In the twelfth episode of the tenth season of Supernatural, this is one of the strangest episodes of the show, and that’s saying something. Intrigued? Then it’s time for Mark to watch Supernatural.
There was a definite point towards the end of “About a Boy” where I had to accept that I was watching an episode of a television show that was specifically about a cannibalistic witch utilizing Hansel and Gretel in order to satiate her hunger for human flesh. Oh, and Dean is a fourteen-year-old the entire time. And Taylor Swift? Jesus, how is all of this happening in the same episode?
And yet, as weird as this trainwreck is at times, there’s a charm to it. It helps that Dylan Everett is just so good as teenage Dean, particularly in mimicking Jensen Ackles’s mannerisms. I also just want this show to tell good stories, and I always get a kick out of Supernatural when it can tell monster-of-the-week stories that reflect on the ongoing arc of the season. What better way to explore the concept of second chances than to make Dean a literal teenager again?
Of course, it’s a bizarre fucking idea because we find out that this happened just so that Katja can get away with eating humans. Prior to this? I HAD NO GODDAMN CLUE WHAT WAS GOING ON. Hex bags and flowers and bright white lights and transfiguration and CAKE? Cake? In true Supernatural fashion, the writers wait until the last minute to reveal what’s actually happening, and I do find that entertaining.
But I don’t think that the premise or the framing narrative is all that entertaining to talk about aside from the mystery and the shock of it. I wanted to spend this review discussing this idea of second chances, something the Winchesters have received time and time again. It’s a common motif for them, both in the sense that they’ve been resurrected (literal second chances at life) and because the show always wants them to succeed, even if they don’t. Sometimes, luck and circumstance is a huge part of this journey. So why does “About a Boy” offer up that second chance, only to take it away half an hour later?
I think it’s a sign of how serious this new quest is for Dean, and I do like thinking of this as a hero’s quest, only… severely fucked up. Dean’s drive this season feels so beautifully different, y’all. Even if I do not think that season ten contains many extraordinary episodes and stories, I cannot deny how thrilled it makes me to see Dean’s character being treated this way. From his outright honesty to the subtle ways in which Jensen portrays a man who is genuinely frightened for the first time in his life, Dean Winchester is finally getting a story that feels undoubtedly fresh. I’ve complained quite a bit over the course of this show about the writers’ insistence on making Dean a raging man-douche and how tiring that’s gotten. This is what I wanted to see, though I never knew it.
Here, in his efforts to remove the Mark of Cain, Dean is more honest than he has ever been with Sam and himself. He’s willing to admit that he is not okay. He is eager to RESIST FIGHTING AND DRINKING. Y’all, he wanted to stay in the bunker as long as possible in order to avoid feeding the Mark. This is SUCH A HUGE DEVELOPMENT. It’s coming from a guy who is impulsive and reckless most of the time, preferring to shoot first and ask questions… well, never, if we’re being honest. And now? He is so honest that it actually disturbs Sam, who begs his brother to please get outside and back on a case.
So the central conflict raised by this case expands on this development of Dean Winchester. If Katja’s magic sent Dean to a time when his body did not have the Mark of Cain on it, should they turn him back to his proper age? I think that “About a Boy” answers with a definitive NOPE, and it does so for a reason: Dean Winchester is not going to get an easy answer this time. That’s not to suggest either of the Winchesters have had an easy life up to this point. I WOULD NEVER. But this specific journey of Dean’s involves a very personal metaphysical fight against evil. And really, I don’t feel like it’s all that much of a stretch to say that Dean’s got an evil within him because of that Mark. We’ve seen it, and we’ve seen what he can do with his soul stained as it is. So how do you wash that away?
It’s going to take hard work, and I think that’s why the end of “About a Boy” gives Tina a second chance but doesn’t give Dean one. It’s not that Tina deserves it more than Dean, but there’s work to be done on Dean’s end that’s integral to this journey. There’s that moment early in the episode where Sam insists that Dean has to fight against the Mark in order to stop it, and I’m beginning to think that this might be true. There might need to be rituals to be completed, but this Mark seems to have latched on to something else within Dean. That’s a battle that no one else can fight for him.
The video for “About a Boy” can be downloaded here for $0.99.
Mark Links Stuff
– Please help book/finalize the Mark Does Stuff European Tour!
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