Breakdown of the Cupid Scene from 08x23 “Sacrifice”
After rewatching “Sacrifice” for probably the fifth time, I can honestly say my favorite scene from the episode has to be in the bar where Dean and Cas are waiting for Cupid to arrive. I remember the first time I watched it, it didn’t hit me too deeply; a few laughs here and there and the pleasant surprise of queer representation where the audience is the least likely to expect it. The complexity of the scene, however, is subtly genius and I need to rant about it.
(Prepare for an excessive amount of overanalyzing and the use of image-stills below the cut)
So, right away, we see Dean waiting at a bar by himself.
(Shocking, I know). Following his line of sight, we can infer that Dean is watching something, likely a tv screen above the bar. Right afterward, we are shown this clip:
A man with a bow and arrow. So, already we can make the connection that this is the television show Dean is watching as he waits at the bar. (I’m pointing this out to explain that this is how “subtext” works. While it’s never explicitly confirmed this is the tv show Dean’s watching, editing and visual cues invite viewers to make this valid conclusion. The scene is filled with even more subtext for us to unravel on an even deeper level.)
By its inclusion, we know that there is something important about this imagery. Placed in a scene about trying to find Cupid, it isn’t too hard to make the connection that the archer is mean to symbolize Cupid’s bow - the very thing the characters are after in this episode.
This clip of the tv screen is taken from Dean’s perspective. We just saw him watching something over the bar, and now the creators are giving us some information on what exactly Dean’s focused on. Then, we get this image:
The man is aiming his bow and arrow straight at the audience - or is he? As we know, this angle is taken from Dean’s perspective where he is still sitting by himself at the bar. So what do we see after this?
Cas walking up from behind Dean.
What’s interesting to note is that the bar actually has two entrances. There’s the door behind Dean that Cas walks through, and there’s another door at the end of the bar off to Dean’s left. (We see Cupid use this door for her entrance later). But the writers specifically wanted Cas walking up behind Dean. It’s even directed in the original script (courtesy of SupernaturalWiki):
[DEAN is seen sitting at the bar watching a hunter on the bars TV aim his bow at the TV screen. CASTIEL walks in the door that’s behind DEAN and sits on the stool next to him.]
But why is it important to have Castiel walk up behind Dean? Well, prior to Cas’s entrance, the last thing we saw was the image of the archer aiming at the tv screen. From Dean’s perspective, it would look like the archer is aiming at him and/or behind him. Cas’s entrance sets him right in line with the archer’s bow.
The context of this scene is crucial: Dean and Cas are focused on finding Cupid’s bow; a tool used to signify two people falling in love. The general audience knows how Cupid bow’s works in most mythology, with pre-destined lovers being shot with a magical arrow. The writers of the scene are likely depending on this pre-existing knowledge for viewers to pick up on these metaphorical clues, i.e. aiming a bow and arrow = someone destined to fall in love.
So, right away we have this image of Dean and Cas being aimed at with a bow and arrow in the context of looking for Cupid’s bow. It’s a visual cue that is meant to carry romantic connotations. If this seems like too much of an interpretative stretch for some, I can also point out that the writers use this same visual metaphor later on in the scene for a canonically romantic couple.
So after Cas sits next to Dean, the two greet each other. At one point, Dean refers to the bartender further down the bar:
DEAN
Free drinks. Your, uh, buddy over there thinks you saved his life.
Which is followed by this nice compositional parallel:
Dean and Cas at one end of the bar, and the bartender and a customer at the other. The fact that they are the only ones at the bar at this time only further emphasizes the mirroring images.
And so, Dean and Cas start talking about their plans for the future.
DEAN
Talk to me. Are you sure about this? I mean, it's one thing me and Sammy slamming the gates to the pit, but you -- you're -- you're boarding up Heaven, and you're locking the door behind you.
CASTIEL
Yeah. I know.
DEAN
You did a lot of damage up there, man. You think they're just gonna let that slide?
CASTIEL
Do you mean do I think they'll kill me? Yeah, they might.
DEAN
So this is it? E.T. goes home.
During their exchange, Dean discovers that Cas is likely to die at the hands of the Angels once the trials are done and they are able to seal up Heaven. It’s a realization that he is likely to never see Cas again.
Admittedly, it’s a heavy topic.
As Dean and Cas talk, there is actually a song being played in the background at a fairly faint level. The song is titled, “I’m So Blue” by Katie Thompson. (Here’s a link for anyone’s interested. It’s a beautiful song, I totally recommend listening to it). The lyrics can be heard at the time of Cas’s entrance and throughout his and Dean’s dialogue. The song goes:
You love me so but let me go
Now I'll never know
How our love would go
Waiting, watching the stars up above
Hoping that I could win back your love
I'm so blue without you
Thought our love was true
Then you found someone new
So yeah. It’s a love song- a tragic one about losing a lover and never knowing what could have been. These lyrics eerily mirror the topic of Dean and Cas’s discussion - about Castiel going back “up” to Heaven, likely for good. So once again, we see romantic connotations underlying Cas and Dean’s interactions set there by the creators.
For a scene where a man is supposed to find his soulmate, however, a love song isn’t entirely out of place. For all we know, this song wasn’t meant to be connected to Cas and Dean in any way. Yet, the lyrics are rather depressing for someone who is meant to be meeting their soulmate, let alone the fact that the bartender and his soulmate already have their own song to signify their transition to lovers.
The moment the two fall in love, “Nice to Be with You” by Gallery starts to play. Along with being played at a volume the audience can actually register, the lyrics of the song are way more fitting to the moment of finding your true love:
Oh, it's so nice to be with you
I love all the things ya say and do
And it's so nice to hear you say
You're gonna please me in every way
Honey, I got the notion you're causin' commotion in my soul
Baby, you and me have got somethin' that's real
I know it's gonna last a lifetime
Looking back to the scene, Dean and Cas finish their conversation and we finally see the entrance of Cupid.
Like most of the general audience at this point, Dean and Cas see the woman enter the bar and automatically assume she is the bartender’s soulmate. Dean especially comments on the “obvious” tension between the two will be lovers.
DEAN
Holy crud, this is like the first five minutes of every porno I've ever seen.
As the woman makes her entrance, the bartender signs some papers and introduces the man sitting at the bar.
[DWIGHT takes the pen and signs.]
DWIGHT [introducing GAIL to the MAN at the bar.]
Gail, Rod.
ROD
Ma'am.
DWIGHT
Rod rides a stool here most days.
So here we learn that the customer, Rod, is actually a regular at the bar. Regular enough for the bartender, Dwight, to remember his name and where he often chooses to sit. It’s safe to assume that Dwight and Rod have known each other long before this specific night, and are probably friends. This lets the audience entertain the idea that true love has the potential of happening even in the midst of a seemingly platonic friendship. This could be a not-so-subtle jab at viewers that maybe this potential can found in other relationships on screen as well…
Interestingly, Rod is also wearing a bright red hat. For the dark interior of the bar and his other neutral clothing choices, Rod’s red hat stands out like a lighthouse. From a set design perspective, it’s clear that the viewer's eye is meant to be drawn to Rod’s hat. When Cupid first enters the bar, Rod even makes sure to tip his hat towards her, drawing the viewer’s attention even further to what’s printed on there.
A pair of wings.
A pair of wings that, as an audience, we can connect to the Angel sitting just a few feet down the bar.
Cupid, of course, does her work and touches the shoulders of Dwight and Rod to make them fall in love. Her quick exit afterward leaves Dean and Cas obviously confused, yet this is soon cleared up.
Right after Cupid’s departure, Dwight and Rod look to the television screen where once again, there is an archer with a bow and arrow. Composition wise, this shot is pretty awesome. The brim of Rod’s bright red hat is pointing towards the archer, who in turn is drawing back his bow to point an invisible arrow to the right, which is where we see Dwight. The viewer’s eyes are meant to bounce from one to the other - from Rod, to the bow, to Dwight - thus, making the connection.
Rod himself looks to the right, following the viewer’s eyes as they land on Dwight. As the two make eye contact, “Nice to Be with You” hits its opening chorus and the two fall in love.
So, in summary, the two characters fated to be in love - who were old friends before this - are connected by the visual cues of a bow and arrow. Sound familiar? Because, as a reminder, this was the way Dean and Cas were introduced into the same scene just moments earlier. (i.e. Dean waiting at the bar, the arrow pointing towards/behind him, and Cas making his entrance right afterward from the same direction).
And a reminder, these details were deliberate!
Dean and Cas:
[DEAN is seen sitting at the bar watching a hunter on the bars TV aim his bow at the TV screen. CASTIEL walks in the door that’s behind DEAN and sits on the stool next to him.]
Dwight and Rod:
[DWIGHT and ROD stare at the hunter on TV as he displays the use of his bow.]
To wrap up the scene, Dean and Cas finally realize their mistake. Just like the general audience, they hadn’t thought to consider that Dwight’s soulmate may not be a girl. They assumed Dwight’s heterosexuality.
The show itself presents Dwight as an extremely masculine character. Appearance-wise, he has a wild head of hair and a scruffy beard. He’s wearing a neutral-toned plaid flannel, making connections to the rough outdoors and physical labor. He’s even sporting a few scars and bruises from the bar fight earlier that day.
The first time the audience even meets Dwight, it’s when he’s pulling out a gun to protect his bar and patrons.
He’s bold, tough, and willing to get his own hands dirty to protect those around him. He even gets tossed around a bit, earning him a few bloody wounds that he patches up later before returning right back to work later that same night.
Here, we even see him doing some physical labor, picking up the heavy beer cases and moving them behind the bar.
So as far as the audience has seen him, Dwight is a very masculine character. He shoots guns, he gets bloody, and he even serves alcohol for a living, doing all the hard work and manual labor himself. This is what makes his queer sexuality even more of a surprise to the general audience - because Dwight isn’t the image society thinks of when it thinks of queer men. In this way, Dwight challenges the stereotypes of what we understand “masculine” to be.
Out of all the characters in the scene, Dean is the one that most personifies this moment of confusion. Unlike Cas who gets up and follows Cupid out the door, it takes Dean a moment to process this realization, as it probably goes against everything he had been expecting just moments before (As a reminder to the, “This is like the first five minutes of every porno I've ever seen” line). I won’t go too deep in analysis over Dean’s expressions in this scene - I think everyone can make their own interpretation of what’s going through his head here - but I’ll leave some screenshots as a reference.
And that concludes the analysis of the Cupid/bar scene! So, in summary,
While waiting to find Cupid’s bow, Dean watches a tv screen where an archer aims behind Dean, which is exactly when Cas makes his entrance from the same direction
While Dean and Cas talk about how they may never see each other again, “I’m So Blue” - a love song about someone who lost their lover - plays behind them
Dwight and Rod parallel Cas and Dean in multiple ways throughout the scene, including scene composition, Rod’s hat having wings, being old time friends, and the tv archer aiming from Rod to Dwight
Dean and Cas personify the heteronormative perspective of the general audience by assuming the woman (Cupid) was Dwight’s soulmate; along with Dean’s observation of the “sexual tension” between the two. Both of which, we learn, are inaccurate.
So, yeah, while just a few minutes long, this scene is jam-packed with amazing things to unravel after just the first viewing.