How did you feel about Season 9?

[Katja]

I'm sure I'll be thinking this one over for a while.

Right now my reaction is decidedly mixed. It feels a lot like an alternate-universe sort of comic or maybe fanfic with a "but let's pretend ___ and ___ were actually ___ and ___" construct.

It was hauntingly beautiful and tragic in its own right, in the acting, in the filming, in many memorable lines.

The thing is it just didn't work with the prior seasons. To really enjoy it, it took a sort of "let's pretend instead of Lucas being... let's imagine he's really..." understanding.

I also got the feeling the writer(s) hit on this John thing early on and fell far too much in love with themselves over it. As was mentioned in many other posts above and on other threads, it was unnecessary, silly and didn't really work that well--it was probably helpful in working out some of the ideas, but after it ran its courses in the brainstorming stage, it really should have been dumped. I felt like whoever thought it up was too married to it to see its failings.

(and on a snarky sort of note, I see no reason at all why Lucas couldn't be actually alive and show up in a few seasons...once you get to the point where a major character known for loyalty and dedication and self sacrifice has actually been hidden Killer John all along, I don't think a scream and a car alarm can really be so very restricting )