1. It’s SPN’s “go Vegas” episode.
2. Also, one of the few “X-Files” episodes I particularly remember had Scully and Mulder aging from some unknown virus. God, that was scary, especially because it was a slow but painfully gradual process. Those were the days.
3. The title is misleading. Dean’s not a real hero here, the main emotional issues are Bobby’s; it’s Sam who saves the day, and the limelight stealer is definitely the man-witch.
5. I should have probably checked out poker rules, as part of this episode’s magic is lost when you don’t get what this or that poker turn means.
6. “Fallen Idols” was partly about cars, here we’ve got poker – it’s about time we had an episode about these wonderful things that help our boys make their living. In other words, I’m waiting for a laptop-celebrating episode already.
7. Absolutely no blood involved in this extremely aesthetically-oriented episode. Immense decadent potential in here.
8. The young man (a year Sam’s junior) watching his face and body rapidly growing old in the mirror – very “Dorian Grey”.
9. Cf. “Faith”. Only here people rob themselves off their lifetime – if they lose the game. They literally gamble their lives away.
10. “Hope I got that kind of kick when I'm his age”– “Yeah, like either of us will live that long”. Dean, don’t you doubt your manly charm – it’s time-proof. Ask Dean Girls. Sam, here we go suicidal again?
11. The scene in the hotel with the old poker fan who had won himself his “best years” back and is now indulging in his regained youth is hilarious and very gay, because (a) “Hey! Nice tattoo” (and the sissy way Sam says these words – well, guys, we know you both love tattoos, but why get so excited?); (b) Dean lifting up the covers to check out the birthmark the man’s wife had told them he had – obviously, in his private parts – Dean, you’re shameless. Also, the poker winner has two literal busty Asian beauties in his bed. “Oh, and, uh...stay classy”. Jealous, Dean?
12. The man-witch, Patrick, is like the Trickster. Or even the male Siren from “Sex And Violence”. Top 10 of hottest Supernatural monsters, anyone?
13. Voilà, Bobby is quicker to discover the monster. Turns out Mr. Singer is a terrific poker player, but this time he loses the 25 years of his life. Shouldn’t have called the man in the first place, boys. Sorry, you prefer “idjits”?
14. “But I can read people”. Yeah, Patrick, so maybe you’ll share some information you gleaned about the guys with the help of your mind radar?
15. Dean faces the loveable Irish monster, quickly gets Bobby’s 25 years back and proceeds to lose his 25 years, so that by the time Sam arrives to their motel room, he finds Dean an old man. Fortunately, the show spared us the unpleasant sight of Dean growing old.
16. “I’ve never been paralyzed. But I tell you something – I've been to hell…” – children, please. Let’s count who’s been hurt the most.
17. Sam, what’s so funny about the comic duo? Dean may look like “Emperor Palpatine” (I’d say Harrison Ford, though), but he’s still Dean, only twice as grumbly and whiny because of the “old age”. And Sam, I don’t envy you – in 40 years’ time you gonna have to bear with a very annoying big brother – no wonder you don’t want to make it till then.
18. We’ve seen Dean in 1974 and 2014, and now he’s violently moved forth in his own personal time. Show, what you do to him.
19. Yeah, hamburgers are suddenly too tough for your bowels of steel, Dean.
20. Clap-clap-clap your hands, and you’ve got a clap in your pants, Sammy. A real Supernatural STD (cf. “Sex And Violence”). The upside is that, at least, it’s the gift you don’t die from. Is it, like, the second time since last episode’s hairy palm joke that the figurative becomes the literal?
21. “No, no, no. You're not good enough”. I spy Dean’s typically dismissive attitude masks his old-time protective care for Sammy.
22. I actually thought Sam could play poker just as well as Dean. He just never had a chance to show his ability. “Knowing the game is not enough, Sam. It's not about playing the cards” – “It's about playing the other guy. I know that”. Oh, Sam, your filthy mouth. I’d quite like to see you playing “the other guy”, by the way. And I don’t mean the sexy witch. And, Dean, you know how your brother is a walking encyclopedia of the weird and wonderful? Do not underestimate him. He’ll be very upset.
23. Patrick’s female partner, Lia, plays a double game – she gives the brave hunters a spell that reverses the man-witch’s work.
24. This sleek and jittery monster with his toothpick fetish is a Mephistopheles in a miniature.
25. The game Sam and Patrick play is a psychological thriller. It’s a very beautiful, and definitely the most intense part of the episode. It’s a game of minds and will rather than muscles. But agility and cunning will be useful as well.
26. Patrick is not averse to Sam, he just teaches people lessons. He taunts Sam, throwing teases at him all the way through, and almost flirts with him. “I like you, Sam. I do. You're smart, and your heart's clearly in the right place” – so is this what he read with his mind radar? Nice to know.
27. “I can tell a lot about a guy by looking”. Filthy.
28. “Does this armchair-psychology routine usually work for you?” Yeah, Sam, show the man-witch how you see right through his tricks.
29. “If we had time, I could make a real player out of you”. Guys, you never know how double-entendre you whole conversation sounds.
30. “When it's about your brother, you get so emotional, your brain just flies right out the window”. Hell, yes, Gary Sue, worrying about Dean makes Sam a scared little girl. Except that Sam plays it up, the anxiety over his brother’s fate. And, Sam, I hope this fake!anxiety was just a game, right?
31. Castiel, when people need you, why are you nowhere to be seen?
32. The way he drags him back to the poker table, it’s like a twin gesture to Sam’s own exorcising hand. “The game's not over till I say it is”.
33. “Well played. You know, that whole... going-out-of-your-head bit – very method”. Very meta-film, too. See, Jared acts Sam, and Sam, in his turn, acts poker-face equanimity. Double acting.
34. “Well, there's more to you than meets the eye” – stop it, Patrick, the boy’s gonna blush himself to death from your compliments.
35. Ah, Dean’s all singing in the rain.
36. These witches are likeable characters. The way Patrick would hate to lose Lia is almost touching. He’s even willing to die with her.
37. Dean, you should’ve given Sammy a hug he deserves, he’s saved your life, after all. OK, no big deal, I get it.
38. “…I'm just... I'm saying, you know, if I was in your shoes...” – “You'd never stop complaining”. A-ha-ha, Dean is a princess. Apart from everything else, it’s an excellent anti-miserable-self-pity episode.
39. Final scene. Dean, you’re a master of “man pain” monologues. And, guys, please, feel your feelings at will. I won’t even hate to see you with lady parts, for that matter. A monster bending people’s gender, where are you? Oh, Live Lournal?
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