Winchesters Review (not really spoilery)
Finally had time to sit down and watch ep1 of The Winchesters and... honestly I don't hate it. I think it has potential.
I can't say as I love it yet (it's too early for that) but I feared it being cringy and, thankfully, it's not so I'm willing to give it time to find its feet.
This first ep feels very John-centric so it's a god job the guy playing him seems likeable cause so far Mary's mosty just stuck giving impatient FAQ answers. But I think that's a facet of this first outing being a bit pilot-episode-E X P O S I T I O N-clunky. It obviously has to get any new viewers up to speed on the in-universe lore, so it flings a lot of by-the-way factoids into Mary's dialogue which will hopefully level out as the show establishes itself. Supporting characters also didn't get a lot of time to establish much beyond crayon outlines so I'll be interested to see how they shake out.
I really did find it interesting though that this iteration of John is so... very... VERY Sam.
There's even some mannerisms carried over which, I don't know how much of that is circumstantial and how much is intentional, but either way I really liked that connection. It does give it an air of "Yeah, I can see how you eventually produced that moose." I always found early seasons JDM!John to be more Dean-ish (or Dean was more emulating that evolution of their father I suppose) but if you consider how single-minded, stubborn and obsessive Sam can be you can kinda' see how one becomes the other.
Little moments of glee: The Slaughterhouse 5 cinema marquee made me smile, as did licorice being a movie food (tho I'm with Sammy on that, it is disgusting.) Also I liked the inclusion of the Winchester angsty family musical cue when John and his mother part ways near the end. Oh, and it's not intentional but Dean's opening and closing narration makes me think of Vanessa Redgrave narrating Call The Midwife and I should not find that as funny as I do.
Couple of critical points: I guess the 70s equivalent of the mysteriously amazing WinchesterWiFi is the finding of handy esoteric books conveniently open to the right page? That felt a little lazy. Also didn't love the rubbery loup-garou but we'll give that a pass for now.
I'm ignoring the inherently wibbly wobbly timeline cause they already established there's a canon multiverse so at worst we'll call it an AU and at best they'll do Something Clever. So either way it doesn't actually matter.
Over all, it felt like a solid pilot with just enough fanservice sprinkled in to make easter-egg spotting fun but not a required skill to appreciate the setup.
I can't say as I love it yet (it's too early for that) but I feared it being cringy and, thankfully, it's not so I'm willing to give it time to find its feet.
This first ep feels very John-centric so it's a god job the guy playing him seems likeable cause so far Mary's mosty just stuck giving impatient FAQ answers. But I think that's a facet of this first outing being a bit pilot-episode-E X P O S I T I O N-clunky. It obviously has to get any new viewers up to speed on the in-universe lore, so it flings a lot of by-the-way factoids into Mary's dialogue which will hopefully level out as the show establishes itself. Supporting characters also didn't get a lot of time to establish much beyond crayon outlines so I'll be interested to see how they shake out.
I really did find it interesting though that this iteration of John is so... very... VERY Sam.
There's even some mannerisms carried over which, I don't know how much of that is circumstantial and how much is intentional, but either way I really liked that connection. It does give it an air of "Yeah, I can see how you eventually produced that moose." I always found early seasons JDM!John to be more Dean-ish (or Dean was more emulating that evolution of their father I suppose) but if you consider how single-minded, stubborn and obsessive Sam can be you can kinda' see how one becomes the other.
Little moments of glee: The Slaughterhouse 5 cinema marquee made me smile, as did licorice being a movie food (tho I'm with Sammy on that, it is disgusting.) Also I liked the inclusion of the Winchester angsty family musical cue when John and his mother part ways near the end. Oh, and it's not intentional but Dean's opening and closing narration makes me think of Vanessa Redgrave narrating Call The Midwife and I should not find that as funny as I do.
Couple of critical points: I guess the 70s equivalent of the mysteriously amazing WinchesterWiFi is the finding of handy esoteric books conveniently open to the right page? That felt a little lazy. Also didn't love the rubbery loup-garou but we'll give that a pass for now.
I'm ignoring the inherently wibbly wobbly timeline cause they already established there's a canon multiverse so at worst we'll call it an AU and at best they'll do Something Clever. So either way it doesn't actually matter.
Over all, it felt like a solid pilot with just enough fanservice sprinkled in to make easter-egg spotting fun but not a required skill to appreciate the setup.