Throwback Thursday: Dean H/C Highlights from 1x22, 2x01, and 6x22 (Car Crashes)

[kalliel]

Three of my major fears are house fires, vehicular accidents, and drowning. Being that SPN has all but built itself around the first two, yeah, I'd say it's a horror show! :( Hurt/comfort is a genre that can often be more terrifying than titillating, and sometimes even a confusing amalgam of both. Tonight hoodie_time brings you some clips from the iconic car crash that ended SPN's first season in a manner nothing short of heart-stopping (and also set up S2 for, imho, the best series premiere ever). There's plenty more H/C to mine in both 1x22 and 2x01, but trust me, there will be pleeeeentyyyy more time to spend on those delectable morsels.

In addition to footage from the end of 1x22/the beginning of 2x01, I've also included a clip from the last scenes in 6x22, which finally executes one of SPN's unrealized cinematic goals wrt car crashes--bookending S6 as a season of intense refiguring and revisitation of earlier canon.

This scene completely changed my association with "Bad Moon Rising," that's for sure. The angle they shoot part of this scene from--just when the semi T-bones the Impala--is well-loved and oft used when a car accident is imminent (the pilot of Six Feet Under and every single car crash to ever occur on Law and Order: SVU, for instance) but it never loses its punch. Hell, on rewatch this scene makes me increasingly MORE anxious every time!

If the rumors are true, they'd originally planned for the semi to flip the Impala in this scene--but instead it smashed right up onto the front of the truck, and the truck jack-knifed like a crazy thing. AKA IT'S A BIG, HEAVY FUCKING AMERICAN MUSCLE CAR, DON'T MESS. Given this surprise, Kim Manners decided to keep the footage as is. The result is badass and doubly terrifying.

I included "The Road So Far" at the front of this clip because I thought it was a nice one, but go ahead and skip to just before the middle of the video if you want to get right to the H/C. The song is--I believe?--"Stanglehold" by Ted Nugent.

I really appreciated the attention this scene (and the rest of the episode) put on fallout; rather than speed away into something arcane, supernatural, and completely different, the audience gets smacked with events that leave marks, and the very human reality of death. (With yes, the added bonus of ghosts, demons, and supernatural yellow-eyed prophecies, secrets, etc.) And you know what's really awful? If I'm interpreting what Dean's doctor says later in this episode, it wasn't necessarily the car crash that would've killed him--after YED was through, he was basically already dead. D;

Eventually S6 rolls around and guess what? They finally get to flip the Impala!

It's not a big moment in this episode, nor is it a benchmark scene--indeed, both Sam and Dean are fairly sidelined in this episode, as kingpins topple and the supernatural chessboard flies to pieces--but it's a personal favorite of mine. The slow horror of the opening clip mirrors the Winchesters' tense flight at the end of 1x22. And if people wanted to write like, eight trillion fics about internal injuries and/or sequelae of this car-flipping, once the adrenaline wore off and it because very apparent that the world was definitely going to hell, I certainly wouldn't stop you! :P And before anyone gets their panties in a bunch about this, I can tell you from multiple familial experiences that it is entirely possible to walk away from a flipped car without dire H/C ensuing--you should just immediately walk yourself to a hospital.

Unless you're a Winchester, in which case, hello Apocalypse, hello Leviathans, hello Godstiel. XP

I also included Crowley throwing Dean off a platform and into (and off of) a steel table because why not. Answer: THERE IS NO NOT.

As a final note, as I was writing up this post the 1x22 clip started playing in the background and I completely flipped out. Some things never change! (And some things do: They get worse! XP This clip is four times more traumatizing than it was when I first saw it four years ago, in 2009.)


This post contains bonus hurt!Sam, hurt!John, and hurt!Bobby. Happy holidays!

Comments

[caranfindel.livejournal.com]

In the Netflix version of 1.22, they use some different song (didn't want to pay the big bucks for CCR I guess) and the right music really makes a big difference. They also don't use Carry On Wayward Son. I know, sacrilege.

[kalliel]

They also don't use Carry On Wayward Son. ARE YOU KIDDING ME? DDDDDD: I've seen some of the eps on Netflix, because flipping through the seasons is way easier that way than getting out all the DVDs, but I had to stop because the music wasn't Right. And it was like, the scene in 1x19 where Sam and Sarah are talking and Dean plays Grand Funk Railroad or something--not super iconic.

KANSAS, AT LEAST, GUYS. D; I weep for the people who discover SPN through Netflix or via TNT syndication--you gotta have the music!

[(Anonymous)]

Really? My Netflix had CCR in that scene and enough 'Carry On My Wayward Son' that that song will leave me unable to can. For LIFE.

[kalliel]

Maybe it depends on what country's Netflix it is? Hmm...

[i-speak-tongue.livejournal.com]

I've watched on netflix canada and US, and both seem to have replaced the music for season 1. The music for all the other seasons is still intact. Season 1 has all the best stuff tho!

[kalliel]

Oh dear; maybe it's because the rights they purchased for 2005 expired? WHICH MEANS AS TIME PASSES THE OTHER MUSIC WILL GO AWAY TOOOO. D:

[caranfindel.livejournal.com]

Really? Mine (streaming, not DVD) has some weird song that I've never heard of. I need to Shazam it and see what comes up.

[i-speak-tongue.livejournal.com]

I love you so much for doing these! And, man. Watching the car crash scene again, I have to agree with you. It just never loses its effectiveness and heart-attackiness. It was just such a pivotal moment, and done so effectively. The directing, the editing, the music. The Dean bleeding out in the back seat and Sam being uber-protective. Guhhhhh.

For me, 2x01 is only tied as best season opener with 4x01. Stylistically, I adore 4x01, but plot/drama wise? Yeah, I guess 2x01 has it beat. Plus Dean in a coma. So okay. Damn. You win.

[kalliel]

You're welcome! :) And no, I seriously hold that it just gets worse. D: It's like watching the Pilot over again, with all the ominous portents for the next nine years.

I'm also a really big fan of 6x01, though admittedly for personal reasons + the thematic level vs. the actual plot/drama/composition of the episode itself.

[caranfindel.livejournal.com]

As a whole, 2.01 is better IMHO, but it's really hard to beat the first 10 minutes of 4.01.

[i-speak-tongue.livejournal.com]

Oh, yeah. I love that eerie post-apocalyptic vibe. It was just so WTF is happening right now, in the best way possible. Plus Dean crying for help, covered with dirt, and just as confused as we are. So so awesome.

[jj1564.livejournal.com]

Thanks for posting these clips and your comments are always interesting, I like the bit about them finally flipping the Impala!I've just watched season 1 again and the ending is still shocking, it's the best ending of a first season of a TV show ever! And the first episode of S2 is so emotional, Dean almost giving into Tess, Dean's face when John whispers the big secret in his ear and the way Sam drops his coffee and runs to John, makes me sob every time!

[kalliel]

You're welcome! I'm so glad you enjoy them. :) And ahhhh yes, Sam's coffee. <3333 Apparently when they shot that take the coffee cup stayed standing when JP dropped it, and everyone on set was like, WHAAAAT. And of course you gotta keep that. :P

[ladyjane]

When I click to play the video, nothing happens. ): Are these posted anywhere else like youtube? Links?

[kalliel]

Really? So sad! They actually are YouTube vids, just embedded, so here are the links to where you can view them on YouTube itself:

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=EdcHbBtSR6Y

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=jQiB-4zmj0I

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=jhcFUO73Whw

In the future, I'll go ahead and post these links under the embedded videos, just in case they don't work. :) Thanks for letting me know!

[ladyjane]

Thank you for the links! I have my Flash Player settings on "paranoid" so I'm used to clickies not working. (Although, sometimes its the embed code. I know for one of my journals, I have to use the "old embed code" for them to work properly.)