sweetondean: Leylin Vixen's Quick Draw Recap

Thursday 16 February 2017

Leylin Vixen's Quick Draw Recap - 12x11 Regarding Dean

Regarding Dean

Opening words

The episode last week was already a treat for my sweet tooth so that makes Regarding Dean a three layered chocolate cake or a pile of waffles with strawberries and cream. (See what I did there?) It is horrible to see anyone forgetting who they are or the people around them. I have a relative with Alzheimer's and it is a horrible disease. What I watched was sad and humorous and Jared and Jensen hit it out of the park again. They carried the show on their shoulders. Every week I can repeat how phenomenal performances they give us. We are pretty lucky. Don’t you think?

Let’s get on with the show!

Details

Title Regarding Dean

Episode 12.11

First aired February 9, 2017

Directed by John Badham

Written by Meredith Glynn

Monster Witches

Location(s) Eureka Springs, Arkansas

Story

A man is running through the woods and we find out that he is chased by Dean. It looks like he caught him but that couldn't be further from the truth. That man had painted a hex on a tree and when Dean is close enough he blasts the spell on Dean. After the title card it is next morning and Dean wakes up with a bunny. He calls Sam from a borrowed phone. There seems to be nothing wrong with him until he gets to a diner and Sam arrives there. Dean seems to have a major hangover where he forgets words and a girl slaps him because he doesn't remember her.

They follow his steps through a case where a witch is involved and a man was killed. It doesn't take long until Dean crashes Baby and he doesn't even know his own name. Sam's irritation turns to worried in matter of seconds. They now know that a spell has been cast on him. Sam asks Rowena about the spell, interrupting her card game swindle. She thinks it should be cured by killing the witch that did the hexing who unfortunately is already dead. Sam continues to tell Dean the information needed and all about their lives. Also he adorably puts post-it notes everywhere.

Jared and Jensen continue to awe me with their talent. Sam's emotions and frantic reaction when Dean vanishes and his sadness when his brother slips away is pure gold. Jensen also gives us different characters with Dean, from the innocent and child like to someone that is loosing themselves bit by bit. If Dean and Sam would not have gone through all that they have we would have very different Sam and Dean now.

Rowena also shows up and she tells about the witch family that has a druidic spell book, dark grimoire that has the cure. The victim Gideon belongs to the family with two siblings. We also find out that Rowena has had a run in with the British Men Of Letters. Dean has already forgotten himself when Sam heads out on what Rowena told but he gets captured. Rowena heads out to save Sam (Yes, I was surprised at this too) but she is also overcome by Catriona. Dean wakes up and with the help of post it notes he follows Rowena and saves her and Sam. Rowena undoes the spell and Dean is back to normal. Sam gives him the epic bitch face of annoyance and relief when he jokes about his amnesia.

In the end Dean says that it was nice to be happy but loosing himself and who he is and his family is not worth the prize. The episode ends with a montage of Dean riding a mechanical bull. He sees his happy moments but he has no trouble now remembering also the bad. Of course the fans can also enjoy the montage and the end to one hell of a emotional story.

Characters

I think I have written it already few times but Sam and Dean were the star characters in Regarding Dean. But I don't grow tired of repeating that. Both were front and centre of the story and Jared and Jensen was amazing and the heart. Now, that is out of the way we can focus on the other characters. Rowena showed some new colours to her persona and she finally might have found the ultimate power to follow, the Winchesters of course. I have not been a fan of her character but she has been slowly turning to a complex character and also doing some self learning at the same time.

The monsters on the other hand, aka the other witches, were not to my liking. The last surviving brother was better than the real bad guy, Catriona. We did not get to know the dead brother and all the siblings were pretty shallow. I was cheering at Rowena to win because Catriona just annoyed me.

Here is the full list of characters:

Rowena

Catriona Loughlin

Boyd Loughlin

Gideon Loughlin

Elka

Set design

I don't have much to write about the sets. It is not that they were not amazing like usual. The bar with the bull ride, the waffle diner, the motel and the room, the workplace of the victim, morgue and the old decor witch house were great. They were showered with details and it is hard to tell which of it might have been a build set. I would say maybe the motel room and the witch house but maybe the latter was too detailed to not be genuine. Who knows. For the diner I liked the interior colour scheme. The bar was cosy and the bull ride took the cake from that one. We also got a pretty good roundabout with the walking waiter. And I do love the old decor of the witch manor/house.

Props

As with sets there was loads of props in this episode. So, I decided to take the extraordinary prop route for this one. The props that really stood out in this episode. Nothing was more openly and in big way presented than, you guessed it, the post-it notes! We had notes saying "Lamp", "Witch killing bullets", "Stay", "Ice bucket", "art" and many more. They were at the same time the presentation and worry of how Sam was feeling about the whole situation.

That was the biggest one. Next we can focus to some of the other props that stood out in the episode. If you like something sweet those waffles at the start were to die for. Do they count as props? We also have the focus on Dean's car keys twice. Baby will not be happy about that one. Rowena also had a pretty weird looking voodoo doll with her. I don't know who it presented but was I the only one that was repeating "owowow" when Dean was playing with that thing? Some poor guy was truly tortured by him. I was also creeped out by the dead butterfly frame. That is not a hobby for me.

We also got another powerful spell book that Sam confiscated from Rowena. Dark grimoire sounds ominous and I am sure we might see that book again later. We got a glimpse again from the grenade launcher and mark my words. Dean must use that until the season is over or it is not fair. Last but not least we had the mechanical bull Larry that Dean so gracefully rode in full speed. We saw it in slow mo but little birdy called Jensen Ackles revealed the truth behind it. I think he was pretty proud. The montage in the end was not scripted by the writer of the episode but I thoroughly enjoyed it.

Music

For this week we had It's All Good Lovin' to Me by Sleestak (Black Toast Music), Raggedy Ann by Tirra Dent and Broomstick Cowboy by Bobby Goldsboro. I chose a piece from the last one because it will be remembered as a part of an epic montage.

" And you'll have grown into a man,

With cowboys of your own.

And then you'll have to go to war,

To try and save your home.

And then you'll have to learn to hate;

You'll have to learn to kill.

It's always been that way, my son;

I guess it always will.”