S01.E05: Legend of a Mind

[Nick24]

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SECRETS UNCOVERED – Hidden secrets from Ada’s (Demetria McKinney) past comes to light when the gang goes undercover to look into a suspicious death. Still reeling from the last Hunt, Millie (Bianca Kajlich) asks Mary (Meg Donnelly) to keep an eye on John (Drake Rodger) as they split off from the others to get intel on the new case. Carlos (JoJo Fleites) and Ada’s stakeout connects the victim to the next target. Latika’s (Nida Khurshid) research comes up with some interesting results that lead John to be Mary’s lifeline out of a sticky situation. Lisa Soper directed the episode written by Sehaj Sethi (#105). Original Airdate 11/15/2022.

[Nick24]

This was a decent mytharc-moving episode mixed with Ada and Mary character exploration. 

I didn't expect that twist with Ada's son. I liked it, though. I'd like to see him again; I think the character has potential. Actually, he might join Mary's band, especially considering that there might be something between him and Latika. 

I was feeling bad for both Ada and her son, but I'm glad that they both found the common ground at the end, so their relationship might get better. I'm so satisfied, that the characters on this show have real (not manufactured) conflicts, and they are able to admit their mistakes and are trying to make up for them.  

Poor Mary. Got involved into that whole supernatural crap being just one year older than Dean. Looks like her parents didn't care much about little Mary's mental state by leaving her with all those horrible thoughts alone. I like that John keeps trying to help her with these issues. 

Btw, the scenes in Mary's mind were beautifully shot.

So, the Akrida leader seems to have plans for our protagonists. I'm intrigued.

Edited November 16, 2022 by Nick24

[iMonrey]

I'm not sure the story here synced up with the Djinn story they did on Supernatural. That Djinn had victims strung up in a warehouse, unconscious and being fed through intravenous tubes to keep them alive. He also had heavy tattoos all over his face and red eyes. I get that Ada's son is only half Djinn but you'd think there would be something distinguishing about his looks, and his power seemed much less malevolent.

It occurs to me it's rather strange to call this show "The Winchesters" since there are only two of them, John and Millie. I would assume "Winchesters" is meant to refer to John and Mary but Mary is still a Campbell and I don't see her and John getting married anytime too soon. They might have called the show "Winchester, Campbell & Co." or "The Hunters" or something.

Edited November 16, 2022 by iMonrey

[AnimeMania]

John's mood seems to be all over the place during the last few episodes, that God of War episode still seemed out of character for me.

I guess Ada is supposed to be much older than the rest of the team.

I guess there are not that many other Hunters around, since all the monsters are flocking to Lawrence, Kansas, you would think the other Hunters would be converging there as well.

[MAK]

Good episode! I’m really enjoying getting to know all these characters, and the actors are doing a good job.

Ada is all kinds of layered! I want to know so much more about her! 

There were so many things that reminded me of Dean, Sam, and JDM!John, too many to write. 

Did they change the “lore” of the djinn? I remember 3 different types in SPN — the regular ones like the one in WIASNB, the ones in Exile on Main Street, and the ones made by AU!Michael. 

[iMonrey]

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John's mood seems to be all over the place during the last few episodes

So is his hair. I noticed it changed from scene to scene, sometimes neatly combed and parted and sometimes a messy bouffant. Speaking of hair, Carlos had very curly hair throughout the entire episode except for that one scene in the photo above where it looks like he had a blowout. Which, fine, but then in the very next scene it's curly again. WTF.

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Did they change the “lore” of the djinn? I remember 3 different types in SPN — the regular ones like the one in WIASNB, the ones in Exile on Main Street, and the ones made by AU!Michael. 

I only remember the one from What Is and What Should Never Be.

Edited November 16, 2022 by iMonrey

[Bergamot]

4 minutes ago, MAK said:

Did they change the “lore” of the djinn? I remember 3 different types in SPN — the regular ones like the one in WIASNB, the ones in Exile on Main Street, and the ones made by AU!Michael. 

Yes, djinns kind of "evolved" over the course of Supernatural. The original djinn in "What Is and What Should Never Be" was permanently covered with those intricate tattoos; he trapped his victims in a fantasy world, which was the show's connection to the traditional idea of a djinn being a magical creature who grants your wishes. Then while the victim was living in the fantasy world, he would siphon off and drink their blood for as long as they lasted. I thought this was the best version of what a djinn was; the idea of the victim being unknowingly trapped and living in their fantasy world as they were slowly dying made for one of the most powerful episodes ever of the show. I love that episode so much; it was so good!

When the djinns appeared in "Exile on Main Street", they looked human except when they revealed themselves as djinn, when their tattoos would become visible and grow across their skin, and their eyes would glow blue (as the eyes of the first djinn did.) These djinns used their poison to make their victims hallucinate their worst fears, rather than tricking them into thinking that their wish had come true.

The djinns in the episode "Pac-Man Fever" also looked and lived as regular human beings, not just in ruined buildings,  and again they trapped their victims in their worse nightmare rather than in a world of perfect happiness. Dean calls them an "offshoot" of the species, and adds that they turn the insides of their victims to jelly. I guess this offshoot is the type of djinn that we saw in this episode.

[tessathereaper]

4 hours ago, AnimeMania said:

John's mood seems to be all over the place during the last few episodes, that God of War episode still seemed out of character for me.

I guess Ada is supposed to be much older than the rest of the team.

I guess there are not that many other Hunters around, since all the monsters are flocking to Lawrence, Kansas, you would think the other Hunters would be converging there as well.

Yes  she's meant to be much older given she was working with and a friend of John's father who disappeared 15 years ago when he was 4.  

They don't have the internet to check stuff with, they wouldn't have reason to converge on Lawrence. Our gang notices because they are already there, that doesn't mean people from outside the area would already be noticing. If anything at most they might notice a little less activity in their own area and just think it's a slow couple months.

Edited November 16, 2022 by tessathereaper

[tessathereaper]

3 hours ago, iMonrey said:

So is his hair. I noticed it changed from scene to scene, sometimes neatly combed and parted and sometimes a messy bouffant. Speaking of hair, Carlos had very curly hair throughout the entire episode except for that one scene in the photo above where it looks like he had a blowout. Which, fine, but then in the very next scene it's curly again. WTF.

I only remember the one from What Is and What Should Never Be.

Curly hair can be like that - one minute it looks good, then it gets hit with a wave of humidity and poof.  Both John and Carlos would likely be susceptible to that given they both have wavy to curly hair.  Plus running around, working on things, running hands through hair. 

Plus given they are filming in New Orleans(and apparently quite hot and humid during this episode) it's probably something they deal with in reality.

3 hours ago, Bergamot said:

Yes, djinns kind of "evolved" over the course of Supernatural. The original djinn in "What Is and What Should Never Be" was permanently covered with those intricate tattoos; he trapped his victims in a fantasy world, which was the show's connection to the traditional idea of a djinn being a magical creature who grants your wishes. Then while the victim was living in the fantasy world, he would siphon off and drink their blood for as long as they lasted. I thought this was the best version of what a djinn was; the idea of the victim being unknowingly trapped and living in their fantasy world as they were slowly dying made for one of the most powerful episodes ever of the show. I love that episode so much; it was so good!

When the djinns appeared in "Exile on Main Street", they looked human except when they revealed themselves as djinn, when their tattoos would become visible and grow across their skin, and their eyes would glow blue (as the eyes of the first djinn did.) These djinns used their poison to make their victims hallucinate their worst fears, rather than tricking them into thinking that their wish had come true.

The djinns in the episode "Pac-Man Fever" also looked and lived as regular human beings, not just in ruined buildings,  and again they trapped their victims in their worse nightmare rather than in a world of perfect happiness. Dean calls them an "offshoot" of the species, and adds that they turn the insides of their victims to jelly. I guess this offshoot is the type of djinn that we saw in this episode.

Yeah sounds like a Pac Man Fever type Djinn.  

[AnimeMania]

1 hour ago, tessathereaper said:

They don't have the internet to check stuff with, they wouldn't have reason to converge on Lawrence. Our gang notices because they are already there, that doesn't mean people from outside the area would already be noticing. If anything at most they might notice a little less activity in their own area and just think it's a slow couple months.

If the Hunters notice some monster activity and start to track it, it might lead them to Lawrence, Kansas. Quite a few monsters should be headed in that direction.

[iMonrey]

So I went back and watched the three Djinn episodes of Supernatural. In none of them did the Djinn actually "infiltrate" their victim's dreams. Not saying they don't have that power but they didn't do that in Supernatural. First of all, all three iterations had to physically touch their victims to put them into a coma/dreamscape. The first one fed off their blood while they slept; the second set were the children of the first one, they just dosed their victims with poison that caused them to hallucinate while awake. The third put them into a dreamscape and also fed off their fear. She was said to be a "bastard offshoot" of the original Djinns. But no - none of them actually appeared in their victim's dreams. It would have been a nice touch if Tony's eyes turned blue when he was dream-sharing.

Down side: watching those episodes made me realize how much better the original show was compared to this one. Relationships might strengthen eventually but these characters just don't have the charisma or the chemistry of Sam and Dean. And the show is sorely lacking in the humor department too.

[Commando Cody]

I like the show. I like the characters. However, even after several episodes, I still see Meg Donnelly as a miscast. Her playing Mary doesn't work for me. 

The end with the DJ made me think that this is like watching a live action episode of Scooby Do Mystery Incorporated. 

[Pondlass1]

Sam and Dean lived inside a nightmare.  This is Scooby and the gang kill monsters.  Maybe that’s what Jensen and Danneel are going for? 

 

[Bobcatkitten]

I think they are pushing the John/Mary thing too hard. This was the second episode in five where only John can talk Mary through some emotional arc to live. Seemed repetitive. Would have liked to see someone else shine there. 

And Mary is just too perfect at everything. Perilously close to Mary Sue.

Edited November 17, 2022 by Bobcatkitten

[Casseiopeia]

1 hour ago, Bobcatkitten said:

And Mary is just too perfect at everything. Perilously close to Mary Sue.

And she's kind of a holier than thou  about it the entire time. The chemistry between Drake and Meg is just nonexistent. I honestly can't see why John is mooning over her. The rest of the cast seems to be there to explain the script. At least this time they didn't just happen to open up the book, turn to page three and find all the lore they need for a monster they've never seen before. At least this time they did conveniently have a friendly Djinn on hand.

Watching a Scooby version of Hunters from the 70's isn't as much fun as it should be. They should have gone straight on parody.

I am trying to see what Robbie is going for here but at the moment it's escaping me. I know that key characters are going to show up soon so I hope the story will start to pick up a little more.

I also hope to Chuck the giant spiders aren't the Akrida. I hope they are the "Hellhounds" under the command of the greatest evil the Universe has ever known.

[tennisgurl]

I really liked getting more of Ada's backstory, I like that its different than your typical hunter backstory of a loved one being killed by monsters, although its certainly possible that she has some of that too. I'm glad that her son turned out not to be the bad guy and that he really is managing his powers without hurting people, I always liked it when Supernatural dealt with monster who didn't want to be monsters and seeing if it was possible for them to live a normal life. I could understand Ada and her son and their issues really well, its really nice that they managed to reconcile. I would be happy to see him again, especially as it seemed like he had a bit of a thing going with Latika. 

Djinns have a couple of different variations according to Supernatural lore, I guess Ada's son and baby daddy are one of the offshoots that don't trap people in their dreams? I'm not going to stress about it, Supernatural has never been super consistent when it comes to its monsters, they tend to change the rules for the sake of story, which can be annoying, but I know what I'm getting into at this point. 

Poor Mary, killing werewolf's at around nine is pretty brutal. Its even sadder seeing how much she hated being raised to be a hunter considering what ends up happening to her own sons. 

John felt a little off this week, his mood was all over the place for no reason. He was being his normal cute flirty self with Mary, then he got really intense and "we have zero tolerance for monsters here" with Ada when he announced that they have to hunt down her son, then he was back to normal, it was weird.  

[FlickChick]

On 11/16/2022 at 5:31 PM, iMonrey said:

Relationships might strengthen eventually but these characters just don't have the charisma or the chemistry of Sam and Dean. And the show is sorely lacking in the humor department too

Well, that's the thing about spin-offs. When a show is loved (or was, such as the case may be) as much as Supernatural, most comparisons are going to fall way short of the original. Add to that, that the casting of Jensen and Jared was truly "lightening in a bottle". Their chemistry and interactions in the early seasons was some of the best I've seen (since The X-Files) and although it waned as the years went by, those early episodes were pure gold. It's very hard to come up with that again. Those of us who are fans of Supernatural were hoping - maybe expecting - that same great beginning. Unfortunately, lightening rarely strikes twice in the same spot - or in this case, same supernatural universe.

[Shadow42]

Is The Winchesters in hiatus now?

[PAForrest]

The best part of this episode was giving Ada more to do and getting more insight into her backstory. I thought she was supposed to be older than the rest of the gang, and now we have confirmation that she is. And I liked her son - I'm glad he wasn't the bad guy in this story.

I think Meg and Drake have a decent amount of chemistry - that's not my problem with their story. It's the back and forth where one is mooning over the other each week, but no one talks about what they're feeling. I hate that trope.

OTOH, this all works if the point is that these two people really should never have been together in the first place. We'll have to see where Robbie is going with the relationship when the dust settles. But when Dabb reinvented Mary, it very definitely felt like she and John had no business ever being together. Maybe it really is all about angel interference.

I like the chick playing the Akrida vessel - or whatever she's supposed to be.

Mary's childhood story is not really unlike Dean's at the same age. Almost a mirror.

Millie always rocks.

[catrox14]

15 hours ago, tennisgurl said:

hn felt a little off this week, his mood was all over the place for no reason. He was being his normal cute flirty self with Mary, then he got really intense and "we have zero tolerance for monsters here" with Ada when he announced that they have to hunt down her son, then he was back to normal, it was weird.  

I think that comes down to John's PTSD. Yes, I know there was no technical book definition of it back then which doesn't change it existence at that time.