Supernatural’s “About a Boy,” written by Adam Glass and directed by Serge Ladouceur, isn’t the usual Monster-of-the-Week fare. The episode begins in Pendleton, Oregon with an angry bartender throwing a customer out of the RV Park Round-Up Bar and threatening, “I swear on my mother, JP, I see your face in here again, I’ll kill you.” JP snaps at the presumably homeless man who’s digging through the trash before staggering to his car; he’s unlocking its door when a man comes up behind him. A bright light erupts, and the homeless man cautiously investigates but only finds JP’s clothes, which are literally smoking. No one else is around, and the homeless man looks up at the sky (and we all know what’s he’s thinking).
Post title card, we see Dean Winchester (Jensen Ackles) hard at work in the bunker. As he researches, voiceover of dialogue from Crowley (Mark Sheppard) talking about Cain (Timothy Omundson) being a demon and Cain commenting on his connection with Dean plays; the sequence is hauntingly set to “Ashes The Rain and I.” There’s a very brief but significant scene of Dean once more pondering his reflection in his broken bedroom mirror (10×11). His room itself, which he lovingly kept pristine before the Mark of Cain, is a mess. Books and papers are scattered everywhere; this isn’t his refuge anymore. The world “outside” has infiltrated the one sacred space Dean possessed.
Dean’s sitting in the floor, surrounded by research materials and reading a book when his brother Sam (Jared Padalecki) enters the room with news that he’s found a case. Dean suggests, “Why don’t you check it out. I’ll hold down the fort.” Sam’s not keen on that idea, however, and we learn that Dean hasn’t left the bunker in a week. He’s worried about the Mark, especially considering what he did to Charlie; Sam interrupts, “Charlie forgave you. How about you forgive yourself?” Sam tells Dean that he needs to “get back in the game for your own good.” Dean scoffs Sam’s belief because his brother also believed in the Easter bunny until he was 12; Sam argues the age but finally concedes that he believed until he was 11 and a half. The trivial point is both funny and poignant; we know that Sam was able to believe in the Easter bunny at least partly because his older brother protected him.
Dean agrees to help with the case, and the Winchesters head to Pendleton, where they interview the homeless man, asking the usual questions about temperature and smell. The man only recalls smelling “flowers…flowery flowers.” He has an explanation that neither Winchester wants to hear, though: aliens. After the man claims he’s been abducted and probed everywhere, Dean and Sam end the interview. Dean jokes about the “little green dudes” and “a bucket of lube,” and the brothers consider the possible culprits: aliens, fairies, or angels. Dean says he prefers aliens over the other two.
The brothers split up with Dean taking the bar. He goes in and orders a drink, “something dark and strong” and asks the bartender about the victim. The guy knew JP and says, “whatever JP got, probably had it coming.” Dean knocks back his drink, and we can hear his heart pounding as he touches the Mark on his forearm – is it hurting? Or does drinking make Dean hyper aware of its presence? Before we can find out, a woman (Kehli O’Byrne) who overheard his conversation with the bartender shares that she knew JP, and “he was harmless.” She introduces herself as Tina, and Dean buys them both another drink.
Dean and Tina bond over memories from their “crappy childhoods.” Dean tells about how he, Sam, and their dad got snowed in for a week, and he talks about his “101 ways” to make macaroni and cheese – with everything from tuna to marshmallow fluff [yuck]. It’s a story that conjures memories of the Winchesters’ childhood, though, and how often Dean’s taken care of Sam. Soon after this, Dean ‘s cell rings with a call from Sam. Dean hesitates, but Tina takes the opportunity to leave, and they part ways on friendly terms. I really enjoyed seeing Dean and Tina have an actual conversation without any smarmy-ness.
Sam reports that according to JP’s landlord, the guy was three days from eviction, and his bathroom’s like “staring into the devil’s butt.” “That’s vivid,” Dean says. “And accurate – I saw it,” Sam adds. That made me pause, honestly; remember Sam’s hallucifer days and how Satan taunted him with memories from the cage? Dean somewhat jokingly asks his brother, “You saw the john or… uh?” Sam cuts him off: “Don’t.” Has it been long enough for them to joke about hell? Or is this a narrative slippage?
Dean changes his report of “jack with two scoops of squat” when he seees a man (Mark Acheson) follow Tina out of the bar. Dean ends the phone call and follows too. He hears Tina scream and sees a bright light, but by the time he gets around the corner, only her clothes, which are smoking, remain. The man comes up behind Dean, but instead of attacking, he clutches a hexbag that he’s wearing, and Dean’s engulfed in a bright light. Did the fairies get Dean again? (6×9)
The next shot is of someone’s eyes, and the muttered “what the hell” makes it clear this is Dean, though he looks different. Dean rummages around the room, trying to find a way out, and conveniently finds a dusty mirror. He wipes it clear and sees his teen-aged reflection. “Son of a bitch,” he exclaims. De-aging Dean is a pretty neat trick, and Dylan Everett has Dean’s mannerisms down. But what bothers me here – and I can’t stop being bothered by it – is who dressed teen Dean? Because that missing information potentially adds entirely new levels of wrong to what’s happening here. It also seems off that Dean himself doesn’t question his new (and smaller) clothing; Dean is always hyper-aware of situations that leave him vulnerable, whether that involves roofies (9×13) or possible assault (6×9).
A girl (Madeleine Arthur) in the next room speaks to him through a hole in the wall; Tina’s also been de-aged, and the boy in there with her is JP. Dean assures Tina that he’s going to do something, but she’s unconvinced: “I’m a friggin’ tween and you look like some One Direction reject.” Before Dean can do anything, though, the man from the bar returns for JP. He carries the teen, who’s kicking and screaming, upstairs.
Scenes then alternate quickly between Sam at the Round-Up bar and Dean locked in the basement room. Sam calls Dean’s cell, while Dean’s being offered a large slice of cake. Sam hears the phone ringing and sees the bartender turn a phone off – it’s Dean’s phone. This leads to a physical altercation that convinces the bartender to admit he found the jacket by the dumpster. Meanwhile, Dean is chowing down on the cake until Tina – who’s eyeing her slice cautiously – comments that it’s probably poisoned. Dean freezes and mutters, “Right. Obviously,” and then sets what’s left of his slice aside. Tina asks, “What do you think they’re doing to JP?” Dean answers, “Nothing good.” He manages to break off a bed rail and uses it to chip away at the bars covering the window. Tina watches through the hole in the wall and says, “You know, before? Thought you were just another drunk.” Dean corrects her, “I prefer functional alcoholic.” She asks who – or, rather, what – he is. Dean’s answer? “That is a long-ass story.”
Back at Round-Up, Sam has Dean’s jacket in hand and investigates around the dumpster, finding Dean’s shoe and gun. While I don’t understand how the bartender didn’t see or retrieve the gun, it’s covered with a powder that Sam brushes off and sniffs. “Flowers,” he mutters. Dean manages to pop a bar off the window just as they hear the man returning. Tina tells him: “Go, get help. I know you will.” This is an interesting moment to me – Tina instinctively trusts Dean to help her, and how many times over the seasons have we seen Dean tell strangers to “trust him”? Depending on how Dean’s arc develops, I think this type of “trusting” moment may prove important. The man is unlocking Dean’s door, when Tina screams, distracting him long enough for Dean to escape.
At the motel, Sam is researching yarrow on a website we’ve seen the Winchesters use before, Witchcraft and the Occult with Professor Farqus. He appears so calm in this scene that it seems odd to me; obviously, he’s researching what’s happened to Dean, but did he panic? Did he worry about the Mark’s effects? We know that Sam’s been keeping Castiel informed (10×11), so did he call his friend for help or to at least see if the angel could sense anything? I really wish we had seen more of Sam’s reaction after finding Dean’s belongings.
A loud banging on the door interrupts Sam’s reading, and he cautiously opens the door to a smirking teenager. When the teen says, “Hiya, Sammy,” the expression on Sam’s face is priceless. Dean strides into the room; ever-resourceful, he’s now wearing a hoodie and a baseball hat, which I assume he stole, and he somehow got a bus ticket to bring him to the motel. Sam watches his de-aged brother incredulously as Dean goes into his room and retrieves his bag, all while explaining what’s happened and that, “Next thing I know I wake up looking like Beiber.” Sam’s trying to figure out why someone would de-age people, but as far as Dean’s concerned, “Don’t know, don’t care.” Dean says, “You wanted me back in the game? I’m back in the damn game.”
There are many funny moments in “About a Boy,” and one of my favorites is the scene where Dean picks up a woman’s dropped key. She compliments Sam, “Your son is so polite!” Sam’s expression is, again, priceless as he mutters, “Thanks.” Then, in the car, out of habit, Dean’s taken the driver’s seat and Sam the passenger – until teen Dean, who hasn’t hit his final growth spurt yet – slides the seat forward, crumpling Sam’s legs up like an accordion. Sam suggests that he should drive, and Dean agrees. On the way, Dean finishes his story, and Sam is taken aback. “Even for us, this is bizarre.” Dean’s unnerved too: “It’s freaking weird, dude.” He confesses that he even listened to a Taylor Swift on his bus-ride to the motel, and, “I liked it, Sam. I liked it a lot.” Dean also complains that his voice is weird, he has zits, and he has no control over his body – basically, he’s dealing with puberty, again. Dean is not amused.
Sam has some hopeful news, though: The yarrow suggests they’re dealing with a witch, and they still have some witch-killing concoction in the trunk. He promises, “We’ll get you changed back and light Sabrina’s ass up.” But while Dean’s not thrilled with Puberty: The Redux Version, he is thrilled with one change: The Mark of Cain is gone. As he tells Sam, “If it’s between being a psycho rage monster-slash-borderline demon or a teenager….this is problem solved. And I’m still me. I can still hunt. I’m just…dewier.” Sam concedes the point, “kind of,” but when Dean jokes about taking his “[virgin liver] for a test drive,” Sam needles him with not being able to drink for seven years, which leads to light-hearted bickering that we haven’t heard between the brothers in a while.
The Winchesters arrive back at the house and sneak in separately. They quickly incapacitate the man, whom they learn is Hansel, from the old Grimm’s fairy tale. According to Hansel, the witch whom he works for “is the worst person in the world… I’ve been with her for centuries. The things I’ve seen her do. My sister and I – she made us hurt people, kill people, and when we tried to escape she caught us, tortured me, and then she made me eat poor Gretel’s heart.” Dean jokes about getting to barbecue a celebrity, and Hansel says, “You can’t kill her. You’re just men.”
Sam smugly says, “We’re a little more than that.” He holds up a bottle of the witch-killing concoction. “We’re hunters.” Hansel expresses a desire to help and says, “If you’re going to fry that candy-coated bitch, I want in.” First, though, the Winchesters train their guns on Hansel until he explains how to reverse the spell: If Dean squeezes the hexbag Hansel wears around his neck, he’ll return to his proper age.
In the kitchen, Tina is bound and gagged. The witch is cooking and explaining that while JP didn’t have much meat on his bones, “a good cook works with the ingredients she’s given.” It’s a surprise to see the fabulous Lesley Nicol, who also plays Ms. Patmore on Downton Abbey, in the role of the child-eating witch. She’s quite creepy as she muses aloud about how she’ll prepare Tina and stokes the fire in the huge, walk-in-sized oven. The oven’s made all the more terrifying by the chains and hooks inside of it.
The Winchesters and Hansel enter the kitchen, but the witch isn’t concerned. She calls Dean, “Our lost lamb,” and says, “I thought we’d have to come looking for you, maybe abandon our home sweet home here. I never dreamt you’d be stupid enough to come back on your own.” She orders her henchman to take care of them, and the Winchesters snark because they think Hansel is on their side. Sam even says smugly, “Maybe you shouldn’t have made him chow down on his sister.” I was surprised by how readily Dean and Sam believe Hansel, and in retrospect, I think they do because of Hansel’s claim that the witch forced him to eat his sister’s heart. Despite their differences, the Winchesters can’t fathom that level of sibling betrayal. Of course, the plot-twist here it that the witch, in her own words, “never made Hansel do anything.” If he ate Gretel’s heart, it’s because he wanted to. With his faux-betrayal exposed, Hansel turns on Sam, and Dean tries to light the witch bomb. The lighter won’t work – seriously, someone get Dean a decent lighter – and the witch casts a spell that knocks the bomb from his hand, shattering the glass against the wall. Hansel pulls a gun on the brothers, and both are forced to kneel on the floor.
The witch perkily asks, “Now, who’s hungry?” and pronounces Dean “scrawny,” promising “to fatten you up.” He responds in his typical manner, “Don’t friggin’ touch me.” In an exposition scene, the witch explains that she prefers children because “they’re so sweet and innocent – and delicious.” While Sam tries to surreptitiously retrieve a knife and cut his ropes, he and Dean distract the witch, asking why she’s bother with the de-aging spells. She explains that back “in the old days,” it was easier for children to disappear and more expected for them to die. Today, she notes, “People get so angry…So, I improvise. I take adults no one will miss and give them back their youth…. It’s the only way I can eat in peace.” She observes that European children are gamier, while American children are heaven. “I just can’t get enough…I am in awe. This is my first visit to your country, and I have to say, God bless the USA.” Um… if this is the witch’s first visit to America, then whose murder house are they in? Dean’s discovery of the cobweb-covered skull in the basement seems even creepier now.
Dean buys Sam some more time by prompting the witch to explain that she’s here on business: “An old friend is causing trouble and the Grand Coven asked me to take care of her. Poor stupid Rowena.” And here is the hoped-for mythology bridge. The Winchesters are shocked by the witch’s reference, and Dean describes Rowena, confirming that they’re all thinking of the same witch. Before they learn why the Grand Coven is after Rowena – and, really, is she going to be worse than the child-eating witch? – Sam works his hands free, and the Winchesters attack. The witch handily casts a spell that flings Sam against the wall and pins him in place, while Hansel easily overpowers teen-aged Dean and beats him severely, repeatedly bashing his head into the floor.
The witch flings the oven door open and pronounces to Sam, “Now you burn.” She tells Hansel to change Sam, but his hexbag is missing. He turns to see that Dean has it now, though the teenager seems to hesitate a second before squeezing it. Light flashes, and Dean is Dean. Somehow, teen!Dean’s clothes don’t restrict the thirty-five-year-old man’s movements, and he quickly grabs the knife and stabs Hansel. Dean then attacks the hissing witch, stuffing the hex bag into her mouth and manhandling her into the oven. He locks the door, and we see her burning alive even as we hear her shrieking and beating on the metal. It’s a horrific scene, but Dean remains unmoved, and he slams the grille shut. He looks over at Sam, who’s still on the floor.
Sometime later, still-teen-aged Tina is appalled to learn that the Winchesters deal with this kind of thing all the time. She asks if they can turn her back, but Dean says, “The hexbag went up in flames. I’m so sorry, Tina.” I did wonder about this; was Dean simply so angry that he crammed the bag into the witch’s mouth without thinking? He of all people would know the bag was needed. Sam offers to try to find another way to reverse it, but Tina sees her reflection in the window and says, “Or maybe you don’t.” She explains that she has “three ex-husbands, fifty grand in debt and not much else. I was kind of a crappy adult. Maybe I’ll do better this time around… this is my second chance. Everybody wants a second chance, right?” I have to say, this scene is absolutely heartbreaking because Ackles nails Dean’s expressions. Dean so wants a second chance, and for a few hours, he thought that he might have one and could live a life free of the Mark.
The Winchesters give Tina a ride to the bus station and give her some cash. I realize that Tina’s not really fourteen years old, but it’s disconcerting to think of how many young kids the Winchesters have sent on their way in recent seasons. She boards the bus, leaving the brothers to deal with other pressing matters – like the Grand Coven and the Mark’s return.
Dean explains that he reversed the spell because Sam was “in deep,” and his brother cuts him off, “I know, I know. You saved me. And you saved Tina. And – you pulled a Dean Winchester.” Dean’s expression has a hint of surprise and uncertainty, and he smiles similarly to how he did when Cas told him he was a role model (10×9). Dean’s acknowledged that Sam and Cas loved him enough to pull him back from the edge (10×7), and now both of them have told him he’s a positive example – will their belief and encouragement help Dean believe it? Sam tells his brother, “Do I wish the Mark was gone? Yes, of course. Absolutely I do… but I wanted you back. And now here you are and you didn’t hulk out. So, I’ll take the win. As for the rest of it, the Mark, everything else, we’ll figure it out. We always do.” Dean, seemingly buoyed by positive affirmation, agrees, “Damn right. Let’s get out of here.”
Then, there’s a lovely moment where Dean reassures Baby that he’s back and turns on the radio. What song is playing? “Shake It Off” by Taylor Swift. Sam gives Dean a horrified look, clearly expecting his brother to turn the station, but – surprise! Dean likes the song. And Dean, who’s often characterized as fluid, who appreciates salted caramel because “it’s the best of both worlds – salty and sweet” (9×13), allows himself to appreciate a pop song. I absolutely love this; there’s no macho posturing or hiding it, and the episode’s final scene is, to use a Deanism, “awesome.” Dean smirks; Sam’s speechless; and Baby’s tires peel rubber as Dean punches the gas.
“About a Boy” is a fun episode, largely because Everett nails Dean’s mannerisms. He and Padalecki also have a good rapport that helps sell the de-aged storyline so well that I’d enjoy seeing Everett’s version of Dean again, if The-Powers-That-Be can work out a sound reason for teen!Dean to return. Next week, the Winchesters battle a ghost in the machine in yet another Monster-of-the-Week, “Halt & Catch Fire.” Supernatural airs Tuesdays at 9 pm ET on the CW network.