A Little Goes A Long Way
A Little Goes a Long Way, by Elle2
Always leave them wanting more.
What you don’t see is twice as scary as what you do.
I remember comments throughout Season 5 about how we didn’t see Lucifer enough. Well, with an actor as well-cast as Mark Pellegrino in the role I can understand the frustration; however, true to Supernatural’s history, the season’s big bad is usually seen very few times. It’s the slow-build of the evil behind the scenes that adds to the atmosphere.
We saw Meg only four times in Season 1 and she was the Winchester’s overt enemy with Azazel completely in the shadows until Devil’s Trap when Jeffrey Dean Morgan first portrayed the character.
In Season 2 Azazel, as played by Fred Lane, only appears three times, In My Time of Dying and All Hell Breaks Loose I & II; Azazel only bookends the season.
Season 3 brings us a new big bad but it isn’t until Malleus Maleficarum that we even hear about her and then it’s a he; Lilith clearly wasn’t fully fleshed out at this point. She makes her appearance in Jus In Bello in the closing minutes and then not again until No Rest For the Wicked but through Bela in Time is on My Side and Ruby in Jus In Bello we know quite a bit about her and we know she’s not good news.
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Great analysis elle2. I agree, the slow build adds a lot of tension and had we seen these big baddies more often throughout the seasons, I don’t think they would have had as much of an impact as they did when they finally did appear. Oftentimes, the unknown creates more atmosphere than actually seeing something.
I dare say we have not seen the end of Meg and am very interested if they will bring her in this season. I’m hoping they will at some point and would love for Dean or Sam to finally kill her once and for all. As to the new baddies for Season 6, I can hardly wait. Whatever or whoever they are, it will definitely be fun, but not necessarily for Dean and Sam.
I love the method of less is more. It keeps the characters fresh. If you have them in too many episodes, it could result in some shoehorning (see: Castiel in season 5). I’m probably one of the few who thought they put Lucifer in too many episodes. Well maybe that’s just me because I wasn’t really a fan of how they portrayed him. The idea had potential but by mid-season, he annoyed the crap out of me.
I do think we’ll see Meg again, though hopefully in a new, better actress. She started to feel like a recycled character and honestly, when I looked at her I didn’t see Meg. Why can’t they use Nikki? Didn’t her other show get cancelled?
I have always loved the little goes a long way method Supernatural uses to keep us guessing. The things I can’t see always creep me out more then the things I can. The less we see, the less desensitizing occurs. Makes for a really good scare every now and then. And that’s what this Supernatural girl sits on the edge of her seat waiting for on a weekly basis. Well, that along with Jensen, Jared, Misha, Jim…. I could go on and on, and usually do but I will stop now. 🙂
I hope Meg will return. She should be in a new body though. The old one was last seen as an angel crosswalk, through a ring of Holy fire. But I think, in all fairness, Rachel Miner had pretty big shoes to fill. I loved Nikki’s portrayal of Meg, and it was pretty hard for me to give Rachel a chance. Later I had seen her in an episode of “Cold Case”, not something I usually watch, but I saw her as I was channel surfing and watched. She really wasn’t that bad. It can’t be easy for any actor to try to fill such big shoes. Just try to imagine the uproar if they tried to cast someone else as Castiel in season 6. I would get very, very ugly.
Nikki’s other show is “Dark Blue”. It’s a summer series, runs 10 episodes and the season 2 debute is August 4th on TNT. Tricia Helfer (Molly from Roadkill) will be joining that cast as well. Thanks to Wikipedia for the info…
Thanks for the article elle2. I agree with the less is more with the big baddies & with visuals-Give me one of those pricelss expressions from Jared or Jensen & a sound effect or musical score & my imagination will take it from there.
I wouldn’t be surprised to see Meg back in Season 6 & she’ll probably be more than a little “upset” with the boys. I liked both Nikki & Rachel. (One little side note-John Winchester did threaten to kill Meg back in “Salvation”-maybe he should come back & carry out that threat.)
“Screaming makes me mad.”
I couldn’t agree more with your assessment, elle2. What isn’t seen is often scarier (at least as far as television goes, not sure I’d be real thrilled to have an Alien or Freddy Krueger standing in front of me) because what the mind churns up is often more frightening than what’s on celluloid. Imagine of the CSM was in every episode of the X-Files. Awful. Always leave ’em wanting more.
Evelyn, Mysticpeach, boobula, Smokencharlie and Randal,
Thanks for all the comments. I see many of us are thinking ‘demon/Meg’ will return. I really, really, really wish they could find a way for Nikki to return although Rachel didn’t horribly bother me but Nikki set the tone and it is very difficult to repeat, Mitch was the exception (well and technically so was Fred Lane as JDM truly set the tone of yellow eyes first…technically)
Glad everyone is excited for Seaon 6 and whatever slow builds and scary things they hide in the shadows for us.
🙂
Hi Elle2
I’m a little late to the party, but just wanted to say that I agree with you and everyone here.
I think seeing less adds to the mystery and to the anticipation of when/what will happen next when you see them again.