The Winchesters Episode 3

[olivermoss]

Actually, that was a good episode! From the Monster of the Week standpoint it was a solid story. The CB radio thing was very convenient, but in a 45 minute genre story you've got to have something overly convenient happen to make the plot work most of the time.

Episode 2 had a lot of flaws and fridge logic that I didn't even bother tearing into. I figured 'written on autopilot' covered most of it's sins. This is a big step up.

As for characters, I do like Mary a lot. I am still struggling with Carlos a bit. I feel like they are going for 'sassy bi' but he comes off as super flakey and uncaring so far. I am hoping a later episode will give context or depth or something.

The overarching plotline really started to get interesting here. Ada is hiding something and that's feeling darker by the minute. The Akrida host is interesting in a few ways. First, the Hunters pass keywords via CB radio and the radio is a plot device in the story. The demons are using a rock radio station. I guess rock is the devil's music after all!

It's also thematically interesting because music is so big in SPN and in Dean's narration he was all 'on this journey, I pick the music' But a DJ literally picks the music the characters and therefore the audience hears. I don't think they are going to get into any sort of meta struggle for control of the story or anything, but it just makes the show's vibe start to come together.

It has sparked my interest, but can it deliver on it's mystery plot? Sparking interest and building mystery in paranormal media is easy, though. Few pay off.

In this recap we will not be reading anything into the fact that the movie that was referenced and then watched by two characters being called The Omega Man.

Comments

[mistressofmuses]

I'm glad it managed to do something interesting! I hope it actually pays off, instead of just teasing and failing to deliver. Still, glad it wasn't more of the blandness of episode 2.

[olivermoss]

I want to have hope, but I also know it had some development problems and re-cut the pilot pretty late. I feel like even if this turns into a good show it will have the classic genre show problem of the first season being a mess as it finds it feet... if it even can the way shows get cancelled these days.

[mistressofmuses]

Development hell seems to strike a lot of projects.

Pretty much every network seems so damn cancel-happy, there are a lot of shows that I think never get the chance to really hit their stride. Not that I think everything should run for more than a decade, and plenty of series have outlasted their amount of good, lol, but... totally normal rough patches as writers and actors and production crew get used to the flow that works can be a premature death knell now.

[olivermoss]

Yeah, so many shows that never got a chance. I am still sad about Paper Girls.

The big IPs mostly had slower starts. I mean, look at Star Trek. Pretty much anything genre takes a bit. And the big IPs make money, so you think they'd be trying to make some home-grown one. Netflix has with Stranger Things, but that's about it

[mistressofmuses]

Ugh, yeah. It sucks the way companies judge "success" currently - it's like it needs to absolutely IMMEDIATELY take off, with absolutely no weight given to critical acclaim or slow-burn interest spread by word of mouth.
And then like with the whole HBO mess, there's a weird emphasis on cost-cutting, to the point of deciding that more samey reality shows is really what we need, not scripted things we have to pay for!

But for real - the biggest IPs DO often have a slower start that builds as it finds its feet and interest spreads as people start watching a bit later. It seems like more companies would do well to at least try to put energy (and money) behind things that have that sort of potential. I know the risk of a flop is always a real one, but it sucks when no one is willing to give shows a chance, so things with a ton of potential wind up fizzling out before they should.

[olivermoss]

Star Trek, all of Marvel, all of DC, Tolkien, etc, a good chunk of the biggest IPs took a while. Even fast growing ones like Harry Potter took a few books to establish itself.

Supernatural became a major ip, not a top one but huge by CW standards, only after several years of fans sweating cancellation each year.

Yeah, this is going to be seen as such an era of wasted potential. But hey at least Stranger Things got what it needed to shine, it helped that it was a huge hit out of the gate, so I am not complaining. But even while making that first season they allowed for huge risks and also massive re-rewrites and changes rather than making them stick to the original pitch.

[mistressofmuses]

Not a huge heartbreaker for me anymore or anything, but I remember that way back when, JKR apparently did a book signing in Denver, and there were only a couple dozen people or so that showed up, because no one knew HP yet. If THAT response had been used to decide whether or not the rest of the series got published, there'd be an awful lot of people with a lot less money, and one of the biggest intellectual properties in the world wouldn't exist.

I think you're right, there'll be a lot of stuff that's viewed as missed opportunity. I am glad that Stranger Things got the chance it did (and I feel like it - despite being such a nostalgia trip for the 80s - will be something emblematic of this era of series-making.)
But yes, more companies should put faith in potential series - allowing risks and opportunity, allowing time for growth and success, instead of "safer and safer" bets that mean things get cancelled the instant they fail to capture and maintain a #1 spot, or a drive to make cheaper and cheaper things no matter what.