a Metallicar love post: S1 Part6
(MY S5 DVDS ARE LATE. I HATE YOU, AMAZON.)
Previously... Season 1: Part 1, Part 2, Part 3, Part 4, Part 5
This post covers Dead Man's Blood through Devil's Trap. This arc doesn't need any introduction, does it? I will just point out that this post contains spoilers for Seasons 2 through 4 (still have not seen S5, but the DVDs arrive tomorrow!), so if you are a new fan (or bored with my rambling), then skim over the text and just enjoy the pictures. Well, at least as much as possible. Just skip the last bit of Devil's Trap. :'|
She's come a long way already, hasn't she? ♥ ♥ ♥ Grab some Kleenex and let's get this started...
DEAD MAN'S BLOOD
We start out innocently enough, and like so many shots of the Impala, it's the little things I love about how they film her. Like here, how you can see her from their perspective, and them from hers. They've constantly filmed her as an anchor to these scenes right from the pilot, probably just for aesthetics in the beginning, but over time, that choice of photography has turned her into a vibrant presence. A very real anchor for the boys. I love how that built up throughout S1. ♥
The boys go vrooming off...
...and we catch up with the Impala again after John has entered the picture. One thing I find interesting from a visual standpoint, although the Impala herself is not in the picture, is how the boys altered their usual shoulder-to-shoulder pattern of leaning against the Impala by standing in different directions. Dean turns around as John approaches them, and the pattern rights itself.
Anyhow, here the Impala is for the second episode in a row made to feel self-conscious. Or, rather, Dean is made to feel self-conscious about her for essentially the same reasons the snobby cars made her feel self-conscious in Provenance. TPTB add injury to insult later in Devil's Trap, and I find this final arc a borderline case of Break the Cutie (the "Cutie" in question being the Impala). Think about it.
We've spent all season long establishing just what she is and what she means to the boys, and in Provenance, we get the first true break in perception. We see the world from her POV for a brief (hilarious and endearing) moment, and her characterization was, for a second, as well-defined and high profile as the boys'. Then here again--through John's comment to Dean--we are reminded of her. I was angry at John, I was thinking shut up, John, but then I got to reflecting on how she came into her own over these two episodes, how she has now been addressed--both meta and in-universe--as a character in her own right, and I just want to bask in how it's all fallen together so perfectly.
Scruffy, dusty, self-deprecating, a bit scattered, a little worn, the Indiana Jones of tv cars. John wants her to be Bond, but she's just not. She fits her boy like a well-worn glove, and that's just facts. So don't look like that, Dean. She gets you. ♥
Anyhow, they all vroom off, the Impala trailing John's would-be blue collar Bond truck, which looks impressively large and all that, but shut up, John's Truck. You are just a vehicle and are nothing to me.
Semi-important exposition and plot things happen, but whatever, because it's not too long before she shows us that Monster Trucks--good, evil or chaotic neutral--continue to be out-maneuvered by her sleek little self. ♥
TO SUM UP: (Sam >>> John) + (Impala >>> John's Truck) = Sam+Impala FTW. \o/
John's Truck just can't give it up, though, and continues to flaunt its painstakingly organized glory in the Impala's face. But what sticks with me, is that the more John and his truck are shown to be highly organized and ostensibly competent, the more the Impala's low key, raggedy, guns-blazing everyman attitude of just get it done feels alive and real. The truck becomes even more of just a car, just a gadget.
More important exposition and plot things happen, then the Impala gets her ass used as bait. Well, her boy's ass.
Aside from a very brief, very small glimpse of her before the Winchesters have their next of many tense conversations, that's it until the next episode. As last images go, it's not a bad one of her. Dean Winchester and his "Indy." I like. ♥
Driver!Sam: 2
Dean Lovin': 0 (Shut up, John. You know nothing.)
Into The Horizon?: No (Ends on a closeup of John.)
SALVATION
The first we see of the Impala in the final arc is this shot...
...and it just gives me chills, it still does, and makes me tear up. But one thing about it? They're driving into Salvation. But now, after Season 4, "salvation" has such a different meaning, and I'm not sure if I want them driving away from here, just far away anywhere else.
Like all throughout the first season, she is very quietly in the background for a lot of the episode, during the conversations they share inside her and being there to be a rock they lean on, sometimes unseen but never unfelt.
It's all based on the emotional investment the viewer has in the boys by now, and by extension, the Impala. I know that. But still, there's such a contrast here, for me, between how the Impala is filmed and how John's truck is filmed. This sort of driving to and from scene happens all the time; the Impala is not immune to it. But the show takes time to pause with her in little/big moments. Here they both are, driving to and from. Yet John's truck remains a vehicle that is just a vehicle, a lifeboat of convenience and technology, driving off and effectively right out of the series. It drives in and out and remains just some truck. Because there is no place for it, not in a world with a car that has evolved from lifeboat to home, that is so much more "family" than "car."
Like here. You can't see her in the shot, but you feel her behind them. Not that they're leaning up against her, but just that she's there, even when we can't see her. You just know because the dynamic is so familiar now. I'm not sure you can say that about any other character of the series that is neither Winchester nor very close Winchester friend.
I love that we had a slow pan up the Impala here near the end, as they watch and wait. We're watching them in their "house" watching this family in their house, and... doesn't she feel so solid now? She's this steel lifeboat framing them, and it's so beautiful to me, the time they've taken to frame these shots, the care that went into her character so that now at the end, she is simply Family. They are not just two boys in a car. I really, truly love that. ♥
That's the last scene of her for this episode, and I really appreciate that about it. Our last impression of her before the storm hits is of her cradling the boys. Mother, sister, home...
Driver!Sam: 0
Dean Lovin': 0
Into The Horizon?: No (Ends with a closeup of the boys.)
DEVIL'S TRAP
(I got completely distracted doing this with what an emotionally devastating episode it is. Still the best finale, imo. Still the very best. ♥)
She's not really in it much, except at the beginning and the end, like bookends.
Like another bookend, this one the start of a very long friendship, when the boys drive to see Bobby...
...we meet him for the first time through his truck.
This gritty old bulldog of a truck, no-nonsense and kick-your-ass, somewhere between Charles Bronson and John Wayne, with a touch of blue collar Gandalf. Not at all like John's Truck. And they pull away from this truck to reveal the Impala by its side, a brief reflection of the truck on her hood, and as coarse and aggressive as that truck might appear, we just know that it's okay, that Bobby's okay. There's no contrast of character here, just a sense of age and experience. The boys for the first time settling into somewhere that feels familiar although it's not yet family. (Not to us.)
But lingering here is for later seasons. This time they go vrooming back out again on their own...
...and it quick cuts to this scene.
(DOES IT COUNT AS SAM LOVIN' THAT HE DREW ON HER? ♥ OR AS DEAN LOVIN' THAT HE TRIED TO WIPE IT OFF? ♥)
This scene is so beautiful and memorable to me for many reasons not tied to the Impala but also for two that are: that Dean remains protective of her even in times of stress (♥), and that Sam is the one leaning against her here and Dean is the one standing at arm's length. That reflects so much about their dynamic in this scene, of Sam trying to keep a connection to Dean, and Dean being pretty far from a "caring and sharing" mood. She's always a constant. Even here when they fight, she's never feels like a wall between them. I don't know many characters you could say that about, either. Winchester or other, even very good friends.
♥
(Although I would like to point out, Dean, that everyone might have had a point: she is just a bit dirty.)
In any case, that's the last we see of her until they drive off to the cabin.
And as in the pilot, she sits out there waiting for them. A kind of lifeboat.
When they drive out again, she feels a little smaller, a little more lonely, than she has in the past. Or maybe it's just that the world feels so much bigger, so much tighter around them.
I still remember so much of this episode like I just saw it for the first time yesterday, and of all the moments I remember and all the moments I cherish, nothing about it stands out more clearly than this:
Sam stares at Dean through her. She's their mirror. I mean, is there anything to add to that...? I have no hearts for that moment. It hits me too deeply.
Then comes the truck.
The whole season has built up to this so carefully, so that by the time the windows light up white and the Impala shatters around them, we aren't simply watching a car crash. We're witnessing hell take a battering ram to their home with them still inside. No lifeboats. She will need her own.
It hurts. It still hurts. Nothing will ever be the same again.
Driver!Sam: 1 *wibble*
Dean Lovin': 1 (I count protectiveness as love, yes.)
BONUS Sam Lovin': 1 (I count the drawing as love, yes.)
Into The Horizon?: *wibble*
// TO BE CONTINUED WITH SEASON 2.
Previously... Season 1: Part 1, Part 2, Part 3, Part 4, Part 5
This post covers Dead Man's Blood through Devil's Trap. This arc doesn't need any introduction, does it? I will just point out that this post contains spoilers for Seasons 2 through 4 (still have not seen S5, but the DVDs arrive tomorrow!), so if you are a new fan (or bored with my rambling), then skim over the text and just enjoy the pictures. Well, at least as much as possible. Just skip the last bit of Devil's Trap. :'|
She's come a long way already, hasn't she? ♥ ♥ ♥ Grab some Kleenex and let's get this started...
DEAD MAN'S BLOOD
We start out innocently enough, and like so many shots of the Impala, it's the little things I love about how they film her. Like here, how you can see her from their perspective, and them from hers. They've constantly filmed her as an anchor to these scenes right from the pilot, probably just for aesthetics in the beginning, but over time, that choice of photography has turned her into a vibrant presence. A very real anchor for the boys. I love how that built up throughout S1. ♥
The boys go vrooming off...
...and we catch up with the Impala again after John has entered the picture. One thing I find interesting from a visual standpoint, although the Impala herself is not in the picture, is how the boys altered their usual shoulder-to-shoulder pattern of leaning against the Impala by standing in different directions. Dean turns around as John approaches them, and the pattern rights itself.
Anyhow, here the Impala is for the second episode in a row made to feel self-conscious. Or, rather, Dean is made to feel self-conscious about her for essentially the same reasons the snobby cars made her feel self-conscious in Provenance. TPTB add injury to insult later in Devil's Trap, and I find this final arc a borderline case of Break the Cutie (the "Cutie" in question being the Impala). Think about it.
We've spent all season long establishing just what she is and what she means to the boys, and in Provenance, we get the first true break in perception. We see the world from her POV for a brief (hilarious and endearing) moment, and her characterization was, for a second, as well-defined and high profile as the boys'. Then here again--through John's comment to Dean--we are reminded of her. I was angry at John, I was thinking shut up, John, but then I got to reflecting on how she came into her own over these two episodes, how she has now been addressed--both meta and in-universe--as a character in her own right, and I just want to bask in how it's all fallen together so perfectly.
Scruffy, dusty, self-deprecating, a bit scattered, a little worn, the Indiana Jones of tv cars. John wants her to be Bond, but she's just not. She fits her boy like a well-worn glove, and that's just facts. So don't look like that, Dean. She gets you. ♥
Anyhow, they all vroom off, the Impala trailing John's would-be blue collar Bond truck, which looks impressively large and all that, but shut up, John's Truck. You are just a vehicle and are nothing to me.
Semi-important exposition and plot things happen, but whatever, because it's not too long before she shows us that Monster Trucks--good, evil or chaotic neutral--continue to be out-maneuvered by her sleek little self. ♥
TO SUM UP: (Sam >>> John) + (Impala >>> John's Truck) = Sam+Impala FTW. \o/
John's Truck just can't give it up, though, and continues to flaunt its painstakingly organized glory in the Impala's face. But what sticks with me, is that the more John and his truck are shown to be highly organized and ostensibly competent, the more the Impala's low key, raggedy, guns-blazing everyman attitude of just get it done feels alive and real. The truck becomes even more of just a car, just a gadget.
More important exposition and plot things happen, then the Impala gets her ass used as bait. Well, her boy's ass.
Aside from a very brief, very small glimpse of her before the Winchesters have their next of many tense conversations, that's it until the next episode. As last images go, it's not a bad one of her. Dean Winchester and his "Indy." I like. ♥
Driver!Sam: 2
Dean Lovin': 0 (Shut up, John. You know nothing.)
Into The Horizon?: No (Ends on a closeup of John.)
SALVATION
The first we see of the Impala in the final arc is this shot...
...and it just gives me chills, it still does, and makes me tear up. But one thing about it? They're driving into Salvation. But now, after Season 4, "salvation" has such a different meaning, and I'm not sure if I want them driving away from here, just far away anywhere else.
Like all throughout the first season, she is very quietly in the background for a lot of the episode, during the conversations they share inside her and being there to be a rock they lean on, sometimes unseen but never unfelt.
It's all based on the emotional investment the viewer has in the boys by now, and by extension, the Impala. I know that. But still, there's such a contrast here, for me, between how the Impala is filmed and how John's truck is filmed. This sort of driving to and from scene happens all the time; the Impala is not immune to it. But the show takes time to pause with her in little/big moments. Here they both are, driving to and from. Yet John's truck remains a vehicle that is just a vehicle, a lifeboat of convenience and technology, driving off and effectively right out of the series. It drives in and out and remains just some truck. Because there is no place for it, not in a world with a car that has evolved from lifeboat to home, that is so much more "family" than "car."
Like here. You can't see her in the shot, but you feel her behind them. Not that they're leaning up against her, but just that she's there, even when we can't see her. You just know because the dynamic is so familiar now. I'm not sure you can say that about any other character of the series that is neither Winchester nor very close Winchester friend.
I love that we had a slow pan up the Impala here near the end, as they watch and wait. We're watching them in their "house" watching this family in their house, and... doesn't she feel so solid now? She's this steel lifeboat framing them, and it's so beautiful to me, the time they've taken to frame these shots, the care that went into her character so that now at the end, she is simply Family. They are not just two boys in a car. I really, truly love that. ♥
That's the last scene of her for this episode, and I really appreciate that about it. Our last impression of her before the storm hits is of her cradling the boys. Mother, sister, home...
Driver!Sam: 0
Dean Lovin': 0
Into The Horizon?: No (Ends with a closeup of the boys.)
DEVIL'S TRAP
(I got completely distracted doing this with what an emotionally devastating episode it is. Still the best finale, imo. Still the very best. ♥)
She's not really in it much, except at the beginning and the end, like bookends.
Like another bookend, this one the start of a very long friendship, when the boys drive to see Bobby...
...we meet him for the first time through his truck.
This gritty old bulldog of a truck, no-nonsense and kick-your-ass, somewhere between Charles Bronson and John Wayne, with a touch of blue collar Gandalf. Not at all like John's Truck. And they pull away from this truck to reveal the Impala by its side, a brief reflection of the truck on her hood, and as coarse and aggressive as that truck might appear, we just know that it's okay, that Bobby's okay. There's no contrast of character here, just a sense of age and experience. The boys for the first time settling into somewhere that feels familiar although it's not yet family. (Not to us.)
But lingering here is for later seasons. This time they go vrooming back out again on their own...
...and it quick cuts to this scene.
(DOES IT COUNT AS SAM LOVIN' THAT HE DREW ON HER? ♥ OR AS DEAN LOVIN' THAT HE TRIED TO WIPE IT OFF? ♥)
This scene is so beautiful and memorable to me for many reasons not tied to the Impala but also for two that are: that Dean remains protective of her even in times of stress (♥), and that Sam is the one leaning against her here and Dean is the one standing at arm's length. That reflects so much about their dynamic in this scene, of Sam trying to keep a connection to Dean, and Dean being pretty far from a "caring and sharing" mood. She's always a constant. Even here when they fight, she's never feels like a wall between them. I don't know many characters you could say that about, either. Winchester or other, even very good friends.
♥
(Although I would like to point out, Dean, that everyone might have had a point: she is just a bit dirty.)
In any case, that's the last we see of her until they drive off to the cabin.
And as in the pilot, she sits out there waiting for them. A kind of lifeboat.
When they drive out again, she feels a little smaller, a little more lonely, than she has in the past. Or maybe it's just that the world feels so much bigger, so much tighter around them.
I still remember so much of this episode like I just saw it for the first time yesterday, and of all the moments I remember and all the moments I cherish, nothing about it stands out more clearly than this:
Sam stares at Dean through her. She's their mirror. I mean, is there anything to add to that...? I have no hearts for that moment. It hits me too deeply.
Then comes the truck.
The whole season has built up to this so carefully, so that by the time the windows light up white and the Impala shatters around them, we aren't simply watching a car crash. We're witnessing hell take a battering ram to their home with them still inside. No lifeboats. She will need her own.
It hurts. It still hurts. Nothing will ever be the same again.
Driver!Sam: 1 *wibble*
Dean Lovin': 1 (I count protectiveness as love, yes.)
BONUS Sam Lovin': 1 (I count the drawing as love, yes.)
Into The Horizon?: *wibble*
// TO BE CONTINUED WITH SEASON 2.