SPN 4.16

[nilchance]

Dear SPN writers, don't make me break out the Race Fail bingo cards. (And commenters to this post, same. I don't want the hear the old "the black actor was the best for Uriel, don't you want black actors to have JOBS?" zero-sum game. That is the problem in itself, that the casting directors keep finding black male actors best suited for betrayal and then DEATH, and ONLY for that role rather than a recurring character that doesn't die. (Rare on this show, I know, and that's a whole different rant.) I don't think that Kripke et al are aware that they're replaying a racist trope, but I think they SHOULD know that it's not okay. End story. Arguing with me won't change my opinion. Defriend me if you feel so inclined.

Dean has never ever EVER been hotter to me than during the (surprisingly gory) torture scenes. Um. It put one in mind of the Meg "I will walk into hell" Devil's Trap scene. The John revelations made me yowl and grab T by the arm; the Seal revelation made me stop yowling and start going "OH SHIT" a whole lot. Also, Dean needs a nap.

Sam as addict does a lot to explain the season thus far. I was too squicked by the dynamics to watch the blood-drinking scene, though.

OH CASTIEL. My heart. You poor broken, lonely bastard. When he said "I don't know what to do," to Anna? Oh yeah. OW. And one wonders what the punishment was for caring too much about Dean, that Castiel retreated so sharply back into the "RAISING YOU FROM PERDITION, BRB" mode. And it hurt that Dean asked Uriel to leave so he could plead, basically, with Castiel not to do this. And that Castiel telling him he wouldn't make Dean if only he COULD, that being the thing to send Dean through the door into Alastair's holding cell... goddamn. Intense.

"Uriel is the most humorous one in our unit." HEEEEE.

The film of the angel's bodies, where they pulled back to show shadow wings? GORGEOUS.

Um. John Winchester is the badass of the universe forever, amen.

Comments

[lomer.livejournal.com]

I agree regarding Uriel. It's TACKY Supernatural, you don't want to be tacky do you? Try having a black character who DOESN'T betray everyone just for kicks. Who knows, maybe you'll like it! And yes, we did have the two black hunters awhile ago, but that's TWO... two people out of a very small number of black actors you've hired who haven't betrayed people or died... and heck, one of those two DID die. *facepalm*

Deanos not doing so well. The ANGELS basically just tortured him. He's now been fucked over and ripped apart by BOTH teams.

The burnt wing marks were indeed gorgeous. I did laugh at the woman in a white dress though. Oh Supernatural, you love killing women in white dresses.

And Castiel makes me happy. He really stepped it up and owned this episode. Everyone was on their A game (except for Ruby and Alastair who are both played by crappy actors. Bland demons are boring. Mustache twirling villains are boring. Stop being boring!)

Great episode!

[kjfri.livejournal.com]

No defriending necessary - your point is correct. Let's hope Kripke et al hear it.

Yeah - I loved Dean's little torture smirks to Alistair - such a hot little badass! Although I almost broke when Dean said - if you send me in there, you won't like what comes back out. Someone give that man a HUG!

And I couldn't watch the blood-drinking scene either - ick on so many levels.

[cream-fudge.livejournal.com]

AMEN TO EVERYTHING.

[rae-1985.livejournal.com]

The film of the angel's bodies, where they pulled back to show shadow wings? GORGEOUS.

I thought it was a beautiful visual, but at the same time made me so sad.

I was so happy Anna was back. I liked her character to start with, and I like it even more now that she has determination to go with it.

Dean completely broke me during this episode. I just. :(( Poor boy can't catch a break, and when he finds out Sam is an addict his head may actually explode.

[pkoceres.livejournal.com]

Defriend me if you feel so inclined.
Defriend you? Heck no, I completely agree with you.
They need to stop doing this.

"Uriel is the most humorous one in our unit." HEEEEE.
I totally lolled. Castiel such a deadpan sense of humor. <3
(He was joking, right? I can't tell...)

[mona1347.livejournal.com]

*FLAILS FOREVER*



"Uriel is the most humorous one in our unit."

Omg, I ALMOST DIED.

[deadlychameleon.livejournal.com]

Sam as addict does a lot to explain the season thus far.

See. I don't think Sam is an addict per se, in that he can walk away from it without getting cravings, he just loses power by doing so.

The other points go uncontested. I'd like a non-demon strong woman character that doesn't die, get roped to a poll and threatened with sexual assault (Jo) or stop getting airtime or even mentioned (Ellen) too, kthanx.

Just because it's standard for the genre doesn't make it ok.

[quiet000001.livejournal.com]

I have to confess to actually laughing when I learned they killed Uriel, just because literally five minutes before Castiel announced that he'd died, a friend and I had been chatting about how there are never any recurring black characters that don't end up brutish, violent, and ultimately dead, except for Uriel, who was just pretty brutish and violent. And then, you know, hey look! Dead!

I mean, I know that GOOD recurring characters are kind of few and far between, but there's no reason why they all have to be white (and generally white MEN - even recurring female characters tend towards being 'bad' in some way, like Ruby or Bella. Meanwhile, Ellen seems to have vanished into the sunset.) Why can't someone they turn to for hunting advice happen to be a PoC? Or one of the good angels?

[laurel-less.livejournal.com]

Oops, they did it again

Was all I thought when Uriel turned out to be the bad guy, and then dead. Maybe they didn't plan it that way, but they really don't have a very good track record right now.

Otherwise it was a really great episode. I laughed and gasped and am really looking forward to the one next week.

[ophite68.livejournal.com]

I was watching some other boys last night. http://www.lipizzaner.com/ Not nearly so many issues, but very pretty!

[nyoka.livejournal.com]

I agree with everything in this post.

[gestaltrose.livejournal.com]

Um. John Winchester is the badass of the universe forever, amen.

Amen!

I just watched and am still processing....

[(Anonymous)]

Yes.

Yes.

Yes.

Heartbreaking but I can't help but anticipate what these character developments will turn into as Nillybean fic.

I want shadow wings of my own. Fantastic image.

Yes.

[realpestilence.livejournal.com]

This is hardly Lena Horne "Stormy Weather" or Sidney Poitier "Guess Who's Coming to Dinner" ground-breaking territry here. I'm sure if they wanted a talented black actor to play somebody on the show, they could find a character for him or her to play...just pick one out of the hat, and if they can do it, there you go. Uriel, with all his intentionally racist taunting (speciest?) was already an asshole, to start with!

I can't help but think...what if, oh...Bobby were black, and the same exact grumpy-smart-lovable man he is? Or Ellen and Jo? Same spunk and grit, same family dynamic, same intertwined history with the Winchesters. ETC. I think you're right, that it isn't intentional. But it *is* something they should be aware of.

I accidentally defriended you-or, more accurately, LJ defriended you for me-and was VERY upset when I realized it. Damn LJ took out a good half dozen extra people for every comm I *did* choose to defriend...a real mess. I can't be having that! *scowls*

I think Castiel and Dean should just go for it, already. Here's a couple of my favorites...I've got more. :D

http://pandarus.livejournal.com/255718.html

http://laugiana.livejournal.com/63887.html

Hope they're new to you!

[julorean.livejournal.com]

A big YES to everything. Count me among the squicked with the blood-drinking. Kept my face covered the whole time. I do agree completely with your assessment of Dean. He's HOT LIKE BURNING (lol, like Hell even!) in the torture scenes. :D

Also, with Cas feeling all bereft when he has no instuctions? He seemed like such a submissive bottom there. :nominates Dean as his dom:

I really liked the composition, especially of the opening scene, where they circle upwards to show the shadowy wings. Very nice.

[weesta.livejournal.com]

Sam as addict does a lot to explain the season thus far. I was too squicked by the dynamics to watch the blood-drinking scene, though.
Amen, sister!

Um. John Winchester is the badass of the universe forever, amen.
Again, I say to you, Amen!

[minsock.livejournal.com]

THANK YOU! I've thought about it tons but not really seen anybody talk about it before, so I haven't brought it up, but yeah, the way black actors are typecast into pretty fucking EVIL characters is very not cool. Gordon and Uriel foremost, but then the detective/agent who was... good, but then mm... angry, vengeful ghost. Sadly, those are the only 3 black (male)... hell, male actors of color, period ... that I can remember. But yeah. Thank you for writing about it.

[ryuutchi.livejournal.com]

And even the FBI Agent was cast as "well-meaning, but bad because he was misguided" before he died.

[gelasius.livejournal.com]

Uriel's betrayal and death was the one thing that pulled me out of this otherwise (to me) spectacular episode and made me want to hit something or stop watching or just explain very clearly and calmly to the creators of the show that Really It Would Be Swell If You Could Please Stop Ruining/Killing Black Men (and p.s. I'll never EVER forgive you for Henrickson).

Really.

Amen to John Winchester and Sam as an addict and Castiel and DEAN and everything else.

[ryuutchi.livejournal.com]

This is sort of tempting me to watch the episode in full, just to see.

John Winchester has always been the badass. He's played by JDM.

[livrelibre.livejournal.com]

Dude yes!

[paleogymnast.livejournal.com]

Can't agree with you more. As soon as I realized that Uriel was the one who was betraying them and killing the angels, my thoughts were (in order)1) Oh shit not again... damnit Kripke! Why are people of color always either evil or doctors in this universe??!?!!????? followed by a much latter 2) well, I did hate Uriel as a character, so I'm glad he's the evil one, but still... grrrrr....

If only they had 1) not killed Henricksen, 2) had Missouri in more episodes, 3) just had more diversity in their casting (and characters) more often. It wouldn't solve the problem by any means, but it would at least have gone a ways to mitigate it... I love Supernatural, I really do, but sometimes it's the little things that just make me uncomfortable, and it really makes me sad because Sam and Dean are written to seem like nicely un-biased, but then the producers just do something *fraking* STUPID and it just raises a nagging doubt in my mind about just how unbiased and inclusive the Winchesters' world really is. And it's distracting. And it pisses me off.

But then at the same time, I *loved* this episode. I just want to fix Dean, and I am frustrated because I still can't figure out what the frak is going on with Sam exactly (as in where in the big, bad plot of everything he fits in). But I digress, and am rambling in a comment, so I will restrain myself.

Still I just kind of want to BEG Kripke and company to not keep being such frigging idiots with the casting, yet... I don't think they quite *get* it, so I don't think my begging would be very productive. *grumbles* And we shouldn't have to (beg that is).

[jedi-diplomat.livejournal.com]

I have some facinating, to me anyway, meta (http://jedi-diplomat.livejournal.com/233807.html#cutid1) via Revelations and SPN if you're at all interested.

Also, Personally I'd have loved to see the actor that played Uriel be Castiel. Cuz no offence as I know you're of the Misha!love but I'm so over Castiel and his whiny emo shit! Part of the reason I love loved LOVED Uriel was that he was a man of convictions and actions. And I still don't think Uriel was evil and while yes, I'm more than a little pissy that he died as he was AWESOME, in my mind he got the coolest part of all! He got to be GABRIEL! From the movie the Prophecy. All he was missing was the suicide that didn't die as a sidekick.