Director and show creator Eric Kripke takes Dean (and the viewers) to fantasy land, we get a chance to see inside his head, to peak at his dreams and his deepest desires, to see what his life could have been like had hunting been off the table and his mother never died in that fire.
The Winchester brothers are hunting a Djinn, when Dean is attacked by one and slips into unconsciousness. And Dean wakes up in a world where he and Sam are having a normal life, his mother never died, his father earlier of a stroke, Sam is in law school and is going to marry Jessica and he himself is working in a garage and having a beautiful girlfriend. Yet he and Sam are never close and probably will never be. And though he knows Sam doesn't need his protection in a world where evil creatures are just a myth, he still misses his brother. Furthermore, he discovers that all the people he and Sam saved in their lives are in fact never saved because he and his brother were never hunters. So Dean has to make the most courageous sacrifice and give up his most desired dream, his and Sam's only chance of happiness, and choose to save people's lives as well as to be there for Sam in the real world.
The writers have given Dean's character a tremendous amount of depth and Jensen Ackles seized the chance. His top notch performance takes us on an amazing journey to see a whole new side of Dean. He was amazing showing every emotion. The guy could literally break your heart in every moment through the episode: watching Dean's face when he saw his mother alive, his reaction to her touching his face leaning with her hand so as to prolong the touch, watching him enjoying her sandwich with great longing, his goofy smile mowing the lawn, his satisfaction just sitting on the porch drinking beer, his happiness seeing Jessica alive, his disappointment to being not close to Sam, his speech on John's grave, and his unselfish ultimate sacrifice.
This writers also dare to discuss the Sam and Dean relationship if they were not stuck 24/7 in the Impala. What Sam would be like, how would he respond to Dean's character and how would he accept his brother's fallouts? It was sad they didn't have the brotherly bond they share in their real life, and, Come on!, he doesn't even like Dean calling him Sammy, It's like we are back to square one.
This episode was sad to its last detail, reminding us how much the boys lost and how much they sacrificed along the way. On the other hand, The monster of the week was cool in a creepy kind of way with all the tattoos and his somewhat merciful way of killing.
Bang up job Kripke on this one. Jensen and Jared, you sure excelled yourselves. It was nice to Samantha Smith and Adrianne Palicki back on the show. Jeffrey Dean Morgan was sure missed. But all in all great one.
The Winchester brothers are hunting a Djinn, when Dean is attacked by one and slips into unconsciousness. And Dean wakes up in a world where he and Sam are having a normal life, his mother never died, his father earlier of a stroke, Sam is in law school and is going to marry Jessica and he himself is working in a garage and having a beautiful girlfriend. Yet he and Sam are never close and probably will never be. And though he knows Sam doesn't need his protection in a world where evil creatures are just a myth, he still misses his brother. Furthermore, he discovers that all the people he and Sam saved in their lives are in fact never saved because he and his brother were never hunters. So Dean has to make the most courageous sacrifice and give up his most desired dream, his and Sam's only chance of happiness, and choose to save people's lives as well as to be there for Sam in the real world.
The writers have given Dean's character a tremendous amount of depth and Jensen Ackles seized the chance. His top notch performance takes us on an amazing journey to see a whole new side of Dean. He was amazing showing every emotion. The guy could literally break your heart in every moment through the episode: watching Dean's face when he saw his mother alive, his reaction to her touching his face leaning with her hand so as to prolong the touch, watching him enjoying her sandwich with great longing, his goofy smile mowing the lawn, his satisfaction just sitting on the porch drinking beer, his happiness seeing Jessica alive, his disappointment to being not close to Sam, his speech on John's grave, and his unselfish ultimate sacrifice.
This writers also dare to discuss the Sam and Dean relationship if they were not stuck 24/7 in the Impala. What Sam would be like, how would he respond to Dean's character and how would he accept his brother's fallouts? It was sad they didn't have the brotherly bond they share in their real life, and, Come on!, he doesn't even like Dean calling him Sammy, It's like we are back to square one.
This episode was sad to its last detail, reminding us how much the boys lost and how much they sacrificed along the way. On the other hand, The monster of the week was cool in a creepy kind of way with all the tattoos and his somewhat merciful way of killing.
Bang up job Kripke on this one. Jensen and Jared, you sure excelled yourselves. It was nice to Samantha Smith and Adrianne Palicki back on the show. Jeffrey Dean Morgan was sure missed. But all in all great one.