“My Heart Will Go On” — A Visual Review

And now for the episode that never fails to make me sing a bad Celine Dion song repeatedly until I want to scream, it’s “My Heart Will Go On.”  Alice kept up her end of our article-writing bargain this week with her excellent review of “Mannequin 3,” so I couldn’t be the slacker and not do my part!  Anyway, “My Heart Will Go On” was directed by Phil Sgriccia, a man who, at this point, really needs no introduction.  So let’s get to the pretty, shall we?

1.

I really like here how the broken glass of the jar mirrors the shattered-glass opening for season 6.  And the glass shards mixed in with all the nails make really interesting patterns of contrast on the floor.  Not something I’d want to clean up, but I like looking at it!

2.

This is a little morbid, what with the body lying there all blood-splattered and headless in the background, but it’s such a cool shot!  I really like that the focus here is on the foreground and the missing bottle and there’s just very casually a dead person in the background there.  Most shows would be all close-up on that, like, “Look how shocking our dead body is!”  On “Supernatural,” a decapitated person is far less important than a visual clue showing us something is up.

3.

Of course I love this shot, with Bobby’s random crap everywhere and the side of the Impala just barely in view.  Except, psych!  That’s totally not the Impala!  It’s the horrible Halloween Mustang, scourge of the scrapyard, harbinger of vehicular doom.  It’s a great fakeout shot, though, so well played, Mr. Sgriccia.

4.

This shot just breaks my heart.  Ellen!  Oh, I want Ellen back for real!  This is such a married couple moment right here with Bobby just staring off into the middle distance and Ellen looking so concerned.  Kind of makes me wish they really had gotten together and that she and Jo didn’t die.  Bobby and Ellen would have been good for each other.

5.

Epic flashlight-fu right here.  I think one episode this season should be mostly in the dark and the only lighting allowed are flashlights.  Can you imagine how long that visual review would be?

6.

I love this travel agency.  Clearly, it is the worst travel agency ever.  The posters on the wall are hysterically bad.  I mean, “Visit Cuba: America’s #1 Holiday Destination” is such a farce because Americans can’t travel to Cuba.  It’s not illegal just to go there, but it is illegal for U.S. citizens to have transactions there, such as spending money or receiving gifts, according to Wikipedia.  So there’s no practical way to actually go to Cuba and not do something illegal.  And don’t even get me started on how wrong it is to say Detroit is America’s number-one city!  Not even people from Detroit who love the place dearly will say that!  The only way this place could be any worse is if they had a poster saying “Visit North Korea! Now With .025% Less Famine and Oppression!”  Update: I just checked the Super-Wiki page for this episode, and it’s possible that these are subtle clues about what changed in the U.S. if the Titanic didn’t sink.  Well, that went right over my head!  Subtle clues, you are very subtle.

7.

I want to know who’s in charge of the paper-based props on this show and give them a high five or something because the books the prop department comes up with are just stunningly gorgeous.  I could probably make a Top 10 list of the best books this show has had.  The attention to detail in them is amazing.  It makes my fingers itch to hold them.  They probably have that awesome old-book smell, too.

8.

This is such a cool shot.  It looks like Sam is a ghost or some sort of spirit projection!  Dean’s in the background, only seen through the window, and it looks like Sam is in the window or…I don’t even know what’s going on.  It just looks amazing and so strange.

9.

I like this shot for two reasons.  One, it’s just such a classic shot of Sam and Dean being Sam and Dean.  The only way it could be more classic is if Dean was eating something.  Two, this hotel has such an amaing amount of different geometric aspects to it.  I mean, you’ve got the triangles on the wall with the rectangles underneath that and the squares on the floor below everything.  And that’s complemented by the intricate damask-like patterns of the wallpaper and the bedspread.  It’s a pattern feast!

10.

I’m sure I’ve mentioned before how much I love profile shots, but I like this one even more because it’s a partial profile.  All you really focus on when you see this shot are Dean’s eyes, and that’s all you need because Jensen is fantastic at ocular emoting.  The whole cast is, really, which is helpful when it’s sometimes the only emoting that happens.

11.

This is a fun little thing the crew did here, putting Balthazar into that picture of the Titanic crew.  I liked all the little touches like this in the episode.  It almost looks like Balthy really was on the Titanic with all those guys!

12.

Except those guys weren’t on the Titanic!  Yes, in an amazing feat of Photoshop trickery, the crew took this photo of the captain and officers of the Carpathia and photoshopped Balthazar and the Titanic captain in!  They also took out the gentleman in the top row, second from the left.  Fun facts: Carpathia was the ship that made its way through the ice fields on the night of the Titanic sinking, rescuing 705 survivors.  Margaret Brown, known as “The Unsinkable Molly Brown,” gave that cup to Captain Arthur Henry Rostron in thanks for the rescue.  I don’t know if it was deliberate, using a Carpathia picture this way as a tribute, but it’s a really neat touch, so I will say yes, it was deliberate.  Well done, “Supernatural” crew.

There’s your history lesson for this review.  See?  It’s not ALL about the pretty!  (But it is mostly.)

13.

I really like this shot of Bobby’s house.  It looks almost warm and inviting, like the light is filtered through a soft filter, making it hazy and sweet and not at all like Bobby’s house usually is.  It’s unchanged and yet it’s so different.

14.

Oh, Bobby.  This is gorgeous, with Bobby just sitting at his desk with all his books around him.  The filtered light through the blinds is so cool.  And I like how the warm lighting is framed by the door, and then outside the doorway it’s all filtered and blue and cool, not warm like the other room.  Very nice contrast.

15.

Oh, Bobby.  Oh, Ellen.  Clearly, my heart will not go on because it is broken.  I really hope Jim Beaver or Samantha Ferris got to keep this picture because it’s so lovely.  They were fantastic in all their scenes together in this episode, weren’t they?

And there we have it.  And yes, I’m still singing that damn theme song in my head.  Celine Dion, get out of my head!  My top three favorites this time are 15, 8, and 7.  What are your favorites?  Seriously, how cool is it that they used a Carpathia crew picture?  And how weird is it that the real-life captain kind of looks like he could be Sebastian Roche’s brother?