[Trying out a new labeling system someone suggested might be helpful. Like I need another reason to be anally organized.=p]
As I started watching Supernatural oh those many years ago, it was pretty easy to imagine it as a WOD Hunter game. I mean, they said it out loud: "We hunt monsters. And then we kill them."
I followed Sam & Dean along their adventures and immediately drew the network of cells in my head. I enjoyed the various and imaginative ways they dispatched the bad stuff. It was pretty cut & dried; this was the best example of Hunter available.
Then things began to change. Those deals with demons, the Trickster, Chameleon Ruby, intoxicating blood proffering surreal abilities and various other strangeness started becoming regular events, and not just one-offs.
I happened across a rerun of a pivotal episode today; where Dean reveals to Sam exactly what he did in Hell while Crowly encouraged him and showed pride in his talent.
It suddenly struck me that Supernatural was no longer a Hunted game; it seemed quite obvious to me that it had passed into Changeling: the Lost.
Dean- "Time's different there. It might have been four months, but there it was more like 40 years."
[Sounds like Arcadia to me]
Followed by
Dean- [they tortured me] "Until there was nothing left- and then suddenly, I was whole again so they could start all over. It was almost like Magic"
[Durance, anyone?]
Combined with them running from the very worst things they could imagine [Keepers/True Fae], but trying to kill the Overlord in order to break a destiny cycle and save the world.(It IS a hopeful game, after all)
I kept wondering why there were no ways out of their predicament- the amount of Glamour and Wyrd invested in the Pledges that bound them to begin with would have cracked the world if either end didn't keep their promises- made willingly or not.
The end result of their adventure was pretty rewarding, but not necessarily a "happy ending". Sam wound up getting his whole Willpower pool back by sacrificing himself for Hope, and Dean's Gluttony seemed finally sated.
I wonder what season 7 will be?
Supernatural? No love for Reaper? ;-)
ReplyDeleteEh, Reaper had so much promise and fell so flat. I mean, Sock and Ben were pretty funny- but Sam was so bland and whiny I had to look up his name on the Reaper Wikipedia page because I couldn't remember it.
ReplyDeleteThere was absolutely no compelling reason to root for Sam whatsoever. He was so insipid I just quit caring and only watched off and on to catch Sock & Ben in their hilarious exploits.
I mean I could draw parallels, but why? Sigh.
Supernatural immediately felt like WoD to me and I loved it.
ReplyDeleteI'm not familiar with CtL as we stopped at 3rd ed, but Supernatural never lost what I thought was a Hunter feel too me. It shifted a little - the difference between Hunter the Reckoning and Laws of the Hunt. I think they're more like awakened mortals than actually from the big orange book of scariness.
oh, and FYI:
http://www.chaos-arts.com/2010/10/supernatural-anime-looks-fantastic.html