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Reviews
The Winchesters: Masters of War (2022)
Emotional, painful, wonderful
I loved this episode a lot. It made me cry but obviously that's what we're going for!
I remembered when this show was first announced there was a fear that it'd gloss over the kind of person John wound up being in the main show and from what we heard from stories from other characters.
I hope this episode negated any of those fears.
And that's not to say those with PTSD always grow up to be like how John was, especially because we know that John's going to get screwed around with and we don't know what cosmic twists and turns are going to happen to exacerbate his internal demons. But I like that for the first three episodes, apart from a few moments, you see this cute, puppy-dog kinda guy learning how to hunt and making his new friends and going along for this adventure -
But now we're confronted with the fact that he indeed faced horrors in the middle as a child really because he illegally signed into the war too young, and that combined with other issues stemming from the mystery of his father growing up, seemingly combined into what we saw in this episode.
Because while watching Supernatural, we never really knew what John's deal was. It was speculated that he did have PTSD, if not from the war then from seeing his wife burn alive on the ceiling, or that he was always mean, or that he was maybe soulless or possessed - anything really.
The reason why I like this show is that it is constantly reminding me that this is, indeed, a tragedy we're going to witness. No matter the twists no matter the turns, John and Mary will end up where they ended up.
It's hard to have my brain suddenly go from Supernatural's adult John, and the scorn I had for him, to seeing this and having empathy and feeling very sad for him. However, I think that's also such a great thing.
One of my favorite bits was at the end of the episode and you see the other three characters dealing with their trauma in a way that helps them: Carlos is at that group veteran therapy session, Lata and Mary are together, but John's isolated away from them, even from his own mother until she comes in, and crying. That speaks volumes (and also made me cry volumes) to me. It's a sign of what's to come. Already in the last three episodes, even in this one, John's often fighting alone. They're a group but he always finds himself isolated. And I feel like, given how many falling outs he's had in his adult life, per Sam's comments in the OG show, this is going to continue to be a trend.
And seeing him in the tub, and even seeing him freaking out in the hospital and trying to calm himself, I wanted to walk into the TV and try to give him a hug myself! It's sad when you can see the beginnings of the road a character's about to take, knowing where they're going to end up, and not being able to do anything to try and steer them in the other direction.
It's really powerful stuff and helps really start to flesh out a character that we really only knew through other characters' stories about him as a grown man.
Another thing I loved about this episode is Carlos. I mean, I love him in general, but specifically, I like how they contrasted John's eagerness for a fight, signing up for the war underaged, all that jazz - to Carlos, who didn't go into service the same way, who also experienced trauma, and in contrast to a fighter, he was a medic; he helped to heal people. I loved that contrast to them, and I liked the exchange where Carlos and John talked about that group session and John's PTSD over having seen his friend blow up in front of him. John's shutting down the possibility of going back into a group like that and talking about it, versus Carlos embracing it, again added more to the character dynamics.
And not to forget about Mary and Lata.
Mary is like, truly alone in terms of blood family. Her mother and father are separated, legally and marriage-wise, and one's on a hunt and the other is missing - and she lost another relative, a cousin, who was like a sister to her. Lata helping Mary through that, both of them really helping each other, really helped me love their friendship even more. Even that cute moment in the park when Mary goes and meets Kyle and Lata's failing terribly at acting casual! That made me laugh.
Other elements of the episode were great as well, but I loved the whole 'inner demons' message, and that yes - not all the time people will take the path towards healing but towards a kind of self-preservation of not confronting said demons.
My final bit that I loved was at the end of the fight with the god, it mirrored kind of Dean in 15x19 but like, in the opposite kind of way. In 15x19, Dean tells Chuck, who thinks Dean's gonna kill him, "That's not who I am" and walks away. John didn't walk away and instead stabbed the god so hard with that broken spear that it killed him and then continued to attack him. It echoed back also to the Mark of Cain arc in SPN where Dean won't stop going at Abaddon, despite her already being dead. Dean had lost himself there, and I think John lost himself in his situation too. And I think he knows it, but instead of confronting it, he will continue to run from it because confronting it is too painful, too uncomfortable, and we never want to feel in pain or uncomfortable.
I loved this episode very much, I loved how heavy it was, I loved the subtext, I loved the implications and the character development.
I can't wait for next week!
The Winchesters: Teach Your Children Well (2022)
In love with the characters
One thing that really endeared me to SPN prime was the characters and the feeling you got on the air and behind the scenes that there was just a connection or chemistry that's hard to replicate.
You can tell that this cast gets along behind the scenes thanks to all the social media posts but you can really feel it on the show as well, and that's included in this episode.
I loved the implementation of the music throughout, I loved more of a look at the characters and their insecurities, I loved that we just get more of the characters while not overwhelming the plot just yet. I think it's important, especially for a show connected to a massive show like SPN, to focus on the characters first - intricate plot second.
Right now it's still like season 1 of SPN where "Looking for dad, oh look a MOTW case."
I loved MOTW cases in the original show because it gave us time to really understand the characters more and gives them more room to run and show smaller details about themselves. I feel like that's completely necessary for a prequel with two+ characters already introduced in the main show, just further down the road in their lives. But, I also feel like it's completely necessary when establishing new characters like Lata, Millie, Carlos, and Ada. All of whom I love very dearly.
This episode managed to take more of those insecurities from just the pilot and expand on them. One thing that endeared me to John a little more this episode was his annoyance he didn't seem to get the hunting thing down automatically. It's an interesting look into his character, kind of the impatience he has and higher expectations for himself.
Also, that whole action sequence in the beginning with the zombies was fantastic.
It kind of feels like I've been watching this show longer than 2 weeks now and I'm convinced it's because the show is structured like this at the beginning.
I also love how it's still having the spookiness from the early seasons of SPN while also maintaining its distinctive look. All things remind me of this but one moment that jumped out to me was the motel room the gang was staying in. We're used to more or less the same kind of motel room in SPN prime with just different details. This truly felt like a motel, and one I'd find on a backroad in 1972. Not that the previous motel sets on SPN prime weren't good, but that this did in fact feel like an outdated, old, not well kept, "I'd believe this was from the 1970s" motel room.
It's only the second episode but I feel like it's doing well to establish itself truly as a connection to SPN prime, but also trying hard to make sure you understand it is, in fact, its own show.
One moment that even freaked me out was the very end with the person in the cloak walking away from the monster's area and those ... things... crawl out of the trees. I wasn't expecting it, and one of the worst things for me in horror movies is when things crawl around in the dark so I actually screamed a little bit!
The only reason why I'm not giving this episode 10 stars is just that some of the dialogue still felt a little stiff and expository, but I'm also aware we're barely out of the gate and there is more time to smooth things out once we know the characters more and understand more of the plot.
Can't wait until next week!
The Winchesters: Pilot (2022)
Feels like I never had to say goodbye
I had the privelge of seeing this episode at NYCC, two days before the air date.
When the show was first leaked in June 2021, I've been on the edge of my seat to see how it turned out, if indeed it got to be a show at all given SPN's history with spin-off attempts.
The energy in the room at NYCC matched the same kind of energy I saw online Tuesday night, and with good reason.
I have to always put pilots in a separate category in my head as an episode since they're just the establishing proof of concept episodes.
Therefore, I have two requirements for a good pilot: 1) Does it have a world/characters that I would want to follow and 2) Does it make me ask enough questions that I want to tune in next week?
And in this case, this pilot succeeded on those requirements. I absolutely loved it!
Aside from some pacing issues at the start (which again, it's a pilot so I'm not really faulting it for that), the episode felt familiar. This show's pilot had to pull double duty compared to its predecessor, the SPN pilot. It had to draw both new and old fans in to watch it, and have them enjoy it.
I've been a fan of SPN for a decade now so I'm far from a new fan but, as a fan, this episode and indeed this serie's potential felt like the last two years since 15x20 Carry On of SPN didn't even happen.
There are new characters, Carlos and Latika along with Millie and Ada, and the younger forms of characters we already know which are John and Mary.
I enjoyed the premise, I enjoyed the feeling the episode gave me through aesthetics alone, I loved the humor and the setting up of the world.
One big note for me is just how cohesive the cast already felt on screen. The chemistry was already there, even if they had a couple lines of pilot-expected expository dialogue. It already felt like that #spnfamily atmosphere and that they just immediately have chemistry that doesn't have to be forced in through writing and direction.
I was hooked onto each character the minute they were introduced and am invested in how this story plays out, especially considering that we've already had some SPN canon contradictions. But, I don't fear about those, because the creators have addressed that yes, they know, and yes, it's part of the story. I can't wait to learn all of these twists and turns.
And, finally, I don't have the words to properly describe the feeling/sound in the NYCC screening hall and in my heart and soul when Dean was first heard in the beginning and then when we got to see him again in the end.
Some have already said this but, if I could go back in time, I would love to show this to myself the night of Nov. 19, 2020.
Suffice it to say, even though I know how John and Mary's stories end, I'm onboard for this mystery, this atmosphere, these characters, and what place this story has in the overall SPN Cinematic Universe TM.
Great job, and I look forward to more!