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

[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.