A Very Supernatural Post
I'm just not going to stop babbling about the show. I'm not going to say anything original or especially amusing or revelatory. I'm just going to go on and on and on about how absolutely much I love this show and these boys and how desperately I will miss them while they're gone.
I stayed up way too late last night waiting for the download of the episode, so I couldn't do a rewatch of the whole thing. But I did watch as much as I could stay awake for, and this episode is just layer upon layer of Winchestery, Christmassy goodness.
I won't be able to go into all of it in-depth until I can watch it again and take notes on all the little things they did for us, but, starting with the rainbow-swirl CBS "Special Presentation" logo (and how is it that I watched so many CBS specials as a child that I can identify that thing without even thinking about it? Do they still use that before "Charlie Brown Christmas" and whatnot?), this episode was the best kind of fanservice that also served the character and story arcs of the rest of the season. I believe that is called harmonic convergence, my friends. *nods*
I love all the AMAZING visual cues in this episode. From the exploding-ornament title card alone, we know these things:
--the show will be wryly funny (the title itself, the tacky neon and Santa hat)
--the show will subvert all our notions about what a Christmas special is (it will figuratively smash to smithereens the conventional Christmas special formula like the ornament is smithereenized)
--the show will lean heavily on Season 1 styles of storytelling, for good and ill (the "Supernatural" is the S1 logo; the ridiculously elementary spelling out of lore, complete with lots of Internet pictures so we know exactly where to go find out about this legend ourselves)
--the Winchester boys' Christmas will be low-rent and run-down, but we will love it anyway (the flickering and eventual shorting out of the neon "Very")
That's just the freakin' title card!
I know there's so much more visually packed into this show, but, as I said, I have to watch more closely and take notes. Paying special attention to the PITCH PERFECT way the Why don't you want Christmas? conversation in the motel played out. A couple things I want to point out about that scene, and why I love Jeremy Carver and J. Miller Tobin SO MUCH!
It was cathybites' insta-picspam last night that pointed out Sam and Dean's lovely synchronicity when they come back into the motel room, remove their jackets, and sit side-by-side on their beds. I will explain why this is amazing (to me, of course. Most of you likely won't care one whit. ;) )
I once saw a study of how men and women relate to each other that studied the social interaction of teenage girls and boys. The study subjects were sent into a room that was monitored by a video camera. The room was empty except for two folding chairs leaning up against the wall. The subjects were told to sit in the chairs and have a conversation. The girls unfolded the chairs, putting them close together, facing each other, and started having a conversation while making lots of eye contact and leaning toward each other. The boys took the chairs and put them side-by-side, both facing the same direction. It took them a while to start talking, and when they did, it wasn't a conversation, but a series of statements. They hardly ever looked at each other, there was almost no eye contact, and rather than lean in toward each other, they would lean their whole chairs farther away from each other.
The blocking of that motel scene--especially when it started getting really intense--reminded me so much of that study! Sam and Dean barely look at each other, and especially not when either says something especially emotionally painful. The Js each nail every little detail of their respective character's emotional turmoil to the MOTHERFUCKING WALL, and the way the scene is shot (primarily from behind them--which, when you think about it is an awkward and atypical camera placement in that set--so that we aren't even privy to the looks on their faces all the time, except in the furtive glances the camera gives us, just like the boys are giving each other) underscores their separation from each other. GAH! LOVE!!
I just know there are going to be a million more little visual things about this episode for me to pick apart--and I can't wait to have the time to do it. As much as I love Kim Manners and Bob Singer for what they bring to the emotion and the overarching story of the show, J. Miller Tobin is definitely on my list of favorite Supernatural directors for how damn meaningful all his shots are, and how he does so much storytelling with his camera. I noted it during "Born Under a Bad Sign" and I note it again here. It's showy, but I love it. (Eep! I just saw that Tobin directed the episode "Poison Ivy" of Gossip Girl! And he directs a lot for Numb3rs. coolwhipdiva, is he on the softball team? If so, please tell him I think he rocks!)
I have a busy weekend ahead. I've got to spend tomorrow doing (and finishing!)Christmas cards, and somehow getting some clue about SeSa (a_karls, feel free to e-mail me a fic wishlist, since I've decided you're my SeSa recipient this year, as my regular one has completely failed to give me anything to go on). I also plan to do lots of last-minute cyber shopping for Christmas, because I realize I've completely spaced on something for Li'l G (I have her birthday in January all locked down, Christmas gifts? Who knows?).
Sunday is a nor'easter and a trek to deepest Brooklyn (Coventry? Siberia?) for a holiday tea with the Superfriends and friends. \o/ I've also been invited to Oxford House for Christmas movies and holiday cheer, and I'm really going to try to squeeze that in somewhere, because I miss my Ladies. Not a little bit of bad there, just maybe too much good to fit in, along with sleep and as many rewatchings as I can stand of A V. SPN Xmas.
Yay! My mommy's Christmas present, which you all were so helpful in me picking out, just arrived! This is what I went with, because it was mentioned as being completely compatible with her library's software, is tiny and has a keychain accessory, as well as wrist and arm bands, and it's pink. Mom loves pink. :)
I stayed up way too late last night waiting for the download of the episode, so I couldn't do a rewatch of the whole thing. But I did watch as much as I could stay awake for, and this episode is just layer upon layer of Winchestery, Christmassy goodness.
I won't be able to go into all of it in-depth until I can watch it again and take notes on all the little things they did for us, but, starting with the rainbow-swirl CBS "Special Presentation" logo (and how is it that I watched so many CBS specials as a child that I can identify that thing without even thinking about it? Do they still use that before "Charlie Brown Christmas" and whatnot?), this episode was the best kind of fanservice that also served the character and story arcs of the rest of the season. I believe that is called harmonic convergence, my friends. *nods*
I love all the AMAZING visual cues in this episode. From the exploding-ornament title card alone, we know these things:
--the show will be wryly funny (the title itself, the tacky neon and Santa hat)
--the show will subvert all our notions about what a Christmas special is (it will figuratively smash to smithereens the conventional Christmas special formula like the ornament is smithereenized)
--the show will lean heavily on Season 1 styles of storytelling, for good and ill (the "Supernatural" is the S1 logo; the ridiculously elementary spelling out of lore, complete with lots of Internet pictures so we know exactly where to go find out about this legend ourselves)
--the Winchester boys' Christmas will be low-rent and run-down, but we will love it anyway (the flickering and eventual shorting out of the neon "Very")
That's just the freakin' title card!
I know there's so much more visually packed into this show, but, as I said, I have to watch more closely and take notes. Paying special attention to the PITCH PERFECT way the Why don't you want Christmas? conversation in the motel played out. A couple things I want to point out about that scene, and why I love Jeremy Carver and J. Miller Tobin SO MUCH!
It was cathybites' insta-picspam last night that pointed out Sam and Dean's lovely synchronicity when they come back into the motel room, remove their jackets, and sit side-by-side on their beds. I will explain why this is amazing (to me, of course. Most of you likely won't care one whit. ;) )
I once saw a study of how men and women relate to each other that studied the social interaction of teenage girls and boys. The study subjects were sent into a room that was monitored by a video camera. The room was empty except for two folding chairs leaning up against the wall. The subjects were told to sit in the chairs and have a conversation. The girls unfolded the chairs, putting them close together, facing each other, and started having a conversation while making lots of eye contact and leaning toward each other. The boys took the chairs and put them side-by-side, both facing the same direction. It took them a while to start talking, and when they did, it wasn't a conversation, but a series of statements. They hardly ever looked at each other, there was almost no eye contact, and rather than lean in toward each other, they would lean their whole chairs farther away from each other.
The blocking of that motel scene--especially when it started getting really intense--reminded me so much of that study! Sam and Dean barely look at each other, and especially not when either says something especially emotionally painful. The Js each nail every little detail of their respective character's emotional turmoil to the MOTHERFUCKING WALL, and the way the scene is shot (primarily from behind them--which, when you think about it is an awkward and atypical camera placement in that set--so that we aren't even privy to the looks on their faces all the time, except in the furtive glances the camera gives us, just like the boys are giving each other) underscores their separation from each other. GAH! LOVE!!
I just know there are going to be a million more little visual things about this episode for me to pick apart--and I can't wait to have the time to do it. As much as I love Kim Manners and Bob Singer for what they bring to the emotion and the overarching story of the show, J. Miller Tobin is definitely on my list of favorite Supernatural directors for how damn meaningful all his shots are, and how he does so much storytelling with his camera. I noted it during "Born Under a Bad Sign" and I note it again here. It's showy, but I love it. (Eep! I just saw that Tobin directed the episode "Poison Ivy" of Gossip Girl! And he directs a lot for Numb3rs. coolwhipdiva, is he on the softball team? If so, please tell him I think he rocks!)
I have a busy weekend ahead. I've got to spend tomorrow doing (and finishing!)Christmas cards, and somehow getting some clue about SeSa (a_karls, feel free to e-mail me a fic wishlist, since I've decided you're my SeSa recipient this year, as my regular one has completely failed to give me anything to go on). I also plan to do lots of last-minute cyber shopping for Christmas, because I realize I've completely spaced on something for Li'l G (I have her birthday in January all locked down, Christmas gifts? Who knows?).
Sunday is a nor'easter and a trek to deepest Brooklyn (Coventry? Siberia?) for a holiday tea with the Superfriends and friends. \o/ I've also been invited to Oxford House for Christmas movies and holiday cheer, and I'm really going to try to squeeze that in somewhere, because I miss my Ladies. Not a little bit of bad there, just maybe too much good to fit in, along with sleep and as many rewatchings as I can stand of A V. SPN Xmas.
Yay! My mommy's Christmas present, which you all were so helpful in me picking out, just arrived! This is what I went with, because it was mentioned as being completely compatible with her library's software, is tiny and has a keychain accessory, as well as wrist and arm bands, and it's pink. Mom loves pink. :)