Clap Your Hands If You Believe – A Visual Review
In an effort to make up for how late this is, lots of caps! So Alice and Jenniffer’s headache is your gain, readers. “Clap Your Hands…” was directed by John F. Showalter, who also directed this season’s “Two and a Half Men” and last year’s “Dead Men Don’t Wear Plaid.” So in his three experiences on this show, he’s had zombies, a baby, and fairies! Awesome!
1.
I love the X-Files type on the bottom of the screen. Also, the light through the cornfield is lovely. It’s very atmospheric.
2.
The whole credit sequence was awesome, except for the tease with Misha. Why did he have to be in the credits but not in the episode? Wah! But this was sweet. I like the X-Files a lot, and this homage was just so fun.
3.
I loved the whole walking dialogue scene. It just feels so much more real when the conversations happen while something else is going on, like when Dean is cleaning weapons or when they’re walking, like in this scene. Because, really, people love to multitask. We usually do other things while we’re having a conversation. Plus, isn’t this just a lovely street scene?
4.
This is a great angle on this watchmaker’s table. It’s so interesting! It makes me so curious about how watches are made. It also makes it seem like there could be a fairy hovering just above the lamp, watching.
5.
What a cool shot of Dean running through the lit-up corn rows. Man, why is corn so scary at night? And being chased by “aliens” really doesn’t help either.
6.
This is the first of a few very interesting POV shots we got in this episode. We’re basically the door right now.
7.
I’m going to use this super hilarious moment to talk about this hotel room. It’s my favorite of the season so far. Just look at that place! It’s got a bison painting, an over-the-top patriotic painting, a fabulous corn divider, hideous wallpaper, and that’s just one side of the room!
8.
The other side of the room has this amazing table and chairs, plus that super forest wall mural. Man, this hotel room is all kinds of ugly awesome. Really good job, production team!
9.
Dean’s crack about blogs having no punctuation was hilarious. And he wasn’t kidding! Just look at this blog! There are typos and misspelled words all over the place. Nice job backing up the script on this one, considering we fans just love to take a look at this stuff.
10.
Fairy POV! Dean vs. the fairy was so funny, and the microwave death was pretty ingenious. Plus, I’m just going to take the opportunity here to say that Dean’s huh? faces are comedy gold. Man, Jensen pulls some amazing faces sometimes.
11.
Microwave POV! It gets even worse with the black gunk all in there from Dean’s perspective. I didn’t include that one because it reminds me of the old microwave at work that everyone used but no one cleaned. Yeah, it was pretty nasty.
12.
I think it’s probably pretty obvious by now that I’m a sucker for anything to do with the Impala, and this is no exception. I really like this shot into the back window, especially since you can see Dean glancing over at Sam in the rear-view mirror. That’s really pretty cool.
13.
This is just lovely with the super black void on the left half of the screen and the lit-up glass block window on the right half of the screen and the high-contrast lighting on Dean. Sumptuous.
14.
This show can even make sitting in a crappy bar/restaurant look amazing. Also, we all know Jared is a very large man, but seriously, look how little he makes that booth look. The other guy is a normal size and fits right in there, but Jared? If he moves his leg, it’s going to destroy that table.
15.
It’s hard to tell from the still shots, but this was one of the more interesting POV shots of the episode. It looked like this scene was shot with one of the Ghostfacers camera setups they wear so they can walk around the building and film themselves. It felt almost like there was another fairy flitting about in front of Dean.
16.
This is a really cool shot of the prison cell. I love all the shadows the bars are casting on all the walls. Obviously, I am also a sucker for shadows!
17.
I really like this shot of Sam with the shotgun in the awesome watchmaker’s shop. He’s fighting an invisible leprechaun, sure, but he looks kind of badass anyway.
18.
What a gorgeous way to end the episode. This felt really old school, didn’t it, the way the two of them are just sitting there on the car drinking beer. I kind of wish it could last forever. What did you guys think about the visuals in this episode? There were some really cool POV shots in this one, weren’t there? Loved it.
Great choices! #10 is priceless!
I really like #12 & #13 too. I didn’t notice Dean’s eyes in the rear view mirror any of the times I watched the episode.
I remember my grandparents having a kitchen table similar to the one in the hotel room. And that room, all kinds of crazy!
You are a sucker for shadows? Ha! I am, too, Flamey! 🙂 I love the effects you get with the right lighting!
Loved your choices here! Little Green Friends and Foes Blog? HIlarious! The Microwave POV (I so want a t-shirt saying: I Microwaved A Fairy… don’t you think, Dean needs one badly, too? so wonderfully politically incorrect), and of course the last one. It was indeed very old school, like in the ‘good ole days’ when two brothers were still somewhat innocent to the cruelest plans of this universe… ah, well, touching, really…
You are so right, dear, the visuals were great again in this episode. I can’t commend the efforts of the set decoration department enough. Creating a hotel room this ugly does take some weird imagination and anti-vomit-training, I guess. 😆
Thanks again for YOUR efforts, dearest.
I know some good meds for the admins’ headaches, by the way…
Thank you! All of you! Jas
Thank you for this. 🙂
My personal favorites – #10 (Dean – Fairy POV) and #18 (Drinking Beer on Impala)
Great visual review, Arde – as always. Love any cap that has Dean in it. 😀
I also loved the motel room this time. The decor to the cornstalk wallpaper to the room divider really fit in well with the theme of this episode. And those chairs. Man, oh, man…..I think we had chairs similar to that when I was growing up. Gotta love the 70s. Great flashback to that decade. Did you notice the orange lamps, with the design on them? Kind of reminds me of pics we have seen of Mars or some other planet, you know….in outer space. Very fitting with this UFO/fairy theme.
The production team is genius and you’re genius for highlighting their genius.
#7 wanted to point out the bare feet. It’s not a visual production type thing…I just like guys w/ no shoes on.
Think they’d sell that buffalo painting? My dad has a thing for buffalo.
#14 Jared’s gonna destroy that table…LOL!!!
Wasn’t it you that wondered if they purposely found the smallest tables to sit him at? All the park benchs and picnic tables are so incredibly small with him sitting at them.
#18 I’m a country girl. Grew up on a gravel road. and I love how the boys always find a lonely gravel road on which to crack open a beer. Lonely gravel roads are a dying breed.
This will sound shallow (probably because I am shallow…) but in picture 10, Dean has to have the most perfect bone structure and facial features known to man. Obviously he’s no John but seriously, if you were to draw the perfect face, that would be it.
Loving No. 10 cos in about 2 second’s Dean’s going to say ‘Nipples?’
Also loving No. 7 because Dean has the same look on his face that I get when I think about my parents or younger siblings having sex (and they all have kids so I know they’re fecking doing it.)
No. 11 because Dean that has such a look of pride on his face while trying to hide it at the same time ‘Yeah, there it is. Try not to freak out. I killed it, with a microwave, I’m obviously a manly genius but I’m not going to brag about it so…..’ and Sam is like ‘Huh!?!’ I can almost imagine him sticking his head in the microwave to have a closer look.
No. 2 is my screensaver for week beginning 3rd December.
Jeez, every screencap in this episode was a winner. I love the one of Dean’s face when he’s told the guy he attacked was the DA. Its like ‘Oh fuckity fuck, I’m so boned’.
And the one of the brothers in Miriam’s place drinking the tea; Dean trying to be polite (since when did ‘forcefully interact become a euphemism for ‘kick the shit out of’?) Sam holding the tiny baby cup with TWO freaking hands and still nearly dropping it! Why do you need two hands, Sam? The cup is about the size of your baby toe…
Ardeospina, thanks once again for these. It’s great that you do all the hard work and we get all the benefits!
Love all your visual reviews, Arde. I get so much more from the episode after I study the pictures you’ve chosen. So that said, did you notice on the last one, #18, how the 2 power poles are lined up on the side, the right one having an extra piece that the left one is missing? Kind of like the brothers sitting nearby on the Impala? It just struck me…wonder if the shot was set up intentionally this way or just my imagination?
Hi Ardeospina
I applaud you once again with your eye for finding the perfect moments/pictures.
Being a fan of X-Files I just love #2.
Number 7 and 11 both cracked me up, with Dean looking at the bed in discuss and Sam in the background pouring Dean a drink. And the expressions on both there faces as they check out the microwave.
Number 18 made me nostalgic for days gone by. I really miss those brotherly moments, even if Sam did turn down the beer, he still sat beside Dean.
BagginsDVM, thanks! #10 was priceless! That whole scene was priceless, really. And I adore David Bowie, so that “Space Oddity” played int he background was a real treat.
Jas, yeah, I’m a sucker for shadows. Who’d have thought? =) “I microwaved a fairy…” Bwa ha ha! Awesome.
CitizenKane2, you are welcome! Good choices.
Evelyn, it’s hard to dislike any cap with Dean in it. Can’t disagree with you there. And your family had furniture like that? Awesome! I wasn’t born until the 80s, so I missed that decorating era. Probably for the best, I’m sure.
9Tiptoes, a genius, am I? Go on… No, but seriously, the production team really are superb, so any chance I can get to highlight their work, I’ll take it. I think I did talk about the small tables they use on this show! I’m sure it’s on purpose. There were a lot of small tables in this one, and I hate to think of how crammed Jared was into that booth thing at the crazy fairy lady’s house. Bwah!
Tim the Enchanter, there is absolutely nothing wrong with being shallow. I do enjoy some shallowness every now and again. As for the microwave, I would be proud of killing something via microwave, too! That was really clever. You’re welcome, and I’m happy to do the work so that others can enjoy! Plus, it’s SUCH a hardship to go through all these caps and look at the pretty. Yeah, real tough on me. 😉
Rose, thanks so much! I’m glad that I can help enhance the episodes for you. Honestly, doing them helps me, too. I notice a lot that I miss when I’m watching on TV. And that is a really cool point about the telephone poles! I didn’t even think of that, but I like it. Even if it was an accident, it was a happy one.
Karen, *bows to applause* I loved that moment when Dean looked down at the bed. That made me laugh a lot because it was really understated and totally what anyone would do when they realized they were about to sit on dirty sex sheets. Hopefully, we’ll get some great brotherly moments soon because they are very heartwarming to look at, aren’t they?