Recap – “The Curious Case of Dean Winchester”
Dean walks into a bar and is on the phone with Sam. Neither have found what they’re looking for. Dean tells Sam it’s his turn to get dinner. Yep, Dean wants extra bacon. You know, this isn’t a gripe, but have there been ANY times where Dean has gotten dinner? Don’t count when they were kids in “A Very Supernatural Christmas” either. I guess the two disasters that happened when Sam was fetching food in “Born Under A Bad Sign” and “All Hell Breaks Loose Part I” have long passed over. The running gag continues.
Dean pulls the usual “Benjamin Franklin” bit on the bartender and I’m sniggering because I saw that episode of The Office the other day when Jim and Pam tried to convince Dwight that the Ben Franklin impersonator in the conference room was the real Ben Franklin. What’s really funny is how it worked. I guess the bartender knows what the other real Ben Franklin is for he starts talking. The game is around back.
Dean walks there and surprise! Bobby comes out. Dean’s shocked that Bobby found the game first. “Brains trumps legs apparently.” Dean asks about the game and notices pretty quick Bobby isn’t talking. Yep, he played and he lost. Well if he had won this would have been a really short episode. I love how Dean jumps into lecturing mode. Lecturing? He’s pissed. Bobby doesn’t appreciate his tone. Then Dean even calls him an idiot! He is mad. Bobby says they’re his years and he can do what he wants with them. Dean wants to know how many years Bobby lost. 25. Then he starts aging a bit. A livid Dean tells him they’re not done and goes into the game. Oh Dean, careful, going in there half cocked is what got Bobby in trouble.
A very good looking man with an Irish accent is in a bar talking to an older man. He’s with a nice looking younger lady and it’s obvious he’s trying to be taken into playing. Dean interrupts and discretely shows the gun in his belt as motivation. Patrick plays along and excuses himself. They talk at a distant table and Dean apologizes for cutting short Patrick’s conversation with “Mr. and Mrs. Easy Marks” over there. Oh Dean, overconfidence is your weakness! That and Sam, but we won’t go there. Patrick says it wasn’t a total loss and flashes a watch he lifted.
Dean pulls the gun under the table. Patrick tries to guess what this is about. “Look, I don’t know what it is you think I did to your wife, girlfriend, mother or sister, but I just want to let you know my feelings were real.” Gotta love the 900 year old con man. “That ain’t my problem Manwitch.” You’ll notice Dean is handing out pet names left and right this episode. He tells Patrick he owes his friend some years. Patrick is sorry, but he lost, them’s the breaks. You know, he may be a charlatan, but he does have a point. It’s not like he puts guns to these people’s heads. He preys on desperation. Dean cocks the gun and Patrick tells him to go ahead and shoot him if it makes him feel better. He could use a good tickle. So, this guy can’t be killed easily.
I’ll point out now I really like Patrick, and not because he has that oh so hot accent. He’s smart and fun. The gist is, if Dean wants years, he’s going to have to play for them. Bobby says no, so now Dean pulls the “They’re my years and I do what I want,” crap. Man, will these guys stop trying to out stubborn one another? On second thought, wait until older Dean goes away. The scenes they have together are funny! Bobby starts coughing and looking rather old, so Patrick rubs it in my offering a lozenge. “It’s barely linted.” Ooh, I see what he’s doing. Trying to get Dean mad so he’ll play in a tizzy and out of his head space. Dean is eager to do this. Patrick warns him of the terms. Dean accepts without fear.
Out come the chips and they’re in a different place. They must have gone downstairs. Starting bet is 25 years. Dean asks for 50. Patrick does so with pleasure, while one ragged looking old Bobby watches. Patrick does some Gaelic mojo on the chips and they go all funny. Also, Patrick has this annoying toothpick habit. He’d be a trite sexier if he didn’t have that, but I guess a poker player needs a prop. Dean pulls out 25 chips and says they go to Bobby. Bobby doesn’t like it but like Dean’s going to back down. Patrick asks if he’s sure. Duh, do you see the look on his face?
Patrick throws out his hand, does another Gaelic spell, and the chips burst into flames. Everyone watches them burn for a few seconds like it’s an awesome campfire and then Patrick puts it out. The ashes fly away and Bobby is restored. Patrick rubs it in that Dean has just “pissed away” 25 years and that he better win them back. Dean isn’t worried and is all gung ho. Patrick smiles and proclaims this will be fun. For him anyway. He has Dean exactly where he wants him. We’re 15 minutes into the episode, so you know this isn’t going to go well.
Enter Sam, who dutifully has the food. “Hey Dean, did you find anything?” Um, you could say that. Actually, that’s what Dean says. Old man Dean, who’s now Chad Everett! He comes out in a robe, and sorry, but when did younger Dean ever wear a robe? I’m not saying older Dean shouldn’t, I’m saying younger Dean should! Sam freaks out and pulls out a gun. “Who the Hell are you?” “Dude, relax, it’s me.” Sam gets it and now Dean has to explain himself. “Hi,” he sheepishly says. Yeah, that explains a lot.
Also, we’re at 16 minutes. Keep this in mind, for we don’t see Jensen again until 46 minutes into the episode. Why am I telling you to keep that in mind? I’m sure everyone noticed. I’m not complaining, but I’m using that to assist all those that track screen time minutes.
Sam, rightfully so, wants to know what the Hell happened. Isn’t that obvious? He found the game. “I thought you said you were good at poker,” Sam asks. Dean says a lot of things Sam. “I am, shut up.” Older Dean then asks if Sam was just going to shoot an old guy. “I don’t know what you were. I mean have you seen you? You look like,” Older Dean tries to finish the sentence. “The old chick in Titantic, I know, shut up.” “I was going to say Emperor Palpatine.” Hee! Star Wars humor. You really are a dork Sam.
Hi Alice
Thank-you for the recap. Once again I love your witty take on these recaps.
I really enjoyed this episode, I thought everyone was amazing in there roles. I’m anxious for tonigts, but I’ll have to watch it Friday since I’ll be at work.
Thanks again.
Hi, Alice
Great recap, hilarious as usual (I esp. liked the whole son + golf = retirement -plan *smirk*).
I liked this ep too, it was funny and sad. I loved Patrick (the accent, the looks, the ambiguity) and the guy playing him was really good. I’m glad he didn’t die and hopehope we see him again.
I thought the Chad-Jared chemistry was a lot like SamnDean. Kudos to Jared for making it feel like it was. And I loved that Sam beat Patrick fair and square and now magic involved… just plain old intuition *snerk* I love even the lying side of Sam. Heck, I love all sides of him, and Dean too 😎
I LOVED Jensens little happydance, it was just cute and adorable and happy, and did I mention happy lol.
The Cliff guy was such a dick.. I hope the guys did rat his ass to his wife…or maybe she was better off, cheating moron (the guy, not her *g*). The way the olderCliff had been visiting that nice little establishment so regularly, I would have taken his years with pleasure, and then given him the clap on top… just kidding… but maybe not *shifty eyes*
The end scene was really sweet, glad that Bobby got some recognition from Dean, I agree, he is not useless.
I had few nitpicks too…
The whole Bobby miraculously getting to town (when boys were allready there) and finding the game before them and even playing and losing -bit was kinda stupid. They could have made it so that Bobby was allready in town, ’cause it felt a little like a set-up-job at that point.
Also, the dead guy in the beginning… If the buy-in (or what’s the official term, I dunno) was 25 (years) and he allready was 25, then why was he playing? An addict or what? He might’ve be doing it for someone else but I dunno… felt shifty to me.
And Chad don’t look like 80, so that was weird… But he was so dead-on Dean that I didn’t really mind it that much.
Other than that, I really liked this ep, a lot of good dialogue and snarky comments, and the tragic romance that ended. It was all good.
Hi Alice,
Great recap…and, of course, I LOVE the screencaps. I also LOVE stand alone episodes, and this is a good one. I love Chad Everett, but I still can’t see him as Dean…Sorry. I know almost everyone did, so I guess I have my eyeballs messed up! That was the only drawback for me.
I like the boys being on the same page again. That’s what makes the brothers so good for me. Just seems they are more like the earlier years, but more experienced. I also like Sam being more practical…he was always too serious. Now, he seems to have decided to just accept what comes along and meet it head on. I always felt, this was what Dean had to do as an older brother. The dinner thing is a fate of little brothers. I can’t remember when Dean brought Sam food either, but if they are taking turns, I guess we are to assume he does.
I have to say, I’m not a fan of Manwitch (LOVE Deans labels this epi). Maybe he’s not malicious, but he doesn’t seem to care about the years he takes and those he kills. And yes, both Dean and Bobby broke their own rules about how to play poker. You don’t go in with emotional baggage! Dean was just so intent on saving Bobby and Bobby getting his legs back.
I really was taken aback at how Dean lectured Bobby. Don’t know why, just seems he lost a little respect for him, but like he said in the end, him and Sam don’t have many people left and he just can’t lose Bobby. That is VERY understandable.
Sam and his poker! The bluff was great. And yes, he kept his wits about him and didn’t lose it emotionally…at least not until he knew Dean was dying. Can’t help thinking that was NOT all bluff. At that point, Sam reminded me more of demon!Sam.
Anyone play poker? I don’t, but my brother says, the chips Sam cashed it were WAY more than 50 years worth. Course, that all flies out the window with Lucifer and Michael!
Highlights for me…Sam’s one-liners…glad he gets some occasionally, and Dean’s happy dance. Really need to find a video of that!
Alice, that was a great and hilarious recap. I was giggling and laughing all the way through it. Thanks so much for brightening my day.
Sam is a great pool shark, isn’t he? And he did learn it from the best. John. I suppose he was able to use everything he had learned from his dad, while Dean was so very upset with Bobby, that he got way too confident and lost spectacularly. And that gave us the awesome oldDean! Chad Everett was excellent in that role.
Loved the Grumpy Old Men exchanges. Yes, I really enjoyed this episode and am not apologizing for that.
Woe-is-me-Sam: after all the crap that he(they) have gone through in such a short period of time, I would fully expect a little doom-n-gloom coursing through the veins, mutilating the optimist along the way. 😎
The over-the-top edit: if used sparingly, why not? I think melodrama and its permutations often gets, er, dealt an undeserved bad hand.
I was glad to get some truly sympathetic villains and Bobby/Dean at all points was spectacular, grumpy old men or growing lady parts.
I seem to remember Dean bringing in the food one time when Sam was having a psychic episode. I’ll have to watch all the episodes again to make sure I’m not dreaming. What a chore! LOL
Giggle … Bad, wicked Alice … Counting screen minutes, as if!
Actually that made me think … You could install a Bro-ometer at the top of the page ( like that spiffy Hellatus countdown clock ) and help the excessivly-invested amoungst us stoke their grievences as to who’s sneaking more screen time … Or perhaps not, on second thoughts …
I really liked this one. Sam doing sneaky stuff for the home team was great, even if I was totally convinced he was going to lose the farm ( just colour me stupid ) and the grizzeling old geezers were priceless right up to Dean’s bit with Bobby at the end which left me sniffling into my keyboard ( for a change. In fact, that’s probably what’s been up with the computer lately … The poor thing’s water-logged )
I don’t know what to think about the Manwitch, he looks and sounds so tasty one wants him to have a soft side to match but I can’t help thinking that the letting the old chaps win thing is just a ruse to lure the young chaps in to be fleeced …
Hi Alice,
was this episode really that polarizing? If so, I’m at the pole of ‘I like it’. And I love your review, great work, indeed. I find your mix of text and those great screencaps irresistible, you always find them to suit your words dead on. Great fun to read and relish.
You bring up some interesting issues, and, like you indicate, the change in Sam that has become evident throughout the story moves me. I don’t mean to fuss, but I sometimes miss the ever hopeful young man he used to be. He has been through some significant changes in his attitude, but he’s returned to a mind-set that looks for redemption, not revenge, which is in its essence a hopeful stance.
I like to call him an optimist in the sense Peter Ustinov once described as: ‘In order not to be a fool an optimist must know how sad a place the world can be. It is only the pessimist who finds out anew every day.’
Sam knows how hopeless everything can appear, and he faces it. I think he’s trying to do whatever he can to be delivered from his own demons… I’m very curious about what the writers will have in store for him. Okay, I’m done having my I-love-Sam-moment. ..
Though he has some great scenes, really. I totally agree with you – giving Sam the clap without the fun of getting laid, was a mean move of endearing bastard Patrick. Come on, when was it the last time the man had sex? And the poker game he puts up was a wonderful study of bluff and serious care.
I don’t think that Sam didn’t panic at all when he heard that Dean would have but a few minutes left (and old Dean’s only word, as he gets that heart attack, is Sam… that really got to me. In his moment of imminent death, Sam is all Dean thinks about).
And Patrick confronts him with issues Sam himself voiced in an episode not so long ago – that he needed Dean to allow him to grow up. That he’s done sitting at the ‘kiddie table’. I think the Irish bloke touched a soft spot, and perhaps he is indeed psychic to some extent…
Jensen moved me to the core in his scenes with Jim Beaver. It’s pretty clear how scared Dean is to perhaps lose this second father, after Bobby gambles away those years. He hasn’t many to spare anymore, as Bobby already is middle aged.
You ask whether they had not had that talk, yet, you know the stick-a-gun-in-my-mouth talk. I don’t think they have. To actually admit that the idea of suicide is whirling around in your head takes a lot of guts and an amount of despair that needs time to build. In the beginning Bobby probably still hoped that some angel or the boys would lay some mojo on him and change his situation. It must have dawned on him by now that he might die in that wheelchair.
I agree that this is not an episode that contributed a whole lot to the myth-arc here, but I liked it nonetheless. Jensen got a few days off (and I hope he enjoyed them), we were given a fine performance by Chad Everett, and some sweet and strange jokes, and – this time – a Gaelic ritual.
I haven’t found an episode in this season so far that I would file under ‘I don’t like it’. To me it seems as if the show is gathering momentum… which is exiting… ‘oh, goodie’
Bye, take care, Jas
Sablegreen,
hi, I don’t think that Dean lost any respect regarding Bobby. Judging from my personal point of view – when someone tells me to consider suicide, I think it calls for a lot of respect, because it shows a huge amount of trust – to reveal such a shadow about oneself…
I think Bobby trusts the boys immensely, else he surely would not have let those words slip from his mouth… Dean is doing the right thing here – take it seriously and thereby entrusting Bobby with his own fear of losing him…
What a moving scene that was…
Love, Jas
oh, sablegreen, grammar-trap got me – I meant of course ‘when someone tells me that he would consider suicide’ not the other way around…
It’s the middle of the night, and my brain is pretty much dead… 😕
Bye, good night, everyone, sweet dreams, Jas
Jas, I read your reply, and realized my paragraph about Bobby and Dean was confusing. Sorry…I’m at work, and didn’t make sure I had my head on straight.
I didn’t mean the lecture at the end of the show. That one was VERY respectable and moving and totally appropriate. I meant when Dean first saw Bobby leaving the game. I really was startled when Dean called Bobby an idiot. Just seemed disrespectful given Bobby’s age. …just my old fashioned ways.
Alice,
Great recap as always. I do love your wicked, wicked ways with the recap commentary. This was fun and touching and all that is great about SPN…without too much scary either.
Great job at the recap…
Another wonderful recap, Alice! I always think it would be such fun to watch an episode with you because of your witty commentary.
Great recap Alice! I’m still giggling about your comments. I would love to be watching an episode and earing your comments on voice off, something tells me it would be fun 🙂
Loved Chad Everet as old Dean and is interaction with Jim (definitely Grumpy Old Men) and Jared was great. The old chick in Titanic? Seriously Dean? You actually saw Titanic? I prefer Sam’s Emperor Palpatine (yes I’m a Star Wars fan). And after all the laugh I end up in tears with that talk between Dean and Bobby, but it’s ok, in fact I think that Bobby needed that.
Loved the screencaps too, Sam as very beautiful smile doesn’t he? And Dean too, loved that happy dance and that smile!
I can confess with every bit of shame I never even realised Sam was faking panic and all that. Ah. I guess I was too into the episode to even look at it thoroughly, but everyone caught on, which makes me feel like an ‘idjit’. Then again, I saw it once. But is that really an excuse? :roll::
Patrick is one of the best guest stars. Seductive, I would gave played all my years for him! Handsome, intelligent, and empathizing when need be. What’s not to love?