the corner of bitter and sweet

So I've spent the better part of this summer growing increasingly bitter about S8 and fandom and what the fuck S8 has done to all of my favorite genres (ROOOAAAAARRRRRRRRRR) and did I mention increasingly fucking bitter? XP And then waffling about posting about my bitterness because I didn't want to wallow in it and in any case seemed sort of unprofessional (not for my personal LJ, I mean, but for the sake of other roles I play in fandom outside of this journal), but then just WALLOWING ALONE ANYWAY.

Anyway, I'm very ready for S9 by this point, so that I'll have new toys to work with. Because I really don't have any burning vitriol for S8 itself; I had fun watching it. I really adored a lot of it. (Just...not the lot that this summer paid any attention to, apparently. XD)

I just don't particularly appreciate what it has done to the ~winds of fandom--and I do mean this very selfishly. I do not appreciate it! Not one whit! Though, hm. I do sprout negative feelings toward S8 when too many people assert that it was so much better than S6/7. The Sera!stan in me cannot abide, and then feels compelled to assert, without room for any argument whatsoever, that S6 and (the first half of) S7 were fantastic and S5/6 are my favorite of all the everythings.

I'm kidding, of course, about the assertion and the inarguable truth of this statement. Carry on, carry on, S8!stans! (But S6. *_________* <3)

tl;dr

WHAT I MEAN TO SAY IS:

This video by volta1228 is stunning, go watch it. It's a teaser for Dean/Purgatory, and it's 38 seconds of your day, and the typography is wonderful and everything is wonderful and it makes all my bitterness melt away. And I say this as someone who spent most of the S7/8 Hellatus being bitter about how untenable I found the idea of Purgatory and 7x23.

And also, these deleted scenes from S8. The first one is, I feel, typical of SPN deleted scenes--like, whatever. But it is indeed Dean talking, if you go in for that sort of thing.

The second one is from 8x23, and I like it very very very very very very much.

[spoilers for 8x23]Sam intends to kill Crowley after he's been purified--that is, turned human. Because Crowley is Crowley is Crowley. There is no redemption arc, there is no forgiveness. There's a gun, and a bullet with a target, and that's that. I mention 5x20 because Sam killing Brady in that back alley (and Dean watching) is one of the most chilling, utterly forgotten moments in SPN history, and something I would love to see interrogated further wrt Sam. The both of them, really, but in this instance, Sam.

Thematically powerful, it shifts the outlook of the entire episode considerably. So I hope they cut it for time, and not because they decided not to take that route. If they don't... jesus, Carver, grow a pair. If you deprive me of my subtle progression from 5x20, I'll--!

Write fic? XP Which is not much of a threat to make to something that thrives on fannish energy, but I'm at a distinct disadvantage when it comes to SPN, so that's the best I've got, here!

It's both impressive and embarrassing how un-bitter I am right now, as a result of this delectable wine/cheese fanvid/deleted scene pairing. Apparently all I need to completely alter my entire worldview for an evening is 38 seconds of fanwork and a couple scraps from the cutting room floor. (See, I'm not hard to please, Carver! SO PLEASE ME.)

And there's like, a new spn_summergen fic all ready for me and everything! Life is good.