What does whipping cream look like?

I went to the store today in search of ingredients for homemade lasagna alfredo. I make the sauce homemade with whipping cream. The store had it for 1/2 off because it expires tomorrow, good deal I thought considering I was making it for dinner tonight. I got it home and opened it to find the top 1/2 inch or so is really thick, like ricotta cheese almost. Under that it is just thick milk. It might smell sour but I don't know. We drink so much milk in our house it never has time to expire. Is is supposed to smell like milk, because it doesn't. What do you think, expired or good? Is it normal to have the heavy thick stuff on top?