When Bella was written off the show, there was an online petition that got signed by tens of thousands of fans of the show. So while some fans hated her for getting the best of the Winchesters, where were many fans who did like Bella. It could be said that Bella forced the Winchesters to up their game, and that if not for her, they might not have survived what came later in the series. Bella and Ruby (number one) were my two favourite female characters of the show.
I'm soooooo upset at how they ended he character. At least Dean should been told why she was the way she was, and that in the beginning, her "deal" with the demon wasn't as she expected. She was just a scared girl who her father was molesting while her mother knew but did nothing. It just seems wrong to give that narrative that includes the rape of a child without at least letting Dean know.
Bela is by far my favorite female character, she was so strong and smart, played the boys more than once and did what had to be done and I wish she could come back at least as a demon, I miss her. By the way, it was always intended to make her a abuse victim, look at how she reacts in 3x06 when Dean asks her if "Daddy didn't give her enough hugs", she stops smiling (something odd on her that usually only means she is not confortable or expecting that, when normally she smiles at even deadtrates) and first ask him in a grimm voice "I don't know, did your father gave you enough?" then, following by attacking him and the whole crusade of the hunters, clearly losing the temper and calling them serial killers. I think she was supposed to have a redemption scene, being like the opposite to Dean, but the fandom rejection towards her was so intense, that the producers chickened out.
She was like the female version of crowley to me when I first watched season 3 when I was a teenager I hated her but as I have gotten older I can obviously understand her and grew to like her better I understand her determination to undue her deal with crowley and why she wouldn't go to dean or sam about what happened to her as a child
Yeah katie Cassidy was so much better as ruby but I think even if she had stayed eric kripke would of had to kill her off to just like what they did with Anna milton ellen and jo 🤯😬😡🤬
I feel like Rowena Macleod is the only woman on the show that had a fully fleshed out redemption arc. IMO Rowena's evolution is one of the few female centric storylines Supernatural got right.
I agree with this so much. As always your videos are a great analysis of the show and fanbase as a whole. As someone who began watching SPN fairly late in it’s lifespan I was shocked by how much hate the fans had for Bela. Particularly when male villain characters like Crowley (who have a lot of similar character traits) are constantly praised. When I saw her final episode I stopped watching the show for months before picking it up again. I was just disgusted with the writers at the complete lack of empathy for what Bela had suffered through. But then again I’m someone who thinks Ruby’s character should have had a longer lifespan and a better arc.
I gotta agree with you on ruby and bella Talbot even though I love the early seasons of supernatural I hated what eric kripke did with both characters if people hated the decisions that Andrew dabb and Sarah gamble did while they where showrunners then I also have to hate Eric kripke for the way he would write for the female characters 👩💼😤🤯😬😡🤬
I think Bella’s character suffered from season 3 only having 16 episodes because of the writers strike. I read something that Bella’s character was suppose to be fleshed out more but the writers strike happened. I thought Bella’s character was awesome. I think the crossroad demon who did Bella’s deal was Crowley because he ended up with the Colt. Plus in Supernatural no one stays dead. Bella could come back as Queen of the Crossroads.
Just found this channel and it is now one of my favorites! I completely agree with you. Literally Charlie and the Sherif are the only female characters who weren't done dirty. I originally liked Ruby and thought Bella had potential, I also liked Jo. Instead all of these characters were done dirty. I'm probably the only fan who wanted to see a female main character beside them as strong as Jo, but nope. If Dean does get a love interest I always thought he should be with a female hunter. Never understood why Bela and Jo were so hated. She and Dean were cute! Her background could've been revealed earlier and led to better character development for her. She could've become a hunter. Ikr! Their track record with female characters is Terrible!
I like Bella and Blonde Ruby, I didn't like how they never have Bella a redemption arc and I know why they couldn't keep Blonde Ruby (She was a bit expensive apprently because she started doing some movies so they went with a less known actress).
I came late into the SPN fandom and mostly because I loved the relationship between Castiel and Dean. Still I am always mystified by the show's large female fanbase considering the show's track record with women.
The show aired for so long with the same core that they were concerned about someone messing up the dynamic, characters changing and the show being canceled 🤷♀️
@@Karen-pk3uv Nah. It was just the fangirls delusion that Dean, Sam and Castiel would have a threesome and they saw any woman as getting in the way of that because every CW show is seemingly taken over by shippers who only care about characters who bang and nothing else.
Thank you for this!! I watched those six episodes (because Lauren and yes only those because honestly, I never got into the show even before) and I know of the fandom’s treatment of the character. I also read that the previous showrunner (?) said they made her irredeemable but she is redeemable. All her actions have a backstory, why she did what she did. She was scared of everything because of what happened to her. And yes, she had trust issues because of it and I’m thinking that she never told the boys why she did those things because, being misogynistic, they might do what her parents did to her and that’s what she’s scared of. Dean telling her that they could’ve helped her if she told them wasn’t an assurance that she wouldn’t get abused again - whether by the boys or someone. And Sam had a sex dream about her. What?! I think Bela saw that; it became some sort of red flag for her. If they only respected her....she would’ve been a great ally. Bela Talbot deserves more. I hope they bring her back in the final season.
We're currently watching Supernatural for the first time, and have just reached S5. I didn't know about the fan reaction to Bela, but having recently finished my latest rewatch of Buffy, the treatment of the female characters in Supernatural is painfully obvious. Bela absolutely deserved better, and I'd have loved to see more of her. And yes, the SA part thrown in right before she was killed... what was that even intended to do?
It feels more like they revealed Bela’s backstory to make the audience feel like crap for hating her for no reason over trying to make her sympathetic in her final hours, which is honestly worse, I think. Personally, I like Bela overall. I can understand being annoyed with her playing Sam and Dean for suckers, but she still brought in a unique approach to the show and I found it hilarious whenever Sam and Dean realized they had no choice, but to ask her for help.
That's the same thing I said. Like look, y'all were hating on this girl that's a sexual abuse survivor, so now we want you to be sympathetic towards her. I didn't like when they did that cause for me it was very obvious what they did and their intentions behind it. She was basically the Crowley before Crowley started on the show. Only difference is she flirted with Dean at times and was attractive, therefore female fans couldn't handle it. It makes me think of when you say "omg I can't stand that girl" and someone standing nearby says "that's my best friend" and then the person quickly says "oh I'm sorry". Naw, you're not sorry, you meant what you said. . .you don't like that girl. Don't all of a sudden apologize.
I always loved bela since the first time she appeared.. I didn't trusted her, but I never hated her.. n I am sad when she died.. I never really follow the fandom, so I'm really shock to know that bela was hated..
I agree, she did deserve better. I viewed her as a scoundrelly Hans Solo-type who had a lot of potential for good character development. I was mad at Dean when he callously rejected her plea for help when her time was up, especially after she explained why she made the demon deal with Lilith. It became clear that she was subjected to childhood sexual abuse by her dad and this demon deal was her way out. And it accounted for the choices she made since. I felt great sympathy for Bela when they revealed this about her. I think the writer's strike during that season may have also played a hand in Bela's abrupt end. I was also mad at Dean when he kept calling Ruby the B-word before she gave him any valid reasons for warranting it. When Ruby finally tells Sam how she played him all along at the end of Season 4, you have to give her high kudos for being bold and smart enough to pull off her grand scheme of setting Lucifer free, even fooling and playing all of the other demons, even the top of the food chain ones like Alastair. As she put it: "I mean, come on Sam, even YOU have to admit that I'm AWESOME! I was the BEST of those sons of bitches, the most loyal! Not even Alastair knew, Only Lilith!" Perhaps more amusing was that she was Jared's wife-to-be. Supernatural originally was meant to be a guy's show focusing entirely on Sam and Dean, but as the show went on, women made up the great majority of the fans and viewing audience and they were the chief reason why the show lasted as long as it did. Some people even referred to Supernatural as a "girls' show" by the time it reached the later seasons. Of all the women who appeared on the show, I'd say that Charlie Bradbury was the bravest, had the most personal integrity.
Your right about Charlie but my favorite female character besides Charlie is rowena because she's the only female character that actually had a great story arc throughout her time on the series unfortunately 🤔😏🙂💝
Compare how the Winchesters treat woman, with how the Charmed sisters treat men. I always thought the way both shows treated the opposite sex to be quite similar, with the whole throw away character and plot devices(with some exceptions for each).
Thank you! It felt like Leo didn't contribute much. And what was with that rando scene of Paige locking up that one dude for cheating. The whole oh I have a wife and kids thing came out of nowhere.
@@SaturdayParker Was it Phoebe who was always blindly defending Cole no matter what he did? When I was younger I caught bits of Charmed when my mother watched it. As a young lad I first got into Buffy and Angel when she watched them.
You know, Bela having a terrible childhood doesn’t really change anything after that fact. I understand that she made the deal to kill her parents because they were evil and they had it coming. But everything she chose to do after that is on her. She steals supernatural artifacts to sell, not caring what damage they will do, she has definitely killed people, threatened to kill people, or have gotten people killed and all just to further her own greed and selfishness. It is horrible what happened to her as a child, but what else besides empathy and still annoyance am I supposed to be feeling towards her? She is a terrible person. Sam and Dean may not be perfect, but their actions are usually to try and help and make things better. They make selfish decisions, but they always come through to try and make things right. Bela does none of these things because she’s evil. Not the most evil, but still evil. Most bad people and characters have terrible childhoods and traumas, but we usually end up not caring because they are doing horrible things to other people. We don’t care if the unjust murderer had a shitty childhood, he kills people. And Bela all the way to the end still acted like a villain even trying to push her end onto someone else. She sees no issue to do it to others, but goes running and crying for help when it’s finally her turn. Just like most other selfish villains with an ego who think they’re untouchable. Which is even crazier because she goes for help to two people who hate her, one of which she literally shot and threatened to kill if they didn’t comply with her own goals. Sam and Dean know that Bela is an evil person and would be justified based on their knowledge to take her out, but instead settle to just leave her to her fate. Kid Bela definitely doesn’t deserve any of the pain, but who that kid grew up into definitely does. While I did find Bela annoying because she usually just made things worse for Sam and Dean, that’s not to say that she wasn’t interesting if not a different type of obstacle for the boys than the supernatural, much like Agent Henriksen.
I really liked Bella and loved the Original ( Katie Cassidy) Ruby, they were both good actresses and had enough charisma to shine in scenes with Sam and Dean. I was very upset they replaced Ruby with a different actress bc Gen just didn’t work for me as Ruby. But..back to the Bella situation; I watched SPN from the early years and it was not a given the show last. It was in danger of cancellation for the first several years. The network tried to tinker a lot in the those early years, change the lighting from dark tones to bright, add love interests, and there was talk from the writers that suggested the network and suits were hoping to have a sci fi couple that that could anchor the show. This was very popular in those years, Buffy/Angel, Twilight, vampire diaries, Farscape and others I can’t remember anymore. The couple in hindsight is Sam and Dean but executives wanted a traditional one ala Buffy. I think fans reacted more to the network wanting to change the show into a tween drama than hate to women. Anyway, fandom urban legend goes that in season 2 Jo was brought in to be the love interest for Dean and it just was ugh. So bad. The chemistry was not there, and they wrote her as a ‘cool girl’ trope. She hunts, she swears, she owns a bar, she’s a hot blonde girl version of Dean. (see the Gone Girl speech and you’ll understand why I felt Jo was so awful.) I hated that arc. Later seasons I like Jo fine but in season 2 the moon eyes for Dean was yuck and gross. She just seemed too young for him, and just a distraction from the story. Im glad they dropped it. I think fans hated her character bc it felt so forced. Now Bella, I liked. She made sense and added to episodes. I did kind of ship Dean and Bella a little because of the natural chemistry. I think if she had been allowed a few years on the show and a redemption arc it could have been a great organic romance. I suspect some more vocal fans were afraid another romance was being shoehorned into the story and overreacted. Bella didn’t warrant the hate but after the Jo debacle they went nuts. Just my two cents having lived through those fandom years so so long ago.
Yeah bella was did so wrong here they did a redemption arc on meg and crowley and rowena but not for bella that's so sad she definitely should have been in the final season
I really wished the show ignored the loud voices of the crazy fan girls and let there be one or two female characters that worked with and got close to the brothers. As a female fan myself, I would’ve loved to seen the boys working with maybe a couple of female hunters and build their relationship maybe even become love interests. But because most of the fans were crazy fan girls and of course they didn’t want any woman near Dean or Sam, mainly Dean so that they could ship him with Castiel (even though it was shown many times Dean is into women), so we didn’t get that. I put some blame on the writers but I mainly blame the fangirls for us not having great female characters. The only female character I truly really liked is Jody because she’s a badass and I felt she was a great mother figure for the boys.
completely agree with you on this, ive been a fan since the start and am big into the fandom, but most of my fave characters have been female Bela being one of them, and each time one is brought in i know that they might not have a long run on the show, which is sad, coz a lot of the characters they bring in have so much promise in what they could bring to the show...
Maybe it’s just cause I’m a lesbian but when I was really into Supernatural I loved Bella she was so cool and called the boys out on their bullshite I was so sad when she suddenly died
I think the fans didn’t like how the first few female characters got sexualized. While their are the yaoi fan girls, I love the show because of the mystery, thrilling, diverse mythology and the relationship between Sam, dean and Castile and later jack.
Yeah you are so right about supernatural as much as I enjoyed the first seasons I hated the way they treated the women and people of color as well with destiel 🤔😥😡🤬🧐
I used to be such an avid fan of Supernatural way back when, how did I completely forget that Bela was abused like that...personally, though, I always enjoyed her brief but fantastic run in s3. And now knowing all that I do about this show, homegirl deserved her OWN show to shine on! Been binging your videos all afternoon. Please keep up the great work!
SPOILER Bella did some bad things but Sam and Dean did some messed up shit like when Dean got the mark of Cain and killed people all the time, and Sam got addicted to demon blood and summoned fucking Satan. I agree she was treated badly. Her character had so much potential and I hope she comes back in some way.
I agree with everything you said. Is sad what they missed, for she could have been a great character if she had the chance. I feel this show has no idea how to create good female characters. The only good ones, in my opinion, are Meg and Ellen, but neither of them is a love interest for the guys, wich might be the reason why they're are such good characters. Also, I read something about season 3 being bought by a different channel wich was known for teenage series (one tree hill and others of that style) and i believe that had a big influence in the development of that season and the two new female characters that didn't seem to have a point in the series . In my opinion is the worst season and those two characters have a lot to do with it. Again, they missed the chance to do something better with bella, and ruby came back king of improved, but still, could have been much better. I guess this things happen when creators don't have all freedom to decide what goes on on their own shows.
I've never gotten why the Supernatural fandom has a thing for Sam and Dean being an incestuous couple because not only are they both straight the fact is as brothers they'd be disgusted at even the thought of having sex with each other. It's a bit like the time they were going to do a weird "Deb loves Dexter" storyline in Dexter. They eventually scrapped it both because it would have been really awkward for Michael C Hall and Jennifer Carpenter who had recently divorced at the time but there was also the Dexter and Deb characters being brought up together as brother and sister despite Dexter being adopted.
I actually like Bela. I think she is an interesting character, and I sympathize with her because of what her parents (especially her father) put her through. I would have loved it if she had been one of the characters to be brought back from Hell in seasons 14 and 15. What would she have been like? Would she have become part of Team Free Will? Would she have changed for the better or for the worse? We'll never know, thanks to the writers and the fan girls who simply couldn't stand the idea of any female character becoming involved with Sam or Dean.
I F@# LOVE Bela.. And I Hope she will be back some day (In some form) in the show, seriously. Bela talbot could have been such a rich character" The propotype "Bitch" character is much more fun and entertaining nowadays with Shows having leading roles like Chanel Oberlin (Scream Queens) and the "Fiona" Character played by Jessica Lange in "AHS - Coven" being loved.. Would be the perfet time to bring her back, even more with all that "Wayward Sisters" thing going on once in a while in the show, and the idea of having a lot of female characters from Supernatural getting their own spot. Bela would be the perfect "bitch" to deal with right now. She could be back as demon with another actress in the role, or with Lauren Cohan returning playing a "Other dimension" version of Bela just like Charlie, Bobby and the rest.
Gosh, I can't even begin to image the research and notes for your videos. I have such a hard time remembering so many of these details. My brother and I binged this show up until Season 10, I think. And Season 11 was about to premiere. I may be a season off or so, but I think that's correct. Oh, also, my mom tagged on a few seasons in. I don't know how she does it, but all the time my brother and I will be watching a show together and she'll just get sucked in. And she'll watch with us without knowing what happened in earlier seasons or understanding certain character relationships, and she won't let us continue to watch without her. I *could not* start watching a show in the middle of the series! Literally she tagged along for like the last season and a half of Gossip Girl. What? How? What's the point? Lol! Anyway! We had the episodes of Season 12 record as they aired and we watched episodes, but lagged behind a bit until we just decided to wait for the season to be on Netflix. And we still haven't continued. I think my brother is still interested in watching it but I was done probably around Season 7 or 8. I had only continued watching because when I say we binged it, we _BINGED_ it! They were constantly killing off new characters, especially female ones, which bothered me. But what really got on my nerves was that it seemed like Sam and Dean never learned. After seasons and seasons, they still had terrible combat skills. They were constantly being beaten by bad guys, falling for the same tricks that they had fallen for a hundred times before. And they could never keep those angel sticks in their hands! I don't remember specifics here, so I hope you get what I mean by angel sticks- those sticks that could kill angels. They also lacked character development and I was getting really tired of the queer-baiting the show, promotions, and actors did with Dean and Castiel. I mean, I like their friendship and bond, but so often it seemed like more than that and, again, the show, promotions, and actors definitely played into fans' perception and support of them together. My cousin is a HUGE fan of this show. Well, at least she was. I'm not sure her feelings on it now or if she's continued watching over the years, but she used to talk about it all the time and was really into the mythology of it and the biblical references. I'm pretty sure she did a project for her religion class at her private school on it when she was in high school. I was a fan but just casually- until it became too repetitive and I became more critical of it, which really lessened the enjoyment of watching it. Like I said before, I was done probably around Season 7 or 8 and I don't think I'll continue it. Plus, I've forgotten so much! I may see stuff if my brother or mom ever continues it, but I'm out and they can watch it without me. I had no idea about the fandom situation with Anna. I really liked Anna! As for Bela: I forgot she existed until I clicked on this video. I *do* remember not liking her, though. Personally, I think it's easy to not like a character if they are blatantly supposed to be an antagonist, or at least against or conflict with the main characters who you already like and are attached to. And especially if it seems like the character is just getting in the way and not helping things, which is even more true when the character is just unlikable, whether it's written that way, portrayed that way, or just comes off that way. I would also like to point out that I'm deliberately using the words likable and unlikable because there are plenty of evil, bad guy, antagonist characters who _are_ likable. Watching this and being reminded of all of this information, I totally agree Bela deserved better!
The toxic fans have the loudest voices. We were blessed with a show run by people who were willing to listen to their fans, and cursed with a majority who kicked and screamed their way to the forefront.
I respect your opinion/viewpoint about female characters not being treated altogether great and although I admit that there is some there there, I don’t know if I altogether agree that overall Supernatural has a “long history of hating female characters”. Supernatural had SO MANY GREAT FEMALE CHARACTERS!!! It’s just a show of tragedy so unfortunately we lose almost every character aside from Sam, Dean and Castiel. But my list of favorite female characters in no specific order: Bella, Rowena, Jody Mills, Ellen, Charlie, Ruby (the first), Mary Winchester, Jo, Meg, Lisa, Eileen, Lilith and Amara. There were plenty more, but these are my favorite female characters/actors in the show.
Unfortunately bella Talbot wasn't the only female character in season 12 in one of the most hated and disgusting seasons to me because of the way female characters were treated like in one episode when Lucifer has being played by Rick Springfield he tells a woman to crave into her skin and a few episodes later in another body he basically rapes and deliberately impregnate Kelly Kline because she gave her consent to her lover not to Lucifer having the full knowledge that she will die in childbirth that's full on rape I found that deeply disturbing and disgusting I don't know about anyone else but It triggered me 🤯😬🤢🤮🥵😠😡🤬
If they could get Jeffrey Dean Morgan back after playing Negan, I was sure they could find a way to get Laura Cohan, at least for an episode or two. It is quite the outrage.
Do you think the the way the female characters on supernatural is similar with the way that the star trek franchise would treat their female characters over the years before 2009 🤔🤨👩💼
Okay you do bring up some good points about Bela, especially with the abuse from her father. But it doesn't excuse her actions from screwing and trying to kill the Winchester brothers. Not to mention that she actually made a deal with Lilith and having her parents killed. So in my opinion she doesn't deserve redemption.
Just because she was abusive in childhood doesn't mean that she should be treated delicate in adults. many people in her situation became abuser when they grow up, i dont see reason to like her more than winchesters. this show was about them, and it wasnt like on the first meeting they sit and talk about their past (no one do that!), boys just see how she cares only about herself, money was her only consort and she literally killed people for them (her parents - even if demon did this for her). how young girl could made the deal with demon and didnt see it was wrong?!!! she wasnt perfect little princess, she didnt make the deal to change her parents or to get help, and at the end of the deal she didnt think that she has to pay, she want to break the deal even if that means someone else my die. lets not pretent that she was good person, if she would be she would become therapist or social worker or someone who want to make sure no other child be abused, but she choose to make money no matter the cost. in charmed there is one episode about man who make a deal with demon, and at the end he gives all his money to charity and prepare to die, when bella till the end play as the victim, who dont want to pay for her sins. thats why i dont think she deserves better.
When Bella was written off the show, there was an online petition that got signed by tens of thousands of fans of the show. So while some fans hated her for getting the best of the Winchesters, where were many fans who did like Bella. It could be said that Bella forced the Winchesters to up their game, and that if not for her, they might not have survived what came later in the series.
Bella and Ruby (number one) were my two favourite female characters of the show.
I'm soooooo upset at how they ended he character. At least Dean should been told why she was the way she was, and that in the beginning, her "deal" with the demon wasn't as she expected. She was just a scared girl who her father was molesting while her mother knew but did nothing.
It just seems wrong to give that narrative that includes the rape of a child without at least letting Dean know.
It's also so crazy that so many people hated her because she's literally a female version of Dean. Literally his mirror.
Bela is by far my favorite female character, she was so strong and smart, played the boys more than once and did what had to be done and I wish she could come back at least as a demon, I miss her. By the way, it was always intended to make her a abuse victim, look at how she reacts in 3x06 when Dean asks her if "Daddy didn't give her enough hugs", she stops smiling (something odd on her that usually only means she is not confortable or expecting that, when normally she smiles at even deadtrates) and first ask him in a grimm voice "I don't know, did your father gave you enough?" then, following by attacking him and the whole crusade of the hunters, clearly losing the temper and calling them serial killers. I think she was supposed to have a redemption scene, being like the opposite to Dean, but the fandom rejection towards her was so intense, that the producers chickened out.
Loretto Ponton it would awesome if Bela became Queen of the Crossroads. We all know Crowley did her deal because he had the Colt.
Dean is more sympathetic to demons than to Bela . I hated the way she was treated. She was trying to get out of her deal that she made as a child.
She was like the female version of crowley to me when I first watched season 3 when I was a teenager I hated her but as I have gotten older I can obviously understand her and grew to like her better I understand her determination to undue her deal with crowley and why she wouldn't go to dean or sam about what happened to her as a child
I also love Ruby the fist Ruby never like the second one
Yeah katie Cassidy was so much better as ruby but I think even if she had stayed eric kripke would of had to kill her off to just like what they did with Anna milton ellen and jo 🤯😬😡🤬
I feel like Rowena Macleod is the only woman on the show that had a fully fleshed out redemption arc. IMO Rowena's evolution is one of the few female centric storylines Supernatural got right.
You are so right when it comes to the final season rowena was one of only a few of the characters that had a great ending 👍🤯😊🤗🙂
Thank you for this! An excellent look at Bela's treatment and I agree with what you've said. Well put together!
I agree with this so much. As always your videos are a great analysis of the show and fanbase as a whole.
As someone who began watching SPN fairly late in it’s lifespan I was shocked by how much hate the fans had for Bela. Particularly when male villain characters like Crowley (who have a lot of similar character traits) are constantly praised.
When I saw her final episode I stopped watching the show for months before picking it up again. I was just disgusted with the writers at the complete lack of empathy for what Bela had suffered through.
But then again I’m someone who thinks Ruby’s character should have had a longer lifespan and a better arc.
I gotta agree with you on ruby and bella Talbot even though I love the early seasons of supernatural I hated what eric kripke did with both characters if people hated the decisions that Andrew dabb and Sarah gamble did while they where showrunners then I also have to hate Eric kripke for the way he would write for the female characters 👩💼😤🤯😬😡🤬
I think Bella’s character suffered from season 3 only having 16 episodes because of the writers strike. I read something that Bella’s character was suppose to be fleshed out more but the writers strike happened. I thought Bella’s character was awesome.
I think the crossroad demon who did Bella’s deal was Crowley because he ended up with the Colt. Plus in Supernatural no one stays dead. Bella could come back as Queen of the Crossroads.
Just found this channel and it is now one of my favorites! I completely agree with you. Literally Charlie and the Sherif are the only female characters who weren't done dirty. I originally liked Ruby and thought Bella had potential, I also liked Jo. Instead all of these characters were done dirty. I'm probably the only fan who wanted to see a female main character beside them as strong as Jo, but nope. If Dean does get a love interest I always thought he should be with a female hunter. Never understood why Bela and Jo were so hated. She and Dean were cute! Her background could've been revealed earlier and led to better character development for her. She could've become a hunter. Ikr! Their track record with female characters is Terrible!
I like Bella and Blonde Ruby, I didn't like how they never have Bella a redemption arc and I know why they couldn't keep Blonde Ruby (She was a bit expensive apprently because she started doing some movies so they went with a less known actress).
I came late into the SPN fandom and mostly because I loved the relationship between Castiel and Dean.
Still I am always mystified by the show's large female fanbase considering the show's track record with women.
The majority of the younger female fans seem to not want women around.
Kevin Jones same.
The show aired for so long with the same core that they were concerned about someone messing up the dynamic, characters changing and the show being canceled 🤷♀️
@@Karen-pk3uv Nah. It was just the fangirls delusion that Dean, Sam and Castiel would have a threesome and they saw any woman as getting in the way of that because every CW show is seemingly taken over by shippers who only care about characters who bang and nothing else.
Thank you for this!! I watched those six episodes (because Lauren and yes only those because honestly, I never got into the show even before) and I know of the fandom’s treatment of the character. I also read that the previous showrunner (?) said they made her irredeemable but she is redeemable. All her actions have a backstory, why she did what she did. She was scared of everything because of what happened to her. And yes, she had trust issues because of it and I’m thinking that she never told the boys why she did those things because, being misogynistic, they might do what her parents did to her and that’s what she’s scared of. Dean telling her that they could’ve helped her if she told them wasn’t an assurance that she wouldn’t get abused again - whether by the boys or someone. And Sam had a sex dream about her. What?! I think Bela saw that; it became some sort of red flag for her. If they only respected her....she would’ve been a great ally.
Bela Talbot deserves more. I hope they bring her back in the final season.
The way I keep coming back to this video. PERFECTION !!
We're currently watching Supernatural for the first time, and have just reached S5. I didn't know about the fan reaction to Bela, but having recently finished my latest rewatch of Buffy, the treatment of the female characters in Supernatural is painfully obvious. Bela absolutely deserved better, and I'd have loved to see more of her.
And yes, the SA part thrown in right before she was killed... what was that even intended to do?
She deserved way better!
Thank you for calling out the show on its misogyny. As a fan, it has been my biggest long-standing gripe.
It feels more like they revealed Bela’s backstory to make the audience feel like crap for hating her for no reason over trying to make her sympathetic in her final hours, which is honestly worse, I think.
Personally, I like Bela overall. I can understand being annoyed with her playing Sam and Dean for suckers, but she still brought in a unique approach to the show and I found it hilarious whenever Sam and Dean realized they had no choice, but to ask her for help.
That's the same thing I said. Like look, y'all were hating on this girl that's a sexual abuse survivor, so now we want you to be sympathetic towards her. I didn't like when they did that cause for me it was very obvious what they did and their intentions behind it. She was basically the Crowley before Crowley started on the show. Only difference is she flirted with Dean at times and was attractive, therefore female fans couldn't handle it.
It makes me think of when you say "omg I can't stand that girl" and someone standing nearby says "that's my best friend" and then the person quickly says "oh I'm sorry". Naw, you're not sorry, you meant what you said. . .you don't like that girl. Don't all of a sudden apologize.
I loved Bella she was one of my favourite character
I always loved bela since the first time she appeared.. I didn't trusted her, but I never hated her.. n I am sad when she died..
I never really follow the fandom, so I'm really shock to know that bela was hated..
I loved the girls characters I loved Bella from the moment she was in it
I agree, she did deserve better. I viewed her as a scoundrelly Hans Solo-type who had a lot of potential for good character development. I was mad at Dean when he callously rejected her plea for help when her time was up, especially after she explained why she made the demon deal with Lilith. It became clear that she was subjected to childhood sexual abuse by her dad and this demon deal was her way out. And it accounted for the choices she made since.
I felt great sympathy for Bela when they revealed this about her.
I think the writer's strike during that season may have also played a hand in Bela's abrupt end.
I was also mad at Dean when he kept calling Ruby the B-word before she gave him any valid reasons for warranting it.
When Ruby finally tells Sam how she played him all along at the end of Season 4, you have to give her high kudos for being bold and smart enough to pull off her grand scheme of setting Lucifer free, even fooling and playing all of the other demons, even the top of the food chain ones like Alastair. As she put it: "I mean, come on Sam, even YOU have to admit that I'm AWESOME! I was the BEST of those sons of bitches, the most loyal! Not even Alastair knew, Only Lilith!"
Perhaps more amusing was that she was Jared's wife-to-be.
Supernatural originally was meant to be a guy's show focusing entirely on Sam and Dean, but as the show went on, women made up the great majority of the fans and viewing audience and they were the chief reason why the show lasted as long as it did. Some people even referred to Supernatural as a "girls' show" by the time it reached the later seasons.
Of all the women who appeared on the show, I'd say that Charlie Bradbury was the bravest, had the most personal integrity.
Your right about Charlie but my favorite female character besides Charlie is rowena because she's the only female character that actually had a great story arc throughout her time on the series unfortunately 🤔😏🙂💝
This is really good! I love the editing and the opinions!
Thank you!
Compare how the Winchesters treat woman, with how the Charmed sisters treat men. I always thought the way both shows treated the opposite sex to be quite similar, with the whole throw away character and plot devices(with some exceptions for each).
Darla Cooper but then on Charmed, there were plenty of men on the show. And I can’t think of any that were hated by its fandom to this extent.
Thank you! It felt like Leo didn't contribute much. And what was with that rando scene of Paige locking up that one dude for cheating. The whole oh I have a wife and kids thing came out of nowhere.
@@SaturdayParker Was it Phoebe who was always blindly defending Cole no matter what he did? When I was younger I caught bits of Charmed when my mother watched it. As a young lad I first got into Buffy and Angel when she watched them.
You know, Bela having a terrible childhood doesn’t really change anything after that fact. I understand that she made the deal to kill her parents because they were evil and they had it coming. But everything she chose to do after that is on her. She steals supernatural artifacts to sell, not caring what damage they will do, she has definitely killed people, threatened to kill people, or have gotten people killed and all just to further her own greed and selfishness. It is horrible what happened to her as a child, but what else besides empathy and still annoyance am I supposed to be feeling towards her?
She is a terrible person. Sam and Dean may not be perfect, but their actions are usually to try and help and make things better. They make selfish decisions, but they always come through to try and make things right. Bela does none of these things because she’s evil. Not the most evil, but still evil.
Most bad people and characters have terrible childhoods and traumas, but we usually end up not caring because they are doing horrible things to other people. We don’t care if the unjust murderer had a shitty childhood, he kills people. And Bela all the way to the end still acted like a villain even trying to push her end onto someone else. She sees no issue to do it to others, but goes running and crying for help when it’s finally her turn. Just like most other selfish villains with an ego who think they’re untouchable.
Which is even crazier because she goes for help to two people who hate her, one of which she literally shot and threatened to kill if they didn’t comply with her own goals. Sam and Dean know that Bela is an evil person and would be justified based on their knowledge to take her out, but instead settle to just leave her to her fate. Kid Bela definitely doesn’t deserve any of the pain, but who that kid grew up into definitely does.
While I did find Bela annoying because she usually just made things worse for Sam and Dean, that’s not to say that she wasn’t interesting if not a different type of obstacle for the boys than the supernatural, much like Agent Henriksen.
I really liked Bella and loved the Original ( Katie Cassidy) Ruby, they were both good actresses and had enough charisma to shine in scenes with Sam and Dean. I was very upset they replaced Ruby with a different actress bc Gen just didn’t work for me as Ruby. But..back to the Bella situation; I watched SPN from the early years and it was not a given the show last. It was in danger of cancellation for the first several years. The network tried to tinker a lot in the those early years, change the lighting from dark tones to bright, add love interests, and there was talk from the writers that suggested the network and suits were hoping to have a sci fi couple that that could anchor the show. This was very popular in those years, Buffy/Angel, Twilight, vampire diaries, Farscape and others I can’t remember anymore. The couple in hindsight is Sam and Dean but executives wanted a traditional one ala Buffy. I think fans reacted more to the network wanting to change the show into a tween drama than hate to women. Anyway, fandom urban legend goes that in season 2 Jo was brought in to be the love interest for Dean and it just was ugh. So bad. The chemistry was not there, and they wrote her as a ‘cool girl’ trope. She hunts, she swears, she owns a bar, she’s a hot blonde girl version of Dean. (see the Gone Girl speech and you’ll understand why I felt Jo was so awful.) I hated that arc. Later seasons I like Jo fine but in season 2 the moon eyes for Dean was yuck and gross. She just seemed too young for him, and just a distraction from the story. Im glad they dropped it. I think fans hated her character bc it felt so forced. Now Bella, I liked. She made sense and added to episodes. I did kind of ship Dean and Bella a little because of the natural chemistry. I think if she had been allowed a few years on the show and a redemption arc it could have been a great organic romance. I suspect some more vocal fans were afraid another romance was being shoehorned into the story and overreacted. Bella didn’t warrant the hate but after the Jo debacle they went nuts. Just my two cents having lived through those fandom years so so long ago.
Yeah bella was did so wrong here they did a redemption arc on meg and crowley and rowena but not for bella that's so sad she definitely should have been in the final season
And you're right about ruby 2 I didn't like Genevieve performance
I really wished the show ignored the loud voices of the crazy fan girls and let there be one or two female characters that worked with and got close to the brothers. As a female fan myself, I would’ve loved to seen the boys working with maybe a couple of female hunters and build their relationship maybe even become love interests.
But because most of the fans were crazy fan girls and of course they didn’t want any woman near Dean or Sam, mainly Dean so that they could ship him with Castiel (even though it was shown many times Dean is into women), so we didn’t get that. I put some blame on the writers but I mainly blame the fangirls for us not having great female characters.
The only female character I truly really liked is Jody because she’s a badass and I felt she was a great mother figure for the boys.
Also, I completely agree with your comments on the treatment of Bela Talbot as a character.
I love her so much
I loved Bella! And love each character I’ve seen Lauren Cohan portray since Supernatural. Have you seen her in the new show Whiskey Cavalier?
completely agree with you on this, ive been a fan since the start and am big into the fandom, but most of my fave characters have been female Bela being one of them, and each time one is brought in i know that they might not have a long run on the show, which is sad, coz a lot of the characters they bring in have so much promise in what they could bring to the show...
Maybe it’s just cause I’m a lesbian but when I was really into Supernatural I loved Bella she was so cool and called the boys out on their bullshite I was so sad when she suddenly died
I'm not a lesbian, and I like Bela for the same reasons you listed.
I think the fans didn’t like how the first few female characters got sexualized. While their are the yaoi fan girls, I love the show because of the mystery, thrilling, diverse mythology and the relationship between Sam, dean and Castile and later jack.
I heard that bela was a character that the network wanted to bring in for more male fan since it was just Sam and Dean at the time.
Yeah you are so right about supernatural as much as I enjoyed the first seasons I hated the way they treated the women and people of color as well with destiel 🤔😥😡🤬🧐
I used to be such an avid fan of Supernatural way back when, how did I completely forget that Bela was abused like that...personally, though, I always enjoyed her brief but fantastic run in s3. And now knowing all that I do about this show, homegirl deserved her OWN show to shine on! Been binging your videos all afternoon. Please keep up the great work!
SPOILER
Bella did some bad things but Sam and Dean did some messed up shit like when Dean got the mark of Cain and killed people all the time, and Sam got addicted to demon blood and summoned fucking Satan. I agree she was treated badly. Her character had so much potential and I hope she comes back in some way.
Oh man the females in supernatural smh. 😔😔😔
I agree with everything you said. Is sad what they missed, for she could have been a great character if she had the chance. I feel this show has no idea how to create good female characters. The only good ones, in my opinion, are Meg and Ellen, but neither of them is a love interest for the guys, wich might be the reason why they're are such good characters. Also, I read something about season 3 being bought by a different channel wich was known for teenage series (one tree hill and others of that style) and i believe that had a big influence in the development of that season and the two new female characters that didn't seem to have a point in the series . In my opinion is the worst season and those two characters have a lot to do with it. Again, they missed the chance to do something better with bella, and ruby came back king of improved, but still, could have been much better. I guess this things happen when creators don't have all freedom to decide what goes on on their own shows.
Reject modernity. Embrace Talbot.
Bela was horrible but some of my favourite episodes were one with her. She was such a great character and I loved the banter.
I loved Bela. She was amazing.
I've never gotten why the Supernatural fandom has a thing for Sam and Dean being an incestuous couple because not only are they both straight the fact is as brothers they'd be disgusted at even the thought of having sex with each other. It's a bit like the time they were going to do a weird "Deb loves Dexter" storyline in Dexter. They eventually scrapped it both because it would have been really awkward for Michael C Hall and Jennifer Carpenter who had recently divorced at the time but there was also the Dexter and Deb characters being brought up together as brother and sister despite Dexter being adopted.
I actually like Bela. I think she is an interesting character, and I sympathize with her because of what her parents (especially her father) put her through. I would have loved it if she had been one of the characters to be brought back from Hell in seasons 14 and 15. What would she have been like? Would she have become part of Team Free Will? Would she have changed for the better or for the worse? We'll never know, thanks to the writers and the fan girls who simply couldn't stand the idea of any female character becoming involved with Sam or Dean.
Yeah her character would have been great to see in the final two season's personally she should had been the final villain in the final season
I F@# LOVE Bela.. And I Hope she will be back some day (In some form) in the show, seriously. Bela talbot could have been such a rich character" The propotype "Bitch" character is much more fun and entertaining nowadays with Shows having leading roles like Chanel Oberlin (Scream Queens) and the "Fiona" Character played by Jessica Lange in "AHS - Coven" being loved.. Would be the perfet time to bring her back, even more with all that "Wayward Sisters" thing going on once in a while in the show, and the idea of having a lot of female characters from Supernatural getting their own spot. Bela would be the perfect "bitch" to deal with right now. She could be back as demon with another actress in the role, or with Lauren Cohan returning playing a "Other dimension" version of Bela just like Charlie, Bobby and the rest.
Gosh, I can't even begin to image the research and notes for your videos. I have such a hard time remembering so many of these details.
My brother and I binged this show up until Season 10, I think. And Season 11 was about to premiere. I may be a season off or so, but I think that's correct. Oh, also, my mom tagged on a few seasons in. I don't know how she does it, but all the time my brother and I will be watching a show together and she'll just get sucked in. And she'll watch with us without knowing what happened in earlier seasons or understanding certain character relationships, and she won't let us continue to watch without her. I *could not* start watching a show in the middle of the series! Literally she tagged along for like the last season and a half of Gossip Girl. What? How? What's the point? Lol! Anyway! We had the episodes of Season 12 record as they aired and we watched episodes, but lagged behind a bit until we just decided to wait for the season to be on Netflix. And we still haven't continued. I think my brother is still interested in watching it but I was done probably around Season 7 or 8. I had only continued watching because when I say we binged it, we _BINGED_ it! They were constantly killing off new characters, especially female ones, which bothered me. But what really got on my nerves was that it seemed like Sam and Dean never learned. After seasons and seasons, they still had terrible combat skills. They were constantly being beaten by bad guys, falling for the same tricks that they had fallen for a hundred times before. And they could never keep those angel sticks in their hands! I don't remember specifics here, so I hope you get what I mean by angel sticks- those sticks that could kill angels. They also lacked character development and I was getting really tired of the queer-baiting the show, promotions, and actors did with Dean and Castiel. I mean, I like their friendship and bond, but so often it seemed like more than that and, again, the show, promotions, and actors definitely played into fans' perception and support of them together.
My cousin is a HUGE fan of this show. Well, at least she was. I'm not sure her feelings on it now or if she's continued watching over the years, but she used to talk about it all the time and was really into the mythology of it and the biblical references. I'm pretty sure she did a project for her religion class at her private school on it when she was in high school. I was a fan but just casually- until it became too repetitive and I became more critical of it, which really lessened the enjoyment of watching it. Like I said before, I was done probably around Season 7 or 8 and I don't think I'll continue it. Plus, I've forgotten so much! I may see stuff if my brother or mom ever continues it, but I'm out and they can watch it without me.
I had no idea about the fandom situation with Anna. I really liked Anna!
As for Bela: I forgot she existed until I clicked on this video. I *do* remember not liking her, though. Personally, I think it's easy to not like a character if they are blatantly supposed to be an antagonist, or at least against or conflict with the main characters who you already like and are attached to. And especially if it seems like the character is just getting in the way and not helping things, which is even more true when the character is just unlikable, whether it's written that way, portrayed that way, or just comes off that way. I would also like to point out that I'm deliberately using the words likable and unlikable because there are plenty of evil, bad guy, antagonist characters who _are_ likable. Watching this and being reminded of all of this information, I totally agree Bela deserved better!
The toxic fans have the loudest voices. We were blessed with a show run by people who were willing to listen to their fans, and cursed with a majority who kicked and screamed their way to the forefront.
I respect your opinion/viewpoint about female characters not being treated altogether great and although I admit that there is some there there, I don’t know if I altogether agree that overall Supernatural has a “long history of hating female characters”. Supernatural had SO MANY GREAT FEMALE CHARACTERS!!! It’s just a show of tragedy so unfortunately we lose almost every character aside from Sam, Dean and Castiel. But my list of favorite female characters in no specific order: Bella, Rowena, Jody Mills, Ellen, Charlie, Ruby (the first), Mary Winchester, Jo, Meg, Lisa, Eileen, Lilith and Amara. There were plenty more, but these are my favorite female characters/actors in the show.
Unfortunately bella Talbot wasn't the only female character in season 12 in one of the most hated and disgusting seasons to me because of the way female characters were treated like in one episode when Lucifer has being played by Rick Springfield he tells a woman to crave into her skin and a few episodes later in another body he basically rapes and deliberately impregnate Kelly Kline because she gave her consent to her lover not to Lucifer having the full knowledge that she will die in childbirth that's full on rape I found that deeply disturbing and disgusting I don't know about anyone else but It triggered me 🤯😬🤢🤮🥵😠😡🤬
I am not satisfied with how her character left they could have done so much better especially with her flashback
If they could get Jeffrey Dean Morgan back after playing Negan, I was sure they could find a way to get Laura Cohan, at least for an episode or two. It is quite the outrage.
The final season of supernatural is so awful you are so right bella should had returned in the final season
Will you ever do a ranking on the seasons of the show 🤔🤭😈🧟♀️🧟♂️
Probably not, as I haven't watched all the seasons. But I would consider doing a ranking of the Kripke-Era seasons, if anyone was interested.
@@racheldoesfandom that sounds great seasons 4 and 5 are always on my top 5 of the series 😊😀😃😎
Do you think the the way the female characters on supernatural is similar with the way that the star trek franchise would treat their female characters over the years before 2009 🤔🤨👩💼
Okay you do bring up some good points about Bela, especially with the abuse from her father. But it doesn't excuse her actions from screwing and trying to kill the Winchester brothers. Not to mention that she actually made a deal with Lilith and having her parents killed. So in my opinion she doesn't deserve redemption.
The actress is awesome the character was aweful. Bela did not deserve better. More episodes, but not better. She made her bed and had to lay in it.
Why does no one ever talk about Jo 😭
Just because she was abusive in childhood doesn't mean that she should be treated delicate in adults. many people in her situation became abuser when they grow up, i dont see reason to like her more than winchesters. this show was about them, and it wasnt like on the first meeting they sit and talk about their past (no one do that!), boys just see how she cares only about herself, money was her only consort and she literally killed people for them (her parents - even if demon did this for her). how young girl could made the deal with demon and didnt see it was wrong?!!! she wasnt perfect little princess, she didnt make the deal to change her parents or to get help, and at the end of the deal she didnt think that she has to pay, she want to break the deal even if that means someone else my die. lets not pretent that she was good person, if she would be she would become therapist or social worker or someone who want to make sure no other child be abused, but she choose to make money no matter the cost.
in charmed there is one episode about man who make a deal with demon, and at the end he gives all his money to charity and prepare to die, when bella till the end play as the victim, who dont want to pay for her sins. thats why i dont think she deserves better.
your an idiot seriously. like its a 15 year olds job to change her fucking abusive parents.