I succumbed

[katikat]

I succumbed and read a part - the non-spoilery part that is! - of the interview with Sera Gamble. And then I went through the comments...

The amount of Bela-hate filled me with utter glee. Yes, I decided to give her another chance but not because I wanted to but because Kripke didn't give me a choice. If I want to keep loving the show, I have to simply become immune to the Bela!virus that's slowly but surely eroding the core of the show.

It just shows that the writers aren't willing to listen to the fans anymore. Fans shout "WE HATE BELA!" Writers respond "Yes, you love to hate her *giggle*". Fans yell "NO, WE DON'T LIKE TO HATE HER, WE JUST HATE HER." Writers answer "Yes, you love to hate her and you don't have to shout, we aren't deaf!" Fans go all head/desk. It seems like the writers have a very selective hearing this season.

I really hope that Gamble or Kripke or someone from the staff will go and read the comments! 95% of them demand/ask/beg them to get rid of the character of Bela and they list the same reasons all over again: she doesn't fit, she dumbs the other characters down, she is a Mary Sue - or Bela Sue as they called her, she is visibly shoe-horned into the episodes etc. Even the male viewers don't like her. As one of them said "She's only good to look at, that's all." Many fans said that they simply tune out when she's on-screen, go and do something else or switch the channels. That should be a real warning sign for the writers but obviously, it isn't.

As one of the fans said: Take her off the show and give her her own series called Relic Hunter. Oh wait, nevermind.

It makes me quite depressed that the writers just aren't willing to listen anymore. It's as if they forgot that they write the show for the fans, not just for themselves *shakes head*

Comments

[lostandalone22.livejournal.com]

You know I don't like either of them. I would get rid of both, and bring back Ellen and Jo instead.

[katikat.livejournal.com]

I hate Bela and if though I'm not a die-hard fand of Ruby, at least I understand why she's there. Bela's only purpose's being a half-naked sex object *rolls eyes*

[lostandalone22.livejournal.com]

Remind me what her purpose again is: she lied to Sam that she could find a way out of the deal for Dean. And, she's trying to use both Sam and Dean to do her bidding.

[katikat.livejournal.com]

Exactly. She's there to basically goad Sam to do things he would otherwise never do or not without much brooding and soul-searching which would be great in a book or in a drama series but not very practical in a horror/action show. She's there to twist things into the just right perspective for him to kill a human here, another there. She's basically a moral shortcut. And not for one moment do I believe that she helps them out of the goodness of her heart. She definitely has her own agenda. Don't get me wrong, I would rather do without her but I can accept her like I tolerated Meg - she's a part of the main plot somehow.

Bela on the other hand... For 12 episodes the writers accentuated that she's nothing more than an annoyance - and they took a huge pride in that. If they at least hinted at her working for Lilith or something like that during the 12 eps, the character would get more depth. But no, they used her as a "hilarious" one-upper only - and her two-dimensionality shows that she should have been in one episode only. And oops, suddenly they find out that fans don't like a character that you can erase from an episode and basically nothing changes. But even if they came up with an intriguing background for her now, something, that would show that yes, she has actually had a purpose from the very beginning etc. etc. But it's simply too late and fans would see it for what it is: an attempt to weasel her into their graces.

That's what bothers me most. If Bela - like Ruby - would be at least somehow a part of the main plot, I might think differently about her. I would never like her because I intensely dislike characters like her but it wouldn't be so obvious that she has absolutely no place on a show like SPN.

[llywela13.livejournal.com]

Fans shout "WE HATE BELA!" Writers respond "Yes, you love to hate her *giggle*". Fans yell "NO, WE DON'T LIKE TO HATE HER, WE JUST HATE HER."

Bela really isn't working, is she, and it makes me sad. This whole 'love to hate her' thing could have worked, but...

*thinks*

Fans loved to hate characters like Gordon and Henriksen, but we understood them, right from the off. They might have been enemies of our boys, but they had clearly defined motivations from their first episodes. Bela doesn't have that - a few vague hints at her sad past just don't cut it, not for the level of ruthless greed, selfishness and sheer evil she has consistently displayed. So there's nothing in her characterisation for us to love, even if we were merely loving to hate her. And it's getting to be too late to start digging deeper, even if I thought the actress was up to it, which I don't. I mean, a stronger actress could have done a lot more with what we've seen of Bela so far - could have added all kinds of depth and nuance just with the acting, but so far all we've seen Lauren Cohan doing is pout like a sulky five-year-old, which does nothing to inspire confidence.

*sigh*

I think the writers just struggle to create and introduce new recurring characters. They actually did better with the Roadhouse crew last year because they weren't locked into contracts with them, so there was room for flexibility there. And that worked, allowed them to drop elements that didn't work and change the dynamic until they found something that did work, except that they then gave up on the whole thing just when it was starting to work - and that was because they were listening to fans too much.

Ruby is working better than Bela, but I still can't love her because I don't understand her - I need to feel I understand a character before I can love them.

Maybe the writers are just trying too hard, because they used to be able to create strong recurring characters! I do think that sitting down at a table and thinking 'we need a new recurring character, let's try to create one' just doesn't work for them - they'd be better allowing them to grow naturally out of the storylines as they develop, because that's what has always worked best for them.

/end rant *G*

[katikat.livejournal.com]

I think that they made a huge mistake when they didn't give her any purpose from the very get go besides being an annoying sex object. If they wove her into the plot from the very beginning, like made hints that she works for the major baddie, I think people whould have looked differently at her. At least I would have. But so far, there isn't any reason at all for her to actually be there. She is the only character in the whole series that is completely stand-alone, without any ties whatsoever to the main storyline. And I think that now it's way too late to start including her somehow into the main plot because fans would see it for what it is - a way to weasel her into their graces. I think that they ruined what might have been a very interested character by poor execution.

But even then, her character might have been saved if they chose a different actress, someone who would lend Bela more playfulness rather than nastiness *shakes head*