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18 April 2008 @ 01:48 pm

I like Bela.

Here’s the thing. I like Bela.

I know that makes me a rare commodity in SPN fandom, but I like her character. I like the intrigue, I like the fact that she epitomises the shades of grey that has been built into the show. I like the snark. I like that she's a bitch who isn't rolling over when the boys say so. I like the fact that she's got some possible backstory and some potential future.

The accent doesn't bother me as much as it bothers others, to be honest I came up through the Buffyverse fandom and god love her, but Juliet Landau does not do cockney well. Bela at least sounds like there are actual words coming out of her mouth when she speaks as opposed to garbled nonsense.

I like Bela.

Yes, it may be my own personal fanon version that I like, it may be my optimistic belief that she is just as broken as the boys are when you get under the surface, it may be that I'm being blinded.

But I like Bela.

If you don't like her, then that's fine, I get that, and I get that I'm not likely to change your mind at all.

But if you want to see my fanon Bela? do not go gentle is quite possibly my favourite thing I have ever written, and Mind Games* was just fun. (eta and there's also Sleeping Soul which has a Bela focus but isn't really about her. I write more Bela than I thought! end edit)

I think she's broken, I think she's running from something far darker than any one realises. I think she stole the Colt for her own purposes and I think that those purposes are nothing to do with pissing off the boys or making money. I think she needs it. I also think the reason she needs it is one which the boys would be more than willing to help her with if she could but ask them.

I don't think she can ask.

I think she's shattered under a glossy surface, and I think we're going to see her crack wide open.

I think she might just be the SPN equivalent of the 'little girl lost' we saw in a Slayer called Faith.

And I can't wait to meet Lauren Cohan at Asylum.

* and this was actually a means of me pimping my new fic – Mind Games. Bela, het, R rated.

Tags: fic: spn, oooo - meta!, supernatural

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bitterbird.livejournal.com on April 18th, 2008 01:01 pm (UTC)

I like your view of Bela. I hope thats true. I know Eric must have more for her than we know, I hope it unravels soon.
And Im sure Lauren will be lovely, I hope people are not mean to her because they dont like Bela

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whiskyinmind.livejournal.com on April 18th, 2008 01:06 pm (UTC)

I really hope Eric doesn't bow to the will of the more vocal people who claim Bela has ruined the show. She has such potential to tell an interesting story and it would be a real shame if that was lost because the writers started listening to fandom.

I'm also hoping that Lauren manages to convince people to take a fresh look at Bela, much in the way that Alona did for Jo last year. The number of people I know who loathed Jo until they saw Alona, went back and rewatched and realised they were having a knee-jerk reaction? Almost funny really!

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bitterbird.livejournal.com on April 18th, 2008 01:14 pm (UTC)

yeah I know what you mean. It would be great if she can do that. And I reckon she could, Alona was such a doll people couldnt not like her, Lauren seems like she would be nice..I really hope it will be well for her
I always feel bad for girls on our show

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whiskyinmind.livejournal.com on April 18th, 2008 01:17 pm (UTC)

She comes across really well in the few interviews I've seen with her, so here's hoping!

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elle-dritch.livejournal.com on April 18th, 2008 01:02 pm (UTC)

I also like Bela. I like a woman who disregards all the Armageddon and doom that everyone in Supernatural foretells, and pretty much says, "Nah, fuck it. Whatever happens, there's always CAPITALISM!" I like that she makes her own way in the world, and that she hasn't nailed her colours to the mast for all the world to see. I like that she keeps things to herself, and takes chances, and makes deals while she's staring down the barrel of a gun.

Do I like her for putting the Winchester boys in danger? No. Maybe. Kinda? Because I am shallow, and if she hadn't sold them out to the Feds I might not have seen them chained together again. Also I think there is a great deal more to her stealing the Colt than we know. It seems to me that more and more Sam is being herded towards a situation where he will go to Hell/accept his demonic destiny in order to either save or be with Dean. And if the Winchesters turn, then they can't be trusted to hold onto the Colt.

Which, if I remember rightly, and God, I'm sorry for the tl;dr, doesn't work properly against demons at the moment anyway. I may be wrong here. My memory is kind of screwed up due to excessive amounts of tea and cold meds. So. In conclusion, Bela: Yaaaay! And also possibly Saviour of the Universe. (Like Flash Gordon, in a way.)

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whiskyinmind.livejournal.com on April 18th, 2008 01:09 pm (UTC)

I like a woman who disregards all the Armageddon and doom that everyone in Supernatural foretells, and pretty much says, "Nah, fuck it. Whatever happens, there's always CAPITALISM!" *snorts*

Good call!

Also, it is very true that if weren't for her we wouldn't have seen the boys in chains. I do think she gave the boys a little more credit than they perhaps deserved there - I think she underestimated Henrikson (or however you spell it!) and thought the boys could get out of the situation more easily than they in fact did.

You also make a very good point about getting the Colt away from the boys if there's a chance they will be turned. I hadn't even considered it that way before. Hmmm, now I'm gonna be stuck with deep thoughts all day!

Yay Bela! (she'll save every one of us... *grins*)

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elle-dritch.livejournal.com on April 18th, 2008 01:23 pm (UTC)

Of course, the best thing about my Bela=Flash Gordon analogy is that, in my head, Kripke casts Brian Blessed in Supernatural. I don't even care as what, just so long as he and his beard appear, and are all shouty: "DEMOOOOONS! I CAST YOU OUT! NEVER RETURN, OR I SHALL RECOUNT TO YOU ALL THE TIME WHEN I WAS IN A REP PRODUCTION OF HEDDA GABLER WITH DEAR OLD DICKIE BRIERS! IT'S A VERY FUNNY STORY INDEED! ETC, ETC!"

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whiskyinmind.livejournal.com on April 18th, 2008 01:25 pm (UTC)

We should start a campaign. Because that? Would rock.

(I also want James Cosmo in there as an old buddy of Bobby's, just 'cause Cosmo is made of win and used to run a health food shop in the town I went to school in before it was 'cool' to be green...)

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damerel.livejournal.com on April 18th, 2008 01:11 pm (UTC)

I like your vision of Bela, and I don't disagree with it. I won't go quite so far as to say I agree with it yet, because I don't quite trust TPTB on character development for female characters.

I really don't understand why the accent appears to be a problem for so many people. At least she's talking proper. *g*

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whiskyinmind.livejournal.com on April 18th, 2008 01:16 pm (UTC)

I'm pinning a lot of hope that the writers don't back down from developing her character as a result of the negative reaction. Kripke's more or less acknowledged that's why Jo got written out fairly quickly in season two, and it would be simple at this point to have Bela just be demonised (not literally, 'cause in this show you never know!) and written off as a 'black hat'.

I wonder about the accent, if it's because she's the sole 'English' accent in a group of Americans - that always sounds strange and not quite right anyway, coupled with Lauren's joint citizenship thing, people might be reading more into that than is actually tehre?

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wenchpixie on April 18th, 2008 02:39 pm (UTC)

You know what I think about Bela, I think they've sold her down the river a bit already in the writer's room and there's a fair chance that it's her story we've lost with the forshortened season, but I am willing to wait and see.

I enjoy the boys having a human enemy; and with Hendrickson gone she's the only enemy they have that won't just immediately kill or be killed which is good for a story dynamic. Her accent is icky, but it's not like it's not something we end up with all the time, I fanon her to being canadian and I'm all good :).

So, yeah, I don't like Bela, but I quite enjoy her badness, and I really like Lauren's protrayal, I'm looking forward to meeting her very much.

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whiskyinmind.livejournal.com on April 18th, 2008 02:51 pm (UTC)

*snugs*

I know, and the discussions we've have about Bela have been really interesting to me. I like the shares of grey thing, the fact that you identify her immediately as enemy is interesting to me - she's not an ally, and yes she's done a shitty thing in stealing the colt and putting the Feds on their tail again, but is she really their enemy?

Like Ive said above, I really hope we do get to see her developed more. I don't know if we'll get it, given fandom's overwhelming reaction to her, but I hope we do. (And I just found more places to x-post - cheers!)

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wenchpixie on April 18th, 2008 03:03 pm (UTC)

She Shot Sammy! Shooting Sammy makes you an enemy - bad guy and enemy aren't neccessarily the same thing though. Hendrickson (who I thought was pretty awesome) fitted in there too, until half way through Jus in Bello.

Yeah, there's a time where fan service gets to be too much, really - and where really they'd have been better without releasing the spoilers over the summer (fandom wouldn't have gone as mental over the eps if they'd not thought the girls were coming in as other leads. They'd have watched and reacted more naturally).

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whiskyinmind.livejournal.com on April 18th, 2008 03:13 pm (UTC)

It was only a flesh wound "Please, I can aim." - although it was a really shitty thing to do. I like to think that she's more trying to illustrate that it's not all about them and there are some things that she just has to do in order to get by.

Also, there is the fact that Dean broke into her sanctum earlier in that episode, which could have rattled her more than she was letting on, resulting in her causing harm to Sam (since she couldn't hurt Dean at that point). Not that I'm saying she was right to shoot Sam because she really wasn't, just that there are other ways of seeing it.

*g*

yes - a thousand times yes. Fandom exploded when two girls were announced as regulars because of course they were going to be the love interests that fandom doesn't want (for whatever reason). Knee-jerk insta-reaction meant that they were going to be hated no matter what. Whereas if we'd first seen Ruby as a freaky-ass fighter with an odd knife and Bela as a thief? We'd have been prepared for their stories.

*sporks spoilers*

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http://users.livejournal.com/amy_star_/ on April 20th, 2008 08:19 am (UTC)

I will have you know I sound nothing like Bela. *snorts*
And if I'm trying to sound British, I aspire to sound more like Juliet-Landau-as-Drusilla, because if you're gonna do it badly, do it ALL THE WAY.

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wenchpixie on April 20th, 2008 10:29 pm (UTC)

*snorts*

Fair enough, and well, yes, if you're going to do it, do it properly :D

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apgeeksout.livejournal.com on April 18th, 2008 02:46 pm (UTC)

I ♥ Bela! *bookmarks fic for later devouring*

Have from the first time she got one over on our boys & more every time we've seen her since. I like that she's snarky & a little bit mean. I like that she doesn't appreciate Sam & Dean for the good men that they are. I like that she scoffs at hunting & makes wild generalizations about the people who do it. I love that she has her own motivations & that they don't really have anything to do with what motivates the boys or the demons or anyone else in Show's universe.

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whiskyinmind.livejournal.com on April 18th, 2008 02:54 pm (UTC)

Exactly! I love the way she treats the things the boys take so seriously as something to be mocked, whilst at the same time recognising the dangers.

She doesn't elevate the boys (or other Hunters) to some quasi-god like role, they're just one aspect of the world and she has another.

yay! Someone else who likes Bela!

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apgeeksout.livejournal.com on April 18th, 2008 03:04 pm (UTC)

I have a few other f'listees who like her, too, or at the very least don't hate her. I have a suspicion that we're not so much overwhelmingly outnumbered as outvolumed. I will be so sad if Bela ends up on the slag heap because TWOP, et. al. don't approve.

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whiskyinmind.livejournal.com on April 18th, 2008 03:14 pm (UTC)

It seems that there are more Bela fen out there than I would have thought, so maybe posts like this will help counter-balance the haters?

</inflated sense of self-importance>

*grins*

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apgeeksout.livejournal.com on April 18th, 2008 03:40 pm (UTC)

:) I'd suggest we make a meme out of it, but something tells me that'd just make the haters get louder & more organized & Bob knows fandom is wanky enough without any help.

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whiskyinmind.livejournal.com on April 18th, 2008 03:46 pm (UTC)

God yes, the last thing this fandom needs is another outing on f_w or somesuch!

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legoline.livejournal.com on April 18th, 2008 03:03 pm (UTC)

Honestly, I was so excited about the concept of Bela. I think she could have been such an awesome character, and it really hurts me to see such great potential go to waste, but the writers screwed up completely. :-/

I don't read Bela fic but I guess your fanon Bela is the kind of character I was hoping for us that never got delivered.

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whiskyinmind.livejournal.com on April 18th, 2008 03:08 pm (UTC)

Hee - I know the feeling. I'm disappointed that there hasn't been more development of her character, but I'm still holding out hope that it will come.

And if it doesn't? That's what fanfic's for, right?

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legoline.livejournal.com on April 18th, 2008 03:20 pm (UTC)

The beauty about SPN was that you didn't need the fanfic because it was all on the show.

I honestly think Bela could have been awesome if they'd toned her down a bit from the beginning. You know, let her be scared once in a while, get conned by the boys for once. Give her some damn flaws, and don't let her get away with everything. Part of why Bad Day At Black Rock works so well for me because Dean is just as smart as Bela is, and they play cat and mouse and in the end, they're even.

I think if the boys and Bela were portrayed more as equals when it comes to wit and flaws, she would have worked far better.

Sadly I think the character is too far gone to tone her down now...

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whiskyinmind.livejournal.com on April 18th, 2008 03:26 pm (UTC)

See I think the flaws are there in the way Lauren plays her. To me Bela isn't always in charge, she definitely doesn't come across to me as 'better' than the boys. She's good at what she does, and what she does is rip people off. Because we're seeing her rip off the boys that hurts - and I'm not in the slightest bit saying she's in the right in anything she's done. But the reactions Lauren puts into her portrayal of the character seem to show to me that she is flawed, deeply.

And she will (as my mum would have said) be getting her comeuppance any day soon. Pride goes before a fall they say, Bela's heading for a massive fall - I'm just still hoping there's something to salvage when she hits the ground.

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legoline.livejournal.com on April 18th, 2008 03:41 pm (UTC)

What bothers me, I guess, is that she isn't good at what she does. If the writers would indeed write her that clever and smart and she would rip off the boys, I could live with that. But they don't. Instead of writing Bela incredibly smart, they write the boys incredibly stupid.

There would have been no way for Bela to steal that sailor's hand from Dean without Dean noticing. The writers obviously knew that, or they would have explained how she did it. The other solution is: Dean's just very stupid. And it happens again. And again. And again throughout the episodes.

I liked Bela best in those few scenes where she actually shows emotions. She didn't bother me so much in Fresh Blood because even though she sold the boys out to Gordon, she was scared enough to help Dean when he threatened her. And even if she stole the Colt from the boys, I would have much preferred if she'd actually also been there because Bobby helped her out once.

I won't argue that Bela is deeply flawed--to end up like that, you have to be. I just wish that the writers would write her more human.

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whiskyinmind.livejournal.com on April 18th, 2008 03:45 pm (UTC)

It's not just with Bela that the boys are being made to look ineffectual though, much as I love Dream a Little Dream... the comment that they make about not knowing what to do without asking Bobby? Since when could they not come up with ideas and plans on their own?

I think it's endemic in the season to be honest, not just in relation to one character.

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legoline.livejournal.com on April 18th, 2008 04:08 pm (UTC)

That's true, I suppose, but I can live with that. Dean admits that Bobby is like a father to him, and I guess it's a bit like the moment you're stuck with a problem you go ask your dad for advice. And in the end, they do come up with a plan of their own. So even if they claim they don't know what to do, in the end they come up with a plan anyway.

Wheras Bela, she just makes them look dumb period. Which is why I don't mind Saffron on "Firefly" that much. They (Saffron and crew) con and trick each other and in the end they're even. I think it's particularly interesting considering that I like "Bad Day At Black Rock" for exactly that reason and how both episodes, "Trash" and "BDABR", were written by the same author.

Edlund wrote Bela quite well, and I liked her introduction. Maybe the other writers are just not up to the challenge of writing her well. I think especially with a character like that the subtleties are very important, and you have to be careful not to overdo it. With the other writers it feels a bit like they think it's enough if they let Bela throw some snark at the boys and steal things from them.

Which is sad because like I said, I like the concept of the character.

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fresleyforever.livejournal.com on April 18th, 2008 03:29 pm (UTC)

Ooooooh great fic you!

♥

Also YAY for Bela! I like Bela too and you gave such excellent reasons why!

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whiskyinmind.livejournal.com on April 18th, 2008 03:32 pm (UTC)

*grins*

That fic has been sitting unfinished for weeks now - I'm so glad to finally get it out there!

Bela has such awesome potential, I really hope they don't abandon any story line they had for her in favour of finishing the season quickly.

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jetpack-monkey.livejournal.com on April 18th, 2008 04:33 pm (UTC)

Question, unrelated: do you know if you're going to the Torchwood con in October? The girl I'm seeing is considering making the trans-Atlantic flight to go and I thought it'd be helpful if I could say "look for Shona" or somesuch.

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whiskyinmind.livejournal.com on April 21st, 2008 03:50 pm (UTC)

Unfortunately not this time around - I'm trying to talk myself out of going to the BSG con in November this year because I've already hit my quota of cons per year...

I think there are a couple of others on my flist who are going though - I'll put out some feelers to see who is!

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annemiek81.livejournal.com on April 18th, 2008 04:53 pm (UTC)

I cant wait to meet her either! Im not crazy about the accent but gosh, its gonna rock having both Katie and Lauren there and I dont care what people say! ha! :)

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glorfinniel.livejournal.com on April 18th, 2008 05:30 pm (UTC)

I like Bela too! I like the fact that there have been hints of what went on in her past - I'm really intrigued! :)

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the sharpest crayon in the chandelier: SPN - wide-eyed Bela

bellatemple on April 18th, 2008 05:38 pm (UTC)

I love the fact that here is this woman on the show who every time she meets up with the Winchesters, she ends up coming out on top. *g*

Also, I agree. I'm very intrigued by her enigmatic nature and her amazing capitalism. I think there's definitely something going on there (which I've touched upon a bit trying to play her in an online RPG . . . my Bela's background involves what I think is probably a sibling (sister, most likely) getting possessed and then summarily dying when a couple of hunters show up to "save" her).

Personally, I have a couple of theories on Bela and why she nabbed the Colt, both character-wise and story structure-wise. I'm trying to work them out for a fic, in fact. . . .

But, yes. There is Bela love. Ruby, now. . . . Her I mostly dislike because I live in fear of her being on the level. Also, some of the actress's early timing on some of her lines seemed off to me.

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blackjedii.livejournal.com on April 18th, 2008 06:07 pm (UTC)

I like Bela too, or at least the idea of Bela.
She was great in Bad Day, and she was swesome in Fresh Blood, simply because she really was freaked out by Gordon and played it cool. And I do think she believed the boys could handle Gordon, because she did seem mildly taken aback when she found out that Gordon had an accomplice. (Two against one? Easy. Two against two? Uh oh.)

I like Lauren Cohen too, if only because she does come across as intelligent in her few interviews. And she is/was a theater actress, which I respect anyway.

*phew* That being said, I can see why Bela isn't working right now. Ironically, I think if it wasn't for Red Sky, I don't think as many people would be upset.

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sorchasilver.livejournal.com on April 18th, 2008 09:40 pm (UTC)

I really like the idea of Bela, I just haven't seen anything on screen to make me like the reality. I don't actually hate her, I just feel frustrated by her character.

I am hoping they can pull something off to change my mind though (but I think that Red Sky really messed up their chances). I do hope it isn't as straightforward as "shattered under a glossy surface", that feels too...easy? Too cheap? Or maybe just too familiar. Part of me really hopes she isn't broken, that there's something else at play. Something that would actually surprise me.

Edited to remove excessive use of the word "really".

Edited 2008-04-18 09:42 pm (UTC)

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dotfic.livejournal.com on April 19th, 2008 12:09 am (UTC)

I'm going to sit down next to this post, and say encouraging things. :D

I like Bela -- I hope they don't go the route of redeeming her, or making her overly sympathetic, too quickly. But I think she's got layers and reasons for what she does. I'm fascinated by how she doesn't fit and yet is a perfectly logical sort of person to exist in the SPN 'verse. Why NOT someone who is in this for mercenary reasons? It's another facet. She has no powers (that we can see), she's smart and resourceful and manipulative and practical and I agree with you on the damage. Watching her interact with Dean and Sam is just plain fun.

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http://users.livejournal.com/amy_star_/ on April 20th, 2008 08:32 am (UTC)

See, I liked the idea of Bela, but I don't like how they've sort of.... shoehorned her in to a few episodes in a way that didn't feel organic to the show. I really didn't like Red Sky at Morning at all - aside from the boys in suits, I really thought it would have been a better story to tell minus the Bela part of hte storyline. I fully admit that I don't like it when people make the boys look bad, but it's getting to the point where they look like complete imbeciles next to her, and that's somewhat irritating. This has nothing to do with Lauren, or a woman of the show OMG, or anything... I want to like Bela, I do, and I have a history of liking antiheroes and mercenary characters... but I just don't like what they've chosen to do with her so far.
Ruby, on the other hand, I get why they use her. It doesn;t feel to me like, "We have this actress under contract, so let's throw her in this episode, too!" if they put her in a small part of an episode like it sometimes does with Bela. She feels more intrinsically a part of the plot (whether or not that's because she's also a demon and Meg set a precedent I can;t say for sure) even though I hate the big "I remember my humanity!" reveal. Um. And I think Katie was truly a miscast, because the only person she showed real chemistry with was Jensen, and I think it's hard *not* to have chemistry with him.
I've seen a spoilery comment from Kripke that I'll keep to myself, but I just hope they do right by the girls at the end of the season. Sometimes I think they need a smack or two, you know?

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