It's an example of what I was saying about writing episodic TV -- it's not a novel. It's not a self-contained movie. You don't have the luxury of looking at the finished season and saying, "You know what, this isn't really going where we wanted it to, so let's scrap it."
You're writing as you go, and you have to scripts ready to shoot, so at some point, the question of "Is this character a good idea?" becomes moot, and you just have to finish a script and film it. (Kristen could say way more about this than I can, since I'm doing a lot of assuming.)
Amy looked to me like a personal character conflict for the boys, since they didn't have anything else driving them apart this season -- no deal, no Ruby, no pit to throw themselves into, no soullessness. Maybe it was because the Big Bad was itself far less personal than usual, until Dick killed Bobby.
Either way, for me it was a minor misstep (and I didn't dislike the character or the storyline the way you did), but the fact that it didn't have a lasting impact on the boys or the plot is a *good* thing.
the fact that it didn't have a lasting impact on the boys or the plot is a *good* thing
I'll agree on that point, if only because it meant Amy's ghost was
gone.
And, yeah, not every beat and moment and character needs to be Signficant and have Meaning. But even as a minor arc, it bugged.
I don't know the writer process, I don't know how much time they have to break a good episode, let alone know how it fits within a season. In my brain I think at least they say "this is the season arc vagueries, we want to achieve these minor stepping stones/strokes/beats, these particular episodes achieve that". But I'm sure that's an ideal world that doesn't exist.
Still, that doesn't take away from concept that such a minor mistep took up such a huge chunk of time.
Given that they're in purgatory, it's not inconceivable that she's show up. Which would not be relevant to the finale, but might be to early next season.
Not saying "will" or "should", mind.
Now you're just trying to upset me.
I guess I don't see why you think it was such a big chunk of the season, Julie. It was one episode, with echoes for maybe two more? Three? Even then, it was usually an aside, or a single conversation, at least the way I remember it. It just didn't have the same impact for me, plus I like Jewel Staite, and I loved seeing young!Sam hunting on his own (and flirting up a girl on his own).
I want to say, without checking, that it was more like five episodes that we got Amy in the previouslies, and that she was a phantom lingering over many various Sam/Dean interactions, even if the scene itself was once and brief, I was stil bookended betwen the Then and the Amy!scene-of-the-week. I'd check but I don't have all the episodes on my iTunes. But I can't begin to verify that.
And I liked wee!Sam with wee!Amy. It's everything after that bugged. Wee!Amy rocked socks.
Julie, I'm like Loki that way.
At least Dean put an end to that foolishness with his lack of whining about Sam putting down his freaky Mayfly daughter.
I suspect we're far more likely to see Jewel again than Amber Benson, Emmanuelle Vaugier, or Sterling K. Brown.
