The Winchesters Season 1 Episode 4 Review: Masters of War

The Winchesters Season 1 Episode 4, “Masters of War,” explores each character’s trauma. More specifically, John and Carlos’s war scars. This is the first episode where we start to see an actual bond form between them.

Carlos has a history with Latika and Mary, so they all share a bond. On each episode, John grows closer to Mary and Latika. However, we rarely see much interaction between Carlos and John, and that’s not because they work together.  

“Masters of War” allows Carlos and John to form a more personal bond and highlights their stark differences while showing their commonalities. Their time in the Vietnam War remains a deep wound for both.

How they try to bandage these wounds, once again, makes their differences more prominent.

Throughout The Winchesters, Carlos is more free-spirited than John. John hasn’t been a completely closed-door, but he’s not a hug-just-because kind of person. Because of their personalities, it makes sense that Carlos sees the benefits of talking about his war trauma, and John keeps it bottled up.

The ghost of Maggie also haunts Mary on this episode (no, not literally). But, like Carlos, Mary begins her healing process.

The Maggie stories also show the strength of Latika and Mary’s bond. It seems as if Mary, Maggie, and Latika grew up together. This makes them almost like sisters.

This only adds to the tragedy of Maggie’s death. 

This episode adds more layers to Latika and Carlos and some deeper roots to their bonds. The real-world scars are the best elements of this episode.

However, the underwhelming nature of the demons remains an issue. Mars Neto appearing as some guy named Jimmy, feels like a disappointment.

Neto doesn’t need a human face to terrify. A faceless god works better as a scary creature, and the Jimmy twist adds nothing to the episode. If the appearance of Jimmy had lasted longer, then maybe the reveal could have had a more significant impact.

It feels like an “okay, so what” moment with the reveal.

Neto’s mission to target John because of his hunter and soldier skills is also a weak plot development. John doesn’t need to be destined for greatness to make us connect and root for him.

John became the target to highlight his repressed emotions. But, even though those intentions are clear, they don’t quite work.

Once again, The Winchesters deserves praise for incorporating real mythology and legends into this story.

Gods and goddesses have been covered extensively in media, and focusing on a god that’s not covered as much is a clever decision. However, the execution needs to improve on its wow factor.

Recently, Deadline reported that The Winchesters would have no additional episodes after the already ordered 13. This means we’re already nearing the halfway mark of the season. The show has been consistent in quality, but hopefully, things will pick up in the latter half of the season.

Other Thoughts

• The show introduces Kyle on The Winchesters Season 1 Episode 2, “Teach Your Children Well,” in such a surprising manner that it’s an exciting decision to have him appear on this episode barely.
• It will be very entertaining to see Mary and Carlos living together.
• I am glad that The Winchesters emphasizes therapy’s important role in healing because John and Millie being so anti-therapy causes worry. I do, however, understand that their stance is to show the toxic belief about it during that period. 
• Hopefully, the Akrida lives up to the hype. I am already tired of hearing about them. 

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The Winchesters airs Tuesdays at 8/7c on The CW.

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