Regarding Dean

Season	Episode	Overall
12	11	252

Series

Supernatural

Airdate

February 9, 2017

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Regarding Dean is the 11th episode of Season 12. It aired on February 9, 2017.

Summary

DEAN LOSES HIS MEMORY - Sam enlists Rowena's help to track down an old world, powerful family of witches after Dean gets hit by a spell that is rapidly erasing his memory.

Plot

The episode opens on a man running into the woods, on the phone while being chased by Dean who had shot him. He warns someone on the phone and collapses by a tree, drawing symbols on it as Dean corners him. The man turns out to be a witch and blasts Dean with some sort of spell using the symbol, knocking him out cold. By the time he wakes up the next morning, he is mistaken for a homeless person by a mother but a jogger lends him his phone, so Dean calls Sam and sets up to meet him at a nearby diner.

Over breakfast, Dean explains that he can’t remember anything from the night before, which in his case, probably means he had a hangover. However, he suddenly can’t recall the “devil baby mama drama”,the case that he and Sam are currently working, or the woman who comes up and slaps him in the face for not remembering her.

The Winchesters head to the morgue, where a man literally choked to death on money. However, Sam say, dollar bills weren’t the only thing in his stomach. There was also a hex bag, which relates to witches. Dean blows off more information and Sam confronts him outside. Dean has trouble figuring out the key to the Impala, then forgetting to drive as they argue. Sam realizes the severity of the situation when Dean forgets his name.

In a motel room, Sam tests Dean to check the severity of his memory loss. When he can’t remember all the names of the members of Bon Jovi or the word for “lamp,” Sam calls Rowena for help. She’s currently in the middle of a poker game, but if the spell is what she thinks it is, she tells Sam that the key to fixing it is to kill the witch.

Retracing their steps, Sam remembers that he and Dean split up when Sam went to hit the lore and Dean went to grab a burger. And by the time they find the bar where the woman who slapped Dean works, they know they’ve found the right place. Dean finds out he spent his night drinking tequila, riding Larry — the mechanical bull — and hooking up with the waitress. At the end of the night, the waitress tells Dean that he left the bar in a hurry, and they watch the security tapes. The tapes show Dean going around the back, following the man from last night and shooting him with his gun, then running off.

After Sam recognizes the man Dean was chasing, they head into the woods, and Dean losing more of his memory in the process. Sam has to give Dean "the talk" about the supernatural existing and what their jobs were as hunters. Dean is surprised to have forgotten it (and takes some enjoyment), even being surprised their best friend was an angel, and says Rowena's name was "weird."Unfortunately for them, the Winchesters arrive to a part of the woods, where they find the witch Dean shot, Gideon dead from his injuries. Sam comes up with another plan and calls Rowena to come to Arkansas, requesting help.

Rowena, luckily, knows the family they’re dealing with the instant she sees the archaic form of Celtic used to hex Dean. They came over from the old world about 100 years ago and possess a powerful spell book called the Black Grimoire. For years, witches would live with them and study their secrets, until their family was nearly wiped out by hunters. Rowena thought they’d all died, but now, they need to find the Black Grimoire in order to fix Dean. She also says as the spell continues, Dean will eventually forget how to swallow, and then he’ll die. Before Sam heads off to find the Black Grimoire, he tells Dean their whole life story one final time, before remarking that he's seen Dean die, but seeing him slowly become this may be much worse.

Dean stands in front of the bathroom mirror reciting, “My name is Dean Winchester. Sam is my brother. Mary Winchester is my mom. And Cas is my best friend.” He keeps repeating it until he completely forgets his name, leaving him in shock. When he goes outside, Rowena takes the chance to tell Dean more of her past, as she knows he would not remember it later. According to her, she was run out of her homeland by the British Men of Letters, after which she went to live with the very people they’re currently hunting. Only, they also threw her out when they felt her magic wasn’t “up to snuff.” She then talks to Dean about how seeing God and Amara bicker made her wonder if there was any hope for her.

Sam calls, saying he's made it inside, but before he can save Dean, Catrina and Boyd — Gideon's siblings — tie him up. The two plan to swap Sam’s soul for his in order to bring Gideon back.

Rowena places Dean in the Impala's passenger seat and makes her way to rescue Sam. Inside, she meets up with Catrina again and she mocks how small and weak Rowena once was and how she begged to stay. Rowena mentions that nothing heals old wounds like opening fresh ones, and throws her against the wall, as they begin fighting. The fight nearly ends with Rowena against the wall and Catriona singing to mock her, throwing shards of glass at her, but she misses the first time.

Dean discovers the trunk (as well as the grenade launcher) and finds some witch-killing bullets, saving Rowena’s life by shooting Catriona. He then kills Boyd as well, but only after Sam identifies himself as the “brother” and not the “witch” in that scenario.Rowena is then able to fix Dean and leaves, with Sam saying they owed her a small favor in return. Sam admits he was a bit jealous of Dean at first for the fact that he didn’t have to carry the weight of the world on his shoulders. But losing the bad meant losing the good, so if that’s happy, Dean will pass.

Characters

Main Cast

Recurring Cast

Guest Starring

Ruth Connell as Rowena

Co-Starring

Vincent Gale as Boyd Loughlin
Tirra Dent as Catriona Loughlin
Justin Turnbull as Gideon Loughlin

Featured Supernatural Beings

Witches

Continuity

The Grenade Launcher appears again, but Sam notably marks it with a "NO!" for Dean when he opens the trunk.
Rowena's full name is confirmed to be Rowena MacLeod when she introduces herself as such to Catriona Loughlin.

Trivia

The episode was watched by 1.71 million viewers and got a 0.6 rating.
Rowena is revealed to have encountered the British Men of Letters many years ago. They had forced her to flee from her homeland sometime after her expulsion from the Grand Coven.
Vincent Gale, who played Boyd Loughlin, previously played Evan Hudson in Crossroad Blues and Viggo in Torn and Frayed.
In an ironic twist, Rowena's life is saved by Dean using the witch-killing bullets. These bullets had been created by Sam in Brother's Keeper specifically to deal with Rowena.
According to Rowena, Dean's kill count numbers in the scores.
Jensen Ackles reveals that there were in fact two bunnies used on set, named Sam and Dean. The bunny named Dean was the one that Jensen picked up.
- Furthermore, Dean picking up and talking to the bunny wasn't scripted. It was all Jensen's idea.

References

The episode title is a reference to the 1991 film Regarding Henry, which tells about a lawyer who struggles with his memory after a shooting.
"Broomstick Cowboy" by Bobby Goldsboro plays during the ending montage.
Dean mentions Dory from Finding Nemo and Finding Dory when he denies that he lost his memory.
- His line, "Mo Money Mo Problems", is a reference to the the song by the Notorious B.i.G.
Dean also mentions the 2000 film, Memento.
Sam asks Dean to name all the members of Bon Jovi.
Sam and Dean use the aliases "Agents Moon and Entwistle," references to Keith Moon and John Entwistle of The Who.
Sam puts on the Scooby Doo, Where Are You! episode "Hassle in the Castle" for Dean to keep him distracted.
The song that Catriona sings is Raggedy Ann by Mindy Smith.

Errors and Goofs

In the "Then" flashback sequence at the beginning of the episode, Sam bursts in on the Book Club and tells them that "these are witch-killing bullets." However, in the episode and the visual part of the flashback, he's armed with the Colt, not witch-killing bullets. The line is from The Bad Seed when Sam threatens Rowena to break the Attack Dog Spell on Castiel.
When Catriona throws the glass shard at Rowena's head, Rowena doesn't move her head until a full second after the shard misses it.
It's interesting to notice that Rowena stated she had met the Men of Letters before. But when Olivette talked about them in Paint it Black Rowena seemed never had known about them.

Supernatural Wiki

Regarding Dean

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