The Winchester Family Business

Here we go with the 3^rd episode after the hellatus. Feels like a lot happened over the last couple of weeks. We now find ourselves on fragile ground with Sam and Dean seemingly making an effort to be a little understanding of each other, instead of simply butting heads! Will this continue? Will we see our favourite ghost hunting bros continue on this path of healing? That’s us healing as much as them healing, bee tee dubs (shout out to Charlie)! What will happen this week?
  
Well let’s take a look.
 
 
THEN
 
They fought
They yelled
They (hot) angry stared at each other
They huffed off/closed eyes in frustration
Etc
Etc
Etc
They talked
They made a choice
They ate chilli
They were nicer to each other
They dressed in (hot) silly clothes
They charged into fake battle
They had…
HOLD
...Fun!
 
 
NOW
 
We’ll hey there grandpappy Winchester!

So this week we meet a time traveller that seems to be John’s daddy…Henry Winchester.
 
A time travelling mechanic?
 
Hmmm….
 
Let’s check out the synopsis.

 
SAM AND DEAN MEET THEIR GRANDFATHER — Sam and Dean are stunned when a man who claims to be Henry Winchester (guest star Gil McKinney), their grandfather, suddenly appears in their hotel room demanding to know where he can find John Winchester. Henry has time-travelled to stop a demon named Abbadon (guest star Alaina Huffman) and was looking for John’s help. Through Henry, Sam and Dean learn more about their father and the Winchester bloodline. Serge Ladouceur directed the episode written by Adam Glass.

 
Ok first thing. Yay, this is Serge’s directorial debut for "Supernatural". As I’m sure we all know, Serge is D.O.P. on the show and has been an integral part of creating the visual look of the series. So I’m expecting this episode to look great if nothing else!
 
So ummm…let’s get back to this mechanic thing.
 
Before John became a hunter, he was a mechanic from a family of mechanics. At least that’s what we’ve been told. We know that in 1978 John did become aware of the supernatural, when the brothers time travelled back to stop Anna killing their parents, but the Archangel Michael wiped this knowledge from John's memory.
 
So when we first met John at the very beginning of the Pilot, he knew nothing of Mary’s past and he knew nothing of the supernatural. Until Mary was killed when, according to his journal, he went to Missouri for answers. It was Missouri who drew back the curtain and opened his eyes to what was really out there in the dark…
 
“I went to Missouri and I learned the truth”
 
And the rest of the story we know…and it gets us to here….
 
So what the heck? Are we about to rewrite the Winchester family history? Or simply, finally write the Winchester family history.
 
It’s got my brain ticking. How can Henry Winchester be involved in/know about the family business? How does he know to come and find John? Does he know what John does? Or is it simply that when he finds himself flung through time from 1958 to the present, his first thought is to ask his son for help - that'd freak John out a tad I'd say!

We've never heard anything of Henry Winchester so I’m assuming that Henry wasn’t around when the boys were growing up. But he was around when we first met John in “In the Beginning” because Mr. D says to Young John in the diner, “Say hello to your old man for me.” So in 1973, Henry Winchester must have been alive and well and part of John's life (unless John had a step-dad or something). But if the boys don't know him, he was either dead before they were born, or estranged from John. I'm assuming dead... but it'd be pretty interesting if he was still alive in the present!

We were all blown away when we found out that Mary came from a long line of hunters. What if John's family was at somepoint, involved with the supernatural too? But Henry kept it a secret from John. Maybe Henry was the first Winchester to turn his back on the 'job', what ever that may be and consequently John was raised with no knowledge of it. 

Here are a few of my thoughts all of which are most likely craptastic.
 
The demon tells Henry she’s going to the future and mentions John, so Henry follows to warn/protect his son. 

Or

Henry was a hunter but John never knew.

Or

Henry was a hunter before John was born, or when he was a young child, but walked away from 'the life', so John never knew. This could be interesting! Because it would prove to the boys that you can walk away and have a family…. Very relevant to the current season.

Or

Henry (and the Winchester bloodline) was involved with the supernatural in some other way. He wasn't a hunter, but he was aware of the evil that's out there and had some kind of interaction with it. Maybe he was involved with some other group of individuals who have another job to do regarding the supernatural. Like "Watchers" or something! (That'd be cool). But once again, it looks like he never shared that knowledge with John, or was out of the game by the time John was growing up.
 
In some ways having the Winchesters have a deeper connection to the supernatural than simply being hunters born of revenge, makes sense. The cupids matched John and Mary together for the distinct purpose of giving birth to Sam and Dean. As the Cupid says to Dean, in “My Bloody Valentine”...

“….the union of John and Mary Winchester, very big deal upstairs, top priority arrangement…..it wasn't easy, either. Ooh, they couldn't stand each other at first. But when we were done with them, perfect couple……the orders were very clear. You and Sam needed to be born.”
 
The boys are vessels - true vessels. But Michael also used John and Adam as vessels and we know that being a vessel is in the bloodline, as Michael says to Dean in "The Song Remains the Same"...

"It’s in your blood, your father’s blood, your family's blood.”

So would it make some sense that the two families share a common heritage? A common destiny? Is this the reason Mary and John were destined to be joined and consequently their sons destined to their fate? Or were Mary and John destined because of their future children's destinies? Ouch! Brain splat! Chicken? Egg?

We know absolutely nothing at all about the Winchester side of the family. We know nothing about John. We know Mary, at least, had an uncle – who put up her gravestone. We know there were Campbell cousins, Gwen, Christian and Mark. We know Mary’s parents were Samuel and Deanna. But we know nothing about John…not one bit of family information has ever been given about John Winchester. Just that he was a mechanic from a family of mechanics.

I take the implication of the synopsis and the talk of ‘bloodline’ to mean that the Winchester's lineage has something in someway to do with 'the life'. That there are secrets to be shared with the brothers. Maybe secrets even their father had no clue about...

Geeze...I think I just turned this into a Let's Speculate!

So before I go on and on... we better check out the CW promo...

I love it! Henry pops out of the wardrobe while Dean's doing up his boots! So it looks like HW knows about demons and he knows about Hell...well that it's actually real.... interesting.


Here's the preview clip...
 

And he's a tricky bastard! How did he do that? (But somewhere inside...where I probably shouldn't talk about...I'm kinda glad he did!). And does it look to you like he did a spell to get there that he thinks went wrong? So HW can cast spells. He speaks very proper like too - doesn't come across as a mechanic! Which sounds like I'm casting aspersions on mechanics...I'm not, but Dean was right...007!


And the CHCH promo...
 

What does Sam say in this spot about what HW did with the power of his soul that only angels can do? I can't quite catch it.. (bad audio edit in there). If you can understand that line - can you jot it in the comments? Honestly, I listened over and over. That's a nice symbol he's putting on the door! And um...is that a guy with his eyeballs bleeding out of their sockets?


Ha. So...symbols...maybe enochian...definite spell...demons...souls...time travel. Oh yeah...mechanic shmechanic!

I can’t tell you how much I’m looking forward to this episode! I love the time travel eps…they do my head in, but I love them. I love episodes which add a new layer to the mythology and then seeing how that affects the story and characters or even what we've previously believed of the story and characters. I'm hopeful that the brothers will learn more about John, maybe what he was like as a boy? That'd be nice for them. But I'm really interested in what Henry has to say about the Winchester family lineage and how that will impact Sam and Dean. Will it change how they see their father? Or the family business? Or their (past) destinies? Or their possible futures? 

On paper anyway, this one looks like a doozy!

What do you guys think? Hit me up with your thoughts and theories.

Enjoy the episode and thanks for reading. See you in reviewland!

-sweetondean


BREAKING NEWS! This just in.... Producer's Preview - a couple of questions answered? (Love the line at the end, I literally guffawed!)
 

 

 

For all the latest Supernatural info and article links, follow The Winchester Family Business on Twitter at @WinFamBusiness

< Prev		Next >