S12.E11: Regarding Dean

[Myrelle]

30 minutes ago, gonzosgirrl said:

I remember thinking that we were meant to say goodbye to Dean at the end of this one. :(  It is such a good episode for him. I only with the editors hadn't chopped up his bathroom scene so much.

Yes, I forgot about the editing of that scene.

I have seen it edited all together by the fandom so many times that I'd forgotten they did that in-show.

But I mostly love this episode for Jensen and all that he brought to his character and the entire episode.

On 2/28/2020 at 8:58 PM, Bergamot said:

For me too! I loved this episode. I think it was the only one in this entire season that I enjoyed watching from start to finish.

I had kind of a different reaction than some did, though. To me, the episode was not just about the tragedy of Dean losing his memory, although of course that was part of the story -- it was about what this showed us about who Dean is.

I liked the playing of the song at the end better once I remembered the rest of the lyrics. I am old enough to remember when it first came out, but I had forgotten that it was actually an anti-war song from the Vietnam War era. So I was thinking when I heard it in this episode how strange it was, to refer to growing up to be a man as a "dreadful thing".

But then I remembered that the song is not just about a little boy who has to leave behind his toys and take on adult responsibilities someday, as we all must. It's about the fact that there is a war to be fought, and the boy will have to become a soldier, and learn to hate and kill the enemy, and watch his brothers die.  (Broomstick Cowboy)  Which of course is just what happened to Dean, and it was even more dreadful and tragic because it happened to him when he was only 4 years old.

I thought it was interesting what the spell showed us about who Dean is at his core. Who would Dean be if all the weight he has been carrying since he was 4 years old could be stripped away, if all the lifelong pain and damage had not happened? We saw a Dean who was stripped to his essence.

And I liked who the essential Dean was shown to be. He was sweet and good-natured -- without knowing who she was, he was generous and kind even to Rowena. He was fun and charming, filled with a zest and an ability to enjoy life. And he was brave, eager and ready to take on the monsters of the Supernatural world, even without the ability to draw on his experience as a hunter.

I think the spell showed us that Dean is special and awesome in spite of the tragedy and damage of his life, not because of it.

Thanks for these words, Bergamot. 

MTE.

 

[gonzosgirrl]

This is spoilery for series ending so for future readers - do not click!

Spoiler

It's just even sadder that the next time we see Dean this unburdened and happy, they killed him.

ETA: One of my fav things about this episode was that the waitress saw and treated him like the gorgeous, sexy man he is. None of the 'dad bod' or 'old man' nonsense. <3

Edited April 22, 2021 by gonzosgirrl

[DeeDee79]

2 hours ago, gonzosgirrl said:

This is spoilery for series ending so for future readers - do not click!

  Hide contents

It's just even sadder that the next time we see Dean this unburdened and happy, they killed him.

ETA: One of my fav things about this episode was that the waitress saw and treated him like the gorgeous, sexy man he is. None of the 'dad bod' or 'old man' nonsense. <3

And that's why I will never rewatch. As far as I'm concerned the series ended when Dean helped Chuck and Amara reconcile and then he went home and celebrated with a freshly baked pie. End credits!

[FlickChick]

22 hours ago, DeeDee79 said:

And that's why I will never rewatch. As far as I'm concerned the series ended when Dean helped Chuck and Amara reconcile and then he went home and celebrated with a freshly baked pie. End credits!

That's too bad @DeeDee79. I have not reacted that way because I believe that's exactly what Badd was hoping would be the result of his decimation of the show. I wouldn't give him the satisfaction. I agree, in my mind I view the end of S11 as a satisfactory ending sans BitchBrit. I wouldn't even mind Dean getting Mary back if she continued to act as she did in her first two episodes. But I still relish watching the earlier, and much better episodes in order to see Jensen's phenomenal portrayal of my favorite character of all time - Dean Fucking Winchester.

[DeeDee79]

42 minutes ago, FlickChick said:

That's too bad @DeeDee79. I have not reacted that way because I believe that's exactly what Badd was hoping would be the result of his decimation of the show. I wouldn't give him the satisfaction. I agree, in my mind I view the end of S11 as a satisfactory ending sans BitchBrit. I wouldn't even mind Dean getting Mary back if she continued to act as she did in her first two episodes. But I still relish watching the earlier, and much better episodes in order to see Jensen's phenomenal portrayal of my favorite character of all time - Dean Fucking Winchester.

I meant that I will not rewatch the episode that @gonzosgirrl referenced under the spoiler tag, not the show itself. Hence my comment about how I wish that it had ended at season 11.

Edited April 23, 2021 by DeeDee79

[PAForrest]

Thanks for reposting Bergamot's review of the episode - I knew the song, but I'm not sure I ever realized or remembered that it was a Vietnam era anti-war song. It makes so much more sense in context of the episode. Essentially Dean losing his memories unburdened him in a very childlike way for a while from the adult horrors he dealt with daily as a hunter/soldier.

I remember, when we first saw the episode, feeling like the song was a goodbye to Dean, and many of us discussing that same take-away. And of course, now we know Dabb very likely always intended to snuff out Dean at the end of the series as soon as he took over Carver's position in an official manner. But I no longer believe that's what this writer was going for here.

About a month ago I started catching the occasional episodes on TNT if I was home during the time it was on. I mostly only watch Dean-heavy episodes - or at least good episodes that have good Dean in them. As time has passed since the finale, I've gotten to the point - probably the same point Jensen is at - in believing that the last two episodes, especially the finale, wasn't Dean's end, or even Sam's end. In fact, I'm pretty much wiping the last two episodes from my memory. As far as I'm concerned, most of season 15 just never happened. It's the only way I am able to watch an older episode, because I do miss the hell out of Dean Winchester. And I miss when the show was good in general.

Ironically, I too just watched the replay of this episode.

[Casseiopeia]

On 4/22/2021 at 10:39 AM, gonzosgirrl said:

I remember thinking that we were meant to say goodbye to Dean at the end of this one. :(  It is such a good episode for him. I only with the editors hadn't chopped up his bathroom scene so much.

The editing like everything else took a steep nose dive from S12 on.  Apparently the showrunner is mostly responsible for any editing choices....so that would explain a lot of the weird chopped up scenes.

Story telling was never Dabb's strong suit.

[ahrtee]

8 minutes ago, Casseiopeia said:

The editing like everything else took a steep nose dive from S12 on.  Apparently the showrunner is mostly responsible for any editing choices....so that would explain a lot of the weird chopped up scenes.

Story telling was never Dabb's strong suit.

I think they were still trying to make the show into an ensemble cast (or maybe Dabb actually thought it was (sigh).)  But for that to work, all the characters (and storylines) have to be equally interesting and important, so that cutting from one to another in short bursts advances all stories, instead of just chopping up the main thread  to insert your own fav.   Dabb never did figure that out.  I assume it's because he thought his own characters were the important ones that everyone wanted to see and Sam and Dean the sidekicks; so it comes across as ADHD/short attention span distractions instead of equally interesting story threads woven together.  

I'm not sure if storytelling was Dabb's problem or just that he can't write anything but 2-D comic book characters, and the Winchesters were too complicated for him.  He'd probably have been happier with cards reading "Ka-POW!" and "WHAM!" instead of bothering to choreograph fights with real/logical moves.  

[Myrelle]

2 hours ago, PAForrest said:

Thanks for reposting Bergamot's review of the episode - I knew the song, but I'm not sure I ever realized or remembered that it was a Vietnam era anti-war song. It makes so much more sense in context of the episode. Essentially Dean losing his memories unburdened him in a very childlike way for a while from the adult horrors he dealt with daily as a hunter/soldier.

I remember, when we first saw the episode, feeling like the song was a goodbye to Dean, and many of us discussing that same take-away. And of course, now we know Dabb very likely always intended to snuff out Dean at the end of the series as soon as he took over Carver's position in an official manner. But I no longer believe that's what this writer was going for here.

About a month ago I started catching the occasional episodes on TNT if I was home during the time it was on. I mostly only watch Dean-heavy episodes - or at least good episodes that have good Dean in them. As time has passed since the finale, I've gotten to the point - probably the same point Jensen is at - in believing that the last two episodes, especially the finale, wasn't Dean's end, or even Sam's end. In fact, I'm pretty much wiping the last two episodes from my memory. As far as I'm concerned, most of season 15 just never happened. It's the only way I am able to watch an older episode, because I do miss the hell out of Dean Winchester. And I miss when the show was good in general.

Ironically, I too just watched the replay of this episode.

It's kind of eerie how similar this sounds to how I've been feeling, and even what I've  been doing too.

I think that I love this episode so much predominantly because of Jensen's acting.

This was such a complicated role he was asked to  play, and he succeeded gloriously,  IMO.

I always think that I can't love both the character and the actor who portrays him so well any more than I already  do, and then we get an episode like this, and I fall in love all over again and just like the first time, if that's possible.

The Dean Adorableness was off the charts in this one and it's still a mystery to me how Jensen Ackles made that happen so well and so often in this episode. I LOL! and smiled so much through most of this one. I love that.

I don't have the S12 DVD so I haven't rewatched this one that often, but I'm so glad I caught it this time. 

 

 

 

Edited April 24, 2021 by Myrelle

[FlickChick]

23 hours ago, DeeDee79 said:

I meant that I will not rewatch the episode that @gonzosgirrl referenced under the spoiler tag, not the show itself. Hence my comment about how I wish that it had ended at season 11.

Ah! Sorry for my misinterpretation. I'm glad to hear you still enjoy the series (and especially Dean) in its better times.🙂

[DeeDee79]

1 hour ago, FlickChick said:

Ah! Sorry for my misinterpretation. I'm glad to hear you still enjoy the series (and especially Dean) in its better times.🙂

I can never give up all of that season 2 goodness! 🥰