Nate’s Episode Review – Supernatural 15.13 “Destiny’s Child”
Well, I knew who wrote this episode without even paying attention to the credits.
Final Score:
Of course, how can we expect the writers to maintain continuity when the background of Sister Jo was in an episode that was written…
By the same writers.
Now I know why the lowest possible grade in schools is an ‘F’ and not an ‘E.’
As I was working on this I just realized I totally left out my complaint about the Big Empty. Way back when it was first revealed, I said in my episode review:
Of course, now we have the same problem all over again of how do we have tension with anybody possibly dying when we know they could still come back?
Well now we’re having that problem of killing tension in the show with the Big Empty being slowly reduced to another zip code the characters can visit on a whim rather than a mysterious, other-worldly realm that is supposed to inspire trembling and awe. See how Heaven and Hell are in the show now for an example. Every time the heroes waltz in and out of a place, it reduces that location’s tension and danger.
Finally, I want to stress that the use of dramatic irony in a story really depends on continuity. To use a silly example, suppose there was a scene where Sam orders a greasy hamburger. Now if the show has continuity, the audience suspects something is amiss because the character of Sam normally prefers to eat healthy. The disconnect between what is happening and what we know from the show’s history creates dramatic irony.
Now suppose nothing ever comes of it. Turns out Sam just ate a greasy hamburger because the writers just didn’t think about Sam’s eating habits. Well now the writers have betrayed the audiences’ trust. In the future if we see Sam eating a greasy hamburger, we’ll just assume the writers didn’t care that time – even if THAT episode, the writers intended it for dramatic irony. Betray the audience enough times, and they resort out of habit to assuming the writers are lazy. THEN when the writers want to use dramatic irony or try to create tension in a scene, they’ll fail because the audience will just assume it’s another mistake on their part.
It’s just like the boy who cried wolf. If the storyteller keeps telling the audience the wolf is a lie, then the audience won’t ever believe the storyteller when he tries to reveal that the wolf is real. This doesn’t mean continuity has to be perfect – we’re all mortal and mistakes will happen once in awhile. But at least try. At least make an effort. I can forgive a minor contradiction in some random detail as long as the broader story and characters themselves maintain consistency.
Otherwise if you don’t care about your story… why should I?
Thanks to Raloria for her screencaps.
You can check out my previous article and video reviews here. Feel free to add your thoughts on my Review below!
Nate Winchester is an aspiring author, blogger, and strangely the only male writer for The Winchester Family Business.
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