Winchesters

Okay, perhaps we should keep the 'which brother is better' debate out of here, but I'm curious. Which actor is superior to the other, in your opinion?

I agree with you in that Supernatural has a handful of 'villains' that the Hunters commonly hunt (easily recognizable to the audience- Black Eyed Demon, YED, etc etc). The Changeling lookalike episode was amusing, though. H:TV has endless possibilities if you look to the books, chronicle guides, hunter recognition, SAS- I just got a subscription of story hooks that I am dying to put into play.

I'm sure the shows producers just want to keep the show focused on the overall theme [How did their Mom know YED, why is Sam psychic, etc etc) and not get bogged down by inventing new monsters all the time.
Between you and me, I would go fangirl if the Hunters ran into a by the book H:TV story line. 'Getting her back' would translate well on the screen, wouldn't it?

~Seryna

Seryna:

Okay, perhaps we should keep the 'which brother is better' debate out of here, but I'm curious. Which actor is superior to the other, in your opinion?

Probably the guy who plays Dean.  I'm not particularly invested in that opinion either way, tbh, they're both passable and I get caught up in the story seeds and nightmare fuel stuff more than the acting, which overall seems adequate but not particularly inspired (which it doesn't need to be - adequate and consistent is all I'm really looking for out of TV, anyway). Supernatural is crazy-good as a source for providing H:tV story material.

If you like Jensen, definitely look up my Bloody Valentine (a movie that he starred in). He truly nailed that character.

Personally I never choose sides between the brothers. Some of my friends are 'Sam's girls' or 'Dean's girls' but the show does such a good job of making you see both perspectives (when they are in conflict).

You know, now that I think about it, there was a lot of randomness thrown in there. True, it was 'good' in that it was scary and original.  However, we did see the Hunters deal mostly with side demons (Ruby, the blonde demon whose name I forget) more than say, the lead antagonist, YED. That was sort of annoying, such as the most recent episode where Sam mentioned 'Whats with this hunt?'  Hasn't he said something to the effect of 'how is this a hunt' about three times a season?
~Seryna

QualitySteel:

Probably the guy who plays Dean.  I'm not particularly invested in that opinion either way, tbh, they're both passable and I get caught up in the story seeds and nightmare fuel stuff more than the acting, which overall seems adequate but not particularly inspired (which it doesn't need to be - adequate and consistent is all I'm really looking for out of TV, anyway).

Overall, I'm with you except for two small points. First, I don't think Jared  (Sam) is even remotely close to passable as an actor. That's what bugs me about him. In a series where I usually wouldn't bother about acting if the involved parties where even half-decent, this guy kinda stands out to me and distracts me from what I like about the show, all thanks to his awful 'acting'. I'm particularly bothered about this now that I've bought the first two seasons on DVD and I'm trying to watch it all again from the start. Overall, I've sort of made peace with some little things that bugged me about the first season (mostly the monster of the week syndrome you've mentioned), but that guy's acting... It was even worse back then.

The second small point is that I think TV isn't the trashcan of acting as it used to be; there is great acting here and there, especially in some HBO series but not limited to that station in particular. Think of Mad Men or some people on Lost or the late Six Feet Under (or Dexter, while we're at Michael C. Hall) or... There are good TV actors.

So ... it looks like it's another Trickster episode next week.  Think the Winchesters finally gank him?

By the way, I'm a total Sam boy, and, while I don't look to Supernatural for serious acting chops, I don't think Jared's a bad actor.  I mean, he's supposed to be a whiny, emo kid in his early 20's, right?.

Personally, I think they're both fantastic.  Jensen Ackles is perfect for the brash, full-of-himself gung-ho hunter, and plays quite believably the protective older brother (even though he's noticeably shorter then his counterpart.)  Jared Padalecki brings the tragedy and pathos (if you're stuck calling it emo, you don't understand either term) that you need to drive them forward.  He also brings the intellect, the maturity (ironically enough, being the younger brother) to balance Dean's pig-headedness.  Together, the two actors work seamlessly, and have a fantastic chemistry.  I have no problem believing that they really are brothers, that they really did grow up together.

If I had to peg one of them as better, it'd probably actually be Jared.  He's the one who gets stuck with most of the exposition on the show, exaplaining what X monster is, what it does, where it came from, and how to kill it.  Scenes like that are extremely difficult to write and act without making them stale and boring.  It's why Joss Whedon had to have a British guy to play Giles in Buffy, because these ridiculous words just sounded more authorotative and interesting in a British accent.  Jared has to, consistently, explain something unexplainable to a modern American TV audience in such a way that it's interesting and makes sense.  Doing that without sounding completely stupid is an incredible challenge, and he carries it off quite well.

ErikModi:

if you're stuck calling it emo

Ouch! >_<

Ok, point taken.  No more glib uses of the terms of the l337 crowd.

I'm a big fan of pathos, by the way.  I'm fond of saying that I only watch television to see cute boys make emotional faces.  Again, being flippant there, but I hope you get the point.

I've alwas felt Jensen Ackles and Jared Padelaki were decent actors. The first season or so was a little rough, but by mid-season 2 they had settled in and have been pretty good since.

I think I have that opinion because the two of them have some terrific comedic timing. And if you think being funny is easy, ask any actor out there. Tragedy is easy.. COMEDY.. is hard.

Plus.. they've always struck me as being like actual brothers.

Though I much prefer Dean to Sam. There's only so much angst I can handle, and it's going on 2 full seasons of Sam moaping around. I'm glad it looks like they decided to just hug it out and move on.

I did crack up at the little jibe at Jared for House of Wax..

The angst is... overdone.  It needed to be heavy, sure, for the story, but they've went too far with it too often.

Regarding the Winchester boys starting the apocalypse, watching throughout the show you get a sense that even before they were born, they were chosen by both demons and angels for this massive destiny.

I mean, I can't remember which particular episode, but yellow eyes did the deal with the Winchester's mum, as part of his plans. That yellow eyes managed to get the family of hunters, must have been special. Then there's the end of season 4, where yellow eyes slaughters the convent and learns how to release the devil.

So, yellow eyes kills Sam because he knows that Dean will do anything to bring him back. Thus Dean goes to hell and breaks the first seal. Looking at the deals, Sam got a damn good one, because they figured he could break the seal. John got screwed, and they wouldn't even touch Dean.

From the beginning, I always got the sense that something bigger had been manipulating the Winchester boys.

Think about this for a Hunter Vigil campaign. Big bad (Vamp, Mage whatever) that manipulates your family, your school, your life, to achieve a single purpose. That is a fanatastic antagonist for any campaign.

ratmonkey84:

From the beginning, I always got the sense that something bigger had been manipulating the Winchester boys.

Yup..theres been hints here and there it seems. Hell, even Deans necklace is important.

I love the show tho, and I'm going to miss it. But, looks like they are setting up to go out with a bang.

I haven't heard they were canceling the show.. where'd that come from?

There's been no confirmation the show is cancelled. Kripke's had a 5-season arc planned, and this is the last year of that. Doesn't mean the show is over.

Look at Smallville, that was originally a 5 year planned show, and it just started it's 8th or 9th season..

MisterShifter:

There's been no confirmation the show is cancelled. Kripke's had a 5-season arc planned, and this is the last year of that. Doesn't mean the show is over.

True, but most likely the show will be done. I hope so anyway. Might as well go out on top, then keep making them and run it into the ground. Sure, the Simpsons might be on its 30th season or whatever, but it lacks quality.

So, I'd rather see it go out on top...

But, from the stuff I've read, the show will done with this season, tho the rumor is that it could continue on and just this story arc is done.

Guess we'll see...