Mania Grade: C+
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- TV Series: Supernatural
- Episode: The Curious Case of Dean Winchester
- Starring: Jared Padalecki, Jensen Ackles, Jim Beaver, Misha Collins
- Written By: Sara Gamble
- Directed By: Robert Singer
- Network: The CW
- Series:
Supernatural: The Curious Case of Dean Winchster
Sammy has a tell... or does he? By
Stephen Lackey
October 30, 2009
Supernatural Review
© CW/Bob Trate
Bobbie’s running with Sam and Dean “Oracle” style (a reference for you comic book readers) and he’s not thrilled about it. He’s a hunter always in the middle of the dirty work but now that he’s confined to a wheelchair, he’s dealing with being sidelined and not dealing with it very well. He sends Sam and Dean to investigate an odd corpse and sure enough it’s one of those cases that require their special style of help. Stories about victims dying suddenly of old age are extremely common in horror and science fiction but the fine folks behind Supernatural bring it to us with a fun spin on it. In this episode, people are dying of old age because they’ve gambled away years of their lives to a con man or as Dean call him a “manwitch”.
This whole idea of older folks gambling with a witch in hopes of winning back some of the years they’ve lost to age is very 80’s Tales from the Darkside or Amazing Stories. This sort of a fantastical story mixed with the more horror based atmosphere of Supernatural is a good thing. The investigation starts off with Sam and Dean finding a missing man in an awkward and humorous position. The story quickly moves into predictable territory where Sam, Dean, and Bobby find themselves gambling with the witch for various reasons. When you’re a fan of shows like Supernatural, you learn to accept certain things, especially some questionable special FX. For the most part, the FX look great on Supernatural but based on the network on which the show airs and the kind of show that Supernatural is, seeing some cheaper looking special FX here and there wouldn’t be such a huge deal. When Dean finds himself aged 30 years instead of putting some makeup on him to make him look older, a completely different actor was brought in to play Dean’s part. Chad Everett did a great job of playing older Dean, even pulling off some of Dean’s signature mannerisms, but it would have been a better decision to go with questionable makeup and allow Jensen Ackles to play older Dean himself. With that complaint aside, there is some nice humor here and there with older Dean.
The thing that’s most frustrating about this episode is that Sam and Dean don’t finish the job. They fight to get back what they lost and then just leave town. There’s a final game between the gambler and his girlfriend because she needs redemption, but the way its left, this gambler can still travel the country winning years from people’s lives. The brothers really should have “dealt” with this guy. Beating him isn’t obvious because it seems a gunshot can’t even really hurt him but that’s never stopped the brothers before. The important parts of this episode are the scenes between Bobby and Dean. Bobby has obviously been in a dark place obviously but in this episode it all bubbles to the top. Dean looks to Bobby as a sort of father figure and he finally shares a little of that with Bobby in the closing scene. Early on, there’s one quick, quiet, almost iconic shot of Bobby sitting alone in his wheelchair that says everything in a scant few seconds. Supernatural has had some fantastic single story episodes but this isn’t one of them. Overall, this one’s ok. There are some good moments and the characters scenes with Dean and Bobby were great.
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It was definitely the weakest episode this season but was still better than more than half the crap out there. Also , Supernatural has maybe 1 or 2 weak episodes a seaon, at the most.