LJ Meme | The Road So Far

[galathea]

I don’t really do LJ memes much, because usually I don’t have the time and/or patience for them. The other day though sherrilina posted the 'The Road So Far' meme they had over at ontd_spnparty and I kind of got all caught up in it. It's a list of questions about your favourite/least favourite things about each season of Supernatural and since I spent so much time with it, I thought I might as well post it.



First off, I slightly changed the survey. I added a Sam specific question to each Dean specific question, because I don't like it if one brother is featured more heavily than the other; that's not how my show works for me. So, each time the question about a favourite Dean eating moment came up, I added a question about a favourite Sam bitchface moment or when the questionnaire asked for the best Dean angst moment, I added a best Sam angst moment etc. Also, I cut the questions for favourite quotes, because that’s just impossible to decide for me, and I didn’t edit any favourite .gifs in either. I know I went completely overboard with the 'brotherly moments' - which kind of defeats the purpose of choosing a favourite - but well, I just can't ever have only one favourite brother moment, or two or even five! And believe me, I left out tons still! *g*

* * * * * * * *
SEASON 1
* * * * * * * *
1. FAVOURITE ...

• Monster Of The Week: Bloody Mary


• Guest Star: Okay, let’s get one thing out of the way first: Jim Beaver is my favourite guest star on the show. I am not going to list him in every section; you can just silently assume his name is up there every time. So my answer will always refer to the recurring/one-off characters besides Jim Beaver.
  William B. Davis! What? I am an X-Files fan, I had to mention him! | Julie Benz as Layla


• Female Love[/Flirt] Interest: Sarah Blake (Provenance)


• Character Death: Mary's death | It is incredibly creepy and sets up the whole mystery of the show.


• Brotherly Moment: I can’t possibly pick just one moment, so here it goes: (1) Dean hugging an exhausted Sam to him (Home) (2) Sam and Dean’s phone conversation and subsequent reunion in 'Scarecrow' (3) Sam acting like a mother hen around sick Dean (Faith) (4) Dean telling Sam that nothing bad is going to happen to him as long as he is around (Nightmare) (5) Dean telling Sam that he wants them to be a family again (Shadow) (6) Sam worriedly hovering over his injured brother, paying no regard to his equally injured (and still possessed) father (Devil's Trap) (7) Sam looking into the rearview mirror, locking eyes with Dean and telling John that killing the demon does not come before everything (Devil’s Trap)


• Cover-Your-Eyes Moment: Shapeshifter!Dean changing his skin (Skin)


• Tear-Jerk Moment: Sam and Dean’s conversation about being a family again/living your own life (Shadow)


• Impala Moment: Impala versus Monster Truck (Route 666) | The nightly chase scene is fabulous


• Dean Eating Moment: Dean munching on mini sausages (Nightmare)


• Sam Bitchface Moment: Sam rolling his eyes when Dean is all excited about Haley’s praise of the Impala (Wendigo)


• Song: 'Road To Nowhere' by Ozzy Osbourne (Something Wicked). The lyrics fit perfectly for Dean.


• Episode For Creepiness: Bloody Mary | The Benders


• Episode For Laughs: Hell House, duh!


• Episode Overall: FAITH ♥ | Runner-up: Something Wicked


• Character Overall (at the end of the season): I am not going to choose between Sam and Dean.


• Unsolved Mystery (at the end of the season): Why does Mary apologise to Sam in 'Home'? Why do Dean’s eyes bleed in 'Bloody Mary'?

2. LEAST FAVOURITE ...

• Episode: Hook Man | Runner-up: Route 666


• Character: Missouri | She really spoils an otherwise perfectly fine episode for me. I hate her condescending and patronising behaviour towards Dean. Also, her arrogance and incompetence annoy me greatly.


• Female Love[/Flirt] Interest: It’s a toss between Laurie (Hook Man) and Cassie (Route 666)

3. One thing you wish had happened differently [if any]: I wished Cassie’s character had been written better. She was simply not all that believable as a love interest for Dean. I also would have preferred a different actress in the role, one who had more chemistry with Jensen and could actually act the part convincingly.

4. One character you would bring back to life [if any]: Pastor Jim. I think he would have made a great recurring ally for the brothers, in addition to Bobby.


* * * * * * * *
SEASON 2
* * * * * * * *
1. FAVOURITE ...

• Monster Of The Week: The Djinn (What Is and What Should Never Be)


• Guest Star: Fredric Lehne as Azazel | Charles Malik Whitfield as Henriksen | Chris Gauthier as Ronald Resnick


• Recurring Character(s): Bobby, Victor Henriksen, Azazel


• Female Love[/Flirt] Interest: Carmen (What Is and What Should Never Be) | I know she is just a fantasy, but she is absolutely perfect for Dean, and I love their scenes together.


• Of The YED's 'special kids' (not Sam): Andy Gallagher, duh!


• Character Death: Sam, oh Sammy! ♥ | Back in the days I was naive enough to think that the writers would never be able to kill either Sam or Dean, because they are the only lead characters. Well, the show certainly cured me from that notion. *g*


• Brotherly Moment: Again, I go with a small selection of my favourite moments: (1) The Ouija board conversation (In My Time Of Dying) (2) Dean deciding that he rather wants to die with Sam than let him die alone (Croatoan) (3) The boys playing 'rock, paper, scissors' (Heart) (4) Sam telling Dean that he is glad that they are close/hunt together (What Is and What Should Never Be) (5) Dean holding a dying Sam in his arms, frantically talking to him (6) THE HUG ♥ (All Hell Breaks Loose II) (7) Sam telling Dean that there is nothing he wouldn’t do for him (All Hell Breaks Loose II)


• Cover-Your-Eyes Moment: None, S2 is pretty tame when it comes to gore.


• Tear-Jerk Moment: Dean’s monologue at Sam’s death bed (All Hell Breaks Loose II)


• Dean Eating Moment: Dean happily eating Mary’s home-made sandwich. (What Is and What Should Never Be)


• Sam Bitchface Moment: Sam’s exasperated expressions at Dean’s increasingly less tactful demeanour when they interrogate Karen (The Usual Suspects)


• Song: 'Renegade' by Styx (Nightshifter). Till today the best use of a song in the show for me.


• Episode For Creepiness: Simon Said | The scene where Ansem mind-rapes Tracy still creeps me out.


• Episode For Laughs: The Usual Suspects | I love the whole sequence where Sam tells Detective Ballard what he and Dean have been up to, while we see in the flashbacks what really happened.


• Episode Overall: WHAT IS AND WHAT SHOULD NEVER BE ♥ | Runner-up: In My Time Of Dying


• Character Overall (at the end of the season): I am still not going to choose between Sam and Dean. *g*


• Unsolved Mystery (at the end of the season): Why did the YED test the Croatoan virus on Sam? Is Sam still 100% himself after his resurrection? What was Azazel’s end game?

2. LEAST FAVOURITE ...

• Episode: Hollywood Babylon | Runner-up: Tall Tales


• Character: None, there aren’t really any characters in S2 that I dislike enough to put them on this list.


• Female Love[/Flirt] Interest: Jo Harvelle. I mean, I like her character, but I am not all that happy with her incessant flirting attempts towards a clearly uninterested Dean.

3. How did you react to John and Dean's deals? John’s deal surprised me, I didn’t foresee it at all. Dean’s deal, on the other hand, was the logical conclusion to his arc in S2, but I was still pretty devastated when he did it.

4. Something you wish had happened differently [if any]: I wished they had placed 'Hollywood Babylon' in a different place in the timeline of the season. One of the reasons I loathe it so much is because it completely breaks the momentum of the story for me. I also wished they had explored the aftermath of 'Born Under A Bad Sign' and 'Heart' for the brothers in general, but for Sam in particular.

5. Character you hoped would live but didn't: RIP Andy Gallagher!


* * * * * * * *
SEASON 3
* * * * * * * *
1. FAVOURITE ...

• Monster Of The Week: The changelings (The Kids Are Alright)


• Guest Star: Charles Malik Whitfield as Henriksen | Steven Williams as Rufus Turner


• Recurring Character: Bobby, Victor Henriksen


• Ghostfacer: Corbett


• Female Love[/Flirt] Interest: Lisa Braeden (The Kids Are Alright)


• Dean Death in Mystery Spot: Dean being shot by the owner of the Mystery Spot, right at the beginning of the episode. It has real emotional impact and it’s a beautiful, if heartbreaking, quiet moment between Sam and Dean.


• Character Death: Dean | Dean being torn to shreds by hellhounds in 'No Rest For The Wicked' is probably the most traumatic scene in the show for me.


• Brotherly Moment: You didn’t expect me to go with only one here, did you? (1) Sam telling Dean that he looked up to him since he was four years old (Fresh Blood) (2) Dean showing Sam how to fix the Impala (Fresh Blood) (3) 8 year old Sammy giving Dean the amulet (A Very Supernatural Christmas) (4) Sam and Dean exchanging gifts (A Very Supernatural Christmas) (5) THE HUG ♥ (Mystery Spot) (6) Dean telling Sam that they need to stop sacrificing themselves for each other (No Rest For The Wicked (7) Sam and Dean singing 'Dead Or Alive' together (No Rest For The Wicked)


• Cover-Your-Eyes Moment: Wayne being skewered by falling backwards on a fork (Bad Day At Black Rock)


• Tear-Jerk Moment: Dean telling Sam that he should keep on fighting when he is gone (No Rest For The Wicked)


• Dean Eating Moment: Dean enjoying his burger, while Sam tries to spoil his appetite by talking about maggots and faeces. (Time Is On My Side)


• Sam Bitchface Moment: Sam’s annoyed faces in the scene leading up to their synchronised shouting match (Mystery Spot)


• Song: 'Crazy Circles' by Bad Company (Fresh Blood). Very fitting lyrics for the scene.


• Episode For Creepiness: Ghostfacers | The scene where Sam and Corbett are being held captive by the murderous ghost gives me the chills.


• Episode For Laughs: Bad Day at Black Rock, duh!


• Episode Overall: A VERY SUPERNATURAL CHRISTMAS ♥ | Runner-up: Mystery Spot


• Character Overall (at the end of the season): I guess y’all know the answer to that by now!


• Unsolved Mystery (at the end of the season): Why were all of Mary's friends killed?! What is Ruby’s real agenda? Why is Sam unaffected by Lilith’s death ray?

2. LEAST FAVOURITE ...

• Episode: Red Sky At Morning | Runner-up: The Magnificent Seven


• Character: Bela | I think the concept of the character was great and she would have worked well as an addition in the SPN universe. Her realisation on screen was frustrating and disappointing though.


• Female Love[/Flirt] Interest: Bela | Both, the flirty scenes between her and Dean in 'Red Sky At Morning' and the sex dream sequence between her and Sam in 'Dream A Little Dream Of Me', annoyed me greatly.

3. Something you wish had happened differently [if any]: I wished the network wouldn’t have forced Kripke & Co to make Bela a recurring character. As a result her storyline was put together hastily and turned out to be sloppy. Also, Sam and Dean were taken out of character several times to accommodate her storyline, and that’s unacceptable for me. The pacing of the first half of the season was off, too, especially the progression of the character arcs in regard to Dean’s deal. For a long while there was simply no clear direction for the storylines, and it took the writers way too long to find their footing with the season. I still love S3 though. :)

4. Character you hoped would live but didn't (besides Dean!): RIP Victor Henriksen!

5. Any feelings on how the writer's strike affected the season? Since the angel mythology in S4/5 turned out to be such a huge disappointment for me and effectively crashed the mytharc under inconsistencies and retcons, I wished the writer’s strike hadn’t messed with the original S3 plans, i.e. Sam saving Dean from hell and going dark side in the process. I feel that the show would have been better off without the angel/vessel/blood mythology. Also, the fact that Dean’s post-hell trauma in S4 was handled to my immense dissatisfaction really made me wish that he never went to hell in the first place. So, yeah, overall I think the writer’s strike affected the show very negatively!


* * * * * * * *
SEASON 4
* * * * * * * *
1. FAVOURITE ...

• Monster Of The Week: The shapeshifter from 'Monster Movie'


• Guest Star: Amy Gumenick as young Mary | Mitch Pileggi as Samuel Campbell


• Recurring Character(s): Bobby, Pamela, Mary


• Female Love[/Flirt] Interest: Jamie (Monster Movie)


• Angel: Uriel


• Demon: Alistair


• Character Death: Ruby | Not that her death had any emotional impact on me, but I liked the symbolism of the brothers killing her together.


• Brotherly Moment: And here we go again: (1) THE HUG ♥ (Lazarus Rising) (2) Dean giving Sam a pep talk about faith (It’s The Great Pumpkin, Sam Winchester) (3) Sam and Dean talking about growing old together (Criss Angel Is A Douchebag) (4) Teenage!Dean offering to beat up Dirk, the school bully, for his little brother (After School Special) (5) Sam worriedly holding vigil at Dean's hospital bed (On The Head Of A Pin) (6) Sam Wesson imploring Dean Smith to quit his job and hit the road with him (It’s A Terrible Life) (7) Sam and Dean instinctively reaching out to each other (Lucifer Rising)


• Cover-Your-Eyes Moment: Rougarou!Jack eating Travis (Metamorphosis) | The hand in the blender (After School Special)


• Tear-Jerk Moment: Dean telling Sam about his time in hell (Heaven and Hell) | Sam going mad out of grief over losing Dean (I Know What You Did Last Summer)


• Dean Crying Moment: see above


• Sam Going Crazy Moment: Sam suffering from hallucinations during his detox in Bobby’s panic room (When The Levee Breaks)


• Song: 'A Well-Respected Man' by The Kinks (It’s A Terrible Life)


• Episode For Creepiness: Family Remains


• Episode For Laughs: Monster Movie


• Episode Overall: IN THE BEGINNING ♥ | Runner-up: It’s A Terrible Life


• Character Overall (at the end of the season): Lilith – oh no wait, damn, still Sam and Dean


• Unsolved Mystery (at the end of the season): How is Dean supposed to stop Lucifer? Why did Sam’s eyes turn black when he killed Lilith? Is he permanently changed now?

2. LEAST FAVOURITE ...

• Episode: The Rapture | Runner-up: Heaven And Hell


• Character: It’s a toss between Jimmy and Anna | I think I dislike Jimmy more, but I have to endure Anna more often


• Female Love[/Flirt] Interest: Just for the record: I don’t consider Ruby in any way or form a romantic interest for Sam. Their relationship may have been sexual, but it has been self-destructive and twisted and defies any definition of love for me, so I won’t list her here. My vote goes to Anna instead.

3. Going into the season, did you have a theory on how Dean would escape Hell? None at all. However, I really wished for Sam to be the one who saved Dean from hell.

4. Something you wish had happened differently [if any]: I really wished the writers had treated Dean’s post-hell storyline better. The lack of a proper PTSD arc for Dean is my biggest disappointment in S4. It completely undermined the magnitude of what happened to Dean. I also regret that the writers thought it would be necessary to go to such dark places with the characters, like for example Dean torturing Alistair or Sam drinking blood and killing Cindy. I love angst, but S4 became incredibly bleak and I felt miserable watching it for a considerable part of the season.

5. Character you hoped would live but didn't: RIP Pamela Barnes!

6. The Monster at the End of This Book: all in fun or going too far? On its own 'The Monster At The End Of This Book' is a good episode that pokes a hole into the 4th wall, but in the end keeps it intact and even manages to use the meta level for character/theme exploration. However, it paved the way for Becky in 'Sympathy For The Devil' and the awful episode 'The Real Ghostbusters', where the writers go several steps too far with the 'fun' meta commentary. I severely hate the breaking down of the 4th wall in S5 and that reflects negatively back on that particular S4 episode, although in itself, it’s really enjoyable.


* * * * * * * *
SEASON 5
* * * * * * * *
1. FAVOURITE ...

• Monster Of The Week: The Wraith (Sam, Interrupted)


• Guest Star: Mark Sheppard as Crowley | Julian Richings as Death


• Recurring Character: Bobby


• Angel | Archangel: Zachariah | Lucifer


• Demon | Horseman: Crowley | Death


• Character Death: Sam and Dean being shot at the beginning of 'Dark Side Of The Moon' | It’s shocking and completely unexpected!


• Return From The Dead: Sam (The Song Remains The Same)


• Brotherly Moment: (1) Dean offering Sam the Impala before they part ways (Good God, Y’all) (2) Sam and Dean’s reunion (The End) (3) Dean giving Sam the car keys and offering him to drive (Fallen Idols) (4) Dean re-living his 4th of July memory with young Sammy (Dark Side Of The Moon) (5) Sam telling Dean that he has faith in him and Dean subsequently validating that faith (Point Of No Return) (5) Each and every brother montage in 'Swan Song' (7) The brothers’ silent farewell look before Sam jumps into the pit (Swan Song)


• Cover-Your-Eyes Moment: The teenage couple eating each other alive (My Bloody Valentine)


• Tear-Jerk Moment: Dean telling Sam that he won’t leave him alone, while Lucifer beats him into a bloody pulp (Swan Song)


• Dean Angst Scene: see above!


• Sam Angst Scene: Sam jumping into the pit (Swan Song)


• Un-angelic Castiel Moment: Drunk!Castiel (99 Problems)


• Song: 'O Death' by Jen Titus (Two Minutes To Midnight)


• Episode For Creepiness: My Bloody Valentine


• Episode For Laughs: Changing Channels | I am not actually a fan of this episode, because a lot of the humour in it makes me cringe, but there are a couple of scenes that make me laugh out loud. K.I.T.T.!Sam rocks!


• Episode Overall: POINT OF NO RETURN ♥ | Runner-up: Swan Song


• Character Overall (at the end of the season): This is getting kinda old. Sam’n’Dean of course, duh!


• Unsolved Mystery (at the end of the season): How did Sam escape from Lucifer’s cage? Is he still himself?

2. LEAST FAVOURITE ...

• Episode: The Real Ghostbusters | Runner-up: It’s a toss between 'Swap Meat' and 'The Curious Case Of Dean Winchester'


• Character: Becky! She is without a doubt the worst character ever created in this show for me.

3. Something you wish had happened differently [if any]: The better question would be what didn’t I wish had happened differently? I think what I wished most is that the pacing of the season had been better. After 'The End' the writers came to a complete stand-still for the characters/the apocalypse storyline and wasted a lot of time and energy on inconsequential and extremely shallow episodes. As a result they ran out of time at the end of the season and had to rush the apocalypse arc, which is especially regrettable because there was a lot of excellent material that would have made for a really exciting story, had it been allowed to unfold properly. My biggest pet peeve of the season is the ridiculous amount of 'frat boy humour'. These boys went to hell and back, at some point it becomes just inappropriate to reduce them to immature teenagers.

4. Recurring character death that broke your heart the most: RIP Ellen and Jo Harvelle!

_______________
Post Scriptum: I just realised that my favourite episodes of S1 and S2 were both written by Raelle Tucker, and my favourite episodes of S3, S4 and S5, respectively, were all written by Jeremy Carver. I guess it's no coincidence that they are two of my Top3 writers for Supernatural. :)

Comments

[llywela13.livejournal.com]

Aww, Chris, you wrote about Show! ♥

[galathea-snb.livejournal.com]

Heh, I totally did! Do I ever write about something else? I kinda had a major nostalgia rush doing this survey. Now I should return to those missing reviews. LOL

[llywela13.livejournal.com]

I wish you luck with the reviews. I haven't managed to write a word in over a week now - worse, I haven't even managed to think a word ready to write...*sigh*

[galathea-snb.livejournal.com]

Heh, I actually made quite the progress with my 5.21 review, I should finish that soon enough. I am just really relaxed about the whole thing. There is no pressure and nobody waits for it at this point, so I can write when I feel like it and leave it, if I don't. *g*

[llywela13.livejournal.com]

No pressure is great! In my case, though, the lack of pressure is likely to result in nothing ever actually being written.*G*

Doesn't help that work is so busy. I shall just look forward to reading yours when they are done. :)

[ficwriter1966.livejournal.com]

*Very* interesting! You obviously devoted a lot of time and energy to this post, and it's a great read, traveling back through all 5 seasons. I agree with much of what you said, would make different choices with a few things. But WORD to what you said about falling off the rails with S3, and things completely going in the wrong direction from there.

Thanks for sharing your thoughts!

[galathea-snb.livejournal.com]

Thank you for reading. Undoubtedly we all have different preferences at one point or the other. *g*

Well, obviously there is no guarantee that the story would have been better if they had followed the original plans. The writers could have screwed it up nonetheless. Maybe they would have made Sam irredeemably evil or would have forced Dean to kill Sam. Who knows! In any case, there is still a lot to love about S4/5, it's not as if it had killed my love for the characters or anything, but there is A LOT of wasted potential in those seasons. /sigh

[sherrilina.livejournal.com]

Lol, Sam Bitchface moments, good addition idea! :D And damn, I can't believe I forgot about "Oh Death" for season 5! :o I've only listened to it a gazillion times in the past few months, especially on SPN days...(I have it on my iPod). "Renegade" is great too, I listened to that on repeat yesterday and finally got it as well! ;)

And there are some things in common here...:p As for the flirt thing though, I still think Ruby can be considered a "flirt" as much as say Jaime, as in not someone intended to be a great romantic interest, but definitely flirting with Sam, and later sleeping with him (what Dean intended to do with Jaime--all he intended to do with her), I don't really see the distinction...:s

Also: Muahahahahaha! :D

[galathea-snb.livejournal.com]

ROFL I wondered why you didn't choose 'O Death' on your list. *g*

Well, from Ruby's side there was evil intent behind seducing Sam, she preyed on a grieving man and used sex for her purposes. Sam wasn't flirting either, he was suicidal and used her because he felt the need for self-destruction. That's so fundamentally different from the lighthearted, good-natured mutual attraction Jamie and Dean had, that I don't understand why you don't see a distinction. Under normal circumstances Sam would have never ever even looked at Ruby twice, she stood for everything he loathed. What they had is abuse, not love/flirting. I don't know how to describe it better.

[lindahoyland.livejournal.com]

Thanks for reminding me of some great moments.

[galathea-snb.livejournal.com]

You're welcome. I was all nostalgic as well when I did the survey. :)