Supernatural

I am unspoiled although I have been viewing the season with speculation goggles since the Anna arc. My theory is still shifting, but it definitely colors what I’m noticing and thinking about with the show. I want the show to do its own reveal so keep spoiler info away, please.

While looking through the screencaps of 4.14 Sex and Violence for shots I could use (thank you oxoniensis) in an entry about the hyacinth, I came across a very deliberate and repeated camera shot I believe might be a twist or reverse on a visual that’s been noticeable at some several points in season four.

This is from 4.14 looking into Dr. Cara Roberts’s office (which is mostly window walls) as the flirtation between her and Sam is moving into high gear. There are a ton of these shots. The blinds are always open – even when the shirts come off.

The camera pans up past Bobby’s Kiss the Cook apron in 4.14 to reveal the boys’ FBI supervisor – again through the blinds. Most of us probably recognized Bobby’s voice and were smiling before the final reveal was made.

In effect, though, the shot creates an obstructed view. We aren’t seeing through any other character’s eyes in either of these scenes which make me believe they are designed for the audience’s benefit. The viewer is forced to fill in the blanks or do without. The viewer could find that what they think they know is incomplete or an outright falsity.

I was struck by the similarity to the slatted, semi-open walls we’ve seen several times. I believe these have usually been presented from the inside, however, and are often accompanied by chiaroscuric streams and patches of light.

This two episode Anna arc with two slatted locations is when I started wanting to explain the set choice. I was both missing the theme motel rooms and beginning to suspect that everything held the potential for dream-like symbolism.

4.09 I Know What You Did Last Summer – Ruby approaches Sam after he’s turned away from her initial advances. This would have been back when we were seeing things almost exclusively from Dean’s point of view. Even the Sam and Ruby sex was presented through a flashback story Sam was telling Dean. So, that chapter is memory – and not even a private memory….

Again – from 4.09. Ruby stands with Dean and Sam in the shack where they’ve attempted to hide Anna.

Later, in 4.10 Heaven and Hell, Anna stands between the boys as Uriel and Castiel show up to take her.

Still in 4.10, angels and demons square off for the showdown proper.

Anna regains her grace here – in time to avert any more of a crisis. The symbolic nature of how that occurs recalls the many issues the season has had with eyes, sight and blindness – think Pamela Barnes. (Indeed this has been a factor since the first season – think of Rev. Roy LeGrange unable to see what Sue Ann was doing.)

Now, think back to 4.01 Lazarus Rising. Castiel’s introduction is in a barn with construction of slats we can see, but no visible cracks AND covered with (protective?) religious symbols.

In 4.02, the boys use Bobby’s open-shuttered kitchen to discuss the pros and cons of angels appearing in Dean’s experience.

AND, they find out just how AWESOME Bobby is with his even-safer-than-the-kitchen, iron-lined, salt-washed panic room complete with devil’s trap light-filtering grate in the ceiling.

Continuing on, in 4.03 In the Beginning, we are seeing 1973 with Dean’s point of view as he watches his parents.

4.04 Metamorphosis brings a budding monster who we see get close enough to peep through sheer curtains. This guy pulls back when he catches his own reflection in the window (recalling the importance mirrors have held since early days).

This is long enough I won’t go on right now. (I’m certain there must be gorgeously dramatic examples of this obstructed, filtered view in the black and white episode 4.05 Monster Movie.) The point I’m trying to explore is whether the openness of the set walls correlates to the clarity of Dean’s understanding of and comfort with the story.  Is it symbolic of vulnerability or/and danger?  With the mid-season shift to a less exclusive storytelling point of view, are there messages being sent to the audience that ‘other than’ or ‘more than’ the surface may be taking place?

This is not new with season 4, of course, though I haven’t taken the time to look back in depth.  During a random rewatch, I noticed this shot from 2.10 Hunted because I’d been wondering about the mid S4 slatted walls. I seem to remember similar shots from the S3 episode Freshblood – could it be a Gordon thing?

Please add examples and any non-spoiler explanations! Is this as stepped up in season four as it feels to me? The more we collect the closer we might come to firming up whatever meanings these kinds of shots are trying to convey.

Tags: 2.10 Hunted, 4.01 Lazarus Rising, 4.02 Are You There God?, 4.03 In the Beginning, 4.04 Metamorphosis, 4.09 I Know What You Did Last Summer, 4.10 Heaven and Hell, 4.14 Sex and Violence, season four, speculation, visuals