Again, I so agree with everything you're saying. That's a great point about how, once upon a time, they thought every season was their last and now their attitude may be closer to "let's just get through these last couple of seasons without pissing everybody off and call it good," arghhh.
the weight of all the baggage they're carrying around is beginning to get in the way of furthering the story/character growth instead of helping it along.
How so? Because it's a mass of similar feelings, which can be problematic for writing? O r because it gets in the way of strongly feeling about other things, without being addressed? Or that it makes things less believable? Or something else?
I was thinking of what you said about how Sam and Dean have never had the chance to deal with all that's happened to them. Because real people who've been through everything they've been through realistically couldn't function nearly as well as Sam and Dean still do, it hinders creating a believable emotional reality between the boys in their relationship (upon which the WHOLE SHOW used to be based!). With all the water that's under the bridge between Sam and Dean that has never been meaningfully addressed or resolved, as fans it's sometimes hard to guess which of countless things they're mad at each other about now. If real people went through so much unresolved crap with another person, all the betrayals and perceived betrayals and misunderstandings, the relationship would simply break down. At best, I feel like they might work together but hardly speak and certainly never try to talk about any of the real issues in their relationship (since it never does any good anyway).
S1 managed to concoct a great deal of genuine emotional drama out of a couple of longstanding issues, and now the list is at least fifty items long and counting. Plus, they DID talk stuff out way back when! I can't remember the last time they did that, except in the church in "Sacrifice," but the conclusion was the only one they ever seem to come to these days: "I'm your brother, I love you, and that's all that matters," which helps but doesn't resolve the greater problems Sam brought up in the church. If as in S1 a few real issues are sufficient to drive the narrative of an entire season, I feel like the writers and the audience would be far better off if the writers allowed Sam and Dean to work out some of their old issues so they could get into new ones, instead of the brothers' entire relationship being so bogged down in too much baggage
On the plus side, they're trying out a few new writers this season. Maybe some fresh blood will help ...? We can hope.
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the weight of all the baggage they're carrying around is beginning to get in the way of furthering the story/character growth instead of helping it along.
How so? Because it's a mass of similar feelings, which can be problematic for writing? O r because it gets in the way of strongly feeling about other things, without being addressed? Or that it makes things less believable? Or something else?
I was thinking of what you said about how Sam and Dean have never had the chance to deal with all that's happened to them. Because real people who've been through everything they've been through realistically couldn't function nearly as well as Sam and Dean still do, it hinders creating a believable emotional reality between the boys in their relationship (upon which the WHOLE SHOW used to be based!). With all the water that's under the bridge between Sam and Dean that has never been meaningfully addressed or resolved, as fans it's sometimes hard to guess which of countless things they're mad at each other about now. If real people went through so much unresolved crap with another person, all the betrayals and perceived betrayals and misunderstandings, the relationship would simply break down. At best, I feel like they might work together but hardly speak and certainly never try to talk about any of the real issues in their relationship (since it never does any good anyway).
S1 managed to concoct a great deal of genuine emotional drama out of a couple of longstanding issues, and now the list is at least fifty items long and counting. Plus, they DID talk stuff out way back when! I can't remember the last time they did that, except in the church in "Sacrifice," but the conclusion was the only one they ever seem to come to these days: "I'm your brother, I love you, and that's all that matters," which helps but doesn't resolve the greater problems Sam brought up in the church. If as in S1 a few real issues are sufficient to drive the narrative of an entire season, I feel like the writers and the audience would be far better off if the writers allowed Sam and Dean to work out some of their old issues so they could get into new ones, instead of the brothers' entire relationship being so bogged down in too much baggage
On the plus side, they're trying out a few new writers this season. Maybe some fresh blood will help ...? We can hope.