Alice’s Review of The Winchesters 1.03, “You’re Lost Little Girl” and 1.04 Preview

Considering I only got to see the episode earlier today, I don’t have a comprehensive review for “You’re Lost Little Girl” planned this week. Here’s just a few of my somewhat random thoughts on an episode that I happened to enjoy.

There are some rich layers being exposed to this story, aren’t there? The advantage of introducing new characters is that there’s a nice potential for using the monster of the week story to peel back those layers slowly but surely. Mission accomplished. Turns out that Ada and Lata are keeping some secrets. But there’s some things about John and Mary we are finding out too. John Winchester was never an open book in the original series, so it makes sense that there are things about him we never knew before. It’s the internal conflict of Mary though that stood out and it sounds oh so familiar. Like mother, like sons.

First off, nice parallel there to young Ford and his sister Carrie to Sam and Dean. Ford wanted to help since he was in charge of taking care of his sister while their mother was gone. She disappeared on his watch – she was his responsibility. A young Dean for sure. Now that he knows monsters are real, this might also be the thing that leads him down a different path, like so many other hunters. You often wonder if that was the case from Supernatural with the many young people they helped. Some of them were bound to become hunters. Although Carrie might join him. She looked like she was capable of kicking some monster butt.

Sure, the monster bag world looked low budget for sure, but I did love the monster of the week story. Monster club is pretty clever. I like it. I also love the line “Monster club sucks.” Yeah, when dealing with real monsters, it’s no picnic, is it? I like that we’re seeing new monsters, strange ones from other countries that go beyond your basic vampire or shape shifter. I googled “Bori Baba” and found it is a real myth from Northern India and it translates to “Sack Man.” Cool.

I loved the use of CB radios, which makes sense to me would be used by hunters a lot in those times. CB radio was loaded with trucker lingo, so why not hunter lingo? I suppose Mary finding one in the bag world could be plausible, if bag world itself was plausible. Someone out there captured because they were missing their CB radio though is pretty lame if you ask me. Deus Ex Machina was a popular device for Supernatural though, so I guess it can happen here.

As for the characters, Mary is trying to find her place in this world, which isn’t uncommon for a 19 year old. She’s been groomed for the family business since she was young, but she wants her own path. Hunting is her curse, but hunting is all she knows. Sounds like a young Sam Winchester, no? I guess it is a family curse after all. I bought her internal struggle this week and her inability to open up to people. It’s a tough life loaded with responsibility to others, which tends to mean she doesn’t get much time to care for herself. She is a lost little girl indeed. This story was a perfect device to draw that side of her out. No wonder she fell susceptible to a monster that targets those clinging onto something. She’s probably got a lot of baggage so this one small act isn’t going to change a lot of who she is, but it was a nice little moment of self awareness that should help her move forward to the next step.

The John and Betty stuff was kind of strange. I get it, they were in love once and John being the young fool he was wanted to marry her. She turned him down. Still, why so awkward? He’s been to war since then and is now hunting monsters. That tends to force a guy to grow up a lot. He can easily tell now it was puppy love. I can only assume that things were left very strange between the two and that’s why we got the zero chemistry exchanges we did. I’m hoping they can work her into the fold someday here and there since having a local cop on their side would be nice, but she and John really need to work on that friendship more. I’m not even going to comment on Mary and that other guy at the movies. I say he’s a demon. Think Meg and Sam.

What the hell is going on with Ada? Now I’m wondering if she’s someone that the Men of Letters went to for shady business. I know she was dealing with a demon and he would have done the same to her, but that was pretty cold. I wonder if it’s related to her being possessed by his partner. Is it revenge maybe or something else? I like that Carlos is suspicious and they should be!

Finally, our mysterious woman was revealed. A local DJ for pirate radio. I got to say, she has potential to be a pretty awesome villain. She didn’t have a mustache twirling vibe to me. The question is, why is the Akrida doing this? Part of me thinks they are testing the Campbells, or this particular “monster club” in general since Samuel and Deanna are AWOL. Maybe by defeating these monsters, the Akrida are getting what they need for executing whatever their dastardly plan is. Kind of like Dean Winchester breaking the first seal or something like that. Yeah, I’m stretching.

Overall grade, a B+. A solid monster of the week effort that effectively drew out more about the characters. That’s the best you can hope for with an episode 3.

Onto the Preview…

Episode 1.04 is titled, “Masters of War.” What is it about? Here is the synopsis courtesy of The CW:

FIGHTER’S INSTINCT – After the details of a veteran’s death don’t add up, Carlos (JoJo Fleites) brings everyone in to investigate and he shares a detail about his past that makes John (Drake Rodger) see him in a new light. Mary (Meg Donnelly) finds an unexpected ally who has been hot on the trail of this monster and Latika (Nida Khurshid) tries to help Mary heal and find closure with someone she lost. Meanwhile, John’s habit of running headfirst into danger leaves Millie (Bianca Kajlich) worried for her son. John Kretchmer directed the episode written by Julia Cooperman (#104). Original Airdate 11/1/2022. Every episode of THE WINCHESTERS is available to stream on The CW App and CWTV.com the day after broadcast for free and without a subscription, log-in or authentication required.

So, do we get some Carlos and John bonding this week? These photos indicate just maybe. Otherwise, the adventure moves to a hospital now!

Here is the promo video from The CW too. As usual, it tells us nothing.

Have any speculation or theories about what’s happening in the season so far? Share in the comments. Or, come here after the episode and share your reactions.

Check out Alice’s entire roster of Supernatural reviews on her Writer’s Page!

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