There have been a lot less Sparkly Balloons! moments since the summer hiatus between seasons three and four. Jared doesn't race around set with a glue gun sticking plastic mini-action figures to people's hats, anymore. Our boy's growing up.

And fewer pictures of him in pig tails. [link]

Personality swap?

I bet this fic is out there somewhere.

Personality swap?

You know, I really think so, in part and in public, at least. It seems when JP went through his bad period and JA moved in "for moral support"--those aren't snarky air quotes, that's an actual quote--JP's dimming down of the clownish behavior sort of made room, or created enough of a vacuum, that JA's playful side got let out to play. I think as friends and as actors that they perform when the other's feeling withdrawn to draw the spotlight, a bit. Would professionally symbiotic be an apt term for behavior I may be totally imagining?

I think they just rubbed off on each other. And I actually don't mean porn.

Two things about this bit of meta on the amulet. This statement:

Did Sam retrieve the amulet? Fandom of course is generally convinced he has (and possibly melted it down into commitment rings, or commitment cock rings as one fan suggested).

And the fact that I clicked on the link to learn more about Chekov's gun, only to some mortification as I learned the Chekov in question was Anton, not Pavel.

You know what else? SHOW Today!!!

I could only briefly skim that article on my phone, but dare she suggest it might be a good thing that he shuck the Samulet? No!

Uh, there's no way I'm getting perspective on that any time soon.

Man, I wonder what it must be like to have that sort of power, to convulse fandom like that. "And now I shall make them weep. Dabb? Loflin? Throw away the amulet. And we won't mention it next week..."

I honestly believe Kripke's got a deeper mean streak than Joss. And that's saying something.

Now into season two of Leverage and have forgiven Aldis Hodge for killing Sam on Supernatural.

xpost with Cable Drama

I've been trying to articulate the differences in pain caused by Whedon and Kripke. It's hard. I think Joss is trying to say more, and thinks he's aiming higher (I'm not judging here, but I think he has lofty goals) and mostly I think Mr. Kripke is just a bastard. He's not trying to teach his audience the meaning of the fragility of life or anything like that. He's just trying to make them cry and cry and cry.

But he hits that spot anyway, so in the end I'm not sure his goal matters. I think Joss's goals were often so clear cut you could see them coming from a mile away, once you figured out how he operated. And that's not a bad thing, since it probably saved me from actually ripping my hair out in shock and misery, but.

I think mostly Kripke has a lot to be thankful in his writing staff. Given his original idea for this series, the way they've explored family and brotherhood and loyalty and heroes and human fear and desire has dug a lot deeper than he might have expected.