(Re)watch 2013 Finals: Lost Girl versus Supernatural

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• I love Lost Girl, but it's really hard to find coverage of it that doesn't either get completely hung up on the show's very Canadian attitude to sexuality, or perform wacky backflips to erase Lauren from their episode descriptions to the point that their version of the narrative makes no sense. I swear, most reviewers get so weird about that character, it's like watching an awkward dad meet his son's partner for the first time; they either can't help making way too big a big deal of it, or they try way too hard to act like they haven't even noticed.
  It's a fun little show with a shoestring budget, but they make great use of it and its got buckets of personality, I think it's exactly the kind of show this blog would be perfect for, it's not high art, but there's nothing else quite like it either. It's got a ton of charm so long as you've got the imagination to look past some production rough edges, but I really don't think it gets the kudos it's due, I'd love to hear your take on it.

• Voting LOST GIRL.

  Its most progressive show in history of genre tv shows and it gives a new meaning to racial, gender and sexual equality, portraying all of that in non-offensive and VERY natural manner. In a sense in that aspect its similar to how buffy handled it - that sexual orientation is non-factor and everyone is equal no matter their orientation. Of course this is taken further by this show since it has a bisexual female lead.

  At the same time the show is just brilliant in terms of characters(it might fluctuate in terms of plot sometimes, but oh well) and the latest season was easily the BEST season of the entire show.

  Not to mention the brilliant fanbase that is one of most active and lively fanbase one could have ever seen.

  So yeah voting Lost Girl, especially when on the other side of barricade you have Supernatural - a show that should have ended 4 seasons ago. A show filled with misogyny propaganda. A show that has lost its plot long long time ago.

• Maybe you should look up the meaning of misogyny before using it in a context that has no validity.

  You mentioned how Lost Girl's plot has fluctuated, yet you have the audacity to condemn the plot of Supernatural. If that's not hypocritical I don't know what is. Yeah, Supernatural had some issues the past 2 seasons because of their choice of front runner, but at least the characters have remained consistent.

  Too bad it's not all about sex like Lost Girl, or I would imagine it is by the way you're talking about it. Someone's sexual orientation shouldn't be the focus of the show, unless that's what the show is actually about. I thought this was a show about a girl who's a supernatural being and has to deal with all the repercussions that come along with it. It's a good show. Obviously your focus is on the wrong thing. And before you get all high and mighty, I am Canadian and I'm also all for gay rights. People should love who they love.

  Oh and I forgot, I can bet you that Supernatural has a much more active and lively fanbase. As soon as we here about these kinds of polls we jump in head first. That's how we won People's Choice Awards 2 years in a row beating out shows that apparently have much better ratings.

• There's fluctuation and then there's completely jumping the shark. Incomparable ;]

  Also please improve your reading comprehension, since that's exactly what I said - that the show manages to do a positive portrayal of lgbt characters without focusing on entirely their sexual orientation or them having sex.

  As for popularity. Popularity =/= quality. Twilight also has a huge fanbase. Hell, Vampire Diaries is one of the top rated CW shows. Does that mean those things are good? No. It just means that there are factors that draw in the fanbase, despite the lack of quality. In case of TVD its fanservice and self-insert lead. In case of supernatural its queer-baiting and fan-catering. Fair and simple.

• Wait. Queer-baiting?

• Yes. That's the best way to describe Castiel storyline and how writers talk about it. Take the queerbaiting in Sherlock and Merlin and turn it up to eleven and you get SN.

• You don't think that's a little derogatory?

• Well excuse me but I do not seem to have that much of respect left for that show. I still love me the first three seasons of SN, but afterward...no, just...no.

  All I see in Castiel storyline is writers trying to retain the fanbase going all "well, he COULD MAYBE SOMEDAY POSSIBLY be" and going nowhere, intent on retaining the status quo to the point that it has hurt Dean's character A LOT and has turned Sam into non-existent factor. Its a pure ratings stunt.

  And excuse me, but there ARE things I will forever condemn and judge - misogyny, sexism, racism and queer-baiting being some of those.

• I understand your frustrations after the first 3 seasons. I do. I get upset with the fact that they keep dangling Castiel around,

  Still, using "queer-baiting" as a way of stating that they are "fan-baiting" is very derogatory. It has nothing to do with the show in itself, but, rather, the people who watch it. So, whether you have respect for the show anymore or not, you should still take the viewers into consideration.

• I don't understand, it semi-seems to me that you were praising Lost Girl for supporting LGBT and all that applies and then condemning Supernatural for a storyline that would do the same, even if it takes a little longer. Honestly. if you're going to say SPN was queer-baiting due to references to homosexuality or "jokes" including innuendos about it, that's been there since the beginning. it is a representation of what our society does when you have a hyper-masculine setting. However, it's veered away from that onslaught and added real human character development and that's bad? I believe the story hasn't gotten better or worse, it's evolved over time, as all good shows do. If you feel the way you do, then that's fine, but I personally see no damning evidence that Deans character has been ruined or Sams has been "non-existent". Just my 2 cents,

• There's a difference between blatant queer-baiting that SN is doing and actual sexual equality that Lost Girl represents and accepts.

  Just because queer baiting and misogyny is part of our society does not mean we have to tolerate it in a show. SN had some sort of balance in the first three seasons - you had some good female characters, but S4 demonized all four of them due to fan backslash, retconing the backstory and character development of certain blond kickass female from Season Three.

  There's nothing "human" about SN characters, because the said characters have not developed even a bit since the start of S4 and majority of S5 and S6 were spent with the leads being completely out of character(even more so than vampire diaries characters usually do).

  Its a headless chicken running around with no direction, catering to fanbase's whims and not even trying to get back to its glory days when the writing varied from somewhat decent to great.

• You really have poor choice of words. racism no. As a African American nothing on SPN has ever turned me off in anyway. So before you start throwing out all the things you feel just speak for yourself.

• So, from the look of things, you're gonna write your thoughts on Lost Girl next? Awesome! :) Be careful, thought: Like sy said before, there's a particular character, Lauren, that just doesn't receive proper representation by reviewers, which kinda sucks because she's one of the most popular character in the fandom (althought, also, the one who receives the most abuse by those who don't like her... honestly, how can you not like her? lol). Hopefully, your reviews will treat that character with at least some level of respect! ;)

  That is, if Lost Girl wins, that is! Maybe it won't!

  lol, who am I kidding: Of course it will! ^_^

• It is true that some reviewers ignore Lauren due to bias, but a balance must be struck too.

  This show is full of original and unique and likeable characters and while Lauren deserves her spotlight, so does every single character in the show :P

• Oh, I completely agree with you here! But, you know, she's a fan favorite, yet reviewers ignore her, and that sucks! But of course, I'm not asking him to ignore Dyson, or Kenzi (oooh, do not ignore Kenzi: She's also amazing! :D) or anyone else! Just that, maybe, for once, we could have a reviewer on the side of the fanbase for a change! :p

• I would not go as far as to say that Lauren is the fan-favorite, since Kenzi is just as popular of a character.

  Lauren is one of greatest characters in the show, but frankly, honestly, her fanbase sometimes over-values her way too much. She is great, but so is Kenzi, so is Bo and so is certain blond kickass newcomer to the show.

  Its an ensemble show where I frankly do not have a character that I would dislike(I used to dislike Dyson at the start, but overall I feel his character got sufficiently toned down and made more likeable now)

• I prey for the poor man who had to watch the shows, that supernatural wins.

• Lost Girl is such a unique show. For me it's filled a void since Buffy went off the air. It's just a unapologetic somewhat campy genre show, but it's amazing in the way that they portray their characters. Yeah the plot lines can get a little muddled and confusing at times but the characters are written in a way that is organic and I can imediately understand why they do the things they do on the show (even when I don't agree with said actions, I still understand why they do those actions they are just written so well), as opposed to other shows that have their characters act in manners that are seemingly out of character for the sake of plot progression. And of course there is the way in which they portray sexuality on the show, I have never seen a show with lesbian/bi characters that had a relationship that didn't revolve around coming out/having babies so the Bo/Lauren storyline is very refreshing.

  Love love love Lost Girl.

• the most exciting facet for me is that the basis of lgbt characters in this show is NOT "look that character's orientation is different - let's make every plot solely about that for him/her".

  Its more of "yes, that character is lesbian and that character is bisexual, so? that's totally normal".

  The show does not need nor want to try to make entire plotlines on turning those characters into stereotypes, like certain shows do(*cough*glee*cough*).

  Lost Girl takes sexuality as inherently natural factor - saying that someone is bisexual is just as normal as saying someone is straight - saying someone is female is just as normal as saying someone is male.

  And in such a way, Lost Girl creates characters who are believable, who exist BEYOND their sexual orientations and who feel real and tangible.

  And that is what is so refreshing about this show for me - it can write lgbt characters and not MAKE those characters one-dimensional representations.

• I don't trust Lauren as she came across shady imo and I also don't feel her relationship with Bo, I guess compare to other human, Kenzi, Lauren is a dud of character. IMO she the weak link which sucks cause I adore the actress since her Instant Star role. I think Dyson gets shortchange by the fandom alot even though imo he brings more to the table than Lauren.

• Dyson is generally unlikeable due to his emo-periods, lol. Not to mention his control-freak personality traits.

  Lauren is Lauren. I do think there was a lack of development for some time, but what they did with the character lately I LOVE . I am just not the fan of certain fans of her character who see her as the best thing everrrrrrr(for me the best character everrr title falls to certain other blond, if you know what I mean).

  Overall I'd say Dyson came off way more shady than Lauren, tbh. Both characters were wrapped in mystery, but Dyson came off as way more dangerous since day one. Sure Lauren was someone unpredictable, but Dyson was far more threatening and imposing and shady.

• No Lauren is shady and I won't spoil it for Michael why I feel that way but I do think people only like Lauren because of the relationship not her as character. I down for those couples but Lost Girl has done little for me to get into Lauren and Bo. They don't work and this season Lauren sucks and last episode proved why.

  Dyson has a right to feel down about myself, he sacrifice alot for Bo.

  Also Lauren has proven to be a control freak imo. Lauren is way shady, Dyson's main mystery has been over since season 2 and she known keeping secrets that don't help Bo out whereas Dyson being mysterious had all to do with helping Bo.

• Lauren's a control freak? wtf

• First of all - surprise, surprise - EVERYONE's shady in this show. EVERYONE. that's part of this show's unique taste. The way we perceive every single character changes constantly.

  Dyson is someone who polarizes the fanbase - some find his possessive, aggressive, jealous nature attractive, some disgusting.

  Lauren's no saint either, no one is. And yeah, no one doubts Dyson wanted to help Bo. The imposing and threatening parts are the WHY's. And Dyson without WHY's and HOW's looked far more threatening and dangerous than Lauren ever did.

  But that should be left for discussion when Michael reaches latter seasons, IMO, as its impossible to discuss without some serious spoilerage.

• People don't like Dyson because he gets in the way of their way of their ship. I don't like Lauren and don't trust her. She sucks that and that. Like I said out of the characters she is the dud which is confusing cause Kenzi is a very exciting human and I know the actress is phenomenal, I really think the issue with Lauren is outside of Bo, she really not developed. I actually think fanbases pushed for the pairing more than the writers did as season 1 and for most season 2 is about a different pairing. Like I said I am not going ruin things for Michael if the show wins.
  and yes Lauren is a control freak as of season 3 because Bo brings that out of people imo.

  BTW Michael if you watch this on netflix, the episodes are out of order last time I check.

• She doesn't even have control over her own life. The fae do.

• ''I do think people only like Lauren because of the relationship not her as character.''

  Really? So that she won the ''best lesbian/bi character'' on AfterEllen, I guess that doesn't count, right? Or T.V. best couple (with Bo) on e!online! She's also in the running for best female character on T.V. on e!online (and so is Bo), and I'm pretty much betting on Lauren for that one as well!

  As for ''control freak''... Really? The girl actually gives the green light to Bo about feeding off others, something Dyson himself never wanted to, and she's the control freak? Which show are you watching?

• Lauren is the best. I like Dyson too but Lauren is my girl. I like the fact that she's imperfect and makes mistakes.

• I like Lost Girl but season pacing and the quality of the plots varies greatly. The humor, relationships, and positive portrayals of lgbt characters doesn't make up for the previously mentioned flaws.

• No dispute, the pacing has been very problematic this season in particular. But it's the humor and personality I keep coming back for. I'm really fond of these characters, and the underlying wit and charm of the main group does a lot to make the show more than it would be otherwise and to keep me hooked when other shows would have lost me.

  The lgbt element is cool, but it's by no means the main draw for me. The show treats it in a way that makes it no more and no less important than it should be, and I just wish recaps and reviews would do the same. But they *just* can't seem to strike that balance. Either it's the only thing they talk about, or they can't deal with it at all and waffle hysterically about guy the heroine hasn't dated since the first season instead. Sure the doctor isn't the heroine of the show but she does have a key role in the heroine's development, and a lot more of the arc plotlines as the show progresses, so after a point it stops making sense to keep *forgetting* to mention her.

  I mean, I had been following recaps for the show on another site until her role started increasing and I realised that they were still - consciously or unconsciously - omitting her to such a weird extent that I had literally no idea how episodes had gone from point A to point B anymore; either because she'd been the plot device in the middle so they hadn't bothered mentioning her at all, or because they'd completely misinterpreted her part in the plot in bizarre ways. I've lost count of how many professional reviewers genuinely seem to have misunderstood her part in the basic baddy-bashing action of the last episode, even though another character literally explains her plan aloud to the villain. It's not exactly Game of Thrones stuff here, but it deserves better treatment than that.

  In many ways, the LGBT side is just an extension of the show's pretty fresh eyed take on both female characters and sex in general in a genre show. And sure that refreshing, and surprisingly non-sleazy wider attitude to Bo's sex life, is big part of the charm, but it's not why I'd like to see it covered here. I'd just like to see the show through fresh eyes by somebody willing to take it for what it is, without bringing an agenda one way or the other that's going to render recaps meaningless.

• Supernatural fans just voted over 500 times in under 10 minutes. WE BROKE THE POLL! Let's just pray to Misha we can win this.

• Yes. I am sure all that cheating is so exhausting~

• Awww, sad that just because the spn fandamily woke up others have to cry foul. Truth is we stick together and when the call goes out we all pitch in.

• Annnnnd the reward to the most obnoxious fanbase goes to...~

  Seriously though, stop sprouting bullshit.

  The amount of votes per second that was just displayed is blatant cheating(especially since SPN should not even be in this match since it LOST the previous one), which is hilarious hypocrisy considering just few weeks ago, every single of your kind cried wolf when Lost Girl was dominating zimbio poll.

• Hey now...play nice!
  It is easier to "lose" a poll with 4 options. When it's down to only 2, it's bound to be a bit closer.
  Regardless, this is supposed to be a vote on a fun rewatch. There's no need to get angry over a poll.
  That is all! :)
  (p.s. Still so happy that Buffy won out last year. The end.)

• Oh I am sorry, your fanbase must have missed that memo when they decided to hijack people's posts on tumblr with intention to troll, as well as when your fanbase decided to flame half the lost girl community on tumblr with rape threats today and bot-vote this poll in spn's favor(even though SPN should NOT be in this poll as it lost in the semi-finals).

  And then people like you come here and act like everything is fine and dandy and like lost girl fandom is to blame. What a hypocrisy.

• Whoa. One, I'm not in any "fanbase," nor do I have a tumblr accout. Nor am I aware of any bot-voting. And I'm not blaming anyone. I don't really care for the accusations you're making toward me. All I've done is vote and watch.

• Sorry if *I* came across as accusing you of anything, I definitely didn't mean to sound like I was.

  I understand why casual bystanders might suspect some kind of sour grapes at work, but in this case, it's not really a question. One show had a basically insurmountable lead, until suddenly an impossibly consistent pattern of votes started dumping into the poll, at impossibly regular intervals, to overcome the deficit. I mean, they had more votes in one hour than they'd had in total since the poll was opened.

  Obviously, every fandom probably has a few bad eggs, it's probably just one person in this case, but even as a fairly casual tv fan, I know SPN has a really bad reputation for autovoting in stuff like this, any poll it's involved in has problems.

• Wow, I had no idea that stuff happened so much. It's too bad that this can't be civil. I won't lie, I've put in my share of votes. Just not *that* many.

• Oh everybody's thrown in their share of votes I daresay, ha.

  But if something's plugging in the exact same quantity at such regular times, it's not "manual", somebody's set up a program to vote automatically on their behalf at that impossibly consistent rate. It's been a feature of a couple of fandoms for a while now, and SPN is particularly notorious for it.

  It's not the Olympic games or anything, but that still strikes me as... unsporting, you know?

• Understandable. It makes winning, for either show, less fulfilling, I think. That's really too bad. And, unfortunately, there's name-calling and arguing going around, when there really shouldn't be. I just thought that SPN had more people voting. I had no idea that people were being idiots about it.

• Yeah, and that's why SPNFandom gets the People's Choice Awards... just cheating! (*rolling eyes*) When there's a poll (of any kind) we use FB, Twitter, and Tumblr to spread the voice. We always unite even if it's hard for other fandoms to admit it!

• not to be a spoilsport, but one option had a massive, massive lead until a few hours ago when the other option suddenly went from a couple of hundred votes in total to generating exactly 50 votes a minute - *exactly*, precisely 50 votes a minute - until the lead had been reversed. I mean, there's "uniting as a fandom" and then there's clownishly blatant shenanigans.

  It's only a poll at the end of the day, it's not a big deal, but I mean there's sour grapes and then there's pointing out the blindingly obvious.

• This also happened in the semifinals - SPN had around ~250 votes with Lost GIrl as first and Person of Interest as second and then suddenly SPN overtook both within a hour with over 1900 votes.

  Of course this happened AFTER The deadline of the poll and by all intents and purposes this should have been Person of Interest versus Lost Girl and not what it was.

• cheating? where is your show even aired? in like one or two countries? of course it won't win (even if it's ten fans vote continually) because more then half the world hasn't even heard of it.

• LG was the hmmm 7th? most downloaded TV show in one of its previous seasons. It is a cult show, cult shows attract dedicated fans all over the globe. It also has a slew of non-straight characters, which attracts another dedicated fanbase (as long as they are handled decently). Therefore, you end up with a very dedicated fanbase who desires the show to receive more coverage. We know it is a small show, that is why we try to do what we can so it gets viewed by more people. Now SPN? Your fandom is known for cheating. During the Zimbio poll you guys beat us, while completely going bat shit crazy on Lost Girl fans accusing us of cheating. Funny thing, several vidoes and posts were found from SPN fans later on, showing how to bot vote for SPN. One video went so far as showing how to change IP and then automatically vote over and over again with a new IP every time. Making the votes impossible to spot as bot votes. That SPN botter even admitted to adding over 2000's of votes against Lost Girl... bagging about not getting caught. Lost Girl lost with 500-ish votes to SPN... making it obvious u guys should never had passed that round. You had the same shit also against Faberry in the E poll where insane botting in the end resulted in a captcha being put in place. Funny thing is before that you guys were neck and neck, after the captcha Febarry fans won with almost triple the votes... Now in this poll the SPN fandom bad eggs botted again. Of course people are going to be upset. Including SPN in polls these days ruins the fun and point of polls, as cheating happens almost every time in polls involving SPN.

• To add to what the above person said: the 7th most downloaded show statistic was in first season. It has gotten way more popularity across the globe now and is amongst the top 3 most rated shows in canada.

  AS for Polls - SPN fanbase worse parts also tend to flame and stalk those who support the "enemy show".

• That's not cheating because I shared this link on all of my pages.
  (3 spn facebook fanpages together 23000 likes and two other fanpages together 2500 likes)
  and we're still the losers :/

• Michael, check the poll, there's been A LOT of bot voting here......

• Probably done by the same jerk that sent rape messages to half the Lost Girl fandom on tumblr during the last hour...
  https://25.media.tumblr.com/362175b1506953314ebd0ee705649827/tumblr_mlpv70nGQ41r5az0do1_1280.jpg

• oh goodness.

• Meh, those asks were sent to me and frankly its generally common practice of supernatural fandom to flame others(it happened few weeks back during the whole zimbio march madness thing and before that).

  Case in point when I posted a link to this poll yesterday in lost girl tags, sn fandom hijacked the post, with at least ten people talking on how Lost Girl fandom needs to be taught a lesson and so on.

  Its a case of self-centered, obnoxious and vitriol-filled fandom who does not fear to send death-threat letters to the show writers to the point that the show writers actually cave in(S3 to S4 transition...). SN fandom generally has a fair share of jerkasses and I usually get those kinds of asks anytime I "dare" to post anything criticizing that show, so I could not care less about the fandom hate and that's the reason why I mostly ignore that fandom and not post anything in their tags.

  But the voting part is interesting:
  - If supernatural is winning, sn fandom acts as if they are best and most peaceful things ever and that everything is so fine and great and dandy.
  - If supernatural fandom is losing, they will blame the opposite side for cheating and flame everyone.

  The thing is, its not really the first time SN fanbase tried to "play the polls" - it happens from time to time and there's a fair amount of people there "dedicated" to that and from observing with how the vote has been changing in this one(because my hands hurt from clicking already and I see no point of it when the other side so obviously cheats), there are at least FIVE people bot-voting for SN in certain intervals, .And it happened before in the semifinals - I went to take a short nap with SN having ~290 votes(and being third) and woke up 3-4 hours latter to SN having 1900 votes and being first(even though that supposedly happened AFTER the deadline so SN should not even BE here).

• I'm sure it happens with other shows as well. And as far as hands hurting from voting...I'm right there with you.

• Not all of the SPN fandom is that way. Some of us sit back quietly enjoying the show, enjoying the hard work put in by everyone involved, without jumping on any bashing or retaliation bandwagon. You like the show you like, no need to stomp on someone elses joy.

• Not all SPN fans are like that. I'm actually a fan of both shows. Lost Girl and Supernatural. I would never death threat someone over a show. That is ridiculous. Every fanbase has those few loonies out there. SPN is not the only one. Why can't we all just sit back and vote, and congratulate whichever show wins.

• Yeah, to be fair to Supernatural, it's been on longer I think, so it's had time to gather up a few cranks over the years. I don't think it's the whole fanbase. Somebody I know from elsewhere did get similar messages a few hours ago though, so sadly it's not a one off.

• I hope you have a way to exclude bot votes from the total because it is very obvious that there has been bots used in this poll.

• I was reading some of the comments posted here and it just makes me sick how some STUPID people (and YEAH... I mean STUPID) need to make negative comments about Supernatural just because they don't like it or because they lost interest after the first 3 seasons. I came here to vote for SPN because I really love what they've made with the characters and how they've been developed. I don't need to offend anyone, I don't need to talk shit about Lost Girl or its fanbase. I'm not that ignorant (because only ignorant people have to do such things to deffend what they like). And I really hope the rest of our family comes to vote, because that's what we are in the Supernatural fandom: A FAMILY!! So for those who say that SPN is a show full of misogyny propaganda, a show that has lost its plot, or that it's a queer-baiting and fan-catering show, I just have to tell you... YOU NEED A LIFE! Really... like urgently!

• Thanks ! I shouldn't be so surprised everytime something like that happen --' My problem is that I don't understand dumb people, surely. Anyway I voted for Supernatural. The tv show I love, like every fan of Supernatural surely does so. And Lost girl's fan does for their tv show. Some (of both fanbase) maybe cheat some other don't) We are humans with different personality and likes, some peoples like Supernatural some other like Lost girl. It's not that difficult is it ? There's no problem guys stop arguing.