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Like a poker hand, roles reverse for the Winchesters in this classic Supernatural episode.

We begin with a wife waiting for her husband to return. When he returns, however, he rushes upstairs without even saying hello. Facing the bathroom mirror, the husband undergoes a withering transformation – from young to old – before collapsing. His wife enters and screams at what remains off-camera.

Posing as CDC agents, Sam and Dean are introduced to “Xavier” at the morgue – a 25-year old man who died of old age. After confirming the victim’s age, Sam and Dean realize there’s something strange afoot and call an increasingly bitter Bobby. The two brothers next talk to the wife of a missing person – a senior citizen named Cliff Winslow. Sam notices Cliff’s tattoo from a picture, while Dean spots a receipt to a brothel called the Golden Palace. When checking out the brothel, they instead find the room occupied by a young man in bed with several women. At first, the Winchesters excuse themselves – until Sam sees
the tattoo on the man’s arm. They soon realize they are staring at Cliff Winslow.

The rejuvenated Cliff tells him he regained his youth by playing in a card game with a strange card shark. Unfortunately, the shark is notoriously hard to find – he plays in different bars, and he finds you instead of the other way around. Bobby tells Sam and Dean there is all sorts of lore of a card player holding the keys to youth and prosperity in his hand. Of course, if you lose you pay for it with the best – and sometimes remaining – years of your life. Sam and Dean begin their search, and the wheelchair-bound Bobby decides he’s not going to sit on the sidelines for this hunt.

Dean bribes a bartender for a lead on the game’s whereabouts. As he ventures into the alley, he finds that Bobby has beat him to it – only Bobby hasn’t exactly put a stop to the game. Instead, he’s lost five years of his life. Infuriated, Dean finds the card shark hitting on a young woman at the bar, and with a flash of his gun, entreats the card shark – Patrick – to a game. Patrick shows very little fear of the gun, but Dean convinces him to transfer five of his years to Bobby in exchange for an even bigger bet. Back at the hotel, Sam finds a strange old man waiting for him. Drawing his weapon, he fears someone has broken into their hotel – not realizing it’s really Dean, fifty years older.

Bobby and Dean bicker while Sam tries to figure out a strategy for reversing the card shark’s spell. After mistaking acid reflux for a heart attack and having his advances being termed “adorable” by the pretty young maid, Dean leaves with the others to find the magical poker chips that can reverse his condition. Staking out the poker game, the three find the card shark is as slick as ever – he even has lookalikes who are mowed over by disgruntled players while he drives away clean and unharmed. Despite his present situation, Dean has to admit – he likes this guy’s style.

Entering the card shark’s plush hotel room, Sam and Dean begin their work – at least after Dean completes an arduous journey up the stairs. They find the safe and are just about to steal the chips when they are found out by a witch – none other than the young woman Patrick was chatting up at the bar. The witch – Lia – holds them in a painful spell, but Patrick stops her, explaining the two of them are harmless. The magic isn’t in the chips – it’s in the game, and the only way to gain back years is to beat Patrick fair and square. The Winchesters don’t leave empty-handed – Patrick claps his hand for Sam, who realized on his way out he’s just received a “clap” of a different kind. Sam wants to play Patrick, but both Bobby and Dean believe Sam is no match for the card shark. Bobby believes he’s seasoned enough to beat him, but doesn’t have enough years in the bank – and bitterly admits he’s no longer a hunter without the use of his legs.

Back at the Winchesters’ motel room, Dean and Bobby find the witch Lia waiting for them. She hands off a spell that will undo every spell Patrick has cast. When Dean asks why Lia would do such a thing, she only says she has her reasons, cryptically rubbing a locket she holds on her neck. While Bobby and Dean go to work gathering the ingredients, Sam finds the card shark, who is ensuring an old man will live to see his granddaughter’s bar mitzvah. Sam remarks that was nice of him, and Patrick explains he’s a nice guy. He doesn’t kill needlessly (he seems blissfully unaware of Xavier’s unfortunate fate). Regardless, Patrick only plays by the rules of the game. Nothing more. Nothing less.

At the cemetery, Dean and Bobby dig up the jawbone of a murderer required for the spell, with Dean continuing to complain about the back-ache and other unmentionable aches as he continues to dig. Sam, meanwhile, is able to see through Patrick’s “little brother” goading long enough to bluff him and buy him some more time – while he snatches Patrick’s tooth pick, the final ingredient needed in the spell. But this time it’s Patrick who is bluffing – the tooth pick is a fake, and now Patrick is out to punish Sam for cheating.

Lia reveals she supplied the Winchesters with the spell, and Patrick is utterly dumbfounded by her betrayal. But as Dean begins to collapse from a real heart attack, Patrick seems intent on continuing his vengeful game – and won’t allow Sam to leave until it’s over. Sam bets everything on a single hand, but even Patrick tries to dissuade him – its suicide, and Patrick isn’t a killer. But Sam refuses, and Lia sheds a tear when Patrick draws two aces, seemingly sealing Sam’s fate. Sam, however, has one more bluff left in him – cleverly beatingPatrick with a full house. Beaten, Patrick gladly undoes the damage done to Dean, who is seen merrily jumping up and down as he approaches Bobby’s van. “Idgit,” is all Bobby can reply.

After all is said and done, Lia reveals she wanted Patrick to take revenge on her – because she is ready to die. The locket contains a picture of Lia’s daughter as a child – and a picture of Lia’s child on her deathbed. Lia loves Patrick, but she misses her family. She’s ready to move on. So Patrick lays out the card and deals one final hand. Patrick wins, and Lia thanks him as her features turn gray and her face becomes still. Patrick weeps on the poker table as the last game draws to a close, along with Lia’s life.

Back at the motel, Dean apologizes to Bobby, who doesn’t want to get all weepy on the subject. But Dean won’t let it end there. He sits down and tells Bobby what he needs to hear – you don’t stop being a soldier just because you’re wounded. The Winchesters don’t have much family left, and Bobby better not check out on them now. Bobby tearfully accepts Dean’s words, and then tells him they better stop before they grow “lady parts.” The two leave, with Dean putting down his cheeseburger and Bobby looking to the sky with quiet resignation.

This was without a doubt the best episode yet, and it was also the boldest. More than half the episode Dean is played by Chad Everett. But this works out spectacularly, and Everett not only succeeds in matching Ackles’ blue-collar gusto, but he also manages to maintain his chemistry with Jared Padalecki, and more importantly, Jim Beaver’s Bobby. The result is a humorous and quietly endearing portrait of what Dean will look like in fifty years – if he lives that long.

Without a doubt, however, Patrick was the episode’s high point. While we’ve seen the moral ambiguity of Zacharias and the mischief of the Trickster, Patrick combines both of these traits and brings another one to the table: honor. This nine hundred year old swindler is methodically bound to the rules of the game. Even when releasing the love of his life from immortality, he still lays out the cards and lets them decide both her fate and his own – something which speaks volumes about this so-called card shark’s moral character.

Veteran writer Sera Gamble really outdid herself in this episode. The last few episodes have been good but not great, simply because we don’t understand how Sam and Dean’s relationship will change in this new equal partnership. Gamble spells it out in epic detail. Sam rises above his brash, reckless and self-interested nature which kicked off Apocalypse to begin with – and instead metamorphoses into a smooth master manipulator who surprises even Patrick. Despite being the butt of the jokes, Dean ascends to the head of the Winchester family. By setting Bobby – the moral compass – straight, Dean achieves something John failed to do, reaffirming the family bonds instead of jeopardizing them.

I only hope that future writers will take a cue from Gamble and make the Winchester dynamic as enthralling and captivating as it is in this episode. But no matter what happens, the Winchesters aren’t in for much peace. Speaking of swindlers, it looks like the Trickster is backin the next episode, “Changing Channels.”
I know what channel I’ll be tuned into next week.

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