Supernatural: Bloodlines
November 21, 2021 7:26 AM - Season 9, Episode 20 - Subscribe
Sam and Dean visit Chicago and find the city's underworld is divided between powerful clans of monsters, including werewolves and shapeshifters.
Quotes
David Lassiter: Violet's not picking up.
Sam: Wait, so this girl, she's a shifter, too?
David Lassiter: Werewolf.
Dean, Ennis Ross: [simultaneously] Awesome.
Ennis Ross: If she has her cell, we could trace the signal.
Sam: Yeah, you might be right. Alright, what's her number?
David Lassiter: Take me with you, it's all yours.
Ennis Ross: No. Oh, hell no! [to Dean] Dude, he's a frickin' transformer!
Dean: And sometimes you gotta work with the bad guys to get to the worse guys.
David Lassiter: Dude. I'm right here.
Dean: [muttering] Yeah, I see ya.
Dean: [to Sam, after chopping off a vampire's head] Looks better with a little off the top, don't ya think?
Dean: Alright, you're with me, Romeo.
David Lassiter: Sounds good, Buffy.
Ennis Ross: You're not Freddie Costa! So, who are you?
David Lassiter: My name is David Lassiter. I'm a shapeshifter.
Ennis Ross: You're a what?
David Lassiter: We shift our shape. It's kinda all there in the name.
Dean Winchester: So you're tellin' me there are five monster families that run Chicago? What is this, The Godfather with fangs?
Sal Lassiter: I'm not looking for trouble; I just want a drink.
Julian Duval: And I want to eat Taylor Swift's heart, but we can't always get what we want
Dean: [going through the cupboards at the monster club] This is full of blood and meat. A lot of meat. [takes out baggie] This one's labeled "Susan".
Sal Lassiter: Hey, Mindy. You miss me?
Mindy: Aww. I liked you as a blond. [walks away]
Sal Lassiter: [shifts his hair blond and walks back up to her] Better? I hear they have more fun.
David Lassiter: [upon seeing a lot of weaponry laid out in his family's home's dining room] Margo? What's with the NRA Christmas in here?
Trivia
This episode was intended as a backdoor-pilot episode for a spin-off series called Supernatural: Bloodlines. Unfortunately, the spin-off never made it off the ground as this was the show's lowest-rated episode in 9 seasons.
Sam and Dean use the FBI aliases of Bonham and Peart, a possible reference to John Bonham and Neil Peart, drummers for Led Zeppelin and Rush, respectively.
Unlike other shifters in the series, the ones in this episode didn't have to shed their skin in order to shapeshift into someone else.
The scenes alongside the elevated train line should be familiar to anyone whose watched Shameless, Chicago P.D., and other shows filmed in Chicago, as they have all used the same location.
At one point David responds to Dean with, "Sounds good, Buffy," a reference to Buffy the Vampire Slayer, another supernatural show with many character cameos in this one.
Quotes
David Lassiter: Violet's not picking up.
Sam: Wait, so this girl, she's a shifter, too?
David Lassiter: Werewolf.
Dean, Ennis Ross: [simultaneously] Awesome.
Ennis Ross: If she has her cell, we could trace the signal.
Sam: Yeah, you might be right. Alright, what's her number?
David Lassiter: Take me with you, it's all yours.
Ennis Ross: No. Oh, hell no! [to Dean] Dude, he's a frickin' transformer!
Dean: And sometimes you gotta work with the bad guys to get to the worse guys.
David Lassiter: Dude. I'm right here.
Dean: [muttering] Yeah, I see ya.
Dean: [to Sam, after chopping off a vampire's head] Looks better with a little off the top, don't ya think?
Dean: Alright, you're with me, Romeo.
David Lassiter: Sounds good, Buffy.
Ennis Ross: You're not Freddie Costa! So, who are you?
David Lassiter: My name is David Lassiter. I'm a shapeshifter.
Ennis Ross: You're a what?
David Lassiter: We shift our shape. It's kinda all there in the name.
Dean Winchester: So you're tellin' me there are five monster families that run Chicago? What is this, The Godfather with fangs?
Sal Lassiter: I'm not looking for trouble; I just want a drink.
Julian Duval: And I want to eat Taylor Swift's heart, but we can't always get what we want
Dean: [going through the cupboards at the monster club] This is full of blood and meat. A lot of meat. [takes out baggie] This one's labeled "Susan".
Sal Lassiter: Hey, Mindy. You miss me?
Mindy: Aww. I liked you as a blond. [walks away]
Sal Lassiter: [shifts his hair blond and walks back up to her] Better? I hear they have more fun.
David Lassiter: [upon seeing a lot of weaponry laid out in his family's home's dining room] Margo? What's with the NRA Christmas in here?
Trivia
This episode was intended as a backdoor-pilot episode for a spin-off series called Supernatural: Bloodlines. Unfortunately, the spin-off never made it off the ground as this was the show's lowest-rated episode in 9 seasons.
Sam and Dean use the FBI aliases of Bonham and Peart, a possible reference to John Bonham and Neil Peart, drummers for Led Zeppelin and Rush, respectively.
Unlike other shifters in the series, the ones in this episode didn't have to shed their skin in order to shapeshift into someone else.
The scenes alongside the elevated train line should be familiar to anyone whose watched Shameless, Chicago P.D., and other shows filmed in Chicago, as they have all used the same location.
At one point David responds to Dean with, "Sounds good, Buffy," a reference to Buffy the Vampire Slayer, another supernatural show with many character cameos in this one.
Orange swan, I applaud your dedication and will leave this note of thanks here -- I've enjoyed your selections of quotes and your commentary!
posted by vers at 2:54 PM on November 21, 2021
posted by vers at 2:54 PM on November 21, 2021
Man, what an episode to end on. This was real bad! It was bad. Maybe in a season or two Bloodlines could’ve been fun bad but this was not fun, and I’m not sure how it was to either show’s benefit to try and make it a spinoff. It is a shame they never found another place for Ennis even with the supremely tiresome fridged girlfriend intro.
Orange swan, thank you so much for the time and care you’ve put into these posts. I enjoyed the discussion so much, and it’s made rewatching a lot more fun. And I am so sorry to hear about your cat.
posted by jameaterblues at 3:22 PM on November 21, 2021
Orange swan, thank you so much for the time and care you’ve put into these posts. I enjoyed the discussion so much, and it’s made rewatching a lot more fun. And I am so sorry to hear about your cat.
posted by jameaterblues at 3:22 PM on November 21, 2021
This is the end of new threads?! How do I keep up with new stuff in the re-watch? I assume those posts won't show up on the main Fanfare page, so is it like I'd have to watch the Supernatural FF page to see if there's been any activity? How will this work?
I appreciate your efforts, Orange Swan. I doubt I'll ever do a full re-watch of the series but it's been fun to get these reminders of episodes I'd nearly forgotten and read people's takes on them all.
One thing that's stood out to me from the dialogue excerpts is that the show got more "writerly" over time. It was always quippy, but around the time the show's plots were getting wobbly (season six to... YMMV) the characters started to speak in a more self-consciously clever way, for good or ill. I think Crowley's introduction may have had something to do with that. Writing his frenemy banter with the Winchesters seemed to uncork something in the writers. It was like they figured out a character could have a really distinctive voice, so then they leaned in to Dean's gruff man-child thing and Bobby's scrappy redneck coot persona and Cas' blunt otherworldliness and Charlie's geek girl sass, and all the rest of it. A lot of the dialogue in the later seasons was really fun, but to be honest I wish they'd put a little more of that energy into figuring out the season-long arcs.
I haven't seen it since it aired, but this spinoff struck me as a weird misfire. It seemed like some whole other kind of show, kind of a standard WB/CW spooky soap. The monsters didn't even work the same way they worked on Supernatural! (Not that Supernatural was always so consistent about how its monsters worked, but this show had some whole other set of rules.) Maybe it was the brainchild of the Supernatural creators, but it sure felt like the network had their own show they were trying to launch and somebody had the idea to piggyback it off Supernatural's success. I don't think anybody was too sorry to see it sputter out. (The same cannot be said for Wayward Sisters, a show that really might have worked.)
This reminds me of that spinoff we heard about some months back, where we were gonna follow young John and Mary around while Dean narrated. I wonder if anything's happening with that.
posted by Ursula Hitler at 4:59 PM on November 21, 2021 [1 favorite]
I appreciate your efforts, Orange Swan. I doubt I'll ever do a full re-watch of the series but it's been fun to get these reminders of episodes I'd nearly forgotten and read people's takes on them all.
One thing that's stood out to me from the dialogue excerpts is that the show got more "writerly" over time. It was always quippy, but around the time the show's plots were getting wobbly (season six to... YMMV) the characters started to speak in a more self-consciously clever way, for good or ill. I think Crowley's introduction may have had something to do with that. Writing his frenemy banter with the Winchesters seemed to uncork something in the writers. It was like they figured out a character could have a really distinctive voice, so then they leaned in to Dean's gruff man-child thing and Bobby's scrappy redneck coot persona and Cas' blunt otherworldliness and Charlie's geek girl sass, and all the rest of it. A lot of the dialogue in the later seasons was really fun, but to be honest I wish they'd put a little more of that energy into figuring out the season-long arcs.
I haven't seen it since it aired, but this spinoff struck me as a weird misfire. It seemed like some whole other kind of show, kind of a standard WB/CW spooky soap. The monsters didn't even work the same way they worked on Supernatural! (Not that Supernatural was always so consistent about how its monsters worked, but this show had some whole other set of rules.) Maybe it was the brainchild of the Supernatural creators, but it sure felt like the network had their own show they were trying to launch and somebody had the idea to piggyback it off Supernatural's success. I don't think anybody was too sorry to see it sputter out. (The same cannot be said for Wayward Sisters, a show that really might have worked.)
This reminds me of that spinoff we heard about some months back, where we were gonna follow young John and Mary around while Dean narrated. I wonder if anything's happening with that.
posted by Ursula Hitler at 4:59 PM on November 21, 2021 [1 favorite]
If anyone does want to hop to the Fanfare post for the next episode, here's 9x21: King of the Damned.
posted by jameaterblues at 7:46 PM on November 21, 2021
posted by jameaterblues at 7:46 PM on November 21, 2021
I could never figure out why THIS was their spinoff idea. This world was pretty dang different from the usual Supernatural world.
RIP Wayward Sisters spinoff, which would have been a billion times better and instead was passed on for more frigging Charmed.
Thank you, orange swan, for all your hard work!
posted by jenfullmoon at 10:33 AM on November 22, 2021
RIP Wayward Sisters spinoff, which would have been a billion times better and instead was passed on for more frigging Charmed.
Thank you, orange swan, for all your hard work!
posted by jenfullmoon at 10:33 AM on November 22, 2021
This is the end of new threads?! How do I keep up with new stuff in the re-watch? I assume those posts won't show up on the main Fanfare page, so is it like I'd have to watch the Supernatural FF page to see if there's been any activity? How will this work?
I'm been trying to think of a non-clunky, non-pain-in-the-ass way for people to keep abreast of ongoing Supernatural discussions, and I don't know what the answer is. Clicking on "Recent Activity" will show you any comments made since your last comment in any thread you're participating in, but I know some people just want to read the discussions without commenting themselves, in which case all I can suggest is that you go to the list of episodes for whatever season we're currently watching (i.e., Supernatural season 10), and scan it for new comments. Maybe someone else knows of some better options...?
Ideally we'd be able to subscribe to all Supernatural posts and get an easily accessible feed of whatever new comments had been made in them, rather like Recent Activity, only for a particular show rather than for threads you've been commenting in. I've just spent ten minutes or so poking around and trying to figure out if there's a way to do that, but if there was I couldn't find it.
I see someone linked to the next thread after this one, so in case anyone doesn't know this, I'll just say that you can navigate to the next/previous episode of a show by clicking on the "Previous Episode" and "Next Episode" links above the comment field in whatever episode thread you're currently in.
posted by orange swan at 3:49 PM on November 22, 2021
I'm been trying to think of a non-clunky, non-pain-in-the-ass way for people to keep abreast of ongoing Supernatural discussions, and I don't know what the answer is. Clicking on "Recent Activity" will show you any comments made since your last comment in any thread you're participating in, but I know some people just want to read the discussions without commenting themselves, in which case all I can suggest is that you go to the list of episodes for whatever season we're currently watching (i.e., Supernatural season 10), and scan it for new comments. Maybe someone else knows of some better options...?
Ideally we'd be able to subscribe to all Supernatural posts and get an easily accessible feed of whatever new comments had been made in them, rather like Recent Activity, only for a particular show rather than for threads you've been commenting in. I've just spent ten minutes or so poking around and trying to figure out if there's a way to do that, but if there was I couldn't find it.
I see someone linked to the next thread after this one, so in case anyone doesn't know this, I'll just say that you can navigate to the next/previous episode of a show by clicking on the "Previous Episode" and "Next Episode" links above the comment field in whatever episode thread you're currently in.
posted by orange swan at 3:49 PM on November 22, 2021
I could never figure out why THIS was their spinoff idea. This world was pretty dang different from the usual Supernatural world.
'Bloodlines' was very different from Supernatural -- but very much in the vein of 'The Vampire Diaries', which hadn't spawned its own spin-offs yet when 'Bloodlines' premiered, I assume the blame for this dreadful episode lies with some CW exec thinking they could Vampire Diary-ify Supernatural.
Just want to add my voice to the praise for orange swan's posts - I didn't have it in me to start a rewatch of the series yet, not sure I ever will, but I did enjoy having my memory jogged by the threads and learning all new trivia.
As far as the continuing discussion, theoretically the 'Recent Activity' function should keep popping the S9e21+ episodes into my view as the discussions happen, but, it seems like there's some cut-off point in older threads that doesn't load them into the RA view. I have to remove them from RA and add them back again for them to start showing up (which kinda mucks with my RA functionality). So, I probably won't be following along for the S10-15 ride. Carry on, you wayward Mefites!
posted by oh yeah! at 6:37 PM on November 22, 2021
'Bloodlines' was very different from Supernatural -- but very much in the vein of 'The Vampire Diaries', which hadn't spawned its own spin-offs yet when 'Bloodlines' premiered, I assume the blame for this dreadful episode lies with some CW exec thinking they could Vampire Diary-ify Supernatural.
Just want to add my voice to the praise for orange swan's posts - I didn't have it in me to start a rewatch of the series yet, not sure I ever will, but I did enjoy having my memory jogged by the threads and learning all new trivia.
As far as the continuing discussion, theoretically the 'Recent Activity' function should keep popping the S9e21+ episodes into my view as the discussions happen, but, it seems like there's some cut-off point in older threads that doesn't load them into the RA view. I have to remove them from RA and add them back again for them to start showing up (which kinda mucks with my RA functionality). So, I probably won't be following along for the S10-15 ride. Carry on, you wayward Mefites!
posted by oh yeah! at 6:37 PM on November 22, 2021
This episode is straight up 'Vampire: The Masquerade - Bloodlines' with the sexy vampires/ werewolves in designer clothing and swanky sub rosa clubs. There was probably was/ is a market for something like this but they need a better hook. The traditional one is someone charismatic (or the player) who wakes up as a new baby vamp.
Bit surprised how well they pulled off making Vancouver Waterfront look kinda like Chicago with the effective use of establishing shots and some camera colour filters.
posted by porpoise at 6:40 PM on November 22, 2021
Bit surprised how well they pulled off making Vancouver Waterfront look kinda like Chicago with the effective use of establishing shots and some camera colour filters.
posted by porpoise at 6:40 PM on November 22, 2021
One more note on threads going forward... I have discovered that there are no threads episodes 11, 12, and 13 of season 11, so I'll be doing posts for those episodes when I get there.
posted by orange swan at 5:17 PM on December 2, 2021 [1 favorite]
posted by orange swan at 5:17 PM on December 2, 2021 [1 favorite]
You are not logged in, either login or create an account to post comments
And... that's it for me having to create Supernatural episode posts, as the entire run of the series is now in the Fanfare database. It's been a long, if enjoyable, haul. With the exception of one day when my laptop, which is my only internet device, was on the fritz, I've been posting one thread every day since May 13th, even on my birthday and the day my cat died, so it's kind of a relief to me to have it done. I'll be carrying on with the rewatch for the remaining six seasons, and I hope all of you will be joining me, but you won't get the reminder of a fresh post every day.
posted by orange swan at 7:54 AM on November 21, 2021 [7 favorites]