Supernatural - Home Of The Ham-Handed Reveal

Sometimes it makes sense to pour your guts out at a scenic overlook in the middle of nowhere - those panoramic views would make anyone emotional.

A charged exchange over the roof of the car - well, sure, they'll be driving somewhere when they're done.

Picnic table by the water... hmm... okay. I mean, people have to eat and it could conceivably happen that they do it in a ridiculously pretty place that serves as a lovely counterpoint to their eruption of angst.

I draw the line, however, at those completely random stops in the middle of nowhere during which two grown men - with or without beer (and, hey, you're driving!) - sit on the front of the car or turn back-to, presenting manly shoulders of pain to the other.  This is the clumsily executed setting where the brothers discuss the stuff that we all know but they've been to manly and stubborn to share.

Don't get me wrong - I love this show. Part of me recognizes that these guys - particularly Dean - have been horribly emotionally damaged by their upbringing, and these moments are painfully awkward for them, so of course they look awkward to us.  But how often do you stop by the side of the road while driving somewhere with a family member and share your innermost feelings?  That can't wait till the next motel?  Now, I see that the decision to open a festering psychological wound (think, Dad is dead because of me) is monumental and can't be approached casually.  On that occasion, the clumsiness of that moment was somehow appropriate.  However, the writers' decision to return to this device for most of the big reveals seems kind of cheap and redundant.  Since the emotional reveal has become almost a weekly device, it doesn't need to appear so clumsy and awkward anymore.  The brothers have been doing this off and on since season two and it loses some of its emotional charge due to the frequency and ham-handedness.  Jensen Ackles continues to be the prettiest man on television and there's a lot of talent there, but the material has really declined in its repetitiveness.  Come on, these guys should be accustomed to sharing and caring by now - they shouldn't continue to be so bad at it.

All this torment and angst, which made the characters very attractive in the early seasons (remember the episode 'Home' from the first season?) has managed to transform them over time into something a lot less appealing.  Remember Spike from Buffy the Vampire Slayer?  That character was a great villain in the early seasons, was still interesting as love's bitch in season five, and then got progressively less interesting as the writers forgot for a while that - as a fighter - he should be Buffy's equal, and then made him souled and mopey for most of the final season.

It was announced recently that Supernatural will be around for a seventh season, and I can only hope that the writers will use the summer as an opportunity to review their body of work and try to recapture the original spirit of the show.