"Supernatural": Will the new girls use their powers for good?

Supernatural is a great show. I'm more focused on the demons and evil that is on the show it is irrelevant to me how the women are portrayed. To be honest I never noticed that women were depicted as weak/morally challenged. The show entertains me and that's all I care about.

I've only watched the show a couple of times (mostly to catch some of the guest stars mentioned above) but I have to say it just didn't do anything for me. Maybe it's too boy-centric? I don't know. The two brothers just really annoyed me and I couldn't get into the show.

However, I can't believe that your list of Joss Whedon-inspired guest star hotties failed to include the lovely Amber Benson as a freakin' non-human-eating vampire! Tsk tsk.

Supernatural does rock, yeah it's quite testosterone filled, but it works. I think the main worry a lot of fans had originally with the introduction of the two new characters is that they were announced as series regulars, which had people worried it would change the dynamic among the leads, who's brotherly bitching is one of the best parts about the show.

Female characters are far from either helpless or evil (see Sarah, Jo, Ellen, Ava to name but a few); though as a rule they are, essentially, civilians, but so are the men they meet. In fact, quite a few times, the men they end up rescuing as more hopeless than the women (see Asylum).

I like the new characters but I hate the romance cause something bad always happens to the girl.Also, I think the brothers work better when they are single but I feel that way about most shows. For some reason on shows, when people get into a relationship it becomes all about showing how much fluff and angst can we have in one hour around the relationship.Also, it doesn't make sense for a female character to trail them all season long. I have a feeling she will get killed off after a few episodes.

 "Life is either a daring adventure or nothing."-Helen Keller

Is Supernatural's audience really primarily male? I find that kind of surprising, considering that the only men I know who watch it do so mostly because their wives/girlfriends do! Maybe it's just the result of being in online fandom, though. Well over 3000 people watch the Supernatural newsletter community on LiveJournal and I'd be willing to bet that 90% or more are female, with similarly skewed ratios on the TWoP boards, etc.

I've been pretty horrified by the level of venom female fans are already directing against the new characters. TPTB are much more aware of this fandom than any other I've ever been in, and for a long time I've considered it fun, but these days it's worrying me more and more. If Kripke and co. are gauging fan reaction based on what they see on the TWoP boards or supernatural_tv on LJ we may be well and truly f*cked, because those folks are unhinged. Personally, I wouldn't call myself enthusiastic aout the characters (partly for the reasons you outlined above), but I am optimistic. Trusting Kripke to do what's best for his show hasn't disappointed me yet.

I do agree that having women as antagonists isn't really a particularly new idea, but the show's treatment of women has never really bothered me, actually. The show's format basically requires all secondary characters - male or female - to be antagonists, victims, or helpers and with the prominent exceptions of Bobby, Henriksen, and the Yellow-Eyed Demon, nearly all of the coolest antagonists, victims, and helpers have been female. The list of "victims" is, in fact, almost a catalogue of strong-minded women who assist the boys in defeating the monster-of-the-week, rather than sitting by passively to be rescued: look at Sarah (Provenance), Kat (Asylum), Officer Kathleen (The Benders), and Emily (Scarecrow), to name a very few. Then there is the ever-awesome Ellen Harvelle, the boys' clever lawyer Mara Daniels, the wily and manipulative Crossroads Demon, the sensible Lenore, Missy, Meg, Andrea, Amanda, Haley, Missouri, Cassie, Ava, Jo, Molly, Detective Ballard, Layla, Tessa, and many more. Even Mary Winchester, the classic sacrificial mother, recently proved she may have been something more complicated, and more interesting. The show's treatment of women hasn't been ideal, I admit (what is it with all the dead blondes, for one thing), but I've always felt it does a good job of giving them strength and personality of their own despite their comparatively lesser screen time.

I’m a huge fan of the show and have been since the first episode. I’ve found it to be a great mix of family angst, drama, humour and good story telling. More than not I love the way woman are portrayed on the show, there are the victim characters, but there have been a few guys too who are the victim. I connect with them because of the sense of realism that they bring. Is it laughable to say that about a show with vampires and werewolves? No. These aren’t superheroes, they’re flawed people and they have to deal with the unusual with the equipment we all have and deal the emotional baggage our families all give us.

Take Meg for instance, she was a strong character, an evil bitch by Sam & Dean’s standards, but she was loyal to her family, fought for the cause she believed in, killed without batting an eye, ramped up the sex appeal in an instant all without having to wear high heels and a push up bra. She wore jeans and T-shirt like so many of us do. Rather than make the obvious choice and stick her in the bad ass female uniform of a tiny white tank top, with perfect makeup and heels, she looked and acted like the average girl next door and that made her scarier. That she came back totally PO’d with her father and out for revenge made me want to see more of her. She was a facinating complex character and we only saw a tiny portion of that.

I like seeing female characters on the screen who wear real clothing and not bikini’s or designer dresses and stilettos (although watching Dean get his ass kicked by a teddy wearing version of his male fantasy was funny).  I’m bored to death with the portrayal of most women on TV and Supernatural has been my refuge show – no bimbo parade or airheads, but women dealing with extraordinary situations like real people would have to. Watching Sarah and Hallie being scared, in over their heads but staying game was a treat. They didn’t know what they were doing, but they weren’t going to sit in a corner a cry, they fought back and gave the best they could – that’s girl power to me.

Am I looking forward to the new characters? Not really. I’m not fond of the bikini stuffer girl power that seems to have gripped the entertainment world and I enjoy having a show where solid acting and story count for more than bringing in the pretty face of the week to sleep with the leads. Frankly the interviews given by Katie Cassidy don’t have me thinking much of her as a person but I’m going to give the characters a shot and hope that Kripke’s casting people haven’t made another mistake like Tal’s casting from last season. I would have preferred Sarah or Hallie’s characters be brought in as semi-regulars but at this point all you can do is hope they’ll have decent actors in the roles and they’ll be characters aside from just being the vagina additions that the network wanted.