulled out as a Deus ex machina.)
Ya know, the focus of this post kind of suggests to me that I might now be watching Supernatural for the world rather than the characters and their arc. I'd wonder if that's appropriate but I'm having too much fun this way....
Spoilers: Thru episode 521, but mostly just random thoughts about the portrayal of the Horsemen.
Pestilence as a creepy doctor who views viruses and bacteria as more interesting and "pure" than humans? It's been done. Matt Frewer is an excellent choice for the role, deeply creepy and still able to con you into thinking his character could be just a human being, but I'm a little disappointed that they took this interpretation of Pestilence. He's just kind of... smaller than he could be. His tormenting of the elderly female patient is creepy and offputting (and totally in Supernatural's spirit of nonhuman beings viewing humans as bugs or playthings), but his creepiness is entirely human. There's not shaking in the presence of something terrible and beyond human comprehension, which there really should be.
I can't help but wonder if part of the reason Pestilence was played down so much was a force of nature is the western view of health care. Modern America does not seem to have the concept of plague on the scale that humanity has faced in the past and continues to face in the developing world. Swine Flu is scary and terrible, but it's not hit on the scale that Spanish flu outbreak of 1918 struck. 50 million people died, on the low estimate. And that was only by a single virus- what about the long term effects of contaminated water? infected beef?
The idea of a poisoned vaccine plays on the imagination, but it depends entirely too much on the poetic irony of turning people into infected zombie analogs by means of the health care system. In order to fit Pestilence into that irony, they had to scale him back to a mad scientist, rather than a force of nature. They got a few good scenes of hunting zombies, but the writers here deprived themselves of a truly awe-inspiring natural disaster.
But you know what they got absolutely right?
Death.
The opening scene of Death stepping out of his car to that music? Beautiful and menacing. Wonderful stuff. The slow motion and the lack of a full view of his face made him seem unhuman, beyond human, and deeply chilling. Julian Richings played his role exactly right- unemotional and unimpressed, as powerful and impassive as the thunderstorm outside. "Join me, Dean. The pizza's delicious." (and he took tiny, precise bites!) He didn't even take Lucifer seriously. He let Chicago stay because he liked the pizza. That is how you show a force of nature.
And the whole phrase about how Dean is like a bacterium to Death stands as a perfect counterpoint to my criticism of Pestilence. Pestilence was focused on something even smaller than humans, and that just takes him down in scale a great deal.
Is it just me, or did Cas just become significantly more baddass? He's lost the angel powers, true, but he seems like he's still got some major balls going on- He single-handedly took out Pestilence. Quite cool.
Sam's plan- is now apparently going to be the plan. Great. And Adam is Michael now? I thought we ruled that out? That makes me wonder if the writers are going to try and pull a bait and switch and have Dean step up for his brother. The recent rise in respect for Sam would make his survival a stronger motivation than if Dean were still viewing his brother as a relapse risk and a danger to everyone around him. Of course, letting Sam be the big hero would redeem him even further, even if he died trying. And who knows? Maybe God will step in at the last minute like he has about twenty times before for these boys and save them both (promises to the contrary notwithstanding, God has shown an incredible focus on Dean and somewhat on Sam- I could see him being pulled out as a Deus ex machina.)
Ya know, the focus of this post kind of suggests to me that I might now be watching Supernatural for the world rather than the characters and their arc. I'd wonder if that's appropriate but I'm having too much fun this way....
