I had really low expectations for this week’s episode Swap Meat by Julie Siege, because once again it is based on a pretty whimsical premise - a bodyswap in this case - and I really had enough of those in S5 to last me a lifetime. Unfortunately the episode didn’t do much to refute my expectations. Mind you, this episode would probably have worked slightly better for me in a different spot in the timeline this season, but still, there were too many problems with it for me to ignore, even under better circumstances. I can see what the writers tried to show here, in regard to the state of the brothers’ relationship – namely how damaged it really is – but it didn’t quite work for me. So, be warned, this 'review' has a slightly different format than usual and is more like one long list of why this episode missed the mark by a mile wide for me. I didn’t want to analyse this episode too deeply, because while I didn’t hate it, I also didn’t want to risk to resent this episode more than I already do.

( One leatherjacket. One Sasquatch. )

Sam, Interrupted by Andrew Dabb and Daniel Loflin is a solid standalone episode that finally took some time to explore Sam and Dean’s current mindset. It may not move their character arcs forward quite as much as I hoped for, but it still shows us some interesting new angles to the brothers’ internal struggles, which was urgently needed in general, but especially after the personal and 'professional' blow they had to take in Abandon All Hope. While I had issues with a couple of minor scenes, overall I enjoyed it a lot. I just hope that from here on the writers give us a more steady focus on Sam and Dean. I don’t think I could stand another extended period with a lack of character development this season.

( You build your own hell. )

I’m sorry that this review comes with a two months delay, I didn’t intend to put if off for so long, but unfortunately my massive disappointment with how the brothers' story was handled in the episodes between The End and Abandon All Hope completely drained my enthusiasm to write about the show during the hiatus. I’m kinda stuck in a headspace where I wonder why I bother to put so much effort into my reviews, when it seems that the writers stopped to make an effort with the characters that motivate me to write these reviews in the first place. Even the fact that we were sent into the hiatus with the excellent Abandon All Hope couldn’t raise my low spirits. Now, with the second half of S5 upon us, I forced myself to get on with it, so I don’t fall behind with my reviews. I mostly focus on some of the core emotional scenes that I found especially meaningful and don’t dwell much on the mytharc implications of the episode. I might work it over one day, when I found my motivation back

( If we’re gonna do this, we’re gonna do it together! )

Here comes the next (very) belated Christmas present and this time the wallpaper is based on a prompt from bowtrunckle. If I proceed in this snail pace, I’ll have the last request finished in, uhm, March or so!

( Free Spirit )

With the holidays over, I now have time to slowly, but surely, work on my Christmas request list, the imperative word being 'slowly'. *g* At least I developed ideas for most of the requests y’all threw at me, so I guess that’s a good sign, although of course that’s no guarantee that it’ll work out. I hope you all don’t mind that I won’t work on the requests in chronological order, I just pick the prompt that my muse points at, I have no real say in the matter.

Anyway, the wallpaper today is for chiiyo86. I hope you like it, hon! :)

( Day & Night )

HAPPY BIRTHDAY, NIKKI!!

Hey sweetie! *hugs* I really hope you have a fantastic birthday and Mike showers you with kisses, presents and cake, as you deserve. I know you had a really stressful year, so I hope the upcoming one will be better and gives you more opportunity to do the things you love. :)

( Unwrap Me! )

So, before I head home to spend the holidays with my family, I wanted to wish all the wonderful people on my flist a MERRY CHRISTMAS and a HAPPY NEW YEAR! Thank you for the enthusiastic feedback on my fanart, as well as for the interesting discussions about Supernatural. I am grateful for the friends I found here over the years. ♥ I hope you all have a peaceful holiday with your family and friends!

So, I finished the first prompt from my 'make a request' present for my flist: This is for you, shawn_anne! I pushed this prompt up - although the deadline for the requests is still open - because she asked for a very christmassy wallpaper, and I thought it would be nice to actually deliver it in time for Christmas, instead of weeks after. :)

( A Very Sam and Dean Christmas )

It’s exactly one week until Christmas Eve, and I thought I’d do something special for my friends-list this year. As a little thank you for making my time on LJ so enjoyable - either by commenting on my art or by engaging me in thinky Supernatural discussions over my reviews - I want to offer you my services as a fanartist/writer for a request of your choosing. I've been thinking about this for a while now, but I always hesitated to actually offer it, not least because I cannot guarantee that a request will spark a creative response in me, but I thought what the heck, just give it a try, make it a Christmas present to your friends and see what happens. Sooooo ....

Hereby I proclaim the next seven days 'Make A Request' week!

IMPORTANT: This is open to everyone on my flist who commented at least once in my journal, and that includes the few regular commenters who don’t have a livejournal account as well. Simply comment on this post with your request, it will be open 'til the 24th of December! There are two options:

1. You can request a wallpaper (max. size 1280x800). You can give me a prompt as simple as 'make me something from scene/episode xy', but you can also ask for a complex and detailed concept you’ve always wanted to see on canvas. I am also open to icon requests, so if you want to have a batch of icons from a specific episode or with a specific theme, I will do that as well.
   
   
2. I know that some people on my flist come here for my reviews/metas, so I decided that you can also ask for a meta on a topic of your choosing or request a specific review for one of the S1 episodes, I didn’t manage to do yet.

My only requirements for either option are: It has to be Supernatural related, and I will not accept slash and/or non-canon ship prompts.

I will start working on your prompts after the Christmas holidays, but please bear in mind that I am not the fastest fanartist/writer on the planet and real life can always be an obstacle, so it might take a while until I managed to work my way through the requests. :)

MERRY CHRISTMAS, FLIST! ♥ ♥

The other day I had a chat about Monster Movie in which, sadly, everyone I talked to confessed their profound dislike of the episode. Me, I adore the episode to bits and after the depressing discussion I felt the urge to rewatch the episode, just to fall in love with it all over again. So, I made some icons. They are pretty simple, mostly I just tried to play with different croppings. Enjoy! :)

Teaser

( black and white )

I just wanted to say THANK YOU for all the lovely snowflakes (and the comments to go with it) I received these last couple of days. ♥ It kinda compensates me for the lack of real snow around here.

I know I am terribly behind with my review for 'Abandon All Hope', but I was really busy the week after it aired and didn't get around to write it up. I am confident though that I find the time to do it before Christmas and maybe I even find the inspiration to make some art to go with it. ;)

I knew about the premise for The Real Ghostbusters for quite a while and given my fierce dislike for the fandom jokes in the show, I dreaded the episode like no other. In the end, I didn’t loathe it quite as much as I thought I would – the brothers’ characterisation felt natural and their interaction had their old smoothness, the ghost case was genuinely creepy, some of the side characters were enjoyable - but it was still pretty self-indulgent, heavy-handed and (mostly) pointless storytelling. Additionally, the episode is adversely affected by the fact that it tops off a run of episodes that not only sorely lack in plot and character development, but also suffer from a tonal whiplash at the most inopportune time of the season. Overall, Eric Kripke and Nancy Weiner wrote a script that, on its own, would have been harmless at best, but combined with he episodes that preceded it, it further drags down the already struggling season for me.

( I think that the Dean and Sam story sucks! )

For the last two episodes I had pretty high expectations, and I found myself sorely disappointed. For Changing Channels, on the other hand, I had very low expectations, due to its silly premise, and found myself pleasantly surprised at how much I enjoyed it. Go figure! Jeremy Carver’s characterisation for Sam and Dean was, for the most part, enjoyable and felt more natural to me than in the past episodes, which was an immense relief. Additionally, I found some of the depicted TV show parodies in the episode genuinely funny and even meaningful in places, and although I also cringed at quite a lot of the 'jokes', there was enough good in the episode to outweigh the bad for me, not least because the episode managed to make a strong turn at the end and tied it into the mythology.

( It’s about two brothers that loved each other and betrayed each other. )

So, a challenge over at Buffyforums motivated me to try my hands at one of my more conceptual wallpaper ideas and the last couple of days I worked on it like crazy. *g* I really need to catch up on some episodic art for the latest episodes though, there's a couple of scenes that I'd like to pin on canvas if possible. So much to do and so little time, life clearly has the wrong priorities. ;)

( haunted & best friends )

On a superficial level I enjoyed The Curious Case Of Dean Winchester by Sera Gamble – the humour was more entertaining than in the last episode and the characters weren’t quite as silly – but unfortunately superficial was also (almost) all this episode was. If I was a casual viewer of Supernatural I’d probably be amused and move on, but as it is, I take this show and its characters very serious, and I can’t help but feel disappointed about the waste of potential in this episode, plot-wise as well as character-wise, which seems to be exemplary for the general direction of the show lately.

( No matter what shape you’re in, bottom line is, you’re family. )