fufaraw

I...liked it.

It may not have been good television, there may have been a lack of tension. I did notice that Kate got a long monologue, mostly coverage of her with a couple of reaction shots of Dean, maybe one of Sam. The camera lingered, and didn't rush away and on to the next scene. That's unusual for today's tv. We've been watching older series, like X Files, and it's noticeable how many fractions of a second longer the camera lingers on an establishing shot, or a reaction as a character absorbs news, processes information. Teen Wolf is especially bad at go-go-go, no lingering, no padding at all on the dialog or action, barely time for reaction and even then we're fading into the next scene.

But I did notice the slower pace of Paper Moon, and while some interpret it as not having enough script to keep the camera moving, I found it...restful. The green cooler (!! my old friend!) scene at the shore was actually restful. I did detect underlying tension, but it was low-level, and really, I'm ready for some low-level tension and relaxation. It makes sense to me that these guys are abraded and worn on all their surfaces. Their mental and emotional nerve endings have been assaulted and frayed, they've been in flight or fight so long--this is the backlash. This is the comedown. The breather, the drifting, minimal reaction period where maybe they can recover and recoup, a little. Where every word isn't a challenge--or if it is, they're too tired, too over-reactioned out to jump. Talking is good. And listening is possible.

I could be proven wrong in subsequent eps, but what I saw was thoughtful exchange of opinion, reaction, and individually reached conclusions in this ep. And definitely a chance of healing, and finding more steady common ground.

I can live in hope, at least.

I didn't really have a chance to put my day nine, season nine countdown post together, let alone get it posted before I lost internet on Sunday. It would be way past anticlimactic to post it now, let alone try and put it together, so I'ma just look forward and see what they make of Season 10.

Not a bad start...

Season one--

An element that quickly hooked me into the mythos of the show was gorgeous traveling shots of the car against the landscape, backed with authentic rock music. Mere glimpses lingering only for seconds, using such a shot in almost every episode established the nomadic component of the characters' lives, quickly provided background and a link to a childhood spent just like this, in the car on the way to help people in trouble, people who were rooted in the ordinary, who didn't have the skills to help themselves, or driving away from normal, having dealt for them with the unusual. Such shots became an expected component of the show, and established the car as a character, a reliable place of support and safety, as home for these nomadic knights errant.




And there were iconic moments between the brothers, too. An episode I dismissed for a long time because of the cheesy MOW was Wendigo. On looking back, that episode established a lot of character elements about both brothers and their relationship. It gave us the iconic "Saving people, hunting things" line. And it showed, early on, that Sam was as gonzo about saving Dean as Dean was shown to be, later in the series, about saving Sam. This cap

got cut down to this and became an icon of their devotion to each other. Sam's protective nature for people not in the hunting life, and his courage were displayed in this early episode, too.

Season one was incredibly full of character- and mythos-building. They may have fumbled with what story they ultimately wanted to tell, but filming on a limited budget, they built an amazing, exciting foundation for the saga.