Dear friends: I hope you will permit me this one-off recap format change. The fact is that this past week was not so much an SPN episode as a Padalecki/Ackles cameo laden backdoor pilot for the series Supernatural: Bloodlines which hopes to get a fall season from the CW. Thus, I don’t have many favorite “SPN moments”—but I do have a lot of questions. Please let me preface this by saying the following: I think the premise of Bloodlines is intriguing and has true potential, I went into it and remain very open-minded, and I want to at least try to support anything SPN (and their amazing writers, directors and production crew). Truthfully, I think the episode was a bit rough, but almost all pilots are, and there have been many shows with so-so pilots that have gone on to be very good. And while I expected them to honor SPN canon, I also realized that this show plans to be a standalone entity that cannot always be governed by SPN rules. All that said, here’s what I want to know.
1. Why not create a spin-off with an established character?
I voted last week for a spin-off set in Sioux Falls with our own Jody Mills (teamed up with Alex, her new not-vamp charge) as badass chicks fighting supernatural crime. I’d love to see what Garth is up to after finding puppy love and starting his new life as a family man whom, for all of our sake, I pray is still fighting the good fight. As Entertainment Weekly suggested, I would have also enjoyed a spin-off featuring Krissy Chambers and her buddies (as last seen in Season Eight’s Freaks and Geeks) as teen hunters, or, and this would have thrilled me, a prequel series about young John Winchester featuring the handsome and talented Matt Cohen. Hell, my favorite idea yet is in their list: a show featuring all of the characters we have loved and lost, verbally and, perhaps, physically duking it out in Heaven (and probably Hell.) The biggest problem I saw with Bloodlines is that I needed an established character to hook me in—someone to care about right away to so that I could be patient through the set-up. Calling this a “spin-off” seems a tad disingenuous. It is more a standalone show, which is not necessarily a bad thing at all. It was just confusing to fans who expected more SPN relation and less canon derivative independence. And speaking of that…
2. How did Sam and Dean not know about the monster families controlling Chicago?
Seriously, I had a problem with this. The boys, and, especially, Bobby, had no idea about this? Their nationwide network of hunter friends didn’t know? Monsters never let it slip? They didn’t hear about this at all while Dean was in town eating delicious Death pizza? I know, I know. I’m probably being nitpicky about a show that requires suspension of belief enough that I wholeheartedly accept that Dorothy is real and Dean can become a real life Doctor Doolittle. What can I say, beloved show of mine? You raised my expectations.
3. Why are sirens one of the five ruling families?
According to TVGuide.com the five ruling families will not include, surprisingly, vampires, despite their appearance in the pilot. The five families will include werewolves, shapeshifters, djinn, ghouls and…sirens? Really? I’m wondering about this. First of all, vamps have been an integral part of the Superverse. They have appeared in many episodes—as recently as last week. We met their Alpha. We even watched Dean become one, temporarily.
Sirens have appeared in precisely one episode: Season Four’s “Sex and Violence”. Sirens are scary and manipulative and even need a very specific weapon and method to kill them, so on paper they are great monsters to feature. Lord knows I would love to see more powerful women on an SPN show. But I’m leery about female characters whose prominent feature is using sex as a weapon. I am very interested in seeing where they go with this. Based on what I’ve seen on SPN, I would have preferred the Amazons taking this role. Hopefully, Bloodlines can prove my fears unfounded.
4. Is werewolf change driven by emotion and not the lunar calendar canon now?
Werewolf woman Juliet, I mean Violet, was able to change at will when her long lost love David was threatened by Weirdo the Monster Slayer. How is that possible? It has been said to me that this is the rule now, because in the Season Six episode “All Dogs Go To Heaven” Sam mentions that when he and Samuel were hunting werewolves they witnessed changes outside the full moon. And we saw Garth wolf out when his ladylove and his friends were about to be killed in an act of Ragnarokian devotion. I just want it confirmed: is this the new rule? Because, to me, that changes the balance completely. IMO, monsters cannot become too powerful, or it makes their defeat even less believable. Speaking of which…
5. How are shapeshifters changing without shedding their skin?
It must be said—the VFX team once again did an amazing job in making this process look cool. And shapeshifter David had a funny exchange with Ennis about him and his family.
Ennis: “Who are you?”
David: My name is David Lassiter. I’m a shapeshifter.
Ennis: You’re a what?
David: We shift…our shape. It’s kind of all there in the name.
And I know we’ve seen shifters change without the gooey, flesh-colored remnants left behind. But admit it: Season One’s “Skin” and Season Six’s “Two and a Half Men” were made infinitely cooler with the splattery grossness. Again, it’s a balance issue. What chance do you have against a monster that powerful, that can change on a whim? The need to retreat to the sewers gave this monster a bit of a vulnerability that made it that much easier for hunters to defeat them. At least sometimes.
6. Why are Ennis and Sam’s hunter beginnings so similar?
Both had a normal life with a woman they loved and wanted to marry. Both lost their loves in the supernatural fight against monsters. Both have a missing father that knows more about the struggle than they do, and both of their fathers are absent and will need to be searched for.
I wonder about that choice. Are we supposed to relate Ennis to Sam? Ennis seems a likeable enough character, and I can see investing in him. But he is not Sam, and never can or should be, so the connection doesn’t allow Ennis his own origin story. I hope as Bloodlines progresses that Ennis is more fleshed out and has his own tale to tell. That would be far better for the show, in my opinion.
7. Is David the new Dean in terms of great one-liners?
So if Ennis is the Sam of Bloodlines, it stands to reason that David is the Dean. At least in the case of snappy comebacks. My favorite lines from this handsome, witty duo?
Dean, to the cop: “Listen, detective, your perp fits a certain profile. I could go into detail, but I’m not going to.”
Dean, to David: “All right. You’re with me, Romeo.” David retorts: “Sounds good, Buffy.”
Dean: “So, you’re telling me there are five monster families that run Chicago? What is this, Godfather with fangs?”
David: “What’s with the NRA Christmas in here?”
Add in the former shapeshifter definition and it seems that David is our new quipster. There were some very humorous pop culture zingers interspersed into the drama of the episode, and that was welcome. That’s the writing I expect from Supernatural, and I hope that Bloodlines will continue along as merrily in that tradition.
8. How did a mere human, even one with silver Freddie Krueger style hands, take on an entire bar full of monsters?
Okay, I am giving writer Andrew Dabb major props for including this in the script. Sharp silver hand blades as a human weapon against the creatures of the night. Genius. But they don’t imbue the wearer with super strength and agility. He managed to infiltrate a bar filled with baddies and not only make it out alive but kill a bunch? He managed to push a girl against a wall and instantly kill her? Unless he was hopped up on a cool steroid/amphetamine combo I am going to have to really, REALLY, suspend disbelief. Or call shenanigans. And now that we’re talking about the superhuman…
9. How did Sam watch the killing of a human being and not shake in his shoes?
Dean, I get. He’s changing from the Mark of Cain such that he can identify a bag of parts labeled “Susan” with a smirk and a bit of a chuckle.
Causing Sam to make an adorably disgusted face.
But when Ennis gets his revenge by shooting the man who accidentally killed his fiancée dead? Right in front of the boys? Why doesn’t this bother Sam more? Is it because he thinks it will prevent the oncoming monster mafia battle? Is it something more sinister? I give the writers and actors more credit than believing it is an oversight. So what gives?
10. Why doesn’t the PadaHair get its own starring credit?
I don’t know if Supernatural: Bloodlines will receive a season pickup. What I do know? The PadaHair is still one of my favorite entities in an episode of Supernatural. Period. I mean, how glorious is this?!?!?!
Swoooooon.
I sincerely hope the CW doesn’t pull a FOX and kill a show before it really gets a chance to find its footing. As I said, I think Supernatural: Bloodlines has potential unto itself, and I am curious to see if the SPN universe can be successfully integrated into it. What are your thoughts? Do you think Bloodlines deserves a chance? Let us know in the comments!
Sherry
I agree with a lot of what you said. I was really bothered by the shapeshifter not shedding it’s skin. Aside from the alpha shapeshifter the Supernatural universe has shapeshifters always shedding their skin. As far as the werewolf I was able to work that out in my brain but assuming that Violet was born a werewolf instead of turned. This was also apart of the episode with Garth called Sharp teeth.
I know that the CW is trying for a younger audience with this plot. But then why not a series about spin-off featuring Krissy Chambers and her buddies. That would draw in a younger audience. Almost how do they managing hunting while living a “normal” life in college. There was also an interesting possible relationship between Krissy and Aidan.
I didn’t have a problem with this being a stand alone series I think that is a good thing. I had a problem with setting a series in the Supernatural world but not following the rules of that world. Like you said these changes make the monsters too powerful.
Just like you I’m bugged by Sam and Dean not knowing about the monster families of Chicago. In addition to what you have said Sam and Dean are also camped out at the Men of letters headquarters and seriously the Men of Letters didn’t know about monster families in Chicago? Because the David and Mango have an ill father meaning that family has been in control of Chicago for a while.
This series might be salvageable but the writers to need remember what made the original so popular and it was the relationship between the two brothers. So if Ennis and David are the Sam and Dean of this series then work needs to be done to establish that connection. Maybe with David helping Ennis from inside the family. I still think they picked the wrong story to base a series around. Hopefully they can pull this off. I want to support a SPN spinoff. But if it’s not good I’m not wasting my time.
Marty
“the writers to need remember what made the original so popular and it was the relationship between the two brothers….”
I think there was more to it than that.
I remember watching the first episode and looking up “Woman in White” on the internet afterwards.
A lot of supernatural fantasy shows tend to focus on the most commonplace monsters – vampires, werewolves, ghosts, demons and witches. Others, like Buffy or Angel, tend to simply make up the monsters as they go along. For the first few episodes, Supernatural expanded their horizon by borrowing from many other mythologies, folklore and urban legends – making their interpretation of the Supernatural world particularly clever.
Then there is the fact that this was a show-on-the-road. In a lot of other series which focus on one location, it starts to seem after a while that all the monsters live in that place. Which makes it difficult to believe that no one in the town would notice their existence. Or, if they are equally frequent in other places, then no one is trying to stop them there like our resident hero does here.
So, even though I agree that the brothers’ relationship is the bedrock, there are many other aspects that contributed to it being a great show – none of which was present in the new one.
eysis
Maybe the purebred shapeshifters dont need to shed their skin. Only shapeshifters who have breeded with humans.
Marty
Then why can’t they change their clothes with their shape – like the Alpha Shapeshifter?
Tami
Honestly? I really, really think they could have done a better job. As you pointed out there were a lot of problems with this first episode, problems that should have been addressed and fixed before it aired. I can’t believe that one human would have been able to cause that much damage. Even with the lights out, all of those monsters can see in the dark … it was asking me to suspend my belief more than I could.
I don’t like Enis and Sam having the same background, it’s been done-multiple times. There are about a thousand other things they could have done with that.
Without running through the whole list again, you pretty much touched on all of the main problems.
As much as I wanted to support this, I can’t. I really feel they could have done a much better “spin-off.”
NK
I agree with everything you said , what really bothered me the most was that Sam and dean ,two brothers entering the family business of saving people and hunting things, deprived of their normal childhood and eight seasons of doing this, so all their struggle was in vain and in reality their killing all these monsters since 8 seasons meant nothing because a whole mafia of monsters just happened to escape their attention cuz they were hunting in all the wrong places??? What about the hunters network like Garth and others ? I thought the hunters were so well connected ! We already know most of the people they saved like Sarah were already killed by crowly last season so why are they bothering at all? The second thing that bothered me was that monsters are now supposed to be the good guys?? How was The Freddy Kruger character different from hunters?? I did not like Ennis shooting him to death at the end and am sorry I can not have sympathy for monsters. The last thing we need in the supernatural world is humans living in harmony with monsters
NK
And violet looked as clueless as Alicia Silverstone in clueless!
Faizal Nizam
I haven’t watched this episode. Maybe I will come back later to write better comments.
mary clagett
What u said!!
Nicole Lawing
Noooo Bloodlines was horrible! Do a prequel called “The Hunters” with a young Bobby and John Winchester and everyone else in the late 60’s early’s-70’s as young hunters. That would be wicked awesome
Joelie
I second this.^
Dee
That would be wicked! @Nicole Lawing
Adina Horowitz
You pointed out pretty much all I had a problem with especially the already established characters. I was really hoping it would have been Garth. I really did like Nathaniel Buzolic’s (David)’s one liners. I think they don’t have vamps in there because it would be to “The Originals”. Which is another great show. But I too have concerns that it may not measure up to our SPN standards.
Marty
Garth is not pretty enough to lead his own CW show.
Brittany S
I completely agree with everything you said. I was disappointed in Bloodlines and was confused throughout the majority of the episode. I think the writers tried to include way too much information into one episode. I also agree with the idea of having at least one established character in Bloodlines. Shoot, I would even like to see the detective from Maryland in The Usual Suspects transfer to Chicago and try to deal with the families. They have to bring one familiar face back to pull more fans into the show and truly make it a spinoff.
Linda Hardingham
I hated it. 🙁 It bored me to tears. Off all the fabulously rich material to spring from they chose, what, non-entities. I wholeheartedly agree with your point regarding using existing characters.
wendy
I completely agree with you, Linda. Doubt I’ll watch–if it gets picked up.
Jordyn Redmond
Please no. I was very disappointed with bloodlines. While they tried, I think it would be too distasteful to start spn: bloodlines. I love supernatural, but I don’t knew if I would watch the bloodlines version. A different idea for a “spin-off” like the previously mentioned ideas would be 10000x better. I say can it before it starts to save money, time, effort, etc.
amy
I think it would have been better if they had left our guys right out of it… their being there put way too many holes in the story…
Stacy
I agree with you. The way they “inserted” Sam and Dean into the storyline was sloppy. I kind of wondered what their purpose was in this episode. Other than to let you know that if you are tuned in for Supernatural, but it’s not really Supernatural.
Flopi
Agreeeeeeeeeee!!!
The Parallels where just pathetic, the storyline is trite and all the soup opera crap is really unnecessary.
And WHY creating new poor characters if there are LOTS of spn characters that deserve a damn spin-off.
i’d rather see a bobby-rufus spin-off than this.
i literally just watched 30 minutes of the episode because of the handsome blonde, but the story was just BAD.
Dacia
It was ok…but it just seems to me like some of the other “monster” shows out there. Families warring against each other for control. I still will check it out but it did not really get my attention. Id preferred if they did a show about the Men of Letters and how they became. You could show waht they fought and studied etc.
Sherry
Dacia I really like the idea of the Men of Letter. They could show us how Henry Winchester joined the Men of Letters. Plus it would be based in the 1940s and 1950. That would be unique and interesting on TV. Instead of this overdone plot line.
Sandy
I want to say I would prefer to give this show a chance. But I was somewhat hypercritical from the start because I did not like the spinoff idea especially with the monster crime families. Then when I saw it, it reminded me of any other generic show on the CW that is not Supernatural. It felt like an episode of “The Originals.”
It was like a soap opera. I don’t think I will be watching this show although I will probably give it one more chance just to be sure.
Mayu
My vote was for a spinoff starring Garth and the GhostFacers. The biggest problem with this… it had nothing that was reminiscent of Supernatural except the title. It was more like “The Originals”. The plot was slow moving, the characters had no chemistry, you can’t call it original since it basically does what “the Originals” kind of already does… you can’t call it Supernatural cause it doesn’t really have that familiarity to it… It was just lame. Either do it so that the cast is different but the theme is familiar (like NCIS LA did) or do a spinoff with Supernatural characters that already have a fanbase (Like Buffy’s spinoff Angel did). I can’t see this show getting picked up. It would be a waste of money because there just isn’t enough to catch the attention of Supernatural fans. Like you said: Shape shifters that didn’t need to shed skin? Since when? that part really bugged me. And I’m glad I’m not the only one who picked up on the fact – How did Sam and Dean NOT know about Chicago?
JR
I wasn’t thrilled with the episode and will probably skip the show if it moves to series. I will probably do well with the folks that already watch the other popular shows on CW. Had a twilight/vamp diaries feel to me (although I say that without having much knowledge of either of those.) and I suspect it is targeted to that audience.
Why no vampires as a crime family? Guessing because the CW already has enough vampire themed shows.
Niri
I agree that there is possibility here… But it needs a lot more work.
Besides the daunting task that was set up with not carrying over a pre-established character (which has been covered quite well in this article). Two things really stood out as problems in what the episode offered.
Ennis as a hunter/lead makes no sense. What we’ve been given is not enough to invest in him as a character, let alone understand his motivation. The monster families being on the edge of a all out war makes no sense. Even if they’ve been able to keep quiet all these years, one thing has been universal about monsters – keep a low profile so you don’t attract hunters. The species alpha’s have been threatened by hunters, and yet you’re going to tell me these 5 families think they’re above that?
It really seemed like the writers were given a list of things that were required to put into the show , and just told to ‘work with it’, and this was the result. Bloodlines could greatly benefit with another ‘supernatural’ based episode before delving into a full sole-based series. Personally, this didn’t even give me enough to care to see the pilot.
anj
I would have preferred a prequel one from the Winchester line. idk I guess we will see.
Stephen Sarniento
It kind of reminded me of a show that didn’t make it to regular tv that syfy channel showed, it only had 2 seasons called special unit 2!
Lisa Doudera
Too much drama not enough action! The boys not reacting to a human being murdered shocked me. It reminded me of The Vampire Diaries, only not as interesting. It’s definitely not a spin off! They should have made a show with our favorite peeps! What where they thinking? I agree with you.
Darlene Lamar
Bloodlines made absolutely no sense.. If they are going to do a Supernatural spinoff called Bloodlines then it should be about Sam’s and Dean’s Bloodlines… Personally I’d love to see a show set in the future where maybe one of Dean’s one night stands had a kid who grew up and somehow got into hunting.. It’d be awesome if it was a daughter and somehow she wound up with Cass then Cass could finally ‘officially’ be family…
Gabriel
I just wanted to address at question number 9… Why didn’t Sam react to Ennis killing that creepy guy? Well I believe he relates to Ennis on what happened to Jessica and Sam wanting to kill the murderer since season 1, perhaps he understood Ennis rage and thirst for revenge. Also, guys and gals, we have to be more honest… Sam has seen a lot of things and experienced a lot, like Dean would say “It’s the gig, it gets to you” And more on, if you were in Ennis shoes; holding that gun, what would you have done? I think Sam thought about that.
Stanko Vincetic
The third or 4 generation of warewouls can change when ever they wish soo gouse for shapeshiters how you did not know that but I believe in bloodlines and they should give them I season but I don’t won’t too lose SPN i hope it will be 10more seasons and Dean is the best by the way. I LOBE SUPERNATURAL and you gays very much
Jenn
Yes, on so many counts, and very rough, iMO too.
1. Why not create a spin-off with an established character? Roger That! Sadly, my annoyed knee jerk reaction is- with female protagonists?! Yeah right!, Never happen with SPN. But to be fair on the why new characters,I felt a lot of charisma coming off Ennis, I liked him right away. I also liked the two “reluctant monsters” David and Violet and saw potential there.
2. How did Sam and Dean not know about the monster families controlling Chicago? Yeah, I am not sure how plausible that is. It’s not even “out of the boy’s jurisdiction” I could perhaps let it slide if it wasn’t the mid-west.
3. Why are sirens one of the five ruling families? Definitely some SPN warning signs in how they treat the ladies. What I think has potential and simultaneously annoys me is 5 rich white families trying to carve up Chicago a little finer for themselves. What could word is the allegory in it , 5 rich white families fighting to carve up the city a little finer among themselves are monsters, though as much as I like SPN, that might be a bit, well… it’s not really their thing is it.
4. Is werewolf change driven by emotion and not the lunar calendar canon now?
My daughter got annoyed right away on this, she actually will be happy to hear the two instances you reminded me about. We talked about the concern about spin-off that don’t follow the universe they are supposed to be from. I said, you know if the Boys acknowledge never seeing it before I’ll be satisfied. (Or, because of you reminding me of Garth, and Sam’s comment, mentioning those moments) It’s my opinion, make a separate show, and take your chances- I mean most likely fans will give it a chance, but again, no familiar characters and doesn’t spin out the SPNverse wider, a little like cheating calling it a spin off.
5. How are shapeshifters changing without shedding their skin? Just, yes… Maybe they are just too wealthy for such an uncouth thing.
6. Why are Ennis and Sam’s hunter beginnings so similar? This I don’t have a problem with at all. My daughter questioned it, thought it was lazy. I felt it was not to be “the Sam”, it was for Sam to relate very closely and have the conversation that he had with him. The unequivocal, get out and stay out of Hunting.
7. Is David the new Dean in terms of great one-liners? It’s a tough job….
8. How did a mere human, even one with silver Freddie Krueger style hands, take on an entire bar full of monsters? Yeah I am calling plot hole, too. All they needed to do what give a little more, PCP, Steroids, something. He was nuts for revenge, I’d buy it.
9. How did Sam watch the killing of a human being and not shake in his shoes? Yeah, I might have to take another look, to see if Jared tried to play it silently since he wasn’t given any lines on that front. He and Jensen try so hard to fix character problems all the time. (The writers should be better than that- they have actually swapped lines before- sighting “that’s a Dean line” or something, and changed important actions because “they wouldn’t do that”)
10. Why doesn’t the PadaHair get its own starring credit? ROBBED, that’s what it is!
Shirley Foster
Bloodlines needs a chance.Every show has to have a few Blunders before it gets off the ground And people need to understand this Hang in there Keep watching Until it becomes this great show that we all know it will be.
Sherry
I believe articles like this one help the writers. Because they need to feedback to know where the blunders are. They could still bring in Krissy and crew to help Ennis with the monster family thing. David could be the undercover connection to the shape-shifters and Violet to the werewolves. Cause some tension and danger within the families. That would improve the show going forward because Krissy would add a connection to Supernatural and a strong female leader. Plus they could work an Aidan and Ennis triangle for the Drama thing the CW loves. Will they do that? I don’t know Sam and Dean did say they were sending in hunters. Which hunters do they know who are still alive?
Marty
I think the show will need much more than simply including Krissy’s gang to really become an SPN spinoff.
One of the most basic principles of Supernatural universe is that monsters are not like your run-of-the-mill criminals. They can’t simply choose not be evil and be done with it. They have certain overwhelming drives that almost always govern their actions and overcoming those instincts is extremely difficult and requires great self-restraint. We see is everytime a vampire hears focuses on someone’s neck or a werewolf hears a heartbeat. All the sympathetic monsters we’ve seen previously have had to struggle with this – and as we’ve seen before, sometimes it isn’t enough. So, showing that the protagonists of Bloodlines are simply above all that does not fit the theme of the original show.
Similarly, hunters on Supernatural are not dumb idiots who roll into town only when someone shouts “a monster did it”. They all have different ways of figuring out if something Supernatural is going on – and if Bloodlines continues with its premise of five warring families, then expect to see a very high body count via specific monster manners. And that certainly should draw the attention of hunters even if Sam and Dean neglect to tell anyone about it.
And let’s not get into the whole deviations from established mythology.
Sara
As the title implies I believe all these monsters were born and not made. Having such strong bloodline, I believe such self control was taught at an early age, behavior therapy perhaps. I’m sure the writers can explain more when they have more than an hour to tell their tale.
Marty
But they don’t have self-control – that’s the problem. Julian and Sal are literally at each-others’ throats the moment they lay eyes on each-other. Margo and Julian are eager to start a war. Even David, the supposed good one, changes shape for the flimsiest of reasons – like stealing exam papers. And if the human body parts in the nightclub are any indication, these monsters don’t limit themselves to animal portions either. And it has been established before how addicted and out-of-control the taste of human flesh can make them. This is simply not the behavior of someone who has been taught the value of self-control. Besides, we’ve seen pure blood monsters before – like Garth’s in-laws – and they don’t have an easy time of self-restraint either.
Here, these people are presented as the typical rich mobster children who’ve been told that anything they want is theirs and they shouldn’t hesitate to take it. Some – like Margo and Julian – take that message to heart. Others, like Violet and David – choose moderation and restraint. However, the defining characteristic of monsters on Supernatural – a fundamental need that drives them – is equally absent from all of them.
Peggy
I’m just say it was OK, nothing like I expected, I agree with most of what you said also I was hoping to see a character from supernatural there to establish credibility I’m not sure this shows going to work. Disappointed really
Cameron Jewett
I’m just pissed off Supernatural is coming to an end but it needs to. Just don’t fuck it up!
Cameron Jewett
Want another 10 seasons. Sod the spin off
Marty
Here are some answers for you:
1. Why not create a spin-off with an established character?
Ans: Because the CW doesn’t want a Supernatural Spinoff – not really. In their minds, what their target audience wants is a ensemble cast, composed largely of non-human protagonists who want to be “normal”, human love interests who understand and support them no matter what they do and lots of excuses for parties. Currently on CW we have The Vampire Diaries, The Originals, The Tomorrow People, Star-Crossed and Beauty and the Beast – all of which are built on similar premise. Bloodlines is just another such script in their development room and they tacked on Supernatural in front of it to gain the loyal SPN fans.
2. How did Sam and Dean not know about the monster families controlling Chicago?
Ans: Because the monsters are smart, subtle, genre-savvy and know the importance of keeping their existence a secret. They understand how hunters work – they know that headlines like “animal attacks”, “evisceration” or “drained of blood” would bring swarms of hunters down on them. They have all the right cops and morticians on payroll to help them fake the evidence reports. They control the media to make sure such incidents go unreported. They are always on lookout for hunters rolling into town and the moment they get whiff of one, they set up a patzi to take the fall. All in all, they understand the paramount importance of secrecy and have multiple layers of protection and diversionary tactics to maintain the facade.
Just kidding. I’d love to believe this, but based on the show, I just can’t. If the show does get picked up, I expect that the only hunters we see there would be bigoted, uneducated rednecks who can’t recognize a monster unless its feeding right in front of them. On this new show, I expect hunters to get the same treatment that they got on Vampire diaries – instead of being tormented, but essentially noble humans smart enough to figure out complex patterns to track down their prey, they’d instead come across as violent, gun-toting psychopaths who all just want to “kill all the monsters”.
3. Why are sirens one of the five ruling families?
Ans: This I find rather believable. Sirens can make people fall in love with them, so its easy to believe that they can get in a position where they control the city’s influential humans – like lawyers or politicians. If they resist their obsession with having these people “prove” their love by killing others, then they can hold on to the power indefinitely. Also, sirens can be gender-neutral – given that form of a loved one doesn’t have to be female. In fact, this could’ve been an interesting concept for the episode to explore – sirens, ghouls and shifters, all of them can change their gender, so the normal gender dynamics and stereotypical gender roles should all have simply gone out of the window. But, we didn’t get that here.
And I’m fine with vamps not being one of the families. There are simply too many shows on TV about vampires as it is.
4. Is werewolf change driven by emotion and not the lunar calendar canon now?
Ans: Yes – that’s because bloodlines decided to throw out Supernatural canon and make its own. Like I said, the only reason they are calling it Supernatural spinoff is to attract SPN fans – they have no intention of staying true to the mythology.
5. How are shapeshifters changing without shedding their skin?
Ans: See above.
6. Why are Ennis and Sam’s hunter beginnings so similar?
Ans: Because the writers couldn’t come up with anything better in way of a tragic origin story. It was either – “kill the parents” or “kill the love of his life” or “kill his partner/best friend” or “kill his kids”. Killing kids or partner would require Ennis to be older, which wouldn’t fit CW’s requirement of “pretty young people”. And they need the option of bringing out his parents in future as a “surprising twist”. So it had to be his girlfriend – the 2-D character who who existed for the sole purpoe of dying to give the hero his purpose.
However, that is where Sam’s and Ennis’ origin similarity ends. Even in Supernatural pilot, there was an undercurrent of Sam’s destiny – his past of his mother dying the same way and his desire to escape the hunting life. We don’t have that with Ennis. The writers have used the same idea – a loved one dies in a manner related to something supernatural and that’s why you get into hunting – for a lot of hunters we’ve seen – The Winchesters, Bobby, Gordon, Isaac and Tamara, Krissy Chambers, Krissy’s dad, Krissy’s posse etc. So, Ennis’ origin story is not just similar to Sam’s it is similar to that of a lot of hunters out there.
7. Is David the new Dean in terms of great one-liners?
Ans: Every show needs a resident quipster – the funny guy, the snark-knight, the one making all the inappropriate jokes. This show seems to have David filling that role. But as with Sam and Ennis, that doesn’t make him the Dean equivalent of the show.
8. How did a mere human, even one with silver Freddie Krueger style hands, take on an entire bar full of monsters?
Ans: Because the plot called for it. He was strong and badass in order to be setup as a believable villain, but when that need was over he was overpowered by the same girl he had subdued and kidnapped a few hours ago.
9. How did Sam watch the killing of a human being and not shake in his shoes?
Ans: Why did Sam and Dean let a hunter – one of their own – be killed? Why didn’t they kill the shapeshifter and the werewolf, when their next step was going to be going after the families? Why didn’t they atleast capture and question them about the monsters in the city? Why did they instantly trust the shapeshifter when their usual response is to be wary of all Supernatural creatures? Why did they let him ride along? (Because he wouldn’t tell them Violet’s phone number? Please, he might as well have threatened to hold his breath). Why did they let Ennis – the emotional rookie – come along when they had easily ditched him earlier?
The answer is the same – because that would defeat the point of the episode. Bloodlines to setup all the pretty, young people with great hair as the good guys and whatever they do as automatically the “right thing”. They also wanted to establish that anyone who has or is trying to hurt them or kill them is the bad guy by definition – no matter how valid his reasons might be. And if they have to destroy the Winchesters’ characters in order to do it, then so be it.
“I think Supernatural: Bloodlines has potential unto itself…”
I think it has potential only if it stays true to the original series – in spirit and in mythological canon. Otherwise it’d be no different than all other such shows where different factions of non-human characters are fighting each-other for power wile a few “good” guys try to stop them – like Vampire Diaries, Originals. True Blood etc.
criscross
It annoyed me for all the reasons you state above. The biggest being Ennis killing a human. That’s not what Supernatural is about. They tried… it failed. Start again. How about the beginnings of the MoL? They’ve already got the bunker set to work with. Gil is charismatic and able to carry a series surely. The life and times of Henry Winchester. Yes, I’d watch that. 🙂
Laura
Definitely has potential,I’m interested to see where Bloodlines takes us.
Leah
Well the shifters that shed there skin where “skin walkers” not “shap shifters” and Violet was born a werewolf not turned.
Brian Rubin
Thank you for this, pretty much hit all the beefs I had with this waste of an episode.
Kelly @ Turned up to Eleven
I feel very similar to you on all of this – I was not a huge fan of the show, David was to me, the saving grace with his one liners, then again I’m a HUGE fan of Dean (Still love Sam, but Dean holes my fictional character heart).
*** Sam not getting more bent out of shape about the killing of a human, I think maybe he’s become slightly desensitized this season – didn’t they JUST have to kill humans on “Thinman” I was SHOCKED when they took out that kid that was causing all the upheaval. And then again shocked that they had another human death in this one.
I will be honest, I was NOT a fan of most of this show. The acting was so overdone, the teen drama – I think I’m too displaced being a 30 something, I hope it will get picked up and I will give it a few episodes to see if it grows on me. I too wish we could have gotten an actual loved character from SPN to put into a new world. It worked for Angel, and it worked for other spin-offs in the past, maybe he’ll run into some old familiar loves but for now I feel the same as you… how did they not know about the Monster Mafia, now is it that all of this was under their noses…
Keep up the great work – I enjoy reading every weekend! I can’t believe this season is almost over, it’s killing me.
Marty
“didn’t they JUST have to kill humans on “Thinman”…”
I don’t think you intended it to come off like this but I’ll reply anyway.
The guy in Thinman was a psychopath killing for fame and notoriety. As far as Winchesters were concerned, he was as bad as any other monster they’d faced. The guy here was a hunter, one of their own, doing what they do. The girl’s death was an accident (seriously, who dies from being thrown into a shed?). That is why the Winchesters standing by while he is gunned down seems OOC.
Sara
I can see why vampires wouldn’t be one of the five ruling families. In the SPN universe vampired are nomads and stay hidden, if memory serves correctly hunters even went a long while without seeing vampires and thought they were extinct.
I can also see how we are expected to believe the hunters didn’t know about Chicago being ruled by monsters. If the police know and take care of it then it’s like the city has a bunch of Bobby Singers covering and making up explanations keeping the secrets confined to the city and whoever the cops couldn’t silence I’m sure the monsters took care of.
IMO the SPN universe has lots to work with and no one knows everything about monsters (except Eve) and the varations to the legends we saw are noted in books and can be believable.
Marty
“If the police know and take care of it then it’s like the city has a bunch of Bobby Singers covering and making up explanations keeping the secrets confined to the city and whoever the cops couldn’t silence I’m sure the monsters took care of.”
That would have been a very good explanation IF there weren’t too many indications to the contrary.
1. There was a huge massacre at the night-club – but no one came to clean-up the evidence immediately. I’d think that if there were a bunch of Bobby Singers keeping the secret, their first priority would be to contain the fallout.
2. They couldn’t contain the story because, clearly, the Winchesters heard of it and came to check it out.
3. No one cleaned out the evidence – the place was full of human organs labeled according to the people to whom they belonged – which was what let the Winchesters to the conclusion that it was a monster bar.
4. Pretending to be FBI is almost standard hunter protocol -but no one called the families to say “Hey, two FBI guys just rolled into town. Watch out, they could be hunters.”
5. If the monster families had the morgue people on payroll – which would be a good idea, given that’s where evidence reports often get written – then it’d make sense that those people would keep their trap shut. But here, the morgue dude tells the two FBI dudes that Julian paid 3 grand to take a look at the body.
6. The hunter in this episode commented that he’d believed for years that his son died in an animal attack – which could be an example of “making up explanations” that you talked about. One problem with that, we’ve seen it before that “animal attack in big city” is practically a beacon for hunters indicating that something supernatural is going on here. They probably have those very words on their search alerts – right alongside “electrical storms”, “‘cattle mutilations” and “closed room murders”.
So, if there is a network of agents working to cover up the existence of the five monster families, they are doing such a crappy job of it that its a wonder that the hunters didn’t figure it out anyway.
Tamara Caldwell
I watched with an open mind & wanted to like it… But I didn’t. I had several “hmm” moments myself but I didn’t care enough to even rewatch the episode. Basically, I hated it, won’t be watching if it does get picked up.
Thiago Pad
I think the David’s personality more like with Sam and personality of Ennis the nearest of Dean. This became clear to me at the time that Dean and Ennis talk and act the same way when leaving the car…
Aidan
My personal opinion is that the shape-shifters are second generation and there for do no need to shed their skin. I mean the shape-shifters are a family, I think its safe to assume that their father is actually their biological father and not just their adopted father
, I think the werewolves are second generation and by their own nature have the ability to half-shift and that is the reason that they can turn when they wish.
Also, I think that the human had other mechanics in his claw hands that helped him dispatch monsters, also the silver definitely helped.
The reason that the sirens are the other monster family and not the vampires is because in Supernatural, the vampires tend to be drifters.
Now that you mention it, I am confused about how the hunters never discovered the city. I think it might be that the families hid the bodies or maybe the werewolves are all second generation so they can control their transformation, the vampires aren’t a family, I don’t know what the ghouls do, the djinn hid the bodies and the shifters don’t eat people.
Sam has killed humans in the past too. Just because they are human doesn’t mean they are not a monster. Sam hates himself because he thinks he is a monster and at the beginning of the season, he did start to try and off himself.
I think the whole show is the new Dean because honest to god that whole show is so sassy I can’t even, right now.
All in all, I was actually happy with it, and would like to see more, because after all the pain supernatural has caused, this has to be less painful, right…*laughs nervously*
10 Great Moments from Supernatural Season 10, Episode 6, “Ask Jeeves”
[…] pureblood shifter and why it doesn’t shed its skin. But honestly? One of the reasons I found “Bloodlines” less than satisfying is that I missed the shifters of the early seasons. They weren’t as […]