Supernatural: Pass On Bloodlines

Sorry but no...

         Many shows were axed this year but many fans rally together to save some of them but I can't say the same for Supernatural's spin off Bloodlines. The CW network cut The Tomorrow People, Beauty and the Beast, and Star Crossed (Almost Human fans feel your pain SC fans) and passed on Bloodlines. However I had a strong gut feeling that they wouldn't pick it up.

David's snark saved the episode

         I saw the Backdoor Pilot and didn't hate it. I also had reservations about it but I still liked the idea that the writers were trying to convey. BUT there were some issues that other people had problems with. For one, the whole feel of the episode was too... how do I put this... too 90210 meets Monster Mash. The Romeo/Juliet storyline with ShapeShifter David and Werewolf Violet wasn't keeping in tradition with Supernatural. Yes the spin off is supposed to be different but you have to keep something that the fans are familiar with. Which brings us to the next problem: the cast.

Follow me out of this jungle

         I did like the cast. I would have happily accepted Nathaniel Buzolic into the SPN Family. David's Supernatural snark while I felt a bit clean was still entertaining and what saved most of the episode. Still when you do a spin off you should have a familiar face on there to draw in fans from the original show. Fans want characters they have seen before. I think that even Garth (who is now a werewolf) would have been a great addition giving Ennis advice on how to be a hunter and they would still clash because Garth is now a werewolf and so may have problems with the wolves of Chicago. Even Crowley would have been a welcome face so the writers were taking a huge risk when setting up a new cast.

Bitches....

       Then there were problems with some of the female characters. As in horror films, Supernatural women fall under 2 categories: bitch or victim. David's sister was the bitch and Violet (although referred to as a bitch as that's the term for female canines) the victim. Usually both would be killed off immediately but I understand that the writers wanted to feature some strong women in the cast. Still you need to be careful with that on this show which is a sausage fest with homosexual subtext. Most of the fans are women and they watch Supernatural for the hot guys and prefer their boys miserable and single rather than tortured with forbidden romances or strong capable women. 

Bitch, please!

     Also I felt the language was too clean. The only time it was foul and grunge was when Violet's dick brother had her up against the wall by the throat calling her a "bitch". That also I have a problem with. Apparently female werewolves aren't held in high esteem despite the episode where Garth's wolf mother-in-law seemed to be top Bitch around town. You need some balance like Ellen and Jo. They were bitches but they were tough women and we liked them. Then there was Meg who was the queen of bitches but we discovered that she's kind of noble and fights for a cause. Yeah the female characters we like fight for a cause usually. 

Don't lose your head over this

        Sam and Dean didn't seem like they belonged in Chicago in that setting. People complained, "How bad are Sam and Dean at their job that they didn't know that Chicago was run by monsters?" Ummm they've been busy lately with I don't know... Angels falling, Heaven being locked up, and a Knight of Hell Dominatrix trying to whip the hoards of hell into rising and taking over! With all this Heaven and Hell politics and war, 5 monster families running a city that is practically famous for mobsters seems less important in the grand scheme of things. 

Bloodlines is left bleeding in the street

       It kind of felt like the writers were trying to copy The Originals; The TVD spin off that has become a huge success. But the problem is what I said before about familiar characters. Everyone knows Klaus, Elijah, and Rebekah. We didn't know that much about Hayley but once she started on The Originals she became a part of the family and we got to deeper explore her story. Everyone already loved the Original Vampires and they were so popular and had showed such potential (money-wise) that NOT having a spin off would have been ridiculous. It seemed to me that the Originals were stealing the spot light from the Salvatore Brothers and the gang of Mystic Falls. I loved Klaroline but even I saw that they had to end things so they both could evolve and go on their own journeys but that they'll meet again someday. 

"It's labeled...Susan"

       Maybe they can try again one day. Supernatural can't go on forever. I will say this for Bloodlines, it went back to how the original show started: hunting the things that go bump in the night and running the family business; even if that was also the monster family business. I'm not sure if Season 10 will be the last season or not but it does have to end sometime and I would like to continue the series in another show. What the producers should have done was maybe delve more into the Men of Letters Mythology. The Winchesters are legacies so let's see how Grandpa Henry Winchester kicked butt in the old days. I mean he's the only grandparent that Sam and Dean actually liked unlike their maternal grandfather Samuel. It would be nice to see how he and little John lived together and how the Men of Letters were keepers of the occult.