I can understand the lack of enthusiasm. It distresses me how much of my response to this storyline is 'I just do not care'. I'm not absolutely averse to watching it, but neither is it something I greatly look forward to. It's just sort of ... there.
All in all, Sam and Dean both act like petty, petulant children in this scene, and I find that completely out of character at this point.
Yeah. I am deeply perturbed by how willing they are to use both Benny and Amelia as pawns in their personal feud. It's ugly because it fails to treat them as real people. It's also ugly because it's dangerous.
From Sam's side - I can go through my DVDs and pick out lots of episodes where the basic plot could be described as 'idiot hunter insists on pursuing harmless monster, causing needless bloodshed'. Sometimes the hunter pushes the monster to kill when he otherwise wouldn't have. Deciding whether a monster should live or die is complicated, but in making it all about his own resentment and distrust Sam is betraying everything he's ever believed in.
From Dean's side - I mean, really, what the hell is wrong with him? Even setting aside the obvious hurt he's causing, Dean repeatedly reminded Benny that Sam is dangerous. And he is. In exactly the same way Dean is. Dean shed a lot of blood when Lisa and Ben were taken, because he panicked and sliced his way through every possessed person he could find. What if Sam had walked into a situation that could be misconstrued as 'Amelia in trouble'? What then?
At least the Amy situation wasn't built on malice - not even for Amy herself. I just ... find it hard to like them when they don't care about other people.
Moreover, Sam’s 'dilemma' is not even emotionally compelling because Sam and Amelia’s love story was not given enough space to truly draw us in.
I find it sad and peculiar that at the end of this little romance, Amelia knows nothing about Sam at all. She doesn't know what he does, there never was a scene where he really talked to her about his loss and where that left him. She can't even begin to understand why he left her, why he came back, and what he ultimately chose instead of her. What sort of relationship is that? I used to lament that Jessica didn't get more screen time, because she operates more as a symbol than as a real, living woman who had her life taken from her. But Amelia had a lot of screen time, and that's still all she is. At least with Jessica the symbol made sense. I'm not entirely convinced Sam and Amelia were together for more than a few weeks, and the relationship never settled into anything that wasn't stressful and strange. It's an odd fit for 'normal'.
My favourite part of that arc is still the picnic scene. It promised so much and delivered so little.
I also love the way they animatedly start to discuss Castiel’s odd behaviour, before it suddenly seems to occur to them that, technically, they are still fighting and should not feel so comfortable with each other.
Yes, I liked that bit too. :) It was one of the few scenes that felt natural. People do that sort of thing, and for once I could understand why they were behaving as they were.
But otherwise - yes. There seems to have been a failure to understand what 'suspense' is. The whole episode was set up for the 'reveal' of Amelia's tragic face when Sam wasn't there, and then to show Sam and Dean together. But, as you say, we already knew that was going to happen. But we have no idea why. Why not let us go with Sam on his walk, and see why he came to his decision? At this point, I wouldn't even complain if they used clunky flashbacks to show us. It just seems like they wasted their time on a twist that was never going to pay off, and completely failed to move the plot forward.
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All in all, Sam and Dean both act like petty, petulant children in this scene, and I find that completely out of character at this point.
Yeah. I am deeply perturbed by how willing they are to use both Benny and Amelia as pawns in their personal feud. It's ugly because it fails to treat them as real people. It's also ugly because it's dangerous.
From Sam's side - I can go through my DVDs and pick out lots of episodes where the basic plot could be described as 'idiot hunter insists on pursuing harmless monster, causing needless bloodshed'. Sometimes the hunter pushes the monster to kill when he otherwise wouldn't have. Deciding whether a monster should live or die is complicated, but in making it all about his own resentment and distrust Sam is betraying everything he's ever believed in.
From Dean's side - I mean, really, what the hell is wrong with him? Even setting aside the obvious hurt he's causing, Dean repeatedly reminded Benny that Sam is dangerous. And he is. In exactly the same way Dean is. Dean shed a lot of blood when Lisa and Ben were taken, because he panicked and sliced his way through every possessed person he could find. What if Sam had walked into a situation that could be misconstrued as 'Amelia in trouble'? What then?
At least the Amy situation wasn't built on malice - not even for Amy herself. I just ... find it hard to like them when they don't care about other people.
Moreover, Sam’s 'dilemma' is not even emotionally compelling because Sam and Amelia’s love story was not given enough space to truly draw us in.
I find it sad and peculiar that at the end of this little romance, Amelia knows nothing about Sam at all. She doesn't know what he does, there never was a scene where he really talked to her about his loss and where that left him. She can't even begin to understand why he left her, why he came back, and what he ultimately chose instead of her. What sort of relationship is that? I used to lament that Jessica didn't get more screen time, because she operates more as a symbol than as a real, living woman who had her life taken from her. But Amelia had a lot of screen time, and that's still all she is. At least with Jessica the symbol made sense. I'm not entirely convinced Sam and Amelia were together for more than a few weeks, and the relationship never settled into anything that wasn't stressful and strange. It's an odd fit for 'normal'.
My favourite part of that arc is still the picnic scene. It promised so much and delivered so little.
I also love the way they animatedly start to discuss Castiel’s odd behaviour, before it suddenly seems to occur to them that, technically, they are still fighting and should not feel so comfortable with each other.
Yes, I liked that bit too. :) It was one of the few scenes that felt natural. People do that sort of thing, and for once I could understand why they were behaving as they were.
But otherwise - yes. There seems to have been a failure to understand what 'suspense' is. The whole episode was set up for the 'reveal' of Amelia's tragic face when Sam wasn't there, and then to show Sam and Dean together. But, as you say, we already knew that was going to happen. But we have no idea why. Why not let us go with Sam on his walk, and see why he came to his decision? At this point, I wouldn't even complain if they used clunky flashbacks to show us. It just seems like they wasted their time on a twist that was never going to pay off, and completely failed to move the plot forward.