Click images for full size. I’m unspoiled for anything coming after 5.19 but have been speculating like a shameless crazy person since mid fourth season.

I don’t know about anyone else, but I suspect I won’t ever be able to look at this memory of Dean’s from 5.16 Dark Side of the Moon without sobbing buckets tearing up. Honestly, I get messier every time I watch it. It’s nostalgic and glorious and it has me wishing for miracles for our boys. I’ll note that Sam has Dean digging out his old lighter to get the show on the road. (Oh! remember Dean manning the flashlight for Sam in 4.06 Yellow Fever?)

What’s given me the excuse to revisit the scene is noticing how the show has continued evoking the image in subsequent episodes.

5.17 99 Problems has the boys witnessing a wedding. As the new couple exits the church they are showered with confetti. I’m not clear if it’s flower petals or feathers or what, but it’s multi-colored and the boys are shown through the tail end of the display.

This isn’t quite the same thing (I don’t think?), but the interior of the church also shows the congregation splashed with color patches due to the stained glass windows. (I think that’s the Winchesters in the rear pew.)

Then, in 5.18 Point of No Return, we see Adam sitting on a bench waiting for an angel in Dean’s his dream playground. He’s backed by a fence littered with brightly colored shapes. I see leaves and arrows for sure (and perhaps houses?).

When we get the close up on Adam, the shapes blur.

Finally, in 5.19 Hammer of the Gods, we get the construct of a hotel and it includes fabulous twinned starburst light fixtures. (Wait! Are there three? ‘Cause three is another motif the show hasn’t been afraid to repeat.)  This is the image that truly took me back to the fireworks and leads me into wanting to understand what the show is saying.

I’m seeing color: brights, whites and jumbles. I’m seeing motion: shootings, showerings and sprinklings. I’m seeing light: sparks, starbursts and kaleidoscopes. I’m seeing shapes and repeats: haphazard confetti and puzzle pieces. It’s three-dimensional and celebratory in tone generally.

I’m not sure what (if anything) to think yet. I’m still brainstorming and would be glad of any ideas others can throw out on the table. Is this a new visual? Could it be traced back to the semi-psychedelic wall art associated with Sam in 5.11 Sam, Interrupted – perhaps that was some sort of precursor of the visuals moving in this colorful spark/splash direction?

We have to remember Castiel’s introduction in 4.01 Lazarus Rising and perhaps Raphael’s appearance in 5.03 Free to Be You and Me.

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In the spirit of brainstorming I’ll link to a youtube for Springsteen’s “Dancing in the Dark” with lyrics included. (I thought to re-listen to the song when I was trying to come up with a catchy post title.) I don’t claim a direct connection to the sparks image I’m starting with here. BUT, think about the flags we’ve seen particularly in season five, remember the album cover for Born in the U.S.A. and I think it’s a fair (if canyon-sized) leap.  (Off topic: does anyone else find themselves momentarily catching their breath when flags or angel lamps or other SPN elements shows up in unrelated shows or in real life?)  Check out some of the lines that grabbed me.

I ain’t nothing but tired [Why, hello, Dean.]

…

You can’t start a fire without a spark. [Oh, Mary. Oh, Jessica. Oooh, Kali!?]

…

Message keeps getting clearer,

Radio’s on and I’m moving round the place [Unconventional methods of communication in Supernatural - including the Impala's radio - really do deserve a thorough examination.)

...

I'll shake this world off my shoulders. [Both boys have shouldered the weight of the world.]

Come on baby the laugh’s on me. [Gabriel will always be Trickster to me, I'm afraid.]

Stay on the streets of this town,

and they’ll be carving you up all right. [I don't think we've yet seen the extent to which Dean was carved up in Hell.]

They say you got to stay hungry.

Hey baby I’m just about starving tonight. [Appetites - unnatural, excessive, or otherwise - have long been a SPN issue.]

I’m dying for some action.

I’m sick of sitting ’round here trying to write this book. [I haven't forgotten Chuck Shirley, nor the numerous times Sam has posed as a writer - or heck! had a teacher encourage aspirations in that direction.]

(Images were picked up from oxoniensis, marishna, potthead @ rawr_caps, sky_angel22 and cybel — and someone I didn’t keep track of which I’m embarrassed to admit.)

(edit tags on 5/30/10)

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