The Winchesters gave fans another classic monster hunt this week, bringing back a familiar enemy from hunters’ past. Vampires reared their heads quite often in the Supernatural series and their presence in episode 9 makes them one of the first monsters in The Winchesters to have already appeared in the SPN universe.
Episode 9 was packed with a lot of Supernatural familiarity, but was definitely a filler of sorts, although it hinted at plenty of potential drama to come. Starting off early in the episode, Dean chimed in with one of his narrations, saying he didn’t expect the chain reaction that followed when he “pushed over that first domino,” whatever that may be.
He was likely referencing the fact that John and Mary are now aware of his presence in their timeline, and hopefully the rest of the season will explain how exactly Dean got there. His involvement will likely set The Winchesters on course to align with the Supernatural canon and keep the original Winchester story intact.
Dean’s reference to his battles with free will was also a nice Easter egg for Supernatural fans who are familiar with Team Free Will, the characters that served as the backbone for the preliminary series.
Episode 9 brought back Mary’s self-proclaimed “reporter friend” Kyle, John’s ex fiancé Betty, and Carlos’ new flame Anton. It’s been a few episodes since any of them have popped up, but Betty and Kyle’s sudden interest in what John, Mary, Carlos and Lata have been doing spells big trouble for the future.
The fact that the end of the episode reveals Kyle to have been possessed by an Akrida is definitely concerning, because the Akrida are getting closer to the core four than anyone realizes. Even Betty faces major danger by working with Kyle, since she’s not equipped to handle the consequences that come after poking around in hunter business.
At the very least, Carlos got to share a sweet moment with his potential new beau and finally asked Anton out on a second date, before sealing the deal with a kiss. Slowly but surely, things seem to be falling into place for Carlos now that he’s dealt with some of his military trauma and the death of his parents this season, so fingers crossed life keeps looking upward for him in the future.
John and Mary’s relationship also seems to be on the right path, now that they’ve told the rest of the gang what’s been going on between them. Mary even opened up about wanting to build a future with John, which is both endearing and a little heartbreaking, since Supernatural fans know things don’t work out exactly the way she wants them to.
Plus, in true Supernatural fashion, episode 9 featured the first Winchester revival of the season by bringing John back from the dead. When backed into a corner, John’s first instinct was to put his own life on the line to give his mother time to escape the vampires threatening to kill them.
Perhaps the longest-running trope in the entire SPN universe, a Winchester is always willing to die for another Winchester and John’s decision to toy with his own life reestablishes the fact that this family of hunters are extremely loyal to one another.
For the most part, episode 9 served as a bridge to start connecting the multiple new storylines and give fans an idea of what they can expect for the rest of the season. All the individual plot lines were carefully connected in the first 7 episodes, and It looks as if that momentum will continue to carry on as season 1 draws to close.
There are still some questions, like why Lata told everyone her parents were dead and then gave her family a call in episode 3, before asking whoever was on the other line to tell her mother she was alright. As of right now, Lata’s backstory is the most mysterious and hopefully fans will be given more pieces of her life’s puzzle as the series progresses.
The core four will also have to figure out how to deal with the Akrida, and it would be nice to find out what’s been going on with Mary’s mother, since she’s been absent from the series. There have been hints dropped that she and Samuel sometimes struggle with their relationship, but the two were still together when fans met them in Supernatural, so they must reconcile their differences somehow.
With that being said, it was great to see that none of the minor characters introduced early on were forgotten about and getting to watch them play a bigger part in the series will surely be interesting. The many subtle references to Supernatural this week was a nice touch of nostalgia for long-time viewers, as well, and Jensen Ackles continues to show SPN fans why they should put their faith in The Winchesters.