Empty Inside, Like A Box Of No Doughnuts.
Sep. 16th, 2014 05:55 pmThe eighth season of Supernatural may have had a wobbly start, but it brought back Charlie Bradbury and, to my great surprise and delight, teenage hunter Krissy Chambers, so I think I might have to forgive it.
(Krissy! I was so sure I'd never see her again!)
In fact, while the first half of the eighth season really didn't work for me, much of the second half is excellent. I'm particularly fond of 'Pac-Man Fever', because there is so much hugging and because the relationship between Dean and Charlie is the cutest thing in the world.
(He kisses her hair. I apparently have a terrible weakness for hair-kissing.)
I'm glad that Dean hasn't lost his concern for other people, as I thought he might have at the beginning of the season. The line 'If you ask me, we got off cheap' in 'What's Up, Tiger Mommy?' wasn't, it turned out, an indicator of a fundamental change in Dean's character; it was just a flagrantly, ridiculously out-of-character moment. I am still very unhappy about it and I am going to rule right now that I do not accept that line as canon. I am writing it out of Supernatural in my personal perception of the universe. Dean never said that line, because Dean would never have said that line.
Who wrote that episode? I'm going to check. Andrew Dabb and Daniel Loflin. I don't know which of you is responsible, but ONE OF YOU IS DEAD TO ME.
And now, as the ninth season is not yet out on DVD here, I've entirely run out of Supernatural to watch! It feels a bit odd. I've spent the last quarter of a year catching up on this ridiculous show. What do I do now?
What I do now is speculate on what types the Hogwarts houses would specialise in if they were Pokémon gyms. Obviously.
I think that Gryffindor would specialise in Fire and Fighting types, Ravenclaw in Flying and Psychic, Hufflepuff in Ground and Normal, and Slytherin in Poison and Dark. Perhaps Poison and Dark seem slightly stereotypical types to assign to Slytherin, but I think it makes sense. 'Those cunning folk use any means to achieve their ends', as the Sorting Hat says. Poison and Dark types tend to reward strategic play and slightly underhanded tactics.
(The one thing I'm sad about is that I can't think of a good house mascot for Gryffindor in this universe. Slytherin's snake could be an Ekans, Arbok or Seviper; Linoone is a Normal-type that looks slightly badgery, so it could work for Hufflepuff (although in my heart Hufflepuff's Pokémascot will always be a Sandslash); there are a fair few Flying-types that could replace Ravenclaw's eagle. But there's no leonine Fire- or Fighting-type Pokémon. Alas!
NO, WAIT, I'M COMPLETELY WRONG. Apparently the sixth generation has introduced a Fire-type lion called Pyroar! Splendid.)
The general view of the Hogwarts houses is that Gryffindor and Hufflepuff favour training as a means of winning Pokémon battles (if you lose a match, come back when your Pokémon are stronger), whereas Ravenclaw and Slytherin favour strategy (if you lose a match, rethink your approach and try again). Minerva McGonagall, as head of the Gryffindor gym, tends to take opponents by surprise with her highly strategic fighting style.
(Krissy! I was so sure I'd never see her again!)
In fact, while the first half of the eighth season really didn't work for me, much of the second half is excellent. I'm particularly fond of 'Pac-Man Fever', because there is so much hugging and because the relationship between Dean and Charlie is the cutest thing in the world.
(He kisses her hair. I apparently have a terrible weakness for hair-kissing.)
I'm glad that Dean hasn't lost his concern for other people, as I thought he might have at the beginning of the season. The line 'If you ask me, we got off cheap' in 'What's Up, Tiger Mommy?' wasn't, it turned out, an indicator of a fundamental change in Dean's character; it was just a flagrantly, ridiculously out-of-character moment. I am still very unhappy about it and I am going to rule right now that I do not accept that line as canon. I am writing it out of Supernatural in my personal perception of the universe. Dean never said that line, because Dean would never have said that line.
Who wrote that episode? I'm going to check. Andrew Dabb and Daniel Loflin. I don't know which of you is responsible, but ONE OF YOU IS DEAD TO ME.
And now, as the ninth season is not yet out on DVD here, I've entirely run out of Supernatural to watch! It feels a bit odd. I've spent the last quarter of a year catching up on this ridiculous show. What do I do now?
What I do now is speculate on what types the Hogwarts houses would specialise in if they were Pokémon gyms. Obviously.
I think that Gryffindor would specialise in Fire and Fighting types, Ravenclaw in Flying and Psychic, Hufflepuff in Ground and Normal, and Slytherin in Poison and Dark. Perhaps Poison and Dark seem slightly stereotypical types to assign to Slytherin, but I think it makes sense. 'Those cunning folk use any means to achieve their ends', as the Sorting Hat says. Poison and Dark types tend to reward strategic play and slightly underhanded tactics.
(The one thing I'm sad about is that I can't think of a good house mascot for Gryffindor in this universe. Slytherin's snake could be an Ekans, Arbok or Seviper; Linoone is a Normal-type that looks slightly badgery, so it could work for Hufflepuff (although in my heart Hufflepuff's Pokémascot will always be a Sandslash); there are a fair few Flying-types that could replace Ravenclaw's eagle. But there's no leonine Fire- or Fighting-type Pokémon. Alas!
NO, WAIT, I'M COMPLETELY WRONG. Apparently the sixth generation has introduced a Fire-type lion called Pyroar! Splendid.)
The general view of the Hogwarts houses is that Gryffindor and Hufflepuff favour training as a means of winning Pokémon battles (if you lose a match, come back when your Pokémon are stronger), whereas Ravenclaw and Slytherin favour strategy (if you lose a match, rethink your approach and try again). Minerva McGonagall, as head of the Gryffindor gym, tends to take opponents by surprise with her highly strategic fighting style.
