Random thoughts on Bloodlines
So, everyone else is putting up reaction posts to SPN 9.20, the backdoor pilot to Supernatural: Bloodlines, and this is late, but here you go. I typically like spinoffs--I say this with shows like Angel and Stargate Atlantis in mind. But...I had my own issues with this and I also had some observations...Spoilers ahoy!
If this had been a pilot for a new urban fantasy on the CW, I would have come away saying "meh, was okay I guess--might tune in for a few episodes to see how it develops." But this was supposed to be a spinoff for Supernatural, so all I could think afterward was, "Seriously? Nine years of canon to pull from and this is what you guys chose?". My issues aren't exactly with the premise. You can take almost any premise and insert interesting characters into it and, BAM!, awesomeness. That didn't happen here unfortunately, and I was left uninspired, which is really the only thing that ever turns me off a show. If I'm inspired, even what appears to be a crappy show can hold my interest.
Random thoughts:
*Ennis and David are obviously our leads. I'll admit, I liked David a bit. He was witty and something different. Buffy references will get you kudos every time, David. But most of the other characterizations left me entirely uninspired. I know I'm supposed to care about Ennis. I get it, his story parallels the Winchesters in some ways, what with the dead girlfriend and the father's mad secret keeping skills. I don't know if was the fault of the actor or the writing or a mixture of both, but I have come away from random SPN episodes and cared more about the minor characters than I cared for Ennis. Sad but true.
*Where's Harry Dresden? (Oh, wait, he's on Arrow, heehee...sorry, couldn't help myself. Nod along if you get the reference.) Seriously, a focus on one character figuring out this five families bit slowly would have been much better than slamming us with info we don't care about and saying, "Isn't it cool???" like we should agree.
*Why couldn't we use some characters we already knew? Or at least have some feasable ties to the SPN world? There are about a hundred different spinoff ideas they could have chose from that a large number of use would have been on top of. I personally would have liked a bit of historical flavor, like a Men of Letters spinoff set in the past at some point. Or the old West spinoff. Or young Bobby and Rufus Ghostbusting around the US. What about the Campbell family at their prime? Or a cool re-casted Weechester adventure series? To me, this premise felt like the lazy way out, using no connections to the canon but for "Oh, monsters!"
*Speaking of monsters, I have a theory as to why the shifters change like that. I believe it's because of their pure bloodline, which is why Sal-flash-back made such an emphasis on pure bloodlines. Which for them means less mess and fewer psychos (in theory). Same concept for the werewolves (like the pure blood wolf we were introduced to in Bitten).
*And Sal. Was that Brady? Dude, we do believe in reusing actors and names, heehee.
*You know, I think Crowley would have been an interesting character to use to tie us into this storyline, and I think they maybe should have introduced it as a filler episode much earlier in the season...Crowley went on his mega monster hunt for info on Purgatory a few years ago (remember, writers?), so he'd probably have some interesting info on these feuding families (I don't see the king of hell not knowing about this). In fact, being the deal maker he is, maybe he struck a deal to stay away from the bloodlines in Chicago in exchange for something. What do you guys think? Would a storyline like that have redeemed this backdoor pilot a bit?
*Another character I thought about when this premise was first announced was that police witch dude and his sexy bitch, emm, familiar. That storyline had an urban fantasy feel to it, which I thought they were going to go with in this series... instead, it's disappointingly soapy. :(
If they go through with this series, I'll watch an episode, maybe two, to see if it redeems itself. But I won't continue to watch if it doesn't, even though I loyally watch every episode of the real Supernatural. This is sad, but I think the new CSI spinoff's backdoor epi this week was a good example of how to do one correctly and our beloved SPN's was an example of how to do one incorrectly, much like the Criminal Minds: Suspect Behavior pilot.