List of Love
Jan. 28th, 2008 08:52 pm![[personal profile]](https://www.dreamwidth.org/img/silk/identity/user.png){kind=small}
llywelaKeeping a promise...;-)
notTen Things I Love About Supernatural's Dead in the Water
I was going to waffle an introduction, but brain death has set in, so I'll just cut straight to the chase.
In no particular order, as usual.
1. I love Dean's smile. Lookit! I mean, come on – how adorable is that?
2. I love the look on Sam's face as he listens to Dean baring his soul to Lucas, not caring about the audience, focused wholly on trying to reach that traumatised and withdrawn little boy.
"Who are you, and what have you done with my brother?"
This is the episode where Sam first begins to realise that there's an awful lot he doesn't know about his brother, and I love the journey of discovery this realisation takes him on, throughout the season. He's starting out from the very typical standpoint of a younger sibling who has never really examined the motives of his elder in any way, has always just taken him very much for granted. But this is where he starts to become aware that there is actually a lot more to Dean than he's ever really given him credit for or paid any attention to.
3. I love that this episode is so much lighter and brighter than the last two. You can actually see what's going on!
4. I love how pretty both brothers look in that opening argument in the diner.
Thank you, director, for the pretty, pretty angles and close ups.
5. I love Dean's awkward but sincere attempts to reach out to young Lucas, knowing that this withdrawn little boy both desperately needs help and could be the key to solving the case before anyone else dies.
Three episodes into the show, and already we're seeing hints of how much lies beneath that cocky, macho exterior. With Sam, what you see is pretty much what you get. But with Dean, still waters run very deep indeed, and the show is a constant process of learning just how much of himself he tries to hide behind those emotional walls.
6. I just really, really love this shot of the brothers.
7. Sam's forearms are kind of scary.
8. I love pretty, pretty establishing shots.
9. "Watching one of your parents die isn't something you just get over."
No, and Dean never really has got over his mother's death and the fallout thereof, has he? I both love and hurt for Dean's reaction when he realises that Lucas has witnessed his father's death and been traumatised by it. The way he kind of freezes and backs away from the image on the computer screen, it's so subtle and nuanced, but you can see so clearly that his mind instantly skips back some twenty years or so to his own childhood trauma, that he can empathise enormously with Lucas's situation.
This is Dean's immediate, gut reaction to anything that packs an emotional punch, backing away like that and freezing up, instinctively preparing to protect himself, and we see it over and over throughout the show.
10. I really love that sequence of Dean surfacing from the lake with Lucas in his arms.
I also love that JA really isn't acting those huge gasps for breath, having been held underwater until the shot was right!
11. I love the miscellany of fake IDs the brothers use – and the busting thereof. They get caught out more than once, but get away with it far more often than they should!
12. Got to love Sam's grievy bitchface, which is not to be confused with his regular bitchface. Jessica's death is still fresh, and he's hurting badly, and that translates into anger and frustration. The regular variety is the one we see most often, the my brother is such a jerk bitchface. This one, though, runs more along the lines of an indignant can't you see I'm griefstricken still, how can you act normally at a time like this?
And Dean just looks so weary in response, because yeah, he totally was lusting after the waitress, thus earning himself the bitchface, but he's under pressure as well and trying to act normally is his way of dealing with things. He doesn't know what else to do that will help his brother in any way, since he can't bring Jessica back for him and they can't find their father. Just sucking it all up, burying the hurt and worry deep, and getting on with things is the only way Dean knows to cope.
13. I love the little interplay between the brothers as Andrea walks them to the motel, with Sam covertly thumping his brother's back by way of teasing him about the lame pick-up lines he's offering Andrea, then ragging on him mercilessly once she's out of earshot. It's good to see Light-hearted!Sam re-surfacing briefly from his angry, grievy funk, and I'm sure Dean thinks so, too – even if it is at his expense!
14. I love backseat surfing. When Dean does it, that is. I'm less fond of it when it is someone in real life hanging over my own shoulder.
However, if Dean were to come and hang over my shoulder while I was online, I wouldn't complain! Oh, no.
15. I love how angry Sam is when he learns about Will Carlton's drowning – it's a death on their watch, and he takes it very personally.
For all Sam's grumbling about what a waste of time it is to work random jobs instead of focusing solely on the hunt for John and the thing that killed Mary and Jessica, once he is committed to a case, he gives it 100%, and I love that about him. Plus, of course, he's got plenty of anger to spare right now.
16. I love that, after dismissing Dean completely as a random hopeless flirt when she first met him, Andrea looks at him with absolute awe when he becomes the first person to draw any kind of reaction from her withdrawn little boy since his father's death, and regards him differently from then on in.
He is a hopeless flirt, of course, but there's a lot more to Dean than that, and I always enjoy it when random guest characters notice that. I also really appreciate the irony embedded in the plotting of the episode, since this is the same point at which Dean's interest in Andrea changes direction completely, because before she had simply been a pretty woman that he randomly encountered while working, and flirting with her was sheer habit. But now that he knows she has recently lost her husband, and with her son turning out to be so central to the case, the focus of Dean's attention shifts to Lucas and stays there. He barely even looks sideways at Andrea again. And I love that about him, that he is so very dedicated to what he does, to the essence of that 'helping people' credo he spouted in Wendigo, and that takes precedence over everything. He draws a very definite line between women who are and aren't on the menu, and his behaviour toward them varies accordingly.
17. I love watching Dean pull his boots on. Random, I know.
Of the two actors, JA is the one who is most often given props to work with alongside his dialogue, and it's a division that really suits the personalities of the characters. Sam is the academic, the more sedentary of the two, the one who can easily bury himself in his research and not move for hours. But Dean is more physical, more restless, needs to keep moving, to keep busy. And that translates into this subtle character trait wherein we often see Sam just sitting around during a conversation, while Dean moves about and keeps busy while he talks.
18. The scene where Lucas latches onto Dean's arm in desperation always gets to me, because he knows that his mother is going to be attacked next, that she is going to die, but he just can't verbalise it, can't manage to get the words out even to save her life. He's just so broken and desperate and, as Andrea takes him home to her doom, keeps staring at Dean, the one person he's forged any connection with since his father's accident, so distressed, trying so hopelessly to communicate the urgency he feels. And Dean can feel it, knows the boy is trying to tell him something important, but doesn't know what. And I love that it niggles at him until he has to do something about it, which is what saves Andrea's life.
19. I love when Sam is all earnest.
20. "Oh God, we're not going to have to hug, are we?"
Communication, guy style.
21. Man, I love watching the boys run. It kind of kills me that although Sam is faster, having longer legs, and all, Dean cuts the corner and gets there first anyway.
Plus, check out that flash of skin there. *G*
22. How awkward must it have been to film the scene of Sam hauling Andrea out of the bath!
23. I kind of love it when Jake is being all stern, telling the brothers to get the hell out of his town, because he's actually being extremely lenient, having busted their fake IDs. He's a good guy, really. Just one with rather a nasty skeleton in the closet.
24. I love that Dean develops such a bond with Lucas come the end of the episode, has saved him in more ways than one. For all Sam's scathing remarks earlier, he really is good with children, and we've seen it often enough since this episode to know that it isn't a fluke.
25. If I were Andrea, I'd snog him too – long before the end of the episode! I love how embarrassed Dean is by her gratitude.
I was going to waffle an introduction, but brain death has set in, so I'll just cut straight to the chase.
In no particular order, as usual.
1. I love Dean's smile. Lookit! I mean, come on – how adorable is that?
2. I love the look on Sam's face as he listens to Dean baring his soul to Lucas, not caring about the audience, focused wholly on trying to reach that traumatised and withdrawn little boy.
"Who are you, and what have you done with my brother?"
This is the episode where Sam first begins to realise that there's an awful lot he doesn't know about his brother, and I love the journey of discovery this realisation takes him on, throughout the season. He's starting out from the very typical standpoint of a younger sibling who has never really examined the motives of his elder in any way, has always just taken him very much for granted. But this is where he starts to become aware that there is actually a lot more to Dean than he's ever really given him credit for or paid any attention to.
3. I love that this episode is so much lighter and brighter than the last two. You can actually see what's going on!
4. I love how pretty both brothers look in that opening argument in the diner.
Thank you, director, for the pretty, pretty angles and close ups.
5. I love Dean's awkward but sincere attempts to reach out to young Lucas, knowing that this withdrawn little boy both desperately needs help and could be the key to solving the case before anyone else dies.
Three episodes into the show, and already we're seeing hints of how much lies beneath that cocky, macho exterior. With Sam, what you see is pretty much what you get. But with Dean, still waters run very deep indeed, and the show is a constant process of learning just how much of himself he tries to hide behind those emotional walls.
6. I just really, really love this shot of the brothers.
7. Sam's forearms are kind of scary.
8. I love pretty, pretty establishing shots.
9. "Watching one of your parents die isn't something you just get over."
No, and Dean never really has got over his mother's death and the fallout thereof, has he? I both love and hurt for Dean's reaction when he realises that Lucas has witnessed his father's death and been traumatised by it. The way he kind of freezes and backs away from the image on the computer screen, it's so subtle and nuanced, but you can see so clearly that his mind instantly skips back some twenty years or so to his own childhood trauma, that he can empathise enormously with Lucas's situation.
This is Dean's immediate, gut reaction to anything that packs an emotional punch, backing away like that and freezing up, instinctively preparing to protect himself, and we see it over and over throughout the show.
10. I really love that sequence of Dean surfacing from the lake with Lucas in his arms.
I also love that JA really isn't acting those huge gasps for breath, having been held underwater until the shot was right!
11. I love the miscellany of fake IDs the brothers use – and the busting thereof. They get caught out more than once, but get away with it far more often than they should!
12. Got to love Sam's grievy bitchface, which is not to be confused with his regular bitchface. Jessica's death is still fresh, and he's hurting badly, and that translates into anger and frustration. The regular variety is the one we see most often, the my brother is such a jerk bitchface. This one, though, runs more along the lines of an indignant can't you see I'm griefstricken still, how can you act normally at a time like this?
And Dean just looks so weary in response, because yeah, he totally was lusting after the waitress, thus earning himself the bitchface, but he's under pressure as well and trying to act normally is his way of dealing with things. He doesn't know what else to do that will help his brother in any way, since he can't bring Jessica back for him and they can't find their father. Just sucking it all up, burying the hurt and worry deep, and getting on with things is the only way Dean knows to cope.
13. I love the little interplay between the brothers as Andrea walks them to the motel, with Sam covertly thumping his brother's back by way of teasing him about the lame pick-up lines he's offering Andrea, then ragging on him mercilessly once she's out of earshot. It's good to see Light-hearted!Sam re-surfacing briefly from his angry, grievy funk, and I'm sure Dean thinks so, too – even if it is at his expense!
14. I love backseat surfing. When Dean does it, that is. I'm less fond of it when it is someone in real life hanging over my own shoulder.
However, if Dean were to come and hang over my shoulder while I was online, I wouldn't complain! Oh, no.
15. I love how angry Sam is when he learns about Will Carlton's drowning – it's a death on their watch, and he takes it very personally.
For all Sam's grumbling about what a waste of time it is to work random jobs instead of focusing solely on the hunt for John and the thing that killed Mary and Jessica, once he is committed to a case, he gives it 100%, and I love that about him. Plus, of course, he's got plenty of anger to spare right now.
16. I love that, after dismissing Dean completely as a random hopeless flirt when she first met him, Andrea looks at him with absolute awe when he becomes the first person to draw any kind of reaction from her withdrawn little boy since his father's death, and regards him differently from then on in.
He is a hopeless flirt, of course, but there's a lot more to Dean than that, and I always enjoy it when random guest characters notice that. I also really appreciate the irony embedded in the plotting of the episode, since this is the same point at which Dean's interest in Andrea changes direction completely, because before she had simply been a pretty woman that he randomly encountered while working, and flirting with her was sheer habit. But now that he knows she has recently lost her husband, and with her son turning out to be so central to the case, the focus of Dean's attention shifts to Lucas and stays there. He barely even looks sideways at Andrea again. And I love that about him, that he is so very dedicated to what he does, to the essence of that 'helping people' credo he spouted in Wendigo, and that takes precedence over everything. He draws a very definite line between women who are and aren't on the menu, and his behaviour toward them varies accordingly.
17. I love watching Dean pull his boots on. Random, I know.
Of the two actors, JA is the one who is most often given props to work with alongside his dialogue, and it's a division that really suits the personalities of the characters. Sam is the academic, the more sedentary of the two, the one who can easily bury himself in his research and not move for hours. But Dean is more physical, more restless, needs to keep moving, to keep busy. And that translates into this subtle character trait wherein we often see Sam just sitting around during a conversation, while Dean moves about and keeps busy while he talks.
18. The scene where Lucas latches onto Dean's arm in desperation always gets to me, because he knows that his mother is going to be attacked next, that she is going to die, but he just can't verbalise it, can't manage to get the words out even to save her life. He's just so broken and desperate and, as Andrea takes him home to her doom, keeps staring at Dean, the one person he's forged any connection with since his father's accident, so distressed, trying so hopelessly to communicate the urgency he feels. And Dean can feel it, knows the boy is trying to tell him something important, but doesn't know what. And I love that it niggles at him until he has to do something about it, which is what saves Andrea's life.
19. I love when Sam is all earnest.
20. "Oh God, we're not going to have to hug, are we?"
Communication, guy style.
21. Man, I love watching the boys run. It kind of kills me that although Sam is faster, having longer legs, and all, Dean cuts the corner and gets there first anyway.
Plus, check out that flash of skin there. *G*
22. How awkward must it have been to film the scene of Sam hauling Andrea out of the bath!
23. I kind of love it when Jake is being all stern, telling the brothers to get the hell out of his town, because he's actually being extremely lenient, having busted their fake IDs. He's a good guy, really. Just one with rather a nasty skeleton in the closet.
24. I love that Dean develops such a bond with Lucas come the end of the episode, has saved him in more ways than one. For all Sam's scathing remarks earlier, he really is good with children, and we've seen it often enough since this episode to know that it isn't a fluke.
25. If I were Andrea, I'd snog him too – long before the end of the episode! I love how embarrassed Dean is by her gratitude.
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no subject
Date: 2008-01-28 09:28 pm (UTC)I do like your observations about Dean's change of approach to Andrea though, hadn't thought about it before but you're spot on with that.
(no subject)
From:no subject
Date: 2008-01-28 10:00 pm (UTC)Man, I love this episode, I love how much we get to see of what runs beneath Dean's surface. Manners said that by the time of Scarecrow both JA and JP knew who those characters were, but I always think that DitW shows how fine-tuned JA has been to his character even back then. The whole Dean-Lucas-Andrea interaction is just beautiful.
My favourite moment in the episode is the look Sam gives Dean when he stands in the doorframe, watching Dean taking to Lucas about his mother. That moment of dawning on Sam's face, suddenly seeing his brother with completely new eyes .. that always gets to me.
And yeah, I love the the swing in Dean's approach to Andrea as soon as he realises the tragedy that hit her. He does the exact same thing in The Kids Are Alright, where he switches from flirting with Lisa to caring concern the instance he meets her as a mother, all thoughts of 'gumby girl' gone. I really love that about Dean.
Heh, good distinction between Sam's bitchfaces! *g*
(no subject)
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Date: 2008-01-28 10:23 pm (UTC)You know, I normally wouldn't associate the word "adorable" with a full-grown man, but Dean...seriously is. I just want to go around giving him hugs.
2. I love the look on Sam's face as he listens to Dean baring his soul to Lucas, not caring about the audience, focused wholly on trying to reach that traumatised and withdrawn little boy.
I think, for me, this is where I think Sam starts to get to know his brother as a man, not just his big brother. Because I doubt Sam let himself think about his family at Stanford, so at 22 he's still remembering his family like he's 18 and angry with the world.
4. I love how pretty both brothers look in that opening argument in the diner.
This episode has really beautiful screenshots - the boys' eyes are so utterly gorgeous.
9. "Watching one of your parents die isn't something you just get over."
And this always gets me curious - in the Pilot, little Dean is out in the hallway that night; so how much did he really see? I'm sure he imagined it plenty of times, but it makes me curious. And, if he didn't see his mother burn to death, I'm sure seeing Jess on the ceiling didn't help - because suddenly he had a body to put his mother's face on. It must have been horrifying.
10. I really love that sequence of Dean surfacing from the lake with Lucas in his arms...I also love that JA really isn't acting those huge gasps for breath, having been held underwater until the shot was right!
I love that sequence too - Dean is a Big Damn Hero. Also, didn't JA say that he was very freaked out for that scene, esp. since he had this kid in his arms and was worried? ♥
(no subject)
From:no subject
Date: 2008-01-28 10:25 pm (UTC)12. Dean doesn't know what else to do that will help his brother in any way, since he can't bring Jessica back for him and they can't find their father. Just sucking it all up, burying the hurt and worry deep, and getting on with things is the only way Dean knows to cope.
I feel so bad for Dean, because all he wants is to make everything better. But the sad thing is - he does make things better, but in these early episodes, Sam is so used to having Dean take care of him that he takes it for granted. How much more healthy would Dean be, emotionally, if Sam and his father had just said "Thank you" or "good job" every once in awhile?
13. I love the little interplay between the brothers as Andrea walks them to the motel, with Sam covertly thumping his brother's back by way of teasing him about the lame pick-up lines he's offering Andrea, then ragging on him mercilessly once she's out of earshot. It's good to see Light-hearted!Sam re-surfacing briefly from his angry, grievy funk, and I'm sure Dean thinks so, too – even if it is at his expense!
I love those little brother-moments. They're adorable. I'm even fond of Sam's "How many kids do you even know?" and Dean's confused face. Because Dean knows he's good with kids, but if Sam wants to think he isn't, that's okay.
Of the two actors, JA is the one who is most often given props to work with alongside his dialogue, and it's a division that really suits the personalities of the characters. Sam is the academic, the more sedentary of the two, the one who can easily bury himself in his research and not move for hours. But Dean is more physical, more restless, needs to keep moving, to keep busy. And that translates into this subtle character trait wherein we often see Sam just sitting around during a conversation, while Dean moves about and keeps busy while he talks.
I love those moments too - because Dean is good with his hands - which we've ALSO already talked about! - and I just love it. Did you see the season two blooper reel? I don't wanna spoil anything but there's a moment related to this that I love!
18. The scene where Lucas latches onto Dean's arm in desperation always gets to me, because he knows that his mother is going to be attacked next, that she is going to die, but he just can't verbalise it, can't manage to get the words out even to save her life. He's just so broken and desperate and, as Andrea takes him home to her doom, keeps staring at Dean, the one person he's forged any connection with since his father's accident, so distressed, trying so hopelessly to communicate the urgency he feels. And Dean can feel it, knows the boy is trying to tell him something important, but doesn't know what. And I love that it niggles at him until he has to do something about it, which is what saves Andrea's life.
I wonder, since John's journal says that Dean didn't talk for months after Mary's death, if Dean remembers what it's like to want to say something but not be able to? Because, I've read in cases where someone just stops talking, it's not always that they don't want to talk, it's that the trauma was so deep even if they wanted to they couldn't. Dean and this kid have a whole lot in common, and while it breaks my heart to see it, seeing how brave Dean at 4 years old was, I feel a lot of pride for him.
22. How awkward must it have been to film the scene of Sam hauling Andrea out of the bath!
And that's some creative arm arrangement, no? I'll bet they didn't bring that kid on set until the last possible moment. But it does make me curious - why is it Sam who pulls her out, and not Dean? Maybe because Dean wants to comfort Lucas?
25. If I were Andrea, I'd snog him too – long before the end of the episode! I love how embarrassed Dean is by her gratitude.
I love that "scratching the back of the head" gesture of Dean's! It's so cute.
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