I very much liked Sam's portrayal in this ep, as it seems consistent with the previous Sam that this young actor played. It also was consistent with the Sam we know, in that Sam doesn't like to use force or violence, but he will if he has to.
I'm still trying to formulate what twigged me about this portrayal of Dean (young Dean). And you might be on to something here. In another post, I made a comment that this Dean was not subtle. Jensen could play everything that this actor was given, only with more subtlety, the subtlety I'm used to seeing from Dean. Because for whatever reason--the writing, or the acting, or whatever--yes, Dean seemed off. The portrayal seemed forced. And I don't mean to sound like I'm taking it out on the actor, because he had his work cut out for him stepping into an early version of a character that Jensen Ackles has defined. But . . . yeah. Something just didn't click. And perhaps it is the element of cliche that I'm sensing.
I mentioned my theory about Sam skipping a grade to my hubby, and he mentioned that it could have been that Dean was held back a year. Which is essentially what you're saying, yes? Either way, the situation of siblings being four years apart in age, yet one being a freshman and one being a senior, is not normal. But yes, I think I can get behind your explanation as well. It makes sense.
However, didn't John stay put for a while? The guy at the garage where John worked mentioned being worried about him, about how John was starting to act weird. Wouldn't that mean that John and the boys stuck around at least a little while? Long enough for the weirdness to be noticeable, at least. Of course, if Dean wasn't talking, the school counselors might have suggested holding him out of school for a year or something. (At this point, I'm just riffing. YMMV.)
I did notice that this ep had two writers, neither of whose name I recognized. Nor did I recognize the director's name.
There are other things that concerned me about the portrayal of present-day Dean, but I'll get into that when I do a full ep review.
no subject
I'm still trying to formulate what twigged me about this portrayal of Dean (young Dean). And you might be on to something here. In another post, I made a comment that this Dean was not subtle. Jensen could play everything that this actor was given, only with more subtlety, the subtlety I'm used to seeing from Dean. Because for whatever reason--the writing, or the acting, or whatever--yes, Dean seemed off. The portrayal seemed forced. And I don't mean to sound like I'm taking it out on the actor, because he had his work cut out for him stepping into an early version of a character that Jensen Ackles has defined. But . . . yeah. Something just didn't click. And perhaps it is the element of cliche that I'm sensing.
I mentioned my theory about Sam skipping a grade to my hubby, and he mentioned that it could have been that Dean was held back a year. Which is essentially what you're saying, yes? Either way, the situation of siblings being four years apart in age, yet one being a freshman and one being a senior, is not normal. But yes, I think I can get behind your explanation as well. It makes sense.
However, didn't John stay put for a while? The guy at the garage where John worked mentioned being worried about him, about how John was starting to act weird. Wouldn't that mean that John and the boys stuck around at least a little while? Long enough for the weirdness to be noticeable, at least. Of course, if Dean wasn't talking, the school counselors might have suggested holding him out of school for a year or something. (At this point, I'm just riffing. YMMV.)
I did notice that this ep had two writers, neither of whose name I recognized. Nor did I recognize the director's name.
There are other things that concerned me about the portrayal of present-day Dean, but I'll get into that when I do a full ep review.