A Visual Review – “Like A Virgin”
11.
Overhead of Bobby cooking! Well, I’m not sure we can really call that cooking because that soup looks extremely unappetizing. Still, see what I mean about all the awesome shots? I’m having a field day here. I really liked how Phil stayed with the soup as Bobby walked away, too. That was a nice touch.
12.
The fish-eye, peep-hole POV amused me to no end. It was 100% ridiculously awesome.
13.
What a gorgeous stained-glass window set. It’s just lovely. Now, I know it may seem kind of strange to have random large stained-glass windows in your house, but here in Pittsburgh, tons of houses have some sort of stained glass in them. In some neighborhoods, your house would be out of place if it DIDN’T have stained glass in it. Now, they might not be this large and ornate, but it’s a really common thing here because Pittsburgh was hugely important in the glass-making industry. Just a little historical aside for you. I love stained glass, too. Wouldn’t it be amazing to have this in your house? Good job by the location scouts to find this place.
14.
As soon as that heroic music started playing and they went all low-angle as Dean stepped up to the sword, you just knew things were going to go wrong. When is it ever that easy for a Winchester? Still, this scene was hi-friggin’-larious. And this shot is really, really cool. Look how heroic Dean looks right before the Sword of Bruncvik made a fool out of him!
15.
When I first saw this scene, that pink box on the table was driving me nuts because I couldn’t see what it said. Also, I was a little busy paying attention to Cass not getting hugged to really look at it. But what is says is “Voodoo Doughnut.” That is a well-known doughnut shop in Portland. Very well done, props department. That is an awesome touch, bringing in something from real Portland instead of show Portland. I highly approve of that, not that anyone in the props department is yearning for my approval or anything. Still, stellar work.
16.
This shot pretty much sums up the whole encounter between Dean and the Sword of Bruncvik. Dean’s all happy with himself because he thinks he’s won this time, Dr. Visnyak is apprehensive, to say the least, that things are going to work out, and the sword is all smug in the foreground, knowing it’s gotten the best of Dean again. And the light streaming in from the right of the shot with all the C4-blast dust in the air is lovely. In Dean’s mind, everything is right with the world, and the lighting in this scene reflects that.
17.
This shot is just slightly off-kilter, just slightly tilted, which is a very cool effect. And flashlight fu is always welcome. If you watch this scene again, their flashlights really do provide most of the lighting on that treasure, which I really like. It feels very real when the actors are actually participating in lighting the scene when they’re carrying flashlights. I mean, you may think that’s kind of an obvious thing, but it doesn’t always happen that way in TV.
18.
More flashlight fu and just a really, really interesting shot to me. I love the very straight lines of the railing combined with the curved arches overhead and the triangles on the wall. That’s a lot of combined geometric shapes right there. And the fog makes it that much more ominous.
19.
This is another “when I first watched this scene” things, but I didn’t notice that SPX flash on the guy’s skin when he died was scales until I saw the still. That is awesome.
20.
Again with the amazing overhead shots! Just your typical Sam, Dean, and Bobby pow-wow, but this time it’s shot from above, like a ceiling fan POV. Very cool. The way this scene is edited together with the virgin sacrifice/summoning the Mother of All scene gives us two contrasting overhead shots, both with three people as the subjects, but they are very different in tone and feel. For example…
21.
The scene in Bobby’s house is all browns and reds and yellows and greens, earthy colors, so it feels very warm. This scene is dark and blue and gray, and the only color is from fire. That’s pretty damn ominous. The three people in the Bobby’s house scene are very close and love each other. The three people in the dragon scene are not close at all, and even the dragons seem slightly antagonistic toward each other. Not a lot of love lost there. And no one’s about to get thrown into a fiery inferno in Bobby’s house, so that’s a plus.
Whew, that was a lot of shots to talk about! Okay, time to pick my three favorites. I like 5, 14, and 17 in that order. So congrats, Impala, you are the subject of my favorite shot this week! There was a lot of good stuff to look at in this episode, wasn’t there?
I’m kinda new to the site but I love your visual reviews. I have to say that Supernatural is one of the few shows where I ever even think about things such as lighting, camera angles and what’s going on in the background. The obvious thought and attention to detail always fascinates me – it’s part of the fun in going back to rewatch episodes. So thanks.. I’ll be coming back for more 🙂
Lovely visual review – you caught a lot of gorgeous shots that I was too caught up in the plot to notice…but I did notice it was a very visually stunning episode. I love the use of wide-angle and overhead shots too!
To answer your printer question: I think the first time I remember seeing their little printer was in S3- A Very Supernatural Christmas.
If I remember correctly they also had a printer in the Bloody Mary episode? I think it was that one anyway. Do correct me if I am wrong. Dean printed out photos of when Mary had died – but it may have been a different printer. I do remember thinking at the time, where on earth do they put the printer in the Impala 🙂
Hi Arde
I loved your review. It must be hard to come down to only 21 pictures. Funy is I was woundering about the pink box too. Thank you for that info. Is the AZ burger some kind of insider joke?
My favorits are 18, 15 and 9
My personal favorite of this fine lot is #17. 🙂
Hi Ardeospina
I love your visual reviews.
You really should get into photography, you have such a good eye for this.
My favourites would have to be number 6. That whole scene really made me feel like I was in the back seat of the Impala and was a part of the conversation.
Then I would have to say 12. I love that port-hole/fish-eye view effect. Plus we get the added bonus of being able to gaze into Dean/Jensen’s huge, gorgeous eyes.
I would then have to say 13. I loved the stain-glass windows with the staircase banister in the foreground. It’s hard to believe this is in that same house that Dean pulled up to. Looks can be deceiving.
Lastly I would have to go with 14. Not only because of how heroic Dean looks, but also the ceiling really caught my attention. The design looks like scales. Between the design and the lighting it gave the allusion that Dean was standing under the breast of a dragon.
Amazing job picking these out Arde. These visual reviews deepen my appriciation of the show.
My favorite is #6. That sequence made me feel slightly guilty when watching and it took me a while to realize the angle got me to feeling like an eavedropper. As if I were a part of the scene instead of an observer. AMAZING! Any moment, I expect Sam or Dean to grab the salt gun and go after the ‘ghost’ in the back seat.
#12 is my second fav. Love the fish eye!
Great job, Arde! When I’m watching the show my whole attention is focused on the actors so it’s great to sit back and really study the scene shots.
Looking at the peephole shot it dawned on me that the location (at least for the exterior shots) was Hy’s Mansion on Davie St. in Vancouver. It was turned into a restaurant and I’ve eaten there several times!
My fave shot? #6 – the conversation in the car because I actually thought about how I enjoyed that POV as I was watching the scene.
Oh big-AZZ burger! Thank you Arde. Took me a minute there. I was thinking Arizona? What? Big as what? ….Ohhhh. *facepalm*
I love your visual reviews. Thank you so much for doing them. They have definitely become a part of my Supernatural week. And the timing is perfect – just before the next episode, to remind us of the previous high notes, but late enough to ensure we have all watched the episode for the story itself.
I love so many of your choices. I do like the Torn-Between Dean you pointed out in #1 – had not seen it like that before. So much stuff I guess we process subconsciously when watching and pick up on the emotion the director wanted us to without realising why we did, until we have amazing people like you to point stuff out. I think it speaks to the strength of the show though that even when we leave aside the story and examine the craft behind it as you do, even though we are purposefully looking at the man behind the curtain, it still does not take away from our enjoyment of the watching the Great and Powerful Oz. In fact it makes it even better (that made sense in my brain!)
(Does anyone else think Cas looks incredibly dodgy in #1?)
I too love the new Garage Confessional in #4 that they have been using since the end of Season 5 at least. Not quite the car itself, but car-adjacent (to use Crowley’s turn of phrase) and nice to have things more out in the open (on more than one level).
#5 is breath-taking and has to be the winner this week. Reminds me of the, what was it called? Axis mundi? Some people see it as a road. Only this is earth-bound. I also only just noticed that when they do a recap they use the phrase ‘the road so far’. *facepalm #2*
I really like #9 too, very Lord of the Rings-esque with trees and the wood, very apropos for dragons. #10 was SO high up, do you think it was from the window of a building? Or did they just do something to the crane shot to make it seem even higher? Finally, I also love #s 11, 17 and 20. 20 is a really cool point of view. Looking forward to the next episode and the next visual review!
Hey Ardeospina, I know I have been hanging out here at the Winchester Family Business too long, cause while I was watching the episode and they got to the over head shot in your #20, I thought “oooohhh…I bet that is one of the shots that will end up in Ardeospina’s visual review!” And tada! here it is! 😆 You have an amazing eye, and I am glad you share it with all of us. All the shots you pick are just lovely.
This is for you, too, Junkerin:
If you say the word AZ a little softer, it sounds like “ass.” So, Big Ass Burgers.
Not sure if that was intentional, but I liked it!
I am glad you commented on the shot of Bobby’s soup.. lol! I don’t know what that is but I wouldn’t eat it! :0)
Great article! Can’t wait for the visual review on UNFORGIVEN! 😀