The Dean Winchester Troubled Profile of Doom
A while back (yes, I’ve been working on it slowly, as well as all the other suggestions I’ve received) Narcissus came up with a great suggestion for a feature. Let me just share in her own words this great idea and my challenge to deliver!
The thing is, during that last scene in GGY, through the flood of tears as Dean watched the truck driving away with Sam, I still had to giggle because I KNEW he would turn his head back and the episode would end with a shot of the ubiquitous troubled profile of that pretty, pretty face. I call it the Winchester Troubled-Profile of Doom. I don’t know if you’ve noticed, but they do that A LOT on the show. The angst, the out-of-focus background, immediately followed by the Winchester Troubled-Profile of Doom…aaaand…fade to black. So, on to my main point, I think it’d be cool if there was a post on the best WTPoD’s (excuse all the acronyms)..or a compilation of all the WTPoD there ever was (probably countless), or you know, whatever along those lines. I think you can see the insanity angle here 🙂
Hmm, an interesting challenge. I of course started pouring through 88 episodes and found that counting them all was an impossible task. Of course in this process, I discovered something else. Sam and Dean each have their own looks for the WTPoD. Dean’s is the afore mentioned profile. Sam, he just tightens his lips and takes it all in. So, we have Dean’s Troubled Profile of Doom and Sam’s Somber Face of Despair. Both use these trademark looks for heightened dramatic effect and have done so for all five seasons. When the chips are down, they go with what works.
Below is a selection of the more powerful ones from each brother by episode. If anything, we know that both of these guys know how to push our buttons.
Dean Winchester’s Troubled Profile of Doom
Nightmare
The first one that stood out the most for me is Dean at the end of Nightmare. Sam has just confessed he saved Dean only after moving a large piece of furniture with his mind. Dean jokes, pretends not to take it seriously, and admits Sam’s newfound psychic visions would serve them well in Vegas. Sam leaves not amused, so the final shot is Dean in the motel room doorway. Suddenly his expression is one of worry. He turns his head and there it is, the lingering profile of doom, the one that shall become our friend for seasons to come. Lights out and fade to black. Sure, Dean has used his pensive profile before to lesser extents so far, but this is its first time for in-your-face closing drama.
I loved this article! The one from Bloodlust is my wallpaper. Its just beautiful. It would be easy to make fun of these shots or call them trite, but on these guys it actually works. Theyre not angsty posers – They are Stoic Manly Men of Few Words lol
I once loaded up the 5-disc DVD Player all night thru 4 seasons to try and disprove my sisters theory that Dean’s left profile is much more handsome than his right. No definitive answer was gleaned, but it was a hell of a night. (We also spent a night trying to prove that sometimes Jared stands in a whole, because at times Sam appears to tower over Dean, and other times the guys look around the same height. But thats a comment for another article) I look forward to Sam’s Somber Face of Despair!
mmmmmm Jensen’s profile. **drool**
OH, excuse me .
Ahem – great article. I look forward to Sam’s next.
mmmmmm Jared’s profile…..
Hi Alice,
so happy you’re back!! Hope you feel better and thanks so much for this lovely article!! Dean’s profile… sigh… Being right there with Tigershire…
Unfortunately, I had not read Narcissus’ suggestion before, and I loved what you did with it!
Funny – yesterday I watched second season’s ep. 20 with Eric Kripke’s commentary, and there is one scene with a beautiful Dean profile (and we know there are many… you found so enchanting examples here… Cheers, Alice! The one from ‘In The Beginning’ had been my desktop for a while), and Kripke himself mentioned that to be something like a trademark, the troubled Winchester profile (can’t remember the exact phase, sorry. So Narcissus had a great instinct and discovered something the creator found to be some kind of trademark for the show. Obviously they joke around about stuff like that on set, which is just adorable…. I just love it when people take their jobs seriously, but not so much themselves.. .
Can’t wait to for your Sam-Winchester-Somber-Face-of-Despair!! Ah, Sammy…
Tigershire, looks like I’m drooling at the idea alone… Where are my meds…?
All my best, Jas
Hiya Alice. Glad to see ya back!
Oh, Jensen has the most hottest profile ever… I’d say it’s nearly perfect. *heart*
You posted some great ones and the AHBL 2 is my fave… Those scenes just KILLED me *wibble*
A few memorable ones came to my mind… In Hunted when Gordon tells tied-down-Dean about the trap to Sam, In WIAWSNB (this is the one where Kripke told about the troubled profile if I’m not mistaken) are few beautiful ones, Home had a pretty teary one too.
But these pics were dreamy *drool* and sad *sniff*
Can’t wait for the Sammy-installation 🙂
BTW, I have a top10 idea (if it hasn’t been recommended or done allready, you’ve got a few articles here *grin*): TOp10 kids of SPN
So the next time someone calls this site biased…
Hey look! A Dean article! One of several!
Alice, nice to have you back. LOVED the article! I can look at Dean all day…doomy or not. Right now though, Dean’s ‘frozen face’ is my wallpaper. Everytime I open my computer I have to laugh. It will take a very exceptional SPN pix to knock that one off my screen.
Look forward to Sam’s somber faces. That should be very interesting.
Nothing but a cheap ploy to stave off more accusations of pro-Sam-ness from regular Chatty Cathys. 😎
Randal…bwahh! You’re on to us!
😉
Great fun article Alice. I echo the comments made that Kripke himself even noted this somewhat trademark shot of the series in WIAWSNB. Oh, the horror of having the disc damaged!
Yeah, eppie night, eppie night!
Hi Alice,
oh no, damaged copy… that’s cruel! I love the commentaries on the dvds, and – I completely agree with you – Kripke always shares some great insights, with a huge amount of humour and wit. In that particular episode (yes, Supernarttu, it is What Is and What Should Never Be, you’re not mistaken) he also pointed out that he was reading some of the stuff that’s being posted online.
If memory serves, I think he says the following: ‘Thanks to the fans, thanks for your support of the show, and we love the work that we’re doing here. We have a show that we’re very proud of. We think it’s getting better and better. We keep working on ways to make it better and better. You seem to respond to that and appreciate that and encourage us, except for those people online – you know who you are! –but we’re having the time of our life.’
I’m in wild agreement with you there, Eric Kripke. What I loved in particular about his commentary is the respect for everyone working on the show that comes across and the great fun everybody working there seems to be having.
Unfortunately, Warner Bros. apparently has some trouble defining what to put on their dvds. The region 2 Season Four hardly contained any extras, so I had to get a region 1 copy to be able to enjoy the great commentaries (there’s Kripke again with Jeremy Carver on In The Beginning, and Kripke on Lucifer Rising, furthermore Sera Gamble and Robert Singer on When The Levee Breaks , loved all of it, some scenes made more sense all of a sudden. I would have loved to find a comment by the leading actors, as well, as they have been very funny in season one and two, and insightful, though in a different fashion than the producers’ of course).
By the way, loved the change of the quote up there (is that called banner? Not sure…)
I’d like to submit a wish for Sam’s Look of Despair… My eyes well up every time I watch When The Levee Breaks’ ‘then-shoot-me’ scene… Don’t really remember whether there is a close up here, hardly ever see it clearly for obvious reasons… Just heartbreaking, really.
Love, Jas
Gosh, you guys have epi night (hello Elle2….), and we Europeans have to wait for the online post… How about a sigh of compassion…?
😆
It’s in Alice’s recap of ‘I Believe the Children Are Our Future’ Great shot!
In Alice we trust… I’m sure you will give us the most tear-jerking, the sweetest and most moving pics, as you did with Dean…
Sablegreen – right! that Frozen Face is hilarious… For the time being I have that I-have-you-back-hug from Lazarus Rising as my desktop wallpaper. Perhaps I’ll put the other on.
Take care, y’all, Jas 😉
Great to see you back Alice!
Loved this one Alice, I used to call this profiles scenes of “the boy need a hug” scene but I like Narcissus WTPoD better, so I’m using it from now on.
And since I need a new wallpaper (ok, not really but seeing this Dean screen caps and anticipating Sam ones… well, you know…) I’m gonna wait for Sam’s article and then I’m getting all the screen caps from both articles and gonna find a way of “building” me a new wallpaper, got the feeling it’s gonna look great 😀
Hi Alice,
looks like many of us started thinking about desktop/wallpaper, maybe you should have called this piece the WallpaperFashionShowOfTRoubledProfile, to found on the same Broadway-stage occupied at present by the new Croatoan – Musical ‘Miss Thigh Gone’. Don’t know whether there might be some free-stage-time, from what I hear they’re rehearsing ‘We Will Torch You’, then preproduction will begin for ‘Samuel and the amazing bloodcolour dreamcar, closely followed by ‘The Kiss of The Demonwoman’… Any idea, how to get tickets?
Love y’all, Jas 😀 :roll::
Thanks Alice loved the article and the pictures.
How can you not love those pensive and haunting profiles, they really stay with you.
And when he brings on those anguished and devastated looks, I’m a blubbering mess.
The talent Jensen possesses is phenomenal.
I feel really fortunate that Jensen took the roll of Dean.
Does the shot of Dean from Bloodlust remind anyone of James Dean? Does me…don’t know why.
Sablegreen – I have to admit the pic of Dean from Bloodlust does remind me of James Dean, too. The pose, actually. James Dean never was an actor who seemed even remotely attractive or likeable to me (sorry, James-Dean-fans out there). Jensen may strike a pose like JamesDean here, perhaps it was even intended (as we know the show likes to remind us of popculture in many ways), but he is by far the more fascinating person and – but that’s just me – the more attractive man.
Blessings, Jas
Great article, kinda sad I never noticed the whole dramatic profile he seemed to give through out the season. I was more in aww of how many times both brothers cried almost ever other episode.
yea,huge fan and I was just thinking,know what would be,amazing! A video with the song “need you to night” or “guns in the sky” and alot of really good pictures of Dean 😎 and sam. I mean…just saying… 😳