Not that I know anything about writing for teevee, but if I was worried about Cas being too powerful, and wanted to keep the character around because of popularity, I'd turn that boy human stat.

I prefer what they're doing, keeping Cas an otherworldly presence that's (theoretically) as powerful as ever, but so damaged/unstable that there's a good justification for him not being the show's deus ex machina.

I don't know what Kripke's plan was, if it succeeded, or if that plan went off the rails. All I know about roots is what I saw, which was boogeymen and ghost and eventually demons. Angels were a brand new thing (in actuality, not fake angels) starting season four. We're in season eight. That is not a root, creator's intentions or not. And I'm vehemently going with Or Not. Because unless the creators intentions show on the screen, it's just a lonely fantasy in a dark room for that creator. Intentions aren't doing or being.

And for me, if you say "roots", season 2 doesn't count. Season one is for the roots to grow, season 2 is for the plant to creep (all those new branches and leaves), and third to leap (holy crud! branches upon branches!). If the roots haven't anchored into the soil by the second season, the plant is dead, even if it doesn't know it yet. Unless it's that dogwood that hasn't flowered in five years and you have to beat it with a shovel and threaten it with death before it says "Fuck! I'm going to die! Let's make baybees!".

Um...

I don't look at it the same way, but I guess my question is, do you care that Cas is still a character? Or Naomi? I'm not sure if you're irritated because you don't see angels as part of the roots of the show, or because you don't like them.

I lurves the angels, but I don't see them, as a manifistation halfway through the series thus far, as being "roots".

I'm only irritated at the semantics, not what is canon throughout all the seasons.

Brothers, urban legends, Yellow Eyes, that I see as "roots".

At least as far as I use the metaphor, the roots are the underpinnings that sustain the story--like foundations, but with the extra oomph of nourishment.

So it doesn't, to me, have to be the beginning. But it is one of the core parts of the mythos, and developing the core mythos took four seasons. I don't think there's any virtue or inherent benefit to the narrative to consider only S1 as the basis on which everything else is built--in fact, the scattered urban legends of different cultures lacks a coherency which I think a show definitely needs by season 8. Urban legends don't hold together, and Yellow Eyes didn't even have a good plan in season 1.

So I'm not mad because that's what they're returning to, and I'm not mad because that's not what "roots" mean--if you take the term literally, you do have roots younger than visible parts of the plant-as the plant grows bigger, it needs more roots to sustain it.

I'd turn that boy human stat.

I hope they don't do that before the end of the series. I don't think he's interesting enough a recurring character for that. What's he going to do? Hang out with Garth? Do the chores at the Batcave? An angel with other business, or problems that angels can't solve works better for me than adding another human to the story. The idea that the supernatural isn't just what they fight, but it's an integral enough part of the world that it's on their side again I find valuable to the richness of the stories. And uses Misha better too.

I just stumbled across some really well drawn genderbent TFW (http://gingerhaole.tumblr.com/tagged/genderbend), but I realise I don't understand why Samantha and Deanna are usually both tomboys. Why doesn't either of their masculinity get transformed to femininity? I can see narrative reasons for Deanna to be boyish, but why isn't Samantha wearing a blouse instead of a flannel shirt? You can still gank ghosts in a blouse.

Canonically, though, why would Sam not hug Cas? Is Cas so other that he's unhuggable, even when Sam feels he's responsible for saving him from the Cage (he did know that then, right?)?

That's not very nice.

Are we talking about pre-"Apointment in Samarra" or post-? Before I can see Sam just not bothering, after I wouldn't think he'd regard Cas as too other for friendly affection. Though being in a snit over a recent reminder that he likes Dean better strikes me as entirely plausible.

oh, boys!

Christian Campbell's eyes show so little white, every time the camera pans to him I think momentarily that he's possessed.