Quick Reaction: 5x07 The Curious Case of Dean Winchester

[hells_half_acre]

Bobby!

Not bad not bad...of course, I always like this show. This was a cool mix of MOTW and "Important Secondary Character Development". Mainly, because we learn that Bobby is actually fallible. Let me do my best to start at the beginning...

In the teaser, we learn that World Weekly News (Weekly World News?) can sometimes be right, as psychics agree that it's the apocalypse. Then some young guy ages and dies...

I like the acknowledgment of current events - "Change you can believe in" - hehe...I love how the boys are momentarily bewildered that someone is actually calling them out on being fakes, and then it's just a gov't competance joke. 

The dude who died was younger than Sam...this is where Susie brought up an interesting point: Why would a young guy play at all? I mean, you don't want to turn into a baby...so...maybe you can just remain 25 for 25 years and then age? That'd be a good deal - it's probably what Mr. Witch and his girl are doing, I guess. Susie and I also thought this would have been a hilarious way to bring Colin Ford back on the show! Haha...man, if this hadn't been an episode about Bobby, they totally should have done that. Give Jared another week off and have Colin act opposite Jensen. I'm sure Jensen appreciated his days off though, poor guy earned it after The End.

Anyway, back to the actual episode....

Bobby and Dean are a lot a like. I sort of just realized that this episode. We all know that Sam is like John, but man...Dean and Bobby are extremely similar when it comes to dealing with emotional angst: deflect, ignore, deflect, ignore, rant and break into tears, deflect, grudgingly accept comfort, make joke about becoming a woman, deflect, ignore. On top of that though, Bobby has also always been all about Family, just like Dean...John and Sam were more goal driven - sure, they cared about the family just as much as Dean, but it wasn't their single focus. Anyway, I'm just saying that I'm starting to understand why there's always more Bobby and Dean interaction than Bobby and Sam. I think where John and Sam's similarities drove them apart, Bobby and Dean's similarities bring them together.

Oh man...a couple of things about the scene when they find the "old" guy with the two girls:
1. Sam saying "well it's gooey..." - hahah, so gross.
2. Dean actually walking over and lifting up the blankets without a second thought about it! Killed me!
3. The guy saying he only had to pay for one of the girls...oh man...
4. "It's a game" - "Like X-box?" - "What's X-box?" - HAHA, oh Sam...why on earth would be like x-box? You are silly.

Then Bobby MAKES A MISTAKE! Correct me if I'm wrong, but I'm pretty sure this is the very first mistake we have ever seen Bobby make.

And I guess, like Dean, Bobby didn't quite realize how much he means to his family...even with Dean constantly telling him that he's like a father to him. I love how Dean wastes no time and just right away gives Bobby his 25 years back.

And then Jensen has a few days off work, because we get Old!Dean:

Old!Dean did a good job. He got Dean's body-language down REALLY well. He didn't quite have the right inflection when he said his lines though. Susie thought his lines were a little too Clint-Eastwood-y. That very first scene though, when Sam discovers him, was I think the very best one.

I LOVED Sam's line of "It's like Grumpy Old Men!" and his little smile and little laugh...man, that guy is adorable.

Dean gets heartburn for the very first time in his life. Poor Dean.

Then we get the hunt for witch. I the entryway to the building scenes are the ones that they filmed across from Metrotown, but I could be mistaken.

Sammy cracks the safe, but the jig is up!

Oh, I forgot to say how much I love Irish accents. Dude's Gaelic sounded good (but he was mumbling)...Bobby's gaelic, umm...not so much (I have actually studied Gaelic, I am a little knowledgable. Go raibh maith agat)

Dude gave Sammy the clap! Oh man...

Which reminds me: I forget what scene it is, but at some point Dean mentions how there's "an archangel waiting for me to drop the soap." - Guys, we are totally watching a show that has an overarching sexual-assault theme. There is nothing wrong with that of course, it's an important issue...just not one I necessarily expected to find in a show about family demons...oh man, that sounds all kinds of wrong. My apologies.

Where were we? Oh yeah, poor Sam has the clap. Well, that was a successful evening guys.

Then Dean and Bobby are dismissing Sam's desire to help again...and Sam is peeved, but before he can wibble about it, Bobby admits to being suicidal. Sam then realizes that maybe his problems aren't the only problems in the world...it's a miracle. I have to say though, that this is one scene that I really wish Jensen had acted in, because his reaction to Bobby would have been way more heartwrenching than Old!Dean's...mind you, Jim Beaver was able to break my heart all on his own, so maybe it's a good thing that I didn't get the full force of his and Jensen's combined powers. I may have died.

I totally didn't think that Sam was hip to the whole reverse the spell thing - I totally thought that he had gone in there alone and didn't know what Dean and Bobby were up to.

Oh...THINGS WE LEARN: Although we know that Sam can hustle pool with the best of them, we discover in this episode that Poker has always been Dean's job apparently. Sam has WATCHED Dean play for years, but it doesn't sound like he's ever actually done the poker thing himself. Sam IS a lousy liar, so I'm not surprised. Dean also acknowledges that Bobby is better at poker than he is...so, yeah, naturally my mind is going to possible pre-series fanfics of Bobby bonding with a young Dean by teaching him how to play poker...it'd be cute.

Dean really does complain a lot. I never really noticed before, but now that Bobby brings it up...even when he isn't old, Dean complains a lot. It's probably stored up from all the years he never complained to his father.

THE SHOWDOWN:

Sam bluffs successfully! Even with Mr. Witch trying to psych him out by bringing up all his issues.

We find out that Sam IS hip to the whole spell-reversal thing, except Mr. Witch was also apparently hip to it...he must have realized that Sam was keeping his eyes on the toothpick the whole time...see, Sam, this is why Dean didn't think you could play poker (plus you once told him you were ordering pizza delivery while you were sitting in a restaurant.)

I love how some things never change...like, no matter how many times Dean dies, no matter how nonchalantly Sam says "I doubt either of us will live that long", Sam still FREAKS THE FUCK OUT whenever it looks like Dean might die. And god...what was sadder than when Sam's first reaction was to try to run away...run to Dean...and Mr. Witch MADE him stay...and then we got the shiney eyes and the panicked look....

And STILL Sam wins...on four 4s. Did you know that 4 means death in asia? It's an extremely unlucky number there. I'm wondering if the writers did that on purpose. You can't exactly win on 13s in Poker, so I'm wondering if they used the next best thing to make a statement about taking bad luck and making it good? Something to consider though.

I have to say though...that Sam's slow reveal was killing me. Obviously, he didn't know Dean was biting it as he spoke, but damn...not a time for dramatics Sam!

LOVE Dean's happy clicking-his-heels together move as he walks towards Bobby. Hahaha...man, maybe not the best move to use in front of Bobby right now, Dean...

Sam leaving to get a booster shot...oh Sam...hahaha...

The we get the Bobby - Dean scene that I've been craving since 5x02. I'm glad they wrote it with regular Dean and not Old!Dean.

"Sam and I don't have much left" - dude, you guys barely have your own BODIES left.

I think Bobby's going to be ok...I hope anyway. I really really hope.

I have to say though, that I LIKE that Bobby is fallible. I like that for once it was Dean giving Bobby the don't-be-an-idjit talk. I think it serves as character development for Dean too, because Dean's not only even with Bobby in terms of hunting skills, his "you don't stop being a soldier just because you get injured in battle" is totally a LEADERSHIP thing to say. And I know Future!Leader!Dean was a psycho in The End, but I really think as this season progresses, it's going to be more and more about Dean becoming far more than John Winchester ever was.

Ok, I've been writing this for an hour and 11 minutes. Jesus...these quick reactions are longer than my rewatch posts.

Oh wait...one more thing: Did Dean give up burgers? Because I'm trying to figure out what the symbolic ditching of the burger meant...and man...did he really do that?

Comments

[claudiapriscus.livejournal.com]

Old!Dean was really well played. My measure of this is not a terribly complicated one: if a show has another actor playing a character as they are now, and I forget this, than I chalk that up as a success. Of course, a lot of good shows with good actors fail that test, and it's not that their performances are unbelievable, it's just that I can't forget for whatever subtle reason.

Random other thought: Dean obviously has very very good genes. He was giving Paul Newman a run for his money in the 'aging well' department.

Completely shallow thought: I don't know why it took a few shots of Sam standing next to Old!Dean and Bobby for me to realize how incredibly good looking the actor is. I mean, I knew, but I guess I overdose on attractiveness when both he and JA are wandering around and become immune.

[hells-half-acre.livejournal.com]

Yes, Old!Dean really had Dean's body language down. There was absolutely no mistaking him for anyone other than Dean. The guy did a great job.

I also agree about him aging well...I mean, it's quite obvious Dean has good genes, but he was also still basically the same height!

Completely shallow thoughts are always welcome here. I absolutely loved the lighting on Sam's face during his first hand of poker. Man... it's true that I think most of the time we overdose on the attractiveness and become immune, but it's very nice to be reminded from time to time that we are staring at very gorgeous men whenever we watch this show. ;-)

[mara-snh.livejournal.com]

True! These guys are awesomely attractive, even though one of them once shrugged that off by saying "in this business, attractive people are a dime a dozen" in favor of stressing that you actually need talent. Both came through beautifully last night. Sam's poker game was so well-directed. I wasn't sure, though, if Sam had decided to use his old psychic ability -- does he still have it? -- that was left a little sketchy, I thought. Anyway, the boy's beauty was surreal.

[hells-half-acre.livejournal.com]

I think these guys spoil us with their talent every week, the beauty is just an added bonus :-)

I think Sam will always have latent psychic ability. I'm not sure though, at this point, if it is something he can decide to use. If he DID use it in the game, I'd be more willing to believe that it was not on purpose - similar to when he moved the cupboard to save Dean from Max, or used the super-strength to kill Gordon...or like in DALDOM when he was able to enter and manipulate Dean's dreams without taking a fresh dose of the dreamroot, and didn't even think it had anything to do with his psychic abilities even though Bobby thought it might.

[mara-snh.livejournal.com]

Oh yeah. Good points all.

[mara-snh.livejournal.com]

I'm surprised by how perplexed a couple of my flisters are about the hamburger bit at the end. Dean's burger (which he asked Sam to order with "extra bacon") was probably his customary "bacon cheeseburger" a.k.a. heart attack on a bun. After his old-man experience, his ditching the burger was a hopeful statement about his intention to live long and healthfully. I loved it.

[hells-half-acre.livejournal.com]

Yeah, see...that's what I thought. The reason I then dismissed it and was confused, is because I'm not that optimistic about Dean's chances of survival. I feel horrible about it, but the truth is that, like Sam at the beginning of the episode, I don't expect the boys to live long enough for the cheeseburgers to catch up with them.

But, if that's what Dean meant...then that's good. He deserves a little optimism.

[mara-snh.livejournal.com]

Oh, I so agree. No one deserves to "livelong and prosper" like these guys. I also think Dean was sort of saying to Bobby that they all have to make sacrifices to be there for each other, and he was going to do his part. Very leadershippy of him, I thought.

[hells-half-acre.livejournal.com]

Yeah...Dean's awesome.

Still can't really believe he might be giving up his heart-attack diet...but if man, it's pretty touching that he'd try.

[trystan830.livejournal.com]

well you know i enjoyed it.

and i think yeah, Dean did give up burgers. maybe he's rethinking that "not growing old" bit and that he might actually get there some day? dunno....

[hells-half-acre.livejournal.com]

I'm just shocked that he would...I guess it's just goes to further show that Dean really is willing to change in order to keep his family together. Now Bobby and Sam just have to follow suit.

[trystan830.livejournal.com]

dean is a surprising guy; he's like an onion. *heh*

[mattheal.livejournal.com]

Great thoughts! I agree that the Bobby-Dean talk was long overdue. In my head I'm comparing it to 'Fallen Idols' where it is a very basic plot but the purpose of the ep is to work through emotional issues. In "Fallen Idols' it was to 'fix' SamnDean and in this ep it was to fix Bobby.

Also: Sam's Puppydog eyes of DOOM totally saved Dean's life!!!

[hells-half-acre.livejournal.com]

It's about time Sam used his Puppydog eyes of DOOM for good instead of evil! lol

I really hope they fixed Bobby! I love that guy.

[mymuseandi.livejournal.com]

I love old!Dean. I think Chad played him well, have the mannerisms down most of the time. I also like how they went on with Bobby, trying to get his 25 years back and then the plan backfired on him.

I think Sam in this eppy is like Season 1 Sam, especially his panicked reaction to just jump up and run to get Dean. This is one of the very few little brother!Sam moments that we had since season 5, and i'm enjoying it. I love the more mature Sam, of course, but there's something about him when he becomes all littl brother to Dean's big brother, you know? LOL

Also, i'm partway reading Jim Beaver's Life's That Way and so it's difficult for me to see the Bobby in this eppy without thinking of Jim Beaver and his reactions in the book. :)

Because I'm trying to figure out what the symbolic ditching of the burger meant

That maybe he's going to take better care of himself? LOL

[hells-half-acre.livejournal.com]

That maybe he's going to take better care of himself? LOL

LOL, yeah, that's it. It's just shocking you know...never thought I'd see the day...

How is "Life's That Way"? I want to buy it, but I've already got quite the stack of "to be read" books, and I'm not sure I deserve additions to it.

I also love LittleBrother!Sam...love him to pieces. It was nice to see him in this episode for sure.

Chad did indeed do an excellent job...that first scene, with the little guilty head-bob...PERFECTION. Good man.

[mymuseandi.livejournal.com]

Life's That Way is good, so far, since i haven't actually finish reading it. It's kinda hard to read though, nothing about the words or structure, but more of the content, the emotional dependency that you develop once you start reading that, so yea, so far i can still take it. Not so sure about the later pages though. LOL

I've already got quite the stack of "to be read" books, and I'm not sure I deserve additions to it.

Me too. It never really seems to grown any smaller. :)