Gerry’s Supernatural Review: “Bloodlines” Lacks Bite
This review will be short but not so sweet this week, because I’m going to pass on the spin off. Despite lifting lines wholesale from Supernatural, a ploy I didn’t even like when Eric Kripke did it in Revolution, “Bloodlines” has little to do with its parent show.
The atmosphere is pure teen CW, not gritty Supernatural. It’s no wonder Sam and Dean’s contribution to the episode is to ask what they missed when they show up too late to the scene of the crime. They don’t fit in this world, and neither do I. But then, I can’t believe I’m the target audience. The CW execs clearly wanted the Gossip Girl demo, with a slice of The Originals and a dash of Reign.
I imagine those execs had worried looks when they realized every drama they have but Supernatural is shedding viewers. At this point, they may be wishing they had chosen to grab some of Sam and Dean’s supporting characters, not that there are many left, of course, and set them in Supernatural’s world, rather than dragging Sam and Dean into this ridiculous version of Chicago. The narrative did have its similarities to one Supernatural episode, but unfortunately, it’s Man’s Best Friends With Benefits, with its snazzy witch nightclub. Just no.
Perhaps the episode will catch on with a teen and twentysomething audience. But I don’t think “Bloodlines” has much to offer the core Supernatural viewers of any age.
I was anxious to see what the writers would come up with. I felt the Ennis character was very weak. If the other characters and the entire story line had not been a Supernatural spin-off, it may have turned out ok. I just don’t feel like it lived up to Supernatural standards. I agree that the premises of 5 ‘monster’ families running underground Chicago was a stretch at best and didn’t really work for me. If it is picked up, maybe it will get better with time. Who knows!
We are very disappointed with supernatural tonight we are not interested in the spin-off and to top it off the boys came in late. And also we saw very little of them. We hope the rates on tonight show are bad. As for the spin-of count us out the show tonight really with no doubt sucks thumbs down
I wasn’t thrilled with the concept going in but wanted it to succeed simply because it carries the Supernatural name and I don’t want it reflecting back negatively on our main love. They had such an opportunity to delve into the history of the Men of Letters, their origins and perhaps bring in Great-Granddad Winchester and his involvement and the actual gnarly hunters Henry seemed to indicate operated back in the day. We ALWAYS want more Winchesters and more backstory! They could have used several of our guest characters, like the Triickster and even possibly our angels in disguise (Balthazar anyone???) and yet they do the standard CW thing of monster families and romantic strife. Sadly I actually liked the girl and grew to like her shape-shifter boyfriend to a degree, but not enough to watch.
The MOST annoying thing to me is recycling Supernatural stories that should be sacred and NOT stolen for a rip-off show. I’m talking about Sam’s personal stories, losing the girl he loves and then focusing on revenge and getting the monsters who did it. Then the ‘monster’ running away from his family and going to school and pretending to be normal! Then the final kicker, DAD not being dead and calling with a warning which will inevitably lead to a search for missing Dad! Please, no one can do that better than Supernatural and it is an insult to cheapen the Winchesters’ story by stealing the best bits and changing them to fit this soap opera. Just no…no. Unacceptable!
It makes me sad to say this because I think beyond Sam and Dean and Jensen and Jared who ARE the Winchesters and are responsible for the passion we feel for Supernatural, there is a rich heritage of monsters and hunters and men of letters and the early days that could have been exciting and illuminating and very, very watchable. I want Supernatural to be a sustained franchise, like Star Trek but not like this.
As Dean would say, do-over…please!
I very ,very much agree. To me this looked like the same ol boring CW teen soap stuff with well dressed faces standing around attempting to emote to one another about topics they already know.
And yeah, I hated, hated, hated that Monster Nite Club.
I think I’ll pass on the spinoff.
On the other hand, Baby looked wonderful in Chi-Town!
You said it!
Hi Gerry, I agree with everything you said here. I said much the same thing (much less articulately) on the speculation thread. A disappointment on so many levels. It is a shame. I hope this gamble of trying to force this association with Supernatural doesn’t result in dismal ratings for our show this week.
It just wasn’t Supernatural to me. Where were the classic cars? The music. The Americana. All the ambient pieces that made Kripke’s Supernatural, well, supernatural. This was just another Vampire Diaries / Originals with the Supernatural attached to the name.
I thought Margo and Violet were basically one-note caricatures, and painful to watch. Also irritating that Ennis gets chastised for being “angry”. Really?? It’s not good when my favorite character–after Sam’n’Dean–is the snake-tongued bartender with 2 min of screen time.
Watched it and well I didn’t hate it, but I felt it was way off too. As positive things I could say I like the Freddy Krueger glove and it was freaky in it’s own way.
I liked the atmosphere and lighting of the episode and well Chicago is awesome. And of course the brothers were a plus. Dean got to kill a vampire again by chopping heads woo!
All I can say it wasn’t totally bad but the dialogue and the characters they just weren’t my liking even though they did their best. They gave it a try and even though it was in a bad time this season, now it’s done and over. If you compare this to VD and Originals. I have seen them and they did this same but way better. I really would have wanted to love this too but I leave it to watchable.
In this site people were talking about a lot about the Spin-off. Death and Reapers in Chicago, Samuel Colt and I would have loved Eliot Ness. That episode was awesome. If it would have been about anything from the real Supernatural I think it would have worked better and I would have loved it. But now. The ship passed.
There’s my two cents.
– Lilah
So Andrew Dabb, Eric Kripke and Jeremy Carver all went out to dinner and this is what they came up with? I think the premise was ok for a teen focused CW show but not for a pilot with any connection to SPN. I really think this pilot was aimed at the wrong audience. I won’t go so far as to say it was insulting to the fans of the show but to market this as anything close to SPN was a huge miss. It looked like everyone was trying very hard to make it work and it did hold my interest enough that I wanted to see where it was going (if that wasn’t obvious enough), but for an episode like this to air in the middle of what should be the exciting last few episodes of the season just seemed to stack the deck against any chance for success. It’s too bad there were so many ways a spinoff could have gone.
[i]Bloodlines[/i] flat out sucked. Felt like I was watching a day-time soap, that apparently had monsters in it. Even with the Winchesters on screen it didn’t feel like a Supernatural episode – and that’s saying something considering some of the woeful episodes we’ve been given post-Kripke.
I can only pray the spin-off dies a thousand deaths.
… and since when have shifters been able to change in an instant without shedding skin?
Not that I want to try to defend the show, because I’m not in love with it, but we were talking about the shifters on Twitter and were reminded that the alpha shifted without shedding. So maybe they adapted that and maybe they will even explain it later.
[quote]… and since when have shifters been able to change in an instant without shedding skin?[/quote]
You’re reading my mind. That’s exactly what I mean. DON’T BUTCHER OUR SHOW’S CANON! Make your own canon! As Dean said’ Get Your Own! Create from scratch if you have to. Those fanfiction writers have more creativity I say. Their world building and characterization is superb even when they write a werewolf story that is not similar to SPN’s werewolf canon.
I agree with the comments here. I kind of liked the idea of different kinds of monsters working together & against each other so I was open minded at the beginning. Unfortunately it didn’t take long for it to go sour. One time minor guest stars had a lot more chemistry with the brothers than anyone from this new show. With that being the case, why even make it a Supernatural episode? I think it would have worked better if we only heard about this story line through the Winchesters. Tease us into watching this new show so to speak. I think it was a big mistake to introduce it as a Supernatural episode.
I guess I am included in one who has no interest in this spinoff. as I watched it just felt like another monster soap opera which the cw already has two of, both shows that I don’t watch. there were no compelling characters. I felt no connection to anyone, I cared for no one. I wanted to get up and stop the dvr from taping, but I didn’t want to screw with the machine:D. supernatural is so very deserving of a spinoff, I don’t understand why the writers were compelled to go down such a route as this….a campy teenage monster soap. supernatural has such wide range of viewership, people of all ages, because the characters and stories are so well written and so very interesting. the cast simply draws you in and this cast did not unfortunately.
I too believe there is potential for a supernatural spinoff that can succeed, but not this one. I don’t understand how it can be called a spinoff. I’ve posted this elsewhere, but shouldn’t a spinoff of a show, by definition, include known characters from that show. there are a history of successful spinoffs, Laverne and Shirley, the jeffersons just to name a couple. Laverne and Shirley spun off from happy days, but they were recurring characters who the fans loved. George Jefferson came from all in the family, he too was a recurring character that the fans loved. joanie loves chachi was another spinoff, though not as successful, but these where characters that we’ve known and had become a part of our lives. we were invested in them. I don’t think a show warrants the definition of spinoff simply because the main characters had a total of 5 minutes of screen time. that’s just me though.
i agree with bjxmas. there was so much potential for a true spinoff. they could’ve gone back to the origins of the colt and Samuel colt as a hunter.
they could’ve gone back to the origins of the mol bunker. they could’ve used henry and Josie, characters we already are familiar with and like.
they could’ve focused on the history of the campbells, after all they were on the mayflower chopping off vamps heads….
i mean i wasn’t disappointed personally, because i never planned on really watching a spinoff…i mean if there’s no jared or Jensen, for me there wasn’t much of a point….but had they done a spinoff that actually tied into the characters or the actual show itself, and has characters in it that i already liked, like Crowley, or henry, then i will admit i might have taken a peek and then decide from there if i would’ve continued to watch…..guess it’s one decision i don’t have to concern myself with:p
i’m just glad to get back to business….on a side note, the boys did look exceptionally beautiful last nite. if anything, the boys got a well deserved few days off…..;)
I, too was disappointed and would rather see a true spin-off of Supernatural. My wishes would be something along the lines of American Horror Story where they tell a series of tales, end it, and then start again with another series of tales. This could all be Supernatural backstory. A short western series about Samuel Colt and hunters of his era would be fascinating. Campbell family back history (vamps on the Mayflower anyone?) could be fascinating. The origins of Garth would be an amusing one. The change from archangel to Gabriel, and what was Cas up to at the time. Hell, one episode on the angels ‘harrowing hell’ to rescue Dean would be awesome and VFX could have a field day. And there is an entire year’s worth of Men of Letters back story. And let us not forget Crowley!!!!!!
And Henriksen! And of course, Rufus and Bobby!!!!
When Alice posts her spinoff competition this would be an excellent suggestion. Kind of like a Night Gallery of past characters.
This episode/pilot felt weirdly out of place in the SPN universe; I didn’t particularly care for it but wish them the best.
Wow, I’m so glad I decided to opt for my bed instead of watching this episode live! 😀 I will watch it tonight, but I didn’t have much hope to begin with, now I have even less. 🙁 Let’s just hope this misstep will not screw with Supernatural’s winning streak in the ratings. I agree with you Nappi815, a spinoff usually has people from the show it’s beign spun off from. I mean “The Originals” has characters from “The Vampire Diaries”, and I’d go so far as saying that’s it’s turning out to be a better show. “Vampire Diaries” is getting a little long in the tooth, pun intended. 😉
I was really craving some Supernatural last night and what a huge disappointment. You really nailed it – this is Gossip Girl with monsters. I was really hoping the spin-off would take me back to the good ol’ days of hunting and well-timed wise-cracking and instead I spent most of the episode trying to remember what the hell I was watching and why.
A) If you’re going to make a spin-off, use existing characters that people know (and ideally already love) not new ones!
B) if you really must have new characters drive your spin-off, introduce them slowly over the course of several episodes of your existing show. Last night was a huge waste of time for anyone wanting to watch an actual episode of Supernatural. One of the posters above already covered this, but there are tons of ideas for a spin-off that would have made waaay more sense than the typical CW melodrama crapfest I sat through. The Campbells, Garth, Jody Mills, hell a Becky and Charlie show would blow the roof off of this Chicago monster-mash bull excuse for a “spin-off”! I’ve admittedly been disappointed with the overall quality of the show since season 7 (save for the Ghostfacers ep this season – that was remarkably heartbreaking) but I keep watching because you can tell the cast and crew really enjoy working together and I keep hoping (in vain, it seems) that they’ll recapture the writing quality of the first six seasons.
[b]Note to Sam and Dean[/b]: Get in the Impala and drive as fast as you can. Don’t look back. I know a pilot is rough around the edges as was the [u]Supernatural[/u] pilot and first year certainly had its clunkers. Patience was rewarded. I stuck around because there was an instant relationship between me and the Winchesters. The plot was focused on one issue from which characters and themes have continued for 9 seasons. A sci fi show had a palpable reality. I bought into that universe and its rules.
I commend Andrew Dabb for writing what the network required, but too many familiar themes were squished into one episode so that not even appearances by the best hunters on the planet could rescue me. I was able to stay interested for the hour, but in the end thought the premise of Chicagoland Monstermafia just made it all less real. It seemed more of a rip off from The Originals that SPN.I think the actors have potential but were underused in the script and had no opportunity to create feels between the characters. Maybe the younger demographic will buy in because of the romance issues. I do want a spin off to succeed if it brings folks into the SPN viewership,but not if it is going to dilute the talented writers and crew away from SPN. The special effects and make-up crew did a great job. Looked like J2 showed up, hit their marks, said their lines, went home. Not their fault I know. A few cutesy Dean lines about his hair and calling him Buffy. But Dean would not say blatantly that there are no such things as monsters. would he? Monsters play by rules but not so much in Bloodlines. A spin off with Garth and Charlie might have had more depth. I might watch a second episode to see if the focus and relationships are fleshed out, but for now just give me my[b] Supernatural[/b].
I think when Dean got that phone call and he and Sam split we all wanted to split with them.
I know that Bitten wasn’t everyone’s cup of tea (I happened to like it a lot) but it had the right amount of Sam and Dean to tell the story from the monsters POV. This episode should have either had more of the guys or none at all. They seemed glaringly out of place. Besides the fact that Jared and Jensen towered over the other actors their presence (what little there was) just took me out of the story. That being said I did kind of like David. He might have potential on a future CW show.
Quote: [b]I think when Dean got that phone call and he and Sam split we all wanted to split with them.[/b]
That made me laugh out loud! So very true and so incredibly sad!
I think that’s when the entire episode felt pointless to me, and seemed pointless to our hunters… Oh, sorry, gotta run, we have an actual crucially IMPORTANT job to do so good luck and they hit the gas and were gone!
Guess I’ll put this whole experience in my rearview and try to forget the disappointment. The good news is perhaps this will mean we don’t lose Dabb and possibly other creative peeps. I’m tired of Kripke stealing Ben Edlund and others to other projects.
That made me laugh, too! What a waste of an episode. Not only did the writers not sell the pilot, they didn’t further Supernatural’s story, either. The silver lining is we shouldn’t lose anyone. Imagine if Bloodlines had stolen Serge? The horror. Now if only we could lure some of our much missed peeps back. Eric? Ben? (I know chances are slim to none, but I can dream).
I went into this knowing I would not like it much, but I really wanted Dabb to have a good script, and nothing worked for me. I found the acting not good, the characters pedestrian, the Romeo/Juliet romance boring, and lifting direct dialogue from Supernatural offensive. I felt perhaps middle school girls might like this if it is turned into a series, but I doubt many dedicated Supernatural fans would tune into the first episode. Making Ennis a male Krissy didn’t work for me either. In fact, I did not see one character that I connected with or had an interest in.
I agree that the Winchesters looked completely out of place. Compared to the J2s in both stature and acting ability, these characters looked like children. I kept thinking they should have had Zen Werewolf Garth there, instead of the Winchesters, and he would have instantly solved all the mafia family problems and there would be no need for a show.
I feel bad for Dabb, and maybe Carver and Singer, depending on how much input they had in the development of this idea. To be promoted as a Supernatural spin-off and have the Supernatural title attached to it was embarrassing. I was right there in the Impala with our guys, running away quickly and as far as possible.
There was too much to keep track of. Pilots should introduce a small core to the environment not try to create a whole opera in 40 minutes. Additional episodes can then introduce other characters within the ensemble cast. This was overwhelming to me, I think part of my brain actually died.
I did not find this at all compelling, and because SPN is so well done I had high expectations, even if the youth and silly mafiaesque setup was uninteresting, I should at least be able to enjoy….something. I just didn’t. So much more humor was needed, much lighter would have been better. So much less make-up on the women would have been better.
Do you think Dabb said something about something big happening just to get us to watch until the end?
Although I realize I am not CW core audience and this was directed at them and not me, I really did have hope that this would be different from their current teenage soap opera line up. Perhaps that is why I am disappointed, I expected too much.
Either way, it earns the distinction of being the worst episode of the series…surpassing Bitten by far. But it was not intended to be part of series so I’ll exclude it as such. I am disappointed that the two years now we’ve gotten an extra episode have totally been wasted on….well.
If I’m gonna watch a short run supernatural themed show (because I can’t see this being picked up for a season longer than 13 episodes) I’ll just change the channel to Syfy and watch “Haven.” High school girls will probably love this. Whoever described last night as “Gossip Girl with monsters” gets a gold star. BRING ON ABBADON! Where in hell has she been anyways?!
I mean I get the premise to the spin-off–we’ve bitched that this season (and others) has been too much about the tug-o-war between heaven and hell with the Winchesters being used as the rope. This show takes all that (and other convoluted story ideas like extraneous gods) out to be potentially be a straight up “Monster Movie,” but CW missed the mark. We don’t love this show for the monsters the way TVD/TO fans might. We love this show because of Sam and Dean and “Saving people. Hunting things. The family business.” We love their family, those past and present, that tumbled into their classic car and jammed (or [i]not![/i]) with them to their classic rock. It’s why we could have gone for a Jody and Alex spinoff. You still want it set in Chicago? Transfer Ms. Mills. You need a teen romance? Alex crushes on a boy at her new school, but has to figure out the hard way to let her guard down and not think of him as blood bait. You lack drama? Suddenly our favorite sheriff is a foster mom of a teenage girl–the drama never ends! 😀
this episode was a bogart attempt by the network (or producers) to shove a pile of steaming poo into an otherwise great series. The shifter doesn’t shift according to the lore, Winchestres spill their guts to some rando in first 5 minutes of meeting him, Dean’s Cain Mark rage somehow dissipated and he takes a back seat to the story .. I could go on.
Whether the new spin-off will or will not be halfway decent, we won’t know based on this drivel, but this episode DEFINITELY was not Supernatural storyline.
I fell cheated of an episode that could expand on what is going on with Sam & Dean, whether they’re finally ok after Sam being upset over the life-saving lie Dean commited, what is up with Dean and the Mark, how is Cas handling heaven, where is Death in all this, or God for that matter, or hey, that antichrist kid, Jessie.
A spin-off could have been based on actual characters from the show to be a spin-off. We can have Jodi teamed up with the no longer vamp girl, there is Charlie in OZ, Kevin’s mom, Adam stil lin Luci’s cage, papa Winchester stuck in Hell, plenty other choices.
This one? NOT Supernatural. Absolutely has no place in this show.
What a waste of an episode! Especially at this time in the season.
This was way worse than “Man’s Best Friend with Benefits”. No connection with my Supernatural show at all except for Dean and Sam showing up to
do not much of all and even poor Dean looked bored out of his gourd. How this could be called a “spinoff” is confusing to me. The lore and the premise was way off. Feel sorry for the good actors sucked into this one. Can’t believe Dabb wrote this! There was nothing in it to make it interesting in a relationship way or any other way. Just a bunch of very pretty monsters.
I guess the CW people really don’t GET why we love our show.
So many better ideas could have been, such as Bobby and Rufus in “Grumpy Old Hunters”, but I guess the teenagers wouldn’t be interested. A series
about the Alphas, or Sheriff Mills and Annie or even the girl Werewolf from “Bitten” etc.
The many times the boys have been to Chicago it is unbelievable that the monster mafias were not known.
First time since the beginning, I will be erasing this episode on my PVR and not watching it when the dvd’s come out.
Only 3 more shows until the hellatus and they wasted it with this!
I hear you, I hear you. A show about Bobby and Rufus would’ve been awesome. They could have explored the rift that happened between them when they were younger, Bobby visiting japan and meeting the Winchesters for the first time. The ycould still have cast brand new actors if they’d settled on doing The Wee-chesters, for example. That would’ve been great to see. Or the Campbell family and their adventures in hunting.
I jsut wasn’t feeling it. I erased it off my DVR. I want to forget i saw even the few moments I did watch. About 30 minutes in I turned to From Dusk Til Dawn. You’ve got Mexican vampires, the brother dynamic lots of crazy action and Rock music. That episode that night was awesome. Way better than Bloodlines. You’re right. Three episodes left and and then this…
Some things I was surprized at by the spin off. Things I paid attention to and if you make note its when Sam and Dean where on other then that I could have shut off my tv or gone to something else. Granted if the RHWONY haven’t gotten so bad I would have watched that but even that was sad to watch last night as a break in commercials or bad acting. OK first thing when Sam and Dean introduce themselves to Ennis I think name of kid anyway Sam introduced himself as Sam Winchester and his brother Dean. Ok since when has he started referring to Dean as his brother they are business partners. And Dean called Sam “Sammy”. Of course we got that in Sheriff Mills eps so get a pass on that one. And when Dean got the call from CAS thank you cas for getting the boys out of dodge well at least one I think Sam wanted to stay behind and help out ole Ennis. If I were Dean and Sam wanted to stay behind I would get in the ole impala and tell him to hitch a ride to cheyanne and see you at the bunker if you wish to help him out. And a cas and dean line was used forgot who it was on I think it was female warewolf and shapshifter ‘i was there where were you’. Ok not watching that spin off I wouldn’t even download it and I have bought whole seasons I don’t want that to take up room for last three eps coming up.
Sam referred to Dean as his brother in Blade Runners as well. When he got back into Magnus’s house he told the shifter to “take me to my brother”. They have both been very attentive to each other the whole season. And Dean wanted Sam with him, it is an all hands on deck situation. These guys are brothers, always have been, always will be (on and off screen). Everyone involved with the show knows it has always boiled down to the brothers. Jensen reinforced that at the last VegasCon. That is the core premise of the show and why this spinoff didn’t work for the audience that was watching.
[quote]I guess the CW people really don’t GET why we love our show.[/quote]
Bevie!! You SAID it. I couldn’t agree more. I am beginning to wonder if Andrew Dabb’s pitch got hijacked by higher ups along the way. He knows our show, but the drivel we watched last night was NOT our show. Not in themes (despite the blatant and wholesale rip off of established storminess on OUR beloved show), not in tone, setting, not in any way that would make me believe that the people who put Bloodlines together understands anything about Supernatural, it’s fan base and why it works. I can’t see any self respecting Supernatural fan over 14 years of age begin remotely interested in this. Monsters were never the draw here, it was always about family, and relationships (real ones, not soap opera drama families who scheme and conspire). What a waste of an episode at a time when all the most important plot lines are heating up and could have used the attention. Humph.
[quote]Not in themes (despite the blatant and wholesale rip off of established storminess on OUR beloved show),[/quote]
That should read rip off of established story lines….. WTH? Auto correct.
I can’t think of a better phrase to describe Season 9 than ‘established storminess’ 😉
Hah eilf!!!! Freudian slip via auto correct!!:D:D
So I can understand if people don’t like the show.
I can understand if they really don’t like it and want to vent
I can understand if they don’t want to watch it (assuming it goes to series).
I can (sort of, I guess) understand not wanting the Supernatural name on it.
But a few people are saying they hope it gets bad ratings and gets cancelled. Why? What do you care, if you aren’t going to watch it anyway?
This is puzzling to me.
my internet and browser are really badminded tonight
Hey guys – found your site about six months ago and have been reading it ever since. Keep up the good work!
I have to say, my wife and I are both solid Supernatural fans, and both of us simply loathed Bloodlines. My wife even quit watching it about 40 minutes in. I won’t go into all the various criticisms, but I will say that last night I went to the show’s FB page and read through over 400 of the 1200 or so comments about ‘Bloodlines’ and it wasn’t pretty – the ratio was about 10 – to-1 against the show. Many were going to pretend they had never seen it, others wanted an apology for their wasted time, and several demanded that the episode be “salted and burned” so that it would never pose a threat in the future. Probably about 50 stated that it was the worst episode ever. The CW, or whoever cooked up this abomination miscalculated badly – and especially if they thought they would scoop up Supernatural’s fan base without effort. In a way, it was heartening to see my own complaints repeated dozens of times; clearly others felt the same way (other people were definitely pissed about how they ignored the previous mythology about shapeshifters, for example). What the hell were Bloodlines creators thinking?
Besides: we already have a show about different monsters ruling a city from behind the scenes: it’s called Grimm.
Worst moment of the pilot:
New character: “Hey, if she still has her cell phone we could track its signal to locate her!”
Sam (seemingly wincing at the stupidity of what he is supposed to say in a genuine and non-sarcastic manner): “Yeah, that might work! We should try it.”
Really?