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

Summary[]

There was something about being there... It felt pure. This episode summary is an official CW press release. It may contain errors. DO NOT CHANGE!

Sam enlists Rowena's (guest star Ruth Connell) 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 in blood 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 Waldo's Waffles.

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,"^[1] 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 named Barry Gilman 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 momentarily forgets his own 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. 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, whose name is Elka. Elka tells Dean that at the end of the night, he left the bar in a hurry, so 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, before running off.

After Sam recognizes the man Dean was chasing, they head into the woods, and Dean loses 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 is an angel, and says Rowena's name is "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 even forget how to swallow, and then he'll eventually die. Before Sam heads off to find the Black Grimoire, he tells Dean their whole life story one final time, before remarking to Rowena that he's seen Dean die before, but seeing him slowly become not himself 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 Cass 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 will 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^[2] made her wonder if there was any hope for her.

Sam calls, saying he's made it inside, but before he can save Dean, Catriona 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 Catriona 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 sings to mock her, while throwing shards of glass at her. However, she misses her mark.

Dean discovers the trunk (as well as the grenade launcher) and finds notes left by Rowena (implying Rowena knew Dean would help) that guide Dean to use his signature gun and witch-killing bullets. Dean enters the house aiming the gun at Catriona, who doesn't believe she'll die, until Dean reveals the note about the bullets. Dean then saves 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.

When Rowena prepares to leave, she reluctantly hands over the Black Grimoire to the brothers, but Sam says they now owe her a small favor in return for helping Dean. 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. However, losing the bad meant losing the good, so if that's "happy," Dean says he will pass.

Characters[]

Main Cast[]

• Jared Padalecki as Sam Winchester
• Jensen Ackles as Dean Winchester

Recurring Cast[]

Guest Stars[]

• Ruth Connell as Rowena MacLeod

Co-Stars[]

• Vincent Gale as Boyd Loughlin
• Tirra Dent as Catriona Loughlin
• Justin Turnbull as Gideon Loughlin
• Don Messick as Scooby-Doo (voice only; uncredited)
• Lindsay Winch as Elka
• Christopher Coutts as Coroner
• Nisreen Slim as Yuppie Lady
• Michael Cha as Japanese Businessman
• Kenn Waller as Barry Gilman

Featured Supernatural Beings[]

• Djinn (mentioned only)
• Seraph (Castiel, mentioned only)
• Witches (Boyd Loughlin, Catriona Loughlin, Gideon Loughlin, Rowena MacLeod)

Continuity[]

• Witch-killing bullets were previously featured in Season 12's American Nightmare.
• The grenade launcher was previously seen in Season 12's LOTUS.
• A witch was previously featured in Season 12's LOTUS.
• Rowena MacLeod previously appeared in Season 12's LOTUS.

Trivia[]

• This episode was watched by 1.71 million viewers and got a 0.6 rating.
• Jensen Ackles revealed 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.
• 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, had portrayed other characters on the show: Evan Hudson in Season 2's Crossroad Blues, and Viggo in Season 8's Torn and Frayed.
• According to Rowena, Dean's kill count numbers in the scores.
• When watching himself on the security footage at the bar, Dean remarks "It's like watching myself on Netflix." Supernatural was streaming on Netflix at the time.

Cultural References[]

• This episode's title is a reference to the film Regarding Henry (1991), which is about a lawyer who struggles with his memory after a shooting.
• When Dean discusses his memory loss, he mentions Dory from the film Finding Nemo (2003) and Finding Dory (2016), as well as the film Memento (2000).
  • In 2020, those are all also used to describe someone's memory loss in the Brooklyn Nine-Nine (2013-2021) episode "Pimemento."
• Sam puts on the Scooby-Doo, Where Are You! (1968-1979) episode "Hassle in the Castle" for Dean to keep him distracted.
• When Sam talks to Rowena about which spell was used on Dean, she mentions the “obliviate” spell, which wipes memories. This is a reference to a spell from the Harry Potter series with the exact same name, and similar memory loss properties.
• Dean's line "Mo Money Mo Problems" is a reference to the song by the Notorious B.i.G.
• Sam asks Dean to name all the members of the band Bon Jovi.
• Sam and Dean use the aliases "Agents Moon and Entwistle," references to Keith Moon and John Entwistle of the band The Who.

Featured Music[]

• The song that Catriona sings to Rowena is "Raggedy Ann" by Mindy Smith.
• "Broomstick Cowboy" by Bobby Goldsboro plays during the ending montage.

Errors[]

• In the "Then" flashback sequence at the beginning of the episode, Sam bursts in on the Book Club in Season 3's Malleus Maleficarum, and tells the witches 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 Season 11's 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 British Men of Letters before. But when Olivette talked about them in Season 10's Paint it Black, Rowena seemed as though she had never known about them.
• When Sam left the motel room in search of Dean, he left the door open. The door is then seen closing by itself.

Deaths[]

• Barry Gilman
• Boyd Loughlin
• Catriona Loughlin
• Gideon Loughlin

Quotes[]

• Rowena: We could do a memory spell. But did his hair fall out? His body too?
• Sam: What?
• Rowena: From the neck down, is he smooth like a Ken doll?
• Sam: I don’t know. Uh, and I'm not checking either.
• Rowena: Rules out a mnemonic curse. The obliviate spell wipes the memory clean over time, but it's intricate magic.

International Titles[]

• Hungarian: Csak egy átok (Just A Curse)
• German: In Sachen Dean (Regarding Dean)

Gallery[]

Videos[]

References[]

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