Reply To: Let’s all talk about The Winchesters Pilot (S1 E1)
Hey, Y’all!!
I really tried to go into this series with no expectations, and to allow Jensen and Robbie to execute their vision and tell the story they wanted to tell. For me, the result was borderline. I don’t know whether to be optimistic or not at this point, but it left me a bit flat.
First, there were some things I liked:
I respect the creative minds behind this show. I was glad to see McG and a few other familiar names.
I liked the little shout-outs and Easter eggs that these guys knew Supernatural fans would notice. Robbie has always been good at that. Some of them were subtle, like David Nutter’s name on a file folder, Samuel Campbell’s initials on his gear bag, etc. I loved hearing “Americana” at the end when John’s mother is telling John that when he has his own kids, he’ll understand how you’ll do anything for them. “Americana” will forever be Dean’s theme song for me. It felt so appropriate right then.
I like John’s mother. They’re implying that, since Henry disappeared when John was a kid, it was his mother who taught him about fixing cars. How COOL is THAT!? I LOVE that. I also love how this show is approaching John as a character. As much as I loved Supernatural, a lot of fans walked away with a negative (and often unfair) opinion about John. I’ve heard Jensen and even JDM comment more than once that they’d like to do something about that. I like that, although John is clearly not in charge or driving the story at this point, we’re experiencing a lot of the action through his eyes and being allowed to immerse ourselves in his perspective as he returns from a horrible war and starts trying to sort out his life. Right now, John is the most relatable character in the show for me.
I like the tone of the show — glad to see some classic rock return, and I think the locations they chose for filming capture the right atmosphere for small-town Kansas and New Orleans.
To the show’s credit, the list of things I didn’t like is much shorter:
I don’t like Mary. She’s rude, abrasive, and comes across too much like Buffy the vampire slayer. She says she wants to get out of the life, but she’s clearly the one running her own little Scooby gang, since they all seem to fall in line and do what she says. I don’t find her to be as authentic or relatable as John is.
The front end of the episode felt too clunky with exposition. I get that they have to tell us a lot of things so we understand where we are, but it didn’t feel “organic”.
I’m on the fence about Carlos and the librarian. They’re coming across as typical, CW-plastic, stereotypical characters. I hope they get better.
Some of the elements concerning the demons were just silly. We saw one demon literally fall into a vat of holy water, but he was barely singed. But another demon was SOOOOO incapacitated by a few sprinkles from a water gun that the demon literally writhed on the ground long enough to be surrounded by a salt circle and exorcised by a novice. Really!?!!? What happened to demons using telekinesis to fling people across the room or pin them to the wall? The demons just seemed weak and NOT at all scary in this show. The loup-garou was so-so; a dude in a suit…okay, fine I guess.
Anyway, I said I’d give it 3 or 4 episodes to convince me, and I still plan to do that. I just hope it gets better quickly. I SO want it to do well, for Jensen’s sake. But so far, it hasn’t grabbed me.
kate