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hells_half_acreI did my best, folks, but Youtube kept pinging my clip as copyright infringement, even when I tried speeding up the audio so that the boys sounded like chipmonks. So, sadly, no youtube clip today, even though short-clips-to-aid-discussion totally fall under fair use. If anyone can get around youtube's automated systems and manages to upload the clip, let me know and I'll add the video. Apparently PERFECTLY EDITING the clip last night to include the fantastic transitions was a complete waste of my time. :(
Instead, you get transcript taken from the Supernatural Wiki:
S11 - 11x04 Baby - The Long Midnight Talk in the Impala
Why I chose this scene:
Firstly, of course, it's the domesticity and intimacy of it all. We so rarely get to see the quiet moments in the Winchester's lives. We so rarely get to glimpse the intimacy they have with each other - caused by their lifestyle and upbringing. And this scene just SITS in that completely for a full 5 minutes and 30 seconds. We get only the quiet night, words exchanged in the safe confines of the car. We see get to see them spread out along the benches. Dean up on the computer while Sam sleeps in the back. Then both of them bedding down afterwards again, before they're on the road yet again in the bright morning sun.
Secondly, S11 was SO REFRESHING in terms of giving us Winchesters who are working together. Showing us that there could still be "conflict" without the boys keeping secrets or being at each other's throats. We have Sam being honest with Dean - getting his feedback about the visions. We have Dean, at least attempting, to understand what Sam is saying - to understand where's he coming from.
BUT, everything they say is still fundamentally rooted in their personalities and the differences between them. Sam's faith in God, Dean's... for lack of a better word DISfaith...and belief instead in human action, specifically THEIR human action. We have Dean being more upset that Sam hadn't told him that he was infected before, than the fact that Sam might be getting visions. We get Dean dismissing Sam's vision as a fever dream, because that's preferable to believing that some higher power might be trying to talk to his brother. We get Sam tenatively raising his questions, explaining his past, because HE KNOWS that Dean will react the way he does... but Sam still listening.
We get the first true bitch/jerk exchanged since S2. We get Sam initializing it.
Thirdly, we not only have dialogue firmly rooted in character, but we also have dialogue that reveals the very premise of the show - the boys' complicated relationship with their father, their secret longing for normalcy, their fundamental isolation within the world (both physically seen in this scene and also metaphorically touched on), the fact that in the end they can really only rely on themselves... and the fact that what they have is the job, which pulls them to investigate cases even though they are "probably nothing", while shutting down the disconcerting sense of foreboding because "it's probably nothing."
It's an intensely RICH scene in words and gesture, and it's acted absolutely brilliantly. I wish I could have 100 episodes like Baby.
Instead, you get transcript taken from the Supernatural Wiki:
S11 - 11x04 Baby - The Long Midnight Talk in the Impala
Int. Impala: Sam wakes from his dream to find Dean has pulled over and is parked.
DEAN: Night, bitch.
DEAN: Welcome to the Winchester Motel. We don't have cable, but we do . . . have room service. You were singing in your sleep, that song mom loved that dad used to always play for us. I think I've actually still got the tape.
SAM: Hey, Dean, um . . . You said when you saw the Darkness, you weren't sure whether it was, uh . . . the real thing or a vision, right?
DEAN: Mm-hmm.
SAM: I think I've been having visions, too, lately. I mean, it's just images. I mean, more of a . . . feeling, really. But I just had one right now, and -- and Dad was in it. But it wasn't dad like -- like . . . The Dad that -- that I grew up with. It was Dad when he was our age. And I-I guess it wasn't even really Dad. It was someone pretending to be Dad and --
DEAN: Okay, what makes you say that?
SAM: For starters, he told me everything I wanted to hear.
SAM: No. Anyways, whoever it was . . . They had a message to deliver. They said the Darkness is coming, and . . . only you and I can stop it.
DEAN: Did they have him give you any helpful tips on how to do that?
SAM: He said, "God helps those who help themselves." I mean, maybe these visions are coming from God.
DEAN: Whoa. Pump the brakes.
SAM: I mean, Dean, the first one happened after I prayed.
DEAN: You prayed? When was this?
SAM: Back in the hospital.
DEAN: Why?
SAM: Because I was infected. I was infected. I'm not anymore. I-I-I never went full rabid. I . . .
DEAN: You get infected and you didn't even tell me.
SAM: Dean . . .
DEAN: What did you pray about?
SAM: I guess I was just looking for answers, you know?
DEAN: Well, I'm sure whatever is kicking around in your head right now is a side effect from the infection that you failed to tell me about.
SAM: You know, I don't think it's that simple.
DEAN: Come on, man. That quote? "God helps those who help themselves"? God didn't say that. That's not even in the Bible. That's an old proverb that dates way back to Aesop. I read. And more importantly, when was the last time God answered any one of our prayers? It's not a vision, Sam. All right? It's just some . . .Some fever dream. That's all. And as far as Dad goes, I dream about Dad all the time.
SAM: You do?
DEAN: Of course I do. It's usually the same one, too. We're all in the car. I'm sitting in the driver's seat, dad's sitting shotgun. But there aren't any shotguns. There's no monsters. There's no hunting. There's none of that. It's just . . . He's teaching me how to drive. And, uh, and I'm not little like I was when he actually taught me how to drive. I'm 16, and he's helping me get my learner's permit. Of course, you're in the backseat, just begging to take a turn. We pull up to the house -- the family house -- and I park in the driveway, and he looks over and he says, "perfect landing, son." I have that dream every couple of months. Kind of comforting, actually.
SAM: I always, uh . . . I always dream about mom. Usually the same kind of thing, though.
DEAN: Normal life?
SAM: Yeah. Normal life. But, Dean, this wasn't just a dream. I'm telling you.
DEAN: Why would somebody dress up like Dad to give you a message? I mean, Dad. You don't exactly have a history of listening to what he had to say.
SAM: But you said the Darkness is -- is sending messages to you. Maybe whatever is the opposite of the Darkness is sending messages to me.
DEAN: And you think that this thing is God? Come on. How many -- how many opportunities has God had to crack this pinata, and I don't see any candy on the floor, do you?
SAM: Okay, then maybe it's not God. But uh . . .
DEAN: I know what you're trying to do here. You're trying to find some -- some greater meaning to it all. Right? Some . . . Fate to what went down. But I'm telling you, Sam. The Darkness? It's on us. And no one's gonna help us, certainly not God, so we'll have to figure this thing out, like we always do. But until then . . . We hunt. This case for starters, course this case is . . .
SAM: It's just probably nothing.
DEAN: Yeah, probably nothing.
SAM: Goodnight, jerk.
SAM: Hey, Dean, um . . . You said when you saw the Darkness, you weren't sure whether it was, uh . . . the real thing or a vision, right?
DEAN: Mm-hmm.
SAM: I think I've been having visions, too, lately. I mean, it's just images. I mean, more of a . . . feeling, really. But I just had one right now, and -- and Dad was in it. But it wasn't dad like -- like . . . The Dad that -- that I grew up with. It was Dad when he was our age. And I-I guess it wasn't even really Dad. It was someone pretending to be Dad and --
DEAN: Okay, what makes you say that?
SAM: For starters, he told me everything I wanted to hear.
DEAN: Yeah, that doesn't sound like dad.
SAM: No. Anyways, whoever it was . . . They had a message to deliver. They said the Darkness is coming, and . . . only you and I can stop it.
DEAN: Did they have him give you any helpful tips on how to do that?
SAM: He said, "God helps those who help themselves." I mean, maybe these visions are coming from God.
DEAN: Whoa. Pump the brakes.
SAM: I mean, Dean, the first one happened after I prayed.
DEAN: You prayed? When was this?
SAM: Back in the hospital.
DEAN: Why?
SAM: Because I was infected. I was infected. I'm not anymore. I-I-I never went full rabid. I . . .
DEAN: You get infected and you didn't even tell me.
SAM: Dean . . .
DEAN: What did you pray about?
SAM: I guess I was just looking for answers, you know?
DEAN: Well, I'm sure whatever is kicking around in your head right now is a side effect from the infection that you failed to tell me about.
SAM: You know, I don't think it's that simple.
DEAN: Come on, man. That quote? "God helps those who help themselves"? God didn't say that. That's not even in the Bible. That's an old proverb that dates way back to Aesop. I read. And more importantly, when was the last time God answered any one of our prayers? It's not a vision, Sam. All right? It's just some . . .Some fever dream. That's all. And as far as Dad goes, I dream about Dad all the time.
SAM: You do?
DEAN: Of course I do. It's usually the same one, too. We're all in the car. I'm sitting in the driver's seat, dad's sitting shotgun. But there aren't any shotguns. There's no monsters. There's no hunting. There's none of that. It's just . . . He's teaching me how to drive. And, uh, and I'm not little like I was when he actually taught me how to drive. I'm 16, and he's helping me get my learner's permit. Of course, you're in the backseat, just begging to take a turn. We pull up to the house -- the family house -- and I park in the driveway, and he looks over and he says, "perfect landing, son." I have that dream every couple of months. Kind of comforting, actually.
SAM: I always, uh . . . I always dream about mom. Usually the same kind of thing, though.
DEAN: Normal life?
SAM: Yeah. Normal life. But, Dean, this wasn't just a dream. I'm telling you.
DEAN: Why would somebody dress up like Dad to give you a message? I mean, Dad. You don't exactly have a history of listening to what he had to say.
SAM: But you said the Darkness is -- is sending messages to you. Maybe whatever is the opposite of the Darkness is sending messages to me.
DEAN: And you think that this thing is God? Come on. How many -- how many opportunities has God had to crack this pinata, and I don't see any candy on the floor, do you?
SAM: Okay, then maybe it's not God. But uh . . .
DEAN: I know what you're trying to do here. You're trying to find some -- some greater meaning to it all. Right? Some . . . Fate to what went down. But I'm telling you, Sam. The Darkness? It's on us. And no one's gonna help us, certainly not God, so we'll have to figure this thing out, like we always do. But until then . . . We hunt. This case for starters, course this case is . . .
SAM: It's just probably nothing.
DEAN: Yeah, probably nothing.
SAM: Goodnight, jerk.
DEAN: Night, bitch.
Why I chose this scene:
Firstly, of course, it's the domesticity and intimacy of it all. We so rarely get to see the quiet moments in the Winchester's lives. We so rarely get to glimpse the intimacy they have with each other - caused by their lifestyle and upbringing. And this scene just SITS in that completely for a full 5 minutes and 30 seconds. We get only the quiet night, words exchanged in the safe confines of the car. We see get to see them spread out along the benches. Dean up on the computer while Sam sleeps in the back. Then both of them bedding down afterwards again, before they're on the road yet again in the bright morning sun.
Secondly, S11 was SO REFRESHING in terms of giving us Winchesters who are working together. Showing us that there could still be "conflict" without the boys keeping secrets or being at each other's throats. We have Sam being honest with Dean - getting his feedback about the visions. We have Dean, at least attempting, to understand what Sam is saying - to understand where's he coming from.
BUT, everything they say is still fundamentally rooted in their personalities and the differences between them. Sam's faith in God, Dean's... for lack of a better word DISfaith...and belief instead in human action, specifically THEIR human action. We have Dean being more upset that Sam hadn't told him that he was infected before, than the fact that Sam might be getting visions. We get Dean dismissing Sam's vision as a fever dream, because that's preferable to believing that some higher power might be trying to talk to his brother. We get Sam tenatively raising his questions, explaining his past, because HE KNOWS that Dean will react the way he does... but Sam still listening.
We get the first true bitch/jerk exchanged since S2. We get Sam initializing it.
Thirdly, we not only have dialogue firmly rooted in character, but we also have dialogue that reveals the very premise of the show - the boys' complicated relationship with their father, their secret longing for normalcy, their fundamental isolation within the world (both physically seen in this scene and also metaphorically touched on), the fact that in the end they can really only rely on themselves... and the fact that what they have is the job, which pulls them to investigate cases even though they are "probably nothing", while shutting down the disconcerting sense of foreboding because "it's probably nothing."
It's an intensely RICH scene in words and gesture, and it's acted absolutely brilliantly. I wish I could have 100 episodes like Baby.
