The blog that wasn't...#2
Given the weather we've been having recently, my internet connection has been dicey at best so I'm not sure when I'll get a chance to post this - still, if I don't write it, I can't post it.
Feel free to link back to this from wherever - I know y'all have places you hang out. Again, although I did miss you guys last time, I'm turning off comments so as not to overwhelm both LJ and my inbox. Hey, I know what you lot were like over at Lifetime so don't give me that sad puppy look! I'm totally... okay, mostly... immune.
So, This is the End...
(I had to use that title because SPACE has started showing ROBOTECH again and I always hear that line in Kyron the Destroyer's voice. But I digress.)
I was out in Vancouver back in the spring of '07 for the wrap party and had a chance to watch them shoot part of this episode. If Coreen's chained to the bed - I was there watching. It was an amazing couple of days. It was the week before Easter and, because of Good Friday, they had to wrap everything up in four days instead of five. As a result they were shooting a day's worth of scenes in the bedroom from one angle and then flipping the walls and the cameras and shooting the same list of scenes from the other angle. There's a specific name for this but damned if I can remember what it is.
Usually, they shoot one angle on a scene, do a turnaround and shoot the other angle. Running two camera's they can usually get close-up coverage on one while the other is shooting wide but sometimes they can't so they finish up the scene filling in the details. Then, as far as the people on set are concerned the scene is finished and everyone moves on to the next scene. The actors - and director -- can now concentrate on new lines and new emotional content.
The way they shot 122, Deep Dark, the actors and the director put together a scene from one angle, it's shot, then they do another, and another and another. Then the crew moves in and flips everything around and they go back to first scene and four or five hours later have to hit the same emotional cues! It's an easier (note: easier) day for the crew but it's brutal on the actors and Gina, as Coreen, was in pretty much every single shot.
So, when you're watching this episode, you need to really appreciate what the cast went through and how they totally kicked ass! Then spare a moment for the director James Dunnison (who also helmed D.O.A., Heart of Fire, and Bad JuJu) who had to keep a vision of the entire episode in his head, and another for Sandra Montgomery, the script supervisor, who had to keep the continuity clean. (A brief aside; if you're thinking of ever becoming a script supervisor, you'd better be the most organized and together person you know. I spent a lot of time sitting with Sandra over my two visits to the set - the producers chairs are usually tucked behind hers where they're out of the way but can see the monitors - and she had to keep a grip on an astounding amount of detail. Absolutely not a job I could do.)
Deep Dark was written by Peter Mohan, our amazing showrunner who seemed to be living ia 28 or 29 hour day given the amount of work he was expected to accomplish. Peter, you'll recall, wrote the pilot episode, the adaption of Blood Price, where I honestly couldn't tell who'd written one of the lines. He had that complete a grip on the heart of the books. I got into Vancouver on the Saturday before Easter for the wrap-party (finishing just before Easter when people wanted to get home to families made things a little weird - the party happened before they actually finished shooting) and at dinner on Sunday, Peter gave me a copy of the script for 122. I went back to the hotel room. Read it. And threw it across the room. Not because I didn't like it. I loved it. But what a heartbreaking ending!
Still, there's a lot going on before we get to that ending...
"I had a feeling you'd return."
"Well, it's a pretty safe bet. We have a weekly appointment."
I love how Peter starts by poking fun at street corner psychics, setting us up to think that there's nothing to this woman and, yeah, there may not be anything to her... in her however... Prepositions are such tricky things.
And then Vicki's call with her mother. "Yeah, mom, I know I haven't called you in ages..." *g* Like since the first episode? This is a great shout-out to those fans who kept asking about Vicki's mother, pointing out that she appeared more frequently in the books. (trying to cover plot and character development in 43 minutes kind of limits the time you can have Vicki spend on the phone with mom - you'll notice I didn't manage to work it into my episode either)
The tats burning? Way cool effect!
I'm not sure book!Vicki would have punched Madam Whosit but I cheered when show!Vicki did. One of the reasons Vicki's physicality on the show works is because when Christina punches someone - or throws them down, or slams them up against the wall, or takes her ASP to them - it looks real. Christina makes you believe it. Since it isn't real and we all know it, that's saying something.
Love that Vicki doesn't call Mike to find out if there's been any reports about Coreen. And really love what she did instead, pretending to be Kate. For some reason, I was mesmerized by Henry's expression in this scene. No, not that reason! Honestly, you guys.. I think it's because I'm not seeing Kyle at all here, I'm only seeing Henry.
Woo hoo! Kate and Dave and Crowley and extra background cops! It's the last episode; we can spend every cent we've got left!
Mike, sweetie, your phone has this function called vibrate... it's for when your boss is giving a briefing and it might be a bad idea to interrupt her. I'm starting to think he wants to be disciplined. (yes, my brain went to the dirtybadwrong place too... moving on...) He knows Vicki is screwing up his career but she's an addiction and he can't stop on his own.
And he can't be too pissed at Vicki because he knows he should have turned off his phone. Thus, it's in character for the initial lines about Coreen. Which is a good thing because, "Okay, I'll bite. Hairstyle malfunction...?" almost made me pass tea out my nose.
I wish I'd been there when they shot the fight scene at the club!
Brief sidebar about Coreen handcuff to the bed. Angelina Kekich, the costume designer, was really happy about the shot because, after 22 episodes, we finally got a good look at Coreen's boots.
"No matter how much you want something, and you realize it's not good for you..." See? Henry realizes it can't work between them...
Another brief costuming sidebar - Dylan looks amazing in that brown shirt.
I love how the demon doesn't fool, Mike, when he's pretending to be Coreen. And how Dylan's playing all Mike's pain on the inside. The demon's words hurt but Mike's not going to let him know he scored a hit - while still letting the audience know it. Very nice. And OMG the bit of backstory with Mike's father? The look on his face? Wow.
(Okay, how many Supernatural fans added, "I saw your dad. He says howdy!"? Yeah, me too.)
Coreen is knocking it out of the park!
Do you know how hard it is not to giggle when a demon says, ticketty boo? That bit took a couple of takes. *g*
I have to admit, I can see where Crowley's coming from when she suspends Mike. He has a job to do and he's either doing it or he isn't - and he isn't. Yes, he has a lead but that's incidental to the point she's making. And that little gasp of Vicki's out in the hall? It's like she just realized there are consequences that don't involve her. That Mike has a life that doesn't involve her. That she's been so caught up in this new world of demons and vampires that she's forgotten there's another world and that Mike's a part of it. That he's been straddling two worlds, for her. The expressions on Mike's face... Dylan is just brilliant there.
Dude, it's not a veneer... it's a wall. Made of concrete blocks. Double thickness.
The conversation between Mike and Vicki in the hall? Well, I was ready to throw myself into Mike's arms, I don't know about Vicki... Oh wait. Yes I do. *g*
I still cry when Vicki breaks down and tell Coreen what she means to her. I cried then. I cry now. She can open up here and now because the worst has already happened, there's nothing to be afraid of anymore.
How much do I love Mike and Henry talking about Vicki? ::holds arms really far apart:: More than this.
"Vampires. Heaven and Hell. Tandoori chicken."
"What?"
"She wanted to stop for Indian."
I totally forgot that bit from the last time I watched this and watching it now I just about passed a piece of sugarless gum through my sinuses. Heart wrenching emotional scenes and tandoori chicken. That is exactly why Peter Mohan rules!
Everyone gets a chance to say, "Get thee behind me..."
How smart is Mike getting Henry to vamp the vision back out of him? How cool is it seeing Mike and Henry interact over something that isn't Vicki!
(two bits of direction I remember from around this bit: "Could we get a little more slime on the heart?" and "Kyle, I need you to writhe more."
Greg Bryk, who played Father Cascioli (and Tommy Tomm in The Dresden Files, and Westin Field in ReGenesis as well as a lot of other roles) is a really nice guy. Really nice. Soft spoken. Funny. But man, does he do creepy well.
The bit where he pulls Vicki's sweater down with his teeth... that was all him. He was supposed to kiss the tattoo but the sleeve was in the way so he improvised. I don't expect I was supposed to find that as hot as I did. I could be wrong...
Interesting that Henry asks Vicki to go with him... he was leaving because of her. Now? I assume if Astoroth gets his soul that would make the demon astronomically more powerful so he has to make himself scarce. On the other hand, if I were the vampire moving into this territory that just happens to contain a demon looking to assimilate an immortal soul, well, I'd be a bit pissed.
Oops, we're supposed to be concentrating on Henry and Vicki here... Sorry.
OMG there are tears in Henry's eyes when Vicki turns him down. He uses Mike's time to get hold of himself because they aren't there later and you can see him wrap himself in the whole Prince of Man/Prince of Darkness thing as he says, "So be it." Beautifully played by Kyle.
And Mike's goodbye? My reaction was about the same as Vicki's. Okay, except for the whole just been amazingly kissed thing. Heartbreaking...
Oh Vicki...
So you can kind of understand why I threw the script across the room. That's where we end it? Argh!
But the thing is, if there isn't another season and yes I'm typing with my fingers crossed that there will be and if it happens you guys are a big part of why but, if there isn't, artistically, this works as an ending. A heartbreaking, life doesn't always work out the way you want and we'll never know if Vicki does make things right with Mike sort of an ending but a beautifully played ending never-the-less.
Or possibly, a beautifully played beginning. Could go either way.
But you know what? Even if we don't get another season, even if this is it - well, this is something. Every single person who worked on Blood Ties helped create a show to be proud of. A show I'm honoured to have my name on. A show I'm still occasionally astounded to have my name on.
Thank you all.